Happy Sunday!

It just occurred to me that I spent the whole day reading and pottering about but haven't actually sat down to follow up on my promise last week that I would share pictures of my exploring Paris south of the river last Sunday.

Let me remedy this:

So, most of you know how much I LOVE the Natural History Museum in London, right?

Much like myself (still suffering from that stupid cold), Paris was under the weather last Sunday, so I thought I'd go and explore Natural History Museum there as it is a little bit off from the tourist trail and I figured that there would not be as many crowds.

So, I set off on the Metro, which was empty. Landed at my stop, and turned down into an empty street. 

I finally got to this entrance:

It doesn't look like much when you first get there, does it?

Once you walk through the gates, you find yourself in the middle of a park. So, I thought "Okay, ... where now?" Then I walked further along the little path ahead and  ... Wow!

Trust the French to turn a museum into an entire park full of palace sized buildings (each dedicated to a different discipline), botanical gardens, benches, and public access for joggers and anyone else who wants to go for a stroll.
Phenomenal. 

I was pretty run down on account of the cold (and a little fever) so I didn't get to see everything I wanted to see. It's definitely a place I want to return to on the next trip. 

I did love the dinosaur exhibit, but then it is hardly surprising that this section should be impressive. After all, Georges Cuvier (a statue of whom is above) was as important in the history of this museum as Richard Owen was for the NHM in London, and as we know ... Georges Cuvier very much is one of the, if not the, founding father(s) of paleontology.  

OMG finally. Netflix is developing a Narnia series! YES THEY ARE PERFECT FOR NARNIA! I didn't like Tilda Swinton as the white witch. I grew up watching Barbara Kellerman and her horribly over the top acting ("Can't I have just one piece of Turkish delight to eat on my way home?" "NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"). Which I adored at 8 years old.

 The first film was fine but the second and third ones took entirely too many liberties from the books which I love (Caspian was hot tho...)I CANNOT WAIT!

https://deadline.com/2018/10/netflix-the-chronicles-of-narnia-tv-series-and-films-eone-1202475272/

If you've read this series and specifically this book than you know what tattoo, I'm talking about. But if you haven't I'll just share with you that Miki St. John has a tattoo and it's not pretty...actually it's a reminder of the life that he lived as a child. A life that no child should ever have and through out this series we learn about that life and the lives of those who have come to be Miki's family but it's here in the final book of Rhys Ford's 'Sinner' series that we get the answers to so many questions. Questions that have led me from story to story looking for the answers only to have one question replaced by another whenever an answer has been found.

I've loved this series heart and soul from start to finish so much so that I've read it all...more than once and when that wasn't enough I turned to the audio books for more and that my friends is what has me clicking away on my keyboard right now...I mean really how could I resist the chance to follow this last part of the journey one more time...with Tristan James once again bringing the men and women of 'Sinners' to life...the answer is 'I couldn't'. Mr. James has been the narrator for these stories from the beginning and along with the fact that he is absolutely one of my favorite narrators having the same narrator for every one of these stories has been so incredibly delightful. I couldn't imagine a better audio experience than this.

I'm going to borrow from my original review of this book at this point just to highlight how much I enjoyed this series and how absolutely delightful it is to  listen to the voices that Tristan James has given to the characters in these stories and have that automatic recognition of who you're listening to because it's been the same narrator from the very beginning...

So imagine if you will hearing these quotes being not only spoken by the characters but in a voice that you effortlessly recognize because you've heard that voice in each of the previous stories and it's always been the same voice...

From Brigid as she speaks to Miki about Dude the dog...
"I'm sure the dog cares, just in his own way," she said with a laugh.

to Edie, their manager...
"Now do you understand why you need me?" She'd said to the shocked band members. "You just lost an argument with the person who is willing to go to the mat for you. Imagine how far you'll get when you go head-to-head with somebody who wants to bleed you dry?..."

to Donal...
"Then maybe what ye need to hear from me is that no matter who comes into your life, I will not let them hurt ye, and I will always be there when ye call out for your da."

and everyone in between...but ultimately there is Kane...
"...You mean more to me than my badge and the dead. I love you. And if I have to, I would give up everything I've become--everything I've accomplished--just to hold you if you need me."

if reading these words left me reaching for the tissues than have no doubts that I was sitting once again with tissues at hand as listened to them in the voices that I've come to think of as Brigid, Donal, Miki and Kane's.

And as I also said in my review for the eBook...

It's been a hella' good ride with this series and I really can't think of anything more to say other than if you haven't read it check it out because you really don't want to read this one without having read the previous books and if you've read those books then I can't imagine that you won't love this final installment in the 'Sinners' series.

Thank you, Ms. Ford for writing what has become one of my absolute favorite series...EVER!!!

and thank you Tristan James for doing it all justice!

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An audio book of 'Sin and Tonic' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

all this means I'ma happy, happy girl.

'Savior' is the second book in 415 Ink by Rhys Ford.  I'll be totally up front here I'm fan of this author...she's at the top of my 'must buy' list and for whatever reason her writing just speaks to my heart and it works for me pretty much without fail. Off the top of my head I can honestly say there's not a  book of hers that I wouldn't  happily enjoy over and over again either in book or audio format.  These stories are totally one of my happy places.

I loved 'Rebel' which gave us Gus and Rey's story. For that matter one of the things that I've come to look for in pretty well any book I read is the character's background...it's like watching a puzzle come together. Finding out how that character went from the child they were to the adult they become...what shaped them gave them their strengths, their weaknesses, their passions all the things that make them who they are and it's stories like these where that background for me is such an integral part of everything. 

415 Ink is a series about 5 men all of them failed by the system in one way or another and yet they manage not to fail each other coming together as a family and this time around we get a look at Mason's past. It's not a past that I would wish on anyone and it's left Mason struggling with his sense of self worth. Mason doesn't do relationships because he's pretty sure he's not good relationship material. But try as he might he can't seem to keep himself from being drawn to Rob one of the tattoo artist that work at 415 Ink the family business and the fact that Rob's equally drawn to him doesn't help his determination...sometimes resistance really is futile.

Mason for me was honestly the brother that held the least interest...or at least that's what I thought...but apparently still waters do run deep. The more I read the more interested in Mason I became and the more I realized that he was so much more than the character we'd been given in 'Rebel'. Add in the fact that while we met Rob in 'Rebel' we really weren't given any information about him in that story and I got a book that I enjoyed a lot more than I had anticipated. 

Compared to Mason, Rob's had a life of leisure. While Rob never wanted for material needs like so many kids now a days what he lacked was the time and attention of his parents but abuse was never an issue. Rob walked away from the life his father had planned for him to find his own way in the world and while this left things strained between him and his father. It was never a hopeless situation just one that would need time and compromise on both parts to fix.

While I enjoyed the relationship that developed between Mason and Rob. I loved seeing Mason come to terms with and get closure on the part of his life that haunted him and kept him from truly opening up to both his brothers and the man he would come to love.

'Savior' took Mason from being 'just one of the brothers' to not just a brother but an individual and solidified his place in this self-made family for me making him someone that I look forward to getting more of in future stories but for now I'm holding out for what we were teased with at the end of 'Savior' and that's Ivo's story...I can't imagine it's going to be anything less than out there, in our faces and totally flamboyant just like the man  himself and maybe, in the meantime I'll get to go to another happy place and hear get my hands on the audio book for 'Savior' when it's available...please, let there be an audio book.

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An ARC of 'Savior' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Hello.

There will be no soup in this post. If you're looking for a post about comforting soup, this is not it.

Instead, there will be lots of pictures from my brief interlude in Paris.