Jane Litte's Blog, page 80

REVIEW: Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

From Jason Rekulak, Edgar-nominated author of The Impossible Fortress, comes a wildly inventive spin on the classic horror story in Hidden Pictures, a creepy and warm-hearted mystery about a woman working as a nanny for a young boy with strange and disturbing secrets.

Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job in the affluent suburb of Spring Brook, New Jersey as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy.

Mallory immediately loves this ne...

REVIEW: Someone in Time edited by Jonathan Strahan

Even time travel can’t unravel love

Anthology of inclusive tales of people through time looking for one another and for ways for the world to be better.

Time-travel is a way for writers to play with history and imagine different futures – for better, or worse.

When romance is thrown into the mix, time-travel becomes a passionate tool, or heart-breaking weapon. A time agent in the 22nd century puts their whole mission at risk when they fall in love with the wrong person. No matter which part of...

REVIEW: Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

From award-winning author Nghi Vo comes a dazzling new novel where immortality is just a casting call away

It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic.

“No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.” Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn’t care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid.

B...

CONVERSATION: Exposition

Janine: Every book requires exposition (the conveying of background information) but sometimes it’s handled well and other times clumsily. Multiple techniques can be used and authors often employ more than one in the same book. I thought it might be fun to share our thoughts about them.

For the sake of clarity I’m going to start by defining them so bear with me if you already know what these terms mean.

Prologues — a scene (or more rarely a set of scenes) that takes place at only one place and t...

REVIEW: A Lady’s Finder by Edie Cay

Lady Agnes is a scandal, thanks to her sister’s marriage to a prizefighter.

Or rather, she should be, but as a charitable spinster-to-be, she remains firmly invisible, even to those she loves. Always dutiful, Lady Agnes should be the toast of her family, but only if she marries well. Finding the prospect of wedding a man unpalatable, Lady Agnes cannot be the social savior of her sister.

Suddenly, receiving attentions from the unpredictable and surprisingly resourceful Mr. Jack Townsend, Lady Ag...

REVIEW: The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson

Bestselling historical fiction author Kim Michele Richardson is back with the perfect book club read following Honey Lovett, the daughter of the beloved Troublesome book woman, who must fight for her own independence with the help of the women who guide her and the books that set her free.

In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse libr...

REVIEW: Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore

Dear Kristin Cashore,

I consider myself a fan of your YA fantasy even though not all of your books have worked for me. I really liked Graceling, the first book in the Graceling Realm series, did not much care for Fire but loved Bitterblue, and Jane Unlimited, a book separate from this series and a kind of “choose your own adventure” story, was a dissatisfying mindfuck as far as I’m concerned. At their best, your books are stellar and you are such an insightful author. And all these books, even t...

REVIEW: Kiss Hard by Nalini Singh

Dear Nalini Singh,

It’s been a while since the last Hard Play release (Love Hard – I did in fact love it hard) and there have been a lot of books in between, so I’d kind of forgotten who Catie and Danny were and the various relationships in the Bishop-Esera clan.  But it all came back to me pretty quickly once I started reading.

Catie River is Isa Rain’s younger sister.  Isa, for those who may not remember, is married to Sailor Bishop, one of Danny Esera’s brothers. (Isa and Sailor’s book is Cher...

REVIEW: Written on the Wind by Elizabeth Camden

He carries a dangerous secret, but can he survive long enough to expose it?

Count Dimitri Sokolov has been charged with overseeing construction of the legendary Trans-Siberian Railway, but during this work, he witnesses an appalling crime, the truth of which threatens the Russian monarchy. In an effort to silence him, the czar has stripped Dimitri of his title, his lands, and his freedom . . . but Dimitri has one asset the czar knows nothing about: his deep and abiding friendship with Natalia ...

SPOILERIFIC THREAD: The Long Game and Rachel Reid’s Game Changers Series

A thread for discussing Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, including the recently released The Long Game, book six, *WITH SPOILERS* for all the books included. ALL your thoughts are welcome.
 
For those readers who prefer spoiler-free reviews and discussions, reviews of the earlier books can be found below:

Heated Rivalry (Game Changers #2), reviewed by Sirius
Tough Guy (Game Changers #3), reviewed by Sirius
Common Goal (Game Changers #4), reviewed by Kaetrin
Role Model (Game Changers #5), revi...