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Chrysalis: A Novel

April 13, 2023

chrysalis

Ready to switch reading gears? On Tuesday I reviewed Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, a novel that was all heart and humor. Today I’m back with Chrysalis which was neither, but is a unique little novel that held my interest. It’s split into three parts, despite there being four characters. Author Anna Metcalfe leaves her protagonist unnamed and never speaks for ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary fiction, debut, literary, women

March Reading Recap

March 31, 2023

march reading

March has been a month of extremes. There was no middle ground to my reading. I had six books four stars and higher, but I also had four books I didn’t finish. This could be due, in part, to the fact that I overcommitted on books to read for March. Where I might normally push through on a book (and sometimes be rewarded with a turnaround) I had to jettison anything that wasn’t ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: contemporary fiction, mini-reviews, true crime

Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta

November 9, 2022

carlotta

Carlotta has had a time of it. She was sent to prison for 23 years because she was holding a gun nearby when someone was murdered. Worse, when she got there, she was a young man who knew he was meant to be a woman. Something the state had no interest in hearing and something that brought her a world of misery because they would not transfer her to a women’s prison. Now, she’s ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary fiction, contemporary life, literary, social issues

Sirens & Muses: A Novel

September 7, 2022

sirens

The bucolic landscape surrounding Wrynn College of Art a private, elite school in New England disguises an atmosphere of intensity in Antonia Angress’ novel, Sirens & Muses. Louisa and Karina are sophomores and roommates, but that’s where their surface commonality ends. Louisa is from New Orleans and can only afford school through loans and part-time jobs. Karina is from ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: art, contemporary fiction, debut, literary

Cover Story: A Novel

April 18, 2022

cover story

It’s a happy Monday—I’ve  got an easy 5-star, fun, tear-through novel that I literally started and finished in one day because I couldn’t stop reading. Cover Story, based on the Anna Sorokin scandal, is just that good. In it, a young writer, Lora, finds herself flunking out of NYU just before getting a summer internship at Elle magazine. Once there the entire trajectory of her ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary fiction, debut, Manhattan, new adult

Fight Night: A Novel by Miriam Toews

October 4, 2021

fight

Sometimes when we fight…sometimes we’re not fighting in quite the right way…we need to adjust our game. But still, the main thing is that we’re fighting…your mom’s a fighter. We’re all fighters. Swiv comes from a family of fighters. At nine she’s suspended from school because King of the Castle is not a recess game to her, it’s a battle. One that she will win at any cost, ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, childhood, contemporary fiction, family, literary

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