Jane Litte's Blog, page 142

REVIEW: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Trigger warning:

Spoiler: Show

Sexual assault

Dear Silvia Moreno-Garcia,

Gods of Jade and Shadow, your 2019 fantasy novel, was terrific, and Untamed Shore, your noir thriller from earlier this year was also good. I don’t usually care for horror novels but I have enjoyed gothics, so when I learned about Mexican Gothic, your new gothic horror novel, I requested it.

Mexican Gothic introduces us to Noemi Taboada. Living in Mexico City in the 1950s, Noemi is a young socialite who likes to flirt w...

REVIEW: Waking Up On the Appalachian Trail: A Story of War, Brotherhood, and the Pursuit of Truth by N. B. Hankes

Nate Hankes returned home from his tour in Iraq unable to answer one simple question: Had his mission overseas been honorable? Determined to find clarity and forge a new identity outside of the U.S. Army, Nate, alongside his brother Ben, a recent college grad delaying his entry into the Great Recession job market, set out to hike the entire length of the 2,180 mile Appalachian Trail.

Unpredictable weather, brutal terrain, straining health, and a fractured mind stretched beyond comfort by a wi...

REVIEW: Ingredients: The Strange Chemistry of Plants, Poisons and Processed Foods by George Zaidan

Cheese puffs. Coffee. Sunscreen. Vapes. George Zaidan reveals what will kill you, what won’t, and why—explained with high-octane hilarity, hysterical hijinks, and other things that don’t begin with the letter H.

Ingredients offers the perspective of a chemist on the stuff we eat, drink, inhale, and smear on ourselves. Apart from the burning question of whether you should eat that Cheeto, Zaidan explores a range of topics. Here’s a helpful guide:

Stuff in this book:

– How bad is processed food?...

NEW RELEASES: Week of July 8, 2020

Contemporary


Under the Boardwalk by Carly Phillips: $ 4.99

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Contemporary



Issued to the Bride One Sergeant for Christmas by Cora Seton: $ 4.99

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The Best Man Plan by Jaci Burton: $ 7.99

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Rough Creek by Kaki Warner: $ 7.99

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Not Like the Movies by Kerry Winfrey: $ 11.99

AMZN | iBooks | BN | Kob...

REVIEW: The Chase by Elle Kennedy

Dear Elle Kennedy:

I read the original Off-Campus quartet back in 2015 and 2016; I gave the first book a B and the last three each got a B+. So when Janine told me there was a new series set at the same fictional university, Briar, featuring the school’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of hot hockey players, I was definitely interested. Even more so when I found out that this, the first book, is available on Amazon for free.

Summer Heyward-Di Laurentis is sort of Elle Woods come to life, if Elle...

REVIEW: Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian

Dear Cat Sebastian,

I enjoyed A Gentleman Never Keeps Score when it came out – although the first book in your Seducing the Sedgwicks series, It Takes Two to Tumble, languishes on the TBR of Doom (I really must get to it) – so I was keen to read Two Rogues Make a Right.

In A Gentleman Never Keeps Score, Will Sedgwick was a secondary character, who was desperately looking for his friend Sir Martin Easterbrook. By the end of the book (spoiler alert) Martin had been found but was very ill.

This book...

REVIEW: The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

Dear Katherine Addison,

Your steampunk fantasy novel, The Goblin Emperor, was my second favorite book of 2014 (my favorite being Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel). The Goblin Emperor held a tinge of melancholy, but also of hopefulness, and the balance of the two made the reading experience an act of self-care. I have now read it four times, and although it has its imperfections, I’m still very fond of it. I have a friend who has read it well over ten times, and comes back to it whenever s...

REVIEW: Rebels at Heart by Kate McMurray

New York City, 1776

Charles Foxworth is among New York City’s most fashionable men, though he is only pretending to be a dashing British aristocrat. Still, he is content with his role and has little interest in the war. His companion, Isaac Ward, has more invested in the coming conflict; Isaac was born a slave, and though he is now free, that freedom could be guaranteed if he chose to pick up arms. Then war arrives on the shores of the city and Charles’s idyll is over. He quickly realizes that...

REVIEW: The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair

Dear Allison Montclair,

I heard good things about you debut historical mystery, The Right Sort of Man, from Barb in Maryland and Liz McCausland. The book concerns two women, Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn Bainbridge, who open a marriage bureau (matchmaking agency) together in 1946 England. Even though I don’t usually read mysteries, this one sounded like fun, so I checked it out of the library.

I was able to get both and ebook and the audiobook from the library and I read in the evening and listened...

NEW RELEASES: Week June 30, 2020

Contemporary


Hate Crush by Angelina M. Lopez: $ 3.99

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Contemporary



Just a Heartbeat Away by Cara Bastone: $ 5.99

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Cowboy Strong by Carolyn Brown: $ 6.99

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Nico by Dale Mayer: $ 4.99

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Making Whoopie by Erin Nicholas: $ 4.99

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Lega...