The first time I read Paladin’s Grace, I finished it, turned back to the beginning, and immediately read it again. This is partly because it’s very good, which I’ll get into later, and partly because for me, it was the right book at the right time. I’ve been having a hard time reading this year because of, you know … (*jazz hands*) everything. It’s hard to connect with Happily-Ever-After when we’re in the middle of … Continue reading Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher →
Glass Town is an enchanting graphic novel that has, in professional terms, “weird but effective art.” That’s the kind of lofty professional assessment that gets me the big bucks, folks. Glass Town is about the imaginary worlds that the Bronte siblings created. While I was initially put off by the art, it grew on me, and the plot enchanted me from the first page. In real life and as described in Glass Town, young Charlotte … Continue reading Glass Town by Isabel Greenberg →
A Phoenix First Must Burn is a remarkable, uplifting, and interesting anthology of short stories by Black authors about Black women and non-gender-conforming people. The story styles range from Weird West to epic fantasy to dystopia, and many reflect the systemic challenges Black people face. However, the stories also give us characters who are triumphant, finding the best truth and self-actualization possible within circumstances that range from intensely constrained to sky’s-the-limit. Several characters are LGBTQIA … Continue reading A Phoenix First Must Burn edited by Patrice Caldwell →
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James was the feminist, cold-case mystery I didn’t know I was waiting for. It has everything. It has intrepid amateur detectives. It has vengeful female ghosts. It has delicious justice and women coming together to deliver it. Added to all of that, the mystery was executed perfectly. In fact, here’s the one-line review I posted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElyseIndeed/status/1228791553696698369 The book is set in two different timelines, 2017 and … Continue reading The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James →
In addition to Catherine’s review of Hearts on Hold, we also received this lovely review from Carole B. Carole B. is a Jamaican immigrant, a lover of politics and popular culture, a Tar Heel by way of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Media and Journalism, and a die hard, unrepentant bookworm. She teaches, researches and writes about media and society, politics, and public opinion. She’s most interested in how gender, … Continue reading Guest Review: Hearts on Hold by Charish Reid →
Strange Love by Ann Aguirre is a delightfully weird, heartwarming romance featuring a virgin alien hero, an abductee heroine, and a talking dog. It’s a blend of Alien, The Bachelor and The Hunger Games. It’s also a middle finger to people who claim that romance novels are formulaic and rely on rich, handsome heroes to seal the fantasy. The hero in this book is Zylar of Kith Balak, a vaguely insectoid alien who comes from … Continue reading Strange Love by Ann Aguirre →
Love Lettering is a way to end the decade on a perfect note. Or perhaps it’s a way to start the new decade on a perfect note. Whichever option you choose, my enthusiastic recommendation remains the same. It’s not a book to race through and devour in a short span of time. My advice is to linger on each page and let the words engulf you. Love Lettering is about signs, art, words, and the … Continue reading Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn →
CW: Domestic violence, violence against women, violence against animals, references to sexual assault A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh is a tightly plotted thriller that has pervasive feeling of rage coiled around it. Every character in this book feels angry and on edge, on the verge of snapping. This creates a superb tension that carries throughout the novel and, when combined with a perfectly plotted mystery and well-developed characters, results in a fantastic reading … Continue reading A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh →
I’ve just discovered my new catnip. Old soldiers protecting their adopted granddaughters as they move through the forests of southern England seeking justice. Dare I say it, they are on a QUEST! Yes, please! Welcome to the Kingdom of Wessex in Britain in the year 838. Here, we meet Dunston, a former warrior, who now lives in the woods with his one-eyed dog, Odin. He is willfully self-sufficient and months will pass before he travels … Continue reading Wolf of Wessex by Matthew Harffy →
The Woman’s Hour is an electrifying nonfiction book about women’s suffrage. It’s a big old brick of a thing so I thought it would take a long time to read, but I tore through it in three very busy days. This is a must-read for anyone interested in American politics and history. The Woman’s Hour describes the fight to get Tennessee to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment “gave” women … Continue reading The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss →
I knew I wanted to review this book pretty much the moment I became a Smart Bitches reviewer. Which means I’ve been looking forward to it for a little more than a hot second, my excitement building as I waited until closer to the release date to read it, letting it gather metaphorical dust on my Kindle app because I didn’t want to read it too early. That’s a lot of expectations for a book … Continue reading Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert →
