This is not at all the sort of book I would normally read, but as a Russianist I was fascinated by the premise.  It’s the true-life account of the author’s relationship with Soviet defector and ex-KGB agent Sergei Kourdakov, one of the more unusual figures in the Cold War.  The book is billed as reading […]

Read more "“A Rose for Sergei” by K. Kidd"

Today (August 7) TMLI is free on Kindle (and of course it’s always free on KU)!  Get it here.

Read more "The Midnight Land: Part One is Free Today!"

Hi All!  I’m very excited to welcome fantasy author JJ Sherwood, whom I’m featuring here today.  JJ has recently released the second book in her “Steps of Power” series, an epic fantasy series chockablock full of intrigue, adventure, and action.  If there’s nothing you like better than Elven intrigue and handsome Elven warriors, you need […]

Read more "Featured Author–JJ Sherwood and the “Steps of Power” series"

A serial killer/detective mystery with a very engaging hook.  I love detective novels but I’m not a huge fan of the serial killer sub-genre, which tends to be too gory and scary for me.  This book did dwell a little too much for my taste on the victims’ suffering, and there were a few minor […]

Read more "“A Secret to the Grave” by Jane Blythe"

4/4.5 stars. I had very mixed feelings about how to review this. I’m a huge HP fan, and so reading this was of course super-exciting for me, and I did really enjoy it. At the same time, it was clear to me that reading a play script is not the same as reading one of […]

Read more "“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” by JK Rowling and Jack Thorne"

A very sweet, uplifting story about a young Nigerian woman searching for her path in life. Adaugo is an academically gifted girl who does well in school but ends up finding herself shunted into a dead-end career after college and pressured to marry an appropriate–meaning rich and preferably light-skinned–man as soon as possible. However, she […]

Read more "“Twisted in a Positive Way” by Chikamso C. Efobi"

A really fun, different teen fantasy/paranormal romance story. It starts off going down one plotline, and then there is a HUGE plot twist, which obviously I can’t reveal. So I’ll just say that the main character is very sympathetic and there’s a lot here that’s fun and different, with not just one fantasy world but […]

Read more "“Kind of Like Life” by Christina McMullen"

What can I say about this book? It continues the ridiculously zany story begun in “Breakers of the Code.” Having won in the previous book, Anders and his companions are rewarded by being allowed into a new gamescape before any other players. Only, well, things don’t quite go as planned, and before they know it, […]

Read more "“Fighters of the Code” by CB Archer"

This book is…what can I say about this book? It’s set in a video game world, where all the characters are avatars. Our hero, Anders, starts off as separate from his avatar, but gradually merges with his game character as the story progresses and he becomes more and more sucked into the alternate reality, something […]

Read more "“Breakers of the Code” by CB Archer"

“Settling Up” was a very fun, sweet (as opposed to saucy) romance with a difference. Our heroine is a recently tenured statistics professor who has developed stress-induced alopecia (as an early-career academic, oh, how I empathize!). She also doesn’t have a man, or a family, and is starting to think that maybe she needs that. […]

Read more "“Settling Up” by Eryn Scott"