Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Virginia Evans GENRE: Epistolary Novel PUBLICATION DATE: April 29, 2025 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: An epistolary novel with a geriatric woman in the lead. Realistic and complex character development, which is a surprise considering how we see the story only through letters. Character-driven, obviously. Too many themes. But a commendable debut. Recommended, though not with much gusto. Go in blind. Plot Preview: Maryland, USA. Sybil Van Antwerp. Seventy-three at the start of the story. Mother, grandmother, retired legal clerk, divorced. Sybil has always loved writing letters. Whether to known people such as family members, friends, and acquaintances, or to professional connections such as work associates and customer service agents, or to strangers such as famous politicians and authors, Sybil never stops writing. Her preferred mode of communication is the actual physical letter, though she does use emails when there is no other option. At her age, she doesn’t expect many...

AUTHOR: Torie Jean GENRE: Romance PUBLICATION DATE: September 20, 2022 RATING: 1 star. In a Nutshell: A romance where the FMC has endometriosis. Loved the cover and liked the endometriosis rep. But was bored by the conversation-dominant writing style, the flat plot, and the ad-hoc character development. Very disappointed. Plot Preview: Twenty-seven-year old Evie has been staying in Paris since seven years, hoping to fulfil her dream of having a bakery but struggling with her chronic pain and endometriosis. She keeps her distance from her family back home, especially her toxic mother Caroline. When an upcoming event needs her presence back in Massachusetts, Evie is forced to convince her childhood nemesis Liam Kelly to be her fake date so as to get through the wedding without too many barbs from Caroline. Little does she realise that her suppressed feelings for Liam will get in the way of this pretend relationship. The story comes to us in Evie’s first-person perspective. I grabbed this...

AUTHOR: Ben Argon GENRE: Graphic Comic, Philosophy PUBLICATION DATE: April 14, 2020 RATING: Can't decide! A look at Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist philosophy through comics. Interesting use of a rat narrator to explain the rat race rushing behind 'cheese'. Covers several abstract concepts such as life and death, freedom, choice, and the meaning of life. All are elaborated upon in an accessible way, with some good metaphors and a few thought-provoking lines. ( "The world is different if we are different." - 💯) However, the explanation gets repetitive after a while. I am not sure if this is attributable to the original philosophy or the rat metaphor that is, quite literally, stuck in a maze. This wasn’t exactly my cup of tea because I am severely allergic to philosophy. The humour and the easy-going writing made it somewhat palatable, but the topic itself and the repetitiveness of the theory also led to a heaviness in the head while reading. This might be a...

AUTHOR: Jen Storm ILLUSTRATOR: Ryan Howe GENRE: YA Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: September 3, 2024 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A YA graphic novel about an Ojibwe family trying to navigate life after a tragedy. Had great potential, but couldn’t capitalize on it. I appreciate the intent, but the execution felt a bit cluttered and half-baked. The ending could go either way for readers. Not a happy story. Plot Preview: Ever since Reanna’s sister Chelsea went missing after school, her family hasn’t been the same. Struggling to find closure, each member copes in a different way, with some drifting apart and some coming closer, some seeking a change and some finding comfort in the old and familiar. The story comes to us mostly in Reanna’s third-person perspective. I admire the theme of this book. Attempting to highlight the difficult topic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) deserves applause. However, the execution of the theme didn’t work that well for me. The key problem ...

AUTHOR: Shona Kinsella GENRE: Historical Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: November 11, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical fantasy about two witches in 18th century Scotland. Intriguing characters, loads of magic, many dark scenes though nothing gruesome on page. This absolutely didn’t go the way I thought it would, and I ended up constantly surprised. A slight repetitiveness, some modernisms in dialogues, and a lacklustre romantic subplot were the only major hurdles. A good choice for fans of dark historical stories with a generous dollop of fantasy. The cover and the blurb contains a major spoiler. Plot Preview: 1745. Kilmartin, Scotland. In the early days of the Jacobite uprising, when the village men are away fighting and the women have to fend for themselves, their families, and their lands, the paths of two powerful witches intersect. Kilmartin resident Constance, married to a local laird and mother of three young kids, isn't aware of her witchy powers whereas Mairead,...

AUTHOR:  Suzanne Rogerson NARRATOR:  Colette Davies-Kerwin GENRE: Contemporary Christmas Short Stories PUBLICATION DATE: November 17, 2025 RATING: 3.8 stars. In a Nutshell: A sweet collection of holiday short stories. Covering varied characters and emotions. Utterly feel-good and perfect for the festive season.  This collection contains eight short stories. As the title promises, each of them contains “a little Christmas magic”. The word ‘magic’ is used in both its interpretations: figurative and actual. Goodreads shows this book to be a part of the Winter Warmers series, but the series comprises short story collections that are independent of each other and hence can be read in any order.  As feel-good stories set during the Christmas season, the tales are obviously heartwarming. You might even assume that these are predictable, and many of them are. BUT this genre is anyway not meant to be twisty. AND there are a few stories that offer unexpected surprises, so...

AUTHOR: Juhea Kim GENRE: Short Story Collection PUBLICATION DATE: November 20, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A story collection set in various eras and locations. The resilience of humans and the destruction of the planet are the common themes. Intriguing storylines, flawed characters, slow-paced character-oriented narratives. Mixed feelings about the endings. A good collection, but not for all. Author Juhea Kim is known for her two historical fiction novels. This is her first short story collection. The ten stories herein span multiple eras (from historical to futuristic) and countries. There is no foreword introducing the theme of the collection, but it soon becomes clear that the stories have two things in common: broken people and a broken world. The ‘broken people’ aspect is quite significant in this character-oriented collection. Each character is either flawed in some way or misused by others. They are a product of their own nurturing (or lack thereof) as well as of th...

AUTHOR: Maiga Doocy SERIES: The Wildersongs Trilogy #1 GENRE: Fantasy-Romance PUBLICATION DATE: October 15, 2024 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A fantasy-romance about two rivals forced to work together to overcome a challenge. Decent amount of fantasy, barely any romance. Interesting magic system. Annoying lead characters. SLOWBURN (use of CAPS deliberate!). Aimed at adults, but strong YA feels. First of a planned trilogy; incomplete ending. This is an outlier review. Plot Preview: Leo Loveage‘s passion lies in music, but he is forced to continue his family legacy and study sorcery to satisfy his father. He can handle small magic, but fails miserably at grand magic. To add to his troubles, magic partners have been reassigned this semester, and Leo now has to work with his long-time nemesis Sebastian Grimm, a talented grump. A muddled spell causes Leo to be under Sebastian’s command. They both realise that if anyone discovers this mistake, their future will be in jeopardy because of t...

  AUTHOR:  Brian Frederick ILLUSTRATOR: Vivien Sárkány GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE:  November 27, 2025 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book about a little dachshund trying to help someone without getting tempted by distractions. A quirky story matched by equally quirky art. Has unexpected fantasy additions, which could go either way. The title doesn’t represent the plot accurately. Going in with the right expectations will make this an enjoyable story for dog-loving kids.  Plot Preview:  Siggy the dachshund lives with Phyllis and her family in a small hamlet called Hope in Somerset, England. Siggy knows all the villagers and they know him too. Siggy even talks to all the villagers, but only a few can understand him back. One day, Siggy tries to rescue a flyaway birthday gift, but there are so many distractions along the way! Will he be successful in retrieving it without losing his focus?   The story is written...

AUTHOR: Kelly Fernandez GENRE: Middle-grade Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: November 2, 2021 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A middle-grade graphic novel about some magical girls, some dangerous stunts, and some heroic nuns. (You read that right!) The story was entertaining, but some of the writing choices in the second half didn’t work for me. It also left a key mystery unresolved. Might be worth a read mainly for the atypical plot and the OwnVoices (Dominican Republic) factor. Plot Preview: Manuela, who prefers to be called Manu, and her best friend Josefina live at a magical girls’ school run by nuns. Josefina is a fairly diligent student while Manu is always getting into trouble, even when she means well. The headmistress genuinely believes that Manu has the potential to use her magic for public good, but the rest of the nuns feel otherwise. One day, when Manu’s prank goes terribly wrong, Josefina gets upset and wishes for Manu’s magic to disappear. Unfortunately, that wish comes t...

AUTHOR: Courtney Floyd GENRE: Dark Academia, Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: October 7, 2025 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A dark-academia novel filled with witches and magic and supernatural stuff. Fairly cosy despite the darkness. Excellent themes, though a bit preachy at times. Decent characters and plot, slow-ish pace, predictable mystery. A bit too cluttered, but many subplots become relevant later. Had great potential, but somehow, it ends up just ‘good’ instead of ‘fabulous’. Still, recommended. Plot Preview: Dorothe Bartleby is a first-generation graduate student who teaches spell-making to freshers while simultaneously preparing for her doctoral submission to become a mage. She had flunked her first exam after freezing with anxiety, so the second attempt is her last chance to prove her thesis that magic existed in classical literature. Her troubles increase when her advisor recommends that she use Digimancy to prove her dissertation. Dorothe isn't destined to use tech well....