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Daily Archives: May 29, 2017

Terrorism In Portland By White Supremacist And Acts Of Heroism On 5/26/17

29 Monday May 2017

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 44 Comments

Another Bigoted Hate Crime, In Which Two Heroes Lost Their Lives And Another Was Severely Injured. Response From Mr. Trump…Silence.

*Update: Late this morning Mr. Trump finally addressed this, three days after the attack and only after much urging from others. Interestingly, his response isn’t on his personal Twitter account, but his official POTUS one which begs the question of whether the tweet was even written by him.

Gronda Morin

Fatal Stabbing Portland Standing up to hate. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)

The horrific act on 5/26/17 by a White Supremacist’s brutal knife-stabbing attack against three brave men who came to the rescue of two young Muslim women on a Portland, Oregon train ride was no less an act of terrorism than what the republican President Donald Trump has been warning Americans to be fearful of, from Muslim refugees seeking asylum in the USA.

There were two men killed in this hate-filled act of terrorism and a third man has been hospitalized due to knife wounds.

I WOULD EXPECT PRESIDENT TRUMP to speak out personally against this rising tide of Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry and racism in our country that he has inadvertently provoked through his numerous statements and policies that have had a negative impact on minority communities.

As per a 5/28/17 Quartz report by Selina Cheng, “Two men were killed this week…

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The Suffering Tree, by Elle Cosimano ~ 2.0 Stars

29 Monday May 2017

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 36 Comments

Tags

Historical Fiction, Mental Illness, Mystery, Self-harm, Supernatural, YA Fiction

28810197

Thanks to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 13th, 2017

368 Pages

Synopsis: Tori Burns and her family left D.C. for claustrophobic Chaptico, Maryland, after suddenly inheriting a house under mysterious circumstances. That inheritance puts her at odds with the entire town, especially Jesse Slaughter and his family–it’s their generations-old land that the Burns have “stolen”. But none of that seems to matter after Tori witnesses a young man claw his way out of a grand v e under the gnarled oak in her new backyard.

Nathaniel Bishop may not understand what brought him back, but it’s clear to Tori t h at he hates the Slaughters for what they did to him centuries ago. Wary yet drawn to him by a shared sense of loss, she gives him shelter. But in the wake of his arrival comes a string of troubling events–including the disappearance of Jesse Slaughter’s cousin–that seem to point to back to Nathaniel.

As Tori digs for the truth–and slowly begins to fall for Nathaniel–she uncovers something much darker in the tangled branches of the Slaughter family tree. In order to break the centuries-old curse that binds Nathaniel there and discover the true nature of her inheritance, Tori must unravel the Slaughter family’s oldest and most guarded secrets. But the Slaughters want to keep them buried…at any cost.

The Suffering Tree is a tough book to review. There are some good things about it, but it also has many weaknesses. First, it should definitely come with a trigger warning concerning self-harm. Tori is a cutter, and this is brought up repeatedly, yet there’s nothing in the book’s summary about this. Making matters worse is the way in which Cosimano uses Tori’s illness as the way Nathaniel is brought back to life. So, right from the beginning I was frankly appalled. In addition, no one in Tori’s life ever makes a serious effort to stop her harmful behavior. There’s no resolution and it seems to me that the only reason why it’s included in the story is to bring in Nathaniel. The book is told from three perspectives: the present, the past through Tori’s visions, and the past from Nathaniel’s POV and it was jarring to move back and forth between them. While I found Nathaniel and his historical ties to the Slaughters to be the most interesting part of the story, the rest of the characters including Tori, come across as being generally under-developed which makes it difficult to become emotionally invested in them. The mystery is interesting, and the writing itself is beautiful and at times almost poetic but these aren’t enough to save the story. To be honest, even without the issue of cutting being magically glorified, The Suffering Tree would have been just an okay read for me, but the cavalier way Cosimano treats the issue of depression, anxiety and self-harm has left me concerned for the teens that will be reading this. 

Memorial Day 2017

29 Monday May 2017

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Inspirational quotes, Memorial Day, President Barack Obama

Memorial-Day-2017-Pics

In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

~ President Barack Obama ~

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The Silent Eye

A Modern Mystery School

France & Vincent

Writing Magic, Myth and Mystery

The Novel: UnHoly Pursuit: Devil on my Trail

If you love mythology? You'll love this series. The UnHoly Pursuit Saga and related series. Paranormal romance, demons, saints, angels, Azazael, witches, warlords, fiction, fantasy, antichrist, harassment, devils, hell, spirituality!,

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Making literary art accessible 99 words at a time!

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Second Look Behind the Headlines - News you can use...

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Wrapped around genres and my overthinking brain💤

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