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The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings
“This is the story of the witch who refused to burn. Some people said that there was power in her blood, a gift from her ancestors that she could endure.” Megan Giddings’s sophomore novel is highly evocative of those The Handmaid’s Tale inspired dystopias where readers are presented with a near-future where women—sometimes men—live in…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ART/CREATIVITY, atmospheric, beautiful prose, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, dystopia, FANTASY, female authors, female friendships, feminism, forgiveness, GRIEF, HORROR, identity, ISLAND, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, MAGIC, Megan Giddings, Michigan, missing moms, missing persons, missing women, mothers & daughters, My reviews, MYSTERY, near future/alternate reality, PARANORMAL, published in 2022, queer, read in 2022, reading, social issues, SPECULATIVE FICTION, SUPERNATURAL, the female malaise, The Women Could Fly, trauma, witchcraft, WITCHES -
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
Despite the many moments of poignancy that appear throughout the course of Searching for Sylvie Lee, the novel is ultimately diminished by unnecessary melodrama and convoluted (yet predictable) soap-opera-ish twists. At its heart Searching for Sylvie Lee is a family drama about long-held family secrets. The narrative switches between three points of view: a mother and her two…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, America, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, chinese american author, Contemporary, DEATH, drama, family, female authors, gay side characters, grandmothers, incest, Italy, Jean Kwok, lgbtq+ side, MELODRAMA, migration/immigration, missing persons, missing women, musicians, My reviews, MYSTERY, Netherlands, NEW YORK, published in 2019, read in 2022, reading, Searching for Sylvie Lee, secretiveness, SISTERS, suicide -
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
It would be safe to say that I do have a bit of an uneasy relationship with Murakami’s work. I read and was not blown away by it. Over the last couple of months, I have picked up several of his short story collections but never felt compelled to finish them. The main reason why…
1990s, 1st pov, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Dreams, existentialism, f/f, feverish, first love, Greece, hallucinations, Haruki Murakami, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, male authors, men who do not seem to know how to write women, missing persons, missing women, My reviews, obsession, philosophical, published in 1999, read in 2022, reading, ROMANCE, sapphic, sex, SEXUALITY, Sputnik Sweetheart, story within a story, surreal, teachers, TRANSLATED FICTION, travel, unrequited love -
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
that sex scene was 💀 Having enjoyed two of Mosley’s latest novels (Trouble Is What I Do and Blood Grove) I was looking forward to delving into his earlier work. Devil in a Blue Dress is the first book in his Easy Rawlins series and, while it has many of Mosley’s best traits, overall it…
1940s, 1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, California, CRIME, DETECTIVE, Devil in a Blue Dress, Easy Rawlins, HISTORICAL FICTION, los angeles, male authors, missing persons, missing women, My reviews, MYSTERY, Noir, private investigator, published in 1990, RACE, read in 2021, reading, THRILLER, Walter Mosley -
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
As per usual I was swayed by a pretty cover. I mean, just look at it! Anyway, as much as I wanted to like Build Your House Around My Body, it left me feeling rather underwhelmed. The narrative seems very much intent—hellbent even—on nauseating its readers, at times adopting a playful tone to do so.…
1940s, 1980s, 2.5 STARS, 2000s, 2010s, 3rd pov, arc, Build Your House Around My Body, confusing for the sake of being confusing, creepy setting, curses, dark humor, DEATH, f/f side, female authors, FOLKLORE, ghosts/spirits, grotesque, HISTORICAL FICTION, HORROR, interconnected stories, lgbtq+ side, loneliness, love triangle, missing persons, missing women, MYSTERY, netgalley, playful style, published in 2021, queer side characters, read in 2021, revenge, sexual assault/abuse/rape, Vietnam, vietnam war, Vietnamese American Author, Violet Kupersmith -
The Herd by Andrea Bartz
Having really enjoyed Andrea Bartz’s debut novel, The Lost Night, I had rather high hopes for The Herd. Sadly, not only is The Herd populated by simultaneously unrealistic and detestable characters but it also tells a rather derivative story. The summary seemed to promise a tantalising story, one that would depict the complicated and shifting…
1st pov, 2 STARS, ADOPTION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Andrea Bartz, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, books i hate, drama, female authors, jealousy, lgbtq+, MELODRAMA, missing persons, missing women, MYSTERY, NEW YORK, published in 2020, purply prose, read in 2020, SISTERS, summer reads, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, trying and failing @ feminism, weak prose, work culture -
And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall — book review
“Boyfriends and husbands, baby daddies and one-night stands were always madly, deeply, truly in love. Bloody love. Crazy love. Love-you-to-death kind of love.” Last year I read the first book in Rachel Howzell Hall’s ‘Detective Elouise Norton’ series. It had a great sense of place and a brilliant main character. And Now She’s Gone shares…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, And Now She’s Gone, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEWS, California, Contemporary, CRIME, domestic thriller, female authors, los angeles, missing persons, missing women, MYSTERY, private investigator, psychopaths, Rachel Howzell Hall, read in 2020, stalking, SUSPENSE, trauma -
Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey — book review
Ways to Disappear tries hard to evoke the absurd and surreal atmosphere that is often associated with Latin American magical realism, the end result makes for a rather dismal homage. The lack of quotations marks and the inclusion of word definitions hardly make Ways to Disappear innovative. A nondescript American translator flies to Brazil after…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, affairs, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BOOK REVIEWS, books about books, books about writers, brazil, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, female authors, Idra Novey, language, MAGICAL REALISM, missing persons, missing women, MYSTERY, no quotations marks, Pennsylvania, purply prose, read in 2020, surreal, Ways to Disappear -
Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen — book review
“There is something bad in the air and in the water now, something rotten and wrong. A moral disease.” While Please See Us gives its readers a slightly more innovative “missing women” type-of-story. Providing us with a panoramic of Atlantic City Caitlin Mullen’s novel follows Clara, a young psychic, and Lily who has only recently…
3 STARS, addiction, Adult, America, American, Atlantic City, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Caitlin Mullen, Contemporary, CRIME, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, friendships, ghosts/spirits, MAGICAL REALISM, missing girls, missing women, MURDER, new jersey, obsession, Please See Us, published in 2020, read in 2020, serial killers, spiritualism, stalking, Summer, summer reads, SUPERNATURAL, SUSPENSE, tarots, THRILLER, violence, violence against women -
Lock Every Door : Book Review
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager ★★★✰✰ 3 stars This is the book equivalent of popcorn. If you are looking for a gripping plot-driven story, look no further. I think that the best thing about Lock Every Door is that it is an entertaining read. The action takes place over the course of a few days which…
luce [is reading] 