Tag Archives: white gaze / white cast

Death on Board, by Pauline Rowson

13 Jun
Cover for _Death on Board_, showing two wood fishing boats pulled on a dark pebbled beach; the background is an expanse of water and a distant coastline, under moody and stormy skies. There's an insinuation of light on the far horizon.

Look at that cover. Of course I had to check out the blurb, and from there to requesting an ARC it was but a very short step.

Beware: phonetic spelling to indicate accents; PTSD, copaganda; miscarriages; death of an infant; depression; mental health issues; suicide on page; sexual coercion/rape; xenophobia; antisemitism.

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Kill or Bee Killed, by Jeannie Marts

5 Jun
Illustrated cover for _Kill or Bee Killed_, showing the interior of a small bakery/cafe, with a window display of cupcakes and other baked goods showing the street beyond, and the glass main door showing a "Bee Festival" flyer; there's a dog at the door, looking through the glass at a body laying on the store's wood floor. Most of the body is obscured from view by a small round table set up with cookies and honey, and two tea cups.

Last summer I read the first in the Bee Keeping cozy mystery series, and while it was a somewhat bumpy ride, I enjoyed it enough to want to read the next one, and was happy when I got this ARC. Sadly, this book didn’t work for me on any level.

Beware: copaganda; fatphobia; bad Spanish; attempted sexual assault; maternal abandonment; parental abuse; panic attacks.

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Wolf, by Kelly Oliver

15 May
Illustrated original cover of Kelly Oliver's Wolf; over a background of a grand stone building with two turrets and a large stone arch entrance, the silhouette of a long haired woman wearing a short-brimmed cowboy hat and holding a rifle, seemingly walking towards the building. On the full moon on the top left of the cover, the silhouette of a howling wolf.
New cover for Kelly Oliver's _Wolf_, it shows a snowy night scene, with a woman wearing heavy winter clothes stands, her back to the camera, holding the harness of a German Shepherd dog, and looking towards what appears to be a park of some sort, with lampposts lights shining diffusely over the scene.

May’s theme for Wendy the SuperLibrarian’s TBR Challenge is “with a little help from my friends”. As friends feature prominently on the cover blurb, I hoped this ARC that’s been sitting in my kindle since 2016 would fit the bill.

Alas, it did not work for me–at all.

Beware: alcoholism; fatphobia; DNF review

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Shelter in Place, by Nora Roberts

1 May
Cover for _Shelter in Place_; night shot of a rocky beach with the tide coming in and the waves foaming up. There are some birds coming in to roost, and in the distance, a lighthouse rises in a promontory jutting out to sea.

I shouldn’t have given in. Alas, the woman can write, and I’m weak.

Beware: copaganda; mass shooting; fatphobia; slut-shaming; suicide; PTSD; lots of page space from the killer’s point of view; graphic gun violence; domestic violence; explicit sex on page; swearing.

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