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 >
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 >
Book ReviewsChristmas / classic / Essays / Gothic / horror / Illustrated Humor / Memoir / mystery / non-fiction / Reading lists / Recommended Reads / Suspense22 Comments
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson This was my annual “spooky Halloween read.” I have a hard time judging it, having spoiled myself on the twist long ago. I find it hard to believe that this twist wouldn’t have been obvious even if I hadn’t known, ... more >
Book Reviews / Recommended Reads / Top Ten ListsAgent/Spies/Undercover / boarding school / Cold War / disabled hero / found family / genius loci / historical romance / king / Literary fiction / loner / m/m / magic users / one day courtship / passing / Reading lists / SF / thief / twins / UF / voting / war / YA / YA fantasy14 Comments
I spent much of 2020 grateful to books and authors for giving me a way to visit other times and places while stuck at home because of Covid. Below, listed in alphabetical order by author, are my top eight favorite books of 2020. Some grades have been adjusted since my ... more >
Book Reviews / DNF ReviewsReading lists15 Comments
Seven years ago I devoted one of my What Janine is Reading posts to three books I did not finish. Now it’s time to do it again. None of the three books I review here are bad; all of them are quite good in several regards. But I still put ... more >
B Reviews / B+ Reviews / Book Reviews#ownvoices / Android / Fantasy / Hong Kong based world / Jade Saga series / mafia / novella / POC / POC author / Reading lists / Science Fiction / The Murderbot Diaries / Wuxia9 Comments
All Systems Red by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) by Martha Wells This novella launched Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries series. These books have been raved about both here and at other review sites, my social media feeds, and by one of my real life friends. I’m late to the ... more >
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