Resurrection Girls – ARC review

Author: Ava Morgyn
Publication date: October 1, 2019
Genre: YA contemporary/drama, magical realism
My rating: 4/5 stars

What a weird, yet beautiful, little book. I went in expecting something a little creepy, a little sad, a little quirky, but I closed the book (er, Kindle) with the sense that (a) I had just read a painfully real look at grief and loss, and (b) I just observed one of the most bizarre endings I had ever read. No, that isn’t a spoiler; trust me when I say it is not one you couldn’t predict even if you tried.

The Royal Art of Poison – review

Title: The Royal Art of Poison: Filthy Palaces, Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine, and Murder Most Foul
Author: Eleanor Herman
Genre: historical nonfiction
My rating: 4/5 stars

A gossip column meets my high school AP European History textbook (McKay, I’ll never forget you!) in this highly entertaining, if occasionally pedantic, read. Think that combination sounds fascinating? Horrifying? Impossibly bizarre? The Royal Art of Poison is all of the above, and you should keep reading.