5 Dogs Book Blog

Review by Elleanore Vance Welcome back, My Lovely Readers! Im sorry to say that thiis book was not what I wanted it to be. I guess I wanted more about Grace,  or even the Sheep Pen Murder. What I got is more of an analysis of the ripples Peyton Place created. This month we're delving into Unbuttoning America, and looking at the cultural impact of Peyton Place. Ardis Cameron shows us how Peyton Place helped us in our understanding of human sexuality as a whole. We see  the reactions of libraries and book stores to the book, those who banned the title,and those who couldn't keep copies on the shelves. We spend more time than I would have preferred on the Kinsey Report. According to the subtitle, this was supposed to be about Peyton Place, but I feel it was more a dissertation about censorship and human sexuality, using Peyton Place as a bow to tie it all together. Unbuttoning America reads like a Master's thesis  published for public consumption: informative in the extrem...

Review by Elleanore Vance Welcome Back, Lovely Reader! This month we're going dark and gritty and into Boston with Kezie and Genarro in Sacred, by Dennis LeHane. Patrick and Angie have dramatically changed since we last saw them. Understandably. They let their Belfry grow cold, covered in dust and cobwebs. Neither of them seem to have it in them anymore to solve  the mysteries that used to drive their world. And then they get kidnapped. As one might guess, this is a bad omen for our Dynamic Duo. The adventure that follows is a rollercoaster of events. Bubba bails them out one last time before surrendering himself for a year long vacation, courtesy of the State of Massachusetts.(Patrick says they don't like it when you carry unregistered firearms there.) And the ending is one I never saw coming. This book gets Patrick and Angie back in the saddle after the tragedy of 'Darkness'. The themes we explore are about healing and being true to one's self. Refreshing in so ...

Review by Elleanore Vance Welcome back, my Lovely Readers! This month we're looking at a classic from the Queen of Crime: Dame Agatha Christie. That essential intelligence thriller: The Secret Adversary. In the aftermath of the First World War and the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, we find Tommy Beresford, and his childhood friend Prudence  "Tuppence" Cowley looking for work. Both have done their service for King and Country, but now, the city offers no employment, and neither foes anywhere else. Penniless and desperate, having tried all of the legal ways to get ahead, the pair decide to try some less legal, morally grey ways. So begins the Young Adventurers Limited. One of the world's first spy novels, this is my favorite set of Christie characters. The intrepid Young Adventurers end up on the trail of a missing woman who had some very important papers on her when she disappeared. A case of mistaken identity opens new avenues of investigation, but will they be able...

Review by Elleanore Vance Thanks to Disney's "Robin Hood" animated feature, I grew up believing John I was the "phony king of England". In his work "Magna Carta", historian Dan Jones corrects that misconception. We begin with a very detailed snapshot of the Plantagenet siblings known as The Devil's Brood. These were the sons born to Eleanor of Aquitaine and her second husband Henry II: Henry the Young King, Richard I, Geoffrey and John.  Henry would have become the Third, but predeceased their father; a heart-breaking blow. Geoffrey also predeceased their father, getting trampled at a joust (though that may have been a fiction to conceal a homosexual relationship he may have had with Phillip II of France) Richard spoke no English and spent much of his reign Crusading in the Holy Land. What time he was not Crusading or being held hostage, was in France.  John, the youngest, known as "Lackland", is the one we're concerned with. See, ...

Review by Ellenanore Vance I need to open this review by saying that Zin and I are friends. I purchased this book with my own money, and I have NOT been asked to review, nor compensared for this review by them. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way... The Horror community was shaken by the 2021 release of "Flowers for the Sea". Squeamish readers were sickened and others were offended by the contents. I personally feel that its beauty was misunderstood. We follow Iraxi, a passenger aboard a ship holding the survivors of her village. She is the only survivor of the fire that exterminated her family, and she is 300 days pregnant.  Our cast also contains  Amat, the would-be prince, and Ket, daughter of the last midwife. As you may have guessed, Iraxi's pregnancy is not the usual kind. It is absolutely masterful the way we reveal new information with each turn of the page: delicate and full of senses. Smells are pungent,  tastes linger at the back of the mouth, ...

Review by Elleanor Vance "Northanger Abbey" is one of those novels i just hadn't quite got around to until now. I don't know what I expected. I *do know that it is obvious that this is a first novel, even if it was posthumous publication. We follow Catherine Moreland, a 17 year old 'heroine in training', as she takes a trip to Bath. There she meets other young people (about 65%of this book) and is eventually invited by her newfound friends to their home, the titular Northanger Abbey.   I found myself reminded why Austen is so extremely adaptable. Like Shakespeare, one sees the echoing archetypes of her characters in media today. Chad who likes to drive his car, the pretty girl who conveniently forgets she said she would be your prom date when she gets asked by the QB, etc. Like Christie, Austen was an original that the rest of us mere mortals can only hope to emulate.   If you're ready to slow down and really relax with a good book, i would reccomend a ...