At the time of the publishing of this Betty Neels book, I was not much older than the protagonist and was either working for the philanderer who impregnated three women in a few months, or I was working at the phone sex place. Either way, my experience of the early…
My dad was in the army so I moved around a lot, and I thought I had trouble with putting down roots. I had no idea how good I had it. In The Warbler by Sarah Beth Durst, Elisa is rootless and completely unmoored by a curse that has kept…
I have kind of a love/hate relationship with Lee Child and his most famous brain-child, Jack Reacher. I hate how much I love him. When you read a Jack Reacher book, you know what you’re going to get, some kind of inciting incident, disgusting villains who deserve all the violence…
This is the Chet and Bernie book when things get almost too dark for me. Farewell to Arfs by Spencer Quinn is the fifteenth book in the series and we’ve seen them through some dark times with Chet’s point of view softening the sometimes awful, often violent events of the…
Betty Neels is a genre all her own, and her books are unmistakeably hers. This is one where she tries a little harder to break the mold, and it is adorable. It’s a little like watching your grandma trying to use modern tech or slang and fumbling it but looking…
For many years, I thought Betty Neels based her beloved Dutch doctor characters on her own husband. Am I the only one a little scandalized to discover that her husband was Dutch, but a sailor not a rich medical professional, and those dishy Dutch doctors were her coworkers. Betty, I’m…
Full Disclosure: Drew Hayes is a being from another realm – one where writing at an elite level is a superpower. Prove me wrong, I dare you, because I refuse to believe that this level of insight into human nature, quiet humor, and tight plotting can possibly have originated from…
For a science fiction book about an alien race interfering with our world, the most alien part of this book is the author’s relationship with emotions, religion, and women. This book tries to do a lot of things at once – reflect on religion, explore a mother-daughter bond, speculate about…
A while back, I wrote a break-up letter with this author and told her we were done. I meant it, too. I had given her so many chances with the Paper Magician and all that series, and they were competent enough, just lacking in the emotional depth and connection I…
Right after I read this book, I heard about the trauma response many abused children carry into adulthood, the ability to read people in an instant. These are adults that had to learn vigilance to a ridiculous degree to avoid physical, mental, and emotional abuse from parents or other trusted…
