Rachel Reads & Reviews

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  • November Books

    Hotel of Secrets by Diane Biller It is New Years Eve in Vienna and Maria Wallner is determined to rebbuild the Wallner Hotel, her family legacy even though her mother neglected it throughout the economic downturn. The hotel is her life and provides a distraction from romance which all of Vienna is waiting for her…

  • Mirror, Mirror Review

    Maguire sets his tale of vanity and murder in 16th century Italy where the wicked queen is played by a historical domain character, Lucrenzia Borgia, sister to Ceseare Borgia who was the inspiration for Machavelli’s The Prince. Lucrenzia is vain but her jealousy of Bianca, the girl as white as snow stems from her brother’s…

  • Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister Review

    Maguire takes the tale of Cinderella to Holland during the height of the Tulip madness. Beauty is the theme of the day, the traditional aesthetic beauty of femininity, the beauty immortal captured on canvas, the beauty in nature, and of course, the inner beauty in charity.

  • After Alice Review

    Maguire is best known for his work retelling the stories of Oz’ famous characters (and inspiring the subsequent Broadway play) but as the library didn’t have Wicked, I decided to take a look at Maguire’s other fairytale works. After Alice is just as implied where a minor character from the original novel, Ada, falls down…

  • Fullmetal Alchemist Vol 1-8

    Alright, I started a new manga. One of the most popular ones apparently so this is a more spoilery what I thought about the first half of the series rather than a full-on review. But I guess it doesn’t matter since the spoilers won’t make sense to someone who hasn’t read them. Let’s get to…

  • Warriors: Vision of Shadows

    I know, I know, it’s been awhile but someone keeps taking them out so I couldn’t read them in order. I guess it goes to show Hunter and the Warrior cats’ enduring popularity. Go them! Hunter’s next set of books pave new ground after the world-changing events of Omen of the Stars with Firestar’s death…

  • Thoughts on Tales from a Not-So-Posh Paris Adventure

    Alright so I read the latest Dork Diaries, and while it’s cute. I’m left with more questions than answers. 

  • Ranking The Hero’s Guide trilogy

    Everyone knows the story of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Snow White, but the truth is the bards got a lot wrong. For instance, all those Princes Charmings have a name, and their stories have cast them aside in various embarassing ways. But it’s not the annoying songs that bring the princes together. That all…

  • Spare me your Revenge

    You know how sometimes you see a passing feud on a tabloid and you get into it? Like it’ so vapid, so irrelevant to your own life but somehow you managed to not only read that article but then go into the rabbit hole of everything in that feud to the point that you can…

  • Emerald Green Review

    After finding out that Saint Germain and Gideon have been manipulating her this whole time, though she still doesn’t know why or what’s the endgame, Gwenyth just wants to wallow in her heartbreak. But her friends, Lesley and Xemerius will not allow it. Now, they’re just a few clues from finding out where the treasure…