Oct 3, 2023
Review of A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
Despite the many outlandish details of Iris's situation and ongoing secrets, I was taken with the sweet family relationships and the...
Sep 27, 2023
Review of Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Patchett's Tom Lake is a heartwarming, poignant Covid-era bonding session between a mother and her three grown daughters as Lara recounts...
Apr 26, 2023
Review of Burst by Mary Otis
Mary Otis's debut novel explores the complicated mother-daughter relationship between alcoholic, erratic Charlotte and rigid,...
Feb 2, 2023
Review of Maame by Jessica George
Jessica George's debut Maame takes on big issues of race, culture, and the challenges of growing up between two cultures while shining in...
Dec 13, 2022
Review of The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson
Richardson focuses her historical fiction on Kentucky again, picking up the story of the rural book delivery, Blue People, friendship,...
Nov 29, 2022
Review of The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken
McCracken straddles the line between novel and memoir in a work whose heart is a love letter to her extraordinary mother. The author...
Oct 11, 2022
Review of I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Former child actress McCurdy's account of her mother's narcissistic, harmful, abusive behavior and how it has shaped the author's life is...
May 26, 2022
Review of One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
Rebecca Serle's love letter to Italy plays with time to allow a grieving young woman to know her mother at her same age, inspiring...
Apr 19, 2022
Review of Let's Not Do That Again by Grand Ginder
Much of Ginder's novel is focused on a revenge fantasy, but I was drawn more to Nancy Harrison's strong personality and political...
Dec 2, 2021
Review of The Distance from Four Points by Margo Orlando Littell
In The Distance from Four Points, Littell explores deep human connections, grief, womanhood, what strength means, the power of origins,...
Sep 27, 2021
Review of Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Zauner takes unflinching looks at her family, herself, and her future, all while exploring the rich flavors, traditions, and challenges...
Aug 24, 2021
Review of The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore
Blakemore's book--which is based upon witch hunts during the seventeenth-century English Civil War--is smart, shadowy and gothic, often...
Aug 5, 2021
Review of Don't Look for Me by Wendy Walker
Walker offers a terrifying, disturbing premise--but I was fascinated with the character depth, explorations of grief, and the twist I...
Aug 4, 2021
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/4/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry's newest light fiction novel about best friends and polar...
Jun 28, 2021
Review of Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy
Young adult Josie's origins--specifically her immaculate conception--have overshadowed everything else in her life. Now she must delve...
Feb 25, 2021
Review of I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman
Waxman offers a nice dose of feminism, realistically fraught mother-daughter interactions, and laugh-out-loud funny moments. Jessica is a...
Feb 17, 2021
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 2/17/21 Edition
01 The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda Arden Maynor was a small child when she sleepwalked into a storm and was washed away. Three...
Jan 26, 2021
Review of Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Evaristo offers a set of twelve interconnected stories about Black women in contemporary Britain and their friendships, loves, struggles,...
Jan 22, 2021
Six Great Books about the Immigrant Experience
01 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee In the early 1900s, a teenager falls for a silver-tongued stranger on the coast of Korea. But when the...