Lane Robins's Blog

Micro reviews from September: The Book That Got Away: Blood Over Bright Haven by M L Wang. This book has been on my TBR for a while, and I’ve actually had it in my hands twice. The first time, it was the self pub trade paperback and… the print was too tiny to suit me. … Continue reading The Books That…. →

This has been the year of horror reads for me. Mostly, it has been very rewarding. I just finished We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough, picked up on a whim, and really found it very satisfying. It’s also proof of how important an author’s voice is to my reading enjoyment. We Live Here Now … Continue reading Micro-Review: We Live Here Now →

Have a snippet! Mikas Rowe’s mother always said that his red hair would lead him astray, and until the day he left her house, she made him keep it shaved close to his scalp in hopes it would grow out dark. It never did. Once Mikas went so far as to try transforming it as … Continue reading Playing with a new character →

Took a break from reading horror to dip my toes into watching it. I am very bad at watching horror. I generally dislike gore and screaming people (though Abigail was a delight), so horror movies are generally a miss. That said, I found that Britbox has a series of stories turned into mini-horror movies, one … Continue reading The Mezzotint →

It’s weird, but I tend to use my reading habits as a barometer of the state of me. Everything going great? I am reading no more than two books. Stressed out of my gourd? Insomnia? I go through kindle unlimited books like potato chips–devouring entire series in a matter of days (Lots of time to … Continue reading My life by book numbers →

Apparently April is the month where I catch up on horror. It’s such a weird genre for me. I am fascinated by horror but also easily annoyed by it. I dislike people being cruel to each other for no reason. I dislike people suffering for no reason. And I really dislike nihilistic downer endings. It’s … Continue reading April reads →

It’s cold and I’m rewriting a novel. I have no thoughts to spare. Arguably, at this point I have no thoughts at all. That said, here is one thing in general that I have loved this last month–MYSTERY– and three things in particular. Nina Simon’s Mother Daughter Murder Night. A fairly low stakes mystery–I wouldn’t … Continue reading Three Things and Another One →

Well I was going to talk about the absolute best twelve books that I read this year, anticipating having to narrow it down as I do every year. Then I started looking through my list, and um, maybe the challenge will be finding twelve? Jeez. I refuse to believe that there weren’t 12 perfect-blow-me-out-of-the-water books … Continue reading Year End Book List →

As a retail worker, I always brace myself for “Black Friday” week, but forget that the week immediately after is JUST AS BAD. (Let Bad = requiring complex, time-sensitive multi-tasking, coping with the first round of crazed customers, and coworkers who are just stressed out. All of this on a food hangover from the week … Continue reading Three things →