Arisen, Book One - Fortress Britain by Glynn James and Michael Stephen Fuchs is a post-apocalyptic book about zombies and the aftermath of chaos. It is an action-packed, fast-moving book. I gave it four stars.

"It didn't matter how many of these creatures Handon had seen, each one still made his heart lurch. And every time he fired and one of them fell, he wondered who that person had once been.

Unlike the men and women on his team, he had not developed the ability to switch off, to put the dead and the living in firewalled mental boxes. He had yet to accept that the creatures had no souls. Medical science was divided on how much was actually going on in there, whether there was even anyone home.

It was known that the creatures lived for just one purpose--to devour the living--but little else was understood as to what drove them..." They knew sound attracted them, any sound. The only thing to 'kill' the undead was to separate their brain stem.

I received a complimentary Kindle copy in an Amazon promotion.

That did not change my opinion for this review.

Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/ARISEN-Book-One-Fortress-Britain-ebook/dp/B008TQ0T8A

This book explores the history and uses of the country estates that were requisitioned by the British government for use during World War II. These uses ranged from training facilities for spies, invalid homes for injured servicemen, hospitals for pregnant women, and boarding facilities for children evacuated from London. Not only does it delve into the minutia of what the houses were used for but also what kinds of changes occurred to them (the houses that is). For some, they were never again used by their original owners. For others, the buildings much like the people themselves, were forever changed (or completely destroyed). The only thing missing from this book was an annotated bibliography (you know how much I love those) even though it is clear that Summers did her research. 8/10

First Rider's Call by Kristen Britain is the second book in the Green Rider series. Karigan G'ladheon refuses to heed the Green Rider's Call. She has went back home in hopes of having a normal life, but things aren't always so easy.

I really loved Karigan in the first book, but for some reason I couldn't get into her character in this book. She seemed like a different character, which is the reason for my rating. The writing and the world Kristen Britain has created is interesting but it wasn't enough to continue with the series.

My own explorations of Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales have largely been confined to the uplands. This book, whilst happily illustrating their worth, also showcases the many and varied delights of the lower lands, along with some of the wildlife and observing detail as well as grand panoramas. Good stuff!

Here's a pic I took up on the Brecon Beacons hills themselves:

I received this book via LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchanged for an honest review.

Created to entertain one night and retold over the years then centuries, folktales came down to the early modern times in oral form before being written down before they were lost forever.  Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain and Ireland by Kevin Crossley-Holland is collection of nearly 50 tales that cover a variety of fantastical territory.  Amongst the titles that I personally liked “The Dead Moon”, “Fair Gruagach”, “Mossycoat”, and “The Dauntless Girl” while the entire section entitled “Wits, Tricks, and Laughter” was a waste.  While the primary audience is for middle school children, as an adult I did have a nice time reading the book overall though there were some stretches where I was just making it through several stories until a decent one came up.