Music boxes is a pre-teen adventure with a little horror. It is a fairy tale with a wicked witch, a magic amulet, and clear good and evil.  One should not spend too much time picking at the logical consistency of a fairy tale .  To a young reader, which is certainly the target audience, the … More Music Boxes, by Tonja Drecker

The End, by justine Avery, is a novella that starts out with great promise, but ultimately disappoints due to an ending that is muddled, confusing, and unintentionally (I think) ambiguous.  On the plus side, the novella starts out reading a bit like an episode of The Twilight Zone.  The story follows Trevor, a man described … More The End, By Justine Avery

            Madeleine Holly-Rosing’s deep dive into a steam-punk world is a remarkably well-written and well-edited novel that captures your imagination and draws you in.  The rich imagery and detailed descriptions help create a well-organized universe where Boston is part of the Great States of America and the “Great Houses” of the American aristocracy run business … More The Boston Metaphysical Society (A Storm of Secrets), by Madeleine Holly-Rosing

The Deranged is Kate Myers’ first novel and it suffers from typical first-novel maladies.  The story is an unremarkable zombie apocalypse tale that follows the four major characters as they flee from the “deranged” humans who charge at any normal person and try to beat them to death. The zombies don’t eat flesh, and can … More The Deranged, by Kate Myers