2 days ago
Review of My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan
My Oxford Year takes a light, romantic tone and within it, explores weighty issues like serious illness, loss, grief, vulnerability, and...
Jan 9
Review of The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Much of The Safekeep feels claustrophobic, quiet, and hopeless, but unexpected shifts late in the story turn accepted histories on their...
Nov 26, 2024
Review of Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
Blue Sisters explores three surviving sisters' messy paths into and out of grief after the loss of their fourth sister Nicky. They make...
Nov 5, 2024
Review of The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Espach layers complex emotional challenges like suicidal thoughts, grief, and loneliness with funny, quirky, poignant moments in this...
Oct 30, 2024
Review of Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Kennedy writes poignantly about the Irish Troubles through the point of view of Cushla, a young adult stretching her wings despite her...
Oct 29, 2024
Review of Libby Lost and Found by Stephanie Booth
Booth cushions the blow of the main protagonist's early-onset Alzheimer's with a zany romp, lots of love for books, and heartwarming,...
Oct 24, 2024
Review of Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Intermezzo is one of my favorite Rooney novels yet, exploring complicated families, grief, unconventional relationships, forgiveness, and...
Oct 9, 2024
Review of The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
I loved this summer-camp setting, the slow build of mystery in two timelines, the privilege and working class disparities, the eventual...
Oct 8, 2024
Review of The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
The Paris Novel is the first novel by food writer, memoir author, food critic, and James Beard award-winner Ruth Reichl. It's a...
Sep 12, 2024
Review of Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
Annis is a young Southern woman enslaved, sold, and abused in the years before the Civil War. In Let Us Descend , she leans on the...
Sep 4, 2024
Review of Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Thorpe's irresistible character of 19-year-old Margo discovers her strength, drive, creativity, and vulnerability after becoming...
Aug 29, 2024
Review of The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
The Paradise Problem is the perfect light fiction read to close out the summer, with a high-stakes fake marriage, comeuppances for the...
Aug 20, 2024
Review of The Blighted Stars (Devoured Worlds #1) by Megan E. O'Keefe
Megan E. O'Keefe's first space opera in the Devoured Worlds series presents failing worlds filled with conflict, shifting loyalties,...
Aug 15, 2024
Review of Bear by Julia Phillips
The author of Disappearing Earth offers a story of bleak prospects, poverty and illness, a sister bond with fault lines ready to crack...
Jun 13, 2024
Review of Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Ali Hazelwood brings her wonderful banter and an intriguing mystery to this steamy interspecies romance that has lots of heart and kept...
Jun 11, 2024
Review of Wellness by Nathan Hill
Flawed main characters Jack and Elizabeth try to find their way back to an emotional connection in this literary fiction work. Wellness...
Jun 5, 2024
Review of Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Just for the Summer is another Jimenez story with wonderful banter and a romantic connection that's anchored in and shaped by incredibly...
May 30, 2024
Review of Love, Lists and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz
Sarah Grunder Ruiz serves up an irresistible rom-com with great banter and with interesting and difficult, complex issues of loss, grief,...
May 29, 2024
Review of Betting on You by Lynn Painter
Lynn Painter delivers funny, charming banter and an opposites-attract tension in this heartwarming rom-com about divorce, trust, blended...
May 28, 2024
Review of The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
Elif Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees explores past Turkish-Greek conflicts in a small island community while illustrating the...