Tag Archives: book reviews

Twilight at Twenty: A Reader’s “Never Say Never” Journey

Posted on September 26, 2025 by jfkaufmann

How a teenage vampire romance cracked my literary shell and led me to my own stories This October marks two decades since Stephenie Meyer’s novel Twilight was published — and quickly became a global phenomenon. There was nothing about it … Continue reading →

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The Never Witch by JP McLean

Posted on August 6, 2025 by jfkaufmann

I had the pleasure of reading The Never Witch in its final stage before the official launch on September 16, 2025. As a great admirer of JP McLean’s work, I was eager to read her latest novel. It’s the first … Continue reading →

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January Blues

Posted on January 29, 2024 by jfkaufmann

I don’t like January, that time after holidays when life tries to get back to a normal routine but somehow fails. At work, this is the beginning of a new fiscal year; in other words, work soars up after the … Continue reading →

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2023 in books: “Meh.”

Posted on December 18, 2023 by jfkaufmann

This parting year was a bland reading experience. I couldn’t pick out more than a few books that made a lasting impression on me. I re-read a lot, though, which gave me some balance. I kicked off my 2023 reading … Continue reading →

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The Dubious Art of Book Reviewing

Posted on January 26, 2023 by jfkaufmann

I don’t write reviews often; it takes time and effort to come up with a meaningful retrospection. When I do write them, I have different rules for different types of books, and this customized approach is most apparent within two … Continue reading →

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Review No. 3: Dog Meat by Priscilla Bettis

Posted on December 15, 2022 by jfkaufmann

Priscilla Bettis’s novella is a fascinating journey into the blackness of totalitarian regime—a literary sublimation and a paradigm that we have seen before, from Romania between 1945 and 1989 and Stalin’s gulags to the crazy, murderous dictatorship of Pol Pot … Continue reading →

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Christmas Review No. 2: She Who Returns by Audrey Driscoll

Posted on December 11, 2022 by jfkaufmann

The next in my series of Christmas reviews is the closing book of Audrey Driscoll’s Herbert West series, She Who Returns. I’ve read and reviewed the previous installment, She Who Comes Forth and I want to touch on this one, … Continue reading →

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A Short Journey to Horror Fiction

Posted on February 2, 2022 by jfkaufmann

I rarely plunge into this genre, but I read and reviewed Priscilla Bettis’s debut work, “The Hay Bale”. First, my review: “The best way to describe this short horror story is that I took a deep breath in on page … Continue reading →

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A Magnificent Farewell

Posted on February 7, 2019 by jfkaufmann

A five-star review of J. P. McLean’s Wings of Prey, the concluding book of The Gift Legacy.  I was reading the last book in The Gift Legacy with enjoyment mixed with that specific sadness we sometimes feel when the time … Continue reading →

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