My Archive
Feel free to browse
Whoa! Did I just give a Melina Marchetta book three stars? Yes, yes I did. I want to start by saying that Marchetta’s stories are beautifully complex, twisty and messy. They are filled with brutal honesty and great, raw love stories. There are themes that present themselves in interesting ways. It’s masterful and brilliant. She [...]
Lugh got born first. On midwinter day when the sun hangs low in the sky. Then me. Two hours later. That pretty much says it all. Lugh goes first, always first, an I follow on behind. An that’s fine. That’s right. That’s how it’s meant to be. (p. 1) This is the first page of [...]
I have never read Dickens before. Every time I’d start, I’d fail to be sucked in and I’d give up. It was my turn to pick a book for book club and I really wanted an excuse to keep reading a Dickens novel, so I chose this one. I’m so glad that I did. Those [...]
Emma Donoghue delivers a spectacular novel in Room. The book is narrated by five year old Jack and is about his experience with his Ma as they live in captivity. Jack has never been outside Room. He doesn’t understand that there IS anything outside of Room. He has a TV and thinks that everyone and [...]
For the last few years, I’ve been reading series, in the young adult genre. I’m not alone, don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. The Hunger Games, Twilight, these books are huge. Well I have noticed that a lot of series (that are YA) have a problem with second-book-itis. I made up the [...]
I have been avoiding reviewing this book, almost as much as I avoided reading it in the first place. You see, I was afraid of this novel, scared even. Not because of the monster, surely no. Monsters aren’t really that scary. No, I, like the boy in the book (Conor) was afraid of something worse. [...]
As the year is coming to a close I can’t help but think about what has happened in my life in the past 12 months. I’ve been pregnant, delivered my third child, and moved three times. Through it all, I’ve read. I find myself reading when I get stressed out, so with three moves, that’s [...]
The winner of my Second-Ever Giveaway was chosen using Random.org. This winner will take home their very own copy of Clockwork Prince (a book which I LOVED!) Thank you to everyone who entered. Ok Ok, the winner of the giveaway of Clockwork Price by Cassandra Clare is… Ana Karen Maldenado! Congratulations! Happy Holidays and Happy [...]
Do you find that second books in trilogies are often disappointments? They feel like a bridge we cross to get to Book Three? Lots of meandering around without really accomplishing anything? Well, let me tell you, Clockwork Prince does NOT suffer from second-book-itis, at all. Clare covers a LOT of ground in the second book [...]
It’s the time of year that I’ve been waiting for. Not Christmas, although I love Christmas too, this is when new books come out. From now (well November really) until March, a new book that I’ve been waiting for will pop onto the shelves of Chapters and other book stores shelves around the world, and [...]
I am pleased to announce the winner of our very FIRST book giveaway. We had 87 entries. That’s more than I ever expected. The winner was chosen using random.org. And the winner is… Drum-roll please… Allie Lin! Congratulations! Thank you to every one who entered. I’ll tell you the details of December’s giveaway tomorrow.
This is the first book in Cassandra Clare’s new trilogy Infernal Devices. This is a companion series to the Mortal Instruments and set in Victorian England. I’d classify it as Steam Punk. There’s werewolves, automatons, vampires and shadowhunters, but also corsets and kid gloves. What’s not to love? When this book first came out, I [...]
Here is a back-of-the-book description that I got from goodreads.com: “A dark, gothic tale of romance… and murder. The latest book in the grippingly dark series, The Poison Diaries. Our heroine, Jessamine, has lost her faith in the men she loved, and her innocence as well. She turns to the dark side and plots to [...]
Hello World! I am in the midst of reading Crossed by Ally Condie and am really enjoying it. If you too want to read book 2 in the Matched Series, we have a contest for you. We’ll be giving away ONE copy of Crossed and YOU can enter to win. How do I enter? You [...]
This novel is unique for a couple of reasons. First, is the format. This book switches POV back and forth from Michael and Leesie. Her POV is either written as her personal poetry or as chatlogs or, sometimes, as a combination of the two. Her poetry was pretty good, not awesome, but not bad. I [...]
Five stars, I’m giving this one five stars! I almost never do that. I definitely don’t give out five stars willy nilly. OK, so it’s probably a given that this is my most favouritist book that I’ve read this year fo sho. Seriously. I know I sound like a frilly fangirl but I can’t help [...]
OOoh, I really liked this one. Sara Zarr just understood my teen years. OK so my mom was not an alcoholic, and my dad was not a preacher. But my mom was sick and I felt like that was something we didn’t talk about and I didn’t know why. I really connected with this novel [...]
Juliet is not a reincarnation story, thank goodness, but it is about a curse, on “both your houses,” which is a bit like adding fate in. Thankfully, our modern day “Juliet” doesn’t remember a past life, but she is worried that she won’t be long in this one. Did I ever mention how much I [...]
Why oh why do I keep reading this series? I really don’t enjoy the way Aprilynne Pike writes. She overwrites constantly. It “set’s my teeth on edge.” I find Laurel so completely annoying, I can’t stand her. If she were an actual person, I would try very hard not to ever have to speak to [...]
Do you like reading zombie books? Neither do I. They aren’t my top pick. They are always full of gore. I can handle gore, probably better in literary form than in movie form. But it’s not my favorite thing. Although I did love Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Well this book is definitely a zombie [...]
This book was so unpredictable. I thought it was about one thing, then, boom, it’s about another. It made me feel uncomfortable at times, sad in others and I think I even laughed. It ran the gamut. I have read some of R.J Anderson’s other books, this one by far, is my favorite of hers. [...]
Ok, ok, so I’m a bit embarrassed to even be reviewing a book with a title as ridiculous as this one, but I wanted to review the next book in the series, so I figured, I may as well start with this one. As you may have guessed from the title, this book is about [...]
There are a few ways to write a series these days. Ok, so I’m not a writer, these reviews should prove that, but I am a reader. Some series, the ones I prefer to read, have books with endings, not necessarily difinitive endings, but endings none the less. A good example of this is Harry [...]
Last week, I was preparing to go to my prenatal appointment. I made sure I had an audiobook for the hour and half drive but I failed to think about a book for the waiting room. I thought about using my iPod but it just seemed rude. I imagined myself sitting in the waiting room [...]
The cadence of the words makes this historical fiction a nice, smooth read. Although the sentences are hypnotically smooth, the action is not. We are thrown right into the story and it doesn’t slow down. It’s an interesting mix. The Midwife of Venice is about a Jewish woman living in a Ghetto in Venice during [...]
Ally Condie has taken the publishing world by storm with her new book Matched. Matched is the first book of her coming trilogy. The follow up, Crossed, is slated to release in November of this year, with the final book in the series coming the year after. By the way, Ally is yet another Mormon [...]
I put this book on my shelf, “books worth reading” but I’m wondering if it should be there. There were a lot of things I loved about it. It was so entertaining and enlightening to look at America through the lens of a young girl who is learning the culture. Kimberly Chang was a new [...]
I read and actually really enjoyed the first book to this series. Oh no, you should be thinking, it’s never good when a reviewer starts out this way. Oh Bree, where did you go wrong? I have never felt this disappointed in a second book of a series. I read it really fast just after [...]
This one is a heavy. Sarah’s Key is a novel set in france. The author tells two stories simultaneously. I thought she handled that in an interesting way. One story is told with a slightly bolder ink, in a third person narrative style that distances us from her. The other is written in the first [...]
boom! Is another fantastic read by Mark Haddon. In case you didn’t realize, he also wrote the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. When I saw that Mark Haddon had written boom! I decided I had to read it. It was definitely worth the read. Admittedly, this is not a book that will [...]
Snyder throws us blind right into a story that is not like anything I have read before. This far future, dystopian novel has the world split into two groups of people, uppers and lowers. The scrubs live in the lower levels. The two groups are separate and do not mix, or know much about each [...]
Bang Band You’re Dead! reminded me a little of The Mysterious Case of the Dog in The Night-time. We get a chapter in the present, then a chapter of something else. In The Dog in the Night-time, it was random, yet interesting facts, in this book, Dhami uses the opposing chapters to flesh out the [...]
Folks, I have graduated to the world of ARC’s. That’s right. I asked a publisher to preview a book before the actual publication date. I am now a member of Net Galley and have some access to ARC’s from Net Galley’s affiliate publishers. SO, in this new light, here is my first ARC review. Just [...]
I wasn’t sure what to put this under, but I saw that another reviewer (Novel Novice) posted it under bildungsroman (that’s fancy for coming of age). I read this one a while ago, and have finally decided to add my two cents to the other reviews. Sea is a story about a girl named Sienna. [...]
Instead of being a re-imagining of Pride and Prejudice, I would say that Seth Grahame-Smith inserted a story-line involving zombies into Pride and Prejudice. Kind of like a cream puff. At first the cream puff was just a bun, until someone stuck a needle full of whipped cream into the middle and filled it up. [...]
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is told to us by a witty third person narrator in a way that is fresh and interesting. Frankie’s character develops over the book, as she discovers along with us, who she wants to be. This book explores feminism and the politics of power through a fun narrative about [...]
Uglies is set in the far dystopic future where the cities of the current world have been abandoned. In the new world, children live with their parent’s until they’re twelve, then they leave home and live in dorms. The dorms are in ugly town. Once they turn 16, they get an operation that turns them [...]
I keep wavering between giving this one three and four stars. I read it for free on-line, so perhaps it should be 4. I like the idea of being able to read books for free. You can too (although I’m not sure for how long) at this address http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/in… Jessamine is a young innocent 16 [...]
Here is yet another paranormal teen romance, I can’t seem to get enough of them. Most I find, fall short, this one, I really enjoyed. I loved the way it was written. The main character got a bit swoony, but Despain managed to not let the romance completely take over. I appreciate that. Life doesn’t [...]
This is an urban fantasy novel set in New York City in the present day. Clary works through finding out the truth about her past after her mother mysteriously goes missing. She meets a group of half angel humans called Nephilihim otherwise known as Shadowhunters. These half angels are mortal and hunt the demons that [...]
Philippa Gregory can write a mean historical fiction. This one features the famous War of the Roses, also called the cousins war. As usual, Gregory has highly fictionalized the characters in the novel. There is a suggestion that Elizabeth Woodville may have believed in a water goddess. Gregory latched onto this and created a whole [...]
The Cult of the Amateur, by Andrew Keen, contests that user-generated media is ruining “our economy, our culture and our values.” The front cover of the Cult of the Amateur has a blurb of a review from, Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times boasting: “Keen writes with acuity and passion about the consequences of [...]
Wow, I think I may have a hard time trying not to gush about this book. I loved it. It was written in a way that was interesting, the writing style was different and the words were beautiful. You know when someone is telling a story and they sometimes trip over their words? Well there [...]
I was thinking of my favorite love stories and I remembered this one. So I picked it up and read it again. And I still love it. It is still so good. This is the last book in the Anne of Green Gables series. The whole series is worth reading, but I just love this [...]
I read one Sarah Dessen novel and I kind of liked it, so I have not been able to pass up her books without reading them. She seems to like to take an issue that is pertinent to young adults and form it into a novel. The Truth About Forever is about grief. This Lullaby’s [...]
I picked up my first Jill Mansell novel (Accidents happen when I’m Thinking of You) for two dollars at the U of L book store. I loved it, but for some reason have not managed to read another one until today. I loved it again. I think she is the queen of chick lit. Her [...]
Maggie Steifvater is yet another author riding the twilight wave. Why not? Her novel has a different take on werewolves than the Twilight series and different than I have heard before. The boys become wolves in the winter but stay human in summer. They live in the frozen north near the Canadian border, must be [...]
As promised, here is the second novel from Kristin Cashore. It had another map in the front (fantasy category, check). It felt a bit like more of the same. I can’t quite decide how I feel about it. I read it compulsively until I finished (not much of a stretch for me, but the pacing [...]
Anita Shreve was one of the fortunate living writers (pre James Frey) to have her book picked by Oprah to be in the Oprah book club. Although not an avid book club member, I have from time to time, picked up an Oprah book club book. A few years ago I read The Pilot’s Wife. [...]
Have you ever read a book and loved it while reading but became uncertain of it after? I had that experience after reading Kate Jacob’s first book (Friday Night Knitting Club). But I did enjoy reading it, so I decided to check this one out. Plus I love watching the Food Network which factors heavily [...]
One of the first genres of books I fell in love with was Fantasy. But I have since moved away from reading books with maps in the front. This past week, I read a novel with a map. I read a fantasy novel and I really enjoyed it. This is Kristin Cashore’s debut novel about [...]
This book felt more like a selection of short stories all centred around a common theme than a novel. The book opens with a description of a small rural school with a huge copper beech tree in the yard, in Ireland. Each successive section describes the life of someone from the village connected to the [...]
This novel is unlike any I have read before. It is told in first person from the point of view of an autistic teen. He lives in a town in England and confines himself to a strict routine. Until one night he finds a dog that has just been killed. He loves reading Shirlock Holmes [...]
This is the second installment of the Hunger Games trilogy. It continues the story of Katniss Everdeen after she wins the Hunger Games (sorry if that’s too much information for those who wanted to read the Hunger Games). This fast paced novel is full of twists and turns. I couldn’t put it down. And now [...]
The main character of this novel (written in first person) is overweight and living a double life. The double life thing has been done and done, but I have honestly never read a book with a chubby main character. I liked that part. I’m really sick of reading books with skinny perfect women taking the [...]
Why oh Why do I read these things? I started reading Christian romances at work when I was bored and there was nothing else to read. But then I started reading them for fun, at home. Most of them are terribly written. Yet I keep going back, like a bad boyfriend. Admittedly, the only “bad” [...]
This novel is about a young girl who is gripped with the death of her father. In order to deal with her loss, she becomes a perfectionist, trying to control all the uncontrollables in life. The novel is set during the summer when her perfect boyfriend leaves for “brain camp.” Unsure of what to do [...]
I have been putting off posting this one for a while. I have to say, I fell in love with this novel. Which is part of the reason I didn’t want to post it. What if other people read it and thought it was a waste of time? That shouldn’t matter to me, it really [...]
A long hot shower and books. Those are my weaknesses, at least the ones that come to mind at the moment. But they are in the wrong order. Books come before showers, literally usually. And it doesn’t need to be a good book. I can make due with lack lustre books with pitiful plot lines. [...]
How do I describe this one? I’ve never read anything quite like it before. The story was told by Lavinia as someone would tell a story. She kept switching from a flashback to the present and then she would skip ahead to the end. At first I found it confusing and a little disorienting, but [...]
I hadn’t read a novel by any other Bronte (besides Charlotte) so I decided to pick this one up. I was not disappointed. I loved this one. I have a huge project due at the end of the week but I still stayed up till 1:30 reading it. I get kind of obsessed when I [...]
I finished reading this one today. It was my second time through. I found it kind of difficult to get through because I already knew all the plot twists and I was impatient for them. Jane Austen was really pretty funny. Her humour is so understated that if you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss it. [...]
“Women of colour live in the dangerous intersections of gender and race” (Smith, 2005 pg.1). The mainstream anti violence movement has failed to fully understand the impact of race and how it corresponds with violence (Smith, 2005). Andrea Smith claims in her book that colonialism is both racist and sexist. She says that most of [...]
This little story is written in the point of view of a nine year old little boy. The boy is named Bruno and he has an innocent and simple way of viewing the world. The story takes place in Nazi Germany. Bruno’s father works for “the fury”. He is taken to a place in the [...]
I started reading this book about a year ago. I got past the first thirty pages and put it down. I was so angry at the main character in the novel that I just couldn’t read it. I assist adults with disabilities for work and have done so for years. As a disclaimer, this book [...]
This novel takes place during the Revolutionary War. It is a look at what took place in the homes of the citizens of America during it’s infancy. It portrays how neighbours turned against neighbours as they drew lines and forced people to decide who’s side they were on. Phoebe is a young girl in the [...]
Although I usually don’t read science fiction I am a sucker for a Stephanie Meyer novel. This one had me at hello. I found that this novel had more depth than the Twilight novels. The themes were more adult and complex. I understand that Science Fiction novels require a lot of set up but I [...]
I really enjoyed reading most of this novel. The characters were well developed, and the writing was full of wit. Fowler used a somewhat omnisceint narrator. It was mostly told through the point of view of the main character Rita, but then occasionally we would be privy to the thoughts of Rita’s god mother. Although [...]
This is the story of a woman’s life. It is beautifully written and drew me in from the start. The backdrop to the novel is a civil war in East Pakistan (now called Bangladesh). It is a story of war and sacrifice. It was a real page turner but was also graphic in it’s descriptions. [...]
This was Austen’s first work and last to be published. She sold it early on and the buyer never published it. Frustrated with the buyer Austen later bought it back from him but was unable to publish it during her lifetime. Her brother Henry Austen published it after her death. As it was her first [...]
Out of anything I have read in my recent memory, this book has affected me the most. It is the real life story of Corrie Ten Boom. She lived a life full of happiness and misery. Hers is a story of rebuilding and healing. Finding peace among chaos and sharing that with anyone who would [...]
This very well written book offers insight into the recent past of Afghanistan as well as some of it’s present state. The characters were so real and complex. I found myself able to hate and love the main character. Once I started this novel, I couldn’t put it down. Although it was written very well, [...]
This is a beautifully written story about the author’s transition from boy to man. He starts the novel at the age of eight and by the time he is eleven, he becomes the man of the family. It beautifully illustrates a wonderful relationship of a father and his oldest son. Ralph’s father knew him so [...]
I really enjoyed reading this one. This was the last book that Jane Austen wrote before she died and it was published after. I think for that reason, her character Anne is much more mature than her other leading ladies. The pattern for the book was typical Austen but it was still really enjoyable. I [...]
I watched this movie a few months ago and Suzi leant me this to read. I was pretty excited to read it because I really enjoyed the movie. The book and movie were different enough to keep me reading. The book is about a group of friends of different sizes and backgrounds with their birthdays [...]
I really should really mention that the version I read was illustrated by Barry Moser. I haven’t read a book with illustrations in a long time. The few pictures in the book were more like portraits of the characters. I thought the one of Kit made her look like she was twelve not sixteen. The [...]
This is a beautiful classic with a matte finish. I loved this novel. It did take me some time to get into it, but once I did I was a reading zombie for a few days. This little orphan girl lives with her relatives where there is a stark contrast between the way she is [...]
I loved this book. There were so many different themes in this book. To name a few, love, mother daughter relationships, motherless daughters, race, human rights, family, and of course… bees. This novel was amazing to read. I took my own truckload of emotions into this book so that probably changed the way that I [...]
I was walking through the Library and I couldn’t figure out what to read when I saw the Mary Higgins Clark section. The titles seemed catchy to I picked one that wasn’t a Christmas one and left. I thought I should at least try one of her books. That same trip to the library I [...]
I read this one probably six months ago. This novel really affected me. It was really hard to read. The language was hard to conquor and the sheer brutality of the way the slaves were treated makes this novel a hard read. It was written in the 1850s before the civil war. She wrote the [...]
I have never read a book or seen a movie quite like it. It was interesting and totally sucked me in. The narrator of the story is a sixteen year old girl who is brutally raped and murdered in the first chapter. She tells the story from heaven always in the past tense. It’s like [...]
I must be getting the hang of reading these classics because I loved this book. I think I liked it better than Pride and Prejudice. I can’t wait to see the movie. The fact that Suzi hated it is probably good news. We never seem to like the same movies. Charlotte you own Sense and [...]
This book read like an old movie. It was an interesting adventure story. The only theme that I can pick out without a lot of digging is that our society needs to slow down and not be in such a hurry. The book was written in 1933 so we need that message much more now. [...]
I read this one six months ago so it’s not really fresh. Anyway, I was just curious to know what anyone thought of the ending. I had a conversation with a friend who thought that, let me say right now, if you haven’t read the book, stop reading this post and start reading this book. [...]
This is another book that I have wanted to conquor for a long time. In the past I have had a really hard time reading the classics. I found the language too flowery and what are they really trying to say anyway. But I finished it. I liked the book but I think I like [...]
I loved this book. It has been a book I’ve wanted to read for a long time and I finally got the chance to do it. The story is told through the eyes of young girl growing up in the south during the 30s. It is written like a memoir with the narrator jumping in [...]
This book is about Japanese Americans living in California during WWII shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. It shows how they were sent to internment camps in the Utah desert. The father of the story has a nondescript job that sends him all over the world before the war. Shortly after Pearl Harbour he [...]
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.
