The Rabbit's Paw Book Reviews

The Volcano Daughters is a well written, dense narrative that follows the separate lives of two sisters, Graciela and Consuelo, who manage to escape from a dangerous, crushing dictator in El Salvador in the early 1930s. The story moves nonlinearly through tumultuous times in both their native country and elsewhere. The author combines cultural traditions and storytelling, magical realism, and real historical events to weave a fascinating story. The prologue of this story was at first confusing to me because I did not know what was to come, but it is beautiful, and I’m glad that I kept reading.  Some of the voices telling the stories of Graciela and Consuelo are fantasmas, or what we’d usually call spirits or ghosts. In this way, the sisters’ memories, friends, and family stay with them, in their hearts. Gina Maria Balibrera has written a memorable and special saga that I am grateful to have read. Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon,Vintage and Anchor for the opportunity to r...

Breaking the Dark was my first experience with Lisa Jewell. I’d been curious to read one of her novels, and am grateful to Netgalley and Hyperion Avenue for making this title available to read now.  This was a very different read for me, and though it was not my favorite type of mystery and I know little about Marvel superheroes, I did find it to be mostly entertaining. Some parts of the plot were a bit difficult for me to understand, and I also found the motivations of a couple of the characters to be puzzling. Of course, I realize that a  thriller involving superheroes demands that the reader suspend her disbelief, but  I sometimes had a hard time doing so.  The fusion of mystery with superheroes  is a creative concept, though it’s not my preference. I look forward to reading a more typical Lisa Jewell novel, but am glad that I experienced this one.