Book Review: The Swallow

The Swallow
By Charis Cotter

My Edition:
Paperback, 317 pages
2017, Tundra
ISBN: 9781770495920

Rose and Polly are neighbors, opposites in many respects. Polly is energetic, boisterous and fair-haired and her house is loud and full of family. Rose is quiet, ghostly pale and wears dark clothing and her house is mostly empty with the exception of the housekeeper. But when the two girls meet they discover what they have in common – the constant feeling of isolation and the desperate desire for a friend to call their own. While their friendship forms, Polly begins to suspect that Rose might be a ghost; after all, she’s pale, quiet and no one else seems to notice her aside from Polly. When the girls find a tombstone bearing Rose’s exact name, they set out to unravel a dark family secret.

We all know I make grabby hands at any middle-grade that sounds remotely dark and I was tickled pink to find that I’d won The Swallow from Librarything. This book didn’t disappoint!

Book Review: The Sparrow

The Sparrow
By Mary Doria Russell

My Edition:
Paperback, 483 pages
2016, Ballantine, 20^th Anniversary Edition
ISBN: 9780449912553

When extraterrestrial life is picked up via satellite, a group of friends and colleagues lead by a Jesuit priest with a knack for learning languages, set off to make contact with the residents of a foreign planet. At first glance, the mission appears to be a success, until things begin to go wrong and after a series of social mishaps everything falls apart. The lone survivor, Emilio Sandoz, must now face judgment from his superiors and peers in Rome and tell the story of the tragedy that befell the party.

The less you know about the plot of this book going in, the better. I don’t think there’s any way my review will do this beautiful book justice, but I’ll give it a whirl.

Book Review: Bridge to Terabithia

The Bridge to Terabithia
By Katherine Paterson

My Edition:
Paperback (40^th Anniversary), 179 pages
1977, Harper
ISBN: 9780064401845

Jess Aarons works hard on his family farm – with his father working long hours and his four sisters nearly useless, Jess is constantly harangued by his mother. To distract himself, he’s been practicing running and hopes to be the fastest runner in 5^th grade. When Leslie Burke, the new girl in town, easily beats him in a race, he finds he’s not nearly as fast as he thought, but more importantly, he finds the beginning of a strong friendship.

UGH THIS BOOK.

On Feels

After recently completing two books that gave me (very different) feels – Gone With The Wind and Armstrong & Charlie – I realized it’d been a while since a book truly moved me.

Some of you might be asking, what the fuck are feels?

Book Review: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy
By Rachel Joyce

My Edition:
ARC paperback, 370 pages
2015, Random House
ISBN: 9780812996678 (hardcover)

I received this book for free from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions in this post are my own.

In The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Harold learns that his old co-worker Queenie Hennessy is suffering from a terminal illness, so he decides to walk the length of England to visit her. Now readers hear Queenie’s side of the story as she deals with the fear of what Harold may think when he arrives and the memories she relives as she waits for him. She decides to write a letter to him, detailing the events of their past and some of her life in the present.