I love quality children’s literature. Books for children, in my opinion, require all of the elements necessary in producing a good book for any other age group (a plotline! characters!), but also: whimsical rhymes, eye-catching illustrations, and maybe maybe maybe a gentle nudge in some moral direction. Steff F. Kneff’s Emlyn and the Gremlin hasRead More
Hannah reviews Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
I’m ashamed to say that Tipping the Velvet is my first Sarah Waters read, but pleased to report that it didn’t disappoint. Taking place in Victorian England, Tipping the Velvet is a mix of the coming-of-age and coming-out genres; its themes (if I am to reduce a twist-filled tale to such banalities) include leaving home,Read More
Hannah reviews Mermaid In Chelsea Creek by Michelle Tea
This book is a gift to the world. As I read it I imagined wrapping it up in pretty colored paper and giving it to someone I love, to imagine them discovering it for the first time. Mermaid in Chelsea Creek is everything I’ve ever wanted from a Young Adult, “Chosen One” fantasy novel. I began thisRead More
Hannah reviews I Can’t Think Straight by Shamim Sarif
First, let us acknowledge Shamim Sharif not only for her book, but for her book’s title. Perhaps it’s just me, but I’m still amused by I Can’t Think Straight. I Can’t Think Straight is written through the alternating viewpoints of British-Indian Leyla, an aspiring writer, and Palestinian Tala, four-times-engaged and quickly becoming a headache for her traditionalRead More
Hannah reviews The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer
The Dark Wife is a retelling of the ancient Greek myth involving Persephone and Hades. This myth is one of my favorites, so I picked up its reinterpretation eagerly. Diemer’s tale didn’t disappoint.This book simply holds a solid, good story. The prose is immediately engrossing and full of similes which paint the ancient world DiemerRead More
Hannah reviews Waiting for the Violins by Justine Saracen
I read Justine Saracen’s Waiting for the Violins because it’s chockfull of hearty elements that a make up a good tale: espionage, clever women, French poetry, and romance. Set during WW2, an English nurse, Antonia Forrester, is injured at Dunkirk. During her recovery, her past experience and French skills catch the attention of the BritishRead More
Hannah interviews Ke Payne
British author Ke Payne has kindly agreed to answer some questions for this blog. Ke Payne, can you introduce yourself in a few words/lines? I’m a British YA lesbian author with Bold Strokes Books. I was born and grew up in Bath, in South West England, but now I live in chaotic bliss in theRead More
Hannah reviews Snowbound by Cari Hunter
Whether it is the author’s exceptional writing talent, the fact that we have had an uncommonly snowy winter, or a combination of both, but when I started reading Snowbound by Cari Hunter I was immediately drawn into the atmosphere and the plot. Snowbound is set in the fictional English village of Birchenlow, in the PeakRead More
Hannah intereviews Cari Hunter
Cari Hunter, author of Snowbound, has kindly agreed to answer some questions for this blog. Cari Hunter, can you introduce yourself in a few words/lines? I live near Manchester in north-west England with my partner and two cats. I’ve been a paramedic for eleven years and, more recently, an author with Bold Strokes Books. IRead More
Hannah reviews Aftermath and Jericho by Ann Mcman
If you’ve enjoyed Dust, Sidecar and most of all Jericho, you will be pleased to know that Ann McMan has done it again by publishing Aftermath in November of last year. Even though the introduction asserts that it not a sequel to Jericho, I’d still recommend reading it first. Aftermath picks up eighteen months after Jericho ended, just as a tornado is about to hit the littleRead More