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Sexual Abuse, Politics, and Justice Author: Dan Schorr Mountain Hill University has long been a bastion of education and sports, so the entire community is shocked to discover that the university’s star softball coach has been sexually abusing the girls under his care for years. Even worse – the university has known about it and been covering it up. The whistleblower – Serena Stanfield, the human resources director and only one not to know about the incidents and coverup – is now going viral for her meltdown on the pitch. Something will have to be done. Looking to save the university, [...]

Frances Carden2025-08-11T16:48:01-07:00August 11th, 2025|Tags: fiction, justice, MeToo#, read, reading|

Dead in Long Beach, California

“All humans would eventually try anything to feel more than nothing.” Author: Venita Blackburn I came to Dead in Long Beach, California accidentally, through an Audible sampling that ran automatically after my previous book finished. The sample was only a few minutes, but I was hooked by the dark lyricism and the idea. In Dead in Long Beach, California Coral arrives with groceries at her brother’s apartment to find him dead, the result of suicide. She pockets his cellphone and then, as she devolves into complicated grief, starts answering his messages as though she were him. She talks to his girlfriend. [...]

Frances Carden2025-08-11T10:14:26-07:00August 11th, 2025|Tags: book review, grief, literary fiction, read, reading|

Victorian Psycho

“I wonder if this blackness isn't in fact the real world, and the true blindfold is that other world of color we are accustomed to.” Author: Virginia Feito Winifred Notty is the new governess for Ensor House, where she will work with her charges Drusilla and Andrew. On the outside, she seems like the model governess, if a bit too young and pretty for Mrs. Pounds’ taste. On the inside, she is a sociopath with a taste for violence. Here and there, when the children are alone, she lets little clues sneak through, such as jokes about eating them. As her [...]

Frances Carden2025-08-10T16:45:51-07:00August 10th, 2025|Tags: book review, historical fiction, horror, read, reading|