Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Angie Cruz NARRATORS: Kimberly M. Wetherell & Rossmery Almonte GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: September 13, 2022 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction presented in a creative interview-style structure. If you are tired of reading about Asian aunties, here’s a book with a South American "auntie". 😁 Interesting story and lead character, excellent OwnVoices authenticity (Dominican Republic). Starts off excellently, but gets a little bit repetitive and OTT after a while. If you want to read this, audio is the way to go. Plot Preview: Fifty-six-year-old Cara Romero, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, used to work at a factory but ever since its closure two years ago, she’s been jobless. Cara is now set up to meet with a job counsellor. Over a course of twelve sessions where the counsellor is supposed to evaluate Cara’s suitability as an employee and the industry where she might fit best, Cara ends up telling the counsellor abou...

AUTHOR: T. Kingfisher NARRATOR: Jennifer Pickens GENRE: Fantasy, Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: August 19, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A dark fantasy reimagining the fairytale of Snow White (without the dwarves.) Creative in its plotline with enough novelty to stand as an independent story. Slow-moving in the first half. Too many inner monologues. Not much historical feel in the conversations. Recommended, but it might be a better option for YA fantasy lovers, even though the FMC is in her mid-thirties. Plot Preview: Thirty-five-year-old Anja is a healer who specialises in making antidotes for various kinds of venom and poison. Her quiet life is interrupted by an urgent summons from the king: his daughter Snow is exhibiting symptoms of poisoning, and he hopes that Anja's unconventional knowledge can help. Anja has no choice but to agree. At the palace though, she realises that none of her treatments are showing any positive results. That is, until she discovers an egoistic...

AUTHOR: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie GENRE: Memoir PUBLICATION DATE: May 11, 2021 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A short collection of notes written by the author after her father’s sudden death. Quite intimate in tone. If you have experienced a personal loss, you will empathise with her feelings. Tough to decide whether and to whom to recommend this. From her home in the USA, author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie spoke to her father in Nigeria on 9th June 2020. On 10th June, he passed away. Though he was due for a hospital visit, there was no indication that his health issues were so severe. The lockdown was on, as were the covid travel restrictions. As you can imagine, coping with a parent’s sudden loss cannot be easy. Adichie uses this little memoir-of-sorts to share her experience with grief. At just 86 pages and with about thirty short notes, the book doesn’t take that long to read. But even within this limited time, it offers a powerful indication of the author’s sense of loss. As a self-...

AUTHOR: Patrick Ryan GENRE: Historical Epic Saga PUBLICATION DATE: September 2, 2025 RATING: 2.9 stars. In a Nutshell: A character-driven epic historical family saga about four people whose lives become intricately connected. Decent character development, lyrical writing. Straightforward plot. Too much telling, too much secret-keeping. I think this fits under “The Great American Novel” category, which isn't a favourite genre of mine. This is an outlier opinion. Plot Preview: Bonhomie, Ohio. 1920s onwards till the 1980s. Cal: Born with one leg shorter than the other; always self-conscious about not being serve during the war. Becky: Cal’s wife; has a gift that enables her to communicate with spirits, but many consider her a sham. Margaret: Trying her best to escape her painful past, but even a secure present isn't secure enough. Felix: Has his reasons for marrying Margaret; serving with the navy during the war. How are the two couples interconnected? What does fate have in stor...

AUTHOR: T. Kingfisher GENRE: Fantasy, Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: August 6, 2024 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A dark fantasy supposedly retelling the Brothers Grimm fairytale: ‘The Goose Girl’. Excellent character development and interesting plot. Slowish pacing and vague world-building. Entertaining as a standalone story, though not effective as a retelling. I had fun reading this gripping novel. Recommended. Loads of triggers; take the adjective ‘dark’ seriously. Plot Preview: Fourteen-year-old Cordelia is controlled by her mother Evangeline. ( And when I say ‘controlled’, I mean *controlled*! ) She doesn’t know how her mother is different from other mothers, and she has no one she can confide in except her beloved white horse Falada. One day, Evangeline suddenly decides to leave their home and everything else behind, and move with just Cordelia, Falada and a few of their belongings to a wealthy squire’s manor, hoping to marry him. Cordelia doesn’t know what fate awaits her th...

AUTHOR: Jesse Q. Sutanto NARRATOR: Eunice Wong SERIES: Vera Wong, #2 GENRE: Cosy Mystery PUBLICATION DATE: April 1, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: Officially a mystery, but practically, more of a comic drama with some dark content. Interesting but also infuriating geriatric lead. Relatively thin plot. Influencer trope, which is never my favourite. Recommended as long as you are looking for a mindless entertainer and not a mystery. The second novel of the Vera Wong series. Can work as a standalone, but better read in series order. This was decent enough, but I liked the first book more. Go in blind. Plot Preview: A year after the events of Book One. Vera is still running her tea shop and still competing with Winifred and her bakery. But with no dead bodies around, Vera is bored. So when she bumps into a girl looking for her missing friend, Vera is delighted to have a new mystery to poke her nose into. Even better when she discovers, thanks to snooping where she shouldn’t, that ...

AUTHOR: Victoria Grace Elliott GENRE: Graphic Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: November 30, 2021 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A graphical non-fiction exploring the development of popular desserts. Contains a good mix of history, pseudo-interviews, stories, and recipes. Quite comprehensive and entertaining. A tempting [pun intended!] read for those with a sweet tooth. 😄 If you ask various people what they consider the yummiest dish, chances are that a majority of the responses you receive will mention some or the other dessert. Even those of us who don't have a sweet tooth enjoy at least some dessert once in a while. Cakes, ice-creams, donuts, pies,… ( gulab jamun, kulfi, and kaju katli for my desi friends 🤤) – there is at least one dessert we like, if not love. But have you ever thought about how these desserts came into being? This graphical book aims to enlighten and entertain you at the same time on the scrumptious topic of desserts. There are eight chapters in this book, cover...

AUTHOR: Deepa Anappara GENRE: Indian contemporary mystery. PUBLICATION DATE: February 4, 2020 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A crime mystery set in contemporary India. Excellent character development, realistic setting, outstanding use of child narrators for a mystery. Incorrect expectations of fantasy because of the title and the first chapter. Literary in approach. Colloquial in writing. Recommended. Plot Preview: Nine-year-old Jai stays with his family in an overcrowded slum. He lives a carefree, uncomplicated life going to school with his elder sister Runu (an aspiring athlete) and his best friends Pari (a desi Hermione) and Faiz (who balances school and work). Everything changes when kids from the locality start disappearing. Faiz suspects that it is the work of djinns while Pari is convinced that focussing on the more immoral residents of the area might be a better idea. The trio decide to form a detective team. Unfortunately for them, some shady elements decide to tinge the...

AUTHOR & NARRATOR: Mitch Albom GENRE: Magical Realism PUBLICATION DATE: October 7, 2025 RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A magical realism novel about a man who gets two chances at everything in his life. Intriguing storyline, decent exploration of human psychology. Flawed lead character, too many plot holes. Needs much suspension of disbelief. Not sure if I can recommend this with gusto, though it will certainly work for many readers. This is an outlier review. Plot Preview: When senior citizen Alfie Logan is apprehended in the Bahamas for allegedly cheating at a casino and winning a huge amount, Casino Detective Vincent LaPorta isn't prepared for Alfie’s explanation that he gets a second chance at everything in life. The detective obviously doesn’t buy such a nonsensical explanation, but Alfie is determined to prove his claim, handing the detective a composition book that tells the story of his life, and of how he simply needs to think of a past time and say the word “Twice...

AUTHOR: Ingvild H. Rishøi TRANSLATOR: Diane Oatley GENRE: Short Story Collection PUBLICATION DATE: December 2, 2025 RATING: 3.2 stars. In a Nutshell: A collection of three stories set in the Scandinavian winter. Compelling but also frustrating. I liked the character-oriented writing, but the frequent flashbacks and overload of introspection affected my enjoyment. More suited to literary fiction readers. This collection was first published in Norway under the title "Vinternoveller" in 2014. It was translated from Norwegian to English in 2019 by Diane Oatley. The same translation is now available under a new publisher in December 2025. I had first experienced Norwegian author’s Ingvild H. Rishøi’s writing in the novella ‘Brightly Shining’ , the first of her books to be translated to English. While the ending left me a bit befuddled, I had fond memories of the rest of the work. This is why I decided to give this collection a go. A foolhardy decision, considering how short storie...

AUTHOR: A.M. Kvita SERIES: Green Witch Cycle, #1 GENRE: Urban Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: October 28, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary urban fantasy ( NOT cozy fantasy ) about a young woman who is the nonmagical one in a family of witches. Eclectic mix of characters, interesting plot with plenty of humour and danger, great use of the NYC setting. Mixed feelings about the world-building. Unnecessary F-bombs. First of a planned series. Good ending, but mild cliffhanger in the epilogue. Quite a nice debut. Recommended. Plot Preview: Twenty-five-year-old Joan Greenwood belongs to an elite family of witches. However, she is the only Greenwood who cannot manipulate magic, much to the frustration of her parents. Returning to her home city of New York after seven years hasn’t changed their attitude towards her. The only people showing her warmth are her elder sister Molly, and Joan’s best friend CZ, a vampire. When there’s news that someone has secretly used a new spell to tur...

AUTHOR: Fredrik Backman TRANSLATOR: Neil Smith NARRATOR: Marin Ireland GENRE: General Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: May 6, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A dual-timeline fiction about a painting and some people connected to it. Includes old friends, new friends, lost friends, and found friends. Layered characters in a character-driven plot with many thought-provoking one-liners. A bit repetitive at times. Not my favourite Backman, but a good read nonetheless. Go in blind. Plot Preview: One of the most famous paintings in the world shows three tiny figures at the end of a pier. Ever since young Louisa, an orphan and an aspiring artist, saw a postcard print of this painting at a foster parent's home, she has been fascinated by it. She doesn't know its history from twenty-five years prior, nor does she know that her life is about to change after an interaction with someone connected to the original masterpiece. The story comes to us from two timelines and in multiple characte...