Michelle

Heartbreaking and inspirational. I cannot begin to imagine what Rosemary thought and felt when her family were taken out of her life for several years when the book makes clear pleasing her family, particularly her father, was so much a part of her.

She inspired so much important research and legislation by her being a part of the most influential, and at times powerful, families in America.

Thoughts later.

My favorite storybook from childhood and where I first read The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde.

After working with abused animals and after losing many of my own pets to old age, I pretty much avoid stories about animals, because they tend to end with the inevitable – this is a really beautiful, memorable book though, and I can't say enough about the author's love for his dog, Trixie.

Nice idea, especially how in the world Rush just accepts the stat updates. I am here for the relationship with Runt, the wolf, who is no longer a runt at the end. Women are underrepresented, imo, certainly in the fighter classes. If one of the messages is that a goblin can be a paladin, could we have a woman who is not a healer or meant to be love interest adjacent? (Chapter at the end for another series seems to improve on this.)

Author is funny.

Not really a clean manuscript, but not horrible. Words missing or duplicated in sentences, typos like create in place of creature.

I won a copy of this in a Goodreads raffle, but it's also free on Amazon through their program.

This wasn't a bad (Audible) book. Loved, no surprise, the cat, but I never engaged deeply with the story. I listened at 3x speed, more looking to finish than to linger. The murderer did not surprise me at all.

I liked the narration, even though it seems counter-intuitive to have a female narrator for a first person story with a male main character. It took nothing away from the story for me.

I'd read or listen to another one, if the price were right, but mostly it would be for the cat. :)

Beautiful. Beyond the fascinating, evocative text, so much of this is just lovely eye candy.

Good read, not as good as The Colbert Report, not all of the images work on a Kindle.

The New Normal had a strange rhythm to it. Plot developments I expected to be explored never were.

For instance, Tamar gives her late sister's guitar to a drug dealer to pay off a debt her sisters – they were twins and died together – has incurred. For the whole book, I was expecting her parents to confront her about the guitar's disappearance. Never happened.

What I did like is that I'd never read a book before with a heroine who had to deal with hair loss. That's a new story for me. And a girl in high school? Whew. But it turned out to be, like much of the story, not explored as much as I would expect or watch.

Tamar's parents also seemed quote real to me. Her love interest and that story was told in a really low key way, and I sorta loved that. Here is a guy who is her best friend, accepts her who she is, and they make sense together.

I suppose I'd just have to say that the muted quality of the book lead my reaction to be a little muted as well.

Quick notes: Received copy through Amazon Vine. First Kinsella book. Liked it. :)

Gimmick of footnoting everything was funny, got old, became funny again, and then just lost me. Would have driven me bonkers on my Kindle.

This book is ... bananas! I loved it. I felt all the feelings. I laughed and I was moved. I hated and loved the two main characters in turn – felt for them and was angry at them. The tone was snarky and cynical, but then sweet and empathetic. And while I figured out some things, the book still managed to surprise me.

Anyhow, I'm actually hoping there's some kind of sequel as not everything felt resolved, and not everyone who deserved a comeuppance received one. I have to think that will be remedied.

I can't even share my favorite quotes, because they're spoilery, but they were choice.

I love that a conversation Violet had about the nature of Hell and the power of choice took on more resonance as the book continued. Letting go and holding on are both options, and each leads down a different path.

I also loved the different, very dark, fairy tales shared throughout the book. I actually thought I knew the darker versions of stories, and the darker stories, but ... whew!

Ba-na-nahs!

Edited because I forgot to mention I won a Kindle copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway, but I promise I'd tell ya if I didn't like it!

I kinda forgot to have children, so I can only relate so much to stories about pregnancy and childbirth.

Beautiful, inspiring photos of a lovely family and historic events. A lot of behind the scenes shots. My favorite, outside of the president with children and Bo getting on Airforce One, was probably in Rio at the giant Christ the Redeemer statue.

Takes place where I grew up in the era I grew up – author drops names of places I know well. I'm easily impressed.

Just an excellent at every level middle grade novel. Exceptional.

I received an ARC of this title from Netgally in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Darcy Coates and I missed it was the third book in a series. Fortunately, the author did a great job imparting the needed information. I never felt there was a missing puzzle piece.

For those who've read the first 2 books – imagine that – Keira can see ghosts, but can't remember her past. She has a cat that seems to have more going on than meets the eye. She's a caretaker at a cemetery – Keira, not the cat. Although, I don't know. The cat is clearly up to something.

I wanted the book to be more what the synopsis set it up to be – an invitation to dinner by the town recluse, him begging our main character Keira for help, a dilapidated mansion. Ghosts. As that portion was unspooled I settled in for a great read. It was spooky, and filled with pathos, and I love an old mansion.

And it turned out to be a very small portion of the story.

Most of the book involved a road trip, a furthering of the greater central mystery of Keira's identity – she has amnesia – and the sinister people and/or organization that wants to find her. A portion of the story also concerned her friend. Mason, and a tragic incident in his past.

The events of the road trip are interesting and well-written. I enjoyed all of this, and really do want to know how the storyline continues going forward. Still, I can't lie and say I wasn't a bit disappointed that the thing that made me request an arc book-ended the story more than it was the story.  The events, however, did help Keira resolve that story as well. And there was a very horrifying scene at a cemetery other than, you know, the one Keira lives at.

The author is both funny and brings the pathos, and I'm into that. Maybe that's why I missed the story I thought I was getting as much as I did. She gave the man needing help, Dane Crispin, a truly horrifying and tragic predicament, and I kept imagining him waiting for help.

Keira spends most of the story with Mason and Zoe. Mason has dropped out of medical school, and in this installment we get his backstory. He's kind and a little unintentionally funny. I like him.

Zoe can be hysterically funny. Also really grating. The author definitely likes over-the-top characters. In the case of this emo kid, as much as I rolled my eyes at the cliches, it wasn't so bad. We spend a lot of time with Zoe though.

A lot of time with Zoe.

I thought we could maybe feed her to a shade – a malevolent spirit.

I laughed out loud on occasion. There's something about someone saying wildly inappropriate things in serious situations that can be funny. When I tell you that she never stopped, though. The soundtrack to the road trip was really bad music she wouldn't turn off, and yet she wasn't left at the side of the road.

“Zo?” Mason raised one of the books she'd passed to him. “This one's on werewolves.”“Yeah. I got a bit carried away. But, hey, ghosts are real. Which means, statistically. we have a really good chance of encountering a werewolf in our lifetime.”“That's very much not how statistics work.”“Agree to disagree.”

She also has a great riff about only one bed, and enemies to lovers. 

The funniest quote is “Crimson,” Keira said. “Uh, ka-kaw?” But you had to be there. 

As a minor aside, there's a plot point about wanting to burn white sage for protection. That's considered a closed practice from Indigenous cultures, one they were forbidden to practice. 

Anyhow, I enjoyed the story and think I'll continue on to see the payoff for the storylines that are being set up. I wish I could find more good ghost stories that are written as if that were good enough.  

This book was recommended to me through a service I subscribe to. TBR: Tailored Book Recommendations. I quite like the service, and the thoughtful recommendations I've received so far. They're not paying me, I pay them. :)

I was recommended this book because I like true crime, but I prefer it through a feminist lens, and with a huge dose of empathy. This met those preferences.

Here, we meet several female murderers. Poison by far being their favorite method. We explore how being a woman molded their choices, played into the media narratives, made people in some cases less likely to suspect them, and in other cases quick to call them witches.

To some extent, the writing felt a bit clunky, but the author also has this really wicked and dark sense of humor that would pop up and make me laugh.

I enjoyed recapping the stories for my husband, both to keep him in line, and to amuse him. “So, there's this scroll marked confession, and the guy who finds it thinks it's just between the corpse and his God, so he chucks it into the fire. THEN he finds all this poison, and I bet he regretted chucking the scroll into the fire.”

I received an ARC of this title from Netgalley. These are my honest thoughts.

Scissor Sisters is a horror anthology about villainous lesbians. I found it under the horror category on Netgalley, and that's the genre I see it listed as elsewhere.

I love anthologies. Depending on if you're a half full or half empty person, they either provide you with new opportunities to fall in love regularly or they provide you with stories that sometimes might not be to your tastes, or perhaps the good stories end too soon.

To that, I say, “Yes.”

Scissor Sisters is full of really good stories, and if you're a fan of the premise, there will be stories that please you. There are also stories, however, that needed work, or that fall apart if you think too hard. And there are stories that really needed to be expanded to work. There was only one story that made me want to gouge my eyes out.

While it's subjective, I'd also label some of the stories as more fantasy than horror. I like fantasy, I just like to choose when I want to read something.

The anthology starts out very strong for me. Gladys Glows at Night, by Hatteras Mange was the nearly perfect entry in. If you've read Radium Girls (non-fiction) and thought that there still needed to be more justice, lots more justice, this is a satisfying story.
You Oughta Be in Pictures, by Anastasia Dziekan was also a strong story to have in the beginning. Gory, and lovely, and deep, and tragic. It left me sad and uncomfortable, and so it should.

Teratoma, Cacodaemon, Erinya, by Avra Margariti was about our inner furies. And it was kinda gross. And touching. Torbalan's Gift, by Grace R. Reynolds was about freedom and anger.

Buckskin for Linen, by Mae Murray was haunting, and while I didn't mean the pun, it's appropriate. It's a tale reminding us of the horrors – ugh, there I do again – of residential schools and denying people their families, culture, and heritage. Like the aforementioned Gladys Glows at Night, it's satisfying to read about girls and women meting out justice. And then of course sadness that this justice hasn't been attained in the real world. That the stories are also sapphic makes them all the more powerful.

Some of the stories channel fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel,or classic horror like Frankenstein, or  just plain classics like Great Expectations, with – for me – mixed results.

I want to give a mention to the “odd man out.” According to the note at the back, the pub wants to give the reader a little something more – lagniappe – at the end of their books, so they added a queer (but not sapphic) story called The Call of the Sea, by Eric Raglin, which was delightful.

There's a list of content warnings in the back of the book, which I appreciate. With so many stories the list of CWs will be extensive. I also found them validating because one story is listed as having pseudo-incest and when I read this story, and that bothered me, I didn't know how I'd deal with it in a review. Was I reading too much into it? Would people TELL me I was reading too much into it? No, it's listed right there.

While I loved the stories I mentioned – for the most part – and enjoyed others like Enamored (Shelley Lavigne ) and Oubliette (L.R. Stuart) there were a few stories I felt were misplaced in a horror anthology (subjective, I know.) Or that needed to be novella length, like a story that had an amazing beginning and ending, but there was nothing in the middle, so it all fell flat. And there was one of two that felt more vibes than stories, and as if the author couldn't really say what was going on either. One was just spot on and amazing until an ending that got it's shock value from directly contradicting itself.

I do recommend Scissor Sisters, and I think I found some new authors, which I think anthologies are great at doing, but I really felt those exceptions to the quality. 

A story of love and loss after a school shooting told from the point of view of a 6-year-old boy. Many passages moved me to tears. It's becoming clear that (the real and the fictional) children shall lead us on this issue.

This was the right book at the right time. Although it contained a lot of tragedy, ultimately it was a story of hope, which fit what I needed at that moment.

I loved Grace. I empathized with Grace. I spent a lot of time wondering what I would do in Grace's shoes, both as a woman of her time, and as a woman of my time.

A lot of the book is about what makes a house a home. The same space can be heaven or hell based on with whom you share that space. Beauty or squalor.

Ultimately, Grace realizes her life is her own, full of possibilities.

Insanely awesome for fan(atics) of the show!

(Originally published at Red Adept Reviews.)

I obtained Wounded Earth, by Mary Anna Evans, from a copy sent to Red Adept Reviews.

Overall: 3 3/4 stars

Plot/Storyline: 4 Stars

I liked the idea here. It tapped into a lot of my personal fears as Babykiller's technique involved eco-terrorism and harming endangered animals. Perhaps the saddest scene for me was when a pilot had to contemplate the fact that without his knowledge he'd been made to do harm while crop dusting. That the deer drinking from the river, the herons eating fish, might be ingesting toxins. Even though the book takes place in 1995, it called up memories of the Gulf Coast Spill, and how many innocent animals would die simply because humans keep screwing up. For the people less tree huggy than myself, there was also the threat of things not working out to well for people either.

Characters: 4 stars

Larabeth was a terrific character. Smart. Strong. From the second she even suspected there might be a threat, she sought out help. Now, by Literary Law, local police are useless, but J.D. - a private detective she knew - was her first call. I love that we're told she's smart and logical and then she goes ahead and does smart and logical things. Early on, after Babykiller calls her for perhaps the second time she said to him, “If you're threatening me, it won't work,” ... “I may have been careless in the past, but no more. If you know so much about me, you know I can afford a security system, a gun, even a personal body guard, if that's what it takes.”

I love that. She does make mistakes, but she makes reasonable mistakes. Even some of her actions that backfired were logical given what she knew. When she was careless, she was careless in a way that most people could understand - in defense of people she cared about.

Babykiller didn't work for me at quite the same level. He was so powerful and the cards were so stacked in his favor, even with Larabeth's advantages, that it seemed too much. He wasn't clever as much as well-connected. It was simply too much like he was waving a magic wand and never breaking a sweat rather than a Hannibal Lecter level villain. I felt he needed to be charismatic or really creepy in his conversations with Larabeth, but while his words were vile they were never clever. Some of his actions and threats interested me, but he did not.

Another character, Cynthia, was quite interesting and could carry her own book easily. J.D, the private detective, never gelled as a complete character for me, but I can't say why. I guess it's enough that Larabeth liked him.

Writing Style: 3 1/2 Stars

I'm a fan of the author. I'd read a mini anthology by her called Offerings that pretty much knocked me on my derriere. I have to say that Wounded Earth did not quite meet my expectations based on that previous effort, but much of what I'd enjoyed before was present. I think of Mary Anna as a very smart writer and this book didn't disappoint in that respect, but I kept thinking Wounded Earth should have been tighter. The story has a lot of things happening, and at least one major subplot, and yet it still felt like the pace of the first 50% or so was slow and that there was a little too much repetition. The nature of the story made me want a roller coaster ride, but things unfolding too leisurely for those thrills and chills to kick in until the book was over half over. This slower pace, however, worked beautifully for her in Offerings.

However, individual scenes were excellent, particularly the scenes in which Babykiller arranges for something truly vile to happen.

There was also a moment when the author really stepped into the narrative. The book took place in 1995 and the narrative voice sounded like the story was concurrent with that time. At about the 67% mark and at a crucial point, the tone changed for a couple paragraphs for, there's no other way to say it, the author to step in and remind us specifically that it's 1995 and explain why the thing that was about to happen (a tech snafu) would not occur today. I suppose it felt important to do this, but it was momentarily jarring and not necessary if the reader had been paying any attention.

Editing: 3 1/2 Stars

There was a sporadic formatting glitch that involved a couple paragraphs in a row to have a right justification. Beyond that, Glinda from The Wizard of Oz got called Glenda. There was sprinkling of typos and combined words. A minor character's last name changed. A store's name changed from The Spy Stop to The Spy Place within a couple paragraphs. The errors, while not completely over the top, were enough to alter the reading experience.

This review originally appeared at Red Adept Reviews.

(Note: What detracts most from the overall score are formatting issues. The author has since contacted me to say she'd been unaware of the issues, and that they'd since been corrected. I can only review the copy that I read, but I want to put this information out there for people who might be interested in the story except for this issue. The overall rating is 3.5 stars, and I have to round either up or down for the Amazon stars. I'm choosing to round up based on her assertion.)

Overall: 3 ?? Stars

Storyline/Plot: 4 stars

I like the premise - a lot. This love probably comes from being a “Buffy” fan since the concept behind the show was for the little blonde girl in the dark alley to “take back the night.” One of the themes of the show was how, because she was tiny and cute, she was continually underestimated. Anyone who is a blonde, or knows some capable ones, will appreciate the inherent humor and girl power message here.

I liked that there was a sly sense of humor here, an acknowledgement of the horror/suspense tropes being paraded through the story. Missy is fully aware that she has found herself in the middle of a slasher movie scenario.

As always, short stories are not to everyone's taste, and I don't think this story will be the one to make you a fan of this length if you're not currently.

I enjoyed this story overall, while feeling that it could have been a little punchier and saucier to lead up to - what I consider to be - a pretty darned good last line.

Characters: 3 ?? stars

I liked Missy well enough, as well as enjoying the portrayal of the secondary characters, but I think a page or two more to develop her would have made the story all the stronger. Because the story is short, because the plot is pretty straightforward, I think for Dumb Blonde to be really good that it had to excel as a character piece - and it didn't quite get there.

What I like is that Missy, as expected, is smarter than the stereotype. What I really like is that, realistically, she is still not exactly a Rhodes Scholar, and the reader can play backseat driver on what she should do.

Writing Style: 3 3/4 stars

The author got the job done, and the result was a nifty little story. I would read more by the author, and I'm actually curious to see what she could do with a novel, but... well, see editing score. There was something here that felt ... unpolished. Still, the effort was a good one.

Formatting: 2 stars

The formatting is seriously off here, with paragraphs running together. I emailed the author to tell her about this - and mentioned that the samples of her other books had the same issue. I requested she email me to let me know when this was resolved. I have yet to hear back, so I have to assume this is the same. We don't normally contact authors on these things, but I thought it was so big of an issue, yet something that could be a simple mistake, and so - in this case - I'd play Good Samaritan. Other than that, no other issues with editing, but this one took away from my enjoyment.

 I accepted the ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book a lot, although it started stronger for me than it ended. The genre is mystery, but there's a slow-burn romance simmering under the surface that I imagine will have a payoff in a future installment. 

The Duchess of Fournier's husband is accused of killing an opera singer believed to be his lover. The duchess is sure he neither had an arrangement with the singer nor killed her. The Bow Street Runner who was alerted to the death, and was first on the scene, is convinced the duke is guilty. He was found covered in blood and catatonic. 

The duchess, Audrey, has the ability to perform psychometry – touch items and read their histories – and decides to use this skill to prove her husband's innocent. The Bow Street Runner keeps discovering her in the process of her investigation, and almost seamlessly, they begin working together. 

I really liked the opening of the book, which felt gritty and dark, but that tone for long periods gave way to what felt a little more of a romance novel vibe. I also like, love, romance novels, but the beginning kinda sold me on the idea of something grittier. I mean, there's a lot at stake, more death, guns, and I'm in no way saying it's tame. The autopsy scene was plenty gross!

The mystery kept my interest steady. This book reminded me a little of the Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas, and those mysteries work a little better for me in terms of surprises and misdirects, but the mystery here worked well. 

The dialogue and use of Regency vernacular really worked for me. I went down a lot of historical rabbit holes as a result, which is a thing I like, and those details set the mood for me. I think it's the quality that made me know I'd enjoy the book. 

I liked Audrey, and Marsden, and their chemistry. And I know I'm interested in what happens in future books. I'd like to see Audrey come into her own. This could be a really good series. 

(Review originally published at Red Adept Reviews.)

Overall: 4 1/2 stars (I'm rounding down when choosing stars, because I expect a lot from this author!)

Plot/Storyline: 4 1/4 stars

This is a short story, and so it's also straightforward. There's not much to complain about here. This reminded me a little of the Twilight Zone episode in which the kid wishes people into the cornfield - only with a way more sympathetic kid. I didn't fully buy a scene where the father had a friend over to drink and talk about the athletic prowess of the visitor's son. I can see this coming up in the natural course of things, but the way it was presented seemed ham-fisted.

Other than that, good tale, appropriately told for a length that doesn't lend itself to too much complexity. There are no big surprises here, but this was the sort of story where the pleasure is in knowing what is coming and waiting for that pay off.

If you want those surprises, you won't be as happy with this as I was - and you should read Sugar Daddy. If you aren't a fan of short stories, you won't like it as much either, which seems obvious, but often when I read reviews of short stories folks are punishing them for being short.

Characterization: 4 1/2 stars

There isn't a lot of depth or nuance here. Because of the length of the story and because of the tradition that this story is a part of, the style is broad, with the little boy being very good and his father being very bad, but that works. This is a horror story that wants the reader to see matters in simple terms and to see punishment doled out accordingly.

Writing style: 4 1/4 stars

I find the author to be ridiculously talented. If the writing isn't as effortlessly good as it seems, and when is it really as effortlessly good as it seems, then he can keep it his little secret. Still, I did feel like one more pass to tighten it all up a little would have aided the story.

I do want to ding Mr. Menapace for one thing. Without spoilers, let me say he explained something at the very end, perhaps because he very much wanted the reader to “get” the meaning/play on words. If you spell it out, you have to lose cool points. (Or a quarter of a point.) Not getting it wouldn't change the story in any real way and knowing it makes the reader feel all smarty-pants - until you EXPLAIN it. In all seriousness, it felt clumsy and took away some of the power of the ending.

Personal Enjoyment: 4 1/2 stars

This is an optional category for when we average it all out and the score just doesn't feel right. This is what we use to acknowledge that a story can be more - or less - than the sum of its parts. I had a little extra enjoyment reading this simply because when I read his earlier story, the often mentioned in this review, Sugar Daddy, I was so very impressed. In reading this, while I didn't enjoy it quite as much, I still saw all that talented that makes me think/hope Mr. Menapace has a long career ahead of him. It's cool to read an author you like and imagine you might get to say, “Yeah, well, I knew him way back when!”