Underlying by Janelle Harris I know. I KNOW. Anyone who reads my reviews is probably heartily sick of me bitching about Amazon First Reads, especially all the mediocre suspense I find there. Skip this if you want to avoid my whining (which would be understandable). The book is narrated by ... more >
Theodora: actress, prostitute, mistress, feminist. And Byzantine Empress of the civilized world. Stephen: handsome Syrian boy, wizard’s apprentice, palace eunuch. And Secretary to the Empress. How does this unlikely pair become such allies that one day Empress Theodora asks Stephen to write her biography? From a very young age, Theodora, ... more >
Disclosure: Sherry Thomas is my friend and critique partner and I critiqued this manuscript. — Janine Dear Ms. Thomas: In preparation for this review I reread my reviews of the previous three books in the series – I gave book one a B- and books two and three each a ... more >
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown When this book was published in 1970, it was hailed as one of the first books to chronicle the destruction of the American Indian tribes in the midwest and western United State solely from the American Indian perspective. As such, it’s ... more >
During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen ... more >
Dear Ms. George, The Splendor Before the Dark is your epic sequel to The Confessions of Young Nero, which I reviewed previously. I found it to be a touching, beautiful, sweeping story; and, like Confessions, it is very long—581 pages in the print version. I commend you for your heroic ... more >