Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

While We Were Watching Downton Abbey

Posted on July 19, 2024 by smellincoffee

While prowling the shelves in search of more Ruth Ware, I spotted the phrase Downton Abbey on a book spine and pounced immediately. In the modern age which is flooded with new shows by the day, Downton is one of … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 11 Comments

The Astronaut and the Star

Posted on July 18, 2024 by smellincoffee

Regina “Reggie” Hayes wants to be the first woman on the Moon: it’s a goal she’s worked forward to for fifteen years, but her intelligence and drive are frequently undermined by her inability to suffer fools and her…anti-charisma, let’s say. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged | 3 Comments

The Turn of the Key

Posted on July 16, 2024 by smellincoffee

This….book. I was twenty minutes late returning from lunch because of it, I burned a pizza because of it, I didn’t even notice the thunderstorm was over and it was safe to go in the pool I was housesitting because … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Attachments

Posted on July 15, 2024 by smellincoffee

Lincoln thought he’d snagged a sweet new job as an IT security chief at a large newspaper, until he realized the job description was almost entirely about monitoring staff emails and activity flagged as violations of the company’s computer-use policy. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 9 Comments

One Perfect Couple

Posted on July 13, 2024 by smellincoffee

Lyla is a frustrated virologist in a relationship with an equally frustrated aspiring actor — so when Nico tells her they’ve been invited to join a new reality show called One Perfect Couple, she hesitantly accepts. A reality TV show … Continue reading →

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Saving Cinderella

Posted on July 12, 2024 by smellincoffee

Disney’s adaptations of classic fairy tale and folk stories like Cinderella have charmed girls across generations, but as the decades pass they’ve been subject to increasing criticism that the early princesses were passive sillyhearts lying around waiting to be rescued. … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, Reviews | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Lawless Republic

Posted on July 11, 2024 by smellincoffee

Oh, the times! Oh, the morals! Marcus Tullius Cicero began his legal practice and subsequent political career in tempestuous times: the Roman Republic was actively failing, critically hit during the civil wars between Marius and Sulla, attempting to salvage itself … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

American Phoenix: John Quincy Adams

Posted on July 10, 2024 by smellincoffee

John Quincy Adams was the eldest son of John Adams, who followed the elder’s irascible devotion to principle and found himself an exile for it — after his support for a general embargo against European powers for continuing to harass … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sharpe’s Command

Posted on July 8, 2024 by smellincoffee

The Duke of Wellington is preparing to invade Spain , but there’s a little matter of prep work to do first. The Duke needs to separate French forces in northern and southern Spain, which means destroying a bridge deep behind … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Extinct: searching for murder amid the mammoths

Posted on July 5, 2024 by smellincoffee

Frankie Cash, newly promoted to Agent in Charge at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, has just received a whale of a first case. In an isolated park in the Colorado Mountains, where visitors go to see de-extincted species like woolly … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged , , | 4 Comments