Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Angela Bell NARRATOR: Beverley A. Crick SERIES: Daughters of Genius Society, #2 GENRE: Historical Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: July 7, 2026 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical fantasy with a lot of cozy tweeness and also some romance and mystery. Wonderful whimsical characters, good touch of humour, great vocabulary. Excellent representation of chronic pain. Strong Christian elements. Some clever automations and automatons. A bit light on the mystery but gripping nonetheless. Second of the series, but works as a standalone. If you liked the first book, you will enjoy this one as well. Definitely recommended. Plot Preview: 1895. England. Margaret Kingsley is restricted to her wheelchair thanks to her chronic pain. She still uses her time and expertise to work with the ‘Daughters of Genius Society’ (D.O.G.S.), a covert team of lady inspectors. While most of the inspectors work on the field, Margaret is happy to contribute from behind the curtain, until one case needs her...

AUTHOR: Vincent Delecroix TRANSLATOR: Helen Stevenson GENRE: Literary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: April 21, 2026 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A literary fiction inspired by a true event and highlighting the moral ambiguities of human nature. Extended first person with a bit of repetition. Three somewhat lengthy chapters, but fast-paced. Thought-provoking. No quotation marks. Good translation. Recommended to literary fiction readers. Plot Preview: In November 2021, a dinghy carrying migrants from France to the UK sprung a leak and later capsized in the Channel. Despite the French rescue centre getting numerous calls for help from one of the migrants, the radio operator repeatedly told them that they were in English waters and so needed to call the British authorities. She also assured them that help was on the way. But no rescue vessels came for the drowning refugees. Twenty-seven migrants perished in the freezing waters that night. Only two were saved. The above incident is true. (...

AUTHOR: Cynthia Pelayo GENRE: Historical Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: June 9, 2026 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical fantasy-horror combining ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘IT’. Lyrical writing and vivid imagery. Extremely slow-paced in the first half. Repetitive. Confusing shifts in timeline. More about atmosphere than about gore. The final quarter is the strongest. Recommended to those who don’t seek instant gratification. The official blurb is inaccurate. Plot Preview: 1914. Twelve years after the incident that changed her life and her family forever, Wendy Darling works as a school teacher and also volunteers with a local hospital, reading to soldiers who have returned broken from the Western Front. One patient in particular is her regular subject; he is unable to wake up from his sleep despite all the care. One day, when he utters the name ‘Peter Pan’ in his sleep, Wendy is taken aback, recollecting the dark days from the past when multiple children went missing from Kensington Park and...

AUTHOR: Stefany Valentine GENRE: YA Romance PUBLICATION DATE: January 14, 2025 RATING: 1 star. In a Nutshell: A YA “romantic dramedy” (Official label.) This didn’t work for me in any way: plot, writing, characters, agenda, realism, romance, drama. The only thing I liked other than the cover was the Taiwan rep. It hurts me to rant about a debut OwnVoices book, and I tried my best not to, but I just can’t recommend such a poorly written book that sends the wrong message to youngsters. Plot Preview: Seventeen-year-old Catie Carlson, a half-white half-Taiwanese girl, doesn’t remember much about her birth mother. Her parents divorced when she was just five and her father moved with her to the USA, and later remarried a white single mother. After his death two years ago, Catie feels like she has no family of her own, even though her adoptive mother – her father’s second wife – treats Catie with the same love as she does her own daughter. When Catie stumbles into an opportunity to learn Manda...