

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...
Feb 8, 2022


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 12, 2022


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...
Jan 6, 2022


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 29, 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 24, 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...
Dec 23, 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...
Nov 1, 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 26, 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 19, 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 15, 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...
Oct 12, 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 20, 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...
Sep 2, 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 25, 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...
Aug 23, 2021


Review of Now You Say Yes by Bill Harley
Now You Say Yes is beautiful. Harley's middle-grade story about love, duty, self-discovery, disappointment, and pushing through the...
Aug 6, 2021


Review of Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I had fun reading about the glamorous modeling-surfing-photography-music star family pedigree. But I felt as though the last hundred...
Jul 29, 2021


Three Books I'm Reading Now, 7/28/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The People We Keep, Allison Larkin's upcoming novel about a young protagonist shaping her life...
Jul 28, 2021


Review of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Ursula unknowingly lives her life over and over again as Atkinson explores how choices large and small cause enormous repercussions for a...
Jul 27, 2021


Three Books I'm Reading Now, 7/22/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Rule of Wolves, Leigh Bardugo's second and final book in the young adult King of Scars duology; I'm...
Jul 22, 2021
