After coming out with two remarkable novels - Heave and The Memento - Watermark is Christy Ann Conlin's first book of short stories. Watermark has already garnished a lot of praise from some well-known Atlantic Canadian authors. Lynn Coady remarks that Conlin's stories "achieve a dizzying balance of light and dark"; Lisa Moore calls the stories … Continue reading Watermark by Christy Ann Conlin
Remember talking on the phone for hours while doing homework? Or waiting by the phone all day for a certain someone to call you, and hoping your parents (or worse, a sibling) don't pick up the phone first? Remember renting movies at a video store and looking up numbers in the phone book? Swatches and … Continue reading Even Weirder Than Before by Susie Taylor
Every Little Piece of Me is the highly anticipated second novel by Amy Jones, author of We're All in This Together. Ava Ava's fathers move her and her two siblings from NYC to a Bed & Breakfast in Gin Harbour, Nova Scotia to be part of a reality TV show. ("It's Jon and Kate Plus … Continue reading Every Little Piece of Me by Amy Jones
In Found Drowned Laurie Glenn Norris, already an established author of local historical non-fiction, tries her hand at fiction that is based on true historical events. Which, without a doubt, is a sure way to snag my interest. In the beginning of Found Drowned a young woman is spotted by two boys, washed up on … Continue reading Found Drowned by Laurie Glenn Norris
The Blind Mechanic was already on my list when it was shortlisted for both the Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing and the Robbie Robertson Dartmouth Book Award (Non-fiction). And judging by how long my library copy took to come in, it's been on many others' lists as well. An already well-known survivor of … Continue reading Halifax Explosion: ‘The Blind Mechanic’ and ‘Breaking Disaster’
Surfing fixes everything, I knew that much. You don't need to be a surfer or cyclist to read this book, but beware: it might make you want to pull on a wet suit and catch some waves! I usually enjoy reading about others' adventures - cycling across the country, hiking a months-long trail, sailing around … Continue reading Louisbourg or Bust: A Surfer’s Wild Ride Down Nova Scotia’s Drowned Coast by RC Shaw
Use Your Imagination!, Kris Bertin's second book of short stories, is made up of seven stories, all of which I found engaging and satisfying, always curious to find out what was coming next. And like in his first collection, Bad Things Happen, Bertin has come up with some great first lines... Frank opens the screen … Continue reading Use Your Imagination! by Kris Bertin
The Madrigal had me from the very first paragraph... I was the aberration in my family: a single child. My mother had three sets of identical twins, and then me. Two boys, two boys, two boys. At least if I had been a girl it would have been some consolation for all of us. But … Continue reading The Madrigal by Dian Day
I'm seeing Crow everywhere right now; on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. And I can see why readers are falling in love with this book. Meet Crow... I come from a long line of lunatics and criminals. Crazies on one side of the family tree, crooks on the other, although the odd crazy has a … Continue reading Crow by Amy Spurway
Once I got into this book, it was very hard to put down. There are two main story lines in Catching the Light, and for what seemed like the longest time I wasn't sure if the two were ever going to meet. Which kept me powering through the book. Cathy grows up in a small … Continue reading Catching the Light by Susan Sinnott
Consumed by Ink 