by Charlie N. Holmberg Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet Why do I keep doing this to myself? I am positive that Charlie Holmberg is a delightful person. She’s probably very kind and loves her family and is nice to puppies and all of that. I have no beef with her, I…
by April Daniels Dreadnought Danny Tozer is transgender. That’s cool, but I wouldn’t have read this book if that had been the focus. I was drawn in by the superhero plot and I appreciated that the gender issues were only part of the character development. As I told a coworker,…
by Robin McKinley The Hero and the Crown Aerin is mentioned over and over again in The Blue Sword as Harry learns to wield her predecessor’s weapon. This is Aerin’s tale, set many years before the happenings in The Blue Sword to which it is a prequel. Aerin is the…
by Robin McKinley The Blue Sword This was the second Robin McKinley book I read, including Beauty, and I had forgotten how good it was. It is set on a earth-like world with many parallels but with a bit of magic. Harry is from Homeland, a thinly-disguised Great Britain, and…
by Molly Harper Sweet Tea & Sympathy By all rights this should be called bittersweet tea because it’s coarser and less refined than I expected it to be. The main character, Molly, has a career-ending experience involving shrimp and flamingos and has to retreat to her father’s family compound to…
by Douglas Preston The Lost City of the Monkey God I don’t know why I always feel compelled to tell you why I read a book before I tell you what I think of it, but the trend continues. I went to the library a while back, trying to find…
by Connie Brockway All Through the Night This sounded so good! A Regency romance starring a cat burglar who steals from the rich to give to the poor while a shadowy figure tries to capture her – how could it go wrong? Oh so many ways. Let’s start with the…
by Victoria Laurie When One of the best things about Audible is that I am exposed to books I would have never found without it. When is one of those books and I’m so glad it came up on a Daily Deal. It is about a girl, Maddie, who sees…
by Charlie N. Holmberg The Master Magician I remember being disappointed in The Paper Magician. It had come with a strong recommendation and I had great expectations for it, expectations that I felt were largely left unfulfilled. I swore I wouldn’t read the next book in the series but then…
by Gerald Graff & Cathy Birkenstein They Say/I Say To continue a trend in my reading lately, here is a very helpful book turned into an only mildly helpful audio book. The advice is sound and practical and I can see it making a big difference in how I approach…
