This is a tough one to review. I really liked reading it, but in the end, it felt as though the exposition was finally wrapped up, and now I was ready for the story. But actually, the book was over. Not that there isn’t enough movement in Eileen, it’s just that the narrator tells us very early in the book that this is the story of her final days trapped in her terrible and sad life as she was raised – or more accurately, grew […]
Starring Kojak, formerly known as Big Steve, a Very Good Dog
My blossoming love affair with Stephen King continues, with yet another behemoth of awesomeness: The Stand. This particular edition was released in 1990, twelve years after the first release. It was updated and expanded, and I have no reference to the first edition but, according to “Publisher’s Weekly,” at least as quoted on amazon.com, “The same excellent tale of the walking dude, the chemical warfare weapon called superflu and the confrontation between its survivors has been updated to 1990, so references to Teenage Mutant Ninja […]
The Awakening, but with less water
As a Louisiana native, English major, and self-proclaimed avid reader, I have read and studied “The Awakening” many times over. For the unfamiliar, it is about a woman who struggles against the bonds of her marriage, and the confines of society in Louisiana at the turn of the century. Here is the first line of the Goodreads synopsis. When first published in 1899, The Awakening shocked readers with its honest treatment of female marital infidelity. I was not a fan of The Awakening initially. As a teenager […]
Contemporary romances for when you don’t want to overthink it
The Sex, Love, and Stiletto series is three books so far, and there will be a fourth. It’s about a group of four women in the infamous “Dating, Love, and Sex” department at Stiletto magazine, who are each, basically, Carrie Bradshaw, but each one has her own specialty when it comes to writing about romance. The series is fun and harmless, if not especially relevatory, romance. The sex scenes, especially in the first two books, are appropriately steamy and well-written. The books are short and […]
A Glamorous Tragedy
This YA novel, inspired in part by the life of Edie Sedgwick, follows the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of Addison Stone, an 18-year-old art phenom from Rhode Island who makes a huge splash on the NYC art scene before her untimely death. The story itself is bold and fast-paced (much like Addy) if a bit far fetched at times. Set in the current day, emails, Instagram photos of characters, and pictures of actual art works are peppered throughout the narrative, giving it a surprisingly […]
seven for a secret, never to be told
One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret, Never to be told. This may be one of my favorite books of the year so far, which makes sense as it is the sequel to one of my three favorite books from last year, The Gods of Gotham. Seven for a Secret finds Timothy Wilde six months removed from the events of the first book set up as an […]