Rosh's Reviews

EDITOR: B. Morris Allen GENRE: Short Story Anthology PUBLICATION DATE: August 2, 2025 RATING: 3.2 stars. In a Nutshell: An imaginative SFF anthology, with the feather motif and the theme of hope being the common thread across the stories. I was looking for a soothing and uplifting read, but many of the entries went too dark for my current state of mind. I think readers might like the anthology better if they go in with the right expectations. Better for older YA/NA readers. Poetry aficionados might be aware of Emily Dickinson’s poem, "Hope is the Thing with Feathers". This book takes inspiration from the two key ideas of that title: hope and feathers, and brings together nineteen stories intertwining both the elements. I hadn’t even heard of the poem as I have minimal awareness of and liking for poetry. I Googled it before beginning this anthology and understood only the first verse in its entirety. 🤭 Of course, you don’t need to actually search for it. The epigraph of this...

AUTHOR: Jeanette Winter GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 2005 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book about a real-life Iraqi librarian who saved books during the 2003 attacks on the country. Great intent, decent execution. Doesn't fill all gaps due to the limitation of format. A good way to learn about a brave woman. "In the Koran, the first thing God said to Muhammad was ‘Read’." – Alia Muhammad Baker. Alia Muhammad Baker was the chief librarian working with the Central Library in the Iraqi port city of Basra. The library was a welcoming place for all bibliophiles to indulge in bookish discussions. But when news of the war came , the discussions changed to personal issues such as anxiety and uncertainty. Alia was also worried that her beloved books would be destroyed in the fires of war. When the governor refused to give her permission to move out the books, several of which were rare old editions, Alia took matters into her own ...

AUTHOR: Quentin Zuttion GENRE: Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: November 30, 2022 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A graphic novel depicting one day in the life of a French family, the day after Princess Diana’s death. Clever use of the tragedy without milking it for melodrama. Excellent writing with many poignant moments. Slice-of-life in the best possible way. Great illustrations. Much recommended. Plot Preview: One day after Princess Diana’s death. Eight-year-old Lulu loves playing with his dolls, putting on his mom’s lipstick, and enacting fairy tales with his best friend Yoyo, even dreaming of kissing Yoyo after a fairy tale rescue. Lulu’s elder sister Cam has a secret older boyfriend sneaking into her bedroom at night, unknown to anyone else except Lulu. Their mother is waiting for their father, who didn’t come home the previous night. When he finally comes, they realise that something needs to change. We see this day from the perspective of the three key characters: Lulu, Cam, ...

AUTHOR: Katherine Center GENRE: Romcom PUBLICATION DATE: July 11, 2023 RATING: 2.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary romance-drama featuring a FMC with an unusual medical issue. Good characters though a tad too peppy and/or self-centred at times. Interesting use of the medical diagnosis. Most of the book was great as per the genre, with a good balance of rom and com. But the final quarter had too farfetched a situation. Still, not a bad option, especially considering the kind of plots we usually get in this genre. Plot Preview: Twenty-year-old Sadie is poised for the big change in her lacklustre career as a portrait artist: she has placed in the top ten finalists in one of the biggest portrait competitions. Unfortunately, life brings to her another big change, a catastrophic one. Just a few weeks before the finals, she has to undergo an emergency medical procedure and subsequently, gets diagnosed with a “possibly-temporary-but-we-can’t-say-for-sure” condition commonly known as face...

AUTHOR: J.H. Foster SERIES: Rebels and Resistance #0.5 GENRE: Historical Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: June 10, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A prequel story to the Rebels and Resistance series. Good pacing and plot. A bit hurried at times. Offers a good glimpse of the key characters, but could have done with some more detailing in the emotional bits. Regardless, it does its job as a prequel. I am curious to know these interesting characters more through the main novels. Plot Preview: April 1933, Austria. Hannah, a fifteen-year-old Jewish orphan, lives under the care of her strict Catholic guardian Herr Weisz. His son Pieter is a part of the SS, which makes the situation at home even more restrictive. Hannah’s only friend is Weisz’s niece Katarina, who is three years older. Katarina convinces Hannah to join her into one last jaunt to the city before they have to return to their respective schools. However, their secret escapade turns dangerous when they are caught in the middle o...

AUTHOR: Pedro Íñiguez ILLUSTRATOR: Nathan Kwan GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: October 7, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book about the dangers of fibbing. Cute story and cute illustrations. A good lesson for little ones (and adults) to remember. Recommended, but it will work better with discussions. Plot Preview: Second-grader Pepe planned to use the comic book he had drawn on Show-and-Tell day. But after seeing his classmates’ presentations, he is embarrassed at the childishness of his work. So he takes a ball of lint from his pocket and spins a lie about it being a magical creature with impressive physical features. Unfortunately for Pepe, his fib soon turns into reality. Worse, his “fib” grows every time Pepe fibs about its qualities. The danger seems to balloon out of Pepe’s control. How can he restore normalcy and get rid of the giant Fib monster? This is a clever book that uses a creative story to drive home an important point: even small...

AUTHOR: Sarah Andersen SERIES: Sarah's Scribbles, #5 GENRE: Sequential Art Novel PUBLICATION DATE: October 1, 2024 RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: The fifth graphic novel in the Sarah's Scribbles series. Standalone. Hilarious. Much more relatable to me as this is about thirty-plus-aged adult introverts rather than younger adults. Half the book contains comic strips and half contains her journey as an artist. Recommended. Whether you know the artist Sarah Andersen or not, you might have seen at least one of her comics somewhere on the internet. Many of her comic strips have been turned into memes. And as she often writes about topics that are relatable, the memes too end up hitting the right spot between factual and funny. Each book in her Sarah's Scribbles series contains a collection of her comic strips based on some dominant theme. Of course, the comics only partly cater to the main theme as they also cover some funny universal truths. This time around, the theme is the...

AUTHOR: Emily Buchanan GENRE: Contemporary Dystopian. PUBLICATION DATE: July 1, 2025 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: Partly, a romance-drama about an influencer who thinks that her dead boyfriend has been reincarnated as a plant. Partly, a near-future dystopian climate fiction. (Could you guess the second genre from the cover?) Not a light read. Somewhat unlikeable characters, slow-ish pacing, a bit bizarre and meandering in its plot development. Highlights the perils of social media, but also portrays environmentalists in a slightly lopsided manner. Mixed feelings, not just because the plot didn’t go the way I thought it would. Plot Preview: Thirty-two-year-old Fiona, popular online as @FoliageFifi, hasn’t left her house ever since her boyfriend Ed died three months ago. All that she had worked for – her role as a green influencer on social media as well as the environmental activism she did jointly with Ed, is now ignored. When a houseplant is left at her doorstep with an anonymous n...

AUTHOR: Tonya Mitchell GENRE: Historical Suspense. PUBLICATION DATE: August 19, 2025 RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical suspense with mild elements of thriller, paranormal and romance. Fabulous storyline, great characters, excellent historical content, outstanding atmosphere. Medium-paced for the most way. Though a couple of things could have gone better for me, I enjoyed this read. Gripping all the way. Much recommended! DON’T READ THE GR BLURB! Plot Preview: 1841. Philadelphia. Seventeen-year-old Annis has had to flee from New York with her younger brother Ben, though she doesn’t reveal the reason to him. With no family alive, all Annis has is a possibly-cursed family heirloom and her artistic talent to survive. When, after an accident, she is offered work as a medical illustrator by the awe-inspiring Dr. Mütter, Annis hopes that she can leave the past behind and finally secure their future. However, a ghost doesn’t let Annis forget what happened in New York. She can only...

AUTHOR: Sangu Mandanna GENRE: Cozy Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: July 15, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A cozy fantasy about a witch who tries to grab a second chance at getting her powers back. Wonderful and mostly whimsical characters, funky magic, great diversity, good storyline, and a satisfying ending. BUT the “cutesy-ness” feels a bit forced this time and the book contains two things that I don’t prefer in cozies: cursing and spice. Still, a good option for fans of the genre, especially if they enjoy twee adult stories. I liked this, but I loved the author’s earlier novel much more. Plot Preview: Lancashire, England. Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches in the country. But when she resurrected the only parent-figure in her life, her great-aunt Jasmine, immediately after her death, Sera lost almost all her powers and was exiled from the Guild for indulging in illegal magic. Now, fifteen years later, thirty-year-old Sera, grumpy and frustrated at the loss of her...

AUTHOR: Moira Butterfield ILLUSTRATOR: Ro Ledesma GENRE: Children's Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: August 19, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A funny and informative picture book about the various hics and toots of the human body. Educational in content and entertaining in tone. A good choice for any child (and adult) interested in anatomical noises. 😉 You already know that the human body makes sounds. Not counting our verbalised intelligible communication, we still create plenty of noises. Involuntary audible sounds through farts, burps, stomach gurgles ( It’s called “borborygmi”! I never knew! ), hiccups, and so on; hidden involuntary sounds inside of our body that we are never aware of such as heartbeats; sounds coming because of age or illnesses such as creaky joints or coughs; voluntary sounds we make while blowing raspberries or shushing someone at the library; and even voluntary noises such as claps – the book covers it all. There are also several examples of animal (and...

AUTHOR: Wilfrid Lupano ILLUSTRATOR: Stéphane Fert GENRE: Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: February 11, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A graphic novel about the first Black girls’ school in the USA. Great historical insights, but too short to do justice to the storyline. Still, worth a pick for the light it shines on a relatively unknown part of history. Better suited to older teens and adults as it is quite dark and upsetting. Plot Preview: 1832. Canterbury, Connecticut. When young Sarah has questions about the oddities she sees in nature, she goes to Prudence Crandall, a young white woman who runs a boarding school, for clarifications. Seeing Sarah’s curiosity sparks an idea in Prudence and she takes Sarah as her first Black student. She is motivated enough to advertise for more Black students to join them. Thus, thirty years before the abolition of slavery, in a place where Blacks were legally free but practically without civil rights, fifteen girls become a happy part of the...

AUTHOR: Allen Eskens GENRE: Contemporary Mystery PUBLICATION DATE: February 18, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A dual-timeline mystery. Interesting lead character, good story, great historical content. Quite gruesome in the war-related bits. A tad too convenient at times, and the romance subplot track annoyed me (as expected). But on the whole, a worthwhile read. Plot Preview: Minnesota. Hana is a reserved forty-seven-year old librarian who keeps her personal life guarded. When a detective comes to her with the news that her best friend Amina has been murdered, Hana knows that her past has finally caught up with her. But as no one else knows who she was or what she did, Hana has to rely on her instincts and her old training to protect herself and also Amina’s eight-year-old grandson who has been left in Hana’s care. The story comes to us in two timelines, both written in third person. One is the contemporary track from Hana’s point of view. The other is from 1995, set during the ...

AUTHOR: Jeyamohan TRANSLATOR: Priyamvada Ramkumar GENRE: Short Story Collection PUBLICATION DATE: August 12, 2025 RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A collection of stories all based on real-life people. The first ever translation of Tamil writer Jeyamohan’s work to English. Slice-of-life writing, which rarely works for me. Not sure if this will easily find an audience among non-Indians in the USA as the content is quite parochial. Better suited to readers who enjoy non-linear, meandering narratives and preferably have some familiarity with the (South) India of historical and recent times. Jeyamohan is a prolific Tamil writer, currently based in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. He has won many prestigious awards for his writing. This is his first work to be translated to English. It was initially published in Tamil in 2011 as "Aram - Unmai Manithargalin Kathai". The first English translation was published in India in 2022. This US edition of the English version is due for release in Aug...