Sailing the Graveyard Sea by Richard Snow

 

Title: Sailing the Graveyard Sea:  The Deathly Voyage of the Somers, the U.S. Navy's Only Mutiny, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation

Author:  Richard Snow

Narrated by:  Jacques Roy

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 4 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

 

Do you like to listen to audiobooks in the car on long trips?  If you are traveling with someone, how do you decide what book to listen to?  We traveled to Michigan over Thanksgiving weekend.  My daughter enjoys watching movies on trips and opts out of audiobooks.  I read the descriptions of several non-fiction audiobooks to my husband and two sons and they all voted to listen to Sailing the Graveyard Sea by Richard Snow.

Sailing the Graveyard Sea introduced us to a new part of history that we had never heard before.  In 1842, the US brig-of-war Somers was being used a training vessel for many 14- to 18-year-olds and was captained by Commander Alexander Mackenzie.  When the ship arrived in Boston, Mackenzie announced that he had narrowly prevented a mutiny and had hanged the three mutineers at sea.  One of the mutineers was 18-year-old acting Midshipman Philip Spencer, the son of the Secretary of War, John Spencer.

As officials look more into the case, they could not find any evidence that a mutiny did indeed take place.  Everything was based on the testimony of one crew man who stated that Spencer had talked about taking over the ship and becoming a pirate.  After Mackenzie heard this, he locked up Spencer and two other men and through paranoia started to believe that everyone was against him and that mutiny was imminent.  He decided to hang the three men without a trial before arriving back at port.  For this decision, he was put on trial.  The trial was riveting and did not end as we all expected it would.

This was a fascinating story that kept us enthralled through our voyage.  Jacques Roy was a good narrator.   I enjoyed hearing the back story of Philip Spencer, the ne’er-do-well son of the Secretary of War.  Spencer loved reading pirate stories and talking about pirates.  Was he just entertaining himself and the other sailor with pirate stories or did he indeed want to take over the ship?  One thing was for certain, the training of officers had to change.  After this trial, the Naval Academy was started in Annapolis.

Overall, Sailing the Graveyard Sea is a fascinating look into a forgotten episode of naval history.

The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

 

Title:  The Recovery Agent

Author:  Janet Evanovich

Narrated by:  Lorelei King

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 26 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

 Happy Publication Day to The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich!  I love her Stephanie Plum series on audio, and I was very excited to be able to review the start of her new series, The Recovery Agent.  It has the same narrator, Lorelei King, who happens to be my very favorite audiobook narrator. She was great again in this novel.

 Gabriela Rose is a recovery agent and works for clients to retrieve lost treasures or information around the world.  After her hometown is devasted by a hurricane, she decides to try to solve an old family legend and look for the ring of Solomon to raise enough money to repair the town.  Unfortunately, this means that she must look in the home that her ex-husband Rafer received in their settlement.  Rafter is handsome, but also drives Gabriela insane. He decides he needs to be on this adventure as the map came from his home.  Soon the two are traveling to exotic locals with a madman on their trail.  Will they be able to find the ring and save their hometown?

 The Recovery Agent was just the type of audiobook I wanted to listen to right now.  It was funny and a great adventure.  It reminded me of Romancing the Stone, but with a more capable heroine.  It had all of the adventure and treasure seeking that I loved in the Indiana Jones and the National Treasure series. Rafer is kind of a blend of Morelli and Ranger from the Stephanie Plum series, but he seems to lean more towards Morelli.  Rafer and Gabriela have great chemistry.  I love the witty banter throughout the novel.

 Overall, The Recover Agent is a great new humorous adventure series.  I’m looking forward to the next book.

How to Train Your Dragon Book 2: How to Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell

Title: How to Train Your Dragon Book 2:  How to Be a Pirate

Author: Cressida Cowell

Read by:  David Tennant

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers

Length: Approximately 2 hours and 54 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com through Audible

How to Train Your Dragon is an audiobook series that entertains the entire family on road trips.  We were recently on a six-hour round trip for camping over the Memorial Day weekend and How to Train Your Dragon Book 2:  How to Be a Pirate was the family choice.  The story keeps all of the family entertained and David Tennant cannot be equaled as a great audiobook narrator with a voice for each character.  The sounds effects were great as well.  11-year old Daniel just likes saying “Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.” I think Daniel wishes that was his impressive name.  The kids liked hearing more of Hiccup’s story of how he learns to be a Viking warrior and the antics of his friends and dragon, Toothless. The villain in this one has a memorable scene showing up in a coffin at sea and fooling them all for a while.  It’s overall a great book for a family road trip.

Lord of the Privateers by Stephanie Laurens Review (TLC Book Tours)

February is a month for romance novel reading.  I have read and enjoyed romance novels by Stephanie Laurens in the past and thought it would be good to read her latest.

Isobel Carmichael and Royd Frobisher were childhood sweethearts and companions.  After hand fasting, Royd sailed away promising to return in a month, only to be gone over a year.  Isobel swore they were finished at that point.  Now nine years later, Isobel has a mission she needs Royd to take her on as a privateer to rescue her young cousin.  Will Isobel and Royd be able to put aside personal differences to complete their mission?  Will they be able to resolve the problems that tore them apart in the first place?

I enjoyed Lord of the Privateers, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I would have read the other books in the series (this is the fourth book).  I constantly felt like I was missing something while I read the book.  I liked the two strong main characters, although their stubbornness made me angry at times!

I enjoyed the setting being during the Regency area with a stop in London.  Having most of the action on a privateer ship off on a rescue adventure made it very unique compared to other regency romance novels I have enjoyed.

My favorite quote:  “Fate moves in decidedly cynical ways.”

Overall, Lord of the Privateers is a good passionate adventure to satisfy your February romantic reading desires.  I would recommend reading the rest of the series first before enjoying this novel.

Book Source:  Review Copy for being a part of the TLC Book Tour

Check out other stops of this tour at this link: 

http://tlcbooktours.com/2016/10/stephanie-laurens-author-of-lord-of-the-privateers-on-tour-januaryfebruary/

Kids’ Summer Reads

 I know its October, but I’m finally posting about our favorite kid reads from the summer. We read a lot in my family.  Each kid gets at least one book a night (one or two depending on how the night is going, sometimes more if you are Penelope and look cute).  We read to my five-year old son and two-year old daughter, but we “flip-flop” with my seven-year old son.  He reads two pages and then we read the next two pages and so forth.  These favorite books are actually favorites for the boys, particularly Kile (my seven year old) from the summer.  I need to make a post soon with Penelope’s favorite reads!

Who Cloned the President?  By Ron Roy

 

Kile and I flip-flopped read this book together, but both boys enjoyed it.  I learned of this series from one of my friends on Facebook when I asked for everyone’s favorite kid series.  It sounded like something my boys would like so we checked it out.

KC Corcoran notices something is odd with the President on TV.  He uses the wrong hand to sign papers and is not acting right.  She realizes he must have been replaced by a clone.  She ropes her friend Marshall into sneaking into the White House to solve the mystery.

The boys loved the inventive use of spiders and how the kids saved the day.  They also enjoyed how the kids were rewarded at the end.  I think they would definitely enjoy reading more of this series.

Michigan Chillers #1:  Mayhem on Mackinac Island by Jonathan Rand

Mayhem on Mackinac Island was a bit above Kile’s reading level (he just started second grade), but he will probably be reading these books soon.  I have never seen a book capture both Kile and my five year old son Daniel’s imagination so completely.  What was even more amazing was that this book had no pictures but it was so enthralling that at the end of each capture the kids would say, “Mommy keep reading.”  They loved it.

The book is told through the point of view of a young girl named Sandy.  Every year she vacations on Mackinac Island with her family including her brother Tim. They are riding their bikes around the island when they follow a mysterious stranger into a tree.  The tree swallows them and they find themselves on the Isle of Mayhem. They have to find the mysterious stone key in order to return back home.  They meet various amazing creatures along the way and also are each given a stone that gives them a secret power.  They work together with their new friends and against their enemies (Wartwings) to solve the mystery.

We’ve started reading book two in this series and it is just as engaging to my boys. Thanks to my college friend Liz for recommending this series!

Scooby-Doo!  Mystery #32:  The Haunting of Pirate Cove by Kate Howard

My eldest son Kile LOVES Scooby Doo.  His siblings enjoy Scooby as well, but not to the level that Kile does. He loves to read the Scooby Doo Readers and watch the cartoons, old and new.  He picked this book out from the Scholastic Book order before school ended and we read it over the summer.  It doesn’t have many pictures, and appeared to be above Kile’s reading level.  He was so enthused about the subject matter though that he dove in and read the book with me over the summer.  Pirates are another favorite of Kile’s so combining Scooby Doo and pirates was a winner in his eyes.  

In the Haunting of Pirate Cove, the Mystery Inc. gang are on a pirate cruse.  When Daphne is kidnapped, the rest of the gang has to figure out to crack the mystery of an evil ghost pirate.  Kile enjoyed this book and I think he’s ready to read some more Scooby Doo Mysteries.