book review Archives

China Room, The

Love, Duty, Betrayal, and Society Author: Sunjeev Sahota It’s 1929 – Punjab, India. There is political unrest, but for Mehar, a young bride living with her husband’s family on a rural farm, all that is very far away. She is married into a family with three brothers. She lives with the other two wives, and during their hardworking days and stifling, hopeful nights, the women wonder which of the brothers is their husband, which of the men it is who occasionally comes for them in the dark. Mehar knows, though, and she has fallen in love with the man she thinks [...]

Frances Carden2023-05-27T19:41:54-07:00May 27th, 2023|Tags: book review, botm, fiction, historical fiction, read, reading|

Stolen Heir, The

The Stolen Heir Jude and Cardan still hold the throne of Elfhame. It’s been eight years since the final, bloody battle, since Jude’s sentences were dispersed, since the traitors started their punishment. Oak is now grown and rumors abound. Assassination attempts have already been launched – and failed. Will Jude and Cardan really step down? And what about this playboy prince, who’s rumored to break hearts and destroy lives? Oak is ready for his first adventure. He is joined both by a loyal adherent and a fugitive. The fugitive is a man under a curse for betraying Jude and Cardan, [...]

Frances Carden2023-05-21T15:22:37-07:00May 21st, 2023|Tags: book review, fairie, fairy, fantasy, fey, Folk of the Air, read, reading, ya|

Nightbitch

A Sickening Praise of "Artistic" Child and Animal Abuse Author: Rachel Yoder An avant-garde artist becomes a mother, then she becomes a wild dog. It’s the fault of her husband, of society, of the unfair expectations on a woman to do everything and be everything that ultimately takes “The Mother” and makes her into “Nightbitch” – something dangerous, domestic (but barely), untamed, violent, and yet still “loving” of this cub that cost her everything. I came to Nightbitch through one of my endless bookclubs. It wasn’t the selection that I voted for, but it nevertheless had promise, from it’s weird cover [...]

Frances Carden2023-05-17T16:31:03-07:00May 17th, 2023|Tags: book review, horror, read, reading|