I managed to make it through the long, but very entertaining, The Diviners. It’s set in the 1920s and follows Evie as she is sent to stay with her Uncle Will in New York. This is meant as punishment, but she’s a girl who loves excitement, so she has no problems trading her small Ohio town for the Big Apple. Unfortunately, there is a series of grisly murders. Uncle Will runs a museum of the paranormal, so the police bring him in to try to […]
Roaring 20’s urban fantasy
The first two (and the only ones so far published) books in the Diviners series are genre-bending, spooky young adult mysteries with tons of characters in intersecting stories, all set during the roaring twenties and featuring tons of historical flourishes. I am incredibly lazy and struggling to write reviews right now, so I’m leaning on Goodreads for these plot descriptions: The Diviners (3.5 stars) — “Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York […]
Jellies aside, I’m not a huge fan of The Zeppo. But I really liked this Patrick Ness book.
Strange that I read these two books back-to-back. I didn’t intend to. I borrowed The Rest of Us Just Live Here from a friend, and picked up Geektastic at the library on a whim — the covers looked so similar, I just couldn’t resist. I’m glad I read Geektastic first, because I was so disappointed in it, that Patrick Ness couldn’t help but make me feel better. Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd should be amazing. Its a collection of short stories from authors I […]
No Miss Congenialities here.
I normally don’t like to post my Goodreads blurbs onto my CBR reviews, but I really liked this one for Beauty Queens: A recipe for Beauty Queens: Mix together two cups Swiftian satire, one teaspoon Lord of the Flies, two tablespoons beauty pageantry. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream together two sticks of feminism, softened, one teaspoon piracy, one tablespoon capitalist criticism, two cups of heart. Add dry ingredients slowly and mix until blended. Bake at 350 for 390 pages. Enjoy the eclectic dish […]
“Because ‘You’re perfect just the way you are,’ is what your guidance counselor says. And she’s an alcoholic.”
Last year, my book club read The Diviners by Libba Bray. I really enjoyed the fun, 1920′s vibe and the contrasting darkness of the horror in the story. I made a mental note to look for other books by Bray, and finally got around to picking one up. And Beauty Queens couldn’t be more different from The Diviners if it tried. This book made me laugh. A lot. Beauty Queens is the satiric story of a plane filled with teen beauty pageant contestants that crashes on a […]