Adult, ARC review, book review

An Ordinary Violence by Adriana Chartrand (ARC Review)

Dawn hasn’t spoken to her brother, Cody, since he was sent to prison for a violent crime seven years ago. Now living in a shiny new Toronto condo, Dawn is haunted by uncanny occurrences, including cryptic messages from her dead mother, that have followed her most of her life. When the life Dawn thought she wanted implodes, she is forced to return to her childhood home and the prairie city that holds so much pain for her and her fractured family.

Cody is unexpectedly released from prison with a mysterious new friend by his side, who seems to be the charismatic leader of a dangerous supernatural network. Trying to uncover their plans, Dawn follows increasingly sinister leads until the lines between this world and the next, now and then, and right and wrong begin to blur and dissolve.

What unfolds is an eerie, incisive, and at times darkly funny horror novel about a young Indigenous woman reckoning with trauma and violence, loss and reclamation in an unsettling world where spirit realms entwine with the living ― and where it is humans who carry out the truly monstrous acts… Read More An Ordinary Violence by Adriana Chartrand (ARC Review)

book review, food & drink, nonfiction

Asian Vegetables by the Wang Sisters (Review)

While bok choy is now a staple on Western grocery store shelves, other Asian vegetables remain unknown―even though they’re delicious, nutritious, and easy to grow in northern climates. Caroline, Stéphanie, and Patricia Ho-Yi Wang, three sisters of Cantonese descent, have made it their mission to introduce gardeners, cooks, and vegetable lovers of all flavours to wider sources of sustenance. Organized around fifteen Asian vegetables that are presented according to the rhythm of the seasons, this lush, full-colour book offers advice on growing and harvesting organic crops intended for both weekend and commercial gardeners, along with a host of ideas to preserve and prepare them, including forty or so recipes, some of which have been developed by renowned chefs. The Wang sisters complement the book’s practical advice by offering thoughts on Asian vegetables from a cultural point of view and sharing the importance of these foods within their own family, members of whom left China to immigrate to Madagascar before settling in Québec. Asian Vegetables is a generous and gorgeous tribute to good food, to the land, and the importance of strong roots… Read More Asian Vegetables by the Wang Sisters (Review)

Adult, ARC review, book review

Goddess by Deborah Hemming (ARC Review)

On a flight to New York at the end of her first book tour, up-and-coming writer Agnes Oliver meets Jack Verity, the handsome filmmaker and ex-husband of Geia Stone, a famous actress turned wellness guru, whose popular lifestyle brand Goddess promotes controversial therapies and expensive beauty tools in the name of self-care and inner nourishment. Jack invites Agnes to a party in the Hamptons, where she meets Geia and finds herself welcomed into the guru’s inner circle.

That summer, Geia arranges for Agnes to attend the Goddess summit, an exclusive wellness retreat held on a remote Greek island. There, Agnes observes many strange happenings she can’t explain, as one by one the other guests seem to fall under the spell of their enchanting host. When Agnes begins to discover who Geia really is, she realizes it’s up to her to protect the other women at the summit from an unexpected and unwelcome fate. A propulsive and captivating story about beauty and influence, self-doubt and seduction, Goddess is the electrifying new novel from a talented writer to watch… Read More Goddess by Deborah Hemming (ARC Review)