By Elizabeth English (aka Elizabeth Minogue) Read: June 2010 Rating: Sigh. I have been waiting to read this book since I read The Prince (Jan ’06). I loved that so much that I immediately set my sights on the only other book under this name. Alas, The Linnet does not live up to The Prince’s [...]

I’m not a fan of Jezebel.com, though I do wind up there sometimes. Sreya sent me a very me-oriented link, however: Alanna: The First Adventure: For The Crossdressing Knight In Every Girl. Jezebel takes a look at YA lit they loved as kids, and evaluate them now. (Not a new concept, but something that does [...]

The field of comics, also sometimes known as graphic novels, is dominated by male creators and readers. However, there’s been increasing push in the last few decades by women to enter the field and make their mark. Though comics drawn by women are gaining popularity, most are classified as “indie,” distributed by small publishers that may not be able to advertise or place volumes in prominent bookstores. Naomi Nowak’s most recent graphic novel, Graylight, is designated indie, though it deserves to be appreciated by a wider audience.

Zombie apocalypse. The scenario has been reworked again and again, and has become pretty predictable. Something spreads through the population, turning almost everyone into shambling, undead creatures in search of braaaaains. A ragtag group of unlikely companions hole up together to beat back the hoard. The odds are stacked heavily against them.

Luckily, S. Dave Shabet has put a new spin on the old story. He’s got one hell of a framing device.

By Gail Carson Levine Read: Repeatedly since 1997. Most recently, April 2010 Rating: J’adore Some books are like old friends. It doesn’t matter where you left off, or how long it’s been, you fall right back into friendship as soon as you meet up. Ella Enchanted is one of my favorite books. I can still [...]

By Sharon Shinn Read: Again and again, starting in 2002, now April 2010 Rating: LOVE I love, love, love this book. It is one of the first Shinn books I ever read, and it was serendipitous the way I found it. We were on vacation in California, and the only redeeming quality of the crappy [...]

By Wendy Mass Read: April 2010 Rating: Sweet This is a really cute book, best for younger readers. Disney’s new Rapunzel movie, Tangled, is coming out in a year or so, making this a timely choice. It’s told in diary form, which allows the kids to speak like kids. Rapunzel has grown up with her [...]

By Shannon Hale Read: April 2010 Rating: Really sweet I’ve been wanting to read this for a long while, but never enough to get around to buying it. Luckily, my bestie had a copy she let me borrow. Very, very glad I got to read it at last. Miri lives with her family on top [...]

By Laurell K Hamiltom Read: April 2010 Rating: Phwoar I tried really hard not to let them all run together, but they did. Rather than try to pull the last three books apart, I’m just going to shove ‘em in one post and mention what lasting impressions I have. A Lick of Frost I was [...]

By Laurell K. Hamilton Read: March 2010 Rating: Slam First, I would have to declare that Mistral is not terribly important to this volume. Let it be known that the titles are farking arbitrary. (Just to spite me, Lick of Frost is going to be ALL ABOUT FROST, I just know it.) Anyway, Goddess and [...]

By Laurell K. Hamilton Read: March 2010 Rating: Whirlwind Time moves differently in the sithen. Merry says, “I wish we had more time!” and suddenly they do. Time is moving glacially outside the hill, giving them all they need… to catch a killer. The book begins with a press conference, sometime in the afternoon (I [...]

By Laurell K. Hamilton Read: March 2010 Rating: Engrossing First, let me just say that that cover is a total plot-tease. It shows a woman’s belly, with a nice little round to it, and her hand just so… The series is about a woman trying to get pregnant. You are plot-teasing me, you stupid cover [...]

By Laurell K. Hamilton Read: March 2010 Rating: Engrossing To be perfectly honest, I’m going to speed through this review, and #3, Seduced by Moonlight. These books slam into each other and it gets hard to pull them apart. Anyway, we now know the plot arc for the whole series. Merry’s aunt, Queen Andais, wants her [...]

By Laurell K. Hamilton Read: March 2010 Rating: Wham My mummy picked up one of the books in this series, and must have liked what she saw. She didn’t read it, she went and ordered all eight books. Mummy hates starting a series that she can’t finish, or at least be able to read a [...]

By Kristin Cashore Read: Feb/Mar 2010 Rating: Worthy Graceling was a gift, from someone who swore it was excellent. It should be, it has the endorsement of Tamora Pierce. It is a good book, with a good world, and enough momentum to keep one reading. I won’t say I adored it, but it was very [...]

By J.R. Ward Read: Feb 2010 Rating: Devoured I don’t know what it is about JR Ward, but her books are amazing. Once begun, it is impossible to stop. Everything else gets put on hold. And that took a serious chunk out of my work this week, as this beautiful, beautiful volume is over 600 [...]

By Holly Black Read: February 2010 Rating: REAL As someone who tends toward fantasy, I’ve heard over and over again that in order to make the fantastic seem believable, you have to ground it in the real. I never expected to find a book, any book, that would seem to mimic my own life so [...]

By Johanna Lindsey Read: Feb 2010 Rating: Convoluted There’s a LOT of fun to poke at this thing. Before I have fun, let me say that it wasn’t awful. It wasn’t really good, either. BOOK-IN-A-MINUTE, Git-style (Yes, that means spoiler) Roseleen: I am a history professor with a penchant for old weapons. Look at this [...]

By Kate Perry Forever Kate Perry is a pretty kickass chick. Her childhood dream was to be a ninja, and she’s now a seventh degree Kung Fu blackbelt. The serious study required in kung fu appears to have colored her novel, giving the ‘paranormal’ elements of this paranormal romance a more grounded feel than most [...]

Once upon a time, I discovered a wonderful, wonderful book. Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted is immerses you in Ella’s world, giving you a best friend as well as an adventure. Then Hollywood got their hands on it. And THEY RAPED IT. Below is an off-the-cuff rant I wrote in 2004, before the movie was [...]

By Barbara G. Walker Not Read: Feb 2010 Rating: *zones out* I’m trying to be good, really I am. But 50 pages out of 170 isn’t such a bad run… The book is awkward and boring and it reads like what it is–a work of fiction by a feminist scholar that has been described (by [...]

By Judith E French Read: February 2010 Rating: A bit muddled I bought this book because, well, it’s called The Barbarian and it has a laughably swoony cover. I mean, c’mon, what’s more classically romance novel than a dude’s face all up close and personal while he gaze intensely at you, all the while holding [...]

By Jude Deveraux Attempted to Read: January 2010 Rating: AUGH Wot the shit is this?! Today, RB stands for RIDICULOUSLY BAD. Hey Jude don’t make it bad Take a sad song and make it better Remember to let her under your skin Then you’ll begin to make it better Better, better, better, better, better, Yeah,Yeah,YeahNa [...]

By Alice Sebold Read: January 2010 Rating: Lovely The sort of book that stays with you for a long time. Susie is fourteen when she is lured off by a neighbor, raped, and murdered. She watches from her heaven as her family struggles to cope with the aftermath. Her father is obsessed with finding her [...]

By Susanna Clarke Read: December 2009 Rating: Engrossing For the record, I am including this in the 2009 50Book list, because I read the vast majority of it during December. So there. Mein gott, this has been sitting on my shelf since FOREVER. And it is one daunting brick of a book, too. Over 1000 [...]

By Joanne Harris Read: December 2009 Rating: Delicious I saw the movie ages ago, but I don’t remember it very well. A good deal of the book felt familiar, which means the movie did bear some similarity to it. Not that anyone would really care when they could gaze on a GORGEOUS Johnny Depp. The [...]

By Sarah Ellerton Read: 2009 Rating: Lovely http://requiem.seraph-inn.com/ Considering the OMGHUGE plot turn that happened this October, I figured I should get around to reviewing this. Sarah Ellerton made her name in webcomics with Inverloch. That series has ended, and now she has two projects running simultaneously, both exquisite.