Book lover, collector, and reviewer
This one started out slow, and I didn’t initially connect to the characters, but I kept going with it, and just before the halfway mark, it clicked and I ended up really enjoying it. Eva has the power (curse?) to be able to feel the emotions people leave imprinted on inanimate objects, just like her … Read More “The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville” »
I really enjoyed this book, and I especially liked the author’s next-level writing style, which almost seemed itself musical with parts of the book that were smooth and easy, rising into crescendos that pushed David and Ameena’s relationship almost to its limits. Ameena, a Pakistani-Muslim writer by day and artist by night, left her home … Read More “David and Ameena by Ami Rao” »
Summer in the Bluffs is about a childless African American power couple, Ama and Omar, and their three goddaughters. Omar is gone and Ama wants the goddaughters to spend the summer with her one last time on her estate on Martha’s Vineyard, before she gifts one of them the house. First of all, I really … Read More “Summer on the Bluffs by Sunny Hostin” »
I’ve been struggling getting into short story collections lately — but this one was wonderful and reminded me what I really enjoy about reading short stories. This was a collection of stories that shows the lives of seemingly ordinary people from modern-day China. Really, though, in many of the stories, the characters are so normal, … Read More “Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen” »
This book has been on my TBR list since it was released, but it took my book club choosing it for our June book to move it up on my list, and I’m so glad I did. This was an understated and haunting novel about a family split apart when their teenage twins disappear and … Read More “The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett” »
Cookbook? Memoir? Food writing? Check, check, check. If you go into this book just looking to add a new cookbook to your collection, you might be disappointed with what you find because the beauty of this book is that you actually have to read it — or at least focus on a chapter that interests … Read More “Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes, and Stories by Nigella Lawson” »
When I started this book, I was really confused, but like any good book in this fantasy-magic-mystery genre, you have to keep reading for everything to click into place and make sense. I’m not 100% sure that everything actually did make sense at the end, but I still really enjoyed it and can’t wait for … Read More “The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu” »
While I enjoyed the overall storyline of this book, the beginning was a bit dense and it took a bit for me to really get into and care about the characters. Alexa is struggling as a new mother, especially with her husband away for long stretches of time at work, so after her big sister … Read More “The Girl She Wanted by K.L. Slater” »
Let me start off by saying that I have read a lot of Jane Yolen (and I don’t just mean her How Do Dinosaur series, although it is one of my daughter’s favorites.) I like that what she writes is not necessarily what you expect and that there are a lot of fantasy and magical … Read More “The Midnight Circus by Jane Yolen” »
Molly Clarke has not had it easy the last few years. She accidentally kills her youngest daughter, Annie, with her car, which ruins her relationship with her husband and two older children, Nicole and Evan. So when Molly disappears on a stormy night, leaving her car and phone behind on the side of the road … Read More “Don’t Look for Me by Wendy Walker” »