About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Sarah Hall
Rave Bookreporter ... exquisite ... Hall’s relatively slim book packs a lot into it. Narrated in spare, fragmentary bits...the novel manages to be both abstract and precise ... Burntcoat touches on many powerful and relevant themes ... Hall also skillfully depicts sex, in scenes that are more visceral than erotic, and that pair powerfully with the very different kinds of intimacy required when the virus begins to take over the body ... Both apocalyptic and strangely hopeful, Burntcoat is the work of a talented, thoughtful novelist engaging masterfully and inventively with the pressing concerns of our time.
Rosie Danan
Positive Bookreporter It\'s probably safe to say that readers will not have encountered a romance novel quite like The Intimacy Experiment before. It certainly has plenty of the juiciness of The Roommate , but it also has the added, and rather surprising, element of Naomi growing deeper in her Jewish faith and Ethan being challenged in his. Danan’s sexy, thoughtful novel breaks new ground in romance, and I for one am eager to see where this talented writer takes us next.
Rachel Hawkins
Rave Bookreporter A clever, modern-day thriller that uses Charlotte Brontë’s novel as its jumping-off point but quickly heads into darker territory ... Here, Jane’s story is both thoroughly satisfying and consistently surprising, right to the novel’s final pages. Obviously those who are Jane Eyre fans already will delight the most in the little Easter eggs that Hawkins sprinkles throughout the book. However, The Wife Upstairs also stands on its own as a gothic-tinged thriller, one where bright colors, big hair and perfect manners hide more than a few dark secrets.
Sara Faith Alterman
Positive Bookreporter Alterman, who is one of the producers of the podcast and live show Mortified, excels at telling cringeworthy stories of her youth and young adulthood --- stories that don’t flinch even as they touch on deeply uncomfortable topics and themes. She also, courageously, acknowledges her own failings in dealing with her father during his rapid decline ... and her regrets over how she failed to support her mother in her own grief ... I don’t read many memoirs, but when I do, I’m looking for ones like Alterman’s: a true story that offers hilarious anecdotes and insights but also addresses difficult topics with the same honesty and candor. Alterman’s voice is funny, irreverent and full of love for her father, and readers are unlikely to come away without a deep fondness for them and their entire family.
Armando Lucas Correa
Positive Book Reporter The book’s scope is ambitious, but its emotional core is palpable and affecting. At times, the characters’ spoken passages don’t quite ring true as authentic dialogue, but this could be due in part to the translation from the original Spanish. Nevertheless, the emotions underpinning their speeches seem genuine, and the love at the heart of this war-torn family will inspire readers’ compassion as well.