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,

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

Book Review: The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

(img source: goodreads) Star Ratings: Characters: ***** (5 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: *** (3 stars) Writing: **** (4 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) Age range recommendation: 12 and up. (Dark but not scary, though there’s some troubling emotional and domestic abuse.) Be it known that I read an ARC of this book,

Brilliant settings, rather upsetting: Welcome To Braggsville and The Gamal

March is funny (and not only because it bloody snowed this week, upon the first day of spring, hardy har har what a laugh.)  I spent the entire first week of the month getting through a single book, Welcome To Braggsville, which I liked immensely but couldn’t rush.  Then I devoured five books in the following

Book Review: Daughter Of The Forest by Juliette Marillier

Star Ratings: Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: ***** (5 stars) Plot: **** (4 stars) Writing: ***** (5 stars) Overall: ****1/2 (4 1/2 stars) Age Range Recommendation: 15 and up. (The main character might be quite young, but there’s torture and sexual violence.) I had no idea that such a spellbinding, heartbreaking re-telling of “The

Book Review: Thorn Jack by Katherine Harbour

Star Ratings for Thorn Jack Characters: ***** (5 stars) Character Development: *** (3 stars) Plot: **** (4 stars) Writing: *** (3 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) Age range recommendation: 13 and up Thorn Jack first caught my eye because I liked the title and the skull on the front. But, lest I be accused of judging

Book Review: The Islands of Chaldea by Dianna Wynne Jones

Star Ratings (out of 5 stars): Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: *** (3 stars) Writing: **** (4 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) Age range recommendation: 8 and up Just to say: I read an advanced readers’ copy of this book, so some details may have changed by publication. The Islands