Dona's Book Blog

Thank you to the author, Whitney Cubbison, for an advance digital review copy of WILL THERE BE WINE. These opinions are my own. In Paris, love was oxygen and Austin was gasping for breath. p1 Some things this book does really works, and some don't, for me. To start with, the author uses her setting very well. Like oxygen, like the stuff that keeps all her characters, lead and invisible alike, alive. Paris ! I really had never had any particular desire to visit Paris before encountering Cubbison's decidedly fangirl recreation, that is simultaneously ironically, eye-rollingly judgemental of the place. It was a wonderful place to spend time as a reader, charming and funny. I also like when romance writers use tropes I've never seen before, or if they use common tropes in fresh ways. I'm not going to give away the end of the book, but I just thought the way Cubbision used her primary romance trope, and supported it with other tropes like forbidden love, rea

Thank you to the author Lauren North, publishers Bookouture, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of SHE SAYS SHE'S MY DAUGHTER. We’re almost there. Trepidation burns like acid in my veins. Suddenly, I’m not so sure we should be rushing. I’m not so sure I want to know. p249 This but, it turns out, is many things. It is part women's fiction, with the FMC's question throughout the book of healing from loss and hetting to a better place. It is part psychological thriller: who is pulling the strings of the vulnerable characters in this book, and keeps everything moving forward? What motivates them? What ripples might their actions leave behind? I don't alway care for the armchair psychology like that found in some of the later chapters in this book. Sometimes the narrator and characters accidentally seriously stigmatize common mental illnesses or psychological issues when it seems they are trying to be informative. The book is very good besides t

Thank you to the author Elizabeth Bass, publishers Kensington Books, and TLC Book Tours, for an advance paperback copy of THE WITCH HITCH. Thank you also to NetGalley for an accomanying widget. All views are mine. When you read as much romance as I do, you ask yourself when you're reading, does the author use the tropes in a fresh way? In a way I just didn't really see coming? In this case, the answer is certainly, "YES," and I related to this book on more than one level! I don't want to give too much away here, so I'll keep it as secret as I can! To start with, I love the "Hate His Family" trope in romedy, and we get a lot of that in this. I really feel for the fmc dealing with her fiance Wes's overbearing family. I mean-- his parents bought them a haunted castle for their wedding gift. Besides being annoying, this is like too cool for real, and I would just never sleep again such a castle. I kid, but I get it! Once my family got the

Thank you to the author Ann Beatty,  publishers Scribner, and as always NetGalley, for an advance audio copy of ONLOOKERS. I find sets of stories are hard to review as collections and do better when reviewed at the story level. In this case, it is easy to review the stories altogether since a common theme unites them. More like a common setting, pregnant with the obviousness of a theme. The setting is a small New England town of mixed political makeup, during an event of political unrest (theme) that mirrors some we might recognize from our own news. Most of these stories aren't political, or rather their plots aren't, their characters aren't any more than they need to be to serve the stories. But the world around them is very, very political and it bears geratly on the characters and plots of each story. Mini reviews of the contained stories: 1. "Pegasus" Named for the city hospital's life flight helicopter, this long short story attempts to c

Thank you to publishers Publisher's Lunch for avance digital copies of BUZZ BOOKS 2023: FALL/WINTER and BUZZ BOOKS 2023: ROMANCE. I have to admit, the purpose of these Buzz Books was not readily apparent to me. After going back and taking a second look, I realizeed they are not mean to be read front to back. Rather, they are meant to be perused until the reader finds an entry of interest, which they can then explorre further. I often like to go into a book blind, with just a cover and a title and maybe a tag line. So this was a little different, getting a chapter or two or five to help me decide if I wanted to read. I made most of my fiction decisions based almost solely on style!  I really adored the feature to link directly to NetGalley to request an arc. I asked for way too many, but at least they're for fall and winter, so my schedule is open! I just finished reading the second Buzz Book an hour ago an I've already been approved for a few galleys, let's

🎉ℍ𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕪 ℙ𝕦𝕓 𝔻𝕒𝕪!🥂 July 11 2023  Happy Pub Week to this very special romance, written by an extra special author, who I once heard describe her romances as being a little sad because she herself is a little sad, for a very special book, in whose characters disabled readers can find themselves and know finally that we too belong in the warm pages of romance.  This is an update to my original review for the paperback, which I read and reviewed last winter after winning a very early ARC copy. I'm reviewing the audiobook specifically, which was so different from the arc copy I read back in November! Thank you to Macmillan Audio and as always, NetGalley, for providing me an advance audiobook copy for review.  The audiobook narrator, Patty Murin, sounded nothing like the Sadie I had created in my head! It took me a little while to get used to the voice on the audiobook, but after a while, I loved her interpretation of the character. Murin wonderfully captured the cha

Found this one in audiobook on Libby. I adored this book, actually. It's creepy and scary, which I like. The character Carmilla herself is creepy. She just dissolves out of the stone pattern of the walls one night and bites Laura, and yet next thing, Carmilla is accepted by the whole family as part of the family, and how perfectly natural that she should be attached like a leech to young Laura. For me, it is this power of persuasion and social control that is truly terrifying in this story. Honestly, I would have given this book 5 stars, and thought I would nearly the whole time through both readings except the ending lost me both times. I wanted something eerie and understated and didn't get it. What's there will likely work very well for DRACULA fans, but maybe not as many Machen fans, like me! Creepy, terrifying, a wonderful classic vampire tale. So happy this one got some hype this year and came to my attention! Rating: 👩🏻‍🤝‍👩🏼👩🏻‍🤝‍👩🏼👩🏻‍🤝‍👩🏼

Thank you to the author DK Coutant, publishers The Wild Rose Press Inc, and Henry Roi PR, for an advance audio copy of EVIL ALICE AND THE BORZOI. The is one of those cozy mysteries that surprised me a great deal. Honestly, I was drawn in by the cover. The last time I tried a cozy mystery with a dog on the cover, I absolutely loved it.  It took a little while for this one to really connect the dog on the cover, but I think it's clever. Additionally, Doucant paints a gorgeous, moody, decadent Hilo for the reader to prance around in. The cast is huge, but the characters have meat.   And besides that, the character work is excellent and I connected to Evil Alice, of all people. I mean-- how can she be evil if she's dead!? Well this book kept me guessing until the very end! A lot happens at the very end, in fact. I think Doucant saves a little too much for the denouement in this one.  So it's not perfect, but still a very entertaining mystery! Rating: 🐩🐩🐩🐩 / 5 bo

I found ANSWERS IN THE PAGES by David Levithan on the Libby app. Check for your local library on the app and read great books for free!📚 Thank you also to my Goodreads friend, Karen, for recommending this great book💜 Based on the amount of nuance and genuine empathy I found in this book, I may not have guessed at first that it was written for kids, but it is a middlegrade novel. I decided to listen to the audiobook of this short novel, and this was a perfect form for this book, whose premise winds up introducing significant stakes. Any reader may want to, as I did thanks in part to the audiobook, binge this book and finish it all at once. Also worth noting, the talented cast of narrators brings this book to life. In this story, a community reacts to one of the books assigned to its middlegrade children, based purely on its final line: At that moment, Rick knew how deeply he loved Oliver, and Oliver knew how deeply he loved Rick, and the understanding of this moment would

I found HOW TO WRESTLE A GIRL by Verita Blackburn on the Libby app. Check for your local library on the app and read great books for free!📚 Several of the stories share a narrating character and her striving for clarity about her sexual identity at varyious stages of her life, and even further, this narrator's object of fascination, Ezparanza. Some of the other stories are more difficult to connect to this core of the collection, but for the repeated theme of criticism of the patriarchy's force and authority on queer existence.  The audiobook is read by a group of individuals, who each perform their stories beautifully. Some, brilliantly. I recommend this form for a short, gripping listen. Mini reviews of the contained stories: 1. "Part I: Fam" A brilliant very short piece on internalized anti-blackness. 2. "Bear Bear Harvest" Cousins are plentiful in all the ways, in numbers and size and feelings, just roaming through the house like mad geese,