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.
As I continue to read through my recently-released spooky books for Halloween collection, I’m treated to a wide variety of genres that incorporate elements of horror into their narratives. Today’s novel, The Orphan of Cemetery Hill by Hester Fox leans heavily into the historical fiction arena, with a healthy dose of supernatural to allow this…
I haven’t actually read a book by Chuck Palahniuk since his 2010 release Tell-All, which is also the year I met him, and helped organized his event here in Calgary. His writing memoir Consider This, Moments in my Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different features many stories of his various book tours because they…
Is my reading palette less refined for loving a bestselling book? Should I be embarrassed that I easily jump on book bandwagons with the rest of the world? Maybe some fellow book critics see it that way, but I certainly don’t. Good books sell well because they are good! I finished reading the super popular…
I don’t normally review YA books, which is why I wasn’t familiar with the author emily m. danforth. She’s the writer behind The Miseducation of Cameron Post which is apparently quite popular, so I have no doubt her name is familiar to many who read YA widely. Plain Bad Heroines is her first novel for…
In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten the question of whether or not I’ll allow my children to trick-or-treat this Halloween. I typically answer this question with a joke (one of my go-to coping mechanisms) when I ask: who gets to decide whether Halloween is cancelled, is this the municipal government’s job? Is Mayor Nenshi…
Caught up in the buzz of Fall book season again, I jumped at the chance to review Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia which seemed to be on everyone’s must read lists for 2020. My blogger bud Melanie over at GTL reviewed this book a few weeks ago with a warning that the first 150 pages…
I’m getting a head start on my Halloween reading this year, and I think I’ve begun with two of the scariest books released this Fall. The Residence was a spooky ghost story I finished last week, then I dove right into The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie. Reflecting back on this decision, I’m…
I’m no stranger to the spookiness of Andrew Pyper’s books so I knew his latest, The Residence, would be scary. It was indeed terrifying, and just looking at the cover of it reminds me of all the chilling scenes that were so vividly described it felt like I was watching it on a movie screen….
How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa most recently appeared on the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist, and we’ll find out on October 5 if it makes it to the shortlist. Interestingly, it’s a collection of short stories, written by a poet. It’s rare that a collection of short stories appears on an award list like…
I’ve spoken before about how much I enjoy reading parenting books that teach what I already know-I love being preached to, as a member of the choir! I get a smug sense of satisfaction, sort of like sitting through a class that you already know the lesson of. Regardless, I like to read these books…
It’s been years since I’ve read a book by Caroline Adderson, and I don’t remember anything about the last book itself other than the fact I loved it. Adderson is one of those writers that motivates me to pick up her work, regardless of the genre, and she’s quite multi-talented, having released a few children’s…
Every once in a while during my reading travels, I unknowingly pick up a book that speaks directly to me in that particular moment in my life. Because I read so many books, and consciously pick ones that I think I may like, this doesn’t come as a shock, but still, I sometimes feel as…
