Review #561: Mr. Eternity by Aaron Thier

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realizes an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.”

----Virginia Woolf

Aaron Thier, an American author, has penned a terrific and gripping tale of evolving American history through thousands of ages in his new book, Mr. Eternity centered around an almost thousand years old ancient mariner who has survived through various civilizations in American history and has witnessed the sociological and environmental changes of the planet, who is actually on a quest to search his lady love.

Read More

Review #560: The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“The unnatural and the strange have a perfume of their own”

----Fernando Pessoa

Stacey Lee, a Chinese-American author, pens a charming tale of young love and perfume in her new young adult book, The Secret of a Heart Note that revolves around a teenage perfume maker, who has a nose for each individual's scent and can customize that perfume into love elixir to make people fall in love with one another, but her magic comes with a price of never falling in love with anyone, but the girl desires of a normal life with a high school, boyfriend and social reputation.

Read More

Review #559: The Waiting Room by Leah Kaminsky

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“We think there are limits to the dimensions of fear. Until we encounter the unknown. Then we can all feel boundless amounts of terror.”

----Peter Høeg

Leah Kaminsky, an award winning Australian author, has penned a terrific and extremely soul touching story in her debut book, The Waiting Room that revolves around a Jewish woman who is also a doctor living with her husband and son in Israel whose ordeal through out a single day after the warning about a possible bomb threat is strikingly captured by the author, as the woman whose deceased mother's ghost keeps haunting her about the days that she underwent during the Holocaust, and as her mother's voice runs through her head, her fear grips her completely, making her question her life in such an unsafe place.

Read More

Review #558: Reliance, Illinois by Mary Volmer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Woman must have her freedom, the fundamental freedom of choosing whether or not she will be a mother and how many children she will have. Regardless of what man’s attitude may be, that problem is hers — and before it can be his, it is hers alone. She goes through the vale of death alone, each time a babe is born. As it is the right neither of man nor the state to coerce her into this ordeal, so it is her right to decide whether she will endure it.”

----Margaret Sanger

Mary Volmer, an American author, pens a well crafted as well as an enthralling historical fiction, Reliance, Illinois that centers around the life of a young teenage girl and her young unwed mother, who shifted from Kentucky to Reliance in order to get married to a wealthy bachelor, all the while addressing the little daughter with a birthmark covering half of her face, as the woman's little sister, grief-stricken by her mother's actions and the coldness by her mother's new family, the little girl takes shelter in the mansion of the town founder's daughter, who teach her a great deal about life women's life in the post-Civil war period, but dark secrets threaten to destroy the safe coccoon of happiness that the little girl built around her.

Read More

Review #557: The Spy by Paulo Coelho, Zoë Perry (Translator)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


“Death is nothing, nor life either, for that matter. To die, to sleep, to pass into nothingness, what does it matter? Everything is an illusion.”

----Mata Hari

Paulo Coelho, the international bestselling author, pens a gripping and part fictional tale on the life of a legendary dancer cum falsely accused as a spy, Mata Hari in his new novel, The Spy that opens with the execution of this exotic and talented dancer by the French, but then the author spins a riveting autobiographical account of the dancer's life through a fictional letter penned by the dancer herself addressing to her lawyer. She is an epitome of grace, individuality, extravagant lifestyle, exquisite and unique fashion style, independence and her erotic dance moves in the early 20th century in Paris.

Read More

Review #556: Immortal by Krishna Udayasankar

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.”

----William H. Gass

Krishna Udayasankar, an Indian bestselling author, pens an enlightening and highly thrilling part fantasy and part mythology book, Immortal that revolves around a cynical history professor, who has been walking on the Earth since the beginning of the time and will be walking till the end of the time, and his quest to find a historical and supposed to be extinct as well as mythical object with the help of his patient assistant and a mysterious young and beautiful woman, traveling across the borders and the seas.

Read More

Review #555: I Will Send Rain by Rae Meadows

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.”

----Chuck Palahniuk

Rae Meadows, an award winning author, pens a heart wrenching story about a farm family in her new novel, I Will Send Rain that centers around the Bell family who have migrated to Oklahoma but gradually they get caught up in the fierce dust storms that disrupted their farm harvest, their health, their dreams and also their relationship among one another, but the woman of the family tries to hold her family together even if she needs to sacrifice her own happiness. A story of survival of a family and of the times of Dust Bowl and their struggle to hold up together.

Read More

Review #554: This Was a Man (The Clifton Chronicles, #7) by Jeffrey Archer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“My dear young cousin, if there's one thing I've learned over the eons, it's that you can't give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it.”

----Rick Riordan

Jeffrey Archer, the international bestselling author, is back with the final installment in The Clifton Chronicles called, This Was a Man that yet once again brings alive our favorite characters alive with new shocking twists and turns that will overthrow both the powerful families, the Barringtons and the Cliftons along with some supporting cast of characters, thereby giving the readers a closure from this extremely enticing and slightly heart breaking tale.

Read More