It's Been A While

Hello friends! It's been quite a while since I was able to post here. I've been busy writing (isn't that what you want to hear from an author?!). I'm also reviewing books still, for NetGalley. Check out my cool badge:




Who doesn't want to be labeled a professional reader, amiright?!

I encourage you to view my newest blog over at WordPress, called Love Letters From Chernobyl. That's where I'm writing my poems these days, complete with artwork and/or photographs taken by yours truly. These are a series of poems, some haiku, some free form, and some with traditional rhyme and meter patterns. Together, they tell a story of a woman, from birth to death and all of her experiences in between.

Check it out and let me know what you think! In the meantime, here's what I've been reading:

Anna, by Niccolo Ammaniti
My review: Five Stars!

There is nothing I enjoy quite as much as post-apocalyptic fiction. This book is a shining star of that genre. Two children, facing the end of the world, with no adults and nothing but their wits and instincts to help them survive? Highly recommended for anyone who loves this genre!

Grief Cottage, by Gail Godwin

My review: Five Stars!

I absolutely loved this story! A young boy is sent to live with an aunt, who is all but a stranger, after the death of his parents. This could have been one of those stories where the aunt is a horrid woman who locks him in a closet and feeds him bugs BUT the aunt is very realistic. All of the characters in the story are well drawn, in fact. Marcus, the boy who lost his parents, befriends a ghost boy dwelling in a cottage near his new home. This is the most awesome kind of ghost story, one I highly recommend.

The Shadowland, by Elizabeth Kostova

My review: Three Stars

I was excited to read the next installment from the author of The Historian. This tale is about a young woman who, quite by accident, ends up with ashes that don't belong to her, a handsome cab driver, and a story of intrigue in a land she's never been to. While the story ended up being quite good, and I loved the ending, it was somewhat slow in some spots, making it difficult to get to the main crux of each chapter. Overall, I would buy this book for a friend, but caution them to keep going! The ending is worth the wait.

What's on your e-readers or To Read piles? Drop a comment or hit me up on Facebook! 

Blogging for Books: J by Howard Jacobson

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest review. Here's my review!

I always try to find something about a book that I absolutely love so I can give a review with pros and cons, but honestly, I found very little to love about this book. I really struggled to make it entirely through, but felt obligated since I did receive a free copy. I guess that was the best thing, for me, about it: the price was right.


It's a novel about a dystopian society where the letter J is taboo. That is an interesting premise, but the author gave very little character development. I felt absolutely no connection with these characters. The world they were placed in had very little color to it; I mean that in the sense that it was very poorly described. Even if the description were that it was a lifeless desert (dystopian after all), that would have been something.


The story was vague and disappointing. I'm not sure what the author was attempting to do here, but I didn't get it and perhaps that is my own failing. On the other hand, I cannot give this book more than a one out of five stars.

Love books? Love blogging? Head on over to Blogging for Books to get started!