Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Srivalli Rekha GENRE: Middle-grade Short Story Collection PUBLICATION DATE: July 3, 2024 RATING: 3.8 stars. PURCHASE LINK: https://mybook.to/forestsandfaeries In a Nutshell: An eclectic collection of fanciful stories aimed at middle-graders. As the title promises, each story contains forests and/or faeries. Multicultural in approach. Good for the target age group. This collection of thirteen stories is an eclectic assortment of fantasy tales, covering moods in shades of light and dark. Some of the tales are like good old animal fables while some highlight the ravages wrought upon nature by humans. Some have sweet little faeries while some have bigger, scarier beasts. Some are based on the earth we know, some are set in planets beyond our ken, and yet others are in fanciful imaginary lands. The stories come from a variety of lands and eras. Each story is thus a unique experience as the characters, the plot, and the moral aren’t repeated. What is common to the stories is that e

  AUTHOR: Kirsty Greenwood GENRE: Contemporary Fantasy-Romance. PUBLICATION DATE: July 2, 2024 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: Romcom with a small dash of magical realism and a hefty splash of serious themes. A great premise that started with a bang, then got repetitive, then again became interesting, and ended with a bang. I’d have liked this better in my younger days. Still, a fun entertainer if you don’t overthink the proceedings and don’t mind the FMC.  Plot Preview: Twenty-seven-year-old Delphie, a loner who works in a pharmacy, has just begun dinner when she chokes to death on her cheap microwave burger. She ‘wakes up’ to find herself in ‘Evermore’, the place of the afterlife that seems more like it belongs on earth. Just as Delphie is being acquainted with the procedures of her new abode, she bumps into a young man named Jonah and has an instant connection with him. Sadly (for her, not for him), he isn’t dead and is sent back to earth. But a certain someone takes pity on the l

PUBLISHER: Collins Kids ILLUSTRATOR: Julia Murray GENRE: Language PUBLICATION DATE: August 15, 2024 RATING: 5 stars. In a Nutshell: A splendid compilation of a hundred idioms and their origins. Loved the light-hearted approach to something so educational. Much recommended to students and adult word nerds. (à la moi!) Of all the things that can be challenging in a language, idioms are somewhere right at the top. Idioms are never literal, so guessing their meanings is often a tiresome task, not just for learners but also native speakers. More importantly, idioms cannot be translated into or from other languages. ( This is something a few authors need to learn! It is annoying to see BIPOC authors butcher their native-language idioms by translating them word-to-word into English. ) As such, the best way to learn idioms is to have a resource to provide you with a wide list of common idioms and their meanings in an interesting presentation that makes learning appealing. This book fits tha

AUTHOR: David W. Miles ILLUSTRATOR: Hollie Mengert GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: March 1, 2018 RATING: 2 stars In a Nutshell: Cute illustrations, but not much to say about the story. I can see that the average rating is quite high, so it might just be me being the grumpy “horse” in this review. Plot Preview: Unicorn is all things bright and shiny. Horse is all things dull and sulky. Needless to say, all animals love Unicorn and avoid Horse. But when a catastrophe befalls Unicorn, Horse gallops to the rescue. All’s well that ends well. Sounds cute. But somewhere between the above idea and the execution, there is a mismatch. The content is somewhat ordinary, and the story structure (which is important even in picture books) feels a bit haphazard, with many missed moments of value addition. There was plenty of potential for some lovely life lessons in this story. Not that I want every picture book to have morals, but this one had the scope to offer important messag