The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave Narrative by Mary PrinceMy rating: 5 of 5 stars It was heart wrenching to read about this poor woman and her life as a slave. Many times I had to remind myself that this was an account of actual occurrences and not fiction.It is beyond my comprehension how people can treat others in such a cruel and gruesome way. The narration of Mary’s experiences was very well done. It conveyed the anguish she had to endure without an unnecessary element of melodrama. This short text is a great resource to further understand the truth and ugliness that came with the West…

Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey CatesMy rating: 2 of 5 stars I was hoping to have found another cute and worthwhile mystery series that included witches with the Magical Bakery Mystery series. Unfortunately, I will not continue this series, since it could not keep my interest.It was a slow moving story that contained a lot of unnecessary details, which oddly enough were not explained properly so that the actual purpose of those descriptions seemed out of place, awkward and confusing.I felt that the main character was only the vessel or object of moving the plot along. The author did not exert any effort to flesh her out and add some…

Gone Girl by Gillian FlynnMy rating: 3 of 5 stars How does one review a book that they hated the first 95%? A psychological thriller that contains many twists and turns, Gone Girl is a strange compilation of he-said, she-said narrations that have the reader shake their head in confusion about who to ultimately believe.As I said, I did not like the story for the most part, partially because of the choices the author made in developing the characters. For one, the reader is led down a path of disliking the first “main” character, then enlightened about the other “main” character, who we are supposed to dislike? Pity? Feel rage…

The Demonologist by Andrew PyperMy rating: 1 of 5 stars What a disappointment! I was intrigued to read a paranormal mystery that includes Milton’s Paradise Lost, but I would have never expected such a bad outcome.I will keep this review short, because I really do not feel like wasting any more time on this than absolutely necessary.The main character was flat, one dimensional. He did not possess any depth or could hold the reader’s interest regardless of the fact that this story was narrated from his point of view in the first person singular. It is difficult to create a character that is supposed to appear distant from his life…

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch AlbomMy rating: 4 of 5 stars The more I think about this book, the less confident I am of my rating and its impending review. It is a unique story that explains one person’s (the author’s) idea of heaven through the narration of an old man’s ascent to heaven. But is this story really worth 4 stars? Considering the length or rather “shortness” of this story, the author was able to create characters that were interesting. The main character was well described and contained some depth as the narrator provided insight into his psychological well being instead of only focusing on…

The Good the Bad and the Witchy by Heather BlakeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I absolutely adored this story. In addition to the humour the reader got to know (and hopefully appreciate) in the previous two installments, the reader is now in for a treat as an element of spookiness is added to the wonderful medley of genres that makes this series so endearing.To begin with, the reader will find this story to be much more character focused as we can trace the development of the protagonist and the immediate secondary characters, and it also provides greater depths into the characters that are only specific to the story/plot of…

A Witch Before Dying by Heather BlakeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Books in a series are always challenging to review for me, because I feel I should rate and review them independently and outside the context of the series. I was profusely torn between a 4- and 5-star rating, since I fell under the curse of raised expectations. However, other than the misfortune of following such a great first book, I could see no reason for not giving it 5 stars.The author’s talent and skill of including minute details in the intricate art of storytelling made reading this story a pleasure. From the subtleties of character development to the…

The Alchemist by Paulo CoelhoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Short, simple and powerful. The reader is plunged into a sea of obvious and yet often forgotten life lessons and situations that almost feel like one has to unfocus the mind in order to get the true message of the story.What intrigued me the most was the absence of the main character’s name throughout the entire story, which worked beautifully with the main premise behind its message. However, the character did not seem any less tangible or multidimensional, since the reader obtained the point of view of this character and thus his thoughts and opinions.The language and writing was, as…

Harlem Duet by Djanet SearsMy rating: 3 of 5 stars A short play that looks at race, sex and the dissolution of a relationship. I enjoyed the element of “history repeating itself” as the playwright chose to show the same relationship during three different time periods. I was longing for more, though. The reader is provided with glimpses of the three time periods, where the present time receives greater attention than the other two past time periods. I hoped for a greater fleshing out of the characters in those lesser mentioned time periods.Other than that, the characters and dialogue were strong and the plot was easy to follow.Overall, I would…

A Potion to Die For by Heather BlakeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars I could tell from the way the author chose to introduce characters and advance the plot that this book is clearly meant to belong to and be read as part of the new and probably longer lasting Magic Potion Mystery series.I was a bit at odds with the first half of the story, since it plunged the reader right into the middle of the action, but on the other hand took about 170 pages to pick up the pace. There was quite a group of characters introduced at the beginning of the story and one could feel…