A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

The Madwoman Upstairs is Catherine Lowell's debut novel. When Samantha Whipple, the world famous, last known descendant of the Bronte (yes, those Brontes) clan, matriculates at Oxford University, she receives an odd inheritance from her long deceased father.  While the literary world obsesses over the contents of a long rumored, long lost Bronte estate, Samantha knows that such an estate is just that--a rumor--and does not exist.  At Oxford Samantha finds herself assigned to a demanding, inscrutable tutor and then suddenly immersed in the mysteries of her father's past when the Bronte novels that should have burned up with her father in his library begin appearing one by one in her isolated tower room dorm.  Now Samantha must solve the dual mysteries of who is leaving the books for her and why and what they mean in terms of her past. When Samantha discovers that the math tutor that she long thought dead is instead alive and well and teaching maths at Oxford, she b...

Winter Storms is the conclusion of the Winter Street trilogy.  You can read the review for Winter Street here and the one for Winter Stroll here . It's several months after the previous installment when this novel picks up with the Quinn family's trials, dramas, and tribulations.  Rather than cover several days in December as the previous novels did, this installment picks up in the Spring and then takes us through the Summer, Fall, and into the Winter holiday with the Quinn family.  And while the family will eventually be reunited and put back together, life (and death) have a way of undoing this.  So without much further ado, let's dive back into the Quinn family drama. Finally Patrick is released from prison much to the relief of Jennifer, their boys, and the whole family.  However, now the family must deal with Jennifer's pill addiction which was fortunately stumbled upon by Kevin and Patrick.  Unfortunately Jennifer's drug dealer was Norah, ...

The Accident Season is Moira Fowley-Doyle's debut novel.  Her next novel will be released next year.  Fowley-Doyle lives and writes in Ireland where her novels are set. Every October brings the accident season down on the Morris family during which its members suffer inexplicable accidents that usually cause bodily harm or worse.  Some years are worse than others; there was the accident season that claimed Cara's father and the one in which her uncle Seth died.  Despite the family's extra precautions every accident season, such as adding extra layers of clothing, padding to sharp edges around the house, or replacing the gas range with an electric one, Cara and her mother, sister, Alice, and ex-stepbrother, Sam, suffer cuts, scrapes, bruises and broken bones.  And according to Cara's best friend Bea's tarot cards, this accident season is going to be the worst of them all.  Because this accident season won't just tear skin and break bone, it will reveal ...

Arrowood is the second novel by Laura McHugh; however, it is the first one that I've read.  This novel is described as Gothic on its cover.  And it is Gothic indeed with its setting and dark portrayal of a dysfunctional family destroyed by a dark tragedy. After her father dies, Arden Arrowood inherits the family's stately, old house in Keokuk, Iowa, that bears her family's name.  At Arrowood she hopes to forge a life, make a home, and find some closure regarding a family tragedy that occurred during her childhood.  But Keokuk is itself decaying as are most of its stately, old homes, and Arden herself is marked by the tragedy that destroyed her family and uprooted her from the only home she'd ever known. Arden has been haunted all her life by her twin sisters' disappearance from the family's front yard two decades ago.  The last one to see them before they disappeared, she is one of two witnesses to have seen a mysterious gold car driving away from the scen...

Winter Stroll is the second installment of Elin Hilderbrand's Winter Street trilogy.  I reviewed the first installment previously on the blog, and you can click here to read it.   Winter Stroll was released last year, and I'm just now getting around to reading it.  Which is fine because the third and final book in the trilogy was released this fall, so I can read that soon.  Keep an eye out for that review because it will be coming up in a few weeks.   I have been reading and reading and reading some more.  I only have one class this semester, so there is more time for my own reading.  As it stands, I'm about three books behind in my review writing (sorry).  And since we're coming up on the end of the year in a couple months, we'll have to start thinking about staff picks from the past year around here.  The 2016 Staff Picks will run starting after the first of the year.  So just a little programming notes for you to look forwar...