Book Review: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Posted on 04/28/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Poet X

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo

Publication Date: March 6, 2018

Number of Pages: 368

Format: Audiobook

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: Poetry, Contemporary, Young Adult

Synopsis:

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about.

With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Summer House by James Patterson & Brendan DuBois

Posted on 04/27/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Summer House

Author: James Patterson, Brendan DuBois

Publication Date: June 8, 2020

Number of Pages: 429

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Century

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Suspense, Military

Synopsis:

For seven unsuspecting victims, death comes in the dark . . .

Once a luxurious getaway for a wealthy Southern family, the Summer House has long since fallen into disrepair. Its fall from grace is complete when it becomes the scene of a horrific mass murder.

Shocking evidence points to four Army Rangers recently returned from Afghanistan. The Army sends Major Jeremiah Cook, a war veteran and former NYPD cop, to investigate.

As Cook and his team struggle to put together pieces of evidence that just won’t fit, powerful forces rally against them to try to ensure that damning secrets are buried along with the victims. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Posted on 04/26/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Silent Patient

Author: Alex Michaelides

Publication Date: February 5, 2019

Number of Pages: 368

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Publisher: Celadon Books

Genre: Thriller, Psychological, Mystery

Synopsis:

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband―and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations―a search for the truth that threatens to consume him…. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan

Posted on 04/25/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo 4)

Author: Rick Riordan

Publication Date: September 24, 2019

Number of Pages: 439

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Genre: Fantasy, Middle-Grade

Synopsis:

In his penultimate adventure, a devastated but determined Apollo travels to Camp Jupiter, where he must learn what it is to be a hero, or die trying.

It’s not easy being Apollo, especially when you’ve been turned into a human and banished from Olympus. On his path to restoring five ancient oracles and reclaiming his godly powers, Apollo (aka Lester Papadopoulos) has faced both triumphs and tragedies. Now his journey takes him to Camp Jupiter in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the Roman demigods are preparing for a desperate last stand against the evil Triumvirate of Roman emperors. Hazel, Reyna, Frank, Tyson, Ella, and many other old friends will need Apollo’s aid to survive the onslaught.

Unfortunately, the answer to their salvation lies in the forgotten tomb of a Roman ruler . . . someone even worse than the emperors Apollo has already faced. Continue reading →

Book Review: Finding Me by Viola Davis

Posted on 04/19/2023 by Lenn

Title: Finding Me

Author: Viola Davis

Publication Date: April 26, 2022

Number of Pages: 304

Format: Audiobook

Publisher: HarperOne

Genre: Non-fiction, memoir

Synopsis:

In my book, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life-changing decision to stop running forever.

This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This is the path I took to finding my purpose but also my voice in a world that didn’t always see me.

As I wrote Finding Me, my eyes were open to the truth of how our stories are often not given close examination. We are forced to reinvent them to fit into a crazy, competitive, judgmental world. So I wrote this for anyone running through life untethered, desperate and clawing their way through murky memories, trying to get to some form of self-love. For anyone who needs reminding that a life worth living can only be born from radical honesty and the courage to shed facades and be . . . you.

Finding Me is a deep reflection, a promise, and a love letter of sorts to self. My hope is that my story will inspire you to light up your own life with creative expression and rediscover who you were before the world put a label on you.
Continue reading →

Book Review: I’m a Therapist, and My Patient is a Vegan Terrorist: 6 Deadly Social Media Influencers (Dr. Harper, #3)

Posted on 04/02/2023 by Lenn

Title: I’m a Therapist, and My Patient is a Vegan Terrorist: 6 Deadly Social Media Influencers (Dr. Harper, #3)

Author: Anonymous

Publication Date: March 8, 2020

Number of Pages: 192

Format: E-book

Publisher: Independent

Genre: Thriller, Splatterpunk, Horror, Extreme Horror

Synopsis:

The Explosive Conclusion to the Dr. Harper Therapy series

I’m a therapist, and I’ve worked with the wildest internet celebrities… A vigilante who treated humans as factory farm animals. A germaphobe who warned of the next major plague. My own best friend. A rapist who got cancelled online — and in real life. A psychic medium with a disturbing prediction.

And the last patient I ever worked with: The one who asked me to take them off life support.

It all started with a big social media festival on a little island. We were promised endless days of sunshine, beach bonfires under the stars, and a chance to party with the world’s most renowned influencers.

Instead, we were lucky if we made it out in one piece.
Continue reading →

Book Review: You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric Larocca

Posted on 03/30/2023 by Lenn

Title: You’ve Lost A Lot of Blood

Author: Eric Larocca

Publication Date: March 11, 2022

Number of Pages: 210

Format: E-book

Publisher: Independent

Genre: Splatterpunk, Horror, Extreme Horror

Synopsis:

A disturbing new vision of terror from the author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.

“Each precious thing I show you in this book is a holy relic from the night we both perished-the night when I combed you from my hair and watered the moon with your blood.

You’ve lost a lot of blood . . .”
Continue reading →

Book Review: Sheets by Brenna Thummler

Posted on 03/20/2023 by Lenn

Title: Sheets

Author: Brenna Thummler

Publication Date: August 28, 2018

Number of Pages: 239

Format: E-book

Publisher: Oni Press

Genre: Comics, Graphic Novel, Paranormal

Synopsis:

Marjorie Glatt feels like a ghost. A practical thirteen year old in charge of the family laundry business, her daily routine features unforgiving customers, unbearable P.E. classes, and the fastidious Mr. Saubertuck who is committed to destroying everything she’s worked for.

Wendell is a ghost. A boy who lost his life much too young, his daily routine features ineffective death therapy, a sheet-dependent identity, and a dangerous need to seek purpose in the forbidden human world.

When their worlds collide, Marjorie is confronted by unexplainable disasters as Wendell transforms Glatt’s Laundry into his midnight playground, appearing as a mere sheet during the day. While Wendell attempts to create a new afterlife for himself, he unknowingly sabotages the life that Marjorie is struggling to maintain.
Continue reading →

Book Review: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Posted on 03/19/2023 by Lenn

Title: Daisy Jones & The Six

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Publication Date: March 5, 2019

Number of Pages: 362

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Hutchinson

Genre: Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction

Synopsis:

For a while, Daisy Jones & The Six were everywhere. Their albums were on every turntable, they sold out arenas from coast to coast, their sound defined an era. And then, on 12 July 1979, they split.

Nobody ever knew why. Until now.

They were lovers and friends and brothers and rivals. They couldn’t believe their luck, until it ran out. This is their story of the early days and the wild nights, but everyone remembers the truth differently.

The only thing they all know for sure is that from the moment Daisy Jones walked barefoot onstage at the Whisky, their lives were irrevocably changed.

Making music is never just about the music. And sometimes it can be hard to tell where the sound stops and the feelings begin.
Continue reading →

Book Review: How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa

Posted on 03/18/2023 by Lenn

Title: How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight For Our Future

Author: Maria Ressa

Publication Date: November 17, 2022

Number of Pages: 320

Format: E-book, Audiobook

Publisher: HarperCollins

Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir, History

Synopsis:

Maria Ressa is one of the most renowned international journalists of our time. For decades, she challenged corruption and malfeasance in her native country, the Philippines, on its rocky path from an authoritarian state to a democracy. As a reporter from CNN, she transformed news coverage in her region, which led her in 2012 to create a new and innovative online news organization, Rappler. Harnessing the emerging power of social media, Rappler crowdsourced breaking news, found pivotal sources and tips, harnessed collective action for climate change, and helped increase voter knowledge and participation in elections.

But by their fifth year of existence, Rappler had gone from being lauded for its ideas to being targeted by the new Philippine government, and made Ressa an enemy of her country’s most powerful man: President Duterte. Still, she did not let up, tracking government seeded disinformation networks which spread lies to its own citizens laced with anger and hate. Hounded by the state and its allies using the legal system to silence her, accused of numerous crimes, and charged with cyberlibel for which she was found guilty, Ressa faces years in prison and thousands in fines.

There is another adversary Ressa is battling. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is also the story of how the creep towards authoritarianism, in the Phillipines and around the world, has been aided and abetted by the social media companies. Ressa exposes how they have allowed their platforms to spread a virus of lies that infect each of us, pitting us against one another, igniting, even creating, our fears, anger, and hate, and how this has accelerated the rise of authoritarians and dictators around the world. She maps a network of disinformation–a heinous web of cause and effect–that has netted the globe: from Duterte’s drug wars to America’s Capitol Hill; Britain’s Brexit to Russian and Chinese cyber-warfare; Facebook and Silicon Valley to our own clicks and votes.

Democracy is fragile. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is an urgent cry for Western readers to recognize and understand the dangers to our freedoms before it is too late. It is a book for anyone who might take democracy for granted, written by someone who never would. And in telling her dramatic and turbulent and courageous story, Ressa forces readers to ask themselves the same question she and her colleagues ask every day: What are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?
Continue reading →

Lenn of Spades ♠

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