Our Reviewers
Cathy Carmode Lim
Cathy Carmode Lim has been a book reviewer for more than 25 years, two of which she was a newspaper book page editor. The mother of four daughters and three grandchildren founded Rated Reads in January 2008 and reviews many of the books. She has been reading since the age of 2½, according to her mom. She always has a variety of projects going in addition to running Rated Reads and working as a freelance editor, proofreader and writer. She lives in Alabama, and she blogs about books and several other topics at LifeandLims.com.
Melissa Baldwin
Melissa currently works as an academic librarian and occasional teacher at a small college library, dreaming of the day she might become a children’s or young adult librarian. She got her undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy but decided to take a different path and got her master’s in library science. Apparently, she loves to do research, which her students do not find remotely interesting. She tries to share her love of reading in all situations and to all people, which can make for some awkward situations. It became much easier when she finally bit the bullet and started a book blog, One Librarian’s Book Reviews. When she doesn’t have her face plastered to a book or computer, she can be found frolicking the outdoors, camping and hiking, and attempting to grow her own vegetables.
Jessica Ball
Jessica is a stay-at-home mom in lovely Utah who hasn’t stopped reading since she was 10. Even when her life gets really busy, she is always reading a book if for no other reason than to help her fall asleep at night. When she was a teenager, she liked to read adult fiction, but now that she’s an adult she loves to read young adult fiction. Besides reading, she loves to cook, play the piano, and travel with her best friend (also known as her husband). She started writing her book blog, Books: A true story, when her sister talked her into blogging and books were the only thing she wanted to blog about. She’s been blogging for almost a year and she’s loved every minute of it.
Abby B
Abby is currently in high school, waiting for the day when she can create her own business! She has been reading since second grade, when she fell in love with the Geronimo Stilton books. Since then she has been reading nonstop. Her favorite books include the Selection Series, the Harry Potter series and the Percy Jackson series. Abby loves anything fiction and loves to review books to help others find clean, entertaining books. You can find more of her reviews on books and other products at goodorgoodbye.blogspot.com.
Andrea Benson
will read almost anything that you put in front of her. She has never been able to pin down just one or two favorite genres; lately, though, she’s been reading a lot of young adult, general adult fiction and all kinds of nonfiction. She also loves children’s books, and when she can squeeze it in (i.e., not as often as she’d like), she reviews them at The Storybook Shelf. She’s a homeschooling mommy to one sweet little boy and wife to a mad scientist, and she blogs about their lives together at Teach Me to Walk. When she’s not reading, reviewing books, wasting time on Pinterest, or teaching kindergarten math to a class of one, she’s working on an undergraduate degree in writing or … well, sleeping.
Julie Berry
Julie is a screenwriter and aspiring novelist with a passion for meaningful, well-told stories. She loves reading and writing in a variety of genres, but has a particular interest in young adult, fantasy, and anything that involves animals! Julie graduated from Asbury University with a degree in creative writing and has written for several webseries, including "Wondermore" and "The Superbook Show." In her spare time, she enjoys animating, video editing, and hanging out with her pets: two frogs named Darel and Pippin. You can find more of Julie's work on her website, stormfrogstudios.
Niki Bissell
Niki is an Ohio mom raising four small munchkins. Though her first love is fantasy, she also reads biographies, YA fiction, science fiction, LOTS of children’s lit, and whatever her book club buddies have chosen to read this month. In her spare time (ha ha! like there is such a thing), she reads, bakes, and volunteers with a local refugee resettlement program.
Nicole Borman
Nicole didn’t begin to enjoy reading until college. She tried, but every book she picked up bored her. That is, until she read The Firm by John Grisham. From there it was all downhill. After deciding a career in fashion wasn’t for her, she moved across the country and went back to school to study library science. She is now a high school librarian and youth services librarian at the public library. Although she likes most genres she prefers nonfiction, YA chick lit, and anything Pride and Prejudice-esque. Nicole is mildly obsessed with chocolate, photography and dogs, and in her spare time fantasizes about finding a job where she can stay in her pajamas all day.
Corryn Brown
Corryn has been reading voraciously since the first grade. With a bachelor’s degree in history, she enjoys a good historical novel or biography, along with just about every other genre. After graduating, she went on to law school in California and has managed to continue reading in spite of spending long days buried in evidence and case law. Beyond reading she enjoys movies, most sports (especially Giants baseball) and is fostering a newfound love of travel.
John Burger
John is an avid reader/reviewer and an author of young adult science fiction and fantasy under the pen name Johan Twiss. He enjoys reading and writing clean fiction that’s suitable for tweens, teens and adults alike. Book one of his new YA Space Fiction series, I Am Sleepless: Sim 299, is now available on Amazon. John lives outside Dallas, Texas, with his sweetheart and five crazy kiddos. They enjoy playing games, watching movies, having jam sessions on a variety of instruments and throwing the gauntlet down for Family Fight Night. Yes, you read that correctly — Family Fight Night. They suit up with the sparring gear and his kids get to attack him, practicing their blocks and strikes from martial arts classes. Basically, they get to hit dad and have a great time.
Steve Carlson
Steve enjoys reading and writing Christian inspiration and clean science fiction that’s appropriate for teens as well as adults. He lives in West Texas, where he enjoys hanging out with his amazing wife, spending time with their children and grandchildren, and riding his motorcycle on the weekends. Steve is the author of five books. His latest work, Lifeblood 16, can be found at stevenwcarlson.com or on Amazon.
Brittany Christenson
Brittany is a domestic engineer specializing in early childhood development — or, in other words, a full-time wife and mom. She has always loved to read and, as a child, spent many family vacations in the car with a book, though her social skills have improved since then. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brigham Young University, where she met her husband and realized that she spent way too much time growing up wishing school was over, because now she misses it like crazy. She lives in Central California and, when the mood strikes, updates her personal book blog, The Read Room. Her favorite genres are historical fiction and ghost stories, but she’s willing to give most others a chance, as long as they aren’t about sparkly vampires.
Kristin Curtis
Kristin has been reading since before she could actually read. She would look at the pictures, or at the front cover if the book she grabbed had no pictures, and make up a story based on that. She has wanted to be a writer since kindergarten and has pursued that goal ever since, earning a bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing at Brigham Young University-Idaho in 2014. She now lives in the Boise, Idaho, area and works as a transcriber for deaf services for a handful of universities, reading and writing in her spare time. She is drawn to dystopians and anything apocalyptic, fantasy and romance.
Rachel Dodge
Rachel works as a business analyst for the State of Utah in Salt Lake City. She has been an avid reader since a young age and thoroughly appreciates a well-crafted story. She rarely reads the same book twice but she would say her favorite books include the Harry Potter series and any mystery/thriller/suspense novel, especially those written by John Grisham, Greg Iles or Michael Connelly. When she is not reading you can find her honing her photography and Photoshop skills, plucking out tunes on her acoustic guitar, or watching football.
Corinne Edwards
Corinne comes from a long line of compulsive readers. After growing up in Utah, where her reading habit was fed at the local library and mall bookshop, she’s now been in Maryland long enough to feel like a true Easterner. While she has a hunger to read anything in print (including the back of cereal boxes if that’s all that’s available), she prefers historical fiction, young adult and all things apocalyptic. Of the activities she does with her three wild children, a snuggled-up chapter book reading is her very favorite. Second to that is outings to historical sites and hiking/camping. Also, vacations that involve long car trips (with her loving husband driving), so she can finish just one more chapter. She keeps all her book thoughts at her own little nook of the blogosphere: The Book Nest.
Al Ford
Al is a middle-school history teacher who enjoys spending time with his lovely wife, his three wonderful children, two pretty cool sons-in-law, and one perfect granddaughter. Oh, and an incredibly spoiled shih tzu named Shadow. Al’s greatest desire is to provide good clean entertainment to teens and young adults while sending a positive message that good really can defeat evil, life really can get better, and all people are valuable regardless of their situation. To this end, Al recently released his debut young adult fantasy novel, “Heirs of the Round Table: Reclaiming Camelot.” Check it out at alfordauthor.com or at Amazon.com.
Melissa Madsen Fox
Melissa Fox has made time in her life for lots of “little” things: a bookseller at an independent bookstore, going back to get her MLIS degree, helping out with the parent organizations (well, the drama department) at the high school, and trying not to lose her mind! Even with all those small commitments, she still manages to find time to (kind-of, sort-of) keep up her blogging at Book Nut (thebooknut.com). She’s often surprised that she’s been doing this whole blogging thing since 2004. And since there’s not enough going on in her life, she’s also the wife of an absent-minded professor and mother to four daughters (though she’s down to only two living at home!).
Natalie Gowen
Natalie is a freelance writer based in beautiful Colorado. A graduate in political science, most of her writing focuses on government and current social issues. She reads to escape the world of perpetual spin and problems too big to fix. The mother of two boys and wife to a supportive husband, she also authors a blog, so her family doesn’t have to bear the brunt of the passionate discourses bouncing around inside her head.
Emilee H
Emilee is a high-schooler from Utah. Her favorite books range from Harry Potter and Jane Eyre to Goose Girl. Reading is a bit of an obsession for her, and sometimes she can’t hear you for the book in her hand. Emilee also uses her graphing calculator to program games. She’s the child of an English teacher and an engineer, and her stepfather is a doctor in the research field. No wonder she loves books and programming so much!
Teri Harman
Teri is an author, reader and book enthusiast. Her young adult novel, Blood Moon, was published by Jolly Fish Press in summer 2013. She writes a biweekly column, Book Matters, for ksl.com and also contributes a monthly book segment to KSL’s #1 lifestyle show, Studio 5. She sits on the planning committee for the Utah Valley University For the Love of Reading Conference and is a member of the Children’s Literature Association of Utah. Occasionally, she writes feature articles and book reviews for the Deseret News. Teri does all this amid the chaos of three young kids and with the help of a sainted husband. Visit her at her website or on Facebook or Twitter.
Katherine Hilker
Katherine is a work-from-home mom who has been known to mysteriously appear by chanting "free books" 10 times under the full moon. She loves the color yellow, anything with carbs, and '90s Disney nostalgia (“The Emperor's New Groove,” anyone?). After six years living in Japan, she's perfected the art of dodging ninja diaper attacks from her cheeky toddlers and enduring her husband's groan-inducing dad jokes (shh, they're secretly hilarious). Motherhood is a wild ride, but escaping into a good book is her secret sauce for keeping sane.
Sid Kooyman
Sid served a career as an infantry officer. Since retiring from the Army he has worked as a commercial pilot, a strategic planner for the Department of Homeland Security, and an exercise planner for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; he has also written two books. He lives in Iowa with his wife of 40-plus years.
Sheri Lynn
Sheri Lynn has always been a voracious reader. She lives in a small town in Louisiana, and books are a daily friend. She visits her local library several times a week for a tote bag full of a wide variety of genres (mostly small-town mysteries, YA fiction and thrillers). Sheri has a diverse background of military service, graphic design, teaching and more. Aside from reading, her interests today include yoga, walking, Texas Rangers baseball, eating well and REST.
Savannah Mayorga
Savannah is a dog mom from Tennessee who has had a passion for reading since she was young, starting with books such as Junie B. Jones and Harry Potter. Her career in forensic science may explain why she has a soft spot for mysteries and thrillers. While mysteries are her favorite, she ventures into other genres such as general fiction, historical fiction, and dystopian society. Some of her favorite books include "The Art of Racing in the Rain," "My Lovely Wife," and "Between Shades of Gray." Whenever she isn't reading, Savannah can be found hiking with her dog, traveling with her husband, or jamming out to Taylor Swift.
Nancy Minster
Nancy is an avid reader, is married to an avid reader and is the mother to three little kids who seem to like books as well. One can only wonder where they get it from! Nancy grew up in California and went to college in Utah, where she received a degree in English teaching. After marrying her high school sweetheart, she and her family have jumped their way across the country, starting in California, followed by a four-year jump to Kansas and now northern Virginia. In 2006, Nancy read over 22,000 pages in 74 books. That’s her adult book-reading record for a year. (She has to keep track to compete with her husband’s reading records.) Nancy reads mostly fiction, a lot of young adult literature and a tiny bit of nonfiction here and there. Besides reading and being a mom, she homeschools her kids and enjoys baking, writing and blogging. Her blog can be found at writingfishbowl.blogspot.com.
Heather Moore
Heather would rather buy books than clothes. In fact, she often reads three to four books at a time, keeping each book in a strategic location — in the car, by her bed, in the living room, and in the kitchen. She’d keep one on the backyard table if it weren’t for the chewing-prone dog. All the reading has paid off and Heather is an award-winning author of historical fiction (www.hbmoore.com). She also owns and manages an editing company, Precision Editing Group, LLC (www.precisioneditinggroup.com).
Jennifer Neal
Jennifer graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in elementary education and taught third grade for two years in English and Spanish. She has also worked as a Spanish translator and as a writing TA for an online university. She lives in Santee, California (near San Diego), with her accountant husband and spends her days raising their four young children. Jennifer’s family has learned to accept that she can’t hear them when her nose is stuck in a book and they love her anyway. Besides reading, Jennifer’s other hobbies include jogging, gardening, and sneaking cookies when no one is looking.
Tunde Oladejo
Tunde was born in Lagos, Nigeria, but has lived since 1999 between Canada, the U.S. and Bosnia-Herzegovina (his wife’s home country). He is a computer science major with keen interest in reading and creative writing. He is a dreamer at heart and sees books as the idyllic escape. With three young children already reading, he sees Rated Reads as an exciting opportunity to contribute to content ratings to benefit them and others. When not reading, he enjoys dreaming up fiction plots and writing. His first novel, The Royal Servant Must Not Die, is available on Amazon.
Danica Page
Danica is an avid reader, a freelance journalist, a book blogger, and a college student double-majoring in English and journalism. Whenever she’s not working or studying, she can be found with her nose in a good book. This love of reading led to the decision to start a blog, Taking it One Page at a Time. Danica is a native of Utah and is in love with the mountains surrounding her.
Lyndsay Parker
Lyndsay Parker is a mom to four beautiful children. She is an avid reader of all genres, with YA fantasy being her favorite. Her determination to find fun and wholesome but captivating books led her to Rated Reads. Introducing her kids to the exciting world of reading is of the utmost priority to her. When she doesn’t have her nose stuck in a book, she enjoys walks with her family and watching the Detroit Lions with her hubby.
Luisa Perkes
Luisa finds herself CONSTANTLY falling in love. She’s in love with FOOD, running, traveling, sunbathing and dancing. She’s REALLY in love with her baby boy and her Prince Charming. She loves Idaho, where she lives, and Boston, where she grew up. She is passionate about becoming a Good Mom, which is her most important title, but apart from that she is also a Fruit Smoothie Junkie, a Chocolate Snob, a Garden Guru and a Connoisseur of the Kitchen. Of all the love that fills her life, she loves nothing more than to escape in a good book. Despite her romantic notions, she has never read a romance novel and instead prefers historical fiction and YA lit. You can read more of her and her loves on her blog.
Michael Price
Michael is a CPA in Chico, Calif. With his long commute and an enjoyment of endurance sports, he finds plenty of time to listen to books on tape. He tends to lean towards the epic fantasy and adventure genres, which, with their high page count, offer a great bang for your buck. With his accounting training and two short novels under his belt, Michael likes to dissect what he reads, figuring why the writing worked or didn’t. He is also a bit of an emergency prep nut, including co-founding bearsurvival.com.
Constance Roberts
Constance is a retired flight attendant who traded in her wings to stay at home with her adventurous daughter and to write. After pursuing a degree in creative writing, she published her first book, Onyx Moon. When she is not busy daydreaming, she loves to read sci-fi/fantasy novels from up-and-coming authors and review them on her blog, authorconstanceroberts.blogspot.com. She and her husband live in St. Louis, Missouri, where they play board games on the weekends with friends.
Bryce Robbins
Bryce is a senior operations admin at a mutual fund company in Irvine, Calif. He plays rugby, performs with a local orchestra, and loves a good book. He balances his reading load between business topics and new fiction, with a smattering of biography if he can find some he likes. You can find out more about him on LinkedIn. He currently resides in Mission Viejo, Calif., with his wife, daughter, and two cats.
Craig Smith
Craig lives in the shadow of Mount Rainier, just outside of Tacoma, Washington. He is a practicing veterinarian, focusing on feline medicine, nutrition, and surgery. He grew up in various places in the Puget Sound region, and received his college and professional training at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. He enjoys reading, travel, outdoor photography, and programming his growing collection of Macs. His family raises bantam varieties of ducks, chickens, and geese, providing their neighbors with a multicolored assortment of fresh eggs almost year-round. He provides podcasts on feline health topics at his website, www.tacomacat.com, and through iTunes.
Krista Wagner
Krista graduated from National University with an MFA in Creative Writing. Her latest novel, Rian Field, is an adult mystery thriller with a release date for January 2016. She is currently an English professor and is at work on her next novel, a children’s fantasy tale, The Gold. Her debut novel, Intent, was published in August 2014 by TouchPoint Press.
Whitney Wagner
Whitney has a love of reading that stems from a love of things that are free. She puts her local library to good use and has at least four books on hold at any given time. She enjoys reading mysteries, young adult and chick books. When she’s in between books she loves yoga, hiking and tennis. She works as a nurse and has been enjoying marital bliss to her Spanish-teaching spouse for five years.
Meaghan Ward
Meaghan is an aspiring author and freelance illustrator with a passion for storytelling. When she’s not writing, she’s reading. When she’s not reading, she’s drawing her worlds or fan art or humorous comics about the writer life. She lives in the mountains of Colorado, where she haunts the local library and daydreams of what would happen if she stumbled into a fantasy world. She also enjoys in-season portal hunting. You can find her at meaghaneward.com
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