Rasetsu, Vol. 8

Today’s post is on Rasetsu, Vol. 8 by Chika Shiomi. It is 192 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat. The cover has Rasetsu and Kuryu on it. As it is the eighth volume in the series you need to have read the first seven volumes to understand what is going on. The intended reader is someone who likes urban fantasy, light horror, and light romance. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this manga. The story is told from third person close of Rasetsu and Yako. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Rasetsu's entire body becomes covered with rose marks as her curse overwhelms her! Can true love really save her, especially when Yako meets his old love face-to-face and Kuryu seems to be grappling with a dark secret?

Review- With only a month left until the evil spirit comes for Rasetsu, she is beginning to lose hope. So she is attracting evil spirits to herself and that affects Kuryu in an odd way. His story really comes into focus in this volume with some answers about what his power really is and what he paid to get it. Yako and Rasetsu finally start to realize how they feel about each other and Yako has made himself strong enough to face the bad guy. The volume ends with the evil spirit showing himself and the final battle about to begin. I have enjoyed this series so much and I am look forward to seeing how it going to end. 

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.

Taking Down Backpage

Today's nonfiction post is on Taking Down Backpage: Fighting the World's Largest Sex Trafficker by Maggy Krell. It is 176 pages long and is published by New York University Press. The cover is a picture of the author with a seedy motel behind her. The intended reader is someone who is interested in true crime, court proceedings, and internet culture. There is mild foul language, discussion of sex an rape, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- For almost a decade, Backpage.com was the world's largest sex trafficking operation. Seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, in eight hundred cities throughout the world, Backpage ran thousands of listings advertising the sale of vulnerable young people for sex. Reaping a cut from every transaction, the owners of the website raked in millions of dollars. But many of the people in the advertisements were children, some as young as twelve, who are forced into the commercial sex trade through fear, violence, and coercion.
In Taking Down Backpage, veteran California prosecutor Maggy Krell tells  the story of how she and her team battled against this sex trafficking monolith. Beginning with her early career as a young DA, she shares the evolution of the anti-human-trafficking movement. Through a fascinating combination of memoir and legal insight, Krell reveals how she and her team started with the prosecution of street pimps and ultimately took down the largest purveyor of human trafficking in the world. She shares powerful stories of interviews with survivors, sting operations, court cases, and the personal struggles that were necessary to bring Backpage executives to justices Finally, Krell examines the state of sex trafficking after Backpage and the crucial work that still remains. 

Review- An interesting examination of human trafficking from the point of view of the other side of the table. Krell starts with when she was a new prosecutor and noticed all the very young girls who were being taken in Vice stings and were saying the same things when being questioned. Over the years, she put together what was happening and she helped create a task force to stop the biggest internet page that advertising escorts. It is well written and interesting without getting too graphic with details, the average reader can understand what is happening without the gross details of what the girls lived through. I would recommend this book if you like true crime without too many gross details about the survivors. 

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library. 

Spy x Family, Vol. 1

Today’s post is on Spy x Family, Vol. 1 by Tatsuya Endo. It is 220 pages long and is published by Shonen Jump. The cover has Twilight/Lloid on the cover. The intended reader is someone who likes comedy manga, spy stories, and  just plain fun reads. There is no foul language, no sex, and mild violence in this manga. The story is told from third person close of mostly Lloid. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Master spy Twilight is the best at what he does when it comes to going undercover on dangerous missions in the name of a better world. But when he receives the ultimate impossible assignment—get married and have a kid—he may finally be in over his head!

Not one to depend on others, Twilight has his work cut out for him procuring both a wife and a child for his mission to infiltrate an elite private school. What he doesn’t know is that the wife he’s chosen is an assassin and the child he’s adopted is a telepath!

Review- A very funny manga about a spy, an assassin, and a telepath in a world on the brink of war. Super-spy Twilight has been given a new assignment to stop an extremist politician by getting to know him. But the politician only leaves his safe house to see his child at this elite school. So Twilight must get a wife and child in a week and get the child into the school. I’m not making sounds as funny as it is, with all three hiding who they really are from each other but somehow still being as odd as a spy, an assassin, and a telepath would be. The marriage proposal is one of the funniest things I have read this year. I highly recommend this manga. 

I  give this manga a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, And The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

Today's post is on The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, And The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel. It is 473 pages long including notes and is published by Center Street. The cover is a picture of the monuments men with some of the rescued art. There is mild foul language, no sex, and some discussion of violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised.
In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.
Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.

Review- An excellent history book about the men and women who saved the art that was stolen from every where the Nazis went. The art world discovered what was going on before the rest of the world did by the sale of many privately owned masterpieces. This book follows the men who did this work from the beginning of their departments' creation to when the last one went home. It is a fascinating journey from America into the heart of Germany. The reader learns about the men, their lives, and about the art that was taken. Only the best was taken and the art's importance to western civilization is discussed. I recommend this book for both people interesting in art history and World War 2 history. 

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

Skip Beat!, Vol. 24

Today’s post is on Skip Beat!, Vol. 24 by Yoshiki Nakamura. It is 192 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat. The cover has Sho and Reino on it. As it is the twenty-fourth volume in the series, you need to have read the first twenty-three to understand the story. The intended reader is someone who likes shojo manga, strong female leads, and over the top plots. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this manga. The story is told from third person close of the characters moving as the story needs. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Valentine's Day is on its way, but Kyoko won't be able to celebrate love and friendship the normal way. She's getting blackmailed into giving chocolate to guys she hates, she has her ongoing revenge to oblige, and to top it all off, it's Ren's birthday! How can Kyoko give him a meaningful present when she's slinging meaningless chocolate left and right?

Review- Reino is back and he is being a jerk like normal. He is blackmailing Kyoko into making his chocolate for Valentine’s Day. In addition it’s Ren’s birthday and his present is late. Of course Kyoko is making everything over the top with her extreme feelings about all the people in her life. Add in Sho being as jerk too by pretending that he is not jealous of Ren and Reino who have Kyoko’s attention. Ren’s manager continues to be a source of amusement with his shipping of Kyoko and Ren, especially when Kyoko is not going to give Ren chocolate for Valentine’s Day. It ends with Sho showing up on Valentine’s Day to give a bouquet to Kyoko and it’s going to blow up in his face. I love this series and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen next. 

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.

When a Killer Calls: A Haunting Story of Murder, Criminal Profiling, and Justice in a Small Town

Today’s post is on When a Killer Calls: A Haunting Story of Murder, Criminal Profiling, and Justice in a Small Town by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. It is 336 pages long and is published by Dey Street Books. The cover is a black and white picture of a car with a house in the distance and a red newspaper headline. It is the second in Douglas’ memoirs, but you not have to have read the first one to understand this book. There is foul language, discussion of sexual violence and general violence in this book. There Be Spoilers.

From the back of the audiobook- On May 31, 1985, two days before her high school graduation, Shari Smith was abducted from the driveway of her family home in South Carolina. Based on the crime scene and the abductor’s repeated and taunting calls to the family, law enforcement quickly realized they were dealing with a sophisticated and highly dangerous criminal. A letter arrived the next day entitled “Last Will & Testament,” in which Shari, knowing she was to be murdered, wrote bravely and achingly of her love for her parents, siblings, and boyfriend, saying that while they would miss her, she knew they would persevere through their faith. The abduction rocked her quiet town, triggering a massive manhunt and bringing in the FBI, which enlisted profiler John Douglas. A few days later, a phone call told the family where they could find Shari’s body.
Then nine-year-old Debra May Helmick was kidnapped from her yard, confirming the harsh realization that Smith’s murder was no random act. A serial killer was evolving, and the only way to stop him would be to use the study of criminal behavior to anticipate his next move before he could kill again. Douglas devised a risky and emotionally fraught strategy to use Shari’s lookalike older sister Dawn as bait to draw out the unknown subject. Dawn and her parents courageously agreed.
One of the most haunting investigations of Douglas’s storied career, this case details how the eerily accurate profile he created—alongside his carefully crafted and stage-managed manipulation of the killer’s psychology—combined with dedicated police work and cutting-edge forensic science to end a reign of criminal terror. As Shari’s family took incredible personal risks to lure her killer from the shadows, Douglas and the FBI pushed criminal profiling to its limits, culminating in one of his most dramatic and effective confrontations with a sadistic and remorseless killer. 

 

Review- An interesting and well written book from an FBI agent who worked the case. We start with Shari Smith being abducted from her mailbox near her home and go all the way to the end of the perpetrator’s death. Douglas and the FBI were quickly called in when the perpetrator started calling the family wanting to talk to them. Thus begins a cat and mouse game between law enforcement and the perpetrator. At times this book was terrifying with the perpetrator telling the older daughter that she was to be one with him like her younger sister. But it is interesting to see a case worked from the backend of a profiler. Douglas goes into his processes for creating a profile and how to use it with the local law enforcement. The case is resolved, justice is done but Douglas does not glaze over the pain from the families that were harmed by the perpetrator. Instead, he gives the reader insight into their lives and pain and how they overcame what happened to them in their own ways. I would recommend this book for true crime fans.  

 

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review, and I borrowed this book from my local library.  

Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, Vol. 5

Today’s post is on Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, Vol. 5 by Rin Mikimoto. It is 192 pages long and is published by Kodansha Comics. The cover has Kaede and Hinana on it. As it is the fifth in the series, you need to have the first four volumes. The intended reader is someone who likes shojo manga, vague re-retellings of fairy tales, and cute characters. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this manga. The story is told from third person close of the different characters moving from character to character as the story needs. There Be Spoilers.

From the back of the book- After seeing Kaede at Lockheart Castle, Hinana rests assured that her beloved has eyes only for her … until a surprise visit from Kaede’s manager brings some unexpected news. Kaede’s ex-girlfriend is still in love with him, and she’s decided to try to get him back!

Review- The story continues from the last volume with Kaede working a lot on a series with his ex and Hinana realizing that being with him has some serious downsides. But the big problems in this volume is Kaede’s ex and Hinana’s friend, both admit that they love Kaede and Hinana respectively. Ai-chan didn’t mean to tell Hiana but now that he has, I know that it will cause some issues and Shu, Kaede’s ex, is now threatening Hinana by saying that she will publish photos of her and Kaede and that will ruin Kaede’s career. I hope that the drama with Kaede’s ex does not last too long but I am still enjoying this series and I am curious about what is going to happen next. 

I give this volume a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.

Rescuing Da Vinci

Today’s post is on Rescuing Da Vinci by Robert M. Edsel. It is 302 pages long and is published by Laurel Publishing, LLC. The cover is a picture of some monument men with a Da Vinci. There is no foul language, no sexuality, and no violence in this book. The intended reader is someone who is interested in world war 2 history and art. There Be Spoilers Ahead. 

From the back of the book- Tells the story of Monuments Men who during and following World War II, served behind enemy lines and joined frontline military units to ensure the preservation, protection, and restitution of the world's greatest artistic and cultural treasures. This book includes their heroics and exploits in rescuing and safeguarding the world's great artworks.

Review- This is a great book about lesser known world war 2 history. As Europe was being freed, the Allies learned that the Nazis were stealing art and taking it back to Berlin for Hitler. So concerned museums, artists, and others involved in art formed a group to protect and find the stolen art. They were called the Monuments Men. This book is a pictorial history of the work that those men did. Each chapter started with a little explanation about where in the war the reader is and what the monuments men were trying to find and safe. This was a great book and the full page pictures really help the reader  understand what the monuments men and why they worked so hard to safe the art. 

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

Midnight Secretary, Vol. 7

Today’s post is on Midnight Secretary, Vol. 7 by Tomu Ohmi. It is 192 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat. The cover has Kaya and Kyohei on it. As it is the last volume in the series you need to have read the first six volumes in the series to understand the story. There is mild foul language, sex and no violence in this manga. The story is told from third person close of the main character, Kaya. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Kyohei has been banished from his clan because he refuses to renounce his love for Kaya. But a lone vampire is a dangerous thing to be, and Kyohei finds himself cut off from the vampires' power and protection. He doesn't even have access to blood substitutes anymore! Kaya wants to support him through this crisis, but arranging "dinner dates" for him again might be more than her heart can take! 

Review- This is a good ending for a good series. Kyohei has been cast out of the vampire clan and to protect Kaya, they decide to get married. Of course it is not that easy but true love overcomes and all that. Kaya finds herself pregnant and the baby is a vampire, who is protecting its mother from other vampires including its father. The vampire clan wants the baby but Kaya and Kyohei will not bend on that. So they are still out of the clan but the baby is going to change things. Kaya and Kyohei get married and they walk off together into the moonlight. I enjoyed this series, it was fun, had a decent love story, and great art. If you are looking for a good josei series, then you should read this one, I fully recommend Midnight Secretary.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.