Book Reviews
I typically post between two and three book reviews a week. Please refer to my review policy if you’d like to submit a book for consideration. I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter to get a summary of my reviews once a month.
Book Review: Lipstick Voodoo by Kristi Charish
Most books that get sent my way for review are ones I'm interested in reading right away; mystery, thriller, suspense, literary coming-of-age stories, even the occasional memoir. But every once in a while, something is sent to me that's clearly out of my reading...
Book Review: Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Rajeev Balasubramanyam
Based on the cartoon-like cover, and the back cover stating "2019's most uplifting read", one would expect Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Rajeev Balasubramanyam to be a certain type of book; one that features a helpless and bumbling protagonist that falls...
Book Review: Self Help by Al Snow
Now that I review and recommend books professionally I'm attempting to be a well-rounded reader, which in my mind means that I read a wide variety of books, even books that I suspect I'll dislike. I've fulfilled this promise to myself by picking up a memoir written by...
Book Review: The Huntress by Kate Quinn
Has anyone else noticed the spate of 'women in war' books lately? Not that I'm complaining, but when you read a few novels that are all very similar in topic, you tend to judge them a little more harshly without intending to. I wasn't 'wowed' by The Huntress by Kate...
Book Review: Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
This book won't have a lot of relevance for you unless you listen to the podcast My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. It's one of the few podcasts I listen to, and it's basically true-crime with humour mixed into it (which sounds weird, but...
Book Review: I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagan
I picked up this book in honour of Mother's Day, which happened about a month ago for us Canadians-in fact, it's Father's Day this weekend. In case that hasn't become obvious yet, I tend to post these reviews months after I've read the book and written my review! My...
Book Review: The Plotters by Un-Su Kim
I think this book may be the most 'masculine' thing I have ever read, except for maybe a GQ magazine article about belts. The Plotters by Un-Su Kim, translated into English by Sora Kim-Russell features men, lots of men, and they're either fighting, drinking, joking...
Book Review: Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
There's something about a book set in a creepy old house. I've read a few of them lately that have really stuck with me, but Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller is different in that the house itself isn't the scariest thing about the book (although it certainly adds to the...
Book Review: Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
I've been meaning to read and review Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq for awhile now... since October, to be exact. I saw Tagaq perform in Calgary as part of Wordfest, and once I listened to her read it out loud, I knew I'd enjoy reading it myself too. Her throat singing is...
Book Review: The Last by Hanna Jameson
Well I read this dystopian novel in an attempt to get my mind off politics (there was a provincial election going on earlier this year) but I quickly realized this book is mired in them; it's not so subtly hinted at that a certain American President is responsible for...
Book Review: Do This For Me by Eliza Kennedy
There’s a wealth of positive things that have come from the #metoo movement, one of them being a vast improvement in women’s contemporary fiction, aka 'chick lit'. Do This For Me by Eliza Kennedy features wealthy attractive people struggling with domestic issues, but...
Book Review: The Amateurs by Liz Harmer
The Amateurs by Liz Harmer is hard to slot into one category; it’s literary, philosophical, dystopian and science fiction, all within 300-ish pages. Even the publishers had to use other books like The Leftovers by Tom Perotta, The Year of the Flood by Margaret...