The nitty-gritty: A fast and furious sci-fi adventure/romance with plenty of action and even some emotional character development. Who can resist a cover with a bad-ass female mercenary standing on a pile of books while the world falls to pieces behind her? Certainly not me, which is one reason I was excited to pick up […]
The nitty-gritty: Flyaway is dripping with style and atmosphere, but the plot and characters fell flat for me. Howling wilderness, my mother had once called the bush beyond town. Dad had laughed. My heart sat high in my chest. I was more alive and more scared than I had been for years. Ahead of us, […]
The nitty-gritty: Another fun entry into Ford’s Frost Files series, get ready for earthquakes, snarky characters, an evil genius child, and plenty of sh*t flying around. I had a blast reading last year’s The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, and I’ve been really looking forward to the sequel. Last week, when I […]
The nitty-gritty: Dark and unsettling, The Year of the Witching is perfect for fans of horror-tinged, dystopian fantasy. You know me, when I see a book with the word “witch” in the title, I’m all over it! So of course I couldn’t wait to read The Year of the Witching, a debut that really impressed […]
The nitty-gritty: A perfect mix of history and mystery, Opium and Absinthe was both engaging and informative. I don’t read a lot of historical fiction, so I was delighted to discover that I loved reading about New York City in 1899. Kang builds her fascinating, multilayered story around several historical events: first, the publication of […]
The nitty-gritty: Cheryl Low delivers yet another bloody good horror story, complete with vengeful ghosts and buried family secrets. Cheryl Low’s latest horror novella was a perfect distraction from real life, a combination of ghostly hauntings, twisted family secrets, mysteries and even an unexpected love story. All of these elements come together in a short, […]
The nitty-gritty: An excellent start to a new series, Stormblood melds high tech thriller with a cyberpunk sensibility and a dash of humor and heart. I’m so grateful that Jeremy Szal reached out to me and asked if I’d like to read his book, because otherwise I wouldn’t have even tried to get a review […]
The nitty-gritty: Calvin Demmer offers up a tasty but bloody chocolate box of horrific tales that revolve around holidays. I had seen Calvin Demmer’s collection The Sea Was a Fair Master around, and so when he contacted me to see if I’d be interested in reading his latest short story collection, I immediately agreed. Demmer’s […]
The nitty-gritty: A lighthearted, humorous “found family” story with plenty of laughs and even a few sweet moments. I enjoyed this unexpectedly humorous and touching novella, even though it didn’t really rock my world. The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water is Zen Cho’s ode to the Chinese wuxia genre of martial arts […]
The nitty-gritty: Ambitious and complex, We Ride the Storm, although beloved by many readers, didn’t quite work for me. There has been a lot of hype surrounding We Ride the Storm, and tons of 4 and 5 star reviews on Goodreads. But this time the hype backfired for me, and I ended up really struggling […]