Book Review - Daughter of Darkness by Terry Brooks

 

Today I am reviewing the book, Daughter of Darkness by, Terry Brooks.  This is the second installment of the series.  I reviewed the first book (Child of Light) HERE:  and was thrilled when I was able to get an Advanced copy of this book from Net Galley.

 

 

 

 I was not compensated by Net Galley or anyone else.  I received the advanced copy of the book solely for the purpose of reviewing my opinion of it.

Daughter of Darkness takes place two years after the main character, Auris has been freed from the Goblin Prison and has discovered parts of her past and is learning to live in her new world as part of the Fae creatures while still retaining parts of her human existence.

Life seems to be going quite well for her until suddenly the Goblins reappear searching for her.  Then tragedy strikes as her life partner, Harrow is attacked and she is drawn back into the world of Humans and Dragons and other creatures in an attempt to save his life before it's too late. She sets off on a epic journey with some unexpected new friends and delves deeper into her own past and history learning more about where she came from.

I was immediately drawn back into this story even though it had been a couple of years since I'd read the first book.  The characters are very interesting and the author keeps you guessing as to what is going to happen in the story right up to the end of the book.

I really enjoyed how this one introduced Dragons and other fantasy characters into the story. Lots of different twists and turns in the story to keep you vested in the characters and what fate awaits them.

If you like Fantasy and Science Fiction you will truly enjoy this book.  I kept reading until way into the night to finish this one up and can hardly wait to see if a third book comes out. 

Terry Brooks is my favorite Fantasy author and I highly recommend you read his books. 

 

Farewell Sweet Piglet - A Rainbow Bridge Crossing

 It is with great sadness in our hearts that our sweet Piglet crossed the Rainbow Bridge on February 14th.

Piglet showed up in our neighborhood sometime in 2011.  He had apparently been dumped or wandered off and just hung around our place and my mom's house.  We took care of him outside by leaving food, water & shelter for him.

These are pictures of him during his outside years:

 

Sunning himself on our sidewalk.

Enjoying a siesta on the grass

Showing off his belly

Laying on the lawn chair on my mom's porch

Hanging around with Fluffy another neighborhood cat.

Enjoying time with Coleen
 

This is probably one of the earliest pictures we have of him when he first showed up.

One of my favorite shots of him.  I looked outside my craftroom window one day and he was laying on top the flowers in my planter.  I went outside and snapped a few pictures of him.

 

 

We occasionally would let him inside for awhile at night while the other cats were in the bedroom.  Then let him back outside when he wanted to go out.  Here he is enjoying some time with Mike & I on those nights:

 In January of 2013 it was really cold and he had gotten beat-up by a neighborhood cat and then got really sick to the point we decided we had to take him to the Vet. You can see where his ear had been hurt in the fight. - By the time we got him to the Vet he had an Upper Respiratory Infection, Ulcers in his mouth, ear infections and was near death.

After he was able to be released from the Vet's he went to live with my mom since we thought he couldn't be around our other cats due to the respiratory illness he had.  She agreed to take him in.  He spent the next 6 1/2 years living at her house.  While my mom wasn't super affectionate with animals she took good care of him and he had a good life over there.  

Pictures of him from his life at her house.
 

The above is a shot of him and a toy that she bought for him to play with.  We still have the toy.

 Everyone loved him.  This is a picture of him and Greta together.

 

This past two weeks we noticed that he was starting to eat less and just didn't see like his old self so we took him to the Vet on Monday and they did a blood workup on him.  I found out on Tuesday, Valentine's day that he was in "End Stage" kidney failure.  So we opted to have him euthanized rather then see him continue to decline and suffer.

A few years ago I took this picture of him on Valentine's Day and it seems fitting to share again since he passed away on Valentine's Day. 

 Finally these are the last photos we have on him which we took on Tuesday before we took him out to cross the Rainbow Bridge:

 

                                            2011- 2023
             Rest in Peace sweet Piglet.   You will be missed.
 

25 Years - I Still Miss You

 It is hard to believe but it's been 25 years now since you left us.  That day is forever embedded in my memory.  It was so sudden and unexpected.  None of had any clue that day would be your last.

These few pictures (sorry for the quality) show a little of your personality.  - You loved life and were always making jokes, wisecracks.

You loved, hunting, fishing, stamp collecting, bowling, cats & dogs, and most importantly your family.

Even though you have left this earthly life for a much better heavenly one I will always have a part of you in my heart.  Until we meet again daddy,   I love you.

Welcome 2023

 Happy New Year everyone!  -  Just a few photos from last nights celebration. - Our tradition is to eat junk food, watch movies or play games and then set off fireworks and toast in the New Year.

 

                       Yummy Food that we all enjoyed.

 

 Our traditional New Years Photo. - Front Row, Me (Ida) Coleen, Joelle and Coleen's friend, Cyrus.  - Back Row, Mike, Greta and Adam.

 

She made it all the way through till midnight,  what a little trooper!

 

Fireworks and Sparkler Fun.

 

                      Ready to "Toast the New Year!"

              Here's to a Year filled with much joy and love.
 

Farewell 2022 - See You Next Year

 

Hello and Welcome! - Yes this year has not been one where I've posted much on the old blog. - Can't really say why but I hope to start posting (and commenting) more in 2023.

 

Christmas here was nice, albeit slightly different then normal.  For one this we had SNOW (Ugh).  We usually don't have a "White Christmas" here but God decided we needed one for a change.  

 

One exciting thing though was that our houses made the front page of the Newspaper for our decorations. 

These photos were taken prior to the snow we eventually got.  Here is what they looked like Christmas Eve...

 

 

 

Normally we go out to eat on Christmas Eve, which we did.  We had Chinese food.  The roads were somewhat slick but not enough to keep us from going out. - We didn't go look at lights though like we usually do. - Came back home, opened stocking gifts, wrapped presents and went to bed.

 

Christmas morning we had the small family gathering at our house around 7:30 where we opened our gifts.  Then it was off to my nieces house for the family breakfast.

After the breakfast we went home and just relaxed.  Instead of fixing a huge dinner we opted to order take-out Mexican food instead.  I did make a dessert but that was all the cooking I did.  It felt good to not have to rush around preparing a big meal.

Overall it was a very pleasant day.

 

Now the snow that was there Christmas Eve disappeared the day after Christmas.  It warmed up to 50 degrees overnight with rain and by Tuesday it was all gone!

 

Getting ready to ring in the New Year tonight but I wanted to catch you all up on the holiday happenings. - My apologies for not visiting or commenting on your blogs much lately.  - I plan to improve on that in 2023.  -  See You Next Year!