September 2025 – Looking For a Good Book

September 29, 2025

COAL – J. Jason Grant

Woah. I wasn’t prepared for this. ‘Coal’ is the only name he’s ever known – so named for the darkness of his skin. He’s been chained and beaten since the age of six, and he watched as his owner sold his mother and sister away. The only kindness he’s ever been shown was from a Continue reading

WESTERN

5 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Reviews, Western

September 25, 2025

BEST WOMEN’S EROTICA OF THE YEAR VOL. 10 Rachel Kramer Bussel editor

It amuses me just a little bit that readers still don’t generally like to admit that they read erotica. Romance, sure. And it can have a lot of sex in it, but if you put the word “erotica” on a cover, it’s a book that probably best needs to be in a plain, brown, paper Continue reading

SHORT FICTION

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Erotica, Reviews, Sex, Short Stories

September 23, 2025

KING ARTHUR – Daniel Mersey

This is one of, if not THE, oldest ARC on my Kindle. I’ve slowly been making my way through my backlist as I request fewer new books to be read. I have had a fascination with King Arthur since I was a young teen (so, more than 50 years). I have a marvelous collection of Continue reading

NON-FICTION, YA

5 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Middle Grade, non-fiction, Reviews, Young Adult

September 19, 2025

BEST OF ALL WORLDS – Kenneth Oppel

Teenager Xavier Oaks is reticent to spend a weekend with his father and his father’s pregnant girlfriend. It means leaving behind his mother, younger brother, and all his friends. Still, it’s a family obligation and it’s only for a week. One morning, however, when they wake up, they are nowhere where they’re supposed to be. Continue reading

SF/FANTASY, YA

3 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Reviews, SF/Fantasy, Young Adult

September 17, 2025

SALVACIÓN – Sandra Proudman

By day, Lola de La Peña is the sweet, upstanding young lady of Coloma, daughter of the respected town elders – her mother a healer who works with the recently discovered, magical, sal negra (black salt) that, when used by someone who understands it, can heal most wounds … even mortal ones. But by night, Lola Continue reading

ROMANCE, SF/FANTASY, WESTERN, YA

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Reviews, Romance, SF/Fantasy, Western, Young Adult

September 15, 2025

LOST MARVELS NO. 3: SAVAGE TALES OF THE 1980S – graphic novel

This will be a shorter than usual review, and in fact I was torn whether to actually review this or not, because I did not get the opportunity to read the book. Usually when requesting a book for review, the publisher will send the complete book, or deny the request. In this case, I was Continue reading

GRAPHIC NOVEL

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Graphic Novels, Reviews

September 12, 2025

THE GLASS SLIDE WORLD – Carrie Vaughn

Carrie Vaughn is an author whose work I really enjoy. It’s taken me awhile to catch on to this – one of the downsides to reading so many books each year is that when an author only publishes once a year, it takes me some time to realize the consistency of their work. Fortunately I Continue reading

SF/FANTASY

3 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Reviews, SF/Fantasy

September 10, 2025

THE PINK AGAVE MOTEL: AND OTHER STORIES – V. Castro

The fact that V. Castro is a two-time Bram Stoker Award winner and the fact that I have no idea who V. Castro is (never read anything by them), shows how out of the loop I am with horror fiction, other than what might be hyped by the big publishers. (Which is not to say Continue reading

Dark Fantasy/Horror, SHORT FICTION, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Erotica, Reviews, Short Stories

September 8, 2025

DRESSED IN BLACK: THE SHANGRI-LAS AND THEIR RECORDED LEGACY – Lisa MacKinney

My Sirius Radio is almost always tuned to the 1960s hits channel. I grew up listening to this music and I still enjoy it today. But with a few exceptions, I know vey little about many of the artists of this era that I enjoy so much, so when I see a book like Dressed in Continue reading

NON-FICTION

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, Music, non-fiction, Reviews

September 4, 2025

REACHER: THE STORIES BEHIND THE STORIES – Lee Child

I love reading introductions. One of my favorite parts when reading a collection of short stories or an anthology, is reading the editor or author’s introduction to each story. Same goes for novels, biographies, histories, etc. I think it’s because this is the place where we really get the author’s voice. Not the author writing Continue reading

OTHER, SHORT FICTION

4 stars, Action/Adventure, Book Reviews, Books, Reviews

September 2, 2025

THE SHATTERING PEACE – John Scalzi

A new ‘Old Man’s War’ novel?! Yes, please, and thank you. You will want to have read the previous books in the series as there are some important connections between this and the earlier books in the series. Author John Scalzi does do a good job of reminding the reader of what has gone before Continue reading

SF/FANTASY

5 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Reviews, SF/Fantasy