This is a beautifully written YA novel that is appropriate for all ages and deals with a terrifying topic: the illness of a parent. The idea for A Monster Calls originated with writer Siobhan Dowd who died before she could write it. Author Patrick Ness was approached to create a story from Dowd’s notes, and he has produced a painfully honest and sad account of how a 13-year-old boy handles the illness of his mother. You will cry, but this story is so beautiful and […]
“Space Around Me Where My Soul Can Breath”
I don’t think I’ve ever read a “self help” book before. It’s not that I don’t think I could do with some improvement. I often find their advice to be overly simplistic or that they take a “one size fits all” approach to many of life’s problems. Ms. Olsen’s book has some of these issues but is generally easy to read. She divides her books into small, easy to digest sections making it easy to read before bed. I would say one of the […]
Dead in the Regent’s Arms
What happens when your god dies? Sebastian wondered. When someone is your sun and moon and stars, and then you discover something, something that reveals a hitherto unknown weakness so fundamental, so shattering that it destroys not only your trust in the other person, but your respect, too. The second book in the St. Cyr series begins with a beautiful young wife of a marquess found partially dressed…and dead in the arms of the Prince Regent during a party at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. […]
From Ladies Day to Miami Nice to Golden Girls
Details about Estelle Getty brought to mind Alec Baldwin’s quote highlighted in @Caitlin_D’s review of his memoir Nevertheless (2017): “I realized then that the movies really do enhance certain actors, making them seem like something they really aren’t at all.” In this case, Estelle Getty was made to seem more with it than she actually was: She was just terrible at remembering her lines, causing many re-shoots and delaying production. It’s a wonder she ever considered carrying on by starring in The Golden Palace (1992). Read the full review
Separate But Equal Is Not Equal
Tayari Jones’ Silver Sparrow is an engrossing novel about sisters and secrecy. Set in 1980s Atlanta, its focus is on a dysfunctional and disintegrated family. Our first narrator, Dana Yarboro, writes from an adult perspective about her childhood and teenaged years as the secret daughter of one James Witherspoon. Our second narrator, Chaurisse Witherspoon, is James’ daughter by his legally recognized wife Laverne. Jones uses her prodigious writing talents to create sympathetic and complex but very human characters as well as an intricate and compelling […]
Love the Title and Cover, Not So with the Story
As far as steamy romances go, Secrets and Sensibilities isn’t one, similar to Julia Quinn’s romances in which steamy sex scenes have no part in the storyline. Unlike Quinn romances, though, Secrets and Sensibilities also lacks interesting characters, witty dialogue, romantic courtship, and sexual sizzle. Bland, flat, and boring best describe a story that began with great potential. Read the full review
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