OSBR #50: Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
A cursed tattoo makes for both a good story and an extended metaphor on sexual assault and recovery in this book that’s a little darker – and, in my opinion, […]
OSBR #49: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (YA)
I’d recommend this story for Marr’s slyly feminist re-imagining of both an old fairy tale and the “young woman choosing between two guys who like her” storyline.
OSBR #47: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemison
A smart heroine, otherworldly court intrigue, a bevy of complicated (and gender dynamic) gods, and an author who knows how to tell a tale kept me up until 2am reading.
OSBR #46: Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman
Forty brief but entertaining glimpses of what the afterlife may look like (from heavenly wars to harps to explorations of macro- and microcosms) made for a particularly ideal audio book […]
OSBR #42: Darkbeast Rebellion by Morgan Keyes.
This book about a headstrong girl who challenges her society’s cruelty ends with a bizarre popularity contest in which she has to make the rebellion’s town-members like her.
OSBR # 41: Vampire, Interrupted by Lynsay Sands
Nowhere near the depth of character nor writing ability shown in Meyer’s Twilight series, and I mean that in the worst way.
OSBR #39: The Keepers’ Tattoo by Gill Arbuthnott
In a European archipelago, in what might be the future or the past or an alternate dimension, a young woman discovers her hidden ancestry, what is has to do with […]
OSBR #38: Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross
This book might make it onto my as-yet-unwritten list of favorite urban fantasy novels if I stop being aggravated at the YA novel trend toward creating settings of unquestioned wealth/teen […]
OSBR #35: Peter and the Starcatchers by Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry
I loved this book up until the authors hit the point of needing to fit every Peter Pan Disney-detail into the last half, but it still might be a fun […]
OSBR #34: The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman
The Da Vinci Code meets the bluster and turmoil of high school relationships in this YA novel (and it’s better written than Dan Brown’s, too.)