Because paradise is a library
homeless and winter is closing in. So she can’t believe her luck when a total stranger, Mr. Adams, invites her to stay. But Mr. Adams has a secret. He has chosen Rosie because she reminds him of someone very special from long ago. Maybe she can even help him recapture that distant happiness. Of course, she might need a little encouragement, but that’s fine…
The thing is, it takes a lot of talent to write a sci-fi novel with something new to say. A fresh take. A Slave’s Revenge, the fourth installment of the Hell Holes series, does have that fresh take, and it comes under the form of demonic aliens. They hail from Hell, which is a physical place, and kidnap people in order to enslave them. Our MC, Paul, gets captured when he’s a teenager, and works his way to the top, sort of, before he manages to get his revenge. Saving the world while he’s at it may or may not be a plus.
There Came a Contagion is the story of the Helgen, a family who lives in Trier, Germany, during the 16th century. The blurb mentioned rye, so I went in thinking about a rather physical ergot infestation. The contagion mentioned in the title is of a subtler kind, though. It’s an emotional one, based on fear, malice, and prejudice.
The Bookseller’s Secret is a historical novel about the life of Nancy Mitford, writer and bookshop manager back in 1942. We’re in London, the war is raging on, and Nancy seems unable to write any longer. The same thing happens eighty years later to Katie, whose connection to Nancy gets established after she agrees to an impromptu vacation.
So, this is a first for me. Or not really. Have I already read books centered on sex? You bet. Have I already read books centered on dicks? Well, nope. I wasn’t even aware there was one out until Kevin and Andrea contacted me a couple of weeks ago.
Who—or what—is a nerd? Distinguishing traits? How could you spot one in the wild? With Nerds Gone Wild, Mister Victor tries to answer all these questions.
This is how you write a good book. You take a character—Sadie, in our case—and plop her there, front and center. Backstory? Sure, when and if it becomes relevant, it can be sprinkled throughout the story. Infodump of any kind at the beginning? No. There’s the MC, there’s the (relevant again) setting, and there’s trouble brewing on the horizon. Nothing more is needed.
So, you say winter, you say garden, and your standard reaction would be meh. Winter is the season of bare trees, pines, and rotten leaves, right? Wrong. Gardens are alive in winter too, just in a different way.
Unreliable narrators can make or break a book. There’s no in-between, it’s either a huge success or a huge failure.
What a gift Let’s Get Lost has been. It sat on my Edelweiss shelf, almost unassuming, as if it didn’t want to take up too much space (humanizing books, now? Why, yes), and it caught my eye because of the promise in the title. Let’s Get Lost, it said—neither in the neighborhood nor after making a wrong turn, but truly lost.