Book Reviews by the Chocolate Lady

Davida Chazan's book reviews for mostly adult, literary, contemporary, historical, and women's fiction (with some non-fiction and literary musings thrown in for good measure).

Saturday, December 26, 2015

A Recipe for Secrets

Book Review for "The Restaurant Critic's Wife" by Elizabeth LaBan

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Labels: 2016, adult, Book Review, career, contemporary, culinary, family, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, literary, neighbors, novel, relationships, women

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Teaser Tuesday - December 22, 2015

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

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Labels: 2016, adult, books, contemporary, culinary, literary, Teaser Tuesdays, women

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Depths in simplicity

Book Review for "My Name is Lucy Barton" by Elizabeth Strout

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Labels: 2016, adult, Book Review, contemporary, family, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, literary, memoir, novel, relationships, writers, writing

Friday, December 18, 2015

Feature & Follow Friday (December 18, 2015)

Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community.

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Labels: blogging, blogs, books, Feature & Follow Friday, fiction, novels, writing

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Confessions of a Frustrated Reader

Anachronisms & Inaccuracies

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Labels: anachronisms, Commentary, fiction, historical, inaccuracies, writing

Saturday, December 5, 2015

How do you eRead?

Seeing as I'm in between reviews, I thought I'd discuss something a little different. No, not chocolate (although I certainly could), but rather what I've discovered about eReading, and how I read eBooks these days.

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Labels: Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, Commentary, eBooks, eReaders, Kindle, Nook

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Teaser Tuesdays (December 1 2015)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

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Labels: 2015, Canada, England, fiction, historical, homosexuality, literary, Teaser Tuesdays

Saturday, November 28, 2015

My Top Five Favorite Books of 2015

The Year of the "Tied for #X Place" Books

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Labels: 2015, best of, Book Review, books, favorites, fiction, novels

Saturday, November 21, 2015

The Merchant Prince's Woman

Book Review for "What the Lady Wants: A Novel of Marshall Field and the Gilded Age" by Renee Rosen

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Labels: 2014, adult, adultery, affair, Book Review, Chicago, deception, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, historical, homosexuality, love, novel, relationships, romance, women

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

A well-punctuated road-trip

Book Review for "It's. Nice. Outside." by Jim Kokoris

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Labels: 2015, adult, Asperger's, Book Review, contemporary, disabilities, families, family, fiction, literary, novel, relationships, road-trip, travel

Thursday, November 12, 2015

What is your superpower?

Book Review for "My Grandmother Sends her Regrets and Apologises" (aka "My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry"), by Fredrik Backman

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Labels: 2015, adult, Book Review, children, contemporary, death, families, family, fantasy, fiction, Fredrik Backman, literary, novel, quest, relationships, translation

Saturday, November 7, 2015

The Business of Compassion

Book Review for "The Light of Hidden Flowers" by Jennifer Handford

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Labels: 2015, adult, Book Review, coming-of-age, contemporary, coping, disabilities, fears, female protagonists, female writers, feminism, fiction, finance, India, literary, non-profit, novel, veterans, women

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Teaser Tuesdays (Nov. 3, 2015)

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Labels: short fiction, short stories, Teaser Tuesdays

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Apologies and Flight

Hello friends - long time, no see!

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Labels: Commentary, fiction, High School, historical, nostalgia, novels, reading list, reviews, short stories, translation, travel

Monday, October 12, 2015

What a Trader!

Book Review for "One Red Paperclip" by Kyle MacDonald

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Labels: 2007, autobiography, Book Review, Canada, capitalism, dreams, finance, games, non-fiction

Friday, October 9, 2015

Gritty New York Stories and Poems

Book Review for "Resident Aliens" by Beth Porter

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Labels: 1960s, 2013, adult, author invite, Book Review, contemporary, female writers, literary, New York, novella, poetry, short stories

Monday, October 5, 2015

Deliciously Dressed Up Deceptions

Book Review for "Food Whore:A Novel of Dining and Deceit" by Jessica Tom

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Labels: 2015, adult, Book Review, contemporary, culinary, deception, female protagonists, female writers, journalism, literary, New York, relationships, women

Saturday, October 3, 2015

The First Modern Graphic Novel

Graphic Novel Book Review for "A Contract with God and other Tenement Stories" by Will Eisner

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Labels: 1930s, 1978, adult, Book Review, comics, families, fiction, graph novel, historical, illustrated, immigrants, Jewish, poverty, relationships

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Would you read more? A First Chapter/First Paragraph Tuesday Intro

"First Chapter/First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" for

A Love & Beyond by Dan Sofer

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Labels: adult, author invite, Book preview, contemporary, fiction, Israel, opinion

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Marshmallow Mayhem Blitz

Blurb:

In this sequel to BANANA BAMBOOZLE, all Cassidy Dunne wants is a road trip to bond with her niece and some gooey campfire s’mores. What she gets is an extra serving of mayhem — marijuana brownies, creepy locals, an ardent admirer, a precocious canine cohort, and a dead body.

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Labels: 2014, Banana Bamboozle, Becky Clark, blurb, Book Blitz Spotlight, excerpt, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, Marshmallow Mayhem, murder, mystery, novel, women

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Positron? Not Positive.

Book Review for "The Heart Goes Last" by Margaret Atwood

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Labels: 2015, adult, Book Review, debt, dystopian, economics, female writers, fiction, futuristic, literary, novel, poverty, prison, speculative, wealth

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Becoming Nora

Book Review for "Nora Webster" by Colm Tóibín

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Labels: 2014, adult, Book Review, coming-of-age, death, families, family, female protagonists, grief, Ireland, literary, literature, novel, relationships, women

Saturday, September 5, 2015

The Monsters Within

Book Review for "The Determined Heart" by Antoinette May

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Labels: 2015, adult, authors, Book Review, England, Europe, female writers, feminism, historical, literature, novel, women, writing

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Cover Reveal: While You Were Gone By Kate Moretti

While You Were Gone

By Kate Moretti

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Labels: 2015, adult, books, contemporary, Cover Reveal, fiction, novella, romance, series, women

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Facing Three Hours

Review for "The Face: A Time Code" by Ruth Ozeki

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Labels: 2015, autobiography, Book Review, essays, female writers, non-fiction, series, Zen

Friday, August 14, 2015

In Congruence

Book Review for "Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights" by Salman Rushdie

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Labels: 2015, adult, Book Review, contemporary, fantasy, fiction, futuristic, historical, humor, literature, magical realism, novel, philosophy, religion, science fiction

Monday, July 27, 2015

Book Blitz Spotlight: Overcoming Anxiety

Overcoming Anxiety

By David Berndt, PhD

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Labels: 2015, anxiety, Book Blitz Spotlight, book launch promotion, mental health, non-fiction, psychology, self-help

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Data In, Lives Out

Book Review for "The Beautiful Bureaucrat" by Helen Phillips

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Labels: 2015, adult, Book Review, contemporary, dystopian, fantasy, female protagonists, female writers, Kafkaesque, literary, mystery, novel, novella, relationships, speculative, women

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Their Pens' Might...

Book Review for "The Last Word" by Hanif Kureishi

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Labels: 2015, adult, Book Review, contemporary, England, fame, fiction, infamy, literary, novel, novelists, relationships, writers, writing

Friday, July 3, 2015

Overtures with a Nightingale

Book Review for "Foreign Bodies" by Cynthia Ozick

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Labels: 2010, adult, America, Book Review, deception, Europe, families, family, female protagonists, female writers, historical, literary, mental illness, novel, relationships, women

Saturday, June 20, 2015

A Well Traveled Reunion Project

Book Review for "Frank Derrick's Holiday of a Lifetime" by J.B. Morrison

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Labels: 2015, adult, America, Book Review, cancer, contemporary, England, families, fiction, Hollywood, humor, literary, relationships, travel

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Two World Wars, Two Women, Thousands of Letters

Book Review for "Letters from Skye" by Jessica Brockmole

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Labels: 2013, adult, America, Book Review, England, epistolary, female protagonists, female writers, historical, literary, novel, relationships, women, WWI, WWII

Saturday, June 13, 2015

A Literal Fly on the Wall

Book Review for "Jacob's Folly" by Rebecca Miller

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Labels: 2013, adult, Book Review, contemporary, extremism, female writers, heroes, historical, Jewish, literary, magical realism, novel, relationships, religion

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Dangerous Reunions

Book Review for "Run you Down" by Julia Dahl

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Labels: 2015, adult, Book Review, contemporary, crime, families, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, murder, mystery, New York, novel, relationships, scandal, ultra-orthodox, women

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

In his own space

Book Review for "The Room" by Jonas Karlsson

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Labels: 2015, adult, Book Review, contemporary, fiction, humor, literary, novella, speculative, Sweden, translation

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Less than Picture Perfect

Book Review for "Lessons in French" by Hilary Reyl

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Labels: 2013, adult, art, Book Review, coming-of-age, contemporary, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, France, journalism, literary, novel, photography, relationships

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

A Socially Capital Laugh

Book Review for "Various Pets Alive & Dead" by Marina Lewycka

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Labels: 2013, adult, Book Review, capitalism, communism, contemporary, Down Syndrome, England, families, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, humor, literary, novel, relationships

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Literary Impressionism

Book Review for "The Sunken Cathedral" by Kate Walbert

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Labels: 2015, adult, art, Book Review, characters, contemporary, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, impressionism, legends, literary, music, novel, speculative, weather

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Hollywood Secrets and Pasts

Book Review for "Melting the Snow on Hester Street" by Daisy Waugh

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Labels: 2013, adult, America, Book Review, fame, female protagonists, female writers, historical, Hollywood, literary, mystery, relationships, women

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Out of the Ashes

Book Review for "An Unknown Woman" by Jane Davis

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Labels: 2015, adult, author invite, Book Review, contemporary, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, literary, relationships, trauma, women

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Trying Youth

Book Review for "Campari for Breakfast" by Sara Crowe

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Labels: 2014, Book Review, contemporary, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, humor, mystery, new adult, suicide, women, writing, young adult

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Stitching together Thessaloniki's story

Book Review for "The Thread" by Victoria Hislop

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Labels: 2011, adult, Book Review, families, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, Greece, historical, literary, novel, relationships, WWI, WWII

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Twins and Ghosts

Book Review for "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffenegger

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Labels: 2009, adult, Audrey Niffenegger, Book Review, death, female protagonists, female writers, fiction, ghosts, London, magical realism, mystery, novel, sisters, twins, women

Sunday, April 19, 2015

The Mystery of Christopher Marlowe

Book Review for "Tamburlaine Must Die" by Louise Welsh

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Labels: 2004, adult, atheism, Book Review, crime, Elizabethan, female writers, fiction, historical, homosexuality, intrigue, murder, novella, plays, theater, William Shakespeare

Friday, April 17, 2015

Odd One Out

Book Review for "The Children's Crusade" by Anne Packer

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Labels: 2015, adult, Book Review, children, contemporary, families, family, fiction, literary, mothers, novel, parents, relationships, siblings

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

The Secret of a 100-Year-Old Woman

Book Review for "The Secret Scripture" by Sebastian Barry

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Labels: 2008, adult, adultery, Book Review, families, female protagonists, fiction, historical, Ireland, medicine, mental illness, novel, relationships, women

Saturday, April 11, 2015

A Frankly Amazing Woman

Book Review for "Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan

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Labels: 2007, adultery, affair, architecture, biographical, Book Review, Chicago, fame, families, feminism, fiction, historical, infamy, love, novel, relationships, scandal, women

Thursday, April 9, 2015

The Calm within the Storm

Book Review for "Restless" by William Boyd

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Labels: 2006, adult, Book Review, confession, daughters, fiction, historical, intrigue, literary, London, mothers, mystery, novels, spies, women, WWII

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

A Dream within a Dream

Book Review for "Sleeping Patterns" by J.R. Crook

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Labels: 2012, adult, Book Review, children, contemporary, fiction, literary, London, love, relationships, speculative, writers

Newer Posts Older Posts Home

Currently Reading

Davida's bookshelf: currently-reading

This Should Be Written in the Present Tense

by Helle Helle

The Betrayers: A Novel

by David Bezmozgis

Rodin's Lover

by Heather Webb

Wednesday Sisters

by Meg Waite Clayton

Visitation

by Jenny Erpenbeck

Follow my Pinterest boards.

Looking Forward

Davida's bookshelf: to-read

Curtain Call

by Anthony Quinn

The Magician's Lie

by Greer Macallister

How To Be A Heroine: Or, what I’ve learned from reading too much

by Samantha Ellis

The Room

by Jonas Karlsson

The Last Word

by Hanif Kureishi

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