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 […]

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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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Peace Like a River by Leif Enger: Book Review

Synopsis from GoodReads: Born with no air in his lungs, it was only when Reuben Land’s father, Jeremiah, picked him up and commanded him to breathe that Reuben’s lungs filled. Reuben struggles with debilitating asthma from then on, making him a boy who knows firsthand that life is a gift, and also one who suspects […]

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Ash by Malinda Lo: Book Review

Ash is a re-telling of Cinderella, with more fairies and no fairy godmother. The style this is written in is not a style for me. It feels true to what I remember of the original Grimm’s fairy tales, but that doesn’t mean I like it. It’s all third person, watching Ash do her thing, with […]

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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, […]

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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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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 […]

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Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde: Book Review

In the future, after the Something That Happened, people’s places in society are determined by the color they can see. Purples are the ruling class and Greys are sort of the untouchables. Eddie Russett is a bit of a rogue. He thought of a new idea for queuing and new ideas are frowned upon. After […]

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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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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, […]

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