Full disclosure, I am a huge Courtney Milan fangirl. She is simply the best at writing fun, swoony, smart romances. So when I found out she was writing something modern, I had to get my hands on it. She did not disappoint! In some ways, I actually liked this modern story better than her historical romances. Trade Me alternates viewpoints between billionaire Blake Reynolds and overworked Tina Chen. Tina is just trying to make it through college so she can get a good job and […]
Books, Books, and More Books
I kept seeing this book pop up on bookish friend’s lists and recommendations. It’s very, very short so I decided to give it a go. It was a lovely little book, but I’m not sure it deserves the level of fawning and adulation I’ve heard some people give it. Still, at 97 pages, you don’t have much to lose by trying it. The book documents the decades long love affair between an American woman (Helene Hanff) and a British bookshop (Marks & Co.). The story […]
My Kind of Mashup
This was my first Scalzi, but not my last. I’ll definitely be checking out more of his work after this. Lock In was an unbelievably fun and inventive read with some fascinating themes. The novel takes place in a future United States where 1.7 million people suffering from Haden’s Syndrome are “locked in.” They are mentally spry and fully aware, but their bodies can’t move or respond. The scientific community responded to this issue by creating new technologies to help locked in people. The first […]
Surprise, bitch. I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me.
To be honest, I’m still not totally sure what to make of this book. I really, really wanted to like it more than I actually did. It started out slow with glimmers of interesting plot threads, but ultimately The Robber Bride just kept stringing me along. Every time I started to get into the plot, the story would move in another direction. Atwood’s inspiration came from a Brothers Grimm tale in which a villainous man devours three women after luring them into his lair. In […]
No helpless damsels in distress here
I haven’t read much fantasy, but a friend gave it rave reviews so I tried this one and ended up loving it. Uprooted was such a satisfying thrill of a read. I don’t want to go into much detail about the plot because it’ll ruin the twists and turns, but here’s the basic premise. The world of Uprooted is based on an ancient fictional Poland and is vaguely reminiscent of old Eastern European fairy tales (including the famous Baba Yaga). There are several villages in […]
Missoula is America
I’m a fan of Jon Krakauer’s other work, but when I heard he was coming out with a comprehensive look at the Missoula rape scandals in the last few years, I was hesitant. I had followed along with much of the reporting on those cases and am pretty tuned-in to the larger issues of rape culture in this country. Did I really want to read what a white dude (who may or may not be sympathetic to rape survivors) had to say about it? But […]