reviews

I wish I may, I wish I might... Author: Heather Blake It Takes a Witch Cover It’s no secret that I want to be Samantha Stevens from Bewitched when I grow up.  I know it isn’t going to happen, both because I don’t plan on growing up and because she’s, well, fictional, so I make do with the occasional “magic-lite” book.  You know, cozy type mysteries with benign witches and general tomfoolery.  It would seem that author Heather Blake read my juvenile little mind when she started writing The Wishcraft Mystery Series.  In the first book, It Takes [...]

Sophomore Slump Author: Gillian Flynn Dark Places Cover In her first book, Sharp Objects, author Gillian Flynn brought us a deeply flawed and fragile heroine in a perilous and sadly familiar situation.  In her third, the bestselling Gone Girl, her characters were less likable but her plotting was absolutely brilliant.  Her second novel, Dark Places, proves that she is fallible.  Call it a sophomore slump, but while it’s still better than most of the crap posing as thrillers these days, this one just missed the mark. Dark Places takes us into the life of Libby Day.  It isn’t [...]

Let's Get Fabulous Author: Clinton Kelly I’ve watched more than my fair share of episodes of “What Not to Wear” over the years. Although I’ve long since memorized Clinton and Kelly’s wise wardrobe advice for my body type (tailored jackets, A-line skirts, wide-leg trousers), it’s always such a vicarious thrill to watch them descend on some poorly-dressed but deserving individual, purging their closets of tragically ill-fitting or tacky garments and replacing them with tasteful and timeless classics. Now, in his book Freakin’ Fabulous, which could also be titled Please Stop Embarrassing Yourself, Clinton Kelly promises to do the same thing [...]