Blog Lovin': Keep track of your favorite blogs all in one spot!

I don't have a ton of time to read blogs, but there are a few I like to keep up to date on. I just discovered bloglovin', a great way to keep track of my favorite writers and sites.

You can add me to your bloglovin' feed. If you have a blog, please make a comment below with your blog web address so that I can follow all my friends too!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Robin

Robin Review's it: Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold

Book Title: Carter Beats the Devil
Author: Glen David Gold
Pages: 662
Published: 2001
Publisher: Hyperion
Recommended for: 18+

An engaging story of Carter the Great with fantastic illusions and fun historical tidbits.

4.25 Stars

My Opinion: The backdrop of this story is one of historical events mixed in with possibility. As a master of illusions, Carter grows from a child fascinated with magic to an adult who lives for it.

The details that went into the staging and magic acts were flawless. The descriptions gave me the illusion of being an audience member back when Houdini or Carter took the stage. I Iiked that the magic in the book was possible and still so amazing that you could hardly believe it.

The two love stories, though definitely not the center of the book, carried me from the middle to the end. SPOILER: My heart broke when Carter's first love met with tragic accident as part of one of Carter's magic tricks. I liked that he didn't just get over it and had to go through years of struggle before finding his final love.

I was awestruck at how the author took real events from the 1920s, like the death of President Harding, and turned it into a fantastic story that had me Googling the internet to find out what really happened to the president and what Glen David Gold made up. What was even more fun was that some of the things COULD have happened. SPOILER: How cool would if have been for the real President Harding to escape scandal and find peace with his wife on a remote island? I mean, how did he come up with this stuff?!?

Though it took me a few chapters to get into the book (some of the jumping around from character to character didn't get me emotionally engaged until later), overall the book was well-written and researched with enough surprise to keep me reading until the very end. I'm excited to pick up some more of Gold's books.


My Content Rating: PG-13 
SEXUALITY: Moderate (references to prostitution and homosexuality--the red tie)
LANGUAGE/PROFANITY: Mild
DRUG/ALCOHOL USE: Moderate
INTENSE/SCARY SCENES: Moderate (mostly just intense illusions)
VIOLENCE: Moderate (agents getting beat up, attempted murder, death)

**Robin-approved for 18+ audiences**