A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin: Book Review

This book, the first in a series, is too big to easily sum up the plot and do it justice. Basically, Robert Baratheon led a revolt against the old king of the Seven Kingdoms when he was a young man. Now that he’s middle-aged, he’s found that he was more interested in fighting for the […]

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She-Rain by Michael Cogdill: Book Review

Frank Locke is the son of an opium addict in the 1920s in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. He’s quit school to work in a cotton mill and take care of his parents’ and grandparents’ farms. He’s bitter about his father, but he’s found a good woman to love. Then some big family […]

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Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler: Book Review

Jane True is practically an outcast in her small town of Rockabill, Maine. She finds solace in swimming in the ocean, dangerously close to the whirlpool known as The Old Sow. When she finds a body in the water, her world changes beyond all recognition. The big draw for me was the cover. I love […]

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Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund: Book Review

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund Book Cover

Synopsis from the book cover: From the opening line–“Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last”–you will know that you are in the hands of a master storyteller and in the company of a fascinating woman hero.  Inspired by a brief passage in Moby-Dick, Sena Jeter Naslund has created an enthralling and compellingly […]

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War for the Oaks by Emma Bull: Book Review

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull Book Cover

Eddi McCandry is a rocker with a big heart. She attracts the attention of the Seelie Court and her life is turned upside down. I absolutely loved this. If you know me, and maybe if you don’t, you know that Charles de Lint is my favorite author. This is something very much in the same […]

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Life of Pi by Yann Martel: Book Review

Piscine Molitar Patel’s family owns a zoo in India. When they decide to immigrate to Canada, they sell all the animals, book them all on a cargo ship, and head off to deliver them en route to their new home. The ship promptly sinks and Pi is left alone in a lifeboat with some of […]

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The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen: Book Review

4 Stars. This wasn’t exactly what I expected when I started it. I was expecting a typical shy-girl-meets-handsome-guy story. But it wasn’t exactly like that. This was more about finding the courage to get to know yourself. The importance of female friendships. The jealousies between mothers and daughters. Surrounding yourself […]

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Persuasion by Jane Austen: Book Review

5 Stars. My favorite Austen! Captain Wentworth! *sigh* Or is it *swoon*? This was a nice blend of Austen’s pointed social commentary and a (bitter)sweet romance. Anne’s family is just awful. They are silly, vain and entirely too class-conscious. They insist on their “inferiors” showing them the proper amount of deference and […]

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Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia: Book Review

Sixteen-year-old Ethan Wate has been having nightmares for months. In his dreams, he’s unsuccessfully trying to save a girl. Then Lena Duchannes, the first new girl to move into his small South Carolina town in years, shows up. He recognizes her as the girl from his dreams, and things only get more complicated from there. […]

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Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith: Book Review

I’m an Appalachian mountain girl. I felt like I knew Ivy from the first sentence. She truly seemed to come to life on the pages. I came along a few generations after her time, but I felt like she could be one of my grandmothers. She talked the way I probably still talk 🙂 Education […]

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