Rachel Kovaciny's Blog, page 12

"We'll Always Have Casablanca" by Noah Isenberg

I really love learning about the creative process.  Whether it is how someone writes and edits their book, how movies are made, how songs get written -- it all fascinates me.  Especially if I am familiar with the creative work in question.  So about 3/4 of this book absolutely fascinated me.  Isenberg has meticulously put together a behind-the-scenes look at how Casablanca (1942) came to be, from the writing of the stage play Everybody Comes to Rick's through the post-production editing and scor...

"Kling Klang Gloria" by Jenni Sauer

I think this may be Sauer's best book yet.  Certainly, it is her most complex book yet.  Kling Klang Gloria is a follow-up to Rook di Goo , meaning it is book two of the War on Taras series.  It reads fine as a stand-alone, but you are going to enjoy the last section more if you have already read Rook di Goo.  And, since that last section is my favorite part of the book, overall, I definitely do recommend you read the first book first.
And now you're like, um, Hamlette?  Jenni Sauer has like five ...

"A Very Bookish Romance" by Abigayle Claire, Sarah Holman, J. Grace Pennington, Kellyn Roth, and Kate Willis

I am a little sad that this is the last "A Very Bookish Holiday" title.  The series of Christian novellas has been a lot of fun, and has introduced me to some authors I might not have tried otherwise.
Like in the previous installments of this series, each novella in this collection retells a classic book, but also has the characters in the novella reading that classic and thinking about how it relates to their own situation.  Which sounds awfully meta, but I promise it works in a charming and cut...

"Shadowed Loyalty" by Roseanna M. White

I have mixed feelings about this book.  On the one hand, White can write characters that feel so realistic that I feel like I have met them in real life.  On the other hand, when she writes a character who frustrates and annoys me, that can start to get to me.  So, this book was very well-written, and very engaging, but one of the secondary characters drove me NUTS.
Sabina's father is a mafia don.  Her fiancé Lorenzo's father is one of her father's right-hand men.  Their fathers have agreed that,...

Top Ten Tuesday: Be Brief

This month's first Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl is "Top Ten Quick Reads/Novellas."  I am only counting novellas intended for teens and adults, not middle-grade or junior fiction, because otherwise the whole list would be just my favorite books from when I was a tween/teen.  That would be fun, but not where I chose to go today.
I arranged these by alphabetical order because I didn't feel like trying to figure out which ones would be my next-favorite after Falling Snow, which ...

"The Sackett Brand" by Louis L'Amour

Ladies and gentlemen, I now have a favorite Sackett, and his name is Tell.
I am probably going to have to go back and reread Sackett  and Mojave Crossing now because they also star Tell Sackett, and since I now love him, I must go back and appreciate him in those.  Though, truth be told, I will probably wait to do that until I have finished reading all the Sackett books.  Then I will go back and read all of Tell's books again.  Because I have 9 books left to read yet -- he may very well be in more...

"Up from Dust: Martha's Story" by Heather Kaufman

I know we are only a couple weeks into the year.  But I suspect this is going to be my #1 favorite new read for 2024.
I already love Kaufman's contemporary fiction,  The Story People  and Loving Isaac .  When I learned she was writing some historical fiction set in Biblical times, I got very excited because, as you know, historical fiction is one of my favorite things to read.  And, when I found out her book would be focused on Martha from the Bible, sister to Mary and Lazarus, well... I started to ...

Announcing the #CozyWinterChristianFictionChallenge + Giveaway

I am co-hosting a reading challenge for the next six weeks!  Through March 1, fellow Christian author Laurie Sibley and I are challenging readers to brighten the winter days by reading some Christian fiction.  We have announced this challenge on Instagram (my kick-off post is here), but you don't have to be on IG to participate!  Bloggers are welcome too.

Want to join?  It's easy!  Copy that bingo board for your own use.  Cross off the things you do between now and March 1.  You are welcome to co...

Do You Like Sibling Stories?

Over on my other blog, Hamlette's Soliloquy, I've just announced that I'm hosting a blog party next month.  We Love Sibling Stories Week will run February 19-23, and you are cordially invited to join the fun!  For more info, you can check out the announcement post here.

"The Legend of Bass Reeves" by Gary Paulsen

Funny thing: I thought I had read this book before.  I assigned it to one of my homeschool co-op classes to read for this month, remembering it as an exciting recounting of Bass Reeves's adventures as a U. S. Marshal in the Old West.  I started reading it this week to have it fresh in my mind for our discussion next week... and discovered I had actually only read the last 50 pages or so before.  About half of the book is actually about Bass growing up in slavery in Texas.  Then it explores why h...