My Archive
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I’ve really enjoyed The Girl books by Stieg Larsson. I know they are everywhere and their apparent popularity is a little off-putting (at least to me) but they’ve been a lot of fun. They are a fast and exciting ride through the mystery/suspense/crime genre that doesn’t disappoint. The Girl Who Played With Fire is the [...]
This book is a little bit slow but I felt it was worth the read. Remembering the Bones follows Georgie Witley, an 80 year old woman who has been trapped in a ravine by a car accident as she waits for rescue. I liked this book and felt it was an interesting way of writing [...]
I really enjoyed this book and I gave it four stars on goodreads, but I think I would have preferred 3.5. I have read a few books in a row that really didn’t do it for me so Water for Elephants was a welcome change by comparison. Water for Elephants opens the door to the [...]
Blech. As I write this review I know this novel will appeal to many readers but I just really disliked it. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a novel that follows 11 year old Flavia de Luce as she solves a huge mystery of murder and theft that spans 30 years. The [...]
I would suggest reading this novella for Twilight fans. It is an interesting glimpse into the outside world of Twilight vampires we never get to see in sheltered Forks, WA. That aside, I still don’t know what makes Bree so special someone would be compelled to write a spin off novella about her. Whatever Stephenie [...]
Here is my take on Under the Dome: it’s quite long and a little disappointing at the end. There you go, a review in one sentence. Under the Dome is a novel about a town in Maine that suddenly and inexplicably has an impermeable ‘dome’ placed around it. It is a wonderful depiction of how [...]
Eat Pray Love is a memoir by Elizabeth GIlbert which follows a year she spent traveling to Italy, India, and Indonesia on a journey to discover pleasure, spirituality, and balance. Out of five stars I would give this book three, not because I think it is ‘average’ but because I both loved and hated it [...]
I was dissapointed by this book. With so many references in pop culture and so many fans I think I expected more. Brave New World is set in a future utopia, where everyone is happy and provided for. This utopia is built on eugenics, mental conditioning, and the feel good drug soma if you ever [...]
I enjoyed this book. Open secrets is a collection of short stories that follows the Ontario town of Carstairs from the 1850′s through to the present. Every story featured a woman protagonist and each story had something to recomend it. I felt Vandals was my least favorite of the short stories, but it is still [...]
This novel left me sitting on the fence. I have as many things I like about as I don’t, with neither side making a compelling case. The Gathering follows the Hegartys, a large Irish family as they come together to mourn the self inflicted death of their brother, Liam. The story, told through the eyes [...]
Second Foundation begins with the Mule and his quest to control the universe. He has conquered all that he can with amazing mind control powers and an army to back him. He has thrown a wrench into Hari Seldon’s plan and conquered the First Foundation, but his paranoia feels the mysterious Second Foundation which may [...]
Interview With the Vampire introduces you to Louis, who is being interviewed by a journalist about his existence as a vampire. As you follow his life story you then become acquainted with Lestat, who made Louis, and the child vampire, Claudia, that they later made together. I last read this book sometime in the late [...]
Patriots, a Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse follows a group of survivalists after an economic, societal, and governmental meltdown in the United States of America. This book left me conflicted. How do you like a book that isn’t very good? I still don’t know, but I do. As a novel it stinks, but [...]
Oh, post apocalyptic novels, how I love thee. What kind of phase is this? I can’t seem to get enough. (I am getting killer tips for prepping and food storage though, ha ha.) One Second After covers the fall of American civilization as we know it after an electromagnetic pulse blast (or EMP.) The book [...]
Dune sets the stage for an science fiction masterpiece of epic proportions. You have a large, dare I say ‘galactic’ feudal empire ripe with vendettas, politics, religion, destiny, and of course, planetary ecology. You have a child destined for greatness at the center of a massive web of personal agendas and empire wide plotting. When [...]
The Help follows three women, two Black maids and one White woman in Mississipi in the racially heated 1960′s. It is well written and full of emotion. I really enjoyed reading their stories and read it in one sitting. I was a little concerned about a White author talking in a Black voice but Stockett [...]
East of Eden follows two generations of the Trask family as well as the Hamiliton family in the Salinas valley in California, and basically covers from the American civil war to world war I. It feels like a very ambitious novel. I think this book has everything but the kitchen sink all stirred together. I [...]
Ender’s game is set in a future world where humanity is in a war with an alien race of giant bugs. Genius children have been bread and molded to become the greatest military leaders and win the war. This is my first Orson Scott Card book and I liked it. He writes children well, (not [...]
Alas Babylon follows a group of survivors in a small town in Florida after the USA and USSR launch their nukes in a MAD war. I liked this book. On one hand I thought it felt dated, and on the other hand I really enjoyed peeking into the mindset of 1960 and the cold war [...]
Foundation is the first novel in the foundation series. The Galactic Empire is about to fail and Hari Seldon and the new science of psychohistory are attempting to save all human knowledge and bring humanity through the resulting dark ages. I am split on my feelings about this book. I have just as many things [...]
I absolutely fell in love with this book. It has been a long time since I finished a book and wanted to immediately start reading it again. The Red Tent follows the life of Dinah from the Old Testament. From her mother’s lives through her own childhood and to the end of her days. I [...]
I enjoyed this book. The Hunger Games is a very quick read and a real page turner. Set in a near future dystopia after the fall of the United States of America, a young girl and boy from the 12th district in the nation of Panem must compete in a death match type game where [...]
This book follows two sisters as their lives change through tragedy and the decline of the world as we know it. Have I mentioned before I’m an apocalypse junkie? This book is a fairly easy read. It isn’t split into traditional chapters but flows more as a diary. I think the author did a great [...]
I was immediately pulled in by this book and the complex cast of characters. Why was I drawn in? Partly because of the difficulty of getting into the book in the beginning. Still I felt there was something great waiting for me if I kept at it. I am so glad I took the time. [...]
Wow. This book has a lot of impact. This is a story about the love between a father and son in a post-apocalyptic world. They only have each other and must keep moving on the road. I have seldom read a book that more perfectly combines raw terror and simple heart wrenching beauty. The writing [...]
I am undecided on my feelings for this book. I was looking for books that explore philosophical concepts and was recommended this book as a starting place for existentialism. After doing some research on the author I discovered he had refused the existential label. Published in 1942, The Stranger chronicles a young Algerian man as [...]
This book was well written and very thought provoking. I find myself still working over some of the moral dilemmas given in the book days after reading it. The year is 2021 and the human race is preparing for the end of civilization after worldwide infertility extinguished the ability to procreate in 1995. As the [...]
I seriously enjoyed this book. Written in the style of a classic Gothic melodrama this novel has a little bit of everything. Layer upon layer of mystery, danger, and tragic love. Set in Barcelona during the Franco dictatorship, this book follows the mysteries of a book touched by destiny, the author who wrote it, and [...]
I liked this book. It was entertaining and a quick read. The book follows two women’s stories, one set in London in the present day and one set in Cornwall in 1625. I liked the idea of the two parallel stories, but I found Julia and the present day story more of an interruption and [...]
This book is not bad. I’m not a huge fan of suspense novels (anymore) but I did go through a big suspense phase a while back and this one is pretty good. It is a fatal attraction type story based on a supernatural premise. If you can say sure, I believe in transmigration, then you [...]
A frightening dystopian novel. The story is compelling and the characters are well developed. You don’t have to be a feminist to relate to the themes of women’s rights. Thankfully we can stop reading and say, I’m glad we don’t live in a world like that today. Oh, wait, yes we do. There are lots [...]
I really enjoyed this book. It was a perfect blend of easy reading humor and useful information. I will preface this review by saying I have a strong bias towards survival books of any kind since I am a bit of an appocolypse junkie. I found some of the information in Emergency was common sense [...]
Wuthering Heights was a pleasant read and remarkably easy to loose yourself in. The start is a bit slow but the characters and relationships are very intriguing and uniqe and quickly become hard to put down. I’m not a huge romance fan, but if you throw in enough tragedy, inner conflict, pride, circumstance, and self [...]
I would call this book slightly better than average but mostly forgettable. Sorry Cecelia Ahern, I really tried to like it. Read it if you are in the mood for a light hearted romantic comedy with well written, colloquial irish humor. Don’t read it if you want something more than skin deep, a premise that [...]
I have mixed feelings on this book. The writing was wonderful, and I was completely amazed that the world has not changed a bit since this book was written. It easily could have been written about people I know today. I especially liked the way the author artfully painted the character’s struggles as self defeating [...]
I loved this book. I loved it as a study of the free market vs government intervention, and also for the examples it provides on how individuals can be the greatest factor in a strong economy. It makes you wonder when the mentality of spending economic problems away and printing the value of the dollar [...]
Hosseini does a remarkable job of bringing the hardships of war to life. I was seriously impressed with his ability to write authentic women. I appreciated the honesty, even when dealing with brutality, and how the author stills ends on a note of hope. I would have liked to have see a broader picture of [...]
This is a thoughtful and engaging book about a young girl struggling with a socially debilitating disorder in Kentucky in the 1950′s. I enjoyed the writing style and soon became lost in another place and time. I thought the colloquial dialog was slightly repetitive, but that was easy to forgive. Icy’s character is genuine and [...]
This is a novel in a different sense. A work of non-fiction which follows a real event as closely as possible by bringing together all clues and evidence left behind. There were many things I enjoyed about this book. The life and death of Chris McCandless, his quest for freedom and discovery of the human [...]
Ok, I must confess, I read the whole trilogy in four days. I would say that is a great testament to the author’s pacing. Oh, and the fact that every book ends in a cliffhanger. Eclipse was no exception. I thought the tension and the love triangle was staged and brought to climax almost perfectly. [...]
Stephenie Meyer delivers with a great sequel to Twilight. Sometimes the only thing more intense than love is loss. I loved the transition after Edward left with blank pages marking the months. Very creative and effective by the author. New characters and more back story flesh out the novel, and a mostly terrific finish.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was not expecting to like a book classified with words like ‘young adult’ and ‘romance’. The writing was great, the characters were well developed, and the plot lines were believable. An exciting combination of danger and forbidden love keeps the tension high. This book will not change [...]
This book was completely forgettable. A mindless work of regurgitated fiction. I have no idea why this predictable ‘suspense’ novel had 30 pages in the middle about 911. WTF? The story could have been written without it, it was only mentioned when convenient, and it reeks of being added purely to boost profit sales. Gag [...]
This book follows the politics and scandals of the newly formed United States government in the late 1800′s. Much of the book is focused on the role of journalism and the hardships of sedition laws. Though technically historical fiction, much of the dialogue between Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe are drawn from their [...]
This book was fantastic. It was fantastic as an eloquent, entertaining work of fiction as well as a deeper set of life values and an introduction to the study of objectivism. Now that being said, I don’t agree with every thought or idea of this book. That is partly why this book was so wonderful [...]
A beautifully written, vibrant, and intimate account of Marie Antoinette. A thoroughly engaging piece of historical fiction. I really enjoyed reading this book and was pleasantly surprised by the personal focus instead of a recitation of economic and political factors. I think the writing was as decadent as the subject it describes. With an understanding [...]
I didn’t really enjoy this book. I will say from the beginning that I mostly liked the message, just not the book. The book is very short and it does not go any farther than the surface for character development. Everything is just told or explained, and most characters and descriptions come across as flat [...]
About Us
Clarissa Foss
Clarissa is a stay-at-home mother of three. The last two years she has been wrapping up a degree in psychology after taking a six-year baby hiatus from her studies. Now that she is done reading text books she doesn't have to feel guilty curling up with some good fiction. Her favourite book is Little Women.
Cindi Foss
Cindi is a 30-year-old Kobo reading blog reviewing amateur literary critic. She appreciates all genres especially historical fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, and suspense along with a healthy dose of 'popular' so she can keep up with what everyone is talking about. She has four or five lists of books to read at any one time (but doesn't everyone?) and she loves spreading the word on good books. Cindi will be bringing you truth and objectivity ('cause who wants to read crazy irrational opinions?) from her piece of the world in Alberta Canada.
