Jane Litte's Blog, page 104

REVIEW: Death Can Be Habit-Forming by Sheri Cobb South

Having resigned his position at Bow Street in disgrace (at least in his own mind) and failed in his attempt to establish himself as a private agent, John Pickett toils away at a tedious job as a clerk in the City. When he is approached by a man wishing to hire him to extract a young lady being held against her will at an asylum for opium-eaters, Pickett jumps at the chance to prove himself, and has a very reluctant Julia commit him to the institution as a patient. But nothing at the Larches is...

CONVERSATION: Alaska is the New Texas

Recently a Berkley publicist sent me an email highlighting several books coming out in December 2021. I was struck by the number of books mentioned that were set in Alaska. Here are brief excerpts from their descriptions on Amazon:

Love and Let Bark by Alanna Martin (Hearts of Alaska Book 3):

When Nate Porter left Helen, Alaska, to become a firefighter with the Forest Service, he claimed it was because he craved adventure. The truth was, he couldn’t stand to hang around, pining for a girl […]

F...

REVIEW: With You Forever by Chloe Liese

Dear Chloe Liese,

A friend from Twitter recommended your books and this series in particular to me recently. When I saw it at NetGalley and noted “grumpy vs sunshine” it was a foregone conclusion. After reading With You Forever, I know I will definitely be picking up the other books in the series (I have one already) either in ebook or on audio but this book worked just fine as a stand alone. I didn’t feel lost diving into the series at book 4.

Axel Bergman is a 30-year-old neurodivergent artist ...

REVIEW: Fuzz by Mary Roach

Join “America’s funniest science writer” (Peter Carlson, Washington Post), Mary Roach, on an irresistible investigation into the unpredictable world where wildlife and humans meet.

What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jur...

Review: A Husband for Hartwell (The Lords of Bucknall #1) by J. A. Rock and Lisa Henry

He must marry, or risk his fortune.

The whole of London Society has long assumed Lord William Hartwell will marry his childhood best friend, Lady Rebecca Warrington. After two Seasons, Hartwell remains quite content with bachelorhood–his parents do not. When Hartwell learns they intend to cut his purse strings unless he makes a match this Season, he resigns himself to a marriage of convenience with Becca, and yet he can’t help but be drawn to her younger brother, Warry.

He must marry, or risk h...

REVIEW: Happy Cats by Catherine Amari and Anouk Han, illustrated by Emi Lenox

Cat lovers will purr for this paws-itively charming picture book—a celebration of felines and their many moods

Porch cat
Tree cat
Book cat
Barn cat

Sun cat
Mat cat
Wherever there is yarn cat

Emi Lenox’s charming and wonderfully expressive artwork is paired with a simple rhyming text that details all the different sorts of cats—because you can never have too many!

Review

Honestly I can’t think of a cat lover who wouldn’t like this book. The illustrations are fabulous and really do personify –...

REVIEW: Pugtato Babysits the Snouts by Zondervan, illustrations by Sophie Corrigan

Join Pugtato as he takes on the job of babysitting the Brussels Snouts, who in their playful way teach him that no matter how small you are, you can still do big, adventurous things.

Pugtato thinks babysitting will be easy … how much trouble can baby Brussels Snouts get into? But as the day unfolds, the rambunctious little Snouts decide to show Pugtato they are not little babies, and prove that size doesn’t matter when it comes to having lots of fun with your good spuddies.

Review

This is th...

REVIEW: Witch Please by Ann Aguirre

Dear Ann Aguirre,

When I saw the cover of Witch Please I had to request it – it put me in mind of “Bewitched” which I remember from my childhood when it was constantly on repeat in the evenings on TV. In some respects, there are some similarities in fact – there’s definitely an Endora character.

Danica Waterhouse is a witch living in plain sight in the fictional small midwestern town of St. Claire. She and her cousin, Clementine, (they’re as close as sisters) run “Fix-It Witches” an appliance rep...

REVIEW: Into the Forest: A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love by Rebecca Frankel

A gripping story of love, escape, and survival, from wartime Poland to a courtship in the Catskills

In the summer of 1942, the Rabinowitz family narrowly escaped the Nazi ghetto in their Polish town by fleeing to the forbidding Bialowieza Forest. They miraculously survived two years in the woods—through brutal winters, Typhus outbreaks, and merciless Nazi raids—until they were liberated by the Red Army in 1944. After the war they trekked across the Alps into Italy where they settled as refugee...

CONVERSATION: Misleading Cover Art

Janine: In our recent joint review of Helen Hoang’s The Heart Principle, Jayne and I expressed our dismay over the way the book is marketed, and over missold books more generally:

Jayne: I also feel that in my opinion, this is more a women’s fiction book albeit one with strong romantic threads. There is a lot of the book told from Quan’s POV but for me, the book still focused more on Anna.

Janine: Agreed. Anna’s personal issues were foregrounded and her relationship with Quan was, if not in the ...