Genre: FictionStar Rating: 4-1/2 out of 5Synopsis from Goodreads: After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over… Continue reading Book Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures
Tag: Fiction
Book Review: Gold Diggers
Genre: Fiction with a bit of magical realismStar Rating: 3-1/2 out of 5Synopsis from The StoryGraph: Spanning two continents, two coasts, and four epochs, Gold Diggers expertly balances social satire and magical realism in a classic striver story that skewers the model minority narrative, asking what a community must do to achieve the American dream. In razor… Continue reading Book Review: Gold Diggers
Book Review: The Jane Austen Society
Genre: Fiction | Historical FictionStars: 4-1/4 out of 5Synopsis from GoodReads: Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable.One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England's finest novelists.… Continue reading Book Review: The Jane Austen Society
Book Review: Fever
Genre: Historical FictionStar Rating: 3-1/2 out of 5Synopsis from The StoryGraph: Mary Mallon was a courageous, headstrong Irish immigrant woman who bravely came to America alone, fought hard to climb up from the lowest rung of the domestic service ladder, and discovered in herself an uncanny, and coveted, talent for cooking. Working in the kitchens… Continue reading Book Review: Fever
Book Review: Matilda
Genre: Middle Grade | FictionStar Rating: 4 out of 5Synopsis: Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she's knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she's a super-nerd and the teacher's pet. But everything is not… Continue reading Book Review: Matilda
Book Review: Skin of the Sea
Genre: Fiction / YA FantasyRating: 4-1/4 out of 5 starsSynopsis: Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata--a mermaid--collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home. But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi goes against an ancient decree and does the… Continue reading Book Review: Skin of the Sea
Book Review: The Library of the Unwritten
Genre: Fiction / FantasyStar Rating: 3 out of 5 starsSynopsis: Many years ago, Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing—a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists mainly of repairing and organizing books, but also of keeping an eye on restless stories that risk… Continue reading Book Review: The Library of the Unwritten
Book Review: The Night Circus
Genre: Fiction/FantasyStars: 5 out of 5Synopsis: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des R ves, and it is only open at night.But behind the… Continue reading Book Review: The Night Circus
Book Review: Spilt Milk
Genre: Contemporary FictionStar Rating: 2 out of 5Synopsis from Goodreads: Centenarian Eulalio Assumpcao has reached the end of his long life. From his modest bed in a Rio public hospital, as his mind falters, he grandly recounts his past to passing nurses, his visiting daughter and the whitewashed ceiling. His eccentric stories are seemingly nothing… Continue reading Book Review: Spilt Milk
Book Review: The Last Mona Lisa
Genre: Fiction, historical fiction, art-history thriller.Star Rating: 4-1/4 out of 5Plot Summary from Goodreads: August, 1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincent Peruggia. Exactly what happens in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, and more than one historian has wondered if the painting now… Continue reading Book Review: The Last Mona Lisa