Jen LiMarzi’s Making Dead Ends Meet
My friendly neighborhood humor writer Jen LiMarzi has published her first novel, Making Dead Ends Meet. I had a chance to read the manuscript & I’m really proud of her!
Tag Archives: Headstrong Girl
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
Synopsis: A young woman discovers her destiny among a cadre of psychic dragons, and hatches a radical plan to save her planet from a deadly threat using time travel. Review: I wish I had discovered Pern when I was in high school. Dragonflight, one of Anne McCaffrey’s books set in the dragon-strewn world, is perfect YA sci fi fantasy. Lessa is a fantastic heroine whose impulsive acts have big consequences, and the book doesn’t try to achieve too much. It’s difficult to talk about a…
Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
Synopsis: Deanna’s lived under a dark cloud ever since her dad caught her having sex when she was just 13, and her dreams of getting out just might expire under the weight of his disapproval. Review: I’m a latecomer getting to Sara Zarr’s National Book Award Finalist novel Story of a Girl, though it’s been on my radar for quite some time. I’m so glad I finally carved out some time to read it. I’ve often criticized young adult literature for piling on the woe,…
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
Synopsis: The concluding adventures of Gemma Doyle, proper Victorian debutante and keeper of the magic of a mystical world called the realms, which is threatened by intruders from the ominous Winterlands. Review: The Sweet Far Thing ends the trilogy that began with A Great and Terrible Beauty, followed by Rebel Angels. Gemma Doyle and her friends are boarding school girls in Victorian England. They should be focusing on their upcoming debuts, but instead their attentions are captured by a war brewing in the realms, the…
Visibility by Sarah Neufeld
Synopsis: When introverted teen Natalie discovers that she has inherited her mother’s gift for invisibility, she’s caught between her desire to use her powers for good and her fears that her mother will find out. Review: Visibility was written when Sarah Neufeld was only 19, and it’s an impressive debut. She’s crafted a fresh take on the superhero origin story, thanks to her nuanced portrayal of Natalie, who is both brave and insecure and therefore utterly relatable. Natalie’s mother Jadyn is the only known invisible…
The Daring Book For Girls
Synopsis: A compendium of activities and fun facts for girls. Review: Jumprope rhymes, hand-clapping games, the rules of 4-square, and facts about famous female explorers are just a selection from the wonderfully random assortment of Things Girls Should Know. The Daring Book For Girls is a fun piece of nostalgia that I want to share with all the moms of girls I know. Reading through the book makes me sad that Superfast Baby has inherited a world so unlike the one I grew up in,…
There’s No Place Like Here by Cecelia Ahern
Synopsis: When a missing persons investigator goes missing herself, she discovers a world where the lost can be found–but can she find her way back home? Review: There’s No Place Like Here is the second book by Cecelia Ahern, author of the immensely popular PS, I Love You, which I have not read. I picked up an ARC of this book at Book Expo, but put off reading it because I was anticipating something light and fluffy and not worth my time. I was certainly…
Huh? (Booking through Thursday)
What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?” A Candle in Her Room by Ruth Arthur tells the story of several generations of a family haunted by a charismatic and evil doll. It scared me silly…
Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder
Synopsis: After finally returning to her homeland, having been kidnapped as a child, Yelena must tame the magic she never knew she had even as she’s suspected of being a spy and embroiled in the hunt to catch a nefarious serial killer. Review: It’s been a little exciting up in here lately, with new baby being WAY more interesting than any book in the world. Strangely enough I was between books when she made her arrival, having just finished Red Seas Under Red Skies. I…
Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk
Synopsis: A headstrong Upper West Side yearns to escape her family’s Jewish Bronx origins and become a Broadway star. Review: This is the third or fourth time I’ve read Marjorie Morningstar, and every time I find myself absolutely riveted for the first two-thirds, then bored and indifferent for the final third, only to be knocked out by the epilogue. The book is rich with details and some astonishing set pieces–such as Seth’s bar mitzvah–but it’s hollow at the core. It’s as if author Herman Wouk…