Bookshelf

Lexy Cooper Mysteries

The mystery genre boasts a plethora of themes, from the traditional Agatha Christie to a growing number of cat inspired novels. Yes, cat mysteries, a subgenre I am not too sure I want to venture into. In a very tiny corner of this category you will find the Lexy Cooper series, inspired by author Christa Charter’s time in …

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Armada by Ernest Cline

There are two categories of novels that I absolutely adore: fantasy and anything related to video games. After the pleasant surprise that was Ernest Cline’s debut, Ready Player One, there was no way I was going to wait on his sophomore tale, Armada. While I’ve never been one for mech or flight simulation, Zach Lightman’s life-altering battle with …

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Griefed by Christa Charter

Full disclosure: There are spoilers here so if you care about those sorts of things, TURN BACK NOW! I finished Pwned giddy over Lexy’s relationship with her Asgardian snow god/undercover DEA boyfriend. She was finally with a man that deserved and appreciated her love, something semi-stable considering their professions. Everything was coming up roses. Everything …

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Pwned by Christa Charter

I should have written this months ago, before the follow up Griefed  landed in my lap. I am a horrible person, an awful internet friend, and the only excuse I have is I got sidetracked by life. That said, I loved Pwned! Getting my hands on another Lexy Cooper mystery was fantastic and gave me a reason …

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You by Austin Grossman

After reading Ready Player One I went looking for something new to read and Goodreads recommended I check out You by Austin Grossman. His name was familiar; turns out he’s a games writer and one I’ve seen in credits at least once or twice. A few of my gaming friends had also read the book and recommended it, so …

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Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui

The novel that inspired the anime, Paprika is the tale of a Chiba Atsuko, a young female psychotherapist/dream detective, who dons a disguise and becomes Paprika, delving into the dreams of prominent figures to treat ailments they cannot allow to be made public. Her partner at the Institute for Psychiatric Research, the brilliant Dr. Tokita Kosaku, has …

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Schooled by Christa Charter

There have been few books that have had my undivided attention from the first word – mostly fantasy novels I’d been anxiously waiting for. I’ve followed Christa’s chronicling of her writing process with Schooled on Facebook as well as posts on her blog, and knew that I would devour her gaming industry inspired murder mystery as soon as …

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Parasite Eve by Hideaki Sena

What if the mitochondria in our cells had evolved and was able to manipulate our bodies? Toshiaki Nagashima has long been intrigued by the mitochondria contained within human cells, currently researching them full-time alongside one of his university professors and mentoring others in the field. What he doesn’t know is that his wife Kiyomi hosts …

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Real World by Natsuo Kirino

Life in Japan as a teenager is a hard one. There is so much pressure with schooling, parents, and life coming at you so quickly, sometimes you just want something interesting to happen to take your mind off of it all. Sometimes that thing you want to happen ends up changing the entire way you …

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Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe

Fifth grader Wataru Mitani’s world is on the verge of a major upheaval when he first starts investigating the abandoned construction beside a local shrine. Students in his school are rumoured to have seen ghosts here and Wataru is intrigued. One evening, he sneaks out of his family’s company apartment to meet up with his …

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