Book Critic
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Review: Cashelmara by Susan Howatch
In the wild, untamed Irish wilderness lies a stark and cold Georgian era estate known as Cashelmara. Lord Edward de Salis is the master of Cashelmara, but as an Englishman he resides primarily in London but deep down he always considers Cashelmara home. When his wife dies, Lord de Salis travels to America hoping to ease his grief. What he doesn’t expect to find is love. Marguerite is young enough to be Edward’s daughter but there is something about her that makes Edward feel at ease and happy once again. After they marry he takes Marguerite back to Ireland and Cashelmara where tragic events begin unfolding. Cashelmara chronicles three generations of…
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Review: The Book of the Forsaken (The Game #1) by Yannis Karatsioris
What do three “puppets”, one magical book, and a twisted narrator have in common? At first glance, nothing. But look again. Three men find themselves being used as pawns in a much larger game controlled by one devious narrator in this innovative urban fantasy novel. These three men couldn’t be more different, each are flawed in their own ways. But the one thing that binds them together is their supernatural abilities. The first puppet we meet is the tough, brawny Irishman Robert Cassidy. The second puppet is the quiet bookworm, Daniel Maladie from Paris. And finally we meet Igor Rubinstein, the psychotic magician turned assassin from Russia. The narrator assigns each…
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Review: A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4) by George R.R. Martin
The war of the five kings is more or less coming to an end in Westeros. One king seats the Iron Throne, but only just. His rule is in a precarious situation–one wrong move, one wrong decision, one wrong advisor….and all could be lost. I will try to make this review as spoiler free as possible, but it is difficult not to include references from the previous three books but I will do my best but consider yourself warned. In A Storm of Swords, so much happened. It was action packed from beginning to end, so as expected, A Feast for Crows, chronicles what happens in the aftermath of the…
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Review: A Barcelona Heiress by Sergio Vila-Sanjuan
The 1920’s embody all the glitz and glamour of a bygone era. The world is fresh off the ending of World War I and trying desperately to recover and get back to better days. In Barcelona, war is still on everyone’s lips but this time it’s Civil War. In the city itself, tensions are running high. The rich control the city while the poor suffer and long for reform. Pablo Vilar is a lawyer and journalist in the vibrant city of Barcelona. He is a man whose professions have foraged connections to the criminal underworlds as well as the influential elitist circles and each group hopes to bend Pablo’s pen in the…
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Review: Princess Elizabeth’s Spy (Maggie Hope Mystery #2) by Susan Elia MacNeal
Being a spy sounds so much cooler and glamorous without all the physical training doesn’t it? That’s exactly what’s running through Maggie Hope’s mind while she’s at Camp Spook. After helping uncover a terrorist cell and cracking some difficult codes is the first book, Maggie has been recruited to work for MI5….an opportunity she simply can’t pass up there’s only one problem….the biggest muscle in Maggie’s body is her brain. But when she arrives at Camp Spook, she wasn’t counting on all the drills and exercises. It is quickly apparent that she is not cut out for MI5’s spy academy. After only a couple of weeks, her supervisor calls her…
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Review: Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth #2) by Terry Goodkind
After defeating his nemesis, Darken Rahl, Richard Cypher expects his life will regain some amount of normalcy. After all, things are looking up in Richard’s world: he has the woman he loves and he plans to marry her. Though he doesn’t have a concrete plan for his post nuptial life he certainly doesn’t expect to continue further into the magical world. Richard and his beloved Kahlan, return to the Mud People where they will be married. But when they arrive they are met with a series of revelations….Richard finds out he is Darken Rahl’s bastard and Zed is really his grandfather. In the midst of all this, Richard is plagued…
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Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Nerds around the world unite! This is your book! If you love video games, 70’s and 80′ pop culture, fantasy, cyberpunk, dystopian lit….then this is the book for you and even if you don’t love those things, you will still find something to love in this book. 18 year old Wade Watts live in the year 2044. The world is a wasteland. The earth’s resources are diminished and society is spiraling out of control, the only thing positive in this dismal world is the OASIS. The OASIS is the internet to the 10th power! It’s a virtual utopian world where you can be anyone or anything you want to be.…
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Review: A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell #2) by Laurie R. King
A game’s a foot and Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are on the case! In Sussex, Mary Russell is about to turn 21 and come into her sizable inheritance. On a whim one night, Mary sneaks away to London in search of her long time friend and mentor, Sherlock Holmes. When she meets up with Holmes on that dark London night, she nearly puts her foot in her mouth, but before she can cause herself too much embarrassment, Holmes cuts her off. But in doing so, he mistakenly insults her and she storms off into the night, anxious to be out of an uncomfortable situation. Come morning, Mary finds her way…
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Review: Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful #1) by Jamie McGuire
You don’t know what power is until you hold someones future in the palm of your hand. Abby Abernathy knows that feeling. This sweet, good girl from Kansas controls every aspect of campus bad boy, Travis Maddox’s life without even knowing it. Abby meets Travis at a campus underground fight night. She knows his reputation and what everyone calls him….the walking one night stand. Man whore. Bad boy. There is no way she is ever going to fall for his antics….ever, she’s too smart for that. She is repulsed by him but yet oddly intrigued. Every girl on campus thinks they are going to be the one to tame Travis.…
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Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Trapped in a love less marriage to a man with good social standing, Anna Karenina does the unthinkable–she enters into a doomed, passionate love affair with another man. Society will torment her, her husband will ridicule her, but her own guilt will drive her to the breaking point. With one of the most memorable opening scenes in western literature, Anna Karenina is a literary masterpiece about life, passion, and love. This lengthy novel is spread over eight parts featuring two alternating protagonists, Konstantin Levin and Anna Karenina. The elegant and proper Anna, is married to a high-ranking government official, Alexei Karenin. For the past eight years they have maintained a fragile facade.…