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Mexican Gothic: A Novel

July 24, 2020

mexican

Sometimes it requires a bit of effort to tease out a book’s theme or premise based on the title. That’s not the case in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s debut novel, Mexican Gothic. It is exactly that, a noir horror novel set in 1950s Mexico. Noemi is the pampered daughter of a wealthy family whose her father asks her to go to a remote town to visit her newly married cousin, Catalina. ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: fantasy, historical fiction, horror, Mexico

The Starless Sea

November 18, 2019

starless

If you know me at all you know I’m seldom at a loss for words. But when an author uses all the best words in their novel, the way Erin Morgenstern did in The Starless Sea, what’s left for someone trying to write about it? I have such tender feelings for this book I’m almost afraid to review it. Not that my paltry review is going to change its destiny, just that I won’t be able ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, fantasy, literary, New York City

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

January 16, 2019

dreamers

The Dreamers opens with one of the greatest sources of angst for college girls—dorm life. Mei’s roommate, Kara, is wildly popular after only a month at school, while Mei cannot find her way into any social group. She’s left on the sidelines until it is Kara who slips away, by falling asleep one night…and not waking up. It’s nothing so nefarious as death, it’s just sleep. Soon ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, fantasy, Random House, science fiction

It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews

May 18, 2018

it's

I'm back, with two spring releases that I didn't care for, but that I recognize could very well work for someone else.    The family of women in What Should Be Wild are cursed. They are the Blakelys and they go back generations to 400 A.D. when the first, the young Alys, is slain by conquerors. There are seven and range from Emma who is only five and was left in ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Bloomsbury, contemporary life, family, fantasy, Harper, magical realism, mini-reviews, new adult

Where’s an Editor When You Need One?: Mini-Reviews

April 6, 2018

editor

  We’ve all read novels by authors who have a way with words, know how to shape a sentence, generate tension…all the good stuff, right? But what about when that good stuff keeps going and going until what felt like a perfect balance turns into words and plot piling on unchecked? I’m left either annoyed or crushed under the weight of too much verbiage. It’s at that point ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1950s, Blue Rider Press, childhood, contemporary life, fantasy, historical fiction, Italy, marriage, mini-reviews, political intrigue, St. Martin's Press

The Coincidence Makers

March 5, 2018

coincidence

  He always loved this warm sensation, which nearly permeated the bone, during the minute preceding the execution of a mission. It was the sensation that came from knowing he was about to reach out a finger and nudge the planet, or the heavens. The knowledge that he would be diverting things from their regular and familiar path, things that until a second ago were ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, fantasy, life, St. Martin's Press

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