Deceived
Private Justice, book 3
by Irene Hannon
Publisher: Revell
Pub. Date: October 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0800721251
Pages: 416
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

With all the historical romance novels that I review on here, many of you probably don't know that I do like reading a good mystery novel. Arriving  in bookstores this month is third installment of the Private Justice series, titled Deceived by Irene Hannon, the bestselling author of the Heroes of Quantico and Guardians of Justice series.

Deceived centers on Kate Marshall, a woman whom has spent the last three years rebuilding her life after the shocking death of her husband and four-year-old son in a boating accident. Then out of nowhere she overhears a young boy on a mall escalator say "poppysicle." Her own son had pronounced the word Popsicle as poppysicle. Now Kate starts to wonder if her son is still somehow alive.

Of course the local law enforcement thinks she is just a grieving mother wanting to believe her son is alive and they don't serach for the boy she heard in the mall. She hires the former Secret Service agent turned private investigator, Connor Sullivan, to look into the boating accident that claimed her family, but she might not be able to handle the haunting truth.

Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past
by Sharyn McCrumb
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Pub. Date: October 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1426754210
Pages: 160
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

There may be candy and Halloween costumes in the department stores and horror movies on television this month, but for bookstores this month means a surge of new Christmas title, including Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past by Sharyn McCrumb!

The 160-page novella features the return of characters from the author's other novels, such as Nora Bonesteel, who finds an odd visitor on her doorsteps on Christmas Eve - Shirley Haverty, a woman she rarely sees, as normally Shirley and her husband spend the winter in Florida, but their love for the land, resulted in them buying the old Honeycutt farmhouse. It seems Shirley and her husband have been experiencing strange occurrences in their home, leading Shirley to suspect that the house is haunted. After hearing about Nora's expertise for the supernatural, Shirley is seeking her help.


Meanwhile, Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and Deputy Joe LeDonne aren't exactly spending Christmas Eve as they thought they would, as they are on their way to serve an arrest warrant for a hit-and-run to J.D. Shull.

Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition
Director: Clyde Geronimi, Les Clark, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman
Voice Cast: Mary Costa, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy Barbara Jo Allen, Bill Shirley, Taylor Holmes, Bill Thompson
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 7, 2015
Retail: $36.99
ASIN: B00KB3PZ60
Running Time: 75 minutes
Rating: G
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Being released from the Disney vault this week is the 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty, directed by Clyde Geronimi, Les Clark, Eric Larson and Wolfgang Reitherman. The Diamond Edition features the film on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD. Bonus features include 3 Deleted Scenes, The Art of Evil: Generation Of Disney Villains, @DisneyAnimation: Artist in Motion - Extended Edition, Once Upon A Parade - Join Sarah Hyland from ABC's Modern Family as she tell us the tale of Walt Disney World's New Festival Of Fantasy Parade, Beauty Oke - Sing-Along, Picture Perfect: The Making Of Sleeping Beauty and Eyvind Earie: A Man And His Art.

Based on the fairy tales La Belle au bois dormant by Charles Perrault, The Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Little Briar Rose by The Brothers Grimm, tells the story of King Stefan and Queen Leah's daughter, Princess Aurora. On the day of her christening she is visited by the evil fairy Maleficent, who casts a curse of the young princess. The curse states that on her sixteenth birthday she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die. Horrified by the curse, the King and Queen have no other choice but let the good fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather raise and protect Princess Aurora, who renamed Briar Rose.

On her sixteenth-birthday, Aurora goes out to collect berries where she meets Prince Phillip. Later that day, the three good fairies tell her about her heritage, which leads a raven to inform Aurora's location to Maleficent, who will do anything to make sure the curse is carried through.

At the time, Sleeping Beauty was Disney's biggest budget animated film, costing nearly $6 million, but the film only earned around $5.3 million at the theaters. The film received mixed to negative reviews during its original release, though over time the film was been re-released to theaters, finally becoming a box-office success.

With the MLB baseball ending their season with this month's playoffs and the World Series, that means sports fans can focus their attention on the NFL season, which is currently in  its fifth week. Many football fans also participate in a fantasy football league, where an individual can be their own manager, draft real-life players or trade players with other members in your league.

While many fantasy football leagues are "just for fun," there are a few that prefer to give a prize to the winner. Sorry, I'm not talking about a Super Bowl ring, but I am referring to a fantasy football plaque or a fantasy football trophy. Sure, money would make a great prize too, but placing a fantasy football award in your office, in a trophy case or in your man cave will give you a chance to showoff your accomplishment to your friends and family.

Sleepy Hollow: Children Of The Revolution
by Keith R. A. DeCandido
Publisher: Broadway Books
Pub. Date: September 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-0553419009
ASIN: 978-0553419009
Pages: 304
Buy Links: Paperback, Kindle

Review:

The television series Sleepy Hollow was a surprise hit last year on FOX, which just started its second season a few weeks ago. Similar to other fantasy television shows, Sleepy Hollow has entered into the world of novelizations with last month's release of Sleepy Hollow: Children Of The Revolution by Keith R. A. DeCandido, an author who has written a novelization of from almost every popular science-fiction and fantasy franchises.

Sleepy Hollow is based on the classic short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving and centers on Ichabod Crane (played by Tom Mison) waking up from his grave in our time and of course the Headless Horseman, whom is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, comes back from the dead too. Crane teams up with Lt. Grace Abigail "Abbie" Mills (played by Nicole Beharie) of the Sleepy Hollow Police Department to defeat the rising demons and the upcoming apocalypse. He is still searching for his long-lost wife Katrina Crane (played by Katia Winter), who is a witch that is stuck between the living and the dead.

Children Of The Revolution takes place between the season one episodes "The Golem" and "The Vessel." Ichabod Crane is still adjusting to living in the twenty-first century; minding his own business while walking in the park that is until he receives a new vision from his wife, Katrina, telling him to seek out the Congressional Cross that he received over two-hundred years ago.

Houdini: Extended Edition
Director: Uli Edel
Starring: Adrien Brody, Kristen Connolly, Evan Jones, 
Studio: LionsGate
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Retail: $29.99
ASIN: B00LX26FSU
Running Time: 174 minutes (Extended Version)
                      150 minutes (Original Broadcast Version)
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Arriving on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD this week is Houdini, the exciting two-part miniseries that aired on the History Channel last month. The miniseries is directed by Uli Edel  and is based on the book Houdini: A Mind in Chains: A Psychoanalytic Portrait by Bernard C. Meyer, M.D.. The Blu-ray features both the Original Broadcast Version and the Extended Version (with an additional 20 minutes!). Special features include The Great Escapes, The Real Houdini, Cheating Death and Houdini the Great.

Kristen Connolly ("Bess") and Adrien Brody ("Harry Houdini") star in Lionsgate Home Entertainment's HOUDINI - 2 DISC EXTENDED EDITION.

Adrien Brody (Best Actor in a Leading Role, The Pianist, 2002) stars the The Great Harry Houdini (though the actor is a lot taller than the real Houdini). The film chronicles Houdini's life through flashbacks, showing him traveling with a magician during his childhood, meeting his future wife Bess (played by the lovely Kristen Connolly) and his "close" relationship with his mother.