Danielle – Reading & Writing Blog

October 5, 2025

When Women Were Dragons

When Women Were Dragons, Kelly Barnhill, 2022 *resolutely screams into megahorn* Author Kelly Barnhill is deserving of MUCH more hype! It is my personal…

September 19, 2025

If Beale Street Could Talk

If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwin, 1974 Baldwin’s lyrical prose has the profound effect of making one desire to understand every side. Fonny…

September 12, 2025

Funny Story

Funny Story, Emily Henry, 2024 Emily Henry’s Funny Story, like her other novels, is rich with what matters in a sweet, take me out…

September 2, 2025

It Didn’t Start With You

It Didn’t Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle, Mark Wolynn, 2016 Beware of…

July 23, 2025

Song of Achilles

Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller, 2012 It may have been the unchecked hype for this novel that made it such a disappointment. Scrolling through…

July 13, 2025

The Smell On His Sweatshirt

I was a wee baby when I wrote this one, probably 14. Part of my first collection, Things Of My Youth. Published in Frenetic…

May 12, 2025

Cat’s Eye

Cat’s Eye, Margaret Atwood, 1972 Cat’s Eye is a book about retrospect. Elaine, a woman in her middle age, returns to her hometown of…

April 16, 2025

Doubts/Witching Hour

“Doubts” was originally written by my angsty 14 year old self. It is published in Beneath The Mask Literary Magazine Issue 6 April 2025….

March 23, 2025

Heir of Fire

Heir of Fire, Sarah J Maas, 2014 In Heir of Fire, Celaena becomes Aelin and we finally get her childhood backstory (among other things)!…

February 21, 2025

Malibu Rising

Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2021 Malibu Rising is a stand-alone novel that is part of what I’ve heard called the Mick Riva universe:…