Goldie Vance by Hope Larson: Book Review

Goldie Vance by Hope Larson Book Cover

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! […]

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My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix: Book Review

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix Book Cover

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 […]

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The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston: Book Review

The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston Book Cover

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. […]

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Save the Date by Mary Kay Andrews: Book Review

Save the Date by Mary Kay Andrews Book Cover

I really, really want to give Save the Date four stars, and I would have, but somewhere about halfway through I got fed up with Cara. Up to that point, she’d been such a little fighter that I’d been rooting for her all along. And sure, she has a lot on her plate, but then she goes looking for–and creates!–trouble where none […]

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First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen: Book Review

3.5 Stars. It’s been so long since I read Garden Spells that I felt just a bit lost as I started this. The outlines settled in quickly for me though. My favorite chapters were the ones about Bay. That nameless longing for something, knowing it’s out there, just not being able to reach it–I think we all felt something like this as teenager […]

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The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith: Book Review

The Story of Land and Sea opens with young Tabitha contracting yellow fever on her tenth birthday. Her father and grandfather, having already lost her mother in childbirth, are desperate to save her despite the limitations of 18th century medicine. Her father takes to the sea with her in tow, thinking that the sea air […]

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All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg: Book Review

4.5 Stars. Mostly what I took away from this book is humor and grace. Somehow Rick Bragg’s first memoir is the last one I’ve read and I have literally laughed ’til I cried in every one. I’ve read my family members bits here and there and retold stories I remember and made everyone listening to me laugh too. Maybe they’re just […]

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I Am One of You Forever by Fred Chappell: Book Review

Jess, his mom, dad, grandmother and farmhand/adoptive brother, Johnson, live a quiet life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. They farm, visit with relatives, play some baseball, and get up to a whole lot of no good, as my grandmother would say. Jess’s dad is a mischief-maker. He just can’t help it. Johnson […]

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gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson: Book Review

Arlene left her hometown of Possett, Alabama after she graduated from high school and never looked back. She has withstood bribery, threats, and guilt trips from hell from her Aunt Florence and remained in Chicago for ten years. But now Alabama seems to have found her. A face from Arlene’s past shows up on her […]

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