From romance and mystery with a dash of magic to an all out paranormal investigator who hunts for dead people… Such is my Halloween themed reading! I have read stories like this before, way back when I worked at a small independent bookstore. I would sometimes take my break with a book about haunted locations in Alberta or some such thing. This book reminds me a bit of those. 

A little more personal than most as this is written from the author’s point of view as a paranormal researcher and the people around him and related to him’s experiences. Dr. Hans Holzer has done his research. Each of his tales includes lovely background information and history. In researching the man himself I found it interesting that his name is one of those attached to the surplus of information about the Amityville horrors. In fact, his book was was the basis for a 1982 horror film. You can find the article HERE.

In Haunted Places he travels all over the globe checking out potential hauntings and telling their stories. There is a definite lack of step by step dealings with the ghosts… some locals seem a little silly and I found that from time to time the writing seemed jarring with sentence structure and the like, but since this is an advance copy I am hoping those issues will be ironed out. You can find an excellent review by another Netgalley user HERE.Probably not my favourite of all my ghost stories but definitely worth a read. 

Haunted Places

I recently reviewed the book previous to this in the Madelyn Alt mystery series. We return to Stony Mill, Indiana and newly found witch Maggie O’Neill as she recuperates from a broken leg (a major part of the previous book’s storyline). She is back to work but while the cast has slowed her down physically changes in her life are occurring at breakneck speed. 

In this volume Maggie is hard at work trying to figure out her future. Trying to understand and accept that she must soon say good bye to her bestfriend Stef who is leaving for another location with her fiancee in the near future which in turn has her questioning her current home (a basement suite in the same building her friend is vacating) which is currently inaccessible due to cast. This conundrum has her hunting for a new apartment even though her boyfriend has offered up his home as a permanent solution. 

It is on this hunt for new digs that we run into the mystery. There is a mysterious Lodge with the men only members that it seems like the most random collection of individuals are a part of… the tension between Maggie and her ex boyfriend and her ex boyfriend and her current love interest… and now Grandma’s voice is feeling less like a voice of conscience and more like a potential haunting??? 

With a body found, an office destroyed and an apartment rental agreement left unsigned… well Maggie’s problems are only beginning. Add in a splash of magic and a hot love interest, a lovely lady boss and of course a laundry list of other characters and this book is a must read. Just be sure to read the others in the series first! I really cannot wait for the next book to come out! 

Home for a Spell

October 24-25

Wednesday marks the point where we are FINALLY in the end stretch on costumes. I am so far behind from where I usually am! The twin bought theirs, we got the last of the supplies for Echo’s and the face paint for Trinity’s Choco-cat. Ken and I have opted not to dress up this year with our short time frame and really lack of budget. I hope to do so next year though! 

We spent much of our morning out on those errands so that definitely shortened our school day. BUT Zander had his spelling test today, 7/7! Well done!

100%!

Not to be outdone by her brother… work of art

Art for Kidssaved our day with their MUMMY instructions. The boys BOTH enjoy the steps and are absolutely willing to create whatever the next picture is. We often discuss what COULD be the next picture posted…

MUMMY

Thursday was a short day for me… I had a GIRLY DATE with Bree the mommy to be once again. She announced the day before that they are expecting a GIRL! Echo is going to have a godsister. I am so excited for them, I am going to save all of Echo’s outgrows AND start the gears moving in my head as to what I can make for them. Hair things, dollies, bits and bobs… fairy wings! Oh I am excited!!! We are in the world of boys down here having left all our little girls up in Canada! 

Anyway… we have started our Halloween colouring in earnest. I love a good print out and while the printer is limping without its colour cartridge we are still making do. Trinity especially enjoyed her Education.com print out of a haunted house! You can check out my Halloween folder on their site HEREof stuff from this year and the previous. 

Trinity’s work of art

We had ANOTHER 100% on a spelling test – this time Gavin and he had tricky words – TWO and TOO!!! I am so proud!!! 

Another perfect score

We have started our Halloween book and are doing a picture a chapter into the journals. This seems to be the best way to follow up with something with the boys. Low impact but they keep on working, thinking and creating. When we finish our Judy Moody book and go onto the next one, I think I will use another format… maybe a chapter by chapter picture book… add to it a list of the characters in each chapter and the main conflict or point. 

We covered a rather unique FEATHERED dinosaur today. The Beipiaosaurus… and surprisingly Gavin joined us! There is something rather interesting about a dinosaur that is feathered, with a potential omnivore lifestyle. Once I get  the previous dinosaurs posted this one will be up as well. My agreement with the big boys is that if they want to join in on the dinosaur time they ALSO have to do something productive in regards to this dinosaur. So Gavin drew a picture of it, recorded the dinosaur’s name and 3 facts he learned about it. Which Emanuel helped him come up with. 

I am still debating what path to take beyond math and reading and writing… With Emanuel to learn about Brazil I am thinking of seeing what sort of a lapbook or mini poster we could make as a family… but I want to expand our interest. THOUGH we have had some more pen pal letters! This time from our friends in the Yukon (including Coffee Crisp chocolate bars for me!! Though Ken took one to share with his friends).

Throw in some snow in passing and wow what a couple of days!!!