Novels Now

You are browsing the archives of 2009 December.

Shadow of Colosus by T.L. Higley
A Seven Wonders Novel, Book 1
Pages: 386 pgs.
First Published: Aug. 1, 2008
Genre: historical fiction, romance, christian fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
First sentence:

In the deceitful calm of the days preceding disaster, while Rhodes still glittered like a white jewel in the Aegean, Tesa of Delos planned to open her wrists.

Reason for Reading: I had [...]

Matchless, A Christmas Story: An Illumination of Hans Christian Andersen’s Classic The Little Match Girl by Gregory Maguire
Pages: 112 pgs.
Ages: 10+
First Published: Oct. 27, 2009
Genre: fairy tale
Rating: 3.5/5
First sentence:
On an island so far north that it snowed from September to April, a boy named Frederick kept himself warm by keeping a secret.
Reason for Reading: I [...]

BoneMan’s Daughters by Ted Dekker
Pages: 401 pgs.
First Published: Apr. 14, 2009
Genre: thriller, christian fiction?
Rating: 5/5
First sentence:
The day that Ryan Evans’ world forever changed began as any other day he’d spent in the hot desert might have done.
Reason for Reading: The publisher’s description of this serial killer thriller was right up my alley.
Summary: The BoneMan kidnapped [...]

the road to god knows … by Von Allan
Pages: 141 pgs.
Ages: 15+
First Published: Oct. 2009
Genre: YA, graphic novel, realistic fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
First sentence:
“Has it b-been only a few days..?”
Reason for Reading: A Cybils Award nominee.
Summary: I think the author’s own sub-title pretty much sums up the story: “an Original Graphic Novel about Hope, Friendship, Mental Illness, [...]

Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handerland
The Phoenix Chronicles, Book 1
Pages: 343 pgs.
First Published: Nov. 4, 2008
Rating: 3/5
First sentence:
On the day my old life died, the air smelled of springtime — budding trees and just-born flowers, fresh grass and hope.
Reason for Reading: I was intrigued by the ex-cop, psychic demon hunter aspect of the plot.
Summary: Ex-cop [...]

The Private Patient by P.D. James
Adam Dalgliesh Mystery, Book 14
Pages: 395 pgs.
First Published: Nov. 18, 2008,
Genre: mystery, British police procedural
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
On November the 21st, the day of her forty-seventh birthday, and three weeks and two days before she was murdered, Rhoda Gradwyn went to Harley Street to keep a first appointment with her plastic [...]

A Separate Country
By Robert Hicks
Completed December 6, 2009
In A Separate Country, Robert Hicks draws upon one of the Confederacy’s most colorful generals, John Bell Hood, to tell a story of love, redemption and life in post-Reconstruction New Orleans.
After the war, John Bell Hood came to New Orleans a shredded man. Physically scarred with [...]