The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss: Book Review
4 Stars. I enjoyed the premise and the story, but there were a few too many interruptions from the characters in their current time as they were trying to tell a story about their past. The interruptions give us a better sense of the characters overall and allowed the author to insert several points of view into a scene easily […]
They Better Call Me Sugar by Sugar Rodgers: Book Review
4 Stars. I am not a sports fan. Oh, I have some idea how the Dolphins are doing in football because my husband is a loyal, if frustrated and heartbroken, fan, but I only know the biggest of the big names in sports. Unfortunately, those names are always male. Needless to say, I had never heard of Sugar Rodgers but she’s certainly a force […]
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis: Book Review
4 Stars. I’m ashamed to admit that my knowledge of Rosa Parks was limited to her refusal to move to the back of a segregated bus in the Jim Crow south. To quote Julian Bond in this book, I more or less bought the narrative that “Rosa sat down, Martin stood up, then the white folks saw the light and saved the day.” Yes, that’s an […]
Marbles by Ellen Forney: Book Review
4.5 Stars. I got behind on the monthly prompts for the Diversity Reading Challenge in August so I was looking for a short book about mental health or addiction when I stumbled on this title. It seemed like the perfect choice to help me catch up. But what started as a book I was reading simply to check a box quickly became a […]
Stormsong by C. L. Polk: Book Review
3.5 Stars. I read and truly enjoyed Witchmark, the first book in this series, back in 2018 but that was during my blogging/reviewing break. I read this one and couldn’t remember much at all about events from the earlier book so I was pretty lost. There weren’t many contextual clues to help me fill in the blanks either. I do […]
Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists by Mikki Kendall: Book Review
4 Stars. The framework for this graphic novel seems a bit odd at first. An artificial intelligence guides the girls through important times and places, beginning with Sumer in 3000 BCE. That framework does serve to tie everything together though. The “story” basically consists of brief biographical sketches of women from all over […]
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory: Book Review
3 Stars. I read The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory years ago and enjoyed them both. I have some understanding of England’s history under Henry VIII though and I know pitifully little about the Wars of the Roses. That lack affected my enjoyment of The White Queen a bit. There’s a family tree at […]
Goldie Vance Volumes 3 & 4 by Hope Larson: Book Review
4 Stars. I love this series so much! Goldie can be annoyingly cocky sometimes but her friends keep her grounded. The mysteries are fun and somehow remind me of cartoons I would watch as kid. The diverse cast of characters is a delight. There were some new illustrators added into the mix in these two volumes. There are some […]
Circe by Madeline Miller: Book Review
4.5 Stars. Circe is every woman who has been treated as “less than” because of her gender. As a child, she accepts that everyone overlooks her. She’s not as beautiful as the other nymphs, so why would anyone pay attention to her? She’s starved for attention though, and makes some terrible decisions. But those decisions lead […]
Goldie Vance Volume Two by Hope Larson: Book Review
4 Stars. Volume Two was still a strong entry in this series but it didn’t charm me quite as completely as the first collection did. I enjoyed reading a bit more about Goldie’s mom but Goldie herself came across as a bit of an attention-seeker and a brat this time around. It wasn’t enough to completely turn me off but it was a […
Goldie Vance by Hope Larson: Book Review
5 Stars. Oh my goodness! This is so stinking cute and smart! I was never a big mystery reader as a kid. I could never guess “whodunnit” and that irritated me. Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys were practically nonstarters for me. I wish Goldie Vance had been around back in the day because she would have turned me into a mystery reader for sure! […]