Reviews – Page 61 – Looking For a Good Book

August 20, 2021

THE DELIGHTFUL HORROR OF FAMILY BIRDING – Eli. J. Knapp

I was immediately attracted to this book because the title pretty much defines me. I was raised by an avid birder and my older brother might rival author Eli J. Knapp for obsessive birder behavior and my own children might think of me as too obsessive for their tastes (if they only knew…). I am… Continue reading

NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

3 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, essays, Nature, non-fiction, Reviews

August 18, 2021

CHRONICLES OF STEELE: RAVEN – Pauline Creeden

Just like her father who trained her, Raven Steele is a ‘Reaper.’ A Reaper is an assassin, but one who lives by a very strict moral code, which can be remembered by it’s poem-like character: Human life has value. The poor living in the gutter are as valuable as the rich living in a manor.… Continue reading

SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA

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

August 16, 2021

REV – Madeline Ashby

Huh. So … ReV. I found this to be a really interesting sci-fi look at artificial intelligence, taken to the next level – you know, sentient robots and all that scifi jazz. Really cool. But I sure as heck felt like I was missing something. Oh wait! I am missing something. As in, the first two books in… Continue reading

SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Reviews, SF/Fantasy

August 13, 2021

DARK SKY – C.J. Box

Joe Pickett is a game warden in Wyoming and when the governor of the state asks him specifically to act as a hunting guide for a VIP, Joe agrees. That VIP is Steve “Steve-2” (because Steve Jobs is Steve-1) Price, a CEO of a Silicon Valley social media creation, ConFab, that is a cross between… Continue reading

Uncategorized, WESTERN

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

July 16, 2021

SUBURBAN DICKS – Fabian Nicieza

Andrea Stern was once a respected FBI profiler, but she gave it up to be a stay-at-home mom to her four children (with a fifth very much on the way). She now lives in the suburbs (West Windsor, New Jersey) with her children and husband (a convicted white-collar criminal). When one of Andrea’s very young… Continue reading

MYSTERY, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Mystery, Reviews

January 27, 2021

THE FEAR INSTITUTE – Jonathan L. Howard

This is book #3 (which of course means it’s the fifth book in the series, because there’s a #.5 and a #.75 before #1) and I’ve never read any of the other books. Certainly I’ve missed out on some character history and character-building, having not read the other books, but generally I didn’t feel I… Continue reading

Dark Fantasy/Horror, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Horror/Dark Fantasy, Reviews, SF/Fantasy

January 6, 2021

SOLOMON THE PEACEMAKER – Hunter Welles

Vincent Alan Chell has a lot to say. He talks about his wife, Yael, who committed suicide. He talks about a cult group that meets in a church basement. And he talks about the robots serving mankind and how the Peacemaker – an artificial intelligence – has been controlling the peace for decades. Vincent Alan… Continue reading

SF/FANTASY

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

December 30, 2020

A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR – Daniel Defoe

Like thousands of other readers, I thought that this seemed an appropriate year (2020) to read Daniel Defoe’s classic, A Journal of the Plague Year. This is an unusual book as it’s part fiction, part historical reflection. In today’s parlance we might call this “historical fiction” but many scholars today still can’t agree on how to… Continue reading

Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Classic, Literature, Reviews

December 28, 2020

THE ORPHAN OF CEMETERY HILL – Hester Fox

Boston in the 1800’s. Sisters Tabby and Alice are on the run as they’ve just escaped their cruel, abusive aunt and uncle. They choose to split up so that they can reduce the likelihood of being found and Alice leaves Tabby to hide out in a cemetery for awhile. There, Tabby meets Eli, an old… Continue reading

Dark Fantasy/Horror, ROMANCE

Book Reviews, Books, Horror/Dark Fantasy, Reviews, Romance

December 23, 2020

THE REINDEER GIRL – Holly Webb

How do you write a Christmas story for children that isn’t really a Christmas story? Write about reindeer, a little girl, and a country that we often think of as being in a perpetual Christmas look – Norway. Lotta is a little girl who is traveling to Norway to spend time with her grandparents and… Continue reading

CHILDREN’S, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Children’s Books, Reviews

December 22, 2020

GONE TO THE WOODS – Gary Paulsen

I almost missed reading books by Gary Paulsen. His books came out well after I would have been interested in reading his kind of adventure stories, and my children had interests in other themes and genres. Fortunately there was a teacher or two who required my children (and their classmates) to read Hatchet – and I often… Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, OTHER

5 Stars, Biography, Book Reviews, Books, Children’s Books, non-fiction, Reviews

December 21, 2020

THE HARP OF KINGS – Juliet Marillier

Liobhan is an eighteen-year-old singer and whistle player. She is highly skilled and such skill runs in the family as her brother, Brocc, has a meltingly beautiful singing voice and unusually adept skills on the harp. But Liobhan wants more than the life of a performing artist. She wants to be a warrior. She and… Continue reading

SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA

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