All posts tagged: Review

Review: Red Clocks

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The Stats Title: Red Clocks Author: Leni Zumas Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (January 16, 2018) Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Feminist Literature, Dystopian, Women’s Fiction Trigger Warnings: Abortion, Domestic Violence, Coarse Language I bought Red Clocks as a part of my January Book of the Month club box. Thank you to Book of the Month for providing us the option to purchase an early release copy of Red Clocks. All opinions are my own. The Review Red Clocks occurs in an America where “the Personhood Amendment” has granted every embryo the right to consent. Thus, Roe vs. Wade is overturned (as the embryo cannot consent to its termination) and in vitro fertilization is banned (as the embryo cannot consent to its fertilization). To further the Personhood Amendment agenda, the Every Child Needs Two initiative will take effect making it impossible for single parents to adopt. In a small town outside of Salem, Oregon, four women attempt to navigate the world they were dragged into. The biographer, an avid feminist, never wanted to settle down but is desperately …

Review: The Golden Hairpin

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The Stats Title: The Golden Hairpin Author: Qinghan Cee Translator: Alex Wooding Publisher: Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House (2015), AmazonCrossing (20 February 2018) Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Mystery/Thriller, Crime, Translated Fiction Trigger Warnings: Murder Thank you to both AmazonCrossing and NetGalley for providing me with an electrical Review Copy of The Golden Hairpin by Qinghan Cee; translated by Alex Wooding, set to publish February 20, 2018, in America. All opinions mentioned in this review are my own. The Review Huang Zixia was a seventeen-year-old super-sleuth. Since the age of thirteen, she has been assisting her father with investigations, using her extreme sense of observation to solve crimes. Now, she is the lamb having been accused of poisoning her entire family to avoid an arranged marriage. Thankfully, Huang Zixia befriends the grumpy and distant Li Shubai, the Prince of Kui. He offers to assist her in solving her own case if she can solve the Four Directions Case in ten days. Huang Zixia goes under-cover as a Li Shubai’s loyal eunuch and together they solve the Four Directions Case. However, before Huang Zixia …

Review: As Bright as Heaven

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The Stats Title: As Bright As Heaven Author: Susan Meissner Publisher: Berkley (February 6, 2018) Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction Trigger Warnings: Discussion of Death I bought As Bright as Heaven as a part of my January Book of the Month club box. Thank you to Book of the Month for providing us the option to purchase an early release copy of As Bright As Heaven. All opinions are my own. The Review A historical fiction novel surrounding the Great War and the Spanish Flu, As Bright as Heaven, is told in the perspective of a mother and her three daughters –  Paulina, Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa Bright. Thomas Bright, the patriarch of the Bright Family, has recently been offered a position at his uncle’s funeral home. Haunted by the loss of their baby boy, Henry, Paulina views living in the funeral home as a means to gain closure. The family packs up their bags to head to the big city of Philadelphia for a better life. The girls all have various opinions regarding the move; but, in a little …

Review: The Heart’s Invisible Furies

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The Stats Book: The Heart’s Invisible Furies Author: John Boyne Publisher: Hogarth (August 22, 2017) Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Literary Fiction, LGBTQA+, Fictional Memoir Awards: Book Of The Month Book of the Year (2017), Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction Nominee (2018), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction (2017) Trigger Warnings: Hate Crimes The Review If you have not heard of this book yet; then listen up. I quite possibly have found my favorite book of 2018. Yes… this novel was published in August 2017; but, for whatever reason (my wallet), it took me longer than it should have to finally read The Heart’s Invisible Furies. I am beyond thankful that I did. The Heart’s Invisible Furies is a fictional memoir about Cyril Avery’s life. Told in the perspective of Cyril, the story begins in 1940s post-war Ireland. Cyril’s mother, young and pregnant with an illegitimate child,  is banished from her home parish of Goleen. With nowhere to go, she heads to Dublin to fix her situation with an ingenious plan – to give Cyril, upon birth, to a hunchback Redemptorist nun. This …

Audible Review: We are Legion (We are Bob)

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Title: We are Legion (We are Bob) (Bobiverse Book 1) Author: Dennis E. Taylor Narrated by: Ray Porter Time: 9 hrs 30 mins Release Date: Sep 20, 2016 For those of you that don’t know, my daily commute to work is anywhere from 50 minutes to an hour and a half one way. That means I spend more than ten hours a week in my Chevy Sonic. Since I can only listen to the same Billboard Top 10 songs to an extent, I have taken accustomed to listening to Audible books. For those that do not know Audible, it is a subscription “book on tape” service run by Amazon. Each month you pay a set fee to receive one credit. These credits allow you to select any Audible book to add to your bookshelf to listen to on your phone, tablet, or laptop. The best part about it is, when you sign up for the free trial, Amazon gives you two free Audible credits. We are Legion (We are Bob) was a suggestion from my brother. Growing …

Review: A Girl Named Zippy

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A memoir about growing up in small-town Indiana, Haven Kimmel explores the stories and people that shaped her life. Moorehead, Indiana, in the 70s, was like any rural Indiana town; where faith, family, and basketball reigned supreme. The stories range from gentler topics; such as avoiding the elderly, evil neighbor Edyth and trading hippies a haircut for their dog, to topics that are harder for a child to understand. Kimmel does a phenomenal job voicing her thoughts in a childish prose – almost as if we are hearing the words straight from 7-year-old Zippy’s mouth. Normally, I am not one for memoirs. I often find them choppy and difficult to read, especially if the timeline jumps around. However, I received this book as a “regift” from my mother (as she already read it) and, as I had not started another book yet, decided to give it a try. A little background on how my mother acquired A Girl Named Zippy: Mooreland, Indiana is located in Henry, County – the county my parents grew up in, met each …