Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Moira Macdonald GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: June 3, 2025 RATING: 3.5 stars In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction about a misunderstanding that lasts too long. Character-driven, with some well-sketched characters in the lead. Interesting story, though it is built upon a plot hole. Slightly slow-paced and repetitive. Recommended but not to all. Better if not read as a romance, and definitely not as a romcom, despite that cutesy cover. Plot Preview: Seattle. April, who works from home in a tech job, finds herself increasingly lonely. In desperation, she leaves an anonymous love note for Westley, an employee of a local indie bookstore whose job is to sort out the piles of used books. However, Westley, who is lost in his own issues, doesn’t even notice the note, and when he sells the book to Laura, a middle-aged single mom who hasn’t even considered dating after the death of her husband five years back, she assumes that he has written the note for her. Thus begins...

AUTHOR: Emily Norris ILLUSTRATOR: Malgorzata Detner GENRE: Music. PUBLICATION DATE: July 15, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A beginner’s set of holiday songs for the piano. Easy enough, but basic music knowledge is required. Recommended to those who can sight-read notes on the two clefs. I had read this author’s earlier book, ‘My First Piano Lessons’ last year and found it very helpful as a beginner’s guide to playing on the piano. This book, the third in her Beginners series, takes the journey to the next level. The book contains music sheets for twenty-five Christmas songs. Many of the songs are classic carols, but there are a few relatively unknown inclusions as well. The carols are fairly divided between religious carols (Come to the manger, The First Noel,…) and generic holiday songs (We Wish You a Merry Christmas, The Holly and the Ivy,…) The overall variety is quite good. The initial hand positions and note letters have been clearly indicated at the top of each song sheet...

AUTHOR: M.J. Buckman GENRE: General Fiction. PUBLICATION DATE: July 1, 2025 RATING: 1.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction about a middle-aged library assistant who discovers a new purpose in life after learning about some unknown historical women through letters. This book could have been outstanding given its premise, but the execution was truly lacklustre in every way, whether writing or plot development or character detailing or the “letters”. I am so disappointed at the missed opportunity because with better writing and editing, this would have been an easy recommendation to make. Plot Preview: Helena, who is in her mid-fifties, is a library assistant but not so happy with her job as it isn't exactly what she thought it would be – she truly thought she would get more time to read. When a library patron, eighty-six-year-old Cynthia, comes to Helena with a series of letters collected by her late historian daughter and written by unknown women achievers from across hist...

AUTHOR: Yuu Minaduki GENRE: Manga PUBLICATION DATE: April 15, 2025 RATING: 1.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A yaoi manga about trauma and grief and hope and moving on. Tremendous promise, tremendous disappointment. Lacklustre in almost every way. This is an outlier review. Plot Preview: After the sudden death of his parents and his sister in an accident, Yuichi finds himself the sole guardian of his seven-year-old nephew Ayumu. Seeking a fresh start, the two move into a new neighbourhood with the ocean nearby. Yuichi hopes that the serenity of the location will help them both find peace and bonding. As Yuichi’s skills in the kitchen are less than ideal, the two frequent the neighbourhood deli, run by Ryo. Yuichi and Ryo soon become close, but it is clear that their individual pasts still hold much trauma. Bookish Yays: 🌊 Ayumu. 66.67% of my star rating is for him. 🌊 It’s standalone, unlike most manga. 🌊 The artwork. Quite good. Probably the saving grace for those who enjoy manga-style...

AUTHOR: Sally Hepworth SERIES: Alibis Collection, #2 GENRE: Short Story. PUBLICATION DATE: June 2, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: The second story in the Alibis collection. Quite entertaining as long as you know what to expect from this author. Better read as a domestic drama than as a thriller, even though the mystery is decent. A nice, quick, one-time read. Plot Preview: A reputed chef is found dead in the walk-in freezer at his restaurant. On the night of his death, all three of his ex-wives and his two adult children were present at the restaurant. The former three, because they have a tradition of meeting every Friday for dinner. The latter two, because they work at the restaurant. Each of them has a strong motive to kill the chef, but each of them also has an alibi. Now it is up to Detective Charlene Li to sort through the clues and figure out what happened. If only her assistant weren’t such a nincompoop. The story comes to us from the third-person perspective of almo...

AUTHOR: Catherine Ryan Hyde GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: May 6, 2025 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction about a young man who finally learns the value of self-acceptance. Excellent characters, storyline, writing, and life lessons. Drags a little in the final few chapters, but overall, a beautiful and meaningful read. Much recommended. Plot Preview: When Michael was seven, he had a near-fatal accident that left him with severe physical scars and eventually led to foster care. Now nineteen, Michael has learnt to keep his scars hidden. On signing up for film class, he is taken aback on seeing that his professor Robert Dunning is also disfigured, but unlike Michael, he doesn’t hide his scars. Encouraged by Dunning, Michael plans to make a documentary about body image issues in scarred people. When he places an ad seeking potential interviewees, he learns that too many people in society are unhappy with their bodies. With their stories and also his ...

AUTHOR: Freya Novak ILLUSTRATOR: Anastasiya Halionka GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: June 12, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A cute picture book that delivers on characters and vocabulary. Decent plot, adorable illustrations, great learning opportunities. A lovely option for kids who love animals. Plot Preview: Dallas Dingo is the elevator operator at the Ragtag Hotel. One sweltering afternoon, his elevator is inundated by guests who find the heat unbearable and want to go to the fourteenth floor. Dallas tries to accommodate them all, but will the elevator be able to carry so many animals? And why does everyone want to go to the fourteenth floor? While picture books usually deliver best when they have a great plot + illustrations combo, this book delivers despite having an okayish plot because it shines in everything else. To be clear, the storyline is quite decent for a picture book. But I would have liked some kind of introduction to the Ragtag Hotel...

AUTHOR: Hannah Shaw GENRE: Language PUBLICATION DATE: July 1, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A compilation of feline idioms and proverbs from various languages. Informative and entertaining. Cute illustrations as well. A good gift option for cat lovers and word lovers. English has plenty of feline phrases, ranging from ‘Who will bell the cat?’ to ‘Curiosity killed the cat’ to the titular ‘Cat got your tongue?’ This book helps us realise how ubiquitous the presence of cats is even in other languages. Popularly known as “Kitten Lady”, the author is an animal advocate, kitten rescuer, and professional cat photographer. ( She has also penned the lovely-sounding “Cats of the World”, which my library fortunately has. I am adding it to my immediate reading list. ) This hardcover edition contains sixty cat-related phrases, gathered by her during her travels across thirty countries. This book begins with a brilliant introductory note by the author that sets the right tone for the ma...

AUTHOR: Lucy Jane Wood SERIES: Rewitched, #1 GENRE: Cosy Fantasy. PUBLICATION DATE: September 17, 2024. RATING: 1.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A cosy fantasy with an immature lead character who never acts her age. Decent plot intent but too padded out. More of monotony than magic. This was a slogfest for me. Plot Preview: Belle, a witch who hides her magical powers from the humans around her, used to enjoy working at Lunar Books, but her new boss seems intent on butchering any customer-friendly ideas under the guise of corporate efficiency. To add to her troubles, just before her thirtieth birthday, there is a summons from her coven: there will be a trial to test her worthiness, and if she fails to pass the test, her magic will be stripped away. Belle has no choice but to prove that she deserves her magic, even if it means interacting with a mentor of questionable integrity and an intrusive “watchman” sworn to protect her. The story comes to us in Belle’s third-person perspective. Let’s b...

AUTHOR: Nancy Vo GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: August 30, 2022 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A cheeky little nonfiction picture book about boobies. Not the avian variety but the mammalian kind. A good introductory book on external mammary anatomy. Though I admit I wanted to read about the avian boobies. “You have just opened a book about boobies.” 👀 From the cover, I honestly thought this book would be about the blue-footed booby! (I should have paid more attention to the placement of the two O’s! 🤭) But the book turned out to be about the other boobies – a surprise. Some of the jokes would be lost on readers who are unaware of the bird species known as “booby.” But this nature lover always found the bird’s name hilarious and hence I was thrilled to find a picture book about the bird. I am still unsure if I am happy or not about the unexpected direction this book went in. The content begins with the bird but soon moves to mammalian mammary glands, covering v...

AUTHOR: Mikhail Iossel GENRE: Short Story Collection PUBLICATION DATE: August 1, 2025 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A literary collection of one-sentence stories. Not microfiction, unlike what I had assumed. Stretches the meaning of the word ‘sentence’. Hence this didn’t work that well for me, though I appreciate the creativity. This book contains 38 entries, each written in a single sentence. In my ignorance, I thought these would be microfiction stories conveying everything in a sentence. This is right and wrong. Every entry has just one sentence, true. But the sentence spans many lines, and often, even many pages. The collection doesn’t have a fictional feel to it as the entries are based on the authors’ musings and memories of his native Soviet Union and his observations on general human behaviour. The author had emigrated from Soviet Union to USA at the age of thirty, so his reminiscences of his earlier life are from an adult perspective and not necessarily full of nostalgic l...

  AUTHOR:  Jaimie Admans SERIES: The Ever After Street, #5 GENRE: Romance-Drama. PUBLICATION DATE: May 26, 2025. RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary romance-drama with a Little Mermaid twist. The fifth book of the Ever After Street series, and can be read as a standalone. It had a few charming moments, but didn’t work too well for me, partly due to my reading preferences and partly because of the lacklustre characters and romance. My least favourite of all the books I have read by this author so far. This is an outlier review.   Plot Preview:  Thirty-eight-year-old Mickey runs a quaint curiosity shop on the charming Ever After Street. Lately, the number of customers and sales has dwindled, but she has hopes that her beloved curios will find a new home someday. Until Ren walks in with his no-filter attitude and points out all the reasons Mickey’s shop is a mess. Ren’s teenage daughter Ava is much friendlier to Mickey, though she too has her s...

AUTHOR: Deborah Underwood ILLUSTRATOR: Jorge Lacera SERIES: Fairy Tale Fixers, #1 GENRE: Middle-grade Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: August 12, 2025. RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A children’s comic about a bumbling “fairy” forced to turn godmother for Cinderella. Whimsical, witty, and wonderful! Love how it adds its own twist to the Cinderella story. I had great fun reading this. Much recommended. Plot Preview: Fairy, a trenchcoat-wearing rat ( or mouse – not sure ), works as a fixer of fairy tales. When something goes wrong in stories, he steps into the book and sorts out the issue. Rather, he claims to do so. His latest client Mouse discovers, much to her surprise and dismay, that Fairy has no idea how to resolve most messes, and that he wings the solutions as he goes along. Mouse can see that he needs help, probably as much help as Cinderella does. Can Fairy and Mouse work together to fix Cinderella’s life without worsening the situation? I enjoy fairy tale retellings. But t...

AUTHOR: Bertie Stephens GENRE: Middle-grade Eco-Fiction. PUBLICATION DATE:  June 26, 2025. RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A middle-grade STEM adventure that combines science and fantasy and environmental awareness and humour. Interesting characters and a creative storyline. A bit too episodic and disjointed for my liking, but kids might enjoy the magical mayhem more. First of a series; minor cliffhanger ending. Plot Preview: Eleven-year-old Ellie Ment doesn’t believe in magic. As a self-proclaimed scientist, all her passion is for science. After all, it provides an explanation for everything. But when Ellie’s school burns down in a purple inferno and her favourite teacher hands her some strange wrist braces that conjure up the elements, Ellie struggles to search for an explanation. Determined to discover the truth using science, common sense, and logic, Ellie follows her teacher into a strange new club.  The story comes to us via an unknown omniscient narrator, who lo...