Reviews Written in 2020 & Before

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(This page is a work-in-progress as I have yet to copy all my old reviews here.)

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Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town - Li Chen - ★★★★

AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Li Chen SERIES: Detective Beans, #2 GENRE: Children's Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: September 9, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A children’s graphic novel about a young cat detective and his (mis)adventures in Cat Town. Anecdotal in style, with multiple adventures: some short, some long. Adorable illustrations. Silly and fun all the way! Recommended to the right age group: beginner independent readers. Almost as impossible to resist a cat book titled “Detective Beans” as to resist cat toe beans, right? When I saw the title, I expected a fun-filled graphic novel full of confuddling cases and clever detective work. Well, I did get most of this. What I didn’t expect was for the lead character to be a cat of school-going age! 😹 This graphic novel is the second in the Detective Beans series. Sadly, my library doesn’t yet have a copy of the first book, so I had to jump directly into this. But as this is just a children’s book, there is no major hurdle i...

AUTHOR: Mike Darcy ILLUSTRATOR: Tincho Schmidt GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: May 26, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A chapter book about a little dog and his adventure in the city. A bit too text-intensive and a bit clunky in flow, but the cute storyline and characters will charm those who enjoy animal characters. The illustrations are sweetly quirky. Recommended to little animal lovers. Plot Preview: Little Joe is a puppy who lives with his girl Anna and her family in a farm near a forest. When the family decides to visit Anna’s auntie and uncle in the big city, Joe is excited at the adventure. The city doesn’t turn out to be exactly as fun as Joe had hoped. While he goes around the neighbourhood looking for fun things to discover, he ends up lost in the unknown neighbourhood. With so many dangers around him, will Joe be able to find his way back to Anna? And what about the new companion he has bumped into unexpectedly? This book is the second title in...

AUTHOR: R.R. Davis ILLUSTRATOR: Francesco Dabbicco GENRE: Fantasy-Drama. PUBLICATION DATE: August 12, 2025 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A literary fiction about a young boy and his monsters: real and imagined. Arctic setting, introspective lead character, and good overall plot. Too melancholic and dark at times, dense in writing style, gruesome, and slow paced. Strictly for adults despite the young protagonist. Not my cup of tea due to some of the writing choices. Recommended to certain lit fic fans. Plot Preview: 1995, Labrador Island, Newfoundland, Canada. Twelve-year-old Robert, half Scot and half Innu, stays on the rocky island with his father and his younger brother. As Robert physically resembles his Scottish father, it is not easy for him to fit on the island. His overbearing dad adds to his travails by not allowing to leave their yard anytime or to interact with the locals. The most important rule for both brothers is: Never touch the floor at night. However, as the outside ...

AUTHOR: Laura Pearson GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: May 23, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction about two women and their doppelgänger twist. Some good characters and thought-provoking sentiments. Some exaggerations and melodrama. So a typical uplit in many ways. Liked the first half, but the second half felt a bit shaky. Recommended to fans of the genre. Plot Preview: Ruth Waverly, 62, lives with her husband Nigel in a good house and runs a baking business from home. Her grown-up twin sons are away from home and are successful in their independent lives. Debbie Jones, also 62, is a widow with no kids and has newly moved into town. Craving for interaction, she takes a job soliciting door-to-door donations for a charity. One day, Debbie knocks on Ruth's door. To their shock, they are doppelgängers of each other. That's when their life changes forever. The story comes to us in the alternating third-person perspectives of Ruth and Debb...

AUTHOR: Brooke Harris GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: February 7, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: An emotional contemporary drama tackling an important issue faced by Dublin today. A loveable but overly naïve main character, excellent supporting characters, great themes, beautiful ending. Not a light read. NOT A ROMANCE! Plot Preview: Dublin. Twenty-nine-year-old Beatrice thought that her future was set. But when her partner Declan delivers some unexpected news, Beatrice and their-four-year-old daughter Ellie are left without a home. Ever the optimist, Beatrice believes that she will find a new place soon, as long as she can manage the house hunt in between her hectic work schedule as a cleaner at St. Helen’s hospital. As is evident, Beatrice Alright isn't alright. But when Beatrice bumps into an old man sitting on a park bench outside the hospital, she doesn’t realise that her life is about to change yet again. The story comes to us in Beatrice’s first-person...

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