Andrea's Reviews

If you're looking for an unusual summer read, check out this fun, supernatural, music-filled romp through Prague. Feisty musicologist Sarah seeks the true identity of Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved," and her search takes her on an adventure through time.

Meticulously crafted and brilliantly woven storylines converge in this epic tale of displaced deities, con men, faith, and storytelling. It's a murder mystery, a road narrative, a folk tale. Every sentence is a puzzle piece, and when it all comes together at the end you'll shout, "Ohhhh!" and flip back to page one to read it all again.

Now the creepy and unsettling story of a wealthy family who were poisoned, and the one daughter who had no choice but to scare off their money-grubbing cousin... it's We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

I cherished this charming, creepy, and thoroughly absorbing collection of stories. Fowler leaps effortlessly between a mental reform camp for teenage girls to the boarding house of Mary Surratt; from the 839 steps of an odd Italian town to the forests of Santa Cruz. Each tale has something sinister hiding just beneath the surface and at the end of each peek into an intriguing world, you'll be dreaming of strange shadows and subtle magic. 

The easiest way for me to explain this book? It's like The Matrix with wordsmiths. Bright young kids with a knack for language get recruited by a mysterious school for the gifted, where they're trained as "poets" to penetrate their targets' minds. The timeline jumps between Emily's past (discovering her remarkable talents) and Wil's present (catastrophe-induced amnesia), and when the two come together, things get really exciting. 

I was swallowed up by this atmospheric, gradual tragedy of a mystery. The writing dances between suggestive and precise, dropping the reader right into a sticky summer day in Florida or into a thrumming evening jazz concert in the quartet's high school halcyon days. I was both dreading and relishing seeing the past catch up with Gavin and his friends, and watching the consequences of their choices play out against each other. 

Deborah Madison is a UCSC alum and the author of the beloved Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Her newest work focuses on edible plant families and how to use the entire plant in a variety of different, delicious ways. Publishers Weekly says: “Madison’s keen focus covers a variety of squashes, grains, legumes, and tubers, showcased in all their versatile goodness in dishes such as butternut squash soup with coconut milk, miso, and lime; chewy oat and maple pancakes; peas in butter lettuce; and sweet potato flan with maple yogurt and caramel pecans.” Yum!

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this haunting, dramatic novel since I read it in hardcover last September. On the surface, it’s the story of a college freshman whose boyfriend’s actions force her to go home to her family, and the way her return affects her parents and brother. But deeper than that, it’s about knowing and not knowing our family members, and the turning point at which returning home becomes impossible.

It’s very rare that a book resounds with me emotionally enough to put tears in my eyes and my heart in my throat. This is one of those books—and it’s about video games. It takes place in two time periods: first, at the beginning of the gaming boom, when ideas like open world and 3-D were little more than dreams; then in the present day, when a software bug with human roots threatens the release of Black Arts’ newest title. For fans of Ready Player One and anyone who remembers the thrill of holding your first joystick, controller, or Game Boy and feeling like you were about to embark on something legendary.

I hesitate to call myself a fangirl of anything, but when I heard that Neil Gaiman had a new book coming out in June, his first for adults since Anansi Boys, I started flapping my hands and screaming. This is the guy who made me wish for a magical door in my house (Coraline), who changed the way I think about dreams (Sandman), and got me to read road narratives and contemporary mythology (American Gods). His latest work is a dark, modern fantasy about awakening an ancient evil, and it promises to live up to my expectations of being strange and enthralling and incredible.