Last year I was delighted with Jackaby by William Ritter. It had just the right mix of historical fiction, fantasy, and whodunit to be right up my alley. It’s got a bit of Sherlock mixed with a little Doctor Eleven for a male protagonist and a female protagonist who is smart, wily, and sarcastic in equal measure – and a great example of female agency in print. I immediately added the second book, Beastly Bones, on my to read list for 2016 as well as […]
Tricked by the lure of a quick read
Yes. I read another one. No, I’m not proud. I find I end up reading the Kowalski Family books in pairs. I had not intended to read another one so quickly, given my less than happy feelings with All He Ever Dreamed. But, I was out, I didn’t have my current book with me, and I had about 20 minutes to fill. Alone with You to the rescue (darn you, Nook app!) and I had to finish it. This is a very straightforward novella. The […]
Simply Whelmed, Not Over or Under
Okay: confession time. I read this because a) Emma Watson suggested it as her “Our Shared Shelf” group on Goodreads for January and b) I needed a non-fiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes for the 2016 Read Harder Challenge. This was not an “oh! I must read this book!” choice so much as a “well, if a whole group of people are going to read it, I might as well choose this one” choice. I am just young enough where Gloria Steinem […]
A Lackluster Friends to Lovers Romance
Over the past several years I’ve been slowly but surely making my way through the Kowalski Family books by Shannon Stacey. They cover the romantic lives of the Kowalski cousins in New England and the people in their lives. I started reading these because Ms. Stacey writes the kind of straightforward, serviceable romance novels that let the reader slow down, read about some characters who aren’t too far from yourself and people you know, but just far enough to be fiction, and have a little […]