The Break was a recent book club selection that was part of being intentional about not just reading yet another novel about white, middle-class North Americans in their 30’s. 2017 has been about intentionally divresifying the reading list, and man, aren’t we all just better for that? This book is set in Winnipeg, Manitoba and focuses on a Metis family (and their friends) dealing with several crises in each of their lives. The chapters focus alternately on several members of the family from various […]
Flavia the Mystery Solver Goes to Canada (Half Cannonball Completion!)
Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce novels are one of my favorite book series at present. As such, I space out reading them to savor the goodness, so this year I ordered a new one for my birthday, which I quickly devoured. Also, I wanted to read something special for the completion of my half cannonball (Huzzah! Hip Hooray!) But enough about me, on to the book! Bradley has created a precocious and endearing detective in Flavia. Much like I consider Phryne Fisher of the Miss […]
Vive Gamache!!
I’ve been waiting for months for this to be released, and was so excited when the latest Inspector Gamache novel arrived on my doorstep!! I’ll try to not post too many spoilers, as I know there are other CBR’s working through the series. Gamache has been named Chief Superintendent of the Sureté and has taken on the daunting task of bringing down a drug cartel who is smuggling across the Canadian-American border. While this is happening, there is an unsettling murder that happens in Three […]
Impending Doom
The fifth book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, The Brutal Telling is a murder mystery that takes place in the small town of Three Pines, where a man no one seems to recognize has turned up dead in the local cafe. The Brutal Telling has all the hallmarks of the series: an outsider is murdered, the peace of Three Pines is shattered, Inspector Gamache bestows his beatific smile on those who deserve it and saves the day. But for reasons unrelated to the […]
Done. And I miss these guys already….
This series is perfection. It’s pretty much made for curling up with in the middle of winter hibernation. The literary equivalent of comfort food. I read the first six books in the series last year in my pre-CBR days, and am picking up at #7 in 2017. I can’t recommend this series enough- engaging characters, vivid descriptions of French food (omg, the food) and small town living, intriguing murder mysteries, what’s not to love? I especially love that it’s set in Canada. It gives me […]
The Not-so Stereotypical Cheerleading Drama
Rating: 4/5 Summary: Hermione is in her final year of high school and starts it off by attending her final cheer camp session. However, it ends with her being drugged, left in a lake and raped. Hermione doesn’t know how to feel afterward, though she knows she feels different. Matters are only complicated when she discovers she’s pregnant. I really enjoyed this book. It was a nice break from all the fantasy and magic I’ve been reading. I just needed something grounded in reality […]