I probably never would have read Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible if I had not read Demon Copperhead first, and I am so glad I did not miss out on this incredible story of family, religion and race. I completely understand now why The Poisonwood Bible is such a well-regarded novel, and I highly recommend it, just do not let its thickness deter you.
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I liked Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women enough that I decided to read her debut novel, Luckiest Girl Alive. I am glad that I read Bright Young Women first because I probably would not have bothered to read any other of Knoll’s novels if I had started with Luckiest Girl Alive. That is not to say that I think Luckiest Girl Alive is a terrible novel. I actually ended up liking it by the time I finished it. But Luckiest Girl Alive is a more sensationalistic story compared to Bright Young Women, and it is a real exercise in empathy with one of the most disingenuous protagonists I have come across in my literary travels.
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I wanted to read The Extinction of Irena Rey because of the pretty cover, but also because the plot does sound like it might be interesting: The novel is about eight translators who gather in Poland at the house of the writer Irena Ray to translate her next novel, but then Irena goes missing. The thing is, as soon as I started reading the first chapter, I knew I had made a mistake and that I was not going to like this novel.
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I wanted to read The Shadow Key for a few reasons: 1) It is historical fiction 2) It is a gothic story 3) It is also a mystery 4) It is set in Wales. I ended up really enjoying it. It is predictable, but it still managed to surprise me. It straddles the line between realism and the supernatural without tipping over definitively into either side. I think readers who typically avoid reading supernatural stories may enjoy this one.
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Blue Sisters is a story about four sisters, which made me think of a book I read last year, Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful. I liked Hello Beautiful, but I was not completely sold on the sisterly relationships portrayed in that novel, so I was kind of on the fence about reading Blue Sisters; however, Blue Sisters has a lot of glowing reviews online, so that convinced me to read it. I am going to be straight with you: I do not like Blue Sisters.
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Emilia Hart’s Weyward is an interesting story about witches, and despite the bad reputation that witches have, I think it would be cool to be a witch with actual magical powers. Weyward is also a predictable story, but then again, the trauma that men inflict upon women is predictable. The novel shows how three generations of women from the same family overcome this trauma and thrive.
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I like Isabel Cañas’s first novel, The Hacienda, so of course I was going to read her next novel, Vampires of El Norte. Also, there are vampires in it, so it must be thrilling, right? Unfortunately, Vampires of El Norte fell a little flat for me.
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I was instantly drawn to the cover of Heather O’Neill’s When We Lost Our Heads. But then I read the synopsis and decided to give it a pass because the main characters sounded insufferable. I ended up buying it because of the glowing reviews, and because I needed one more book to get free shipping for my Book Outlet order. I reluctantly started reading it when nothing else in my TBR pile called out to me. I was right about the main characters being insufferable, but it turns out there is much more to When We Lost Our Heads then the loathsome relationship between the main characters, and I ended up being wholly engrossed in this novel as I read it.
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The House of Eve is Sadeqa Johnson’s follow up novel to Yellow Wife, and it even has a surprising connection to Yellow Wife. The House of Eve is also a historical fiction novel about racism in the US. I did not find this novel to be as affecting as Yellow Wife. It is an interesting story, but some aspects of it are underwhelming.
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Shelley Wood’s The Leap Year Gene has an intriguing premise and is for the most part an interesting novel, but I feel like the last quarter of the novel was rushed and therefore left me feeling dissatisfied by the time I finished it. The novel is about a baby girl, Kit McKinley, who is born on February 29, 1916, and inexplicably only ages one year for every four years. The funny thing about The Leap Year Gene is that even though Kit is at the center of the novel, I found her character to be the least satisfying of the four main characters.
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