Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Beka Gremikova GENRE: Fantasy Short Story Collection. PUBLICATION DATE: November 30, 2025 RATING: 4.35 stars. In a Nutshell: A sci-fi fantasy story collection about dealing with various kinds of ‘monsters’ – external and internal. Original premises, even as a couple of the stories pay homage to classic fairy tales. Interesting characters, atmospheric writing, reflective plots. Slow-paced. Recommended to young adults and adults. This is the author’s second story collection in the Unexpected Encounters series. I had read the first collection, Unexpected Encounters of a Draconic Kind  in October 2023 and was blown away by the creativity of the storylines. As such, this sophomore collection was a highly anticipated one. To a great extent, it lived up to my expectations. The key phrase in both collections is the series title: Unexpected Encounters. Every story contains some kind of an unexpected encounter, whether fulfilling or risky or adventurous or uncertain. The meet-ups cou...

AUTHOR: Daniel Georges GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: September 15, 2025 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A lovely picture book teaching a much-needed lesson in today’s world. Great story, quirky illustrations, excellent life lessons. A standalone new entrant to the ‘My Crazy Stories’ universe. Recommended. Plot Preview: When Jimmy’s parents are going out for the evening, they leave him in the hands of a new babysitter named Ms. Cherry. Jimmy behaves wonderfully until his parents leave, and then unleashes his hidden side. With him flexing his speed and fearlessness and temper, Ms. Cherry has a tough time keeping up. But then, something happens and Jimmy is forced to question his attitude. The story is written in Jimmy’s first-person perspective. We are living in a material world, and we are raising a material generation because of our short-term thinking. Giving so many things to children – at times, even if they don’t need anything new – trains children to take...

AUTHOR: Jean-Baptiste Aubin GENRE: Maths PUBLICATION DATE: February 3, 2026 RATING: 5 stars! In a Nutshell: Exactly as the title states. A big book of everything pi. Fascinating and hilarious. Not at all dry. Totally enjoyed this book. If only math textbooks were like this! If someone had told me in my school years that I would relish a book about that infernal concept called pi π, I would have laughed right in their face! Not that I didn’t enjoy maths, but so many geometrical formulae involved the use of pi that it became a bugbear. I wish such a book had existed in my childhood. Pi is known to be one of the most enigmatic concepts in mathematics, even when humans (with the aid of computers) have unfurled its decimals to much more than practically necessary. This book seeks to shatter the dread surrounding this concept without sounding like a school textbook, and it is VERY successful in this endeavour. The uniqueness of the approach is that the content is almost conversational despit...

AUTHOR: Clodagh Murphy GENRE: Romance. PUBLICATION DATE: September 6, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A romantic comedy filled with the Irish festive spirit. Forced proximity trope. A good balance of comedy and emotions, though it never gets too intense. Nice characters, though a few are a bit too pushy. Sweet romance, with a teeny bit of steam. A heartwarming read with only a few misses and eyerolls. (Coming from this Grinch, consider this a compliment.) Recommended. Plot Preview: When her boyfriend breaks up with her just a few days before Christmas, Mary McBride longs for a morale boost with her loving family back in Dingle. So she books a last-minute flight from New York to Ireland, hoping to surprise her family. When she reaches home, she discovers that her family had the very same idea, and they have gone to New York to surprise her. Worse, they entered into a house-swap agreement, and Mary has to handle the grumpy Evan Prentiss, who wants his temporary house all to himse...

EDITOR: Sarah Mirk ILLUSTRATORS: Gerardo Alba, Kasia Babis, Alex Beguez, Tracy Chahwan, Nomi Kane, Omar Khouri, Kane Lynch, Maki Naro, Hazel Newlewant, Jeremy Nguyen, Chelsea Saunders, Abu Zubaydah GENRE: Graphic Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: September 8, 2020 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: An illustrated anthology containing true-life narratives related to the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison. Horrifying and infuriating. Definitely recommended, but make sure you are in a good headspace when you read this. The below review comes from an angry place; I apologise if it sounds aggressive. I don’t mean to hurt anyone’s sentiments, but I found it impossible to control my emotions while penning this. I wrote and rewrote my review for this book thrice before finally giving up on all hopes of diplomatic politeness. Each time, no matter how much I tried to stay on point, I was going off topic into a rant about US politics ( both present and past ), its spiteful attitude towards people of non-w...

AUTHOR: McCall Hoyle GENRE: Middle-Grade Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: September 2, 2025 RATING: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A middle-grade fiction about an amazing old dog and her amazing young human. Written in the dog’s POV, which is fabulous. Outstanding characters, storyline, and writing. A strange mix of feel-good and wanna-cry because of the “old” factor. Much recommended. Keep tissues and ice-cream handy. Plot Preview: In her younger years, Ripley was a working dog, guarding the wildlife refuge with Max, the best guy ever. But when Max had to leave, he gave Ripley one final instruction: “Take care of the girls.” And that is what Ripley has been doing these past five years, loving Max’s eleven-year-old daughter Charlie more than anyone else, and taking care of her and “Mom” just like Max had wanted. There’s only one problem: Ripley is aging and she knows that she doesn’t have many seasons left. How can she continue doing her job if she isn't around? Who will take care of “the gir...

AUTHOR: Rachel Pattinson GENRE: Teen Mystery PUBLICATION DATE: November 13, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A teen mystery with some intriguing young characters, good mystery and investigation, and an action-packed ending. Also has a parallel track on alcoholism, which is brilliantly handled. A great option for the target audience. Recommended. Plot Preview: Seven is a thirteen-year-old with an unusual name and uncommon problems. Living with her overworked dad and worried about her alcoholic mom, Seven tries hard to concentrate on lessons, but her mind keeps getting distracted. All changes one day when Mr. O, the caretaker of Riverside Academy who is very kind to the young girl, goes missing. Seven is the last person to see him. And she has his keys. Can she find out what happened to him? The story comes to us in Seven’s first-person perspective. I think the last time I read a detective story featuring a teenager was in my own early teens, when I used to read Nancy Drew and Hardy ...

AUTHOR: Robert Harris GENRE: Religious Thriller PUBLICATION DATE: September 22, 2016 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary religious "thriller" set around a papal election. Interesting and diverse characters, fascinating insight into the conclave and a steady pace. Gripping enough, even when the proceedings became guessable. Many good twists, but went two twists overboard towards the end. Recommended.  (The movie adaptation is so weak compared to the book!) Plot Preview: The Pope has passed away. Cardinal Lomeli, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, has the responsibility of presiding over the next conclave, wherein eligible cardinals from across the globe will gather at the Sistine Chapel and cast their votes in the world's most secretive election: the voting for the next pope of the Catholic church. It's a time where personal faith and politics are judged, ambitions and uncertainties are magnified, and past and present activities are scrutinized without me...

ORIGINAL COMPILERS: Brothers Grimm AUTHOR: Sandra Dieckmann GENRE: Fairy Tale Collection PUBLICATION DATE: September 23, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A collection of some of the best-known and not-so-known fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm works. Many tales updated, some mostly the same. Some are light, some dark. Good for fairytale-loving kids. Parental guidance advised. This collection has twenty fairy tales from the compilations of the Brothers Grimm. Most of the tales are popular ones such as ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’, but there are also a couple of relatively uncommon tales such as ‘Sweet Porridge’ and ‘Jorinda and Joringel’. A few of the tales were known to me under other names. For instance, ‘The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces’ always appeared as ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’ in my fairytale story books. Now you might wonder if we really need yet another fairytale collection based on the Grimm compilations. Aren’t there too many of them in the mark...

AUTHOR: Jacqueline Harpman TRANSLATOR: Ros Schwartz GENRE: Dystopian/Post-apocalyptic. PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 1995 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A brilliant post-apocalyptic fiction about a group of women in a deserted world. Innovative plotline, excellent character development, vivid imagery, thought-provoking writing. A fabulous combination of bleakness and hope. No closure. Much recommended, though not to all. Plot Preview: An unknown time. An unknown place. An underground bunker where forty women reside. They have no memories of how they got there, or of how long they have been there. Most have minimal memories of their lives before this endless, monotonous captivity. The only exception is a teenaged girl who has absolutely no recollection of ever being outside the bunker, and hence doesn’t even know what the others are missing. When an opportunity presents itself for a change, this young girl is the first one to grab it, acting as the beacon of hope for future survival...

AUTHOR: Zoe Persico GENRE: Middle-grade Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: April 1, 2025 RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A beautiful middle-grade graphic novel about a young girl coping with grief and discovering something magical during the healing process. Great characters, touching storyline, nice medley of reality and fantasy, many thought-provoking lessons, fabulous illustrations. Much recommended. Plot Preview: Eleven-year-old Adara hates that her father has decided to uproot them from sunny California and move to cold Michigan to stay with his mother for emotional support. Adara thinks it's too soon after her mom's death to be making such a drastic change, and she's even more annoyed that he doesn't want to talk about his one-sided decision. Adara's mom had been called the Plant Whisperer, and Adara assumed it was only because she was always talking to her plants. But now, she learns that the plants were also talking back to her mom. When Adara gets a beautifu...

AUTHOR: F.T. Lukens NARRATORS: Kevin R. Free and Neo Cihi GENRE: YA Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: April 4, 2023 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A YA Fantasy about two apprentices of rival sorcerers who are forced to team up. Loved the characters, the storyline, and the ending. Great inclusivity and worldbuilding. The YA elements are handled mostly well, except for the F-bombs. Definitely recommended to fans of the genre. Plot Preview: Rook enters the office of Antonia Hex, the most powerful sorcerer in Spire City and owner of a business specialising in breaking curses and hexes and spells, with just one intention in mind: to ask for a job. The last thing he expects is for her to actually accept his request and appoint him as office staff. Of course, he can't reveal to her that he has a secret reason for wanting to be in her employ: he wants to gain access to her spell books for a covert device that he is building. Sun works as an apprentice to Antonia’s rival Fable. Both Fable and S...

AUTHOR: Chris Delyani GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: November 13, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary family drama about an old woman looking for her estranged son. Interesting complex characters, good plot development, steady pacing. Character-oriented. Slightly unsatisfying ending, though this is more about expectations than about writing issues. Recommended. Plot Preview: When ex-fashion designer Norma McKinsey, nearly eighty years of age, crashes her car and lands up in hospital, she realises that she needs to get going on the one task she has been avoiding for many years: looking for her younger son Kevin. He is still with her but only in her thoughts, constantly speaking to her. As Kevin left home twenty-five years ago and hasn’t been in touch since, it is high time Norma sets things right. Her elder son Charlie wishes to move her to a nursing home, but she is adamant that she can manage on her own even in her huge house. Her younger sister Julie...