Music N' More: August 2018

Saturday, August 25, 2018

The Prime Minister's Secret Agent by Susan Elia Macneal (Maggie Hope series book 4)

This is the fourth installment of the Maggie Hope series

Summary
-Maggie is ready for some R&R. She finds that on a Scottish isle, home to the training camps which trained her for MI-5 work. Instead of rest and relaxation, she is, once again, drawn into a mystery. Three ballerinas, including one of Maggie's closest friends, Sarah Sanderson, fall victim to a mysterious illness which leaves oozing black blisters. As she investigates, it turns out that the oozing black blisters are a result of exposure to anthrax. She soon discovers that the Prime Minister is hoping to develop bioweapons to use against Britain's enemies. But taking attention away from this are the struggles in the Pacific with the Japanese.

His Majesty's Hope by Susan Elia Macneal (Maggie Hope series book 3)

This is the third installment of the Maggie Hope series

Summary
-After the events at Windsor Castle, Maggie is now working for a black ops operation called Special Operations Executive. This group helps the British war effort both at home and abroad. Her first mission is to go to Nazi-controlled Berlin, the very central command center of the Nazis and infiltrate the highest levels, collecting information and sending it back to London. She also comes across a secret that shocks her.

Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia Macneal (Maggie Hope series Book 2)

This is the second installment of the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia Macneal

Summary
-Maggie is back. This time she's completed her MI-5 spy training and is itching to put those skills to use. Much to her great disappointment, she will not be heading out on reconnaissance missions to collect intelligence for the British war effort. Instead, she's going undercover at Windsor Castle, to tutor the young Princess Elizabeth in math. The upstairs-downstairs Downton Abbey-style world of Windsor Castle proves much more dangerous than she thought as a murder is committed. This throws the whole royal family into disarray and she much race against the clock to protect both the royal family and England against a threat much larger than everything

Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia Macneal (Maggie Hope series Book 1)

This is the first installment of a WWII-era spy series by Susan Elia Macneal

Summary
-Maggie Hope is not your average woman. British-born, American-raised and educated, she moves to England only to settle her late grandmother's estate. With her high level of education, she is only able to secure a job at 10 Downing Street, home to then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as a typist, among his menagerie of cats. She's offered an opportunity to investigate the murder of a woman who worked in her position before her. As the investigation unfolds, it tells of an IRA plot to destroy England. After solving this case, she if offered the chance to undergo training for work at MI-5, or British Intelligence.

Thursday, August 23, 2018

New series of books

Lately, I've been consumed with two new series of books. The Harris Brothers series by Amy Daws on my Kindle and in paperback form the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal.

Normally, I wouldn't read romances, but for some reason, most of the romance stories I've been reading on my Kindle lately have had to involve soccer, London or a combination of both, like the below-mentioned Harris Brothers series. For some reason, romance stories involving soccer and London appeal to me! Not to mention there are probably tons of cute guys in London and England in general ;) ;) ;)

The shocking thing is that Amy Daws, who writes this soccer series, is American and found it extremely hard to write English characters. Luckily, in her acknowledgements at the end of each book, she mentions that people who work with her on the book, also friends of hers, are English and they ensure that everything is good to go in terms of English culture, such as how the characters would talk or react in certain situations. She says that she is obsessed with all things London and that is what inspired her incredibly gorgeous soccer playing brothers series

The Harris Brothers series

-The Harris Brothers series involves a band of soccer-playing brothers named Camden, Tanner, Booker and Gareth Harris. The younger of the three-Camden, Tanner, Booker- play for the fictional Bethnal Green FC football team at Tower Park while the oldest brother, Gareth, plays for Manchester United FC

-There are five books in this series. Each one surrounding a different Harris Brother

1. Challenge-Camden Harris and Indie Porter

2. Endurance-Tanner Harris and Belle Ryan

3. Keeper-Booker Harris and Poppy McAdams

4. Surrender-Gareth Harris and Sloan Montgomery

5. Dominate-Sloan and Gareth

The Maggie Hope series

-The Maggie Hope series is a WWII-era spy series that takes place in London during WWII. It involves a woman named Maggie Hope, British-born, raised in America and recently transplanted back in England. She starts out working as a typist for then British prime minister Winston Churchill. But then is offered the chance to work for MI-5 as a spy.

-There are eight books in this series

1. Mr. Churchill's Secretary

2. Princess Elizabeth's Spy

3. His Majesty's Hope

4. The Prime Minister's Secret Agent

5. Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante

6. The Queen's Accomplice

7. The Paris Spy

8. The Prisoner in the Castle

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Dominate (Harris Brothers series Book 5)

This is the final installment of the Harris Brothers series

Summary
-After the events of the story Surrender, who's to say whether Gareth and Sloan will ever truly heal? Only time will tell whether the two will see the light of the future or the darkness of the past.

Surrender (Harris Brothers series Book 4)

This is the next installment of the Harris Brothers series by Amy Daws. This one concerns the oldest Harris brother, Gareth.

Also, as a side note, Amy Daws is an American author. She says in the Acknowledgements section of each book that as an American writer, it was near impossible to write English characters, but some of the people helping her out with these books are English and they give her a good education in what some of these characters would say, do or how they would react in different situations.

Summary
-Growing up in a Bethnal Green FC family is not easy. It's a lot worse having three younger brothers named Camden, Tanner and Booker also playing for Bethnal Green FC. When Gareth gets the opportunity to play for Manchester United FC, he can't pack his bags fast enough.

-Enter Sloan Montgomery. She's American, a clothing stylist who moved to Manchester with a man who seems to be her short term love, not her forever. Worse, she's pregnant by this man. She now has to share custody of their daughter, despite the divorce. But on a chance encounter, Gareth meets this lively American and seem to hit it off immediately!

August Birthdays

Since it's August, time to say Happy Birthday!!!

Glenn Hughes
-DOB: 8/21/1952
-Where: Cannock, Staffordshire, England
-Glenn finally got fully sober when he was living in LA and thought he was having a heart attack. His then girlfriend called for an ambulance and while en route to the hospital, he was babbling on about how he wasn't a typical drug addict. The ambulance driver threatened to come back there and beat him senseless

Ian Gillan

-DOB: 8/19/1945

-Where: London, England

-When he left the band Deep Purple the first time around, Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company was considered as a replacement

Joe Elliott

-Birth name: Joseph Thomas Elliott

-DOB: 8/1/1959

-Where: Sheffield, England

-He has been the singer of Def Leppard since the beginning, when the band had started out as a trio known as Atomic Mass. This trio consisted of bassist Rick Savage, drummer Tony Kenning and guitarist Pete Willis

Still good looking!!!

Daniel Dae Kim

-Birth name: Dae-Hyun Kim

-DOB: 8/4/1968

-Where: Pusan, South Korea

-He had to relearn Korean very fast when he found out he would be playing a Korean character named Jin Kwon on Lost.

Very handsome!!

James Jagger

-DOB: 8/28/1985

-Where: New York City, New York

-He and Robert Pattinson were high school classmates

Wow, he resembles his father so much!!

Antonio Banderas

-Birth name: Jose Antonio Dominguez Banderas

-DOB: 8/10/1960

-Where: Malaga, Spain

-When he first arrived in the US, he learned how to speak English phonetically before attempting something as risky as breaking into Hollywood, who seems very hard on foreign-born talent

Viola Davis

-DOB: 8/11/1965

-Where: Saint Matthews, South Carolina

-She is the first black actress to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for the show How to Get Away with Murder

Robert De Niro

-Birth name: Robert Anthony De Niro Jr

-DOB: 8/17/1943

-Where: Greenwich Village, New York City, New York

-As a child, his nickname was "Bobby Milk" because he was so pale

Vivian Campbell

-Birth name: Vivian Patrick Campbell

-DOB: 8/25/1962

-Where: Belfast, Ireland

-Was let go from the band Dio after a disagreement between him and singer/founding member Ronnie James Dio

Rob Halford

-Birth name: Robert John Arthur Halford

-DOB: 8/25/1951

-Where: Sutton Colfield, England

-As a child, he sang in the local church choir

Robert Plant

-Birth name: Robert Anthony Plant

-DOB: 8/20/1948

-Where: West Bromwich, England

-Is a supporter of the Wolverhampton Wanderers

Sean Connery

-Birth name: Thomas Sean Connery

-DOB: 8/25/1930

-Where: Edinburgh, Scotland

-He has a tattoo saying "Scotland forever" and a tattoo saying "Mum and dad" on his right arm. He had gotten them at 16 when he enlisted in the Royal Navy

Bruce Dickinson

-Birth name: Paul Bruce Dickinson

-DOB: 8/7/1958

-Where: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England

-Wrote the song "Accident of Birth" about himself because he describes himself as an accident of birth. He says he was born by mistake because his parents were only 17 and 18 when he was born. While five years later, his sister Helena, was a planned birth.