Book Reviews
This is the main category for my book reviews. Every book I've reviewed will be listed in this category. If you wish to fine-tune your search, try searching by a specific category, such as cookbooks, fantasy, historical fiction, etc. (the category list is at the bottom of this page).
-
Book Review: The Hencha Queen
The Hencha Queen by J. Scott Coatsworth My rating: 5 of 5 stars I dove into the third installment of J. Scott Coatsworth’s Tharassas Cycle series eagerly. Silya’s status as the Hencha Queen…
-
Book Review: Flawless
Another reviewer called this short story "The Expanse meets Drag Race", and they aren't wrong. I'm just mad I didn't think of that first. :)
-
Book Review: Bad Boy Wizard #1: The Astral Gatecrashers
Charlie's just your average kid living in a boring village (there's no way a village called Upper Bottom could be exciting), struggling with school and putting up with the most insufferable mom on…
-
Book Review: Midnight Blue-Light Special
What a ride! (Or should I say, what a run across the rooftops?) I loved InCryptid #1, Discount Armageddon, so I cracked into Midnight Blue-Light Special with high hopes.
-
Book Review: Designer Dirty Laundry
I needed a change from heavier fantasy and sci-fi novels, and Designer Dirty Laundry by Diane Vallere (aka DiVa) was just the thing. The story is sassy, breezy, a little silly, but with…
-
Book Review: We Can Change the World
We Can Change the World offers a deeply personal yet comprehensive account of life in Eugene, Oregon, in the early 1970s, blending memoir and social history through the eyes of an artist and…
-
Book Review: Beetle Shiny, Beetle Blue
I've been reading Steampunk novels ever since the genre arrived. Over the years, steampunk authors have had a tendency to evolve towards writing in a hybrid genre - such as mysteries with a…
-
Book Review: How To Cook Everything Kids
This well thought out cookbook goes beyond recipes, taking deep dives into food preparation, kitchen tools and gadgets, and contemplation of what sort of foods your budding chef would be happiest making.
-
Book Review: The Games We’ve Played
Having moved around a lot in my life, I’m familiar with the wistful feeling that can hit as one carries their last box out of a familiar home.
-
Book Review: Uncle Hugo’s Crisis
I loved this short story. It appealed to my sense of humor and love of wordplay.
-
Book Review: The Real Bogie & Bacall
While I loved Lauren Bacall's 1978 autobiography, written from her own point of view, to my surprise I found this account of my favorite love story of all time to be much more…
-
Book Review: Ship of Theseus
The author has not just written a book, he's crafted a transmedia storytelling experience. "Transmedia storytelling" can be defined as 'a technique of telling a story across multiple platforms and formats using current…
-
Book Review: The Cure for Women
I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but what I got was an extensive reference guide that shed a massive amount of light on the plight of women wishing to…
-
Book Review: Death and the Taxman
As a fan of Terry Pratchett's version of Death, I was easily pulled into this story by the blurb's promise of death cheating hijinks and hilarity. And as a former cubicle dweller and…
-
Book Review: The Gauntlet Runner
Picking up right where The Dragon Eater left off, J. Scott Coatsworth’s The Gauntlet Runner continues the story of Raven, Aik, Silya, and Spin.
-
Book Review: My Favorite Season is Spring
I hope children reading this book feel a sense of acceptance and self-worth after spending time with such approachable characters.
-
Book Review: Dexter & Sinister: Detecting Agents
Fun True Fact: When looking at a coat of arms, the right side is the Dexter, and the left side is the Sinister. The Dexter side is considered to be more honorable than…
-
Book Review: The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies
I noticed other reviewers expected a lighthearted romp, based on the book's cover. This is a fine lesson in NOT judging a book by its cover. Our Ill-Mannered ladies, while quite prim and…
-
Book Review: Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice
I enjoy learning about cultures beyond my own, and cooking food from other countries to enjoy and share. I've just finished savoring my very first comic cookbook, and what a delight it is!
-
Book Review: Spellbreakers
Author August Niehaus launches her new series, "The Library Attic Collection Presents" with Spellbreakers, a collection of a half-dozen stories. This collection reminded me a little of a Tardis, as it's much bigger…
- Action and Adventure, Book Reviews, Coming of Age, Dystopian, Historical Fiction, Realist Fiction, Suspense and Thriller
Book Review: Strawberry Fields
Strawberry Fields by Patrick D. Joyce My rating: 5 of 5 stars In 1968, I was a bookwormish fourteen-year-old whose biggest worry was finishing my math homework. In those insular, pre-internet times in…
-
Book Review: The Husbands
I'm a sucker for a good book blurb. I know how hard it can be to write one that's short while also compelling. "Do you take this man? No? What about this one?"…
-
Book Review: Starter Villain
I dove straight into Starter Villain just after closing the third book in John Scalzi's "The Dispatcher" series. It wasn't too much of a jolt, as the author's voice is so strong in…
-
Book Review: Travel by Bullet (The Dispatcher #3)
While Scalzi always does a great job of coming up with something really unusual for his characters to grapple with, he really outdid himself this time.
-
Book Review: Playing With a Full Deck
Playing With a Full Deck: Stories of Hope in Hard Times: An Aces High, Jokers Wild Collection by O. E. Tearmann My rating: 5 of 5 stars Now and then, loyal readers of…
-
Book Review: Suck a Little Happy Juice
Whether you're a fledgling author or a seasoned one, this book is for you. Even if you've 'gone traditional', you'll get a lot out of this book of advice, written by an author…
-
Book Review: The Dispatcher #2, Murder by Other Means
I love how Scalzi created a concept and then explores all its possibilities. I was darkly amused by the entertainment possibilities of experiencing death just for the thrill of it.
-
Book Review: Legends & Lattes
Our protagonist, Viv, is an orc who’s grown weary of the fighting life, so she retires to the city of Thune to build a coffee shop. Amusingly, no one in Thune even knows…
-
Book Review: The Dispatcher
A big concept in a small story. That ratio is perfect, since we the readers are expected to not only accept an absurd phenomenon, but embrace it. We're not alone though, as the…
-
Book Review: Fueling the Appetite: Poetically Speaking
Poetry carries connotations of romance and seduction, and what can be more romantic than indulging a chocoholic with poetry about chocolate… while enjoying chocolate?
