When you think of the literary world, it is easy to envision the quiet world of book clubs and great literature. The...
On Reading
Beta Readers: How They Helped Me Improve My Story and Where I Found One
Back when I wrote for pleasure, the only feedback my work received came from friends and family. They were always so...
How to Keep Reading During a Season of Stress: A Guide for Resuming an Old Habit
Has it been a long time since you've read an entire book?Maybe it was the pandemic that kept you from reading, or...
A Bookworm Revived
When I was a kid, people called me a bookworm a lot. Most of the kids meant it as a taunt but I would get this wide, impish little grin on my face, jut my chin out and go “heck yeah, I am”. Bookwork to me was a badge of honor, as it should be. I still remember, clear...
Beatrice Reviews “The Insiders Club” by Echo Miller
“The Insiders Club” by Echo Miller★★★★☆ Four social misfits: an 80s-obsessed eccentric, a movie-quoting mimic, a control freak, and a scrappy loner. They share a diagnosis on the autism spectrum, but can they create a home? Keegan Harris has one weekend to persuade...
Beatrice Reviews “Steel Strings” by Alex Hayes
“Steel Strings” by Alex Hayes★★★☆☆ Brianna Jones is a smart, biracial teen who dreams of bringing music to the world via orchestral instruments fashioned out of recycled materials. But Brianna must keep her project secret from her half sister, whose mission in life is...
Beatrice Reviews “Poems to See By” by Julian Peters
“Poems to See By” by Julian Peters★★★★☆ This stunning anthology of favorite poems visually interpreted by comic artist Julian Peters breathes new life into some of the greatest English-language poets of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Disclaimer: I was given a...
Beatrice Reviews “Nine Years” by Jessica Leed
“Nine Years” by Jessica Leed★★★★☆ You would think Sienna Henderson had the perfect life. She has a successful career, a loving family and is engaged to be married. From the outside she appears to have it all together, yet on the inside she is coming undone. Caught...
My Favorite Childhood Reads
Have you ever looked back on your childhood, feeling that pang of nostalgia hit you square in the chest as you think back fondly of those simpler times? Did you, like me, love hitting up the library and checking out as many book as you can at a time so you could...
Beatrice Reviews “The Writer” by J.C. Maetis
“The Writer” by J.C. Maetis★★★★☆ The Writer by J.C. Maetis – Schindler’s List meets The Tattooist of Auschwitz – a gripping tale of love, survival and redemption against the backdrop of one of the darkest periods in recent history. Two Writers. One lives to write....
Beatrice Reviews “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes★★★★★ The story of a mentally disabled man whose experimental quest for intelligence mirrors that of Algernon, an extraordinary lab mouse. In diary entries, Charlie tells how a brain operation increases his IQ and changes his...
Beatrice Reviews “Animal Farm” by George Orwell
“Animal Farm” by George Orwell★★★★★ A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric...