Book Chat - CLOSED by original moderator discussion
What Are You Reading / Reviews
>
What Are you Reading / Reviews
Mod
A Death Along the River Fleet: Susanna Caulkins
😲👌
★ ★ ★ ★
This book was interesting, so much so I read it in less than a day.
From Amazon: "Lucy Campion, a ladies’ maid turned printer’s apprentice in 17th-century London, is crossing Holborn Bridge over the murky waters of the River Fleet one morning when, out of the mist, she sees a specter moving toward her. Frightened at first, Lucy soon realizes the otherworldly figure is in fact a young woman, clearly distraught and clad only in a blood-spattered white nightdress. Barely able to speak, the woman has no memory of who she is or what’s happened to her. The townspeople believe she’s possessed. But Lucy is concerned for the woman’s well-being and takes her to see a physician. When, shockingly, the woman is identified as the daughter of a nobleman, Lucy is asked to temporarily give up her bookselling duties to discreetly serve as the woman’s companion while she remains under the physician’s care.
As the woman slowly recovers, she begins―with Lucy’s help―to reconstruct the terrible events that led her to Holborn Bridge that morning. But when it becomes clear the woman’s safety might still be at risk, Lucy becomes unwillingly privy to a plot with far-reaching social implications, and she’ll have to decide just how far she’s willing to go to protect the young woman in her care."
With the exception of Latch, the printer's apprentice (who is an ass and needs to have his ears boxed by Lucy), I liked all of the characters. Octavia was a very interesting character and her illness made her more so.
Mod
The Warmth of Other Suns – Isabel Wilkerson – 4****
Subtitle: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. I had heard of Wilkerson’s masterful social history, but had just never gotten around to reading it … until now. One thing I really appreciate about this work is how Wilkerson focuses on three individuals to illustrate the scope of the Great Migration. It was informative and interesting, and I definitely learned some things I had not known before.
My full review HERE
Mod
Brass Lives: Chris Nickson
😮 ★ ★ ★ ★
From Amazon: "Leeds, June 1913. Deputy Chief Constable Tom Harper is a busy man. He's overseeing a national suffragist pilgrimage due in Leeds that his wife Annabelle intends to join, and his daughter Mary has exciting plans of her own. Then a letter arrives from police in New York: Davey Mullen, an American gangster born in Leeds, is on his way back to the city, fleeing a bloody gang war.
Despite Tom’s best efforts to keep an eye on him, Davey’s arrival triggers a series of chilling events in the city. Is he responsible for the sudden surge in crime, violence and murder on Leeds’s streets? Facing a mounting workload, Tom must hunt down a cold-blooded killer while also confronting danger and tragedy close to home."
Wow, I didn't see the twists, rather violent but it sure held my interest: I seriously didn't put it down until I finished at 4:30 this morning!
I like the characters and the books in this series always have a lot going on. I'm still trying to get the first 3 in the series.
Mod
Precious And Grace – Alexander McCall Smith – 3***
Book # 17 in the hugely popular “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series, has Mma Precious Ramotswe and her “co-director” Mma Grace Makutsi at loggerheads once again over updating office practices vs relying on tried and true methods. I love this series. I enjoy spending time with these people, though I rather missed Mr J L B Matekoni who barely appears in this episode. Mma Ramotswe can always be relied upon to consider carefully the underlying motives and various options for dealing with any problem. While Mma Makutsi is frequently the one to rush forward, perhaps jumping to the wrong conclusion, or arriving at the right answer but for the wrong reason!
My full review HERE
Mod
City of Lies: Victoria Thompson
😃👍
★ ★ ★ ★
From Amazon: "From the national bestselling author of the Gaslight Mysteries comes the first Counterfeit Lady novel—the intriguing start of a historical mystery series featuring woman-on-the-run Elizabeth Miles.
Like most women, Elizabeth Miles assumes many roles; unlike most, hers have made her a woman on the run. Living on the edge of society, Elizabeth uses her guile to relieve so-called respectable men of their ill-gotten gains. But brutal and greedy entrepreneur Oscar Thornton is out for blood. He’s lost a great deal of money and is not going to forgive a woman for outwitting him. With his thugs hot on her trail, Elizabeth seizes the moment to blend in with a group of women who have an agenda of their own.
She never expects to like or understand these privileged women, but she soon comes to respect their intentions, forming an unlikely bond with the wealthy matriarch of the group whose son, Gideon, is the rarest of species—an honest man in a dishonest world. Elizabeth knows she’s playing a risky game, and her deception could be revealed at any moment, possibly even by sharp-eyed Gideon. Nor has she been forgotten by Thornton, who’s biding his time, waiting to strike. Elizabeth must draw on her wits and every last ounce of courage she possesses to keep her new life from being cut short by this vicious shadow from her past."
Ooooh, this certainly held my interest, not only does the book cover grifters, their cons, & suffragists, but it contains an undercurrent of lesbian relationships. Even though the premise of a grifter marrying into upper class New York & those related interactions of the main characters are totally unbelievable, the book is interesting & the main characters very likable.
Mod
City of Scoundrels: Victoria Thompson
😮👌
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
From Amazon: "Elizabeth Miles finds herself in a position no con can help her escape. Her beloved fiancé, Gideon Bates, is awaiting his turn in the draft to fight in the Great War. Elizabeth is finding it hard to think of anything else, but Gideon has thrown himself into his work, preparing wills for soldiers before they ship out. Corporal Tom Preston is part owner of Preston Shoes, a company that is making footwear for the army, so he has a rather large estate. He needs a new will, however, because he has just been secretly married to a woman whom his family would never approve. He wants to make sure she and their unborn child are provided for if he does not return.
When Tom is later reported killed, Elizabeth and Gideon learn that the new will has gone missing after Tom's bride revealed her identity to his family. Unless the new will is found and validated, the original will, which leaves everything to Tom's brother, will prevail and the wife and child will get nothing. If Tom's new bride survives, that is. Some terrible threats have been leveled against her, and Elizabeth and Gideon must figure out a way, legal or not quite, to secure Tom's fortune for his wife and child while saving her life in the process."
I really like this series, this book & ♥ the characters; such a wry sense of humor that is not found in the Gaslight Series.
I learned about Woodrow Wilson (D), who was basically a misogynistic megalomaniacal dictator. His treatment of the suffragists (arresting them for marching outside the White House & incarcerating them in workhouses), his silencing of the press & anyone else that would dare criticize him was astounding and not only anti-constitutional, but clearly anti-democracy. Shades of fascism!
But other than Wilson; the book held my interest and had me laughing in several places.
Mod
City of Schemes: Victoria Thompson
🥰 ★ ★ ★ ★
From Amazon: "The Great War is over, and Elizabeth and Gideon are busily planning their wedding and welcoming home old friends now discharged from the army. One of them, Captain Logan Carstens, the son and heir of a wealthy family, seems less than happy to be home and with good reason. While Logan was in France, he fell in love with a beautiful French woman named Noelle. He desperately wanted to propose, but he was already engaged and felt bound to honor his commitment.
When Logan receives a letter supposedly from Noelle begging for money to help her flee the terrible conditions in France and come to America, Elizabeth is suspicious. There is no way to verify the letter is actually from Noelle, and she fears that a con man or woman might be trying to take advantage of Logan in his vulnerable state.
But that is not all Elizabeth has to worry about. Vicious thug Oscar Thornton has gotten wind of her wedding announcement and realizes the woman who conned him is still alive and well. Gideon and Elizabeth have to figure out a way to help their friend while making sure their worst enemy does not destroy their future. . . ."
Very Interesting, a whole lot going on from different angles. Again there is humor, but I found Logan to be pretty gullible and amazingly/overly kind; as for Thornton, I guess he didn't learn his lessons the first two times; and his take down was beautifully albeit confusingly handled.
Mod
Inherit the Shoes: EJ Copperman
🥱 👎👎 0 Stars
From Amazon: "New Jersey prosecutor Sandy Moss is tired of petty criminals, and a new job at a glitzy Los Angeles law firm seems the perfect career move. Putting 3,000 miles between her and her ex-boyfriend is just an added bonus.
But on Sandy's first morning as a family attorney, she inadvertently kills her new career stone dead when she offends her boss during a meeting with the firm's top celebrity client, charismatic TV star Patrick McNabb. But that's not as dead as Patrick's soon-to-be ex-wife, Patsy, is that evening, when she's discovered shot by an arrow, her husband standing over her.
Did Patrick really kill his wife in a dispute over a pair of shoes? All signs point to yes. But Patrick is determined to clear his name, using all the legal skills he's learned from playing a lawyer on TV, and to Sandy's deep dismay, she's the only person he'll allow to help . . ."
I normally enjoy Copperman's books; but this one bored me right from the start... I found the narrative to be a bunch of prattle and the main character to be shallow, like the proverbial "Valley Girl". In fact as soon as I started reading that's the voice I heard.
I was so very annoyed with all the chatter, that I couldn't get through it
Mod
Stones For Ibarra – Harriet Doerr – 3.5***
An American couple arrive in the remote mountain village of Ibarra, Mexico to reopen the copper mine his grandfather abandoned some fifty years previously. Clash of cultures. Very atmospheric. I loved the depictions of festivals and traditions. Several subplots involve the residents of the town, their lives, loves, disappointments and joys.
My full review HERE
--------- * * * * * * * * --------
Out Stealing Horses – Per Petterson – 3.5***
Petterson has crafted an atmospheric, character-driven story of one man’s looking back on his coming-of-age summer when he was almost 15 and living with his father in a remote cabin on a river in eastern Norway, just on the border with Sweden. The story moves back and forth between the present day and the summer of 1948. As Trond matures he comes to realize that adventure isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, and there can be a very real human toll to giving in to desire and youthful exuberance.
My full review HERE
Tea Shop Cozy Mysteries - Books 1-6
by Katherine Hayton
3***
#1
Pushing Up Daisies#2
Berry Murderous#3
Deathbed of Roses#4
Orange Juiced#5
Keeping Mums#6
Hibiscus HomicideAs a whole I didn't dislike it. I guess I would describe it as okay comfortable cozy mystery. Not exactly boring but certainly not exciting. I liked Hayton's Cozy Kitten Cafe series well enough I decided to try this series. It was okay but too generic for my tastes. Setting it in New Zealand would have made it more interesting to me. The Cafe series setting was NZ and it was interesting to see how the sometimes very rare breeds of cats were going to be worked into the plot. Both series could do with some serious proofreading and editing. In the Tea Shop books unless I missed something the switching between the terms cookies and biscuits seemed to be random.
The 6 book set Kindle version is available from KU with audio set available from Hoopla.
Mod
Rachel To the Rescue – Elinor Lipman – 3.5**** (rounded up)
Rachel Klein, unceremoniously fired from her job in the White House Office of Records Management (WHORM), as a result of a drunken tweet voicing her frustrations, gets hit by a speeding SUV on her way out of the Executive Office Building. Turns out the driver is a “close friend of the President” … let the fun begin! A delightfully fast read, a joy of a rom-com.
My full review HERE
--------- * * * * * * * * --------
Stowaway – Karen Hesse – 4****
In the summer of 1768 Captain James Cook set sail on H.M.S. Endeavor for a major expedition to explore the possibility of a new continent. One of the people aboard was Nicholas Young, age 11. Hesse uses the imagined journal kept by Nick to tell the story of this voyage. It's a great adventure, and a believable coming-of-age story. Nick is bright, enthusiastic, hard-working and observant.
My full review HERE
Mod
Island of the Sequined Love Nun: Christopher Moore
😂🤪
From Amazon: "Take a wonderfully crazed excursion into the demented heart of a tropical paradise—a world of cargo cults, cannibals, mad scientists, ninjas, and talking fruit bats.
Our bumbling hero is Tucker Case, a hopeless geek trapped in a cool guy's body, who makes a living as a pilot for the Mary Jean Cosmetics Corporation. But when he demolishes his boss's pink plane during a drunken airborne liaison, Tuck must run for his life from Mary Jean's goons. Now there's only one employment opportunity left for him: piloting shady secret missions for an unscrupulous medical missionary and a sexy blond high priestess on the remotest of Micronesian hells.
Here is a brazen, ingenious, irreverent, and wickedly funny novel from a modern master of the outrageous."
This was weirdly entertaining, and while I usually I like his characters, with the exception of the Chief, Cannibal, Navigator, & Roberto (fruit bat); I have to say that I wasn't particularly fond of the rest of them, not even Tuck.
Although, I didn't find as much humor in this book, still in all, the book held my interest
Mod
The Wedding Date – Jasmine Guillory – 3.5***
What a fun, fast romantic read. I loved that Alexa and Drew are professionals with time-consuming careers. Their path to Happily Ever After is complicated by their geographic distance, their own personal issues, and a few missteps common to many new relationships. But they approach all these obstacles as adults, which I found very refreshing!
My full review HERE
Mod
The Sign of the Gallows: Susanna Caulkins
😻👍👍👌
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
From Amazon: "A dead man at a crossroads. A secret message. A ring with a warning about death . . . Printer's apprentice Lucy Campion is caught up in a strange and puzzling murder case in this twisty historical mystery set in seventeenth-century London.
London, 1667. On her way to a new market to peddle her True Accounts and Strange News, printer's apprentice Lucy Campion quickly regrets her decision to take the northwestern road. Dark and desolate, the path leads her to the crossroads - and to the old hanging tree. She doesn't believe in ghosts, but she's not sure ghosts don't believe in her.
But before she even reaches the crossroads, she's knocked off her feet by two men in a hurry. What were they running from? To her dismay, she soon discovers for herself: there, dangling from the tree, is the body of a man.
Did he commit self-murder, or is there something darker afoot? The more Lucy learns, the more determined she is to uncover the truth. But this time, even the help and protection of magistrate's son Adam, and steadfast Constable Duncan, may not be enough to keep her safe from harm . . ."
Oh my, I really enjoyed this book, the story was very interesting and I read straight through until 3:30 am! I like most all of the characters, and I finally figured out who-done-it, but that didn't ruin the ending for me. The part about the Cyphers was really interesting and added more to the story.
Mod
Save Me the Plums – Ruth Reichl – 4****
Subtitle: My Gourmet Memoir. Reichl has written before about her time as a food critic and about her mother, here she tackles the years she spent as editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. I love her writing. It is nothing short of delicious. She is open, honest and insightful. She writes about not just what happened but how she felt about what was happening. And, as usual, she really excels when writing about food. I may have gained 10 pounds just reading it!
My full review HERE
Review I would give this 10 stars if I could!
I always wanted to read Emile Zola and a Goodreads friend suggested this one. 222 pages that pack a wallop! An ending I did not see coming! Psychological throughout and thriller at the end! The book begins in a depressive, dreary damp alley of Paris in 1800's. The entire story is dark, but at times was a "one more chapter" read and the last 70 pages was a page turner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Murder, lust, debauchery, affairs, money, this story had it all. The events in the book make you think of how you would feel in same situation, not that any of us would be in this situation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So much 21st century scandal in 1800's Paris. An incredible read!!!!
Mod
Once Upon a Time in Rio – Francisco Azevedo – 4****
This is a delightful multi-generational saga of love, adventure, joy, disappointment, fear, prosperity and all those ingredients that make up the delicious dish we know as family. It begins when Jose Custodio and Maria Romana marry in Lisbon in 1908 and follows the Custodios, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren through the decades and into the 21st century. It reminded me at times of the Spanish telenovelas my grandmother loved to listen to on the radio. Weddings, births, funerals, fights and making up. Such drama! Such love! I was engaged and interested from beginning to end.
My full review HERE
Mod
Writers & Lovers – Lily King – 3.5*** rounded up
Casey Peabody is a struggling writer, reeling over the sudden death of her mother some six month before the novel begins, burdened by crushing student debt and maxed-out credit cards, and recently having broken up with her boyfriend; she is adrift and somewhat depressed. I really liked this book. I loved how Casey looked at the people and events in her life, and that, despite all her difficulties, she has a strong sense of her own self, and stands up for herself against bullying co-workers. The supporting cast, was just that, supporting. And I was happy to cheer for her at the end.
My full review HERE
Mod
Lies That Comfort & Betray: Rosemary Simpson
★ ★ ★ ★
From Amazon: Heiress Prudence MacKenzie is a valuable partner to attorney Geoffrey Hunter, despite the fact that women are not admitted to the bar in New York’s Gilded Age. And though their office is a comfortable distance from the violence that haunts the city’s slums, the firm of Hunter and MacKenzie is about to come dangerously close to an unstoppable killer . . .
The murders in Whitechapel are shocking enough to make news worldwide, and in the autumn of 1888, Geoffrey and Prudence find the stories in the New York Herald quite unsettling. But London is not the only city to be terrorized by a mad butcher.
Nora Kenny makes the occasional journey on the Staten Island ferry to work in Prudence’s Fifth Avenue house, just as her mother once served Prudence’s mother. As little girls, they played freely together, before retreating into their respective social classes. Still, they remain fond of each other. But when Nora slips away to Saint Anselm’s one chilly Saturday to confess her sins and never returns, Prudence is alarmed. And when Nora’s body is discovered in a local park, Prudence is devastated.
Nora will not be the only young woman to fall victim, but the police are uncertain what they are dealing with. Has the Ripper sailed across the Atlantic to find a new hunting ground? Is some disturbed soul copying his crimes? A former Pinkerton agent, Geoffrey intends to step in where the New York Metropolitan Police seem to be failing, and Prudence is just as determined to protect the poor, vulnerable females being targeted. But a killer with a disordered mind and an incomprehensible motive may prove too elusive for even this experienced pair to outwit.
From the author of What the Dead Leave Behind, this is a suspenseful and richly atmospheric mystery that captures both the elegance and sophistication of nineteenth-century New York, and the secrets and bloody terrors that lurked behind its gilded facades."
This was an interesting & sad story, as I'm finding the books in this series to be due to the fact they are about a time in society when women were believed to be pretty much expendable and very few if any cared about women as people.
I couldn't figure out who done it, and there were enough Red herrings to throw one of course.
I do like the main characters as they are compassionate & intelligent.
Mod
Let the Dead Keep Their Secrets: Rosemary Simpson
0 Stars
From Amazon: "In Gilded Age New York, heiress Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter investigate crimes that take them from the slums of Five Points in lower Manhattan to the Fifth Avenue mansions of society's elite. In the late nineteenth century, women are particularly vulnerable . . .
Childbirth can be dangerous even for the wealthy. So when opera singer Claire Buchanan shows Prudence and Geoffrey a postmortem cabinet photograph of her deceased twin sister and newborn niece, they express sadness but not surprise. The popular black-bordered portraits are the era's way of coping with the devastating losses that plague every family. What makes this death different is that Claire is convinced Catherine and her child were murdered.
Prudence's friend is haunted by a sense of her sister's lingering presence, and by the conviction that her dead twin is demanding justice. Catherine's widower, Aaron Sorensen, is a cold, controlling man who swiftly remarried. Now his second wife is already pregnant and may be in terrible danger. In order to discover the truth and find evidence of Sorensen's guilt, Geoffrey will delve deep into his past while Prudence casts herself as his next victim—putting her own life at grave risk . . . "
Although I find the practice of post-mortem photography interesting and enjoyed reading about that, this book was too brutal for me, so much so, I stopped reading it. I just could not deal with the murder of wives & newborn children, it was horrifying and upset me. Which is a shame as I do like the main characters, hopefully the next in the series won't be as upsetting.
Mod
Murder Most Fair: Anna Lee Huber
★ ★ ★
From Amazon: "All is far from quiet on the home front in USA Today bestselling author Anna Lee Huber's captivating mystery series, in which former Secret Service agent Verity Kent receives a visitor--who is being trailed by a killer...
November 1919. A relaxing few weeks by the seaside with her husband, Sidney, could almost convince Verity Kent that life has returned to the pleasant rhythm of pre-war days. Then Verity's beloved Great-Aunt Ilse lands on their doorstep. After years in war-ravaged Germany, Ilse has returned to England to repair her fragile health--and to escape trouble. Someone has been sending her anonymous threats, and Verity's Secret Service contacts can only provide unsettling answers.
Even deep in the Yorkshire Dales, where she joins Verity's family for the holidays, Ilse encounters difficulties. Normally peaceful neighbors are hostile, seeking someone to blame for the losses they've endured. When Ilse's maid is found dead, Verity must uncover whether this is anti-German sentiment taken to murderous lengths, or whether there is a more personal motive at work. Could Verity's shadowy nemesis, Lord Ardmore, be involved? And if so, how much closer to home will the blow land when he inevitably strikes again?"
I liked the book well enough, it was a fast, easy, & entertaining read.
Mod
Malice In the Highlands – Graham Thomas – 3***
This is a police-procedural mystery with a likeable lead character. There are plenty of suspects, and a mishmash of clues and subplots to keep things interesting. I did not solve the case ahead of Powell and was happy to be surprised by how things turned out. A thoroughly satisfying mystery, and I would read more of this series.
My full review HERE
Mod
Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea: Axie Oh
😮👌
★ ★ ★
From Amazon: "Axie Oh's The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is an enthralling feminist retelling of the classic Korean folktale "The Tale of Shim Cheong," perfect for fans of Wintersong, Uprooted, and Miyazaki’s SpiritedAway.
Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.
Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village―and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon―may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.
Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin―as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits―Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.
But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…"
Although I liked the characters and the story of Mina & Shin, I wasn't crazy that it took so long to tell; I felt like there was just too much going on, especially with all the hidden information. Much of the story I found to be overly prolonged & tedious, so it took me several days to read it.
I usually don't read books that come with a lot of hype. This book was released in March of this year. It has had a lot of hype. It was calling to me and I responded. It was a wonderful read! I read it in 3 evenings, I did not want to put it down.The book was refreshing in that it was not a formatted book. So many authors write same basic story, changing only names and places. This book stands alone. If you believe in love and all its possibilities," it is everything"! No spoilers. Beautiful Positano, Italy on the Amalfi coast. The food descriptions alone will make you drool. I was eating chunks of Romano cheese at 1 AM!. The scenery, the emotions that are Italy will transport you there. Memorable, A MUST READ!
I do suggest having snacks with you, the meal descriptions are incredible. I did not want this book to end, I do not want this story to leave me.Very creative story.
Mod
Send For Me – Lauren Fox – 3***
This is an historical fiction work set both in 1930s Germany and in contemporary Wisconsin, that tells the one family’s story. There were parts of the novel I really liked, when I was completely engaged and caught up in the story. But there were other parts that just fell flat for me. I think this is my fault; I am just so over the dual timeline in historical fiction.
My full review HERE
Mod
L.A. Weather – María Amparo Escandón – 3.5*** Rounded up
This is a funny, engaging, endearing novel that looks at a year in the life of one affluent Mexican-American family. It starts with a near tragedy and the characters (and reader) hardly have time to recover from that event when yet another crisis looms, and before long everyone in the family is spinning and bouncing from issue to issue, like balls in an out-of-balance pinball machine. The winds, drought and fires add more tension to the family’s internal strife, and ultimately help them focus on the things they CAN change, rather that what they have no control over. They still make bad decisions, and there is no HEA ending, but I was completely invested in these characters by the end, and I want more!
My full review HERE
Mod
The Power Of One – Bryce Courtenay – 4****
A challenge to travel the world combined with a challenge to read a book that “made-me-cry” brought this one to my attention, and am I ever glad it did! I’m not the writer Courtenay is, so can’t really do justice to the plot of this coming-of-age story. But the writing grabbed me from page one and I was sorry to see it end. I was cheering for Peekay throughout. And while I’m no fan of boxing, I even enjoyed the lessons on strategy and technique.
My full review HERE
Mod
Tooth And Claw – Jo Walton – 4****
What a fun romp of a story! It’s a typical regency (or Victorian) romance, but all the characters are dragons. I was captured from the first page and enthralled and entertained throughout.
My full review HERE
Mod
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: V.E. Schwabe
★ ★ ★ ★
😮👌
From Amazon: "In the vein of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Life After Life, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab’s genre-defying tour de force.
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name."
I really enjoyed this book, although at times I found it tedious, mostly her recounting of her past. I had an inkling of how/why she met Henry and I was correct, but was not disappointed at the ending.
Mod
What We Keep – Elizabeth Berg – 4****
Do we ever really know our parents? Would we still love them if we did? Could we forgive them their mistakes? Berg writes family relationships so very well. All the ways in which we rely on and trust one another, show our love and loyalty, and hurt or betray one another. There are always two (or more) sides to any story, and it takes a mature person to wait to pass judgment until all parts are known. My heart broke for all the family members, and my loyalties shifted as I learned more.
My full review HERE
Mod
Eat Cake – Jeanne Ray – 4****
Ruth Hopson likes to bake cakes. She finds comfort in comforting others, and lately everyone – including Ruth – needs some comfort. I have loved every book I’ve read by Jeanne Ray, and this one is no exception. Her writing reminds me of Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Berg. Her characters experience everyday life, with all its joys, crises, heartaches and triumphs.
My full review HERE
Mod
I usually don't read books that come with a lot of hype. This book was released in March of this year. It has had a lot of hype. It was calling to me and I r..."Good to know ... moving it up on my TBR.
Mod
Devil’s Peak – Deon Meyer – 4****
Book #1 in the Inspector Benny Geissel mystery series, starring the South African detective. Benny is such a flawed character and watching him try to make sense of his life and keep away from the bottle while he tracks the serial killer had me backtracking and re-reading sections to try to make sense of what was happening. Meyer does a great job of adding layers to an already complicated plot. And the final chapters are a wild ride!
LINK to my full review
Mod
Elizabeth Blackwell: Girl Doctor – Joanne Landers Henry – 3.5***
This is part of a series for middle-school readers about the “Childhood of Famous Americans.” This fictionalized biography focuses on Elizabeth Blackwell’s childhood in England and the United States, the incidents that piqued her interest in healing, and her constant goal to become a doctor and practice medicine. It is both entertaining and informative.
LINK to my full review
Mod
The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel – Renee Nault / Margaret Atwood – 5*****
I’ve read and reviewed Margaret Atwood’s novel previously, so will confine this review to the graphic novel adaptation. Nault’s interpretation of Atwood’s novel is marvelous. Her imagery is even more vivid and memorable than some of the same scenes as described in the original novel. I do not recommend that you skip Atwood’s novel, but this is a great introduction.
LINK to my full review
Mod
The House of Broken Angels – Luis Alberto Urrea – 3.5***
A large Mexican-American family plans a get-together for the patriarch’s birthday. I have read two of Urrea’s novels previously and am a fan of his writing. He peoples the work with a wide variety of characters and balances tender scenes against highly comic ones or anxiety-producing tragic occurrences. I do wish I had had a family tree handy, however.
LINK to my full review
Mod
Circe – Madeline Miller – 5*****
In this marvelous work of literary fiction, Miller, tells us the story of Circe, daughter of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, and possibly best known for turning Odysseus’s men into swine. I studied the classics in high school so was familiar with the basic story line, and some of the family connections, but Miller gives me so much more detail and really fleshes out these characters. Miller’s writing wove a spell that completely enthralled me. I was so beguiled that a part of me wished the novel itself were immortal, and that I could keep reading forever.
LINK to my full review
Mod
Young Jane Young – Gabrielle Zevin – 4****
The novel is divided into five sections, each narrated by a different character: Rachel, Jane, Ruby, Embeth and Aviva. The basic plot is that a young woman gets a job interning with a congressman, and then begins an affair with him. Can you forgive yourself your youthful mistakes? Can you recover from such a public humiliation? Will you make further bad decisions to compound the problem? Or will you be able to put it behind you and go forward with grace and dignity and courage? Will the public let you? This is a wonderful exploration of the ways in which women deal with such personal disasters.
LINK to my full review
A surefire cure for the headaches and stomach upsets of the twenty-first century, The Lemon Jelly Cake carries readers back to kinder, gentler times in a small town at the turn of the last century. Evoking a forgotten America of lush lawns, bountiful summer picnics, and shady front porches, the tale is set when the day's toughest decision might have been what to serve for dinner or which suit or dress to wear.In this edition, an introduction by longtime Millikin University faculty member and Findlay resident Dan Guillory situates the book and its charming tale firmly in the Central Illinois of 1900.
Read this years ago and loved it. A delightful summer read.Re-reading now.
Mod
Olga Dies Dreaming – Xochitl Gonzalez – 2.5** (rounded up)
I really wanted to like this. I’d heard the author in a virtual event and felt her enthusiasm for the story and for her characters. I liked that her focus was on two successful siblings and their rise to those positions, and on the issues of living up to expectations (our own and those of our parents and community). But I never warmed up to the characters, even though I like how Gonzalez portrayed the siblings’ relationship.
LINK to my full review
Mod
A Fall of Marigolds – Susan Meissner – 3***
A vibrantly printed scarf connects two women across a century; both lost someone in a horrific tragedy, both experience grief, guilt and PTSD. Meissner does a good job of weaving these stories together and moving back and forth in time across a century to explore the common elements. I liked Clara’s story better than that of Taryn, probably because of it’s setting on Ellis Island. Both women struggle with the ethical dilemma of what (and when, if ever) to reveal or withhold to others. My F2F book club had quite the discussion about this.
LINK to my full review
Mod
The Midnight Library: Matt Haig
★ ★
🥱
From Amazon: "Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place."
Apparently in a multi-faceted universe we have spin-off lives we never know about, and after committing suicide, Nora ends up in the Midnight Library reviewing her regrets and sampling different lives she might have lived had she made different choices.
I slogged through this, but the ending was upbeat. I didn't dislike Nora, but I didn't like her either....
The premise of the book, however, was interesting.
Mod
Under the Whispering Door: TJ Klune
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
🥰
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💝
From Amazon: "A NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND INDIE BESTSELLER
An Indie Next Pick!
A Locus Awards Top Ten Finalist for Fantasy Novel
A Man Called Ove meets The Good Place in Under the Whispering Door, a delightful queer love story from TJ Klune, author of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller The House in the Cerulean Sea.
Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.
When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.
And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.
But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.
Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home."
I ab-so-lute-ly loved this book..... For me, it wasn't the LGBTQ love story, it was about death, coming to terms with one's life, & the soul's evolution.
The love story isn't obvious and really doesn't come into plain view until the near the end of the book, which worked for me. At first I found it slow, but I'm glad I kept reading.
And FYI; I chose this book because I liked the cover & the inside flap blurb.
Mod
The Women’s March – Jennifer Chiaverini – 4****
The novel focuses on the women who risked their liberty, and their lives, to win the vote for women, including women of color. Chiaverini focuses on three of the most important suffragists of the day: Alice Paul, Maud Malone, and Ida B Wells-Barnett, to tell the story. The chapters alternate between these three central figures, showing how each approached the issue and the unique challenges each faced. The scenes of the march itself, and the near disaster it became are harrowing. While the novel itself is interesting and engaging, I really enjoyed the author’s notes, where Chiaverini gives more details on what happened after the march. As of this writing, the Equal Rights Amendment is NOT yet ratified.
LINK to my full review
Mod
★ ★
I slogged through this, but the ending was upbeat. I didn't dislike Nora, but I didn't like her either....
The premise of the book, however, was interesting...."
I felt much the same way.
Mod
Thirteen Hours – Deon Meyer – 4****
This is a hard-hitting, fast-paced, police procedural with a complicated plot, a second, unrelated (or is it?) killing, and multiple twists: drugs, human trafficking, the music industry, and, of course, Benny’s continuing struggle as a recovering alcoholic. He's also been named as a mentor to a group of younger investigators, and Griessel is having a hard time with his recent assignment: Inspector Mbali Kaleni, a black woman, a Zulu, a feminist. This is an interesting pairing, and I’d like to see it continue in future books.
LINK to my full review
Mod
Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger – Lisa Donovan – 3.5***
Donovan is a chef and award-winning essayist who has worked in a number of celebrated restaurant kitchens throughout the South. This is her memoir. Her passion and focus has been on desserts but she knows her way around the entire kitchen. Her journey from Army brat to single mother to just-another-restaurant-worker to pastry star is interesting, and she tells her story with insight and honesty.
LINK to my full review
Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade, A Life Rediscovered
by Melissa Gilbert
Introduction by Tim Busfield
5*****
The audio performance by Melissa Gilbert adds to this book. No surprise, she has narrated several. The introduction by her husband Tim Busfield was a pleasant surprise.
I usually prefer listening to memoirs and autobiographies read by the authors but if they don't do well I bail very quickly. In this case I listened almost straight through. I made myself pause for sleep.
Mod
Interior Chinatown – Charles Yu – 3***
Yu’s inventive novel won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2020; he uses a second-person narrative voice and writes as if this were a screenplay. Personally, I found the structure off-putting. It seemed to me that Yu was trying too hard to be clever. Be that as it may, he had a pretty good story to tell, and eventually I came to appreciate his message.
LINK to my full review
Book Chat - CLOSED by original moderator
Books mentioned in this topic
5/14: The Day the Devil Came to Buffalo (other topics)The Last Coyote (other topics)
How to Raise an Elephant (other topics)
Eight Perfect Hours (other topics)
A Royal Pain (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Katharine Schellman (other topics)Katharine Schellman (other topics)
Katharine Schellman (other topics)
Melissa Gilbert (other topics)
Katherine Hayton (other topics)
The Masque of a Murderer: Susanna Caulkins
😮
From Amazon: "...set in 17th century England, Lucy Campion, formerly a ladies' maid in the local magistrate's household, has now found gainful employment as a printer's apprentice. On a freezing winter afternoon in 1667, she accompanies the magistrate's daughter, Sarah, to the home of a severely injured Quaker man to record his dying words, a common practice of the time. The man, having been trampled by a horse and cart the night before, only has a few hours left to live. Lucy scribbles down the Quaker man's last utterances, but she's unprepared for what he reveals to her―that someone deliberately pushed him into the path of the horse, because of a secret he had recently uncovered.
Fearful that Sarah might be traveling in the company of a murderer, Lucy feels compelled to seek the truth, with the help of the magistrate's son, Adam, and the local constable. But delving into the dead man's background might prove more dangerous than any of them had imagined."
Another well crafted Lucy Campion mystery, which although given Lucy's highly unlikely circumstances, was interesting, albeit a bit boring (as 17th century Quakers are wont to be). I did figure out who one of the baddies was at the beginning, but the ending held a nice twist. The use of the scold's bridle was gruesome, but not graphic.
★ ★ ★