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).
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Book Review: Edmund Dulac’s Fairyland
If you enjoyed Albert Seligman's other collections of The American Weekly illustrations, you'll want to add this to your library. Edmund Dulac's Fairyland focuses on the illustrations from April to May 1932 and…
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Book Review: Edmund Dulac’s Arabian Nights
If you aren't familiar with the tales from the Arabian Nights, this volume can be your introduction to a wealth of fantastical stories. If you've already read the stories, you'll enjoy seeing them…
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Book Review: Gods, Myths and Mortals: Edmund Dulac’s American Weekly Illustrations
In the 1931 series, "Love Stories the Ancients Believed In", eleven couples have been featured by the artist in a pivotal moment of their relationships. Well, actually ten couples. Poor Eros is unable…
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Book Review: Olde England of Edmund Dulac
Albert Seligman has done an exceptional job of creating this book, which is just one of his many collections of Edmund Dulac's work.
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Book Review: Twits Abroad: A Steampunk Distraction
Twits Abroad: A Steampunk Distraction by Tom Alan Robbins My rating: 4 of 5 stars While book 2 of The Twits Chronicles still remains my favorite of the series (and probably will always…
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Book Review: A Girl and her Demon
While I wouldn't want to meet Millicent in a dark alley, ever, I found her demon to be rather likeable, in spite of his appetite for knowledge (you'll laugh at that later).
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Book Review: Kiss the Sky
Considering that I call Seattle my hometown, it should come as no surprise that I couldn't resist a graphic novel featuring one of my city's most famous musicians. As I settled in and…
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Book Review: Twits in Love: A Steampunk Distraction
Love at first distraction! This is great stuff, in a bite-sized story.
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Book Review: Twits in Peril: A Steampunk Distraction
Awesome second story in what's quickly proving to be a reliably hilarious series.
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Book Review: Thorns Among Shadows
I will admit that fantasy is not my most-read genre. For me to give a fantasy story five stars is a big deal, but Thorns Among Shadows earned every one of them.
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Book Review: The 4midables: How They Came to Be
When a former writer for the Inspector Gadget television series decides to write a novel, you can bet it's going to be full of gadgetry, right?
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Book Review: Most Requested Copycat Dishes: 101 Homemade Versions of Your Favorite Restaurant Recipes
The cookbook leads with "Top Ten Tips for Creating your own Copycat Recipes." which is a deep dive into solid advice to help you develop your own copycat recipes. I felt as if…
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Book Review: The Death Bringer
I’ve just finished the final book in J. Scott Coatsworth’s Tharassas Cycle series. I’m willing to wait a day, possibly two, before I’ll start demanding a never-ending supply of short stories set on…
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Book Review: No Longer a Kid
Author Christian Gonzales bravely beginsNo Longer a Kidwith a prologue that states, "Life has been no refuge for me." I call it brave, because it's the necessary start to a deeply personal book…
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Book Review: Bookshops & Bonedust
There's books I read for eyepopping excitement and outrageous plotlines... and there's books I read when I want a literary hug and snuggle.
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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…
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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. :)
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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.
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Book Review: Uncle Hugo’s Crisis: A Twits Short Story
I loved this short story. It appealed to my sense of humor and love of wordplay.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.