Word by Word

Creating myself one word at a time.

Upstate New York. University campus. Death of a young female student. Professor of some sort of liberal arts subject. Large amounts of water imagery. You can bet it’s a Carol Goodman novel. River Road is no exception. I’ve read about seven of her novels so far, thanks to my friend, Niki. I’ve enjoyed many of …

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What’s a girl to do to escape the box created for the women of the 1910’s? Well, Kitty Weeks has decided to be a journalist…or at least what passes for a female journalist in the early 20th century. Radha Vatsal delivers the second in the Kitty Weeks series, which focuses on a young woman living …

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We’ve entered the spring season and are quickly moving toward the beach read high point for the year. Summer book clubs, summer reading lists and all that jazz abound. Well, I have one for you to add to the list. And you’ll want to do is quickly because the sequel comes out July 4th. Catch …

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You want a reminder to change your passwords? Read The Takedown by Corrie Wang. Then, after 50 pages, you’ll want to go “off the grid.” Seriously though, the levels Wang achieved with The Takedown were fantastic and she did it all while telling a wonderful story. Before we dig in though, a quick recap. Welcome …

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There has been a lot of discourse about the roles women have been forced to play throughout the course of history. Mother. Daughter. Sister. Saint. Boxes were created and women were placed neatly into them. Those who didn’t fit neatly into those boxes were given other names. Names meant to carry very negative labels. Trouble …

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Having just finished Deanna Raybourn’s A Curious Beginning, it was interesting to listen to this book. While both tales are about the Victorian period, women who don’t conform and murder most foul, the books have very different paces and atmosphere. Raybourn’s was a rollicking adventure with quick Gilmore Girls-like dialogue. Thomas’ A Study in Scarlet …

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My dear friend, Nicole, interviewed me for her blog today! It was a BFF feature. Yay, BFF! Take a read if you’re interested! Nicole Evelina – USA Today Bestselling Author Photo credit: Eli Marquez The blog challenge for this week is “Meet My Best Friend.” That would be fellow writer Courtney Marquez. We actually met …

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I finally picked up the first book in Raybourn’s newest series about Veronica Speedwell. “A Curious Beginning” lived up to the title! I’ve been a fan of Raybourn since I read her Lady Julia series. She excels at creating mysteries and then ingenious clues for her heroine to discover. Oh, and her heroines are firecrackers. What …

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I would have finished this book much quicker if life had not gotten in my way! I really enjoyed Lonsdale’s story in this women’s fiction, magical realism crossover. While the setting was very west coast and of the ocean, the elements of her story reminded me a lot of Sarah Addison Allen’s books. There were …

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