Portland

Cleaning up the forest and your thoughts

No Ivy League by Hazel Newlevant

January 17, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

No Ivy League by Hazel Newlevant was not what I expected from what I had read about it and the cover. Hazel’s story is a coming of age story, which is not a new theme. However, the way Newlevant presents it feels fresh. The graphic novel has an odd cover look to it. First it looks like it is going to be about a middle schooler or young highschooler, but for the middle school age. But then it looks more teen and for the 15 […]

July-August 2024 Leftovers

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney

Confucius for Christians: What and Ancient Chinese Worldview Can Teach Us about Life in Christ by Greg A. Ten Elshof

Lucky At Cards by Lawrence Block

A Dance at the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block

Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK by Gerald Posner

Doing the Devil's Work by Bill Loehfelm

The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Leta McCullough Seletzky

The Third Bullet by Stephen Hunter

Burning Angel by James Lee Burke

The Queen City Detective Agency by Snowden Wright

Poetic Justice by Andrea J. Johnson

September 14, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Because I’ve been posting most of my reviews due to Bingo, I haven’t kept up with the leftover ones until now. Hope everyone had a good summer. It’s my least favorite time of year but this one wasn’t so bad. Heartsick***: I took this book too seriously when I tried to read it the first time. I relaxed and enjoyed the ride the second. Goofy fun, nothing more. Brief Answers to the Big Questions****: I do enjoy listening to Hawking’s desire to push the boundaries […]

She’s a Killer Queen

Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

July 18, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR16Bingo: Part 2. This is the second in the Gretchen Lowell and Archie Sheridan series, which currently has six books and is apparently counting. I’m trying hard not to be a jerk here. This is me. Look people should write whatever they want. And have fun with it. Writing books is hard. A gender swapped Silence of the Lambs? Hell yeah, baby! Sounds right up my alley, even if I don’t like serial killer books. Ok so this is gonna be a […]

Cute, charming, harmless fun

Cosplay and Confrontation by Sarah Zane

Reindeer Games (Ace's Wild Book 6) by N.R. Walker

A Doctor’s Touch: An Erotic Queer Novella (Ram Skin Book 1) by A.A. Fairview

February 12, 2024 by carmelpie Leave a Comment

Cosplay and Confrontation By Sarah Zane Gwen has screwed up everything. She is supposed to be one of the headliners at the Portland’s biggest LARP/cosplay convention. However, after breaking up with her boyfriend Artie and running away to San Francisco to live with her new “boyfriend,” none of her former friends will even speak to her. She desperately wants to explain what happened, but that would mean admitting the reason why she broke up with Artie. Lanie cannot believe she trusted Gwen. The three of […]

Fae trouble for Mercy Thompson

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

River Marked by Patricia Briggs

December 30, 2021 by teresaelectro Leave a Comment

After reviewing Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series last year, I have come back for more with CBR13. I can’t seem to get enough! Mercy is a coyote shifter who lives in Washington working as a mechanic. She was raised by werewolves and attempted to strike out on her own. She keeps to herself mostly until she ends up tangled in werewolf business. Her neighbor happens to be the local were pack Alpha, Adam. With the first four books in the series, Mercy gets into trouble […]

PDX

Derailed by Mary Keliikoa

October 5, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR13Bingo: New Series. The Kelly Pruett series debuted in 2020. Book two came out this year. In the “About the Author” section, the reader learns that Mary Keliikoa didn’t get the chance to publish this book until she was 50, despite trying to begin a writing career in her 20s. Things like family and work (she is, or was a lawyer) kept getting in the way. I appreciate that story a lot. And perhaps it made me appreciate her debut effort […]

denesteak on Slightly out of place, in every wayPuppy is a gorgeous model
denesteak on Featuring A Gold-Toothed, Tattooed, Mystery-Solving Nunthis sounds fun. Also, that cover is awesome
elderberrywine on Soooooo GoodAh I wasn't familiar with Ember in the Ashes. And I gotta respect a girl who grew up in Ridgecrest - out in the middle...
Emmalita on “That the beginning and the end may have been chosen for us, the string already spun, but the middle had always been left undetermined, to be woven and shaped by us.”I had a variation on this dilemma when I was offered genetic testing to see if I was predisposed to cancer. I opted to not...
faintingviolet on A very sweet adventure story, gorgeously packagedI really loved the audiobook of this one - and enjoyed the fourth-wall breaking. I guess it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it worked...

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