Category: Doreen

The Follower by Nicholas Bowling

As the parent of twins, I can attest to the fact that twins can be as sweetly devoted yet as deeply strange as the siblings depicted in this novel. After the death of his father, the already rather odd Jesse Owens (yes, really) starts looking for meaning in all the most metaphysical places. His search …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/07/29/the-follower-by-nicholas-bowling/

The Smurfs Tales #1: The Smurfs And The Bratty Kid by Peyo

I grew up with The Smurfs as a child, tho in all honesty, I was one of those children who barely absorbed the “mythology” of the overarching story vs enjoying the gags of each standalone episode. And while I certainly gobbled up my fair share of Asterix and Tintin comics, I never got into the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/07/27/the-smurfs-tales-1-the-smurfs-and-the-bratty-kid-by-peyo/

Assassin’s Orbit by John Appel

Gosh, I’m at the point in my life where I really wish we had a better comparison for books featuring older female heroes than The Golden Girls. Nothing against the classic sitcom, but literally the only similarity Assassin’s Orbit has with TGG is that the main characters are feisty older women. That’s definitely a draw …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/07/22/assassins-orbit-by-john-appel/

Disney’s Beauty And The Beast by Teddy Slater, Ron Dias & Ric González

When my middle child brought me this book to read aloud, no doubt gifted to my kids in a grab bag of books from my mother-in-law, I was pretty excited to do it. I grew up obsessed with my hardcover copy of Disney’s Cinderella, and Beauty And The Beast was one of my favorite Disney …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/07/19/disneys-beauty-and-the-beast-by-teddy-slater-ron-dias-ric-gonzalez/

Sweet Tea by Piper Huguley

This is a sheer delight of a clean romance novel, one that touches on getting comfortable with your roots but still being open to love when it shows up to surprise you. Althea Dailey has finally made partner at her intellectual property law firm in New York City but, now that she’s achieved her life …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/07/13/sweet-tea-by-piper-huguley/

The Wicked King (The Folk Of The Air #2) by Holly Black

Haha, what the hell, NetGalley only sent me the first three quarters of this novel for review? Good thing I looked up the next book in the series and realized from the blurb that I had no idea how the events described there led from this one, and so discovered that I was missing an …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/07/09/the-wicked-king-the-folk-of-the-air-2-by-holly-black/

City Of Iron And Dust by J.P. Oakes

I don’t know how to properly express the depth of my love for this extraordinary, brilliant book. It’s a book of revolutions and subversions, of challenging the status quo and thinking, really thinking about who gets to be a hero, and who deserves our sympathy and, most of all, who we should strive to be. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/07/07/city-of-iron-and-dust-by-j-p-oakes/

Amok by Anna Tan

The world-building of this Nusantara-set novel is exemplary, seamlessly incorporating elements of all the cultures that meld and mingle in Malaysia and its neighbors to present a truly fascinating fantasy world. The main nation is Terang, a collection of three city-states, each with its own mystical focus. Suci, the holy city, is known for a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/07/06/amok-by-anna-tan/

The Case Of The Lonely One (Bad Machinery #4) by John Allison

Oh gosh, for Mother’s Day, my husband got me the first of John Allison’s new series Wicked Things, featuring a 19 year-old Charlotte Grote. Since I’m still working my way through my backlog of the Bad Machinery comics where she and her friends originally appear, I’ve been keeping that as a reward for when I …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/07/01/the-case-of-the-lonely-one-bad-machinery-4-by-john-allison/

When The Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson

This brilliant novel is as if you took the best parts of Blade Runner and Gorky Park and Vertigo and mashed them all together with the most tender empathy and an eye to not only singularity but also the meaning of godhood. My only complaint with this book is that I’d freaking love it if …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/06/29/when-the-sparrow-falls-by-neil-sharpson/