Quick Pick book review - Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, by Deborah Feldman (now a Netflix show)

Opening lines: On the eve of my twenty-fourth birthday I interview my mother. We meet at a vegetarian restaurants in Manhattan, one that announces itself as organic and farm-fresh, and despite my recent penchant for all things pork and shellfish, I am looking forward...

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Kill Code: A Dystopian Science Fiction Novel, by Clive Fleury {ends 5/5}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley If the day had been difficult so far, things got increasingly competitive as the hours wore on. After the meal, the candidates who had passed the truth test were led into the gym again. I had tried to view the contest as being solely about my own...

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Gotham High, by Melissa de la Cruz {ends 5/3}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to a classic American high school No matter how many feel-good, guidance counselor-approved, school spirit-encouraging mandatory events there are, the fiefdoms are as rigid as the rules that govern them. The...

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Book Review: Act of Murder, by John Bishop (A Doc Brady Mystery, Book 1)

Guest review by: Becki Bayley We had a slight argument Saturday morning. I wanted to go into town, do a little research at the UT Medical Branch Library, and find out what I could about osteogenesis imperfecta. My curiosity was burning inside of me. “Jim Bob,” she started,...

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY - Love, Life and Lucille: Lessons Learned from a Centenarian, by Judy Gaman {ends 4/25}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley Lucille grasped her black flowing skirt with one hand and the stair railing with the other. Her black-and-white shirt with white lace collar served as the perfect backdrop for the black-and-white cameo dangling from her neck and the white silk...

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Book Review: Quantum, by Patricia Cornwell

Guest review by: Becki Bayley “This is bad, really bad.” I’m not going to sugarcoat it. “Either the ID wasn’t deactivated after all, or something far more nefarious is going on.” “I guess you can drill down into the metadata or whatever and see if something was tampered with,”...

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Book Review: Afterlife, by Julia Alvarez

Guest review by: Becki Bayley Antonia has to defer to Mona’s expertise. Still, it’s a shame how every grand passion has been coopted by some pathology or other. Indignation is now wounded narcissism. Outrage an issue with anger management. Revenge, a post-traumatic embitterment...

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Jack Kerouac is Dead to Me, by Gae Polisner {ends 4/15}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley And suddenly I feel like I’m going to cry and I don’t know why. Maybe because it hits me that we’re really not friends anymore. Forget barely. Not at all. And what I wish most in this moment is that I could have her back, the old Aubrey, the one...

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Book Review: Adequate Yearly Progress, by Roxanna Elden

Guest review by: Becki Bayley “Mr. Hernandez.” In the doorway stood Hernan’s least-favorite assistant principal, Mr. Scamphers. He was giving Hernan the look one might give a child who had indeed put someone’s eye out in a game he’d warned them would only be fun until someone...

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Where the Sun Will Rise Tomorrow, by Rashi Rohatgi {2 winners, ends 4/9}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley I run down the stairs, only the tips of my toes gracing the smooth, hard floors, and slip through the gate, pretending to latch it behind me, hoping the moon will discourage thieves or rapscallions from testing its truth. The sweet moo of the cow...

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