The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish
After their mother tries to hang herself, 14-year-old Mae and 16-year-old Edie are sent to live with their father, a man they have not seen since they were very small children. For Mae it is a dream...
View ArticleThe Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
“Boys and men are earth and stone,” my mama used to say. “But you girls, us women, we’re water. We can wear away earth and stone, if it comes to it.” Althea is indeed the water in her family’s lives....
View ArticleThe Last Romantics by Tara Conklin
I believe now that certain events are inevitable. Not in a fateful way, for I have never had faith in anything but myself, but in the way of human nature. It seems as if there’s a trend in winter...
View ArticleThe Editor by Steven Rowley
James Smale is thrilled to sell his first novel to Doubleday, but he is over-the-moon when he finds out his editor is none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. His excitement is tempered by having to...
View ArticleThe Better Sister by Alafair Burke
Chloe Taylor is on top of her game. She is the editor of a small but prestigious women’s magazine, has just been honored in the field of journalism, and lives the glamorous life in NYC with her...
View ArticleMiracle Creek by Angie Kim
The Yoo family—Pak, Young, and their daughter Mary, have pinned all their American hopes and all their money on their new business. It’s a hyperbaric chamber that is supposed to help cure or improve...
View ArticleThe Van Apfel Girls are Gone
I’ve recently learned something about my reading taste—which is kind of awesome after seven years of writing reviews. Here it is: I enjoy ambiguity but not in anything purported to have a mystery...
View ArticleAfter the End by Clare Mackintosh
There are many unimaginable things in life, but one of the worst is being the parent of a dying child. Max and Pip are a couple in love who adore their son Dylan. He’s a happy child, but...
View ArticleThe Wolf Wants In
Blackwater is a town hovering near Kansas City; a place of farmers and granaries. It’s also one of those small towns with big problems. The opioid crisis is taking its toll, a little girl has been...
View ArticleThe Grammarians by Cathleen Schine
The Grammarians is the story of identical twins Laurel and Daphne. They’re pretty, with deep auburn hair, and precocious—speaking in full sentences and reading by the time they’re five. They were born...
View ArticleThe Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Maeve and Danny live of a life of contrasts. Their house is by far the grandest in their neighborhood and money is not something they ever have to think about, but their mother left when Danny was only...
View ArticleAsk Again, Yes
This post may include Amazon links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Ask Again, Yes is a complex family story that begins with the lightest of connections. Brian Stanhope and...
View ArticleLong Bright River
Mickey has been a Philadelphia police officer for 13 years. She’s got the brains and the experience to become a detective, but stays as a patrol cop in a neighborhood called Kensington. A high crime...
View ArticleNothing to See Here
Friday’s book review was a little dark so I’m starting the week with something much lighter. Not only did I never think I’d read a novel where children spontaneously combust, I definitely didn’t think...
View ArticleWhen We Were Vikings: A Novel
Zelda has just turned 21 and life is good. She lives with her older brother Gert, has a boyfriend, goes to the Community Center for classes, and has a therapist who helps her understand things about...
View ArticleA Good Neighborhood
I’ve enjoyed Therese Anne Fowler’s historical fiction for years, especially her novel Z, about Zelda Fitzgerald. So, I was interested to see what she would do with a novel about contemporary American...
View ArticleMarch Reading Recap
Well, of all the things I thought might happen this March I could never have come up with where we are now. I’ll spare you the contents of my brain churning with the anxiety I have not only over family...
View ArticleAll Adults Here
Astrid Strick is in downtown Clapham where she’s lived for most of her life, when she witnesses a school bus hitting and killing a woman she knows. A tragic death like this could be the focus of most...
View ArticleAll This Could Be Yours
After another evening spent sniping at his wife about her excessive spending, 73-year-old Victor staggers off to bed and suffers a heart attack that leaves him unconscious and at the edge of death for...
View ArticleThe Majesties: A Novel
Sometimes novels that begin with a bang end with a fizzle. That’s not the case with The Majesties, which opens with Gwen, the main narrator, lying in a coma. After being poisoned by her sister,...
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