“Everyone’s always going through something, aren’t they? That’s life, basically. It’s just more and more things to go through,” (Rooney 245).
Frances and her best friend Bobbi study together in Dublin while also performing spoken word poetry around the city. One night they meet Melissa, a well-known photographer, and her husband Nick, an actor. While Bobbi is fascinated by Melissa, Frances and Nick have a surprising connection that leads to a vulnerable intimacy neither of them could predict. Continue reading
I received this book from River Street Writing in exchange for an honest review.
“What could he do if he let himself get lost in an image?” (Hartwell 75).
Teenager Dieter lives with his grandfather in a small town in southern Quebec with only his best friend K to give him company. But when K abandons him for a wealthier group of friends, Dieter finds himself in the company of Hazel, an eccentric and reclusive artist who lives in the woods who agrees to help Dieter with his photography. When Dieter learns that K is institutionalized and her emotional state worsens, Dieter confides in Hazel who comes up with a plan to help her. Continue reading
“Love was love – in whatever shape it took,” (Läckberg 408).
The town of Fjällbacka is shaken after a famous photographer is found murdered before an exhibition opening. His friend, the famous author Henning Bauer and his family, are shocked by the death of their friend, even more so when the violence follows them to their small island home. Detective Patrik Hedström and his colleagues struggle to find a connection between the cases while his wife Erica Falck heads to Stockholm to find information on the murder of a trans woman in the 1980s, discovering that these three cases may be more closely linked than originally thought. Continue reading
Shane Hollander’s whole life is hockey. He is famous for his skill, dedicated to the sport, and now that he’s the captain of the Montreal Voyageurs he’ll make sure not to jeopardize that, especially not by the captain of the Boston Bears, Ilya Rosanov. Ilya is just as talented and can’t be beat, except by Shane. The two have made a career out of their rivalry for each other, but once the last goal has been scored and the skates are off the two find themselves secretly hooking up. But they can’t let anyone know, coming out would ruin both of their careers, and none of what they’re doing is serious anyways. Until they start to develop feelings for each other which only makes things more complicated. Continue reading
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
“A family is made of people who love each other. So it is said. But far more families are made of people who are alone with each other,” (Doyle).
Cora Reims was a teenager when she was visited by an angel of the Lord who left her with her son, Jordy. Despite his angelic appearance and birthright, Jordy brings nothing but evil wherever he goes. After tormenting his mother and the town of Enoch for seventeen years, on the eve of his birthday Cora is visited by a different angel who demands that she kill Jordy. But will Cora actually be able to kill her son?
“Phiona is lucky to be here. the Ugandan women’s team has never participated in a Chess Olympiad before because Uganda could never afford it. But this year the president of FIDE, the world’s governing body of chess, has arranged funding for the entire Ugandan team to travel to the Olympiad in the hope of garnering the country’s vote in his reelection campaign. Phiona needs breaks like that,” (Crothers 4).
Phiona Mutesi’s life changes one day when she follows her older brother looking for food but finds a group of children her age playing chess. Seeing promise in her, Robert Katende helps teach Phiona the game where she shows great promise for the game that changes her life forever.
“Which one of us will outlive the others, who will become the face of this tragedy? It was always the youngest, the pretties, the whitest. There was no tragedy in being plain, no attention spared to girls who had it coming,” (Nolan).
Delores “Lawrence” Franklin and her best friend Anastasia “Stasia” Lanes runaway to Mistaken Point to start fresh in a smalltown known for two things: it’s university which Stasia and Lawrence are now enrolled in, and a series of gruesome murders that targeted young women. But the killer was caught and the town is returning to normal, even though some older men mumble inappropriate things to Stasia and Lawrence when they walk around town together, or graze them when they walk too close. Lawrence gets a job at a local arcade and meets her boss Franky Delores who believes that a monster was responsible for the murders and is determined to catch it. Despite the warnings of her friend Pippa, Lawrence and Stasia join Franky in a monster hunt, not fully believing Franky’s claims until everything they thought they knew changes.
“Maybe wanting things is what makes me a lot. If I could just want less, I’d be the right amount of person. The amount I’m supposed to be. The not-a-lot amount. The easy-to-love amount,” (McCurdy 6).
Seventeen-year-old Waldo is in love with her middle-aged Creative Writing teacher Mr. Korgy and she doesn’t know why. Is it his passion for writing? His honesty about where life has taken him? Or does he just see Waldo when no one else does? Not her mother, not her best friend Frannie, not any of the boys her age that she sleeps with, but him. And Waldo will do anything to get his attention. Continue reading
“We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long,” (King 422).
Former Prison Guard Paul Edgecomb recalls his time working on the Green Mile, a block in Cold Mountain Penitentiary for inmates on death row. Paul has met a lot of people during his time working at Cold Mountain, but none so memorable as John Coffey, a man accused of committing a disturbing and brutal crime but who is much more than he seems. Continue reading
“Some calculations are simple. Sons trump daughters. Three children trump one. Deep in my heart, I had already decided that nothing could be worse than the life I had,” (Stachniak 10).
During King Louis XV reign, scouted teenager girls were sent to live in a nondescript villa in Versailles before being sent to the plaza to please him. Young Veronique is one of these girls and quickly becomes a favourite of the King before becoming pregnant and being sent away to give birth to her daughter in secret. Many years later Marie-Louise wonders about who her parents were but finds a passion for science, becoming a midwife during King Louis XVI reign as the revolution is underway and life as she knows it will dramatically change. Continue reading
Sarah O'Connor 