A reader review blog { of genre fiction }
Fiction
Fiction reviews
Inside Out, Maria V. Snyder
Apr 21st
Having read and loved Poison Study, I was glad to try Maria Snyder’s new book, Inside Out, a YA novel. The protagonist is Trella, a teenaged girl who toils as a “scrub”, a person designated as a cleaner of Inside, what appears to be a square-shaped biosphere made of sheet metal.
Scrubs are responsible for all cleaning, from laundry to the animal
REVIEW: Rainwater by Sandra Brown
Nov 18th
Rainwater (2009) by Sandra Brown is a historical fiction novel, set in a tiny town in Texas during the Depression. I realize what today is but this book will have to suffice. It’s the only book I’ve managed to finish in the last two weeks. Moving on.
Brown states that “Rainwater” is different from anything she’s ever written before.
REVIEW: ‘The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns’ by Elizabeth Leiknes
Jul 14th
THE SINFUL LIFE OF LUCY BURNS by Elizabeth Leiknes is a morality tale mixed with social satire that speaks of the power of words, thoughts and deeds. The heroine, Lucy Burns, narrates the story and she doesn’t waste time catching readers up. No. You’re pretty much sucked into Lucy’s extraordinary life and what a life it is.
Lucy Burns
REVIEW: ‘How Perfect Is That’ by Sarah Bird
Jun 10th
How Perfect Is That by Sarah Bird (June 2008), published by Knopf, is a morality tale about an ex-Austin society wife trying to hang on desperately to the life she once had of money, power, influence and pampering, plenty of pampering. Her “fall” down the social ladder isn’t pretty and my sympathy for her diminished
REVIEW: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Nov 30th
The Other Boleyn Girl (2003) by Philippa Gregory tells the tale of two sisters and their rivalry for the love of the King. One sister uses beauty to land into the king’s bed while the other sister uses her ambition and virtue to become the Queen of England. Of course all of this would have
REVIEW: ‘Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade’ by Diana Gabaldon
Sep 17th
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon finds British solider, Lord John Grey trying to restore honor to his family’s good name that stems from a seventeen year old scandal. When a page from his father’s missing journal turns up, it manages to stir up a hornet’s nest of trouble.
The story opens with the impending nuptials of Lord John’s mother,
REVIEW: Flirting in Cars by Alisa Kwitney
Aug 19th
Flirting in Cars by Alisa Kwitney is a smartly written contemporary romance novel. Read excerpt here. Here is the plot description:
An accomplished journalist, Zoë Goren can’t drive and she doesn’t cook. But that’s never been a problem in Manhattan, where the streets are filled with taxis and takeout restaurants, and a busy single mother can find everything she
REVIEW: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Jun 11th
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (2003) is the first book in the Odd Series. Koontz is a writer whose work is often hard to classify sometimes. Some of the work he writes are straight up horror stories and some are not.
Odd Thomas is a story in between where you have a blend of paranormal aspects mixed with suspense. The story is narrated by the lead character
Love and Basketball: One on One by Tabitha King
Apr 12th
From my keeper shelf we have One on One by Tabitha King, copyright 1993. It’s a teenage romance with plenty of basketball. The story is set in a fictional town in Maine called Nodd’s Ridge. The two protagonists are Sam Styles and Deanie Gauthier. Both are Superstar captain’s of their respective girl and boy basketball teams.
Sam comes from a good family,
REVIEW: Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess
Mar 1st
Such a Pretty Girl deals with an unpleasant subject matter: rape. Let me explain something or give you a little history about me. I’m a fan of crime shows like Cold Case Files ‚The First 48 Hours and American Justice on A&E. I picked up Such a Pretty Girl off of an recommendation by a bookseller. She had already warned me
REVIEW: The Complaint of the Dove by Hannah March
Feb 4th
Are you in the mood for a good Georgian mystery? I plucked this title off the shelf with no prior knowledge of this author’s work. This purchase was strictly for the cover. Besides, it looked like a good read, too and lucky me, it was a good read indeed. The Complaint of the Dove by Hannah March is a wonderful buried treasure read.
The
REVIEW: The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
Dec 11th
The Bronze Horseman (2002) by Paullina Simons is one of those rare novels that leaves it’s mark on you. A novel featuring a powerful lovestory set within a WWII backdrop. Captivating. Engrossing. Touching. Moving. Memorable. All adjectives that accurately describe one of the best fiction novels I’ve had the pleasure to read and recommend.
The story is thus:
Leningrad, 1941: The European war seems far away
Airs Above The Ground by Mary Stewart
Oct 18th
Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart is one of my favorites comfort reads. What I love about Mary Stewart besides the great characterizations and the “magical” romance is that her setting plays an important role as the plot or the characters in the story. In typical gothic fashion the heroine’s husband is sort of missing.
REVIEW: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Apr 27th
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown seems to evoke much discussion on the explosive information that Dan Brown explores that involves religion and what we believe fundamentally as Christians. After reading this book, I was left with a neutral feeling. While the conspiracy theory is definitely fodder for discussion, I found it entertaining stuff that shouldn’t be
REVIEW: The Boyfriend School by Sarah Bird
Apr 26th
The Boyfriend School by Sarah Bird is a buried treasure read. I read this book about maybe three or four years ago and at that time the book was sadly out of print. Now it’s available again and if you haven’t read it, you should because it is a satire of the romance industry that is both
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