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 his very phallic [...]

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 murderer. Her mother shuts [...]

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.

By Kate Forsyth
Read: ~2002, November 2009
Rating: Gripping
Hoo-! I was up MUCH later than intended last night, polishing off the last of book 6, which I read right on the heels of #5. Good reading, there. When I say gripping, I mean it. The last third especially…
The Skull of the World follows Isabeau’s ultimate quest in [...]

By Will Hartzell-Baird
Read: September 2009
Rating: Clever
Do you see that adorable little pyramid thing dusting the title on the book cover? You see that? That’s the most adorable killer robot you will ever see.  Its name is XR-36, but it secretly thinks of itself as Octavius. It can’t announce this because XR-36 is a highly desirable [...]

By Kate Forsyth
Read: Way Back When, July 2009
Rating: Bonny
Book Two in the Witches of Eileannan is a big ‘un. It covers TWO mega-battles/wars, and a giantass cast of characters. I love it.
And plenty of men in kilts. Not much fetishizing of the kilts, but plenty of kilts. And women kilting their skirts up because skirts [...]

By J.R. Ward
Read: April-May 2009
Rating: Cool
My mom got me hooked on these. She bought the whole Black Dagger Brotherhood series (1-6) and she immersed herself in them for about a week. Then she passed them on to me.
Good, solid books. Not perfect, but few things are. As a whole, the series is delicious. It’s smart, [...]

by Fred Gallagher
Read: Continuously, reread May 2009
Rating: Brills
Get sucked in: http://www.megatokyo.com/
If you’ve been reading webcomics for any period of time and haven’t come across Megatokyo you’re not surfing the right comics. Ever seen the Sad Girl In Snow trope? This is where it was born.
Megatokyo is a lot of things, on a lot [...]

By Emily Bronte
Read: March 2009
Rating: Poison
I give up. I quit. I want nothing more to do with this torturous mess. I decided it was time to try Wuthering Heights because my TiVo had picked up a documentary on the Bronte sisters, which was of course full of people who think they’re the most brilliant [...]

By Ariana Franklin
Read: Feb 2009
Rating: AWESOME.
I go down on bended knee to my friend V for recommending this. The cover and its text make this sound like a pretty dark murder mystery that happens to be set in medieval Europe. That was pretty cool, but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it so much. It’s FUNNY. [...]

By Lisa See
Read: January 2009
Rating: Lovely
Set in China during a time of transition, the novel is a story of love, and voice. Peony
Definitely an improvement over Snow Flower, in that the language doesn’t have as many weak spots, and the historical fact conveyed is much, much smoother. Oddly enough, the voice is strongest at the [...]

by Stephanie Rowe
Read: 2007/2008
Rating: Mostly fab
I didn’t realize I hadn’t blogged about any of these! They’re so much fun! I found the first one at the grocery store, and by the time I finally read it I was able to hop online and buy the next 3. Yes, they’re that good. I followed them. I [...]

These books are huge. Undeniably huge. This is my most popular post, and I am just as excited as everyone else for The Sweet Far Thing (Book #3!) to be released on December 26th. I’ve pre-ordered as an Xmas gift for my mom.
A film is also in production, and you can get [...]

By Anne Bishop
Rating: IXCALLENT.
Read: 1: High school. 2: June 2006.
I love this books. I cannot BEGIN to express how much I love these books. There’s so much to talk about… I’m going to have to try to limit myself.
I must’ve passed over Queen about a thousand times in B&N. I always went with something [...]

By Judith Tarr
Rating: Ixcelsiooor!
Read: June 2006
This one came from Strand Books, my beloved second-hand goldmine. The description was interesting, the cover art is gorgeous (her neck piece looks like mother of pearl) and the story is well-told and thoroughly unusual. Very good.

Adam Ashforth
Rating: Decent
Read: December 2005
I’m unsure how to categorize this one. It was required reading for my Apartheid & After class. The main issue? Witchcraft.