Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of those books that was incredibly important in my formative years. My parents are both former schoolteachers, and firm believers in the importance of reading aloud to kids. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is my dad’s favorite kids’ book, so it stands to reason that this was one of the many books he chose to read to me when I was little. As an adult I have realized that it is not just the books I read as […]
Take a Whisk to a Gun Fight
I’m so angry at this book. Let me back up and start with all the amazing things this book has going for it. Let’s start with the description that first got my attention: black lesbian steampunk cozy mystery. For real, what’s not to love about that? How about that it’s set in an alternate history where there was no Civil War? Instead of the Civil War, there was a successful slave rebellion that led to the end of slavery in America? How about a late […]
Once again, Laura Florand makes me want to gorge on gourmet chocolate
Growing up in the very rough suburbs to Paris, Célie was always determined to make something of herself, unlike her drug-dealing low-life of an older brother. Apprenticing herself to a baker, the brightest part of her day was always when her brother’s friend Joss came to walk her home. Pretty much at the moment Célie had worked up the courage to confess her massive crush on him, Joss broke her heart into a million pieces by going off to join the French foreign legion. Five […]
More love and hate and chocolate in the City of Lights
Sarah Lin hates Patrick Chevalier. She hates his golden good looks, his charming manner, the way he seems to be able to create magic with his bare hands and does absolutely everything flawlessly, without seeming to expend even the slightest bit of effort. She hates him because every time he brushes past her, or winks at her, or jokingly flirts with her, her heart beats faster and she has trouble breathing. He is her boss, and he is godlike, and he would never even look […]