Poetry and music: Lift up Heart /¡ARRIBA, CORAZÓN! by Gregorio Marañón

Back in 2015 I had the opportunity to attend a Miriam Pico concert at the San Fillipo Estate near Chicago where I heard one of my favorite songs, "Lift Up, Heart," which she wrote based on a translation of a poem her grandfather carried in his wallet, called ¡ARRIBA, CORAZÓN!

It's beautiful, sweet, and draws me in. So, I thought I should show you the poem and a link to the song. Miriam has a lovely voice, and writes delightful lyrical pieces. 

Enjoy.

¡ARRIBA, CORAZÓN!

Arriba, corazón, la vida es corta 

y hay que aprender a erguirse ante el destino. 

Sólo avanzar importa, 

arrojando el dolor por el camino.

Otras horas felices 

matarán a estas horas doloridas. 

Las que hoy son heridas 

se tornarán mañana cicatrices.

Espera siempre, corazón, espera 

que ninguna inquietud es infinita. 

Y hay una misteriosa primavera 

donde el dolor humano se marchita.

Con tu espuela de plata 

no des paz al corcel de la ilusión. 

"Si la pena no muere se la mata", 

¡arriba, corazón!

Gregorio Marañón

Review: Kiss of the Damned by Elena Lawson

 Elena Lawson's first book in the Fallen Cities: Elisium series, Kiss of the Damned took me a little by surprise. It takes place in a world in which demons and angels have become a part of commonplace everyday life in much the same way that supernatural creatures have integrated into the world in the Anita Blake series, only in Lawson's world, if you're diabolical, you basically get quarantined into one of the Fallen Cities. Only the divine are allowed to interact with the human population, because, you know, racism. I mean, no. I said what I meant. 

The story centers around a wickedly abused girl, Paige, who knows nothing about her real origins, but in truth doesn't belong among the humans she thought she was one of, and is quickly and brutally introduced to life as in St. Louis, now one of the isolated cities of demonic creatures. Lets just say it's a less than pleasant transition for her.

I think what I like about the story is that while it is a story about awakening powers and adapting to a new world about which the main character is just as unaware as the reader, it doesn't feel quite as explainsy as a lot of similar set ups do.

I am, however, not sure how much I want to continue the story. I like the set of powers I see her developing and the arc it seems like the book is traveling down, but I am not entirely sure I have the emotional energy for the kind of emotional pain Paige is looking at at the end of book one. Let's just say that the cliffhanger it ends on is kind of brutal and sometimes I ask myself "do you really want to do this to yourself?"

The worldbuilding has been interesting so far. The slavery within the fallen city and segregation of races based on origin makes for some interesting social commentary. If books that deal with divine and diabolical entities and the notion that just because hell is home doesn't mean you're entirely evil is your thing, this might be a good book for you.

 

Review: Burning Hope by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Kathryn Ann Kingsley's second book in the The Cardinal Winds Series, Burning Hope, just dropped in paperback and I had the chance to read a review ARC.  You guys. 

You. Guys.

It's got a little bit of everything. Magic. Complicated ruinous and abusive back stories. Origin story mysteries. Social justice issues. Political intrigue. Steamy goodness. Greek pantheon. A zoo. Love. Everything. 

When I first started, I wasn't sure I was going to really be able to get into it the way I got into the first in the series, Steel Rose, because the male lead Burning Hope, Nero, was an absolute unmitigated nightmare of a jerk in Steel Rose, right up until the very last heart stealing page of the book where he goes and makes you grow a tiny little soft spot for him.That said, it's tiny, and so I expected Burning Hope to be a big uphill climb for me. 

Surprisingly, it wasn't. He's a violent, hedonistic madman perfectly described at one point in Burning Hope as "He was playful. Like a murdering puppy. But still a puppy, all the same." Suddenly, his overbearing ways became oddly endearing and awkwardly charming. And the female lead in this? Hope? 10/10 do adore. She's smart, outspoken, and remarkably honest. I also appreciate a differently-abled character who isn't helpless. That's one thing that this series keeps coming back to, bodies that might not be perfect, people whose pasts have left them permanently psychologically damaged, and they're the focus of heart pounding lusty love stories mired in politics that are somehow still socially relevant to the here and now, despite being set in an alternate kind of science fantasy world of dirigibles and ray guns. The magic end of the story is pretty cool too. There are a very few people who can wield any type of it at all, the Cardinals of the four winds, and Nero, the South Wind, has powers of some pretty intense inhibition stripping hypnotism and fire. 

I admit, I want to go back and read a few scenes again, when I'm not being interrupted left and right like this lady. 

Because frankly, the super descriptive NSFW scenes were hot, and not just because Nero has control of elemental fire, and they deserve to not be read a few lines at a time. Of course, I didn't want to put the book down, so reading with interruptions it was.

Burning Hope is available now in paperback and will be available in September for Kindle. Excellent read. It can stand alone, so you don't have to read Steel Rose first if you want to dive straight in to the story, but you'll be missing out on one heck of a great story if you do. I just can't wait for the next two in the series, and am secretly pulling for some side stories (Otto and Kema need their HEAs too.)

Review: Natural Voices: Celebrating Nature With Opened Eyes

A lovely collection of poetry and prose focused on nature,

Natural Voices: Celebrating Nature With Opened Eyes was published as a multi-faceted project. First, it created a concrete collection of the writings of many of the frequent participants in the Natural Land Institute of Northern Illinois annual poetry events. Second, it served as a fund raising opportunity for the Natural Land Institute. Third, and for a lot of the people who have had the chance to enjoy the book, it gathered some lovely and interesting works together to create a worthwhile collection.

It is a great project with pieces by Carolyn Bailey, Dorothy Bock, Mary Caskey, Ed Collins, Sandra Fenton, Carol Fox, Don Miller, Wilda Morris, Chelsea Peterson, Christopher D. Sims, Christine Swanberg, Lani Richardson, Dr. Karen Blake Ruffner, and Kaitlyn Tibbetts. 

If you happen across it or are in the mood to read some lovely nature poems inspired by the northern Illinois region, I recommend it. It is currently available on the Natural Land Institute's website.

Review: To Love a God (Lily of the Valley Book 1) by Evie Kent

Oof. Where to start with this one? 

If Evie Kent's To Love a God were a story AO3, one would have to list content warnings like noncon. It's a dark romance. There is violence. There is bloodshed. Abduction. Deception. Explicit content. All the things.

And boy howdy, is it one hell of a good ride.

This story is a wonderful opportunity to indulge in a time honored guilty pleasure: rooting for the "bad guy." In this case the "bad guy" is more like "the trickster god," and the damsel in distress is more of a street wise New Yorker. Pitting Nora against Loki wasn't exactly what the villagers who guarded his mountain prison had in mind when they abducted her and brought her as an offering to their captive god, but sometimes someone looks like they'll be a shrinking violet only to find out they're a little more shrieking violent. 

So yeah, if dark is up your alley, it's a great find. I to Love a God on Kindle Unlimited, and I'm glad I did. 

Review: Ghosts and Liars by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Kathryn Ann Kingsley's second book in the Impossible Julian Strande series, Ghosts and Liars is, if it is possible, darker, more psychologically twisted, sexier, and somehow even better than Illusions of Grandeur. 

I feel like this second book is told ever so slightly more from the perspective of the ghost than the first book, and I really enjoyed that. 

Now, for the record, I feel like for all that I've mentioned that it's dark and psychologically twisted, I know there's a lot of C-PTSD readers out there, so I'm going to just throw out there that omg, the gaslighting, manipulation, and other flavors of unhealthy abusive relationships get covered in this novel to some degree- if not portrayed per se, then perhaps discussed. On the one hand, if you're going into a dark romance, you probably know what you're likely getting yourself into. On the other hand... if you can't read people exercising poor judgment, well, you've been warned.

But like I said before when talking about book one, I've read this pair five times, and for a reason. It's good. The characters are deep multidimensional constructs, and oh, dear me, the magic system is even more exquisitely detailed in this novel, and the geekery abounds. 

I also read Ghosts and Liars first as a Kindle Unlimited offering that I later bought in order to have in my own personal library forever, because I know it will be one of those stories to which I continue to return.

Review: Illusions of Grandeur by Kathryn Ann Kinglsey

It isn't like I read this book 5 times or anything. Because I totally at least skipped around one of those times, so only the first four count, right?

Okay, this bookk is the first in a lovely pair of exceedingly dark romance novels. Did I say dark? I mean Vanta Black dark. I loved it.

Like the setting, the architecture of the story is delightfully detailed and not quite as linear as you'd expect. It's perfectly delightful. Between ghosts, rumors of murder, a young woman starting over, a house full of old fashioned automatons, a charismatic magician, and a the true hero of the story, a little plastic octopus, it's a delightful story. Once you start following Alice down this rabbit hole, you won't want to stop.

Of course, this isn't for the prude out there. The story gets not only steamy, but explicitly steamy. But full props to Kathryn Ann Kingsley, when it gets super steamy, it's at least plot furthering. 

Beyond the delightful layers of dark paranormal mischief and even darker lusty goings on, I loved the world building that Kingsley did in this book. While the paranormal aspects are exceedingly far from normal, her careful world building gives it the uncanny magical realism feel that makes it seem like something that just possibly could happen, and I like that.

I recommend checking it out. I read Illusions of Grandeur free on Kindle Unlimited, but I liked it so much that after my third read through I bought it. 

Let's play catch up.

Since we last joined our intrepid reader, she has been writing and reading way too much for her own good, but sharing? Not so much. It's time to correct that imbalance. So sit back, and get ready for a little bit of an update dump. But don't be afraid. I promise, it won't hurt. Much.

Thanks for stopping by.