Literary Criticism
-
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…
-
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…
-
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.…
-
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.…
-
Review: On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves
Is age really just a number? Does true love transcend all things? Even through extreme, desperate situations? Even through a large age gap? Does wanting different things or being in a different spot matter when love is involved? Thirty year old Anna is an English teach. She needs time to think about her life. She has been with her boyfriend of eight years and they still aren’t married. She feels like she is just waiting and waiting for a life that isn’t going t happen. So when the opportunity to get away comes….she takes it. TJ is a sixteen and recovering from cancer. His parents want to take a celebratory…
-
Review: The Hangman’s Daughter (Hangman’s Daughter #1) by Oliver Pötzsch
A scream rips through the early morning fog of the small Bavarian town known as Schongau. The body of a young boy washes ashore, tattooed with a suspecious mark…..a witches mark to be precise. The people are in a frenzy when the local hangman, Jakob Kuisl, arrives to investigate the body and determine if witchcraft was indeed involved. Before Kuisl can make a final decision, the townspeople jump to their own conclusions and go after the only person who could be capable of witchcraft….the midwife. With the dark memories of witch trials and stake burnings stil fresh in their minds, the townspeople arrive at the midwifes house demanding answers. Kuisl…
-
Review: Mine to Take (Matrix of Destiny #3) by Dara Joy
Mystical galaxies, wizards, shapeshifters, aliens, adventure, and sizzling romance lurk in the pages of the para-romance novel, Mine to Take by Dara Joy. The beautiful Jenise is more or less a prisoner in her own home. The evil Karpon desires her and yet also wants to kill her. Jenise longs to be free of him before he can conquer her making her his wife. As luck would have it, Karpon holds a fierce Familiar (shapeshifter) in his dungeons. If Jenise can some how free the Familiar, she too might be free of Karpon. The Familiars are a wild and sexual people, therefore Jenise bargains with the captive using the only thing she…
-
Review: Fire (Graceling Realm #2) by Kristin Cashore
Before gracelings came monsters. Fire has vibrant, flaming red hair. She is able to influence, control, and read peoples minds. Everyone who comes near her is attracted to her in a savage way. Monsters crave her blood. But she too is a monster….a special human monster….the only one left in the Dells. Outside of the Seven Kingdoms are the Dells, a wild countryside full of monsters. Monsters are variations of a regular animals but their fur, claws, feathers etc, come in a unique pallet of colors (magenta, gold, silver etc). But above all, they are savage creatures motivated by blood and they all posses the ability to control the minds of…
-
Review: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
When you enter the ‘big top’, you enter into a world full of illusion and intrigue and here you will find a dark, gritty love story. Jacob Jankowski is grieving the loss of his parents when he jumps a train bound for anywhere that isn’t his current location. He has boarded a train full of freaks, drunkards, performers, sparkling costumes, and illusion–he has ran away with the circus–literally. Jacob is able to gain employment as the circus veterinarian where he works closely with the charismatic August, the menagerie superintendent/trainer. August’s wife, Marlene, works as a circus performer as well…..Jacob is infatuated with her the moment he sets eyes on her. August…
-
Review: Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore
Some people are just born with a little something extra. Sometimes that something special is obvious, other times it’s not. But when you are a Graceling, there is no hiding what you are. Special. Different. Dangerous. Katsa’s mismatched eyes mark her as a Graceling. Being a Graceling means you have different powers. Some graces are useless, like predicting the weather, while others have more useful graces like reading minds. For Katsa, her grace is killing. But is being a Graceling the same as being a monster? As soon as her uncle, King Randa, realizes what her grace is, he uses her as a hired thug, punishing other realms for their…