Reviews

Title: The Sin Eater’s Daughter Author: Melinda Salisbury Genre: YA Fantasy Published: 2015 My Rating: ★★★★ Twylla gives up her future as a Sin Eater to become a goddess-embodied. Betrothed to the prince, she carries out her duty as the queen’s executioner for those who commit treason. The very touch of her skin kills. The court, even the […]

Title: Chocolat Author: Joanne Harris Genre: Fiction/Magical Realism Published: 2000 My rating: ★★★ The small village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes is shaken by the arrival of Vianne Rocher and her young daughter. The parish priest especially doesn’t take kindly to the opening of her chocolate shop and the influence she has on his flock.  *** Frankly, I’m miffed. […]

Title: The Gentleman Author: Forrest Leo Genre: Fantasy Published: 2016 My Rating: ★★★★★ Lionel Savage, an eccentric poet in Victorian London, finds out from his butler that he’s broke after furnishing his private library with books. He marries a young woman for her money. Six months into this loveless marriage, he realizes his muse has left him and […]

Title: Unf*ck Your Habitat: You’re Better Than Your Mess Author: Rachel Hoffman Genre: Nonfiction/ Self-help My rating: ★★★1/2 Finally, a housekeeping and organizational system developed for those of us who’d describe our current living situation as a “f*cking mess” that we’re desperate to fix. Unf*ck Your Habitat is for anyone who has been left behind by […]

Title: The Forbidden Wish Author: Jessica Khoury Genre: YA Fantasy Published: 2016 My Rating: ★★★1/2 She is the most powerful Jinni of all. He is a boy from the streets. Their love will shake the world…. When Aladdin discovers Zahra’s jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra’s very […]

Hush, Hush – Becca Fitzpatrick Nora’s new biology partner, Patch, is as dangerous as he is good-looking (and possessive). She gets caught in a feud that stretches back hundreds of years between immortal Nephilim and fallen angels. My rating: ★★★★ Nora is far too passive for my taste, and she doesn’t have much of a personality. […]

My goals for 2017 are simple. Workout more, write more, read more. I bought a Fitbit and have been habitually walking in circles to reach my step goals. I posted an unrealistic to-do list above my desk (I intend to write four rough drafts and do at least two rounds of revision each.) And I hope […]

The Golem and the Jinni – Helene Wecker The Golem is created to be an obedient wife. When her master dies, she must find her own way as a Jewish immigrant in 19th century New York. Meanwhile, in Little Syria, the Jinni is released from a flask after 1,000 years and must find a way […]

Dying of heat frustration in Orlando this month really slowed my reading progress. So far I’ve only read 54 books this year. I’ll never make it to 100 at this rate! What I Read in August:   Sisters Red – Jackson Pearce Scarlett March obsesses with hunting down Fenris–werewolves that killed her grandmother when she was a […]

I’m trying to enjoy my last few days before I head out on Sunday to Orlando, where I will, with certainty, die of heat frustration. I do not do well in warm temperatures, especially when it’s humid. I have an internal thermometer and when it gets too high, well, things get messy. I didn’t get as […]