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The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

October 14, 2021

magic

What you put out into the world came back to you threefold. In The Rules of Magic Jet Owens and her siblings Franny and Vincent were dealing with their family’s curse about falling in love. Decisions were made and prices were paid. Now decades later both Jet and Franny live in the family’s house on Magnolia Street with their niece Sally, who’s suffered the most, losing two ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: England, family, family saga, magic, New England, women

Under the Whispering Door

September 23, 2021

whispering

I wasn’t planning on it, but this is going to be a week of reviewing fantastical fiction. On Monday I discussed Cloud Cuckoo Land   and today I’m back with Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune. It’s the story of Wallace Price, an astute and successful lawyer, who also happens to be a fairly terrible person (insert lawyer joke here). He dies of a sudden heart attack and finds ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: fantasy, life, young adult

Faye, Faraway: A Novel

February 4, 2021

faye

I’ll preface this quick review with the fact that I read Faye, Faraway in the week between the Capitol riot and the inauguration. Translate: my brain was in a petulant snit. Nothing worked and my fuse was between short and non-existent. I needed superlative reading. So, while I was displeased with this novel I rated it as almost good, because for anyone looking for easy reading ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: childhood, debut, fantasy

The Charmed Wife: A Novel

January 25, 2021

charmed

When it came out, Olga Grushin’s novel Forty Rooms blew me away. I had never read a piece of fiction that so perfectly encapsulated many of my feelings about marriage and being a woman. It was with great excitement that I saw Grushin was back with a new novel. Actually, excitement and trepidation because the bar would be high and Grushin looked to be mining the same ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, fantasy, literary, marriage

The House in the Cerulean Sea

January 11, 2021

cerulean

Often when it’s time to begin a book review I try and draw from the facts—plot, place, biographical details. Because I read so much (and don’t have the discipline I should) specifics tend to blur by the time I sit down to write so in starting there I bring the book back to me. All of that is moot when it comes to novels like The House in the Cerulean Sea. I can sum up the book ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, children, fantasy, young adult

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

December 18, 2020

midnight

Nora Seed is a very unhappy woman. At 35 she feels her life is mainly filled with regrets, that the future holds no hope, and that she contributes nothing to the world. When her beloved cat dies, it’s the last straw. She decides to kill herself with a drug overdose. What happens next is best explained by the book itself: “Between life and death there is a library”, she ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, fantasy

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