Val Muller

The Electronic Wordsmith

Browsing Posts in book reviews

I signed up to review this book as part of a book tour. I only sign up for these types of books when the premise seems interesting. The book was advertised as a combination of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, so I was intrigued. Though I did not dislike the book, I did not feel […]

Warning: this is a horror novel with explicit content and best suited for mature readers and fans of the horror genre. Dark Hollow was recommended to me by a Facebook friend, who said he could not put the book down. I see why. Keene’s novel is a fun read for fans of horror. It follows […]

This book follows Alexa, a lawyer who moved from New York City back to her roots in Pennsylvania, where she lives in her family’s cabin in the woods. Aside from being a lawyer, she volunteers at a women’s clinic that has been the target of increasing heat and violence because one of the services it […]

Because this book came recommended, I knew I should stick with it even though it didn’t immediately capture my interest. The book is well written, and Hammond’s strength is the way she interweaves her characters together. It certainly is a character-driven story with the plot taking a back seat. Samson Brown has been taking care […]

I am generally not a fan of nonfiction, reading the genre only on recommendation. This book was recommended by a colleague who started reading the book and then realized it would be perfect for me. In the book, which is broken down into short, manageable chapters with specific examples interspersed throughout, Doctorow extrapolates his ideas […]

Written by Donald Friendman and illustrated by J. C. Suares, this book was a Christmas gift, and I enjoyed it. It’s exactly what it sounds like: an illustrated “dictionary” of dog-related terms. As someone interested in etymology and the origins of language, I enjoyed reading about phrases used from the Middle Ages to Shakespeare to […]

I picked up this book when it caught my eye at a second-hand book store. It’s about a twelve-year-old (Joey) who vanishes during a camping trip. He re-appears two years later, only he’s still twelve and wearing the same thing he was wearing when he disappeared. The rest of the world has grown, and he […]

I had been meaning to read this book for years. After I moved, it got packed in the bottom of a box of books, and I finally found it again. This book reminds me of 1984, only looking at society from a more personal, feminine, perspective. The novel is written (spoken) through the voice of […]

Read this book if you want to be kept in suspense, and have your blood raging and your fists clenched. Kyra is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives in a cult called The Chosen Ones. We hear the story from her point of view, so we’re limited in our understanding of the cult. We learn, however, […]

The Raft is a survival tale told from the point of view of a teenager named Robie, who lives on the Midway Atoll (in the Pacific). While visiting her aunt on Hawaii, Robie decides to go home early and takes a cargo flight home. But she is not recorded on the manifest, and the plane […]