“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison
Amazon Summary: Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike — particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens. Mariana Andros, who was once… Continue reading Thoughts on “The Maidens” by Alex Michaelides
I think it's no secret to anyone that has followed this blog for any length of time that I am not always the best at updating.....ever. While, on occasion, I'm seized by the writing bug and punch out a couple of blog posts a month, other times I do well to publish one in six… Continue reading Blog Update, Or The Author Details Her Intentions
It has been two years since I wrote about The Winds of Winter and its slow progression towards release. I heard some time ago that 2020 was a productive year for Martin, inspiring words considering how long this novel has been in the works. The last installment, A Dance with Dragons, was published in 2011… Continue reading Words are Wind: A Depressing Update for “The Winds of Winter” by George R. R. Martin
I will be completely honest. After the dumpster fire that was season 2 of You, I had not planned on engaging with anything in the You universe ever again. However, after about 3-months into a reading slump, I decided to give this series a chance in the hopes that it would be at least moderately… Continue reading Thoughts on The “You” series by Caroline Kepnes (Spoiler-Free Review)
Summary: Rachel lives in constant fear that she will burst into flames. She can feel the heat building in her gut. She keeps buckets of water under the bed. She keeps them to fend off the flames that her body may create. Autocombustophobia. That's what they say she has. No one will believe Rachel when… Continue reading Thoughts on “Combustion” by Jyvur Entropy
Amazon Summary: Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her… Continue reading Thoughts on “The Woman in Cabin 10” by Ruth Ware
I want the record to stand that I don't consider myself the moral arbiter of fiction. While I will critique until I am blue in the face, I'm not one of those people that gate-keeps topics or disallows people to use certain tropes, provided there can be an honest and intellectual conversation about them. That… Continue reading Infidelity Isn’t Sexy: A Rant About a Tired Romance Trope
For decades the easiest way to get across to the audience the protagonist was a poor-unfortunate soul was to make them an orphan; someone with no northern star to guide them through this perilous hell-scape we call existence. It was a method to make the main character sympathetic from the get-go, but it was also… Continue reading Babes in Tropeland: Not ANOTHER Alcoholic Dad, Please
SPOILERS FOR "BIRD BOX" and "MALORIE" READER DISCRETION ADVISED Amazon Summary: Twelve years after Malorie and her children rowed up the river to safety, a blindfold is still the only thing that stands between sanity and madness. One glimpse of the creatures that stalk the world will drive a person to unspeakable violence. There remains… Continue reading Thoughts on “Malorie” by Josh Malerman
Summary: A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters. Beach Read is not a book I would normally read. I typically favor thrillers, historical fictions, or some manner of creepy existential… Continue reading “Beach Read” by Emily Henry (Spoiler-Free Review)
The Crooked Pen 