Literary Criticism
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Review: You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
The first book I read by this team was their debut, The Wife Between Us, and I loved it. I thought it was a wild ride full of twists and turns and I couldn’t wait to read more by them. I missed their second book, An Anonymous Girl, but I had no plans to miss this one if I could help it so you can imagine how thrilled I was to check this one out! The hype for this book is real right now. It’s everywhere and everyone seems to be talking about it so of course there was a part of me that worried about all the hype it…
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Take Two Review: Who Slays the Wicked (Sebastian St. Cyr #14) by C.S. Harris
Last year in April, I read this installment of the Sebastian St Cyr series and I while I thought it was good, it was only my fourth book of the series I had read so naturally I was missing a substantial amount of the character nuances. This series as a whole, can be read as a stand alones for the most part, but there are a couple of books where the mysteries overlap and this being one of them. There are many characters from an earlier book, Where the Dead Lie, which was the first Sebastian book that I had read. The first time I read this installment, I felt…
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Review: Blame the Dead by Ed Ruggero
One of the main reasons that I decided to read this book was because the author was a former military officer. I am really into military history, especially Civil War and WWI/WWII. My dad was also in the military and I grew up with military history. I thought this one sounded like it would bring a lot of history to life mixed into a historical mystery. I also like that this book was going to be sent it Italy during the war instead of the traditional France or England. This book ended up being quite a different read than I was expecting. So many historical mysteries lean toward the fluffy…
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First Impression Review: Children of the Stars by Mario Escobar
There are so many WWII books out that focus on female relationships and bonds during the war. Often it’s a sister or two best friends who grew close during the war. I haven’t seen any books featuring two boys, in this case brothers, during the war for quite some time which is why this book stood out to me. I am only a couple of chapters in and have yet to finish it, but the novel touches on many heavy hitting themes, especially because the two boys are Jews during the Holocaust. This book shows promise in a number of areas. The writing is solid and emotional, packing am emotional…
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Review: This Won’t End Well by Camille Pagán
This is a new to me author, but not entirely unfamiliar to me. I’ve seen her books popping up all over the Amazon charts, especially her release from last year, I’m Fine and Neither are You. When this new release, This Won’t End Well, came up for review, I jumped at the chance to read it! Everything I have heard about this book and this author, make it inevitable that I will love this book! I couldn’t wait to crack open my copy and let the good times roll so to speak! And let me tell you, this book did not disappoint! What a refreshing new voice in contempo lit!
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Review: Egg Drop Dead (A Noodle Shop Mystery #5) by Vivien Chien
I picked up this mystery series on a whim when it first came out. I had no idea what to expect but I was craving ramen noodles and when I saw the cover of the first book, I felt like I could enjoy ramen noodles without actually having to eat ramen noodles (spoiler, I still ate ramen). What I found with this series was a refreshing colorful series with lots of fun and quirky characters. When I pick up a cozy to read, so many of them are set in small towns and are full of baking or cat owning characters. Does this series have that? Well yes—-and no. I…
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Review: The King’s Justice (Maggie Hope #9) by Susan Elia MacNeal
When I first stumbled on Maggie Hope, it was early 2012. I was one of the first people to read and review Mr Churchill’s Secretary and I fell head over heals for Maggie right then and there! I have adored many of the books in the series thus far and I can’t believe we are on the 9th book already! Obviously when this book came up for review, I was thrilled to be reading more about Maggie’s journey and checking in with many of my favorite characters in the series. After the last book, I had high hopes for this one as well!
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Review: The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
This book has been everywhere lately and with good reason! I have been a fan of Simone St James for quite a while. I read The Broken Girls a couple of years ago and then quickly binged the rest of her books, loving each and every one! When I saw that this book was coming out, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it! This is one of those authors and books that received a ton of hype and while sometimes I am weary of overly hyped books, this was one I was sure to love. All of her books have been great and I knew I had nothing…
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Review: The Winter Companion (Parish Orphans of Devon #4) by Mimi Matthews
To say that I have been eager to read this final installment of the Parish Orphans of Devon series is a gross understatement. I absolutely loved all of Mimi Matthews books and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one! Of all the orphans, Neville was probably to most mysterious character for me and the one we never seemed to get to know, beyond the basic back story told by the other characters. I was excited to see how Neville’s love story as well as his character unfolded in this book. There was so much discussion in the other books about how Neville’s accident as a child had…
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Review: Adequate Yearly Progress by Roxanna Elden
I worked in public education for twelve years and during that time I had a close friend who was a counselor in our Guidance Office. We would have lunch together every day and talk about how we needed to write a book about public education because people would never believe the things we have to go through on a daily basis. In fact we stated keeping a list of things that would happen in our office each year and at the end of the school year we would go back and reflect on the year of weird things we had to deal with. The list was long every single year…