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 #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 #36 & #37: Cinder and Scarlet by Marissa Meyers (Books 1 and 2 of The Lunar Chronicles)
Cinder is a futuristic version of Cinderella, with a cyborg heroine, a down-to-earth prince, and an evil Lunar queen, but I never got really excited about it. I’m glad I stuck […]
OSBR #31: Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley
As I read this re-telling of Sleeping Beauty, I couldn’t help but imagine McKinley watching the Disney version and thinking, “She can talk to animals and that’s all she does […]
OSBR #24: The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland
As a Roman teen in the 1600s, the real Artemisia Gentileschi endured a public rape trial before earning international fame for her painting genius, but this novel whittles away real […]
OSBR #17 Pickets and Dead Men by Bree Loewen
Loewen’s memoir of three seasons as a Mt. Rainier climbing ranger takes fascinating real-life stories and then bogs them down with aimless complaints and unresolved themes that made me wish […]
OSBR #13: City of Dragons by Robin Hobb.
Although Robin Hobb is probably the best epic fantasy writer alive today, the third book in her Rain Wilds Chronicles doesn’t quite stand on its own, and now I have […]