Fisherman and WWII veteran Carl Meine is found dead and tangled up in his fishing net one morning. At first glance it appears to be an accident, but the sheriff looks a little closer and starts to wonder. He soon arrests another fisherman, Kabuo Miyamoto, for murder. Against the backdrop of the murder trial, Guterson […]
Lament by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Review
Deirdre meets Luke at an audition one day. They play some amazing music together, and by the end of the day, Deirdre is more than a little infatuated. But Luke isn’t the only stranger appearing in her life. All kinds of weird people and events start surrounding her, and it’s obvious that Luke has something […]
Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani: Book Review
Valentine Roncalli is turning 34 years old, she lives and works with her grandmother, and she’s single. She’s pretty happy though, until the day her grandmother tells her that the family’s custom shoe shop is in financial trouble. Now she finds herself trying to find a way to save the business she loves as she […]
Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix: Book Review
***SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK, FOUND*** Found ended with Jonah and Katherine latching onto Chip and Alex as the two boys were sent back into their own time period. Sent picks up there. The kids find themselves in fifteenth century England, where Chip and Alex find out that they’re royalty. Many plots are afoot and […]
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson: Book Review
The narrator of The Gargoyle (I’m pretty sure we never learn his name) begins his story with a horrific car crash that leaves him burned beyond recognition. He hasn’t lived the best life: he’s selfish, addicted to drugs, and a porn star. His beautiful, sexy “friends” take one look at him after the accident and […]
Lamb by Christopher Moore: Book Review
There are roughly 30 years of Jesus’s life that are unaccounted for. Oh, there’s the one story about him teaching in the temple when he was 12, but other than that, he was born and then he started his ministry around the age of 30. Christopher Moore has fun imagining what exactly Jesus–or Joshua, as […]
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory: Book Review
The Boleyn Inheritance is the story of Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII’s fourth wife; Jane Boleyn, her lady-in-waiting and Anne Boleyn’s former sister-in-law; and Katherine Howard, a beautiful young maid-in-waiting. By now, Henry is a hugely fat, sick, stinking, paranoid tyrant. These three women try their best to keep him happy and stay safe. I […]
Under the Dome by Stephen King: Book Review
A giant dome suddenly appears over the town of Chester’s Mill, Maine one beautiful October day, and the townspeople are left to their own devices. That’s a lame synopsis, but I don’t want to give anything more away. What would you do if you were cut off from the rest of the world? Perhaps more […]
Madapple by Christina Meldrum: Book Review
Aslaug has lived an isolated life with her mother in the woods of Maine. A disturbing story is revealed in alternating chapters. One set of chapters reveals the course of Aslaug’s life in the summer of 2003. The other reveals Aslaug on trial in 2007, for a crime that isn’t even revealed until very late […]
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George: Book Review
The lass is the last child in a family of nine and the fourth unwanted girl. She is so unwanted that her mother doesn’t even bother to name her. When a polar bear comes crashing through the door one night and asks her to live with him in his castle for a while, she agrees […]
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King: Book Review
“I should have thought it obvious,” I said impatiently, though even at that age I was aware that such things were not obvious to the majority of people. “I see paint on your pocket-handkerchief, and traces on your fingers where you wiped it away. The only reason to mark bees that I can think of […]