Intro
Hello beauties!
Welcome again to my own brand of mini reviews! I never thought I'd do minis, until I recapped a few of my long reviews in some digest post in 2014, and then guest-posted some shorties for a blogging event in 2015. And Karen from For What It's Worth started praising my short recs/recaps 😊. Just to be clear, I'm NOT taking a break from writing long reviews - no such luck LOL. But while I'm making up my mind about a new book I've read, I might as well give you the short version 😉. Just be warned - this feature will be VERY random! So, here goes...
Nine Candles of Deepest Black by Matthew S. Cox
★★★Rated 3.5 really
Part classic magic-gone-wrong story, part grieving-family tale, with complex dynamics, tridimensional sibling relationships, and a main lead who finds her strength when it's most needed. Yes, there are parents. No, there aren't love triangles, nor budding romances with infuriatingly attractive classmates. Yes, there are spiders. And ghosts. And demons. Are you in? :)
Full review to come closer to publication date. (Goodreads pre-review)
Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman
★★★★Rated 4.5 really
This small lovely book should have gotten WAY more attention. It's classic sci-fi/time travel (of the grandfather-paradox kind, only reversed) with a lot of humour, a couple of twists (one of them really funny), a resourceful protagonist and an unconventional friendship.
Full review to come. (Goodreads pre-review)
This Side of Salvation by Jeri Smith-Ready
Rated 4.5 really.
You don't need to be a believer to enjoy this story. You don't need to be a non-believer either. While faith is a main theme, and there are multiple Bible references, at its core this is a story about love and loss and the attempt of finding the meaning of life. Or one of its possible meanings. As usual, the author manages to go deep without embracing faith or agnosticism and make a flag out of one of them - but she also manages not to sound like an anythingarian. Kudos for creating a flawed, realistic male character who's also a virgin, and a girlfriend who isn't but isn't slut-shamed for that either.
Full review to come. (Goodreads pre-review)
Note: Nine Candles is coming out on Sep 15th, and I requested a review copy from the folks at Curiosity Quills Press, who graciously agreed to send me a PDF. Thank you!
So, have you read/are you planning to read any of the above? And if you have, what do you think of them? Do you post mini reviews? Do you like to read them?
I'm most intrigued by the first one- it sounds really great (spiders, though, now that gives me the shudders).. Can't wait to read your longer review!!
ReplyDeleteThe book will be out on Sep. 15th, so I won't review it until a week before. As for spiders, there are a lot of them. But the story makes amends for it ;).
Delete*clappy hands* I LOVE your mini's lol
ReplyDeleteI really liked TSoS. I think she managed to write about religion in a way that wasn't actually religious or preachy.
Dogstar sounds interesting.
Karen @For What It's Worth
Yes, Jeri does have a flair for that - she did the same when dealing with very different material, such as Requiem for the Devil and the WVMP Radio series. And it's not easy...
DeleteOh, and I'm blushing now LOL. Maybe I wouldn't have realised I was able to write minis without your input!