Sing to It by Amy Hempel
“A woman of her word can do what she signed on to do.” If you need a quick but cathartic sob, this is the book for you. Clocking in at under 150 pages, Sing To It houses a tiny and brutal collection of stories- some so tiny that they are just a few sentences long. Do not let the brevity fool you; even the most micro of the micro-fiction within will burn you. Several stories are still playing in my head days later. “Full-Service Shelter” is […]
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
Trigger Warning: please read the tags before deciding to read this review and/or book. If you feel that you can read this book, then you must. If you feel that you cannot, I will pass no judgement. Perhaps you have heard of the drama surrounding this release. American Dirt was climbing the charts and dominating the controversy conversation when My Dark Vanessa tip-toed in and threw a hat into the ring. There was an implication of plagiarism from a woman who wrote a memoir about being groomed and […]
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
This book is highly readable. While it may appear that I am damning with faint praise, that is not my intention. This book is readable because, despite being filled with topics and characters that do not automatically appeal to me, I was interested and invested from page one. Had this book not been written by Emily St. John Mandel I probably would have glanced at the dust jacket and gone on my merry way, but since it was written by her I knew that I […]
Luck of the Draw (Chance of a Lifetime #2) by Kate Clayborn
I’m going to have such a tough time telling you why I like this book so much. This is my second Fake Relationship Romance Novels in recent days. Jackie Lau’s A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year handled the trope well with friends who agree to be in a short term fake relationship for the sake of familial peace. It was well executed and well plotted and I happily gave it three stars. This one shares a trope, and that’s about where the comparison ends. […]
Patricia Engel has published two other books, the short story collection Vida and the novel It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris. Even though I haven’t read either of those books, I felt that I needed to read her new novel, The Veins of the Ocean. Not only because the reviews were intriguing (and very positive) but also because I don’t remember ever reading anything by a Colombian American novelist. The Veins of the Ocean is the story of Reina Castillo. When we first meet Reina […]
