Book Reviews
How to Not Be Scared: Top Five Books
If you’re freaking out about this whole pandemic, please know I’m thinking about you. To the extent that I can offer comfort from afar, let me share with you the top five secular books that have allayed my fears, not only during these hard times, but in others as well: 1. The Fearless Mind: Description…
Read MoreThe Value of a Two-Star Book Review
As a writer, a crafter of plots using those nuanced and sometimes-loaded things called words, I know many of the rules of good writing. It’s one thing, though, to know them academically, theoretically, but quite another to see them in action. And it’s another still to see them executed wonderfully, as in Brigid Kemmerer’s A…
Read MoreProblems in Society: A Book About Women’s Safety
The Right of Amount of Panic sounds interesting as a title for a book doesn’t it, especially during this Covid-19 pandemic? I definitely found it intriguing, although it didn’t have anything to do with the right amount of panic for this outbreak. We could use some kind of manual on that, couldn’t we? Instead, this…
Read MoreBook Deal and Book Review for Passion Paradox
If there’s one thing I hope my collective online presences (social, blog, etc.) show, it’s that I’m passionate. I love books, yes, but also: gaming blogging helping cross-stitching skiing, and fishing. Anyone who knows me IRL knows that I passionately pursue progress and fun in all of these area. I think about them almost every…
Read MoreBook Deal on A Curse So Dark and Lonely
It’s been a busy week, in part because I became a micro-influencer! Technically, that just means that I have more than 2,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and higher-than-average engagement rates. Really, though, it means that YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! Thanks for your support! Amongst that, plus my husband turning 52 but me thinking…
Read MoreThe Nonsense Factory: A Book You Won’t Read?
Oh you guys! It’s been so long since I posted here! Sorry! I’ve been busy posting reviews to Goodreads and Amazon, working full-time, writing, going to writers’ conferences, and the like. I’ll do a round-up post of recommendations soon. Today, however, I want to tell you about The Nonsense Factory. I’m actually going to go…
Read MoreHow to Have True Dialogue on the Internet
“Should Roe v. Wade be overturned?,” was the question asked by one of my friends on Facebook the other day. Normally, I would have scrolled on past, sure that if I were to weigh in, it would become a raging inferno of disagreement, insults, and hurt. The divisiveness of our country scares me, but for…
Read MoreThe Why’s and How’s of Dialogue in the Digital Age
Say you’re scrolling down your Twitter feed, and you come across someone spouting something particularly opinionated, rude, or derogatory. Just a quick scan of their post reveals that it’s about something you heartily disagree with, and/or is expressed in such a prejudicial way that you immediately scroll past it. You think, “Why should I engage…
Read MoreKiss of a Stranger
Bronchitis is not fun, people, but coming “back to life” afterwards is. I’m recovering from a bout of it. The week before, I nursed my kids through croup, pink eye, and a cold. From recent experience, therefore, I can tell you: coughing up a lung is not good, but regaining energy and rejoining civilization is…
Read MoreChildren of Blood and Bone
It’s been a tough few months, I tell you. Life has been very interesting, in some ways very good, and some quite bad. I’m finally getting over my insomnia, something I’ve struggled with for years (see this post about what it’s really like to live with it). I’m enjoying my job as a full-time book…
Read More