Brighter Than the Sun - Darynda Jones

I'm a huge Charley Davidson fan. I mean, seriously, what's not to like about this girl. She's a PI, she names her body parts, she's strong-willed and feisty, and, let's not forget, she's the Grimm Reaper!

For eight books, I've followed her and her antics. And while I love her, I also love Reyes. You know, the son of Satan.

So then here comes Brighter Than the Sun. This is Reyes' story. According to Goodreads, it's book 8.5 of the series. I'm thinking it fits in better after book 1. But does it really matter?

First Grave on the Right introduces us to Charley and Reyes. We see how they meet and as we grow to love Charley, we also love Reyes. But he's always a part of her story. This time, it's his story.

In Brighter Than the Sun we learn Reyes' side of the story. We are brought into his nightmare with Earl. We see his love for his sister Kim. And we learn how Charley saved him from the nightmare that was his life.

If you're a fan of Charley's, and how could you not be, you'll love Reyes' story too.

Five Greats

Another fabulous week has come and gone. We had some great highlights. Check it out.

1. Flowers

Out new house has a little, but lovely garden. This week, I came home to find my housekeeper clipped a few flowers, to brighten the inside of our house as well.

2. Girls' Night

A great evening filled with friends, food and laughs.

3.  Teacher Conferences

Ethan's teacher had great things to say about my boy. So we celebrated with milkshakes. 

4. Blue Jays

We may not be at home, but that doesn't mean we're not as excited as everyone else over our beloved Blue Jays.

5. My Boy

The Grade 4 students had their first Interhouse. This one was on athletics. And I just love this shot of Ethan. He ran the 200m, and even though he came in third, you can see the joy in his face as he crosses the finish line. 

Witches of East End - Melissa de la Cruz

Meet the Beauchamp women. They are witches, who are forbidden to use their magic.

Joanna is the mother. She has the power to heal. For centuries she has been forbidden to use her powers, but when a little boy falls ill, she goes against the council's orders, and heals him. Soon, she starts helping others, and even brings one back from death.

Ingrid is the oldest daughter. She has the power of foresight. Having lived a quiet life as a lonely librarian she feels compelled to help her friend, suffering from infertility. Soon, word gets out that she can help, and women come to her for help and her "magical knots".

Freya is the wild one. She's fallen in love with Bran and is engaged to be married. But she's drawn to his brother. And her happiness spills over to her work, as a bartender, where she begins making magical potions that allows others to fall in love.

It would appear all is well, despite them using their magic, until things in their little down go bad. An elderly couple is attacked, a young girl goes missing, the waters are polluted and people are getting extremely sick. Is this the work of the witches? Or is there something more evil out there?

Chef Ethan

Ethan has started cooking classes again this term. Last week, they made a fruit salad, vegetable salad and a vegetable soup. It was great seeing Ethan try new foods, and even decide which veggies would compliment each other in a soup.

This week's class was about roasting vegetables. The kids were introduced to herbs and spices. Fresh and dried. They were then asked to choose 3 fruits they wanted to roast and 3 vegetables. These were then split into two, and different herbs and spices were used. I love how the teacher has the students choose the fruits, veggies, herbs and spices.

The next day, Ethan decided he was in charge of the side dish. Ethan decided we were going to have carrots, cauliflower and zucchini. And we would have some rosemary to add some flavour.

Busy chopping

The veggies

Carefully washing the rosemary

Adding the rosemary

Out of the oven. Dinner is ready!

Thank you Ethan. The veggies were great!