★★★☆☆ The second book in Andrew Mayne’s Jessica Blackwood series, Name of the Devil has Jessica investigating the explosion of a small town West Virginia church where the congregation appears to have vanished into thin air.
Category: Book Reviews
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
★★★☆☆ In Madeline Miller’s retelling of the Iliad, we see the story of the great Greek warrior, Achilles through the eyes of his friend Patroclus. After being exiled from his homeland, a young Patroclus meets Achilles. We follow Patroclus and Achilles as they grow up, train together, and ultimately, join the quest to capture Troy in honor of the kidnapped Helen of Sparta.
Not Nice by Aziz Gazipura
★★★★☆ There is such a thing as being too nice. And, according to the author of Not Nice, if you’re someone who is plagued with too much niceness, it is causing you misery in the form of mental anguish and physical pain. In fact, he goes as far as to say your niceness is making … Continue reading Not Nice by Aziz Gazipura
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
★★★★☆ I am a huge Friends fan. I loved the show so much that I somehow managed to turn it into the subject of my undergraduate research project in college. The sarcastic Chandler Bing, played by Matthew Perry, was my favorite character on the show.
The Black Velvet Dress by J.E. Clarkson
★★★★★ Women know there’s something magical about finding the right little black dress. But, what happens when the little black dress finds you? J.E. Clarkson’s eerie, 26-page short story revolves around this concept.
Nine Lives by Peter Swanson
★★★☆☆ In this thriller, nine strangers receive a list in the mail with their names and those of eight others. One of the individuals named on the list is a detective and starts becoming concerned the list is a hit list of some sort. And, then these seemingly unconnected people on the list start dying in random ways.
Finding Inspiration in the Sameness
Have you found yourself looking around for new ideas and coming up empty? It can be hard as an artist, creative, or business person to find creative ideas, especially when you need them most. One of the things I do when I’m stuck in a rut with my photography is to challenge myself to find … Continue reading Finding Inspiration in the Sameness
Before Dawn by Laura Murphy
★★★☆☆ Max Abbracciaventio, a biracial young woman living in New York with her adopted family, has made some questionable choices in her life. One of them was having an affair with an abusive married man 14 years her senior.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
★★★★☆ Melinda Sordino calls the cops at a late summer party, a move that gets her ostracized during her freshman year at Merryweather High School. The loss of her friends and the isolation begin to get to her, and she starts to withdraw, speaking as little as possible with art class as her only refuge.
The Paris Apartment
★★★★☆ In Lucy Foley’s latest thriller, Jess is looking to start over after she is forced to leave her job. With nowhere else to go, she contacts her half-brother Ben, who lives in a swanky apartment in Paris, and asks to stay with him. He reluctantly says yes, but is nowhere to be found when she shows up.