The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice.
The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your ereader and find any sentence or a few ( no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.
Please join Rose City Reader every Friday to share the first sentence or so of the book you are reading along with you initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.
Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.
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I have been reading and reading and reading.
I finish one book and immediately begin on another.
I can’t seem to stop myself long enough to write the reviews.
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The World Fair 1889 ~ an alternate history.
What a wonderfully fun cover.
I couldn’t help but pick it up when I saw it was FREE on fuonlyknew.
This is a fun book for all ages.
What do you think of the cover?
(page 56% on Kindle)
“Look. Look. There are dinosaurs down there.
Can you believe it, Monsieur?
Dinosaurs. In Paris…”
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(Book Beginnings)
Dinosaurs were the last thing on Dante Righi’s mind as Maria Shiaparelli tucked him into bed, with all the love and devotion of a mother…
It was a warm night in Paris the day before the Exposition Universelle, the World Fair of 1889, officially opened. The day before Professor Augusto Righi, Italy’s greatest living expreimental physicist, would unveil his creation to the world: the Finestra Temporale, a window in time.
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MY REVIEW
Be sure and check out the author. His bio is almost as interesting as the book. LOL
I saw this FREE book on fuonlyknew and had to have it. Who doesn’t love dinosaurs?
Once I started reading, I could not put it down until I turned the last page!
This is a children’s book that can be enjoyed by all ages. I loved it. Dinosaurs Eat Paris was fast paced and easy to read, taking me from the 1889 World Fair in Paris, back in time to the Late Cretaceous period, about 70 million years ago.
The Exposition had all the latest inventions ~ Professor Augusto Righi’s time machine is only one of them. Thomas Edison is there and so is Alexander Graham Bell, Annie Oakley and her husband Frank, along with Wild Bill Hickok, are some of the most notable. The phone, cars, steam and electrical advances are showcased.
You can step from Paris to Egypt to Paraguay to Uruguay to Hawaii and so many other countries, but no one expected to be able to step back in time until the Professor and Thomas Edison disappeared through the Finestra Temporale, when the lightening struck. Maria jumped through, because she could not let the Professor go without her. The Professor will be very happy that she did. 🙂
I was looking for a different type of dinosaur video, but when I saw this, it cracked me up.
Did you laugh?
.
Everyone could see into the portal as if it was a movie, but is it a door instead? If they went in, could they come back out? Would the dinosaurs come with them? What do you think? 😉
It’s a wild ride and Dante is the hero. He’s just a boy, but he is super smart and feels responsible for ridding Paris of the dinosaurs that came through the doorway opened up by his father’s invention.
“What about the dinosaurs? Shouldn’t we do something before they eat Paris?” asked Annie Oakley.
Are scientists more open to the impossible? Were they able, along with Dante, and Annie and her gang able to come to the recuse because of their sense of adventure? They showed no fear, just did what needed to be done and seemed to have a grand old time doing it.
I loved riding with Dante and Annie ~ racing, taunting and distracting the dinosaurs. This would be a roundup of a different kind. As if that isn’t exciting enough, Mark takes it to a more adventurous level as they become “better acquainted with the dinosaurs.” I can see the adventure unfold as if it was a movie and Dante is the star.
I would love to tell you so much more, but the adventure is in the reading and I would spoil it for you if I shared.
It made me think of Night of the Museum, Jurassaic Park, even Star Wars.
This was a fantastic, fast paced romp through 1889 and the Cretaceous period and I would highly recommend it.
5 Stars – Would Buy It For Them (lol)
SYNOPSIS
It’s a warm night in Paris, the day before opening day. The day before Dante’s papa, Professor Augusto Righi, Italy’s greatest experimental physicist, will unveil his creation to the world: the Finestra Temporale, a window into time. But things don’t go according to plan, not at all. And it’s up to Dante to set things straight, if he can, before it’s too late, before dinosaurs eat Paris.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Douglas Stafford’s early years were spent building cubbyhouses, writing computer software on some of the world’s first computers and blowing up things in the garage.
After high school he began with a teaching degree and finished with a business degree. He established then sold his first business in 2005 after which he embarked on a career in senior management, running various technology companies in cutting-edge fields.
Mark writes particularly for the children’s and young-adult segment but his highly imaginative and original stories are enjoyed by readers of all ages.
He draws inspiration from the fables of Gabriel García Márquez, Oscar Wild and Hector Hugh Munro. As an aficionado of science fiction he is especially fond of the classics, like Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Series which harks back to a time when it was still fashionable to be optimistic about the future.
He is excruciatingly happily married and lives in the hills of northern Sydney, Australia with his wife and four rambunctious children, all of whom are fierce book critics; which helps.
Mark won ‘Highly Commended’ in The Port Stephens Examiner Literature Awards 2013 for his short story ‘The Interview’.
Read more about him at: Goodreads / Website / Facebook
Click on the cover to get your FREE Amazon copy.
I LOVE creature stories. How about you?
What’s your favorite kind of creature?
For many years award-winning author Susan Fleet worked as a trumpeter in the Boston area. While teaching at Brown University and Berklee College of Music she began writing crime fiction. In 2001 she moved to New Orleans. Her first crime novel, Absolution, was named Best Mystery-Suspense-Thriller of 2009. Subsequent novels in her Frank Renzi series, Diva and Natalie’s Revenge, have won accolades from reviewers and readers alike. Jackpot is the fourth book in the series.
