B- Reviews / Book Reviewsdjinn / Fantasy / First-Person / Islam / Magian / Middle East / Muslim / POC / scholar / Soldier / swashbuckler2 Comments
The glittering tradition of sword-and-sorcery sweeps into the sands of ancient Arabia with the heart-stopping speed of a whirling dervish in this thrilling debut novel from new talent Howard Andrew Jones In 8th century Baghdad, a stranger pleads with the vizier to safeguard the bejeweled treasure he carries, but he ... more >
B Reviews / B+ Reviews / B- Reviews / Book Reviewsarranged-marriage / Asian characters / class-difference / historical romance / Historical-China / Lotus Palace series / mystery / POC / POC author / Reading lists / scholar / Tang Dynasty6 Comments
Several years ago I fell in love with Jeannie Lin’s Lotus Palace novels. Whether you consider them romances or mysteries (I think of them as romances), the setting, a pleasure quarter called the Pinkang Li, part of the Tang Dynasty capital, Chang’an, during the 840s CE, is beautifully rendered and ... more >
B Reviews / Book Reviewsancient-Egypt / cats / dysfunctional family / Egypt / family relationships / female agency / female leads / Historical / Historical fiction / POC / politics / religionNo Comments
King Tutankhamon is dead. The possibly-divine ivory cat Nefru is still (perhaps) putting a paw into royal Egyptian affairs.Lord Ay wants a royal wife-Tut’s widow, actually-to give him the blood-right to the throne. She flees marriage with him and finds long-lost relatives. Princesses Baketamon and Meri have both longed to ... more >
Book Reviews#ownvoices / Arranged Marriages / California / Chef / coming-of-age / cops / m/m mystery / Missouri / Muslim / POC / POC author / police procedural / Reading lists / revenge porn / South-Asian / YA8 Comments
More Than Just a Pretty Face by Syed M. Masood Jayne’s review of this #ownvoices YA novel got me to pick it up and I was glad I did. Danyal Jilani is a good-looking and sweet nineteen-year-old in his senior year of high school (he was held back a year ... more >
B Reviews / B Reviews Category / Book Reviewsmystery / New Zealand / POC / POC author / thriller4 Comments
Dear Nalini Singh: A friend alerted me to this book, knowing I was a reader of both your Psy/Changeling series and, in recent years, of the thriller/suspense genre. I was curious to see how my two interests would converge here. The book is narrated by Aarav Rai, an author whose ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviewsdjinn / Egypt / Fantasy / female detectives / Middle East / POC / POC author / short-story / steampunk / strong heroine / turn of the 20th century / unusual heroine2 Comments
Egypt, 1912. In Cairo, the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities investigate disturbances between the mortal and the (possibly) divine. What starts off as an odd suicide case for Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi leads her through the city’s underbelly as she encounters rampaging ghouls, saucy assassins, clockwork angels, and ... more >