Tag Archive: Fiction



UnshelteredUnsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve gotten behind on my reviews. But after thinking about this book, I remember a lot more than I thought I did. My first thought was how the teen daughter had so much to say about life here and elsewhere, Cuba, for example.

Then I remember the historical references and am so glad I read this book.

The author narrated it. She did an excellent job keeping the story and characters separated and believable.

I highly recommend reading this book. Since it’s been a while, I will leave you to read other reviews of the book. I still have good feelings about it and wouldn’t mind rereading it. I was able to read it through Libby, the library app.

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There ThereThere There by Tommy Orange
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

These narrators made Tommy Orange’s story come to life: Darrell Dennis, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Alma Ceurvo, and Kyla Garcia. I can’t imagine actually reading this story. At first, and for a long time, I couldn’t figure out if it were an anthology or all one story. I did feel it gave me a glimpse of Native American life nowadays. To say the least, it isn’t pleasant what these characters, and I would assume most American Indians might grapple with. We all are a product of our forebears, and our experiences bring us physically and emotionally. The more negative past makes the present more difficult to live with. Hence this story of several characters as they get ready to meet at the Pow Wow in Oakland.

I lowered my rating because I found it confusing to know who I was listening to. I think stopping the story to say Chapter so-in-so, then a character name helps the listener know more about what is happening to whom.

Still, if going into the story if you know what I mentioned above, it might be a better more cohesive story than how I perceived it. So I still highly recommend this book, especially the audiobook.

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Before We Were YoursBefore We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It took me a while to figure out who was who. And until that lightbulb went off over my head, I found the story boring. Suddenly, there was the clue, and it all fit together. My biggest problem was not reading to see if I was right. That need to know for sure seemed to pull me more than the plot or characters.

Still, in the end, I was deeply caring for all the characters and hoping for their best endings.

Above and beyond the story is the truth of the story that this happened and continues to happen in real life. The cruelty to children and poor parents that cannot have their own true lives. That money can buy others’ lives for their own purposes.

This book is worth the angst it brings as you dive into the story. The awareness of how it can happen will be with me forever. As it should. Oh, and Emily Rankin’s narration was acted out like a full-blown movie. It made every chapter come to life.

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The Secret Benefits of InvisibilityThe Secret Benefits of Invisibility by C.W. Allen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was just as fun as the first book in the series by C.W. Allen. Ivy Tara Blair (Narrator) is excellent at acting out the different characters.

If you need a break from overly adult, angsty books, this book and the first one will make you feel better. I bet it would be a fun read-aloud book for parents and kids.

I loved meeting the Dodos the most. Obviously, not the world we know.

The adventure is intense, and you are invested in the outcome immediately.

The boy and girl are not typical kids. Both have their take on how things should be. And I love how they respect each other while teasing here and there, but lovingly.

Give this a chance. I think you’ll like it!

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Relatively Normal Secrets (The Falinnheim Chronicles, #1)Relatively Normal Secrets by C.W. Allen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Want a little reprieve from the heavier material you’ve been reading lately? This is the book. It is so much fun and a quick read. After all, it is a chapter book for middle grades. But I don’t quite know how to intrigue you without giving spoilers. Here is the blurb, even it has spoilers I wouldn’t have included.

“Tuesday and Zed Furst are perfectly normal children with perfectly strange parents. Their father won’t discuss his job, their mother never leaves the house without her guard dog, and the topic of the family tree is off limits.

When a last minute “business trip” gets the adults out of the way, Zed and Tuesday decide to get to the bottom of things once and for all. Too bad some thugs with shape-shifting weapons have other ideas. Their escape leaves them trapped in the modern-meets-medieval Falinnheim, where everyone insists their father is a disgraced fugitive. They hope whoever is leaving them coded clues may have some answers, but they’re not sure they’re going to like what they learn.

If they ever want to see their parents again, they’ll need the help of a smuggler with a broken compass, their unusually talented dog, some extremely organized bandits, and a selection of suspiciously misquoted nursery rhymes.

Zed and Tuesday may not have all the answers, but one thing is certain: when it comes to normal, everything is relative.”

Add to the adventure the great narration by Ivy Tara Blair in this Audible version, and you will be in a place of pure enjoyment.

I don’t remember how I heard about these books, but I am already reading the second. I love the characters and how they go about solving the mysteries around them.

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Faerie Knitting: 14 Tales of Love and MagicFaerie Knitting: 14 Tales of Love and Magic by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a delightful bedtime book! Especially the Audible version with January LaVoy narrating. The stories are short enough to do one a night. Normally, I don’t like short stories. But after reading Braiding the Sweetgrass, this felt similar enough not to feel a shock but an excellent way to hear stories of love.

AND the book comes with knitting patterns—even the Audible. I picked up the PDFs and printed them to my knitting folders. I can’t wait to try some of these. Although, I think a few are way beyond my abilities. But the way knitting is woven into the stories is captivating. I’m sorry to be finished with the reading.

If you are unaware of Alice Hoffman, she is the author of Practical Magic, among many others. She writes with the pen of a poet. This particular book is co-authored with her sister. What fun that must have been.

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The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maybe not my favorite book. Yet there are bits I think will come back to me in memory. Though I am not sure I will look for the next series book.

The characters and plot are a little different than most dystopias. The talents of some of the people are interesting. But let me say, Audio readers need to let us know when we are in a new chapter. I had a hard time figuring out who the point of view was most of the time.

Something I don’t often see in sci-fi/fantasy, but this seems a good genre for it, polyamory. No judgment, just a few people who love each other.

If you want something a little different, this is it. Try it. You might love it.

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The Book Woman of Troublesome CreekThe Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quite an interesting read. Even though I read these out of sequence, reading book two first, I found I like both stories. They were very similar, and with the same narrator, Katie Schorr, I felt both main characters were the same. Still, when I took a moment, I found my way back to the current person. Her voice fits the characters and keeps the story going.

Until these stories, I don’t think I remember hearing about the blue-skinned people of Kentucky until these books. But what doesn’t surprise me is the bigotry of the willfully ignorant. Though the main character does everything in her power to help others, some see a minor issue as something to hate a person for.

What is fun is watching the main characters of the two books grow in their abilities as librarians, teachers, women, and riders of an onery mule.

This story is worth reading, even if you have to read this out of order.

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Remarkably Bright CreaturesRemarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OH, I needed that! What a fun little book!

A seventy-year-old main character? Finally!

A chance to see life from the octopus’s point of view? Yes!

I was lucky to listen to this book on a Libby audiobook. The voices are fantastic!

Marin Ireland (Narrator),  Michael Urie (Narrator),

Especially octopus’s pompous voice.

I don’t want to give any of it away. Just dive in and enjoy!

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In Falling Snow: A NovelIn Falling Snow: A Novel by Mary-Rose MacColl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Despite my brain’s inability to go with the author, Mary-Rose MacColl, and Orlah Cassidy (Narrator) between past and present for the characters’ present embodiment, I still loved this book. No matter past or present, the characters were exciting and lovable.

Maybe if you have the written word to look at and help orient whose point of view and when this story
progresses might be more accessible. Ms. Cassidy did vary her voice to inform the listener. Even still, I had managed about 50% of the story when I felt so totally lost that I started over. I found myself confused. But I relaxed, let the story take me where it would, and soon, I found the end. I hated that it was over. I did love the characters and voices so much!

It was interesting to read about the women of the first world war. I highly recommend this read.

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