Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Dawn Huebner ILLUSTRATOR: Irma Ruggiero GENRE: Children's Nonfiction, Self-help Guide PUBLICATION DATE: January 7, 2025 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: An practical resource on anger management. Way more helpful than that ineffectual count-to-ten technique. Targeted at kids, but useful for everyone. This is the revised edition of the original interactive self-help book by the same title, first published in 2007. It retains the key elements of the original and adds in strategies for mindfulness and updated advice for today’s issues. I didn't pick this book to learn anger management techniques for my children, both of whom have a temper ( which is normal ) but not an explosive one ( thank heavens! ) This book was more for me. I've struggled with my temper since my childhood and instead of being taught how to manage those emotions, I was always rebuked and told to "stop it." ( Ironic, isn't it? Parents lose their temper and scold us to keep a handle ...

AUTHOR: Helen Phifer GENRE: Contemporary Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: January 7, 2025 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary fantasy about facing your fears to reach a happy ending. Interesting characters and plot, but somewhat YA in approach. The magic had potential but the logical loopholes were distracting. The titular bookstore is not the central part of the story. You might like the book better if you take off your thinking cap before reading. Plot Preview: Present day, London. Thirty-three-year-old Dora English, a florist, is stunned when her aunt plans a trip to Salem to visit their family. Dora always assumed that the two of them had only each other. Now, she discovers that even her mother, whom she had presumed dead, is alive. But the reunion isn’t a happy one. Dora discovers that her family has been hiding certain secrets from her. The most shocking one is that their survival hinges on finding a bookstore that no one in the family has seen for generations. Now Dora ha...

  AUTHOR:  Nancy Christie GENRE: Short Story Collection PUBLICATION DATE: February 4, 2025 RATING: 3.9 stars. In a Nutshell: A delightful short story collection focussing on all aspects of love. Yes, “love”, not “romance”! Interesting plots, multiple emotions, steady paced, beautiful endings ranging from sweet to bittersweet. Not corny or mushy as you might assume. Much recommended! I had misjudged this short story collection on initial glance, dismissing it as being cheesy romance tales. ( Very hasty and judgemental of me, I admit. No offence intended to readers of the genre. It is just that I no longer enjoy such stories .) As the cover gave me romance vibes, I almost decided that this is not for me. But then, the title made me pause, bringing to my mind the fabulous "The Five Love Languages of Children" by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell – probably the only self-help/inspirational book I've read that I found authentic and practical. I wondered if the "language...

AUTHOR: Heather Fawcett SERIES: Emily Wilde, #3 GENRE: Cosy Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: February 11, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: The third book of the Emily Wilde series. Not a standalone. Great characters,. Slow-ish pacing. Too convenient and flat in the plotting. Not as dark as could have been. Recommended in publication order only to those who are keen on completing the series. Not my favourite of the series by far. (Note: This review might contain minor spoilers from the earlier two Emily Wilde books.) Plot Preview: 1910. Emily still can’t accept that she might soon be the Queen of Faerie. An accomplished mortal scholar on faeries, she is now working on her biggest research topic – studying the faerie realm with her foe-turned-fiancé Wendell, who is making plans to recapture his rightful position as the King of Faerie. However, the duo soon learn that Wendell’s stepmother, the earlier queen, has placed a curse upon the kingdom. Wendell can use his magic to save his ho...

AUTHOR: Ben Raterman GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: March 26, 2024 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction spanning several genres. Intriguing storyline and several compelling characters, but the narrative technique didn’t work for me. To those who aren’t fussy about writing styles, I’d still recommend this book as the storyline is very interesting. Better suited to adults, despite the cover indicating otherwise. Plot Preview: Siblings Justine and Joseph (aged 8 and 6) have decided to look for the house where one of their ancestors Jannie worked as a maid. According to their grandma Etta, the house holds jewellery belonging to Jannie. As their financial circumstances aren’t great, and their situation is worsened by their irresponsible mom’s abusive boyfriend, Justine hopes to find the jewellery and sell it for enough to rescue them from their miserable trailer park home. With the help of a resourceful librarian named Katy, the kids find the old house. B...

AUTHOR: Hasu August GENRE: Contemporary Drama PUBLICATION DATE: January 14, 2025 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary drama about the struggles faced by an ordinary family in China. Has some interesting topics that aren’t commonly seen in OwnVoices Chinese fiction, but the plot needs more structuring. The blurb is somewhat misleading, but surprisingly, the actual content is even better than the blurb. A good option if you aren’t too fussy about a meandering writing style. Plot Preview: Thirty-three-year-old Jade Bai, an HR professional with an MNC, is married into an influential family. Her father-in-law is a top-tier government official, leading to his getting many envelopes to earn favour, though he always refuses the offerings thanks to his uprightness. When Jade becomes pregnant, her mind goes to through the events of the past seven years, many of which have left long-term guilt, grief, and trauma. Can she let go of the past and accept the pregnancy? The story comes to ...

AUTHOR: Zahid Rafiq GENRE: Short Story Collection PUBLICATION DATE: December 3, 2024 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: An OwnVoices debut story collection focussing on the lives of ordinary citizens in Kashmir. Good stories, but none made me go “Wow!” in any way. Barebones in description but great in character sketches. Slice of life in every way, so if this writing style doesn’t work for you, the book might not. This debut collection of eleven stories focusses on the lives of ordinary people in Kashmir, a conflicted territory ever since the Indo-Pak partition with both nations fighting over its “ownership”. Most stories that are set in this region focus on terrorism, soldier brutalities, religious discrimination, or rebellion. This book is one of the rare ones that focusses only on common people and common problems without forcing in aggression and uncertainty into every scene. As the author is from Srinagar ( the summer capital of Kashmir ), I had been looking forward to getting a genu...

AUTHOR: Lesley Parr ILLUSTRATOR: Richard Johnson GENRE: Middle-Grade Historical Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: April 10, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A nice middle-grade historical fiction about an unlikely pair of foes-turned-friends. Realistic characters who aren’t too goody-goody, some heartwarming moments, good life lessons, and to top it all, a cat with ‘cattitude’. Recommended! Plot Preview: 1979. Wales. Eleven-year-old Hayley hates her neighbour Lillian because she is scary and because Hayley’s cat Judy Garland keeps sneaking into Lillian’s garden. Lillian, who Hayley secretly calls “Boo” never leaves her house, though the council wants to knock her house down for a new development. However, one day, Hayley is forced to interact with the old lady, and this creates a slow, somewhat unsure bond between them that strengthens as time passes. But a new incident leads to a misunderstanding. Will Hayley lose her new friend without a chance of explaining what had happened? The stor...

AUTHOR: Kate Quinn GENRE: Historical Mystery PUBLICATION DATE: July 18, 2024 RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A character-driven historical fiction set in the oft-ignored 1950s. Excellent character sketches, great plotline, excellent research, good suspense. Goes a bit overboard on the jingoism, but this might not be an issue for everyone. Definitely recommended. Plot Preview: 1950, Washington D.C. Briar House is an all-female boarding-house run by the stingy Mrs. Nelson who wants the money but not the work. Her children, teen Pete and tween Lena, bear the brunt of her behaviour. The boarders also mostly stay to themselves. This changes when widowed Grace March moves into the attic room. With her friendliness and care, she draws all the neighbours into a tightly knit group, even though she herself stays an enigma. The weekly dinner parties, conducted when Mrs. Nelson is out on her weekly bridge night, soon become a highlight for all the residents and the two Nelson children. But one...

AUTHOR: Helen H. Wu ILLUSTRATOR: Zihua Yang GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: January 7, 2025 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A wonderful OwnVoices picture book about a young girl’s attempt at making the perfect pot for the lunar year. Great story, great life lessons, great illustrations, great representation, great information. Recommended! Plot Preview: Ping and her grandpa have brought home a little tangerine tree for the Lunar New Year. The tree is lovely but the pot it is planted in is plain. So Ping decides to make the perfect pot to go with the special tree. This task turns out to be tougher than she assumed as all her attempts fail in some way or the other. What if she cannot make the perfect pot in time for the celebrations? Will the new year be ruined? I like how the setting isn’t specified in the book. So the story can fit in any Asian location celebrating this special occasion as well as in an Asian-dominant locality in another country such as the...

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Arthur Conan Doyle ADAPTOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Julien Choy SERIES: Manga Classics Sherlock Holmes Vol. 1 GENRE: Manga PUBLICATION DATE: January 21, 2025 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A wonderful option for manga lovers to experience Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘A Study in Scarlet’. Faithful to the original. Full-colour graphics. Sherlock and Watson look too young to be convincing, but the rest is great. Plot Preview: The same story as ‘A Study in Scarlet’, the very first novel where ace detective Sherlock Holmes makes his appearance. This manga is faithful to the classic in every relevant way, skipping out only a few of the relatively unimportant scenes. Let me again begin by reminding manga newbies that this book is almost in traditional manga format, with the reverse right-to-left pattern of storyboarding. ‘Almost’ because unlike most manga, this is in full colour. ‘A Study in Scarlet’ is the first of the four Sherlock Holmes novels ( The rest of his detective outi...

AUTHOR: John Wiswell GENRE: Horror-Fantasy-Romance PUBLICATION DATE: April 2, 2024 RATING: April 2, 2024 In a Nutshell: A quirky fantasy-horror-sapphic-romance with a shapeshifting monster as the main character. Not my usual kind of read, but I found the concept interesting, and thankfully, the book mostly lived up to the potential. Recommended to those looking for an eccentric fantasy. Plot Preview: Shesheshen is a shapeshifting monster who had been hibernating in bliss until her sleep was disturbed by hunters intent on killing her. Using her present skills and her past kills to construct a body for herself, she somehow fools the hunters, even eats one of them, and escapes out of her home. Unfortunately, she ends up falling off a cliff, where she is rescued and nursed back to health by Homily, a kind human woman who has no idea about Shesheshen’s true identity. Unfortunately, the cliff isn’t the only thing Shesheshen fell over. She also falls in love with her saviour. But not the way ...