Patricia Engel has published two other books, the short story collection Vida and the novel It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris. Even though I haven’t read either of those books, I felt that I needed to read her new novel, The Veins of the Ocean. Not only because the reviews were intriguing (and very positive) but also because I don’t remember ever reading anything by a Colombian American novelist. The Veins of the Ocean is the story of Reina Castillo. When we first meet Reina […]
Pretty Forgettable
It’s so hard to review books that are just okay. I didn’t hate The Turner House, and I didn’t love it. It left very little impression on me at all. I feel like maybe I was missing something, because it’s certainly won a lot of awards. I just didn’t feel much connection to the plot or the characters. I had to force myself to finish it, because I knew if I didn’t there was no way I could squeeze out a review. The Turner House […]
The book that would never end.
This book covers the adventures of the extended Fraser-McKenzie clan through the years 1772-1776, and oh God, you feel every one of them. I picked up this book in late August 2015. I just finished it last week. For those of you as bad at math as I am, that is NINE MONTHS. I coulda grown a whole baby in the time it took me to read this book. If I was a cat, maybe dozens of babies. A rabbit . . . at least a […]
I keep wanting to love Kate Morton’s books, and it keeps not happening.
I was ready to love this book from the moment I heard about it. The Secret Garden is one of my favorite books, and stories about family secrets and hidden rooms and stuff like that are like catnip to me. And the bare bones of this story is indeed pretty satisfying. Unfortunately, the execution of it ruined most of my enjoyment, and I decided halfway through that I wasn’t going to read any more of this author’s books. I’ve been really excited about two of […]