Rosh's Reviews

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 ...

AUTHOR: Laura Steven NARRATOR: Sofia Oxenham GENRE: Fantasy-Romance. PUBLICATION DATE: February 27, 2025 RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A YA Fantasy-Romance about a couple stuck in an endless loop of love and murder over thousands of years. Interesting story, but gets a bit tedious after a while. The time periods are nicely varied, but not explored much due to the restrictions of the plotline. The character development is almost non-existent. The reveal is disappointing. Might work better for YA readers as it does offer all the *feels* of young romance. Plot Preview: Evelyn remembers most of her lives, but not the earliest ones as they are hazy. However, one thing she knows for certain: in every life, Arden murders her just before her eighteenth birthday and that he too dies on the same day. Oh, and she also knows that she has strong romantic feelings for him despite his being her killer. ( Please picture middle-aged me rolling my eyes as I wrote this line. ) All these years, she ha...

AUTHOR: Katarína Macurová GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: July 16, 2019 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book about one animal trying to help his friend to fly. Probably among the funniest picture books I have read! Love the story, the message, the ending, and the illustrations. A couple of the jokes might be understood better by adults, but plenty of learning opportunities here. Recommended. Plot Preview: Arthur the bear is concerned that his friend Eddie, a “bird”, doesn’t ever fly but walks everywhere. When he asks Eddie about it, Eddie responds that no one taught him how to fly. So Arthur decides that he will teach his friend to fly. Thus begins a series of lectures and practical sessions on flying from the bear to the “bird”. But as adult readers can guess, teaching this “bird” to fly ain’t gonna be an easy task! After a long series of debacles, Arthur decides to ask other birds for help. Do you think Arthur will succeed? Don’t you just love it whe...

AUTHOR: Robert Mgrdich Apelian GENRE: Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: January 20, 2026 RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A YA-Fantasy graphic novel inspired partly by Armenian and Persian mythology. A complex storyline that takes some time to come together. Some unexplained plot points. Intricate artwork but monochrome colouring. This might work better if read through a physical copy. Plot Preview: Seventeen-year-old Katah has always felt like an outsider in his family because he’s the only one with no talent for cooking. Unlike his much older siblings, he is also too young to have known his late father who was a legendary Hye chef in the Pars empire. At present, Katah is the sole caregiver for his sick mother, so when his vision-like dreams lead him to find a powerful div, he hopes to use its magic to save his mother’s life. But magical deals are complex and never one-sided. As Katah attempts to meet the div’s condition with the help of his siblings, he realises that he might have wa...

AUTHOR: Ashley Poston NARRATOR: Brittany Pressley GENRE: Romance, Timeslip. PUBLICATION DATE: June 27, 2023 RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary romance with a magical timeslip. Decent characters, plot, and writing. Interesting use of the timeslip but no explanations and many loopholes. Insta-love and rushed relationship. Too many attraction-related inner monologues for my liking. Too convenient in plotting. Not a light story, but has light moments. I liked it but wasn’t blown away by it like so many others were. ¯ \_(ツ)_/¯ Plot Preview: After her beloved late aunt Analea passes away, Clementine moves into her NY apartment that Analea willed to her. Though still grieving, she is focussed on her work as a book publicist, and has no time for relationships. However, one day, she bumps into a strange man in the apartment. He claims to have been given permission by Analea to use the house for a while. After a lot of confusion, Clementine realises that this is what her aunt had w...

AUTHOR: Tory Henwood Hoen NARRATOR: Barrie Kreinik GENRE: Contemporary Drama PUBLICATION DATE: December 2, 2025 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary drama partly focussing on memory and memories. Expected to like this much more, but it felt more like a Hallmark depiction of Alzheimer’s. Many of the plot inclusions weren't my cup of tea. This is an outlier opinion. Plot Preview: Though twenty-six-year-old Cricket is doing decently at her job with a modern wellness company, she feels like she is weighed down under the burdens of a past tragedy and of a present worry: her father’s Alzheimer’s has worsened. When her elder sister Nina declares that they need to move their dad Arthur into a hospice-care facility, Cricket decides to use his health as the catalyst she needed to make a change in her life. She quits her job and moves to their home in the Adirondacks to become Arthur’s caregiver, and in the process, hopes to heal the old rift between them, though he doesn’t rememb...

AUTHOR: Oyinkan Braithwaite NARRATORS: Diana Yekinni, Nnei Opia Clark, and Weruche Opia. GENRE: African Contemporary Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: November 4, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A multi-timeline multi-perspective family saga. Impressive yet flawed female characters, somewhat flat male characters. Decent plot, good writing, good ending. Character-oriented. Unlike what the blurb says, this is not “wickedly funny”. (In fact, it’s not funny at all.) Don’t expect a clever satire like the author’s first novel; this one is more typical in its storyline. Recommended, though not as strongly as I had hoped to. Plot Preview: 2024. Lagos, Nigeria. Twenty-three-year-old Eniiyi has lived her entire life being told that she resembles Monife, her aunt who killed herself just before Eniiyi was born. She even tried moving out from her hometown, but the shadow of Monife was always there. Now she's back after eleven years, returning to the home where she grew up, and to the women who ...

AUTHOR: Vicky Alvear Shecter GENRE: Historical Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: January 20, 2026 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical fiction set in Ancient Rome and inspired by true events. Gritty and disturbing. Slow but atmospheric. Good character development and build-up to the finale. Slightly repetitive. I’m somewhat undecided on my feelings about the ending. Recommended. Plot Preview: 216 BCE. Sixteen-year-old Mia has been serving as one of the Vestal Virgins for more than a decade already. Though this wasn’t a decision she made by choice, she performs her role with diligence. When she hears of the huge defeat of the Roman Army at the Battle of Cannae, she is sad for the 50000 fallen soldiers, but more than that, she mourns the death of her childhood love Attius in that battle. The priests declare that the only reason the gods abandoned Rome at Cannae was the breaking of the vow of chastity by the youngest Vestal Virgin. Mia knows that it is up to her alone to save her life...

EDITOR: Alice Hoffman GENRE: Essay Collection PUBLICATION DATE: March 10, 2026 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A collection of essays by various authors about some best dogs in the world. Given the reputation of the contributing authors, it’s not surprising that this is one well-written collection. A love letter to dogs and a must-read for all dog owners and dog lovers. At times, the cover of a book is such that you are tempted to grab it without doing any other due diligence. Look at the cover art of this book! Just see that unbridled bliss on that beautiful dog’s visage! Add to this, that amazing title! How is one to resist?! Thankfully, the book delivers exactly as the cover and the title promise, not making me regret my impulsive decision for even a second. I don’t often read essay collections, but if the theme of the essays is close to my heart, then I am willing to try the book. This book contains fourteen essays celebrating the joys and challenges of their canine companions. ...