Loosely based on The Twelve Dancing Princesses, among other fairy tales, Wildwood Dancing is the story of five sisters who disappear into The Other Kingdom for a fairy revel every full moon night. But when their father leaves them alone to spend the winter in another city, their cousin, Cezar, realizes something is going on Continue Reading…
Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell: Book Review
This is the story of Claude Monet; his great love, Camille Doncieux; and their life as they struggle together in the years before his fame. I started reading this not knowing anything about Monet except that I used to have a print of one of his works hanging in my bedroom. I also don’t know Continue Reading…
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 Continue Reading…
The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb: Book Review
Calder is a Fetch, a soul who escorts people on their journey to heaven. One day he shows up at a Death Scene, waiting to see if an infant chooses to die or not. The woman holding the baby takes his breath away. She’s beautiful and has a kind, caring, sad face. He can’t get Continue Reading…
The Help by Kathryn Stockett: Book Review
In Jackson, Mississippi during the Civil Rights era, a white woman stumbles on the idea of writing a book about the black maids of the area and the white families they work for. There have been so many great reviews written for this book, that I don’t know if I have a whole lot more Continue Reading…
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 Continue Reading…
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: Book Review
Aleksandr Ferdinand is the son of the Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He finds himself on the run one night with a few loyal men and a Stormwalker, a two-legged machine that sounds like something out of Star Wars. Deryn Sharp is a girl who loved to fly with her father. Now that he’s dead, Continue Reading…
Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund: Book Review
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 Continue Reading…
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake: Book Review
5 Stars. Beautiful. I opened this novel, already in love with the cover, and fell in love with the writing contained within. It’s not a beauty that keeps you at arm’s distance. It’s a beauty that seductively whispers, “Come closer. Read what I have to say. See what I’m showing you.” And then it […]
The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón: Book Review
David Martín is a writer of penny dreadfuls who is offered a huge sum of money to write a book for a French publisher. He can’t find any evidence that the publisher actually exists though, and violent things start happening to David’s friends and colleagues. I was rocking through the first half of the book, Continue Reading…
Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marillier: Book Review
Paula is accompanying her father to Constantinople on a trading trip. She might “only” be a seventeen-year-old girl, but she’s an intelligent, able assistant. They’re in search of an ancient religious artifact, Cybele’s Gift. Once in Constantinople, Paula starts seeing strange visions, visions that she feels sure are coming from the Other Kingdom, the fairy Continue Reading…