Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Samhain: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for Halloween by Llewellyn Publications

** I received a free copy of this on NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. **

Title: Samhain: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for Halloween
Author: Diana Rajchel
Published: September 8th 2015
Genre: Nonfiction, History
Pages: 264

Synopsis: A well-rounded look at Samhain. It's history and modern celebrations, as well as rituals, recipes and more!

Review:
I absolutely LOVED this book. It is full of information on my favorite time of the year. I love the way it is broken up into ancient lore, new lore and then modern ideas and history. It is very inclusive and hits as many related holidays and festivals as it can. It was easy to read and I loved it. Very informative!

Rating:

In Search of the Paranormal by Richard Estep

** I received a free copy of this on NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. **

Title: In Search of the Paranormal: The Hammer House Murder, Ghosts of the Clink, and Other Disturbing Investigations
Author: Richard Estep
Published: September 8th, 2015
Genre: Nonfiction, Paranormal, Ghost Stories
Pages: 264

Synopsis: From exploring the Tower of London to investigating a haunted Colorado firehouse and a woman tormented by a malevolent demonic entity, paranormal researcher Richard Estep takes you behind the scenes for an up-close-and-personal encounter with a fascinating legion of hauntings. This collection represents some of the most interesting, odd, and disturbing cases that Richard has investigated over the past twenty years, in England and in the United States.

Review:

This was a pretty good book of investigating the paranormal. I think some of the reviews I have read talk about being disappointed like they expected action packed investigations. That is not how paranormal investigations generally work, and this book is pretty good at telling the true experience of ghost hunting and related activities. The author talks about various experiences and places he has investigated and they are much like what I have read in similar books. I do love that he has investigated a lot with other groups and that he has gone back several times to re-investigate. I have to say this is the first time I have actually heard of table tipping and I am always happy to learn about new (or in this case OLDER) investigation techniques. It was cool to read of different investigations from different countries by the same person.