Back when I had just received a cancer diagnosis, I found Kate Bowler’s book Everything Happens For A Reason to be entertaining, inspiring, comforting– all the things you want from a book at a time like that! Recently, I read her follow-up book, No Cure For Being Human, in which she addressed the fact that …
Apparently I am in the minority, at least among my friends (both IRL and online) — I haven’t read either of Elizabeth Srout’s books featuring Lucy Barton: 2016’s My Name Is Lucy Barton or 2018’s Anything Is Possible. So when I began her eighth book, Oh William!, I lacked any familiarity with Lucy, a plainspoken …
As a child, I took ballet for several years. I am pretty sure my parents were trying to find some way to make me graceful…oh well. I do enjoy stories and films about ballet and ballerinas, and love watching dancers perform well. In any case, the premise of Rachel Kapelke-Dale’s The Ballerinas sounded like just …
If asked whether I was a fan of Diane Chamberlain’s books, my instant response would be yes…thinking of Necessary Lies, the first book our neighborhood read together. Looking back, I realize I have found her inconsistent (The Dream Daughter was only 2 stars, but I’m not much of a fan of time travel stories). But …
In 2018 (coincidentally, the year I received an unfortunate medical diagnosis), I happened to read Kate Bowler’s Everything Happens For A Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved). It hit me at just the right time, as her ability to describe the experience of battling cancer helped me face my own journey. Described as a “Christian …
I was REALLY looking forward to reading The Last Case by David Guterson, mostly because I loved Snow Falling on Cedars. Thanks to Knopf Dougleday and NetGalley, I received a copy in exchange for this honest review…and I REALLY wanted to love it. The story sounded like it was perfect for a well-written book by …
OK, I admit it:over the years, I have enjoyed watching and discussing episodes of both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette with my sister. Rachel Lindsay appeared on both shows, first as a candidate for perennial character Nick Viall (what is up with him returning over and over?) and subsequently as the first Black Bachelorette, where …
True confession time: I was happy to receive The Left-Handed Twin, Thomas Perry’s latest effort in the Jane Whitefield series (thanks to Mysterious Press and NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review, and even happier to give it to my husband to read first. Like Jane, he was raised in Western New York State and …
I haven’t read many of Jacquelyn Mitchard’s novels (although I recall Deep End of the Ocean — I looked it up and it was 1997, which shocked me!), but I am happy that I received a copy of The Good Son from Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. This story …
I have been reading and enjoying Stephanie Plum’s adventures as a bond enforcement agent (bounty hunter?) for twenty-five+ years (gasp!), ever since One For The Money. And everytime a new one comes out, it makes me happy to know I’m in for hours of entertainment. Seriously, I can’t think of any that let me down…so …
I’m fairly sure I hadn’t previously read anything by Joe Hart, but I was happy to get a copy of Or Else (thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review. When they were kids, Andy Drake was friends with a girl named Rachel. As time went on, Rachel got into …
Last month I read and reviewed Lauren Groff’s new book…the one by the author everyone RAVED about last year? The one so many people are raving about THIS year? And, admittedly, I felt like a loner because I JUST. DID. NOT. CARE. (That’s a feeling I don’t have that often, and when I do it …
Until this week, I had not read anything by Ann Cleeves. When I received The Heron’s Cry in audiobook format and realized it was the SECOND in the Two Rivers Series (#1 was The Long Call), I went back and read the print version of the first book in order to be familiar with the …
As an avid mystery fan, I’m not sure why I had never read anything by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera series (neither of which I ever got into). But then I received a review copy of her 2021 book The Heron’s Cry from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in exchange for my …
When I first read T. Jefferson Parker’s Laguna Heat back in 1985, I had recently moved to Santa Cruz and was ecstatic to be living in a small beach town again — because I grew up in South Orange County (specifically in and around Laguna Beach) and graduated high school in 1965. So I know …
When asked the name of my favorite author, the name Elizabeth George is what first comes to mind. As I said in 2018, reviewing The Punishment She Deserves (5 stars), “I LOVE Elizabeth George, and have been reading the Inspector Lynley novels (or, as I prefer to call them, the Lynley-Havers novels) since the mid-1990s …
I have read close to a dozen books by Michael Robotham, and have enjoyed many of them (particularly the Joseph O’Loughlin series), so I was happy to receive a copy of When You Are Mine from Scribner and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The female protagonist in this psychological thriller is an officer …
If asked whether I was a fan of John Grisham, my best answer would be “sometimes.” I have loved some of his stuff (esp earlier books), but some have been “meh.” Last year’s A Time for Mercy, #3 in the Jake Brigance series, was a big disappointment for me (three stars — I’m an easy …
I’m fairly certain that my desire to read Matrix, Lauren Groff’s new novel, was primarily motivated by FOMO — I felt like I was the only person I know who hadn’t read and loved Fates and Furies. So, thanks to Penguin Group Riverhead and NetGalley, I was ready to go with a copy in exchange …
I have enjoyed many of Ken Follett’s books (admittedly. Some WAY more than others), so I was excited to dive into Never, his new novel set in the present (possibly future?) time. My husband seemed a bit disappointed that it isn’t historical fiction, so I am curious to get his reaction…but in any case I …