I finally got around to re-reading Betraying Season, the sequel to Bewitching Season, and now I remember why I was so reluctant to tackle this one again. Not only is it not particularly good, but it’s also weird. If the first book is a pleasant afternoon tea in a sunlit parlor, then the sequel is more like gnawing on stale fried chicken by the light of the full moon–odd, unsatisfying, and more than a little off-putting to witness. After her twin sister marries at the […]
Sweetness Follows is the best novel yet from Ciarán West
It takes a talented writer to inject new life in to the well worn coming of age genre. It so happens that Ciarán West is just that talented, and then some. He takes a shopworn concept and spins it into a 350 page story that moves by so quickly it’s over before you’ve had time to properly say goodbye to the characters. Sweetness Follows is a sequel to West’s previous novel The Boys of Summer. Don’t worry though, you don’t need to have read that […]
My life was an absolute bastard with a chip on his shoulder.
Who recommended this to me? How did this end up on my to-be-read list? Whoever you are, thanks, my friend! It was an absolutely fantastic interlude after the deep, dark despair inspired by the “Peculiar Children” series. Honestly, this is the kind of story-telling I think people are talking about when they talk about Rainbow Rowell (note: I have only read one Rowell book, and it was totally fine). The prose is very sharp and full of whimsy. It’s clever, but lands on the right […]
Can’t believe I almost skipped this one
This book really surprised me. I loved The Likeness, but detective Frank Mackey was NOT a favorite character. I really considered skipping this one and moving on to book four of the series. I’m so glad I resisted temptation because Faithful Place ended up being my favorite so far. As with all her novels (at least the ones I’ve read!), French is just as interested in the characters and how they cope with events as she is in the mystery itself. Frank grew up poor […]
The Invisible Ireland
This book was suggested to me for my novel research, and I have to say, I found it incredibly helpful in understanding the late 19th Century/early 20th Century Irish mentality about Faerie culture. “Meeting the Other Crowd” is a collection of stories accumulated over several decades by folklorist, Eddie Lenihan. Most of the stories are only a few pages long, and range from little anecdotes about a neighbor who knew a guy over in Killkenny who told the story about what happened to his cousin, […]
Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is this dead person and why does she have my face?!
I received this book as one of my CBR Exchange gifts from The Chancellor (thank you!!) and was delighted to receive it. It has become a nice tradition as I received the first in the series as part of my exchange gift last year. Whereas it took me about a year to open the first one, this was not the case the second time around, and it was my first book of the new year because I knew what I was in for: compelling and excellent […]