Category: Book Critic

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

Review: Letters In Cardboard Boxes by Abby Slovin

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: Letters In Cardboard Boxes by Abby Slovin

How do you want to be remembered? How would others see you? How would you see yourself? What if you didn’t remember who you were? That is precisely what happens in Abby Slovin’s novel Letters in Cardboard Boxes.

Parker’s beloved grandma has suddenly become a stranger to her….confused and rapidly declining, Parker must face an alarming reality: her eccentric, loving grandmother is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Throughout her life Parker has come to rely on her grandma. While her parents have all but abandoned her, Parker has felt awfully alone with no one to shield her but her grandma.

Parker’s grandma helps her cope with the abandonment of her parents by writing letters…make believe letters from various exotic locations around the world….fantasy worlds far away from the one Parker is living in.

Throughout the story, there aren’t just letter from Dotty (grandma) to Parker and Parker to Dotty–there are also love letters between her grandma an unknown boy  from Dotty’s youth….Parker begins to see an entirely different Dotty than the one she has grown up with. Continue reading “Review: Letters In Cardboard Boxes by Abby Slovin” →

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

Review: The Masque of the Black Tulip (Pink Carnation #2) by Lauren Willig

by The Lit Bitch11 Comments on Review: The Masque of the Black Tulip (Pink Carnation #2) by Lauren Willig

If the Pink Carnation left you feeling a little wilted and longing to drink in the next flowery caped crusader….look no further, Lauren Willig’s The Masque of the Black Tulip, is sure to quench any lingering thirst readers had!

Ravishing and bewitching, the whole Regency era upper-class turned spies with cute horticultural names thing is a force to be reckoned with…these books are simply amazing. I am reading them as part of the Regency & Victorian Reads Challenge over at the Royal Review’s blog.

As I was about thirty or so pages out from finishing the first book, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, I had to stop myself, get out of bed, put on something other than PJ’s, and make a quick trip across town (in the rain and cold) to find the next book in the series….as CLEARLY waiting a day or two to pick up the next book was not an option.

At the time this sounded like a capitol idea….though now that I think about it, I could easily have ordered the next book on my iPad with one click ordering but at the time that concept did not compute! Continue reading “Review: The Masque of the Black Tulip (Pink Carnation #2) by Lauren Willig” →

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges, Travel

Review: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Pink Carnation #1) by Lauren Willig

by The Lit Bitch25 Comments on Review: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Pink Carnation #1) by Lauren Willig

I feel like I just entered the most interesting florist shop in London.

I am surrounded by flowers….the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Purple Gentian, and of course the Pink Carnation….but wait I’m in a book! What the deuce are all these flowers doing in a book?? Granted…it’s decidedly less fragrant in the book than in a florist shop but still–what the deuce is going on here? Oh wait….I am reading Lauren Willig’s novel The Secret History of the Pink Carnation!

Pink Carnation is just the beginning of the flowery Regency era series. We begin with Amy, born in France she and her mother flee the French Revolution across the Channel to England were Amy’s mother has relations. Amy dreams of the day she can avenge her father who was a victim to the bloody guillotine.

Growing up with tales of upper crust spies…mainly the Scarlet Pimpernel….Amy longs to join his ranks and become an indispensable aide to the Scarlet Pimpernel while avenging her family. But one problem….the Scarlet Pimpernel has now retired.  Continue reading “Review: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Pink Carnation #1) by Lauren Willig” →

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

Review: The Rebel Wife by Taylor M Polites

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: The Rebel Wife by Taylor M Polites

Saturated in rich, golden prose Taylor Polites’s novel, The Rebel Wife, oozes engrossing detail and with such a commanding voice/tone from the first page….I found it difficult to put down. The novel contains whispers of literary delight from beloved American classics such as Gone with the Wind  and is told with a dark edge which echos William Faulkner.

This book was listed on Goodreads as a giveaway ARC, and this was one of the novels I was most hoping to win. The cover is striking and elegant with blazing sunset and a dark, decaying house….the cover alone beckoned me to read it.

I was over the moon when I won a copy and immediately began reading the second it arrived. I was sure the book would be good but I was note entirely sure I would love it but I was surprised…it was breathtaking.

I finished it much more quickly than anticipated…each word so powerful it was calling me home like the red earth of Tara in Gone with the Wind, I was captivated.

This Southern Gothic novel is surly on track to be a favorite among audiences with its post Reconstruction era Alabama charm. I loved how Polites describes the decaying, lost, disillusionment of the South….a far cry from the glorious antebellum days. Continue reading “Review: The Rebel Wife by Taylor M Polites” →

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

The Lit Bitch has entered the 2012 Why Buy the Cow Reading Challenge

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on The Lit Bitch has entered the 2012 Why Buy the Cow Reading Challenge

Challenge #5 has been entered! K now I’m reasonably sure this will be the last challenge for the year….I know I know I said that before but really and truly for this one!!

I just couldn’t resist a super cute challenge button with a cow on it…..sorry I just COULDN’T! So I entered the Why Buy the Cow Reading Challenge hosted by The Unread Reader who is quickly becoming one of my fav book bloggers.

Again…..as noted before over the next couple of weeks I’ll be posting my entries for various challenges here as I sign up and I will also have a special page/section devoted to my entries which will have lists of books I plan on reading.

As per usual I’ll post my reviews throughout the year and add the buttons on my sidebars.

So here is the fourth challenge sign up of 2012: the Why Buy the Cow Reading Challenge hosted by The Unread Reader. For more details about my entry and goals please see my the Why Buy the Cow Reading Challenge 2012 page.

If you are interested in signing up or for more details about the challenge it self, please visit the Unread Reader’s Blog.