For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten 5/5 StarsThis book was exactly perfect for me to read at the time that I did. In between fall and winter when all I want to do is cozy up with a warm meal and a good book. My favorite kind of fantasy book too; definitely fully fantasy but doesn’t take too long to get set up in the world. This is a delightful mix of tales (little red, sleeping beauty, beauty and the…
I have so many good things to say about this book. It is engaging, interesting, unique, and enjoyably funny (not laugh-out-loud funny IMO, but makes heavy situations light). The premise is original; our psychic has a newly-opened travel agency and ends up helping a detective on a case after keeping him from getting on a plane that crashed. She also moonlights as the Klairvoyent Karaoke star at a friend’s bar. All of these aspects come together nicely to keep the…
I really enjoyed the audiobook for A Spindle Splintered. I love a fairy tale re-telling and even though Beauty and the Beast is my absolute favorite, it was refreshing to read one about Sleeping Beauty. Zinnia pricks her finger on her twenty-first birthday and is transported to another world: Sleeping Beauty’s. Zinnia battles trying to save Sleeping Beauty while trying to manage her own health issues and get help from her best friend back home before her phone dies. Yes,…
Magical realism is my absolute favorite genre to read and it was a perfect background to Jeanie’s story. Jeanie inherited the family trait of being able to speak to the dead for a limited time after they die. I love that the book isn’t centered around this though; it’s really about Jeanie figuring out what she wants her life to look like, despite seeming to have it all. She has a husband who loves her and is set to have…
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan 2/5 StarsThis book has a great setting and sense of place. It really makes me want to visit Scotland for my next international trip. That’s about all that I enjoyed about the book though. I didn’t like Nina or the fact that no one in her love triangle could express anything clearly. Everyone in this book is wimpy and can’t make a decision for themselves. Nina was even forced into her big…
This is a very belated post, but at the end of March 2021 we packed up our little house just north of Seattle and moved back east. It’s the most bittersweet thing I’ve ever experienced; I miss so, so, so much about the PNW and will always have a part of me that Seattle shaped (just as defined as those beautiful mountain ranges surrounding the city) but it was definitely time for- and good for- us to move. We drove…
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy 5/5 StarsCharlotte McConaghy has delivered another wonderful book about so much more than it seems. I absolutely loved Migrations and was eager to read Once There Were Wolves as soon as it came out. The obvious subject of this book is Inti leading a team that is rereleasing wolves into the wilds of Scotland, but it is also about family, love, civilization, trauma, and survival. What lovely pages to get lost in. I…
The First Actress is an absolutely wonderful (fictional) story about Sarah Bernhardt. I had first heard of her in my high school drama class, but aside from her sleeping in a coffin I didn’t remember anything about her. While many liberties have been taken, I think the reader still has a good idea of who Sarah Bernhardt was by the end of the book. From the beginning, I was hooked. The writing flows easily and while I may not agree…
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke 4/5I almost didn’t make it though Piranesi. I wanted to stop about halfway though, but when I reread the synopsis it made me want to keep going. The middle bits drag. I’m glad I did finish, and I really enjoyed the ending, though I wasn’t blown away by it. I had a general sense of Piranesi’s situation and was correct, though the details about characters at the end made it special. The Puma Years by Laura…
This book was a little slow to start for me but once it did… hold my baby and clear the calendar. I was suddenly and violently sucked into this book and it was so nice because I’ve had a difficult time getting really into books since the new year (March now). Most of the book takes place in Bombay in 1914 and 1915. I haven’t read a book set in India in a long, long time and I don’t think…