This is where our reviews live. They get along in relative harmony. You can find reviews for brand-new titles, and upcoming titles. There are reviews from our to-be-read piles, the books we simply didn’t get to when they first released. We even have a Throwback Thursday page where you can find reviews of books ten years old or older. So take a look. Stay a while. Find something new to read.
OtakuChris Kluwe’s debut fiction novel, Otaku, hit bookshelves everywhere in March of 2020. Kluwe is a former NFL player, lead designer for the tabletop card game Twilight, and author of a nonfiction collection titled Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies.
Shadow Sands (Kate Marshall #2)Book two in the Kate Marshall series and I’m still in a crime thriller haze of fiction love. We’re back with Kate Marshall as she and her assistant Tristan try and figure out what is going on at the Shadow Sands reservoir and why, after the body of a skilled swimmer is found, that everyone associated with the reservoir is acting off and missing persons cases are being ignored.
Just as I said with the first novel in this series there is a lot of heavy subject matter in this book including kidnapping, abduction, rape, abuse etc. If that’s not something you care to read about turn back now.
Sum: Tales from the AfterlivesDavid Eagleman’s Sum: Tales from the Afterlives is a very short collection of stories all centering on the afterlife or what a possible afterlife may entail. This isn’t Eagleman’s only published work. He has quite a long list of nonfiction books, most of which involve Eagleman’s background as a professor of neuroscience at Standford University and CEO of a neurototech startup.
How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? Vol. 1With an anime adaptation released at nearly the same time, How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? Vol. 1 by Yabako Sandrovich and MAAM was a contemporary manga that certainly didn’t escape notice. Sakura is a teenager who loves food but doesn’t love her waistline. When she begins going to the gym, she finds student council president Akemi there as well. The duo quickly go from awkward and unsure to gym buddies under the tutelage of their trainer, Machio.
Nine ElmsSometimes book suggestions are so perfect it’s as if the website providing it to you is really inside your head. Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza was one such suggestion that, despite the heavy topics and intense scenes that were admittedly uncomfortable at times, was a perfect fit for me. If you like crime, thrillers, mysteries and tough female main characters the story of Kate Marshall may be a good fit for you as well.
The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-KissWhen I saw this book cover on NetGalley I found it cute and simple, a clean cover that drew my eye. A cute story about the chaos around teenage romance made me feel like it was a good idea to jump into a less serious story.
Caleb and Evie have been friends for years, best friends, but everyone around them feels that they have to be more than friends. Evie has never really been interested in dating, instead focusing on her love of math (I can’t relate) and her struggles with anxiety (100% can relate).
When a new guy shows up suddenly Caleb is in a panic, realizing that maybe is finally interested in dating but not dating him. The truth comes out – Caleb is in love. Here comes the love triangle.
Light BoxesShane Jones’ debut novel Light Boxes is a short, vivid thing with all the trappings of a fable. Prior works of Jones’ include poetry and short stories in publications such as New York Tyrant, Unsaid, Typo, and Pindeldyboz.
Midnight Sun (Twilight #5)Yes, I really went back to Forks.
If you’re seeing this you’re probably having simultaneous flashbacks to the Twilight craze in the circa 2008. The books, the (literally) screaming fangirls, the movies, Robert Pattinson, glittering vampires and CGI werewolves. Sound familiar?
Perhaps you’re asking why a thirty-something bookworm would go back to a series that was so entrenched in teenage angst and unrealistic expectations of relationships and life in general. It’s a fair question and I asked myself the same thing a few times before purchasing the kindle version and again a few times before I actually read the book itself.
Just like my true crime obsession and my general need to know and understanding things that maybe I should leave alone I decided to go back into the Twilight saga books, this time through Edward’s POV, to see what it was like.
See assorted titles in listHi All,
Well 2020 was a bit of a rollercoaster, wasn’t it? I know I’m not alone in thinking this but it has to be acknowledged all the same. The chaos we all went through led to a lot of ups and downs and perhaps one of the few high points for me was that I got a lot more reading done this year.
My original goal was 110 books and I managed to read 114. On January 1st, 2020 I thought my goal of 110 books was a huge stretch, little did I know a global pandemic would cut out the few social things I used to do that prevented me from reading. The pandemic also provided nightmare fuel for me which mean insomnia was the worst it has ever been which inevitably led to the thought of, “Well if I can’t sleep I might as well read that book I started earlier.” Most nights I was up until around 4 AM reading which, while not the healthiest coping mechanism and definitely horrible for my health in other ways it did allow me to reach one goal in 2020.
So, out of 114 books below are my top 10.
The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror FictionEditor Ellen Datlow has curated collections of horror fiction for more than a decade. The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror Fiction edited by multiple Hugo Award winning Ellen Datlow is a collection of some of the best short horror found in the Best Horror of the Year collection over the past ten years.
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