The Immortal Heights is the final book in a trilogy I have enjoyed, but it's by far the weakest one. The first was fun and smart, the second was entertaining because I was invested in the characters, but this one... Oh man. So much Woe and Drama. It's too hard to take it all seriously. I've read plenty of fantasy novels in which characters fear for ( Read more... )

I listened to The Hobbit as an audio book. It's been years, and I was a little saddened that the story didn't quite live up to my memories. I found the dwarves both annoying and a little stupid. Thorin was especially difficult. It was hard to see him as an inspirational but misguided leader. Rather, he came across more as a pompous, entitled ( Read more... )

Maledicte is an original yet unsettling fantasy novel. It's named after the main character, Maledicte. Maledicte starts life as the street urchin Miranda. The love of her life, Janus, is kidnapped by a nobleman and taken away to be raised as his bastard son and heir. She vows revenge and disappears for six months under the temple of the goddess Ani ( Read more... )

I am way, way behind on my book reviews. My apologies for the forthcoming entry onslaught.

The Reluctant Widow is a Georgette Heyer novel. I enjoyed it, but it didn't quite come together as well as it could have. The heroine is Elinor, a young woman from what was once a good family but who is now destitute. On her way to interview for a governess ( Read more... )

The Book of Speculation remains a puzzling book. I read it for a book club I've been attending at a local independent book shop, and that meeting made me take more away from it, and perhaps even like it more. It had a lot of potential, and it was beautifully written, and yet... it is somehow less than the sum of its parts. It is to narratives, one ( Read more... )

Safekeeping is a novel by Karen Hesse, one of my favorite writers for young people. It's told through both prose and photography; the photographs lend an atmosphere of beautiful eeriness perfectly suited to the story. The main character is Radley, a 17 year old young woman who has just returned to Vermont after volunteering at a Haitian orphanage ( Read more... )

I listened to this as an audiobook. There were many versions to choose from and I went with the one performed by Lindsay Duncan. She did well - good character voices, lively presentation, and her accent is beautiful. This is a good way to reread classics that I love.

The Water Devil is the third and final Margaret of Ashbury novel, and the last of Judith Merkle Riley's books that I had not read. It was a bit of a disappointment. I love her books and the first in the trilogy was wonderful. The second was just all right, and this one was flat out uneven. There were some great moments, but the book never really ( Read more... )

The Last Werewolf was a rollicking good time. I think the people who had a problem with this book couldn't (or wouldn't) take it for what it is, and that does it a disservice ( Read more... )

I listened to this as an audio book. Jenny Lawson herself narrates and for the most part, she's a hoot. She sings the chapter headings, and there are some added postscripts and commentary for the audio book that are fun. But the second time around, somehow this book was less charming and more sad. Listening to it, it went on a little too long, and ( Read more... )