“I don't understand it any more than you do, but one thing I've learned is that you don't have to understand things for them to be.” - Madeleine L'Engle
My first experience with A Wrinkle in Time, was in fourth grade, when our teacher read it aloud to us. The part where Meg uses her love for Charles Wallace to face down the monstrous IT stayed with me for years. I then read the book on my own, as a kid. Decades …My Book Reviews
My favorite genres are contemporary romance, women's fiction, suspense, and psychological thrillers. I mostly read books on my kindle, and I listen to audio books every morning when I go for my run.
I do NOT love star ratings for novels. For each book review, I give background, my thoughts, and if I would recommend it. Full disclosure: if I'm not into a book, I don't finish it. Since I review books I finish, most of them will be positive.
The Cousins by Karen McManus
Lately, I have come to a new realization: I need to update my list of favorite authors to include Karen McManus. The Cousins is the third book by her I have thoroughly enjoyed. The first was One of Us is Lying, which I read on my Kindle. The second was Two Can Keep a Secret if One of Us is Dead, which I listened to on audio. Because of the title, I figured it was a sequel to One of Us… but the two books have no relation, other than they are both twisty, character-driven YA mysteries. The third, …
Book Review: You Can’t Catch Me by Catherine McKenzie
You Can’t Catch Me is about a woman named Jessica Williams. No – scratch that – it’s about THREE women named Jessica Williams, and several other Jessica Williams also make an appearance. But only one Jessica narrates the story, and that story is original and compelling. When the book begins, Jessica has just lost her job in disgrace. She’s about to take her severance package and leave town for somewhere tropical, when she meets another Jessica Williams with the same birthday as her …
Book Review: The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale
I became aware of The Ballerinas, by Rachel Kapelke Dale, in an airport bookstore, when I had six hours to kill due to a delayed flight. I was immediately intrigued by its cover, with three female forms donned in pretty pink tutus. That’s because I have spent a lot of time in my life, from when I was around five years old and all the way through college, taking ballet lessons. I was never very good, but I stuck with it and eventually earned the opportunity to …
Catch and Kill
It's unusual for me to read nonfiction, but I was drawn to Ronan Farrow's Catch and Kill for several reasons. I'd already watched Farrow v. Allen and Untouchable, both of which are documentaries on HBO, and which deal with sexual abuse and abuse of power, focusing on the allegations against Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein, respectively. After watching both I came away with several conclusions: both Allen and Weinstein are no doubt …