★★★☆☆ I’m a sucker for fiction books that involve writers and their processes. There’s something inherently interesting about an author writing about a writer. Based on the description, this book fits the bill while adding an eccentric mentor, a creepy locale, and some ex-bestie dram
Tag: book blog
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 Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
★★★★☆ I read this book as part of a pledge I made to read at least one banned book a month in 2023. I selected from the American Library Association’s Banned Book Guide, which includes 52 banned books. In this book, Arnold Spirit, Jr. lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation with his family and his best friend Rowdy.
What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
★★★★☆ When she was eleven, Naomi Shaw survived a brutal murder attempt that occurred one summer night when she and her childhood best friends, Olivia and Cassidy, were playing a made-up game in the woods. The trio banded together and, with Naomi’s brave eyewitness testimony, they helped bring a serial killer to justice for stabbing her seventeen times that night.
Emma’s Fury by Linda Rainier
★★★☆☆ Based on ancient Greek mythology, this book centers on Emma, who is reincarnated as a Fury after her savage death. Protected by a Gyges, a Fury exists to serve justice and preserve harmony between humans and the supernatural world. Through a story revolving around mythological beings that shouldn’t experience human feelings, Emma’s Fury presents an interesting perspective on ethics, human nature, and the impact an individual’s actions have on others.
Embryo Zero by Trevor Wynyard
★★★★☆ The second book in the dystopian fiction Streetlighters Trilogy, Embryo Zero again features brothers Matthew and Kevin Turner, along with a few new characters and familiar faces from the first book. The brothers are estranged as Matt takes Kevin’s place at university, and finds himself propelled into national hero status. Meanwhile, his younger brother makes a risky move in an attempt to have a different future for himself and his family.
Upgrade by Blake Crouch
★★★★☆ Since I reading and loving Dark Matter, I have been a Blake Crouch fan. I love how his sci-fi stories stretch my mind with their scientific theories while pulling on my emotions with an enduring love story. Upgrade has elements of this winning formula, which is present in both Dark Matter and Recursion. However, Upgrade is much more technical, especially at the beginning than I remember either of his two previous hits being.
The Family Game by Catherine Steadman
★★★☆☆ Novelist Harriet “Harry” Reed has just gotten engaged to the handsome, charming Edward Holbeck. As the holidays and a major manuscript deadline approach, Harriet braces herself to meet Edward’s estranged family for the first time while keeping her career on track.
Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild
★★★★☆ Ruby Simon is a Yale-educated, happily married psychotherapist living in her hip hometown of Miami with her diabetic husband Jason and their two pets. One day she suddenly finds herself in an interrogation room accused of murdering Jason. Opening with a scene from when she was five, the book reveals Ruby’s murderous history through … Continue reading Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild