Parable of the Sower: Graphic Novel Adaptation - Damian Duffy & John Jennings

In this graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower, by Damian Duffy and John Jennings, the award-winning team behind the #1 bestseller Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, the author portrays a searing vision of America’s future. In the year 2024, the country is marred by unattended environmental and economic crises that lead to social chaos. Lauren Olamina, a preacher’s daughter living in Los Angeles, is protected from danger by the walls of her gated community. However, in a night of fire and death, what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny . . . and the birth of a new faith.

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4/5 stars

I was first introduced to the incredible work of Octavia Butler when I took an African American Literature class in college and after that I was hooked. I'm a bit of a completionist when is comes to the work of some authors and Octavia Butler is one of those authors. She was a master of science fiction and a pioneer of speculative fiction. Of her collected works, I read Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents last, which ended up being very timely as there are many things about Parable of the Sower that reflected and still reflect the current state of the United States despite the fact that these books were originally published in 1993 and 1998 respectively. I mean, there is even a politician whose slogan is "Make America Great Again." 

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The Safe Place - Anna Downes

Emily is a mess.
Emily Proudman just lost her acting agent, her job, and her apartment in one miserable day.

Emily is desperate.
Scott Denny, a successful and charismatic CEO, has a problem that neither his business acumen nor vast wealth can fix. Until he meets Emily.

Emily is perfect.

Scott offers Emily a summer job as a housekeeper on his remote, beautiful French estate. Enchanted by his lovely wife Nina, and his eccentric young daughter, Aurelia, Emily falls headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool. But soon Emily realizes that Scott and Nina are hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn't play along, the consequences could be deadly.

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5/5 stars

Wow, this is a great debut novel by Anna Downes! I read a lot of thrillers, and I often find myself not able to give them five stars for one reason or another, but this one earned it. The writing is excellent and really keeps you hanging on every word, wanting to know more. The tantalizing way Downes manages to drop breadcrumbs slowly throughout the story without the story moving too slowly made this book hard to put down. You could feel the creeping unease, the feeling that something wasn’t quite right, throughout the entire book, which is exactly what you want with a thriller.


I highly recommend this book for fans of thrillers, and I certainly am looking forward to future books by Anna Downes. The Safe Place goes on sale July 14th, 2020.




I received this advanced readers' copy from Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review.

I'm Baaaack!

Some of you may know this blog started out as a nail polish blog, so long ago that I have lost track of exactly how long.


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Although I still love nail polish, my hobbies have changed, and I now split my spare time between reading and crocheting. I gave it a lot of thought as to whether I wanted to add blogging on top of that and I decided, why not?


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So, from now on, I will be sharing my reviews of the books I read here as well as on Goodreads. Just for some added fun, I'll also occasionally share what I'm crocheting while I am reading or listening to an audiobooks.


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You can also visit my various social media pages:

Crochet and some books here:
www.instagram.com/crochetedjess
Books here:
www.goodreads.com/yarnandbooks