Author: cherylmahoney

I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).

Movie Review: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

On By cherylmahoneyIn Historical Fiction, Reviews3 Comments

dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-movie-poster-1941-1020452635During R.I.P. this year, I read a lot of classic horror, including Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  And it wasn’t very good!  But it still left me wanting to watch the movie–specifically, the 1941 one, starring Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman.  It was very much unlike the book, and so much better!

The novel puts the POV for most of the book from a friend of Dr. Jekyll’s, and keeps the mystery (that Hyde and Jekyll are one person) from being revealed for a very long time.  The movie dispenses with both these ideas.  We begin with the affable Dr. Jekyll (Spencer Tracy) who is engaged to be married to the lovely and genteel Beatrix (Lana Turner).  On a walk one night, he encounters Ivy (Ingrid Bergman), a saucy barmaid who quite likes the fine doctor–but he resists temptation and stays true to his fiancee.  Meanwhile in his work, he’s exploring the question of how good and evil are mixed in every individual, and whether there might be a scientific solution to separate them, in the interest of helping the criminally insane.  When he tests his elixir on himself, he morphs into the hideous Mr. Hyde–who has no moral qualms about seeking out Ivy.  Hyde begins a depraved affair with Ivy, while Jekyll grows increasingly conflicted…and increasingly loses control of his darker half. Continue reading “Movie Review: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” →

Quotable Jessamyn West

On By cherylmahoneyIn Quotable2 Comments

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.”
― Jessamyn West

Book Review: The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction, Young Adult1 Comment

After falling madly in love with the reincarnation premise of My Name Is Memory, I of course had to try The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare by M.G. Buehrlen.  And now that I have, I feel…deeply mixed.  I enjoyed the read!  But not without reservations.

Seventeen-year-old Alex Wayfare is living her 57th life.  She doesn’t know that–all she knew is that she sometimes has disturbing, vivid visions of past times–until she meets Porter, a friend from her previous lifetime who can explain the truth.  Alex is a Transcender, with the ability to Descend into her own past lifetimes by passing through Limbo.  Porter serves as Alex’s mentor and her guardian, protecting her from an enemy made in her previous lifetime.  But Porter won’t tell Alex everything and mysteries abound…and there’s this boy.  Alex meets Blue (not his real name) first in Chicago in 1927–but then she bumps into him again in 1961–and in 1876…

So to begin with: very cool concept here!  For science fiction, this was light on explanations, but I was willing to take it largely as though it was fantasy and not ask too many questions, and that seemed fine.  The idea of all these lifetimes in different centuries is so intriguing, and the shadowy forces stalking Alex are suitably sinister.  Continue reading “Book Review: The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare” →

Blog Hop: Reading Stats

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop6 Comments

book blogger hopThis week’s Book Blogger Hop question: How many books do you read in a week? How many hours do you spend reading a day?

I usually calculate per month, and average about 12-15 books a month.  So I guess that’s…3 to 4 per week.  I hit the higher numbers when I read shorter books, obviously!  🙂

I read for about an hour and a half a day, mostly over meals and on my lunch break.  Sometimes I’ll read for up to another hour in the evening, although not all the time and rarely more than that.  If I had more free time, I would spend more of it reading…but as it is, I read fast and get through a lot anyway.

One of my favorite things about reading other book blogs is finding bloggers who read even more books than I do! 😀

Book Review: Wild Rover No More

On By cherylmahoneyIn Historical Fiction, Reviews1 Comment

I have been reading the Bloody Jack series for at least ten years, and with its release last month, I have finally read the last book in the adventure: Wild Rover No More by L. A. Meyer, “the last recorded account of the life and times of Jacky Faber.” And we can be sure it really is the end–sadly, L. A. Meyer died this past summer, though I’m glad for him (and us!) that he was able to finish his series.

This final book was, as the series has always been, a lot of fun to read, with humor and hijinks galore.  It was also plagued by some of the same issues that I’ve seen in the last few books of the series.  So–I think I’ll talk a bit about the book, a bit about how it stands as the final conclusion, and then some thoughts on the series on a whole.

This book opens a few months after the conclusion of Boston Jacky, and the lingering crises of that book are tidied neatly away within just a few chapters.  New crises arise when Jacky is framed for espionage and must once again go on the run, fleeing Boston first for a job as a governess, and then to join the circus.  But the law is catching up to her, and soon her belief that she was always meant for hanging will be sorely tested. Continue reading “Book Review: Wild Rover No More” →