I have read every book in the Lords of the Underworld series. I just finished ‘The Darkest Craving’ (Gena Showalter’s latest in the Lord’s of the Underworld series) while sitting in my favourite breakfast restaurant.

All of Gena Showalter’s books are all too easy to get into. She has a writing style which you fall into. When you actually pull yourself out of the story and look around you, it’s dark… maybe the weather has changed and did you really need to catch that bus, keep that appointment, get out of bed that morning anyway?…

The Lord’s of the Underworld are immortal warriors (and yes, I know you’ve heard that one before, stick with me) they open Pandora’s box, let out various and assorted evils into the unsuspecting world. In penance, they are each given one of the evils which they released. The rest are given to others who were prisoners in the same underworld realm at the time. Each Lord of the Underworld was created fully grown, in order to be a warrior. So they have no family, no childhood, but they do have each other – and of course, the great women they meet along the way.

Kane, the Keeper of Disaster Meets Josephina, the Blood Slave and Daughter to the Fae King

In this book the hero is Kane, the keeper of disaster. Disaster is the name (and always the focus) of the demon who lives inside Kane. So, every time Kane does something which makes him happy, Disaster causes terrible things to happen. Mostly, floors begin cracking as he is standing on them, I did think more could have been done with this in the book but it wasn’t a big issue for me.

Kane meets Josephina Aisling. He calls her Tinker Bell, or Tink. A theme with so many romance books is past pain, abuse and so on. This is true for Josephina and Kane as well. (Sometimes I find this theme gets a bit tiresome but the writing, the story and the characters save this book from falling off my list of books I will always read).

Josephina and Kane like each other right away, though Josephina actually saved Kane from hell and asked that he kill her as payment. She wants to stop being the whipping girl for her sister who lives with the rest of her family in the lands of Fae. Kane, recovering from abuse in hell and feeling the guy always left out from his group of warrior friends, feels he has finally found the woman who is “mine”.

Of course, all ends well. Kane and Josephina rule the lands of the Fae together and the bad king and queen are locked away in the dungeons under the palace. The evil brother and the disinterested sister have a story of their own and will likely appear in another book in the Gena Showalter, Lords of the Underworld series.

If you want to find a paranormal romance series you can really enjoy reading, this is your series. But, it is a light read, not a lot of depth to the story and I find the abuse which the characters suffer is glossed off rather than actually dealt with. They fall in love and all become right with the world. Taken as a good read, you will not find many which will as great as this book and the others in the series.

Get into the Lords of the Underworld series one (or more) book at a time.

My favourite of the Lords of the Underworld warriors has been Gideon, the keeper of lies. I've listed this book below. Or, you can get into the series with the first three books, or go for more and get the bigger collection if you have time for a lot of reading. These books are hard to put down.

Why Did you Watch Merlin (assuming you did)?

I may have watched Merlin for the costumes alone. The colours and styles of the Medieval wardrobes were not strictly authentic but they made a good effort while having a real flare. I remember a dress Morgana wore which really caught my imagination but then I noticed she was wearing what looked exactly like modern high heels. Not quite right historically but altogether she looked like a Princess.

The Merlin and Morgana Show

Morgana is my favourite character. I really wish the show had done more with Merlin and Morgana. In the first season Gwen liked Merlin, until the second season when she switched to being love lorn for Arthur and sometimes Lancelot. Morgana seemed to like Arthur, there were expectations for them to get together but I thought she saw him more as a brother. One of my favourite scenes was Merlin poisoning Morgana. It was the first really hard decision Merlin had to make and from there on he seemed less a boy and I think he became the dragon lord soon after. Merlin and Morgana could have worked, if they had been written that way. She would have been much different if she had a real friend she could count on.

I don’t think Morgana’s motives were ever really explained or shown very well. Her character begins as a brave princess with a few bad dreams. She isn’t told who she is, that she has power and was supposed to become someone so different from the brave princess who could hold a sword. Without real cause she becomes bitter and angry even plotting to murder Arthur. She liked Arthur in season one, trusted and confided in him. She was just as honourable and kind as Arthur or Merlin in the first season. Finding out she is Uther’s daughter does not seem like enough to cause her jump in loyalties.

The Merlin and Arthur Show

I enjoyed the rapport between Arthur and Merlin as two young men. Merlin is a bit too good to be true. Steadfast and loyal just because the dragon told him his fate was to make Arthur become a great king. But he and Arthur do develop a friendship which can almost be understood in spite of the servant and royal Prince roles they actually have. Some of the best lines and humour come from the simple moments between Merlin and Arthur.

I liked the character of Uther who I have never seen given so much depth and range in any other movie or series about Arthur, Merlin and the knights of the round table. Uther becomes a real person rather than a background story. Of all the characters I think Uther is the most human, with human flaws, pride and determination. Though he is supposed to be less than Arthur as a king he actually does make very tough decisions and choices which Arthur seems unable to do. Arthur does not want to be a the bad guy but Uther understands a king (or a parent or any other type of leader) can’t always be popular or seen by all as the good guy.

Merlin is on NetFlix Too

Overall I liked the series. I’m watching it over again on NetFlix this week and will likely rewatch and catch up on missed episodes all this month. I didn’t catch a big part of the fourth season so I am looking forward to it.

It's the 40th anniversary of The Princess Bride, by William Goldman. The book was first published in 1973.

Have you read the book? Or just seen the movie? I've seen the movie a few times. Each time I find something I didn't notice earlier or I remember parts I had forgotten. I laugh, I cry and I wish there were more! It's rare to find a movie you really can bring the whole family to see - and enjoy.

Did you know S. Morgenstern, is the fictional author of The Princess Bride? If you read the book William Goldman, the author, claims to have the story from S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. Also, the author says you can get extra pages of the story (which he added to Morgenstern's original story) about the reunion between Buttercup and Westley. If you do write to the publisher and ask for the extra pages they have a form letter which they send back telling you their lawyers will not let them send out the extra pages for legal reasons.

I did read the original book version, before the book was made into a movie in 1987. Seeing the story as larger than life on the big screen at the movie theatre was wonderful. I loved the book - definitely one of those hard to put down books.

William Goldman has alluded to a sequel, Buttercup's Baby. Westley and Buttercup have a daughter, Waverly. A madman throws Waverly off a mountain but Fezzik (who was babysitting) jumps to his doom to save her. But, if there is more, it's not in print for public reading. William Goldman says he has not found the same lucky inspiration which he found for The Princess Bride. (It began as a story for his daughters, one wanted a story about a bride, the other wanted a story about a princess).

Did you know Ian Fleming, the James Bond writer, wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? That was a surprise to me, years ago when I first noticed his name in the credits of the movie. I love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the movie. I have yet to read the original story from the book. There must be differences, things changed for the movie version of the story and things added or skipped. How does it end? I have wished for a continuation to the adventure with Jeremy and Jemimah since I was a little girl and watched the movie for the first time. I wanted my own Dad to become an inventor, instead of an Electrical Engineer and I am sure my love for tiny houses started with Grandpa living in the outhouse in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I love the scene where Grandpa sings about "the traveling life" while stepping his feet out of his outhouse and into the ocean. Posh!

My favourite song from the movie is still 'Hushabye Mountain". Every now and then I pull it up online somewhere just to hear it again. Do you remember the music box/ machine which Dick Van Dyke starts to play at the start of the song?

I haven't watched the movie since the last time I put it on for my nieces and nephew, a few years ago now. It is one of the well-worn videos in their collection. I originally bought it for my nephew, Zack, who is now away for his first year of university and about to turn 18 in just a week.

I found books with the further adventures of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. These were not written by Iam Fleming, the original author. But, they would be fun to read and see where that car takes them next.

There are women gamers who play DnD too.

(People sometimes shorten the name, Dungeons and Dragons, to DnD).

There is so much to a game I can't begin to describe and explain all of it. But, I do think this is a great game for women and families especially. It may have a reputation as a geeky game for a bunch of college boys. That is so limiting.

I played Dungeons & Dragons with my family in the 1980s. My nephew played with young men and a few young women in high school too. I know there are women players out there. I would love to be part of a regular group of all women DnD players.

You might pick up the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set from Amazon. This is my affiliate link. The Starter Set is worth including and does give you the dice, rulebook, and etc. so you don't need to buy anything else to get playing. I'd suggest not buying fancier dice, roleplaying figures, and anything else until you know you like the game and will continue to play. It can become a very expensive hobby if you start buying extras.

Essentially a role playing board game.

To play the game you need a group of people, at least three. One is the Dungeon Master and the other two are players.

The players create a character by choosing some elements and rolling a dice for others. This way no character is ever just like another character. The random chance of rolling the dice brings some unpredictability to the game. Not everything is in your control and levelling up becomes more important as your characters advances in the game. You will find yourself learning new skills as well. Map making and orientation are two great things I learned more about as I played DnD.

Then there is the Dungeon Master. It may sound sinister or creepy but the Dungeon Master (shortened to the DM at times) is the one who plans the route of the game, literally. The Dungeon Master creates a world, a campaign or a map (depending on how much time is available for the game) and the players venture into it.

Players explore the map one virtual step at a time. The DM has set up traps, treasure and monster for them to find along the way. Each step of the game can be a surprise, a puzzle to solve or players could muck up their map making and become very lost and confused. This is why you can't just step into a game of DnD without setting things up ahead and learning at least something about map making.

Wizards of the Coast -D&D Beyond Dragon Con