Romantic Parvenu

Book Review: A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar

October 8, 2017

Thoughtful, well-planned fantasy worlds are always something I’m interested in, and A Stranger in Olondria was an excellent, mostly readable, introduction to Sofia Samatar’s imagination. I really enjoyed this.

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Book Review: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

October 3, 2017

If the opening sentence “I am a blood-soaked girl.” does not intrigue you, then little more needs to be said about this book. These are probably not the droids you’re looking for. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly is a book about a cult and a murder ...

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Book Review: Written in Red by Anne Bishop

July 31, 2017

this book was "interesting" to read but also really frustrating. The prose is so dense and overdescriptive that it was a chore to get through, and the characters were interesting enough up to a point. It's just that any closer scrutiny of the ...

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Book Review: The Ornatrix by Kate Howard

May 23, 2017

ate Howard delivers a story about beauty and obsession. To say the story is unsettling would be to understate it. Not a fun or easy book, The Ornatrix was still good(ish), in its own way.

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Book Review: Down with the Shine by Kate Karyus Quinn

May 20, 2017

Down with the Shine was a fun read from a author I know I can count on when it comes to the stranger side of fiction. I'd recommend new readers look at Quinn's other novels first, but this was far from bad itself.

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Book Review: Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

May 18, 2017

Under Rose-Tainted Skies is a sweet YA romance between a housebound girl and the new boy next door that also realistically and respectfully captures what it's like to live with mental illness (or disability).

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