Amanda has discovered some hidden gems during her first year of home ownership.
Like many of you, we are aghast at the scope of destruction that Hurricane Harvey is still wreaking on the Texas coast, even as I write this. We thought we’d come up with a list of things to do and places that will desperately need donations as Houston, Galveston, and the rest of the coast struggles to regain its footing. Jia Tolentino (@jiatolentino on twitter) has compiled a list: Food banks in Galveston, Corpus Christi … Continue reading Helping After Harvey
RECOMMENDED: The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis is $1.99! All the trigger warnings for this book, by the way. However, I absolutely loved this and I gave it an A:
The Female of the Species was a cathartic read. I was often flushed with anger, crying from sadness, or amped up with girl power. It’s a powerful book and one that I’ll be talking about for a long time to come.
This might just been the oddest trio of books we’ve grouped together in Lightning Reviews. We have a grief-stricken historical romance, a book recommended to us at our Recommendation Party at RT17, and a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Shakespearean retelling. Maybe one, or all three, will made it to your TBR pile!
Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North is a choose-your-own-adventure retelling of the Shakespearean classic. It’s all sorts of fun with adorable artwork in shades of white, red, pink, and gray. However, the novelty of the CYOA format wears off quickly and Juliet’s routes were much more fun than Romeo’s (not that I mind too terribly). A little disclaimer that this isn’t a book for kids. Teens, maybe. But the humor is bawdy and some of … Continue reading Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North
The Dark Affair is a dark historical that doesn’t involve ballrooms or ratafia, and features themes of addiction and madness. I’d say it’s what would happen if Bellatrix Lestrange started writing a historical romance and then Hermione finished it for her. Margaret Cassidy is a former noblewoman, now impoverished due to the Irish famine. Her parents are dead, her brother has fallen onto the wrong side of the law, and her world is collapsing. When … Continue reading The Dark Affair by Maire Claremont
I have NO IDEA who recommended this at our Reader Rec party at RT, but they said “19th century German glassblowers” and I said, “What’s that author’s last name again? Yeah, that’ll be waiting for me when I get home.” And all three books were. In the fall of 1890, a glassblower living in the village of Lauscha, Germany, with his three daughters dies, leaving them in dire straits. The eldest, Johanna, feels responsible for … Continue reading The Glassblower by Petra Durst-Benning
In just a few days, PassionFlix will officially go live! Once they do, their Founding Member pre-subscription will go poof. If you’re still waffling on whether or not to subscribe early, I was able to get a sneak peek at the Beta version of the site, and have some details to share with you. Passionflix will also have an app for viewing on iOS and Android technology, so you can use a phone or tablet … Continue reading Last Call for PassionFlix’s Founding Member Discount
Today, we have a guest review of The Ruin of a Rake by the much-recommended Cat Sebastian. This guest review comes from Heather Morris, who you may remember from her great guest write-up of the Hulu series Harlots. Heather Morris is a cyborg librarian living in North Carolina. Her work has appeared in Shimmer, Strange Horizons, and Daily Science Fiction, among other places. She’s on Twitter @NotThatHeatherM and she blogs sporadically at thebastardtitle.wordpress.com. … I discovered Cat Sebastian … Continue reading Guest Review: The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian
Our monthly Covers & Cocktails post is here, which means it’s time to rage! Or, you know, make a cocktail on a Thursday afternoon and promptly nap with your cat until dinnertime. Everyone rages differently. This month’s drink is so yummy! Seriously, it’s like candy. I’m calling it a Nothing Serious and it’s essentially a chocolate raspberry martini. It tastes like a chocolate raspberry truffle in liquid form. The book inspiration for this particular cocktail … Continue reading Covers & Cocktails: Nothing Serious
In an interview recorded at RWA, Bea and Leah Koch from The Ripped Bodice bookstore in LA look back on their work together after a little over a year, and as Booksellers of the Year award recipients. We talk about creative projects, as there are art installations in the bookstore that are truly stunning, and how they decide which projects to tackle. We talk about their flying books project, and people’s reactions – and how … Continue reading 261. Creativity, Business, Anxiety, and Celebrations – An Interview with Bea & Leah Koch of The Ripped Bodice
Rising Fire by Terri Brisbin is $2.99! This fantasy romance is the first book in the Stone Circles series. The hero is sent to “vanquish” the heroine’s fire abilities, so there’s an enemies to lovers element that readers really loved. However, others felt the heroine bordered on TSTL (too stupid to live). But! Reviewers also mentioned the series gets better with each book.
