Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Patrick Nzabonimpa GENRE: Short Story Collection, OwnVoices. PUBLICATION DATE: April 14, 2026 RATING: 3.4 stars. In a Nutshell: An OwnVoices short story collection set in Rwanda. Focused on ordinary citizens caught in unusual circumstances. The writing quality differs across stories, but the plots and characters are distinct enough to hold attention. The endings were a mixed bag for me. Still, a good option for fans of slice-of-life storytelling. This collection contains fourteen stories, each set in Rwanda. Though the setting is visible in many stories, the content is primarily character-oriented, with every story focussing more on its people than on the place or prose. There is no author's note or foreword introducing any theme to this set of stories. The title, though poetic, also doesn’t offer a big clue about the content. The blurb though has a significant clue: “ordinary Rwandans pushed to extraordinary choices […] confront the moments that reshape them—moments where...

AUTHOR: H.G. Parry NARRATOR: Nathaniel Priestley GENRE: Historical Fantasy, Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: June 17, 2025 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A standalone historical portal fantasy blending Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" with fae magic. Interesting characters and writing; average world-building. Somewhat slow. Excellent as a retelling but it might work better for those who know the original novel and those aware of the French revolution. The author is still among my favourites, but this book isn't my favourite of her works. Recommended but not to all. Plot Preview: (Offering just a barebones diluted version. Reasons below in main review.) London, 1780. Sydney Carton works for the fae but is looking for revenge against them. When he bumps into his lookalike Charles Darnay, he finally has that rare opportunity. It will take time, magic, and shrewdness, but Sydney is determined to do whatever it takes to rectify the injustice done to him. The story com...

AUTHOR: Matthew A. Cherry ILLUSTRATOR: Vashti Harrison GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: May 14, 2019 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: An adorable picture book about a little girl and her father indulging in some genuine hair love. Great characters, sweet story, fabulous illustrations. One part of the story could be interpreted in multiple ways, so there's flexibility. Much recommended. Plot Preview: Zuri has "hair with a mind of its own". Every day, her Daddy helps her style it whatever way she wants, and she always loves his efforts. But today is an important day, and she wants her hair to look extra-special. Nothing Daddy creates looks outstanding. Will the duo be able to figure out a creative hairstyle before a special someone comes home? The story comes to us in Zuri's first-person perspective. Note: This review contains plot spoilers, but it's just a picture book, so I hope you'll pardon the reveals. I had first heard of this story ...

AUTHOR: Michael Thompson NARRATOR: Ryan Ennis GENRE: Contemporary Fiction, Magical Realism PUBLICATION DATE: May 21, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary magical realism. Also tagged as romance but I found it tilting more towards general fiction. Good characters, though a bit cookie-cutter. Interesting magical realism. Heartwarming and emotional. This was a fairly strong read for me until the final quarter or so. Still, a good option for those looking for somewhat bittersweet reads. Plot Preview: Dr. Charlie Knight, 38, has spent many years as a GP in the same small town he grew up in. Just as he decides to take a step in a new direction, his life changes. He is suddenly endowed with a mysterious gift, that of knowing exactly how many days his patients have left to live. While this gift is helpful at times, Charlie does not want to know the death dates of his loved ones, and of his ex-girlfriend Genevieve who has just returned from London. Will this new insight turn o...

AUTHOR: Natalie Babbitt GENRE: Middle-grade Fiction, Classic PUBLICATION DATE: 1975 RATING: 1.5 stars. In a Nutshell: How in the world is this a children’s classic and recommended reading in schools? 🤔 I finally got the chance to read this popular classic. While a part of me sees the appeal of the concept – a family that lives forever, I couldn’t find myself impressed with the storytelling or the characters. The plot is too focussed on specifying the whats without any of the whys. This leads to a telling-dominated narrative which irks after a while. The characters also appear flat because of this. There are a few plot holes as well, the biggest one connected to how our narrator ends up with the Tucks. Further, this book has a child kidnapping (leading to Stockholm Syndrome), a stalker, a murder occurring on page, imprisonment, and abetment of a prisoner’s escape – not exactly what I expected in a MG/YA book. Worst of all: I didn’t expect our ten-year-old lead character to express inst...

AUTHOR: Luis Amavisca ILLUSTRATOR: Gusti GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: April 21, 2026 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book about a young superhero who longs for anonymity and ordinary life. Started relevant, but ended in a direction I didn’t see coming. Cute graphics though. Plot Preview: SuperFreddy is a superawesome superhero who saves someone every single day. This makes him very popular in town, with everyone asking his autograph or wanting him to show off his superpower. SuperFreddy feels sad that he has no privacy and no time for personal fun. When his superhero costume is given to the tailor to be fixed, Freddy has to roam around the city in his ordinary clothes, and no one recognises him. Thus he gets a taste of anonymity and enjoys it. Can he now return to being a superhero? This story was originally published in Spanish in 2025 under the title ‘SuperFede’. This English translation is to be released in April 2026. I loved the concept of a super...

AUTHOR: Remy Lai GENRE: Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: January 14, 2025 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A middle-grade graphic novel about a teen girl's chickenpox quarantine time with her younger siblings. Partly biographical. Great sibling dynamics and chickenpox info. 😉 Hit or miss on the other themes. A decent option for the target age group. Plot Preview: Once upon a time, Abby had wished for a younger sibling. But after her parents have given her FOUR younger siblings, the twelve-year-old has had enough! She's tired of being the responsible eldest child and fed up of her siblings’ immaturity. She tries to spend as much time away from home as possible, either at school or going out with her best friends. But when all five siblings get chickenpox, Abby faces a horrifying truth: she needs to stay quarantined in the house with those *animals*! How will she survive without losing her sanity? The story is written in Abby's first-person perspective. I have heard a lot abou...

AUTHOR: Haley Cohen Gilliland NARRATOR: Alejandra Reynoso GENRE: Historical Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: July 15, 2025 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical nonfiction account about the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, a group of braveheart grandmothers in Argentina seeking their lost family members. Covers multiple decades. Good use of flashbacks and present narratives, combining historical and biographical facts to build a complete picture. Disturbing and informative. Recommended. In the late 1970s, many dissidents of the Argentinian dictatorship were rounded up by the soldiers of the military junta and “disappeared”. These citizens might then be imprisoned, tortured, raped, drugged, murdered – sometimes all. Their families rarely heard the details of their fate, and in many cases, had no news even after the dictatorship was overthrown for a democratic government in 1983. Sadly, some of the “disappeared” were pregnant women. When these women gave birth in captivity, their newborn ...

AUTHOR: Elinor Cleghorn GENRE: History, Feminism. PUBLICATION DATE: March 17, 2026 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell; Not a book about ‘mothering’ but about ‘motherhood’. Informative, but slightly dense at times.  Recommended to those more interested into seeing how perceptions about pregnancy, midwifery and the like have evolved through the ages. The tagline says this book is about ‘Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering’. Dictionaries define ‘mothering’ as the activity of caring for and protecting children or other people. So I picked this book up assuming it to be a depiction of the evolving perceptions of childcare over the centuries. However, the book focuses more on motherhood i.e. the literal act of becoming a mother. So it includes pregnancy, labour, and everything else connected to reproduction post-conception.  It does fair justice to these topics, beginning from mothers in mythology, and moving steadily down the centuries covering religious beliefs, social expec...

AUTHOR: Percival Everett GENRE: Historical Fiction, Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: March 19, 2024 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical fiction retelling the story of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn from another character’s point of view. Important to remember that this is satirical in nature, else some of the inclusions will feel farfetched. Other than the exaggerations, it is fairly truthful to history as well as to the historical classic. Dark humour at times; dark emotions more frequent. Triggering for several events related to human enslavement. Works well as a standalone, but you might appreciate it better if you are familiar with Huck’s story. Recommended, but not a must-read. Plot Preview: When Jim, an enslaved man, hears that he is to be sold and hence separated from his wife and his daughter, he runs away until he can come up with a plan to save them all. While in hiding, he bumps into young Huckleberry Finn, who has faked his own death to escape from the clutches of his ab...

AUTHOR: Maria Gianferrari ILLUSTRATOR: Ishaa Lobo GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: December 5, 2023 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book containing a love letter addressed to our four-legged best friends who go beyond being pets. Beautiful doggies, beautiful thoughts, beautiful illustrations. Could have done better on a couple of things, but overall, a lovely option for all dog lovers. Who can resist a dog book, right? I certainly can't, especially not when it's in picture book form. I know such books always give me warm fuzzies – much needed during the crazy times we are currently living through. As the tagline indicates, this picture book is a love letter to the dogs that help us. It is thus written in epistolary style, with the text containing a thank-you letter addressed to dogs. The book is not just about pet dogs but also about dogs in service. We see dogs who provide comfort during difficult times, dogs who provide healing therapy to the...

AUTHOR: Hallie Rubenhold NARRATOR: Louise Brealey. GENRE: Historical Biography, True Crime. PUBLICATION DATE: February 28, 2019 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical account of the women supposedly murdered by Jack the Ripper. Focuses more on the historical and social circumstances and the biographical sketches of the victims than on the murderer or the crime. Informative, but also slightly speculative. Recommended, not to true crime fans but to those looking for a picture of the dark underbelly of Victorian England. I don't read true crime books anymore. With reality being so nightmare-inducing, I don't want anything else to add to my stress and fears. But as this book promised to focus more on the victims than on the crimes, I was intrigued. The resulting reading experience has been quite informative. ‘Jack the Ripper’ is one of the world’s most infamous undetected serial killers. He is known not just for evading capture and identity reveal, but also for choosing stree...

AUTHOR: Peter Svetina ILLUSTRATOR: Ana Razpotnik Donati GENRE: Children's Fiction. PUBLICATION DATE: March 17, 2026 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A wacky picture book about an unexpected champion cyclist. Silly but entertaining story. A bit text-intensive. I’m confused about the message. The cover, though lovely, is a bit misleading. Recommended to those looking for humour than morals in picture books. Plot Preview: Mr. Felix is a quirky man who lives alone and on his own terms. He is messy, doesn’t cut his hair often, always wears the same comfortable overalls, braids his long beard, and chats with college students on various topics. So the last thing the townspeople expect is for the laidback Mr. Felix to even participate in the Grand Bicycle Race, forget being an absolute champion at cycling. However, just like everything else, Mr. Felix cycles also on his own terms. This book was originally published in Slovenian under the title ‘Kako je gospod Feliks tekmoval s kolesom’ i...

AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Dav Pilkey SERIES: The Dragon Tales GENRE: Children's Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 1991. RATING: 4.2 stars. In a Nutshell: A collection of three cute chapter books featuring a dragon with a big heart and a bumbling mind. Quite entertaining. Lovely illustrations as well. Recommended! I knew Dav Pilkey as the creator of some of the silliest and funniest children’s book series with hilarious characters such as Captain Underpants, Dog Man and Cat Kid. My younger daughter is a big fan of his stories. So when my GR friend Darla added this book to her shelf, I knew I had to read it too. And what a fun experience it has been! Each of Pilkey’s Dragon stories is a chapter book featuring a loveable blue dragon named… well… Dragon. We can see right away that he has a large heart that longs for company, but after a few pages, it also becomes clear that his common sense is inversely proportional to his heart. 😅 It is funny to see him goofing along, and also he...

AUTHOR: Ruth Hogan NARRATOR: Mark Elstob GENRE: Contemporary UpLit PUBLICATION DATE: December 6, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction about a group of people coming together for the titular purpose. Good characters (mostly older in age), great concept, genuine emotions. Found family trope. Heartwarming, though a bit too sentimental at times. A nice option for fans of the UpLit genre, though not the best by this author. Plot Preview: Widower George McGlory has tried to make the best of his life after the passing of his wife two years before. He works as a part-time librarian and has an active presence in the community. So when he sees a ‘public health funeral’, with no mourner in attendance and no flowers or candles for the deceased, he is determined to take action so that those who die alone receive a meaningful goodbye. Joining George on his noble quest are several locals/friends such as Roxy the librarian, Elena the florist, Niall the government employee in ...