Reviews with TLC

Time After Time (The Donnelly Cabin Inn Book 5) by Joanne Pence continues the story of the Donnelly Cabin and its connection to helping people find love. I've been surprised by the way the expansion of this trilogy into a series has felt like welcoming back a friend each time I read one even though it always centers around new characters. Pence puts characters who seemingly should have no reason to even like each other in positions where the reader cheers for their connection to grow. I was surprised by the way Pence incorporated the use of the song in this one, but it worked. As the characters in the book fight against their internal demons and question the ghostly things that seem to be pushing them together, there's never any doubt of their feelings for each other only whether those feelings are as important as the lives they lead individually. Time after Time explores the other side of the Donnelly family origins in an intriguing, inviting way that made me realize I wanted...

Iron & Velvet: poetry for hearts breaking and blooming by Stefanie Briar delivers on its promise to explore heart both breaking and blooming. I'm rarely seduced by an interesting cover, but the cover of Iron & Velvet really spoke to me. Briar's poetry explores heartache and loss as well as the journey to mending hearts and growing from the experience. Several of the poems in Iron & Velvet reminded me of heartbreaks as well as moments of healing I've experienced. Briar's style is accessible, relatable, and encompassing. Iron & Velvet holds within it compassion, strength, and vulnerability in poems that delight the senses and at times almost feel like a comforting hug. Currently Reading: How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good  by Steve Phillips They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom  by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri Time after Time: The Donnelly Cabin Inn Series  by Jo...

Lovers at the Museum: A Short Story by Isabel Allende is a story of love at first sight that reads like a fantasy that never feels quite real and yet immerses the reader in the dream of the moment. It's a story that felt like it floated off the page and into my imagination intriguing me but never quite taking root. Allende creates two characters in Bibiña Aranda and Indar Zubieta that I alternately felt the need to protect, chastise, and cheer for. Lovers in the Museum drifts along feeling risqué and almost chaste at the same time. Currently Reading: Iron & Velvet: poetry for hearts breaking and blooming  by Stefanie Briar How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good  by Steve Phillips They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom  by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri Time after Time: The Donnelly Cabin Inn Series  by Joanne Pence The Butterfly's Burden  by Mahmoud Darwish Disclosure: This blo...

Cut &Thirst by Margaret Atwood is a short story about a group of friends plotting revenge for another friend's mistreatment years before. As retired women, they've decided it's time to seek this revenge before it's too late and talk about ways to do it ranging from murder to practical jokes over drinks and cheese in ways that leave the reader wondering if they're just fantasizing. As usual Atwood delivers a story that makes the reader think by having nothing be quite as it seems in the beginning. Cut & Thirst leans into the idea that lives change and people change over the course of their lives even though some can very much get stuck in a moment that forever changes them and their life. Currently Reading: Iron & Velvet: poetry for hearts breaking and blooming  by Stefanie Briar How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good  by Steve Phillips They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Fr...

Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History by Nur Masalha delves into the variations of the name of Palestine as well as the history of the peoples who have inhabited the land for the past four thousand years. Masalha explains the reasons the names have slight variations over time, mostly linguistic variations of the same name. He illustrates how the culture has changed over the years as well as traditions that have survived. Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History details the importance of the ports and the land for trade among myriad countries. Masalha also delves the importance of farming to Palestine over the past four thousand years. He really focuses on how the name of Palestine and the people have survived over the past four thousand years. He demonstrates how multi-cultural Palestine was for centuries as well as how myriad religions survived in land with the peoples of those religions interacting peacefully, building community, and living as friends and neighbors. While at time...

The Shivering by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a well-written short story that reminded me of how I reacted to lost relationships earlier in my life enough to create a mild level of discomfort with Ukamaka's oblivious obsession with her ex while not fully seeing Chinedu after his offer of friendship. Adichie writes about human interactions with an ease that feels universal yet somehow also very specific. There's an undercurrent of religious ideology that works in the story but also feels a bit strange somehow. Overall, The Shivering is worth reading with its insights into how people's assumptions and expectations influence their interactions with one another. Currently Reading: Iron & Velvet: poetry for hearts breaking and blooming  by Stefanie Briar Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History  by Nur Masalha How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good  by Steve Phillips Cut and Thirst: A Short Story  by Margaret Atw...