OATHBRINGER – Brandon Sanderson

“We could just skip the boring part.” “Skip?” Wit said, aghast. “Skip part of a story?”… “You wound me.” I’ve said before and I still believe that Wit/Hoid is Sanderson in his works. This particular quote comes at a point in Oathbringer (Tor 2017) where I was starting to get over the story – IContinue reading “OATHBRINGER – Brandon Sanderson”

TIME SHELTER – Georgi Gospodinov

“Now, there’s everything you need to for a true beginning  – bad dreams, war, and a headache.” “I had already lived through what was to come.” Current installment of Tommi Reads the World – we’re still in the Bs. Country: BulgariaTitle: Time ShelterAuthor: Georgi GospodinovLanguage: BulgarianTranslator: Angela RodelPublisher: Liveright Publishing Company 2022 (originally published 2020) Georgi Gospondinov’sContinue reading “TIME SHELTER – Georgi Gospodinov”

WILD DARK SHORE – Charlotte McConaghy

“I loved a landscape and watched it burn.” I really enjoyed Charlotte McConaghy’s Once There Were Wolves (2021), and Migrations (2020) has been sitting on my TBR cart for years, so picking Wild Dark Shore ( Flatiron Books 2025) as my BOTM selection was a no brainer.  I was a bit concerned that it wouldContinue reading “WILD DARK SHORE – Charlotte McConaghy”

OATHBOUND – Tracy Deonn

“What is a bargain if not an oath? And what is an oath if not a promise with a price? Call these what you will. All are cut from the same cloth -a cloth woven of intention, will, and sacrifice.” The long-awaited third installment of Tracy Deonn’s remarkable The Legendborn Cycle was released this pastContinue reading “OATHBOUND – Tracy Deonn”

WRITTEN IN BLACK – KH Lim

“There’s a Malay word called geram, and it describes a feeling that no English term I know could properly communicate. Imagine the worst itch in the world, an itch one hundred times worse than the itchiest bite that the itchiest mosquito could ever give you, but that it’s inside you, stirring up all your internalContinue reading “WRITTEN IN BLACK – KH Lim”

EDGEDANCER – Brandon Sanderson

“I gots magic spit.” You’re likely going to get sick of me talking about Brandon Sanderson, but, as you’re aware, it is indeed the year of Sanderson.  My second February selection is Edgedancer, a “novella” (though arguably more of a novel) that is part of The StormLight Archive.  I believe it’s best referred to asContinue reading “EDGEDANCER – Brandon Sanderson”

WORDS OF RADIANCE – Brandon Sanderson

“No apologize. Boots.” “I know most stories, But I’d never sung this one before.” “The storm catches everyone, eventually.” My “Year of Sanderson” continues, and the first Sanderson selection of February was Words of Radiance. (Edgedancer rounded out the month, but I’ll get to that later.) The second book of The Stormlight Archive accomplished somethingContinue reading “WORDS OF RADIANCE – Brandon Sanderson”

GOOD DIRT – Charmaine Wilkerson

“She is no stranger to keeping time by what she has lost.” When I reviewed Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel, Black Cake, back in 2022, I remarked that it was a solid debut, but I wished the transitions between POVs and timelines had been smoother. Her sophomore novel, Good Dirt (Ballantine Books 2025), similarly jumps timelines andContinue reading “GOOD DIRT – Charmaine Wilkerson”

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANNAH CRAFTS – Gregg Hecimovich

Nearly twenty decades now, I fancied myself a wannabe or soon-to-be scholar, and while my focus centered on South African literature, I liked to apply postcolonial theories and the concept of “the empire writes back” to African American literature and the use of canonical works in carving out stories.  I was also a person whoContinue reading “THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANNAH CRAFTS – Gregg Hecimovich”

PS: I HATE YOU – Lauren Connolly

Lauren Connolly’s PS: I Hate You (Berkley Romance 2024) is absolutely stinking adorable.  It reminded me a little bit of Abby Jimenez’s Just for the Summer, especially as it related to the mental health aspects and the general goofy smile reading the novel left on my face, and I loved it.  Long story short –Continue reading “PS: I HATE YOU – Lauren Connolly”