"You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book." Dr. Seuss
Do we as readers not long for deliciously flawed protagonists, flagrant lies, and potently malevolent villains? For stories that unfold in uncommon and innovative ways. For an author drop us unceremoniously in the middle of the plot, making us scramble to gain our footing. I love to be lied to, led astray. My mind toyed with. At least where my reading is concerned. Sometimes, the best parts of a book are the parts that simply didn’t happen the way we’re told they did. If you are prepared to be enthralled, confounded, and outsmarted, for a narrative that deviates from the usual, follow me…
I was bitten by the vampire bug early. Ever since the tender age of thirteen, I’ve been obsessed with the undead rulers of the night, Vampires. Whatever trope an author embraces; stake through the heart, the must have invitation; the hot mesmerizing, undying love…I’m there for it! Don’t get me wrong, I fear the reaper. Yet I am drawn in by the allure of the Vampire. They surpass many other folklore monsters and continue to spark our imaginations, not to mention our libidos. So, if you are prepared to be seduced beyond your wildest imagination…the wait is over. Come in.
This delightful volume shows us that everywhere we look, we’re confronted by sneaky differences. Do moral dilemmas differ from ethical ones? If we make an assumption, do we presume as well? The author puts language under a microscope, teasing irony apart from sarcasm, elaborating on guilt versus shame and sussing out the difference between conflation and confusion. Reading should always be this fun…happy hairsplitting!
One spring night, Isabel and Edward’s lives were torn apart. A night they have never spoken about. Decades later, when their attacker is caught, will the divorced couple finally tell the story of that night? Not to the world, but to each other? As they wait to give their impact statements, all they have been wanting to say for years comes pouring out…
Secret society…check. Cryptic clues…check. Buried treasure…check. Think Goonies for grownups. Maple Bay has a story to tell, at the turn of the century a pirate ship crashed and sunk, its treasure lost forever. Or was it? Five teenage boys stumble upon the riches and agree to bury them somewhere safe and go back for it when they all turn eighteen. But it’s long gone before they get there!
This month’s read-a-likes are curated for the release of King Of Ashes by S.A. Cosby, sure to be a contemporary masterpiece. It tells the gritty story of a prodigal son returning home to help run the family crematorium. Full of the complexities of the relationships that are foisted on us at birth and how far we might be willing to go to protect them.
As mentioned, I love a small-town story. Even with the understanding that rarely are they easy ones. That often the only thing that thrives in these places is the past; never to be buried, never to be forgotten. Cast with characters that always have one foot in the past, unable to ever let it go. With resentments that have been allowed to fester and flourish. With endless machinations to avoid the contemplation of the sins of the past ensure the reader an absorbing narrative. Come along, if you’re up for it!
Looking for some book recommendations? Tell me a book or two you have loved and I will put a list together for you. Totally gratis!
