
- May 19
Review of Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
Vaishnavi Patel's debut is a captivating retelling of the Indian epic Ramayana, with immersive details and an irresistible feminist main...

- May 3
Review of Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett
In Unlikely Animals, Hartnett's irresistible, oddball tragicomedy with heart, characters explore the limits and solidity of friendship...

- Apr 19
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...

- Mar 10
Review of Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu
In Marie Lu's young adult dystopian series starter Legend, the Republic and Colonies war with each other, a plague separates the haves...

- Feb 9
Review of Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner
Faulkner's debut mystery is twisty and turny, with various potential bad seeds and complications--and it ends in a satisfying whirl of...

- Feb 8
Review of My Heart Went Walking by Sally Hanan
Hanan's 1980s Irish coming-of-age story is full of angst, secrets, life-and-death danger, youthful determination--and the feeling that...

- Jan 12
Review of Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
Betty is based on the author's family stories of difficulties, abuse, tragedies, and a hardscrabble life in the Appalachian foothills of...

- Jan 6
Review of Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes #1) by Elizabeth Lim
I was captivated by Lim's fairy tale of a fantasy novel, particularly the vivid magical realism, Shiori's strength and abilities, and...

- Dec 29, 2021
Review of Landslide by Susan Conley
Conley's book explores a mother's emotional struggle to care for her wild teenage sons and to cope in the wake of her husband's serious...

- Dec 24, 2021
Review of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Robinson's 1971 classic for young readers is a wonderful read-aloud during the Christmas season. "Hey! Unto you a child is born!" We read...

- Dec 23, 2021
Review of The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
As the young men in The Lincoln Highway face challenge after challenge, they grow, learn, and fight for resolutions to difficult...

- Nov 1, 2021
Review of The Best of Me by David Sedaris
This collection of previously published Sedaris works is a gold mine of discomforting, edgy, offbeat observations--with more heart than I...

- Oct 26, 2021
Review of The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
The Paper Palace is atmospheric and often disturbing. I didn't understand many of the characters' motivations or reasoning so didn't feel...

- Oct 19, 2021
Review of Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Main protagonist Gifty's journey was full of challenges and not too easy or complete, and her voice had me hooked throughout Yaa Gyasi's...

- Oct 15, 2021
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 10/15/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Paper Palace, Miranda Cowley Heller's novel about a middle-aged woman exploring other...

- Oct 12, 2021
Review of The Project by Courtney Summers
Summers's young adult fiction begins with a fascinating premise--sisters are torn apart by tragedy and then further separated by a...

- Sep 20, 2021
Review of The Guncle by Steven Rowley
The Guncle is full of heart and humor, quirky family love, and fun references to musicals and movies--yet Rowley also offers poignancy,...

- Sep 2, 2021
Review of Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
I was intrigued by the wolves, and I was interested in McConaghy's exploration of the tensions between wilderness and civilization, but I...

- Aug 25, 2021
Review of We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
Lange's Irish family story centers around Sunday Brennan, who has returned home to her New York hometown where her own secrets--and...

- Aug 23, 2021
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/23/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Once There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghy's novel about a biologist fighting to reintroduce...