Audiobook review: There’s A Word For That by Sloane Tanen

Star Ratings: Story: 4/5 Writing: 3/5 Characters: 5/5 Audio recording: 4/5 Overall: 4 out of 5 stars I listened to There’s A Word For That via Libro.fm, which I recommend enthusiastically. A percentage of all purchases helps out indie bookshops! Please go check them out. This was very much an impulse download; I needed something

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

How does everything Helen Oyeyemi touches turn to gold? Her writing follows some fairy tale logic that meanders off the road, yet never leads you astray. I was smitten with Boy, Snow, Bird and White Is For Witching. I was beyond enchanted by the stories in What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours. And I

Currently Reading: Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers

Remember how much I liked Grave Mercy? It was years ago, and I never wrote reviews for the other two books in Robin LaFever’s excellent His Fair Assassin trilogy, but the stories of Ismae, Sybella, and Annith have stuck with me for ages and have, quite honestly, made other historical fantasies pale in comparison. So

Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney’s novels have away of finding me right when I need them most, and they always hurt my feelings.  There’s not much I can say about Normal People that other reviewers haven’t already said, so I’ll be brief. I liked Conversations With Friends quite a lot when I read it this time last year,

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

“Tell Alice to stay the hell away from the Hazel Wood.”  That’s Ella Proserpine’s message to her daughter while she’s being kidnapped by nasty characters from a fairy tale.  Naturally, Alice heads straight for the Hazel Wood to find her mom. It’s way weirder there than even I expected. Characters: 5 stars Plot: 4 stars

Wildfire At Midnight by Mary Stewart

Star Ratings: Characters: *** (3 stars) Writing:***** (5 stars) Plot: *** (3 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) Oh, hello, it’s been nearly a year since I re-visited this dusty old page. I’ve moved house and made some Frighteningly Big Life Decisions in the meantime, so please forgive the lapse. Big changes in life bring with

Book Review: Words In Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

Star Ratings: Characters: ***** (5 stars) Writing:**** (4 stars) Plot: **** (4 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) (Be it known that I read an advanced reader’s copy of this book and some things may change before publication.) I liked this book.  It’s realistic, somewhat romantic, somewhat nerdy YA.  It’s Australian, so the seasons were confusing.

Book Review: The Secret Place by Tana French

Star Ratings: Characters: ***** (5 stars) Writing:**** (4 stars) Plot: ***** (5 stars) Overall: ***** (5 stars) Tana French said in an interview: “You can be a perfectly healthy person without having kids or having a romantic relationship – you can live a full, happy, healthy life. I’m not sure you can do that without

Unhappy Women Being Mysterious In Paris part II: Unbecoming

Earlier this month I noticed that my reading habits had taken on a brief trend: books about secretive young woman hiding from their problems in Paris.  Patrick Modiano’s In The Café Of Lost Youth introduced me to the inscrutable, magnetic, restless Louki.  The book’s three other narrators found themselves consumed with interest in Louki’s past, her

Unhappy Women Being Mysterious In Paris Part I : In The Café Of Lost Youth

In The Café Of Lost Youth by Patrick Modiano Star Rating: Characters: **** (4 stars) Plot: *** (3 stars) Writing: ***** (5 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) When one of my favorite regulars at the Bookshop recently asked me what I’d been reading, the only thing I could think to say was, “Mostly novels about