As I sat down to draft my review of Pretty Little Wife I realized it was going to have to be somewhat brief. It wasn’t that I didn’t have a lot to say about the book (I do!), it’s that this thriller is so beautifully plotted and executed that saying too much about the book would ruin the reading experience for other people. It’s one of those frustrating situations where I just want to shove … Continue reading Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane
Sometimes a book is just exactly what you need right when you need it, and The Lord of Stariel was that book for me. I had been saving it up for a while because the blurb sounded wonderful, but I was nervous about whether it would live up to my expectations. One night in the weeks leading up to the US presidential election, I was in desperate need of a distraction and I finally started … Continue reading The Lord of Stariel by AJ Lancaster
I love a good yarn (in all senses of the word) and this book delivers a belter. This is an historical romance that feels fresh, vibrant and made me sing the Good Book Noise. Margaret Honeywell is in love with Nicholas Seaton. But there are so many barriers that stand between them, not least of which is that Nicholas works in the stables on her father’s estate. Their love is pretty much doomed. Especially as … Continue reading Gentleman Jim by Mimi Matthews
After Poppy’s beautiful “That Moment When…” post, A Handy Guide for Choosing Your Institute of Magical Education, LiteraryCharlie’s Angels, Eleanor Oliphant Wasn’t Completely Fine, and Neither Are Many of Us, and Awesome Non-Human Sidekicks in Books art essays, we are so excited to have some guest reviews from her! Poppy is a long-time fan of SBTB and loves cats, books and coffee, in that order. She illustrates The Loo Cats, an imaginative series starring her … Continue reading As Old As Time by Liz Braswell
Every year around the holiday season, I see people squee about Love, Actually and I’m reminded all over again how much I hate half of it and how meh I feel about the rest of it. But then I remember Lindy West’s infamous takedown of it and I don’t feel alone. So, you can imagine how thrilled I was when I heard about Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema. Its recap-style … Continue reading Shit, Actually by Lindy West
I read Empire of Wild and I am so not ok but in…a good way? This #OwnVoices novel about a woman who tries to save her husband from a supernatural threat is the horror novel you need for Halloween. It’s a quick read but rich in language and detail, right down to a grandmother keeping her magic supplies on top of her fridge in one of those blue tins that cookies come in. Joan is … Continue reading Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
I made a number of mistakes regarding this book. First, I read it after I received the ARC, which was months prior to release date. Though this makes me an Unintentional Scourge Among Book Publicists, I try to read ARCs as close to release as possible so that I can talk about a book when that book is available to buy, borrow, or request. As I joke often, I’m here to enable everyone else’s poor … Continue reading Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
Through reading (and loving) The Silence of Bones I’ve realized something about myself as a reader: I can tolerate a lot of dark, violent content in a book if the prose is pretty enough. And while the poetic prose is a definite selling point, the fact that The Silence of Bones is also an impeccably crafted mystery with amazing character work and an arc of profound hopefulness cemented its place in my heart as the … Continue reading The Silence of Bones by June Hur
Content warning: Death from cancer – this occurs before the start of the book, but since Carla was Eileen’s granddaughter and Leena’s sister, there is quite a bit of reference to it. We also have a secondary character who is dealing with domestic violence, and there is infidelity and dealing with the aftermath of that. I want to be Eileen when I grow up. There, that’s my review. What, is that not enough? Oh, fine … Continue reading The Switch by Beth O’Leary
Drowned Country is the direct sequel to Silver in the Wood – indeed, it could almost be described as the other half of the story. It shares with it the dense, green atmosphere that feels almost more real than the real world, as well as the charm and humour of the characters. It is also absolutely impossible to discuss without spoiling Silver in the Wood terribly, because it starts where that story ends. Really, do … Continue reading Drowned Country by Emily Tesh
TW: rape I really wish I could write a full review of The Lion’s Den and how utterly fantastic it is, but to do so would require spoiling a lot of the book and I want readers to go in fresh. When I picked up this thriller I thought it would be a locked-room mystery set on a yacht with fancy people murdering each other, which sounded fine. It is not that at all. Despite … Continue reading The Lion’s Den by Katherine St. John
