Book review: the Butterfly Garden

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchinson From Goodreads Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden. In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and …

2018 backlog mini reviews

So in 2018 I got pretty behind on writing reviews for some of the books I read. I just never wrote a review, and the book has just been sitting on my review list since I read it. So today I thought I'd post some mini reviews for some of those books. Behind the Beautiful …

Discussion: can a book be a favourite and not a five-star read?

So I had this discussion in the back of my mind for a while and finally decided to write my thoughts down. Can a book be a favourite and not a five-star read, and can a five-star read not be a favourite? I feel like, generally, most people rate their favourite books as five stars …

Book review: Hunger

Hunger by Lan Samantha Chang Paraphrased from Goodreads These stories reveal the lives of immigrant families haunted by lost loves: a ghost seduces a young girl into a flooded river; a mother commands a daughter to avenge her father's death; and a woman speaks from beyond the grave about her tragic marriage to a man …

Mini review: the Measure of My Powers

The Measure of My Power: A Memoir of Food, Misery and Paris by Jackie Kai Ellis Paraphrased from GoodreadsA story about one woman's search for self-love, experienced through food and travel. On the surface, Jackie Kai Ellis's life was the one that every woman, herself included, wanted: she was in her late twenties and married to …