My sweetie and I have taken multiple multi-state road trips, and we always have problems with food. I always want to try somewhere new and local, enjoying the brief hope and possibility that it’ll be the best place I’ve ever eaten. He always wants Panera or Cracker Barrel. After a few too many Winchester diners and disappointing local ‘flavor’, I started to understand his choices. With Panera and Cracker Barrel, you always know what you’re getting. It’s the same in West Virginia as it is in Missouri, […]
Being a fan of this series has become a moral dilemma
My relationship with this series had a good run of five books, but it seemingly ended and we went our separate ways. Now, it promises it has changed with a new perspective, so I was curious and checked the new installments out. I’m not really sure I’m feeling it, but I keep giving the new books the benefit of the doubt. There aren’t any red flags and they’re not irredeemable, so there must be no harm in continuing the series, but I still feel a […]
A Satisfying Sequel
“Pacific Fire” is the follow up to Greg Van Eekhout’s amazing “California Bones” in the Daniel Blackland series. Just as tightly written as the first book, “Pacific Fire” jumps forward 10 years and the Southern California kingdom is in a state of barely contained chaos. Powerful magic users and factions squabble for control, while everyone looks over their shoulder wondering if Northern California or other powers might swoop in during this time of political upheaval. “California Bones” is a very personal story, this time around the scope […]
Look at where you are. Look at where you started. The fact that you’re alive is a miracle.
It seems silly to try to summarize this novel. For a couple of reasons. One, because it’s a story that’s based on a fictional character from another fictional novel (meaning it’s a story made up by a character in a made up story). Two, because everyone who is familiar with Rainbow Rowell, and particularly her novel, Fangirl, already knows all about this novel so trying to describe it feels totally unnecessary. Especially given how many words have already been spilled all over the internet about […]
Rare Disappointment in Discworld
I can’t NOT love a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, but I may have loved this one a little (OK, maybe a lot) less than I usually love a gallop through Discworld, maybe because it was more of a trot than a gallop? This book was less lively, less chock full of barbed hilarity, less truly representative of my favorite characters, less magical–all perhaps because it was written after the great Mr. P. had Alzheimers–I’ve even seen some say it can’t have been written by him […]
The Bleakest PNR I’ve Ever Read
This review is for the audiobook version of Working Stiff by Rachel Caine, the first in the Revivalist series. Bryn Davis was killed on her first day at her new job as a funeral director after discovering that her new boss was selling a black market drug that could bring the dead back to life. After receiving a dose of the top secret drug she joins forces with the team trying to keep it out of the wrong hands. There’s the expected skulking around, spy […]