What She Wants, Backseat Saints, Discovery of Witches: Book Reviews

When my blog suffers, it's either because A) I'm so busy I'm overwhelmed, B) I'm on a break or C) I've been lucky enough to find some really good books. Last week's hiatus was due to B and C. I've read one good and two great books recently.

The Good: What She Wants by Cathy Kelly

I've read several of Kelly's books. I've enjoyed them all and this one was no exception. All her stories are about Ireland, family and relationships. This one came at a weird time because one of the characters is 'the other woman' and some people in my life are going through this. It was hard not to read the book from a place of anger and think of Izzie as 'that stupid, cheating beyotch.' Overall, I liked the book. Kelly's stories are always easy reads.

The Great: Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson and A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

I have said before that Joshilyn Jackson is at the top of my Authors I Will Always Read list. I need to read her books with a highlighter because some of her sentences blow me away. Knowing that I was going to tell you about the book, you'd think I'd do exactly that. But I didn't so you'll have to take my word for it. I love the plot of this book and all the characters.

The main character, Rose, made an appearance in an earlier work, so of course I want to go back and read Gods in Alabama again with a fresh perspective on the character. I need to see a therapist to figure out why I have such a fascination with books set in the south. Maybe I need to go to the south. It must be some kind of sign. If you haven't read anything by Jackson, these two titles are a good place to start. I stayed up until the wee hours finishing Backyard Saints.

Entertainment Weekly is one of my favorite magazines. I was at the library and A Discovery of Witches was in the 'new' section. I remembered reading a great review in EW so I picked it up. LOVE. It has witches, vampires and demons but it's nothing like the Sookie Stackhouse books. For starters, this book is 500+ pages. It reads more like historical fiction or historical romance. I like the explanations of how demons, vampires and witches came to be in this book better than the Stackhouse books. It's not entirely fair to compare them, but I can't think of any other books recent books with witches and vampires. To say the ending is a cliffhanger is a bit of an understatement. I'm really happy it's part of a trilogy. I think I spent most of a Saturday reading this.

I'm always looking for suggestions, especially now that I'm enjoying digital books. What book kept you up all night recently?