Genre: Women's Fiction
Book Review

Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

I realized that I’ve spent the past few weeks just letting the universe decide what I should read. Either it’s something somebody mentioned that sounded interesting, or an author went on The Daily Show and pimped her book, or a book that publisher sent me. I haven’t gone actively looking for a book in a while, and since the variety that the universe has sent my way has been REALLY interesting, I’m just going to keep … Continue reading Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

RITA Reader Challenge Review

The Color of a Promise by Julianne MacLean

The Color of a Promise

I picked this book mostly because it had a pretty title, which is the e-book variant on judging a book by its cover, I suppose! I don’t read in the Mainstream / Women’s Fiction genre much, and I like to use the RITAs to broaden my horizons. Usually, this makes books a little easier to review, because I am slightly less immersed in the experience, and can be more usefully critical. The Color of Promise … Continue reading The Color of a Promise by Julianne MacLean

Lightning Review

The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussien

The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters

One of the important things that books do for us is provide a window into other lives. What Nadiya Hussain does in her debut novel is give us a window into a Bangladeshi family that lives in a small village in England, with four daughters (and a son) and a number of secrets. Fatima is the eldest, near 30, still living at home, and trying to figure out where her path as a dutiful daughter is leading … Continue reading The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussien

Book Review

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl

Delicious!

For those who love an element of foodie-ness in their fiction, Delicious! is a tempting piece of women’s fiction about self-discovery centered around people’s love of food. Its cast of eccentric characters is very Alice in Wonderland-esque, but too many pans in the fire and the heroine’s infallibility tended to make the book a bit of a slog. Billie Breslin has traveled to New York from California to take a job at a food magazine named … Continue reading Delicious! by Ruth Reichl

Book Review

Keeper Shelf: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Garden Spells

Squee from the Keeper Shelf is a new feature wherein we share why we love the books we love, specifically the stories which are permanent residents of our Keeper shelves. Despite flaws, despite changes in age and perspective, despite the passage of time, we love particular books beyond reason, and the only thing better than re-reading them is telling other people about them. At length. If you’d like to submit your reasons for loving and … Continue reading Keeper Shelf: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Book Review

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

The Bookshop on the Corner

I read this book while I was half out of my mind with a high-fever flu, and it was exactly what I needed. It wasn’t a perfect romance – the romance is very understated – but a book about books, about finding yourself and others books to be friends with, and about finding the life you want had a deeply beneficial medicinal value for me, and I was tremendously comforted by it. Summary time! Nina … Continue reading The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Book Review

Guest Review: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

NB: The Readers of Broken wheel Recommend has been on our radar for a while, so we’re happy to have this squee-worthy guest review from Kim W. Kim W. is a grantwriter for a nonprofit in Northern California. She enjoys knitting, plundering the library, and dog-watching with her new husband. — The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society with a little of To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. If … Continue reading Guest Review: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

Book Review

Please Release Me by Rhoda Baxter

Please Release Me

The first third of this novel is very slow, almost glacial, and the remainder flies with nonstop, eye-widening, what the hell did I just read seriously what. I think that change of pace is deliberate given what happens in the story, but I’m still debating whether the pace and the plot worked for me. The book opens with Sally and Peter’s wedding. Sally is happy but calculating, and sneaks away to deal with her mother, who … Continue reading Please Release Me by Rhoda Baxter

Lightning Review

The Paris Key by Juliet Blackwell

The Paris Key

I love any type of book that promises an immersive experience in another place, culture, or world that is different from my own. My desire for travel doesn’t match my travel budget any more than by reading desires are satisfied by my book budget, so books like this one are always tempting to me. Unfortunately, there were two parallel storylines in this book, and I didn’t like one of them. Genevieve is getting a divorce, and … Continue reading The Paris Key by Juliet Blackwell

Other Media Review

Movie Review: Testament of Youth

Testament of youth movie poster - a couple embracing in a field of poppies against a sunset -- Angst and kissing.

I expect that we’ll see a number of WWI themed movies over the next three or four years as we pass through the centennial anniversaries.  I’ve written before how I have this fascination with the insanity that was WWI, so yes, I’ll go see like, all of them. I was really excited for this one, being the biography of Vera Brittain and how much I love women’s history and telling women’s stories.  I also, having cut … Continue reading Movie Review: Testament of Youth

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