4 Stars. The last time I was in Charleston, SC, one or two tours that I went on mentioned Eliza Lucas. Her father left her in charge of his plantations near Charleston in the 1740s while he went to war with the Spanish in the Caribbean. That really caught my attention. A woman running plantations?
At that […]
3.5 Stars. Even As We Breathe caught my eye because it’s set in my part of the world (Asheville, NC) and it’s written by a Cherokee woman. I wanted to add some diversity to my Southern Lit challenge so I picked it up. This was a beautifully-written coming-of-age story. Cowney (rhymes with county) is struggling to find his place in the […]
3 Stars. This book was an obvious labor of love for Mr. Twitty and his passions shine through the pages. Unfortunately, I don’t particularly enjoy cooking or genealogy so the book fell a bit flat for me. I glanced through quite a few reviews on GoodReads before I decided to check this out and saw others frequently complaining […]
4 Stars. I love this series so much! Goldie can be annoyingly cocky sometimes but her friends keep her grounded. The mysteries are fun and somehow remind me of cartoons I would watch as kid. The diverse cast of characters is a delight. There were some new illustrators added into the mix in these two volumes. There are some […]
4 Stars. Reading Our Time is Now in the wake of the 2020 election felt a bit like a victory dance. Anyone who isn’t outraged by voter suppression doesn’t have a good concept of what “government by the people” means. As a white woman, I’ve never experienced anything like what Ms. Abrams details in these pages. This review keeps […]
4 Stars. Volume Two was still a strong entry in this series but it didn’t charm me quite as completely as the first collection did. I enjoyed reading a bit more about Goldie’s mom but Goldie herself came across as a bit of an attention-seeker and a brat this time around. It wasn’t enough to completely turn me off but it was a […
5 Stars. Oh my goodness! This is so stinking cute and smart! I was never a big mystery reader as a kid. I could never guess “whodunnit” and that irritated me. Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys were practically nonstarters for me. I wish Goldie Vance had been around back in the day because she would have turned me into a mystery reader for sure! […]
I loved the way this ended and I hate that I can’t say more about it because I definitely have things I want need to say. But no one likes spoilers, right? Just know that the celebration of real, true friendship surprised me and made me so happy. A horror novel made me happy? Why, yes, it did. Now that that’s out of the way, I […]
Whoa! I somehow expected this to be funny as well as scary. Look at that title. Can’t you just see the ‘80s moms with their big hair going after the bad guy? Maybe staking him with a stiletto heel after a cocktail party? It had its moments but mostly it was really, really dark. Like, really dark. And trigger-ish for some […]
These books! I keep saying this but I grin until my face hurts while I’m reading them! Even when the story takes a troubled turn, I smile in anticipation of the eventual Happily Ever After…
This series is completely adorable! Which makes it sound like it’s for younger kids, but it is written for young adults. Still–I’m going to let adorable stand. There are so many things to love in this book. I love that Imogen has two mothers and her brother is gay. I love that everyone at Excelsicon is so unabashedly geeky. […]