Fiction
The Compass Rose: Navigating Worlds Within Pages
The Compass Rose bookstore, located on the charming main street of Crescent Bay, serves as a beacon for people who are interested in both dreaming and adventure. Crafted with a love of stories that span the spectrum of human imagination and knowledge, the Compass Rose is more than just a bookstore; it is a portal to other worlds. Isabella Grant, a former marine biologist turned literature enthusiast, owns The Compass Rose.
By Vladimir Nascimento2 years ago in BookClub
Rachel Reviews: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
I had heard good things about Anne Tyler and as I am unsure as to whether I had read her before or not, I thought I would give her a go. This is the reason I write reviews: to keep a record of what I read and try and embed them into my brain. I'm still not sure if I've read her previously or not but I will certainly read her again.
By Rachel Deeming2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: Third Name's A Charm (Anthology)
All good things come in threes. Once upon a time, a group of authors accepted the challenge from a fairy tale name generator. Not just once or twice, but thrice! Volume three of these quirky stories is a collection stories featuring trios and triple threats. In this clean YA anthology, follow the fates of three IVF-manufactured (oops, sorry, potion-begotten) triplet princesses, be enlisted as the third lucky bodyguard to stave off monsters, see if the third wand works wonders for an unlucky mage, try to discover the true name of a unicorn prince, discover why the magical artefacts come in threes and climb towers with thieves to step into abductions of well-known fairytale characters. Don’t forget, with the rule of three, there are always exceptions. Venture into this collection of adventurous stories by award-winning and up-and-coming authors and maybe you’ll be thrice enchanted. All proceeds donated to a charity in support of reading and literacy.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Rachel Reviews: A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
I can remember reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Haddon's debut novel, and being struck by it. Sometimes you read books that are extraordinary and unlike anything you've ever read before. And then, I read a book of short stories by him which I enjoyed but a friend, to whom I had recommended them, pointed out to me were all about death and for some reason, I shied away from his fiction for a bit.
By Rachel Deeming2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: Red Runs the Witch's Thread by Victoria Williamson
Paisley, Scotland, 1697. Thirty-five people accused of witchcraft. Seven condemned to death. Six strangled and burned at the stake. All accused by eleven-year-old Christian Shaw. Bargarran House, 1722. Christian Shaw returns home, spending every waking hour perfecting the thread bleaching process that will revive her family’s fortune. If only she can make it white enough, perhaps her past sins will be purified too. But dark forces are at work. As the twenty-fifth anniversary of the witch burnings approaches, ravens circle Bargarran House, their wild cries stirring memories and triggering visions. As Christian’s mind begins to unravel, her states of delusion threaten the safety of all those who cross her path. In the end she must make a terrible choice: her mind or her soul? Poverty and madness, or a devil’s bargain for the bleaching process that will make her the most successful businesswoman Paisley has ever seen? Her fate hangs by a thread. Which will she choose?
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: Undine's Blessing by Tessa Hastjarjanto
A dutiful daughter, a mystical archipelago, and a hidden power waiting to command the tides... Marella spends her days caring for her sick mother and selling her father's fish. Bound by duty and love, she dreams little of adventure. But when her mother must travel to the city for treatment, her father takes her out to sea, despite her fear of water. A storm steers them to Emberrain, home to a tribe of magical nymphs and a place of secrets, where Marella discovers a startling truth: her father is a frequent visitor to these mysterious islands. Soon she learns that Emberrain isn't the only secret he had kept from her. Marella has the power to control water and communicate with aquatic animals. Overwhelmed by the magical but dangerous islands, and the secrets of her father, Marella must learn to harness her powers to save herself and her new aquatic friend before they are separated from their parents forever. Undine's Blessing is a journey of wonder, where fears are faced and mysteries unravel, and a young girl learns that true adventure begins when you dare to embrace who you truly are.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: Sparks of Bright Matter by Leeanne O'Donnell
When ambitious apprentice chemist and secret alchemist Peter Woulfe is tasked with caring for a mysterious illustrated book, the Mutus Liber, he quickly realises that the grimy underworld of Georgian London is even more dangerous than he first believed.Soon the book is stolen by the light-fingered Sukie and Peter finds himself being pursued by threatening men who are willing to do anything to get the book back. Where in teeming London might Sukie be found? Why is Peter so enthralled by her? And what is it about the Mutus Liber that is so enticing?As the search for the book becomes an urgent game of cat and mouse, it seems that the key to Peter's present dilemma might only be found in half-remembered events from his childhood, and then further back still, in the mists of Irish myth.A spell-binding and unputdownable tale about spirit and matter, love and lust, and reality and magic.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Books That Feel Like A Movie
You know when a book is so good you wish someone would just turn it into a movie already! When the writing is the perfectly crafted to point that you are not even reading words on pages anymore, you've been transported, and instead are watching the novel unfold in front of your eyes!
By The Austen Shelf2 years ago in BookClub
WE MUST GO FASTER THAN LIGHT!
Earth had an expanding interstellar empire; for decades they had been locked away, trapped inside their solar system, barely able to send manned spaceships beyond their closest neighbouring body. All they had sent into space since that point in their spacefaring history were probes and space stations.
By RobertFeld2 years ago in BookClub
Fletch and the Man Who
2024 is turning out to be a pretty ugly year. There is the continued war in the Middle East (when isn’t there one, you might say; so cynical), price inflation for basic food items (priceflation is an expression I will not use after completing this piece), there is the election noise of the various parties up here in my beloved Canada…and down below. Our parties seem to grow quickly, like mold in a basement. And I tend to wonder why there isn’t more growth in that noisy basement I refer to as the United States. I tend to ignore politics until it is trying to take more money out of my wallet, or asking me to care…or entertaining me on the page or screen.
By Kendall Defoe 2 years ago in BookClub
