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539 results found for "maine"

  • Review of One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

    The main male protagonist was off-putting to me in his arrogance at first, but Carley Fortune is the

  • Six More of My Favorite Fantasy Reads of the Past Year

    Bardugo Bardugo's rich world-building sets the scene in Spain during the Inquisition, as a scullery maid Wang doesn't shy away from a dramatic reckoning for the story's main characters in the end. One may upend everything across four worlds--and one may possibly be able to save them all. Jensen The first in Jensen's fantasy series ticked many of my boxes--strong female main character, a This is my kind of "romantasy": adventure, fate, a strong main female character, a Chosen One setup--

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 6/9/25 Edition

    01 Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi In Tochi Onyebuchi's newest fantasy mystery novel, main protagonist

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 6/30/25 Edition

    in Elizabethan London; and I'm reading One Golden Summer , Carley Fortune's newest romance, in which main female sex holds her back from being able to find the knowledge she seeks, and she dresses as a boy to gain

  • Review of August Kitko and the Mechas from Space (The Starmetal Symphony #1) by Alex White

    I loved the main characters' fashion, banter, and stubbornness. Murderbot (check out my rave review in Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI) may and the imminent demise of the human race that they seem perched to enact serve as a catalyst for the main

  • Six Lighter Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading

    fiction read is that real, weighty issues can be raised within the satisfyingly sweet story: characters may cope with abuse or alcohol abuse; they may struggle to feel self-respect, a healthy body image, or to more; it's sweet and funny, it's about writing and books, there are wonderfully faulted love-crossed main After she drunk-blogs scathing comments about the unrealistic body images of the stars of Main Squeeze producer reaches out to her with an unexpected question: Would Bea consider starring in a season of Main

  • Review of The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

    key references to them we find that the secretive, haunted author has attempted to work through the pain It's necessary for the reader to sustain a suspension of disbelief so that this hole in our main protagonist's

  • Review of The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

    The main protagonist's focus in her work is Commander Graham Gore (a character based upon a real figure

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 11/17/25 Edition

    imagines richly imagined fantasy worlds, and within them slots fantastically imperfect and wondrous main Kingfisher is also the author of many other novels.

  • My Six Favorite Book Club Books of 2022

    amount of heart and a unique main protagonist in this lighthearted murder mystery, her debut novel. In Nita Prose's novel The Maid, main protagonist Molly finds a hotel guest dead in his room, and her access to the room, her eccentric manner, and other's manipulations of her innocent vulnerability may Prose has built an interesting premise with Molly as an unreliable main protagonist. story--as with the account of Patient Zero's experience and his two degrees of separation from the main

  • Review of The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike #6) by Robert Galbraith

    The book includes many detailed accounts of tracking online tweets and online message board messages, His main interest, Robin, is strong and savvy, yet even she is coping with trauma and the aftermath of But the building of the mystery is satisfying, and having spent five prior books with the main characters

  • Six Romantic Novels Set in the World of TV and Movies

    Jac Matthis is a romance novelist whose first book tanked (the main protagonist chose her career over a man, enraging readers who'd been counting on a different happy ever after), leaving little audience But it looks like she may have to rely on her annoying next-door neighbor Wes to try to gain the attention After she drunk-blogs scathing comments about the unrealistic body images of the stars of Main Squeeze producer reaches out to her with an unexpected question: Would Bea consider starring in a season of Main

  • Review of Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik

    I love reading Naomi Novik's books without exception--just check out the links to my many rave Bossy Naomi Novik is the author of richly wrought fantasy novels featuring main protagonists I love: Uprooted

  • Review of Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

    The main protagonist is cutthroat, darkly funny, and fascinating in her rejection of expectations.

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 10/28/24 Edition

    Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik Naomi Novik is the author of fantasy novels featuring main But one day a man visits Eilis, explains that his wife is carrying Tony's baby, and vows to drop the

  • Review of She's a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock

    We can see what Jessamyn is unaware of in this campy story: her acting may be sound, but her singing Readers will likely have a clear sense that our main character is prepared to burn it all down on her

  • Review of Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

    weaves together timelines, threads of family history, and long-held secrets now revealed, while her main trail Nell has laid out for her, she discovers more about her family's history, uncovers secrets, and may In many ways this felt like a Secret Garden (a book I was obsessed with as a child) for grown-ups, with

  • Review of Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

    mother-in-law, who severely curtails her ability to practice medicine, as in the family's opinion, Yunxian's main See presents Yunxian as a feminist in many ways, but doesn't allow her to feel more modern than might

  • Review of The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1) by Richard Osman

    Many years ago, everybody here would wake early because there was much to do and only so many hours in Now they wake early because there is much to do and only so many days left. There's a poignancy here because the main protagonists have lived long enough to lose loved ones, and And you can find Bossy reviews of many other mysteries here .

  • Review of October in the Earth by Olivia Hawker

    Hawker's newest historical fiction gives a wonderfully evocative peek into a gritty period, as her main She's learned to bite her tongue, and she feels like the poor treatment her husband shows her may be

  • Review of The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

    Bardugo's rich world-building sets the scene in Spain during the Inquisition, as a scullery maid with Cotado lives in a grim house on a shabby street in the new capital of Madrid, working as a scullery maid Greed and manipulation rule the day for all involved, with our main protagonists paying the price.

  • Review of What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

    Many reasons have been given for the decline of the climate-change movement in the twenty-first century Within this timeline, Tom Metcalfe, one of our main protagonists, is an academic fascinated by the past and they were idiots who were throwing it all away, even as their high culture lamented or roared in pain Our main protagonists force or are faced with resolutions, which are not always peaceful or wholly satisfying

  • Review of Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

    There's a health crisis and solution that involves the two main characters in key ways and complicates If you've agonized through the main relationship's ups and downs throughout the story, you might just

  • Six More Four-Star Mysteries I Loved Last Year

    Emma is a marine biologist who's devoted to her husband Leo and their young daughter Ruby. surprising amount of heart and a unique main protagonist in this lighthearted murder mystery, her debut In Nita Prose's recent novel The Maid, main protagonist Molly finds a hotel guest dead in his room, and Prose has built an interesting premise with Molly as an unreliable main protagonist. Mary was a captivating main protagonist--alternately desperate and hopeful, but always dogged in her

  • Review of The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

    In Gareth Brown's debut fantasy novel The Book of Doors, main protagonist Cassie Andrews works in a New One of these customers is a kind older man she's become dear friends with. happening to Cassie and Izzy when Cassie takes possession of the book, and soon a rumpled Scottish man He just may be the only one seemingly without nefarious intentions. Authors of time-travel books must decide whether characters may change past events or simply witness

  • November Wrap-Up: My Favorite Reads of the Month

    Wang doesn't shy away from a dramatic reckoning for the story's main characters in the end. , and what he lacks in training he makes up for with the desire to learn more about the forces that may uncover an enormous magical secret, it could not only mean the undoing of the magical hierarchies that many opens in a prison, with female inmates participating in their weekly book club in rural Abbott Falls, Maine Main protagonist Violet Powell is being released after 22 months' imprisonment for the drunk-driving

  • Review of Bunny (Bunny #1) by Mona Awad

    Bunny begins with an outcast main protagonist in a MFA program who's infuriated by her twee fellow seminar

  • The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Amina al-Sirafi #1) by Shannon Chakraborty

    series, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi as an audiobook, narrated by the fantastic Lameece Issaq and Amin , and I was hooked on the lightning-fast banter; the gruff and independent, saucy, and irresistible main

  • My Very Favorite Bossy 2025 Reads

    It makes me so happy to survey the many books I've loved reading, thinking about, writing about, and Harrow The Everlasting  involves jaunts through multiple versions of the same story, as our fantastic main Brendan is not the main protagonist, despite the novel's title, yet he is central to the story in that details of a life of moneyed ease and an abandonment on an unforgiving, uninhabited island after our main Within this timeline, Tom Metcalfe, one of our main protagonists, is an academic fascinated by the past

  • Review of Santa Ana by Addison J. Chapple with Rachael Flanery

    hallucinations late in the book felt like an opportunity to explore pure feelings and for the straight-laced main

  • Six Books Set in Australia that Are Fair Dinkum Fascinating

    I loved spending time with main protagonist Eli as he navigated tough situations and emerged with hope Eli Bell is a young man in a tough spot. Who is the man? Can he be trusted? Is any of this even real? He wants to grow up and become a journalist, but for now his main goal is trying not to attract too much Boy Swallows Universe has many larger-than-life characters, especially its villains.

  • Review of The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

    The section on hog butchering may be an eye opener for anyone (anyone?) often luminous or gritty, and the author doesn't pretend to have easy answers for the beleaguered main

  • Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading

    There's a health crisis and solution that involves the two main characters in key ways and which complicates Then Florence's beloved father dies, and she returns to her hometown for the first time in many years please see The Dead Romantics. 06 Happy Place by Emily Henry Six longtime friends gather for one last Maine I was impatient with the prolonged lack of communication but loved the main characters' interactions For years they've taken annual trips to their friend Sabrina's cottage in Maine with the rest of their

  • Review of The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker

    Walker offers an unreliable main protagonist, her dedicated new psychiatrist, increasingly inexplicable which Jane believes them seem to indicate that her ability to live on her own and care for her child may that is posed (but not extensively explored), one in which Jane is sane and the alternate realities may

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 10/6/25 Edition

    They nickname our main protagonist Jordan. Although it seems clear to the reader that ultrareligious, mainly abstinent, guilt-ridden, and generally when a decades-old mystery seems to be the cause of a new friend's aunt's disappearance--and Stevie may

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 9/29/25 Edition

    Peace ; I'm listening to the 31-hour audiobook of the latest Cormoran Strike mystery, The Hallmarked Man Bossy reviews of books set in Ireland, please check out the titles at this link . 02 The Hallmarked Man Within this setting, one of our main protagonists is an academic fascinated by the past (the years surrounding

  • Six More Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads I Loved in the Past Year

    I loved the main characters' fashion, banter, and stubbornness. imminent demise of the human race that the robots seem perched to enact serve as a catalyst for the human main The gods' war provides the structure for the book's main conflict, but the story feels primarily focused

  • Review of Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

    Addison Allen's Other Birds is set on an island off the coast of South Carolina as main protagonist Zoey (An inherited apartment and money she has gained access to at age 18 help.)

  • August Wrap-Up: My Favorite Reads of the Month

    to close out the summer, with a high-stakes fake marriage, comeuppances for the greedy bad guys, our main This is an adorable fake-dating-in-paradise setup with funny dialogue, a wonderfully imperfect main protagonist In small town Crosby, Maine, acclaimed writer Lucy Barton and attorney Bob Burgess walk and talk about But the young man, a self-taught artist, is counting on Bob and an unorthodox approach to figuring out Ana is Sherlock Holmes-esque in that she holds many of the answers to the mysteries that abound--but

  • Review of Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan

    the outskirts of local society for decades, and a rich, evil legend has grown up around him, so that many But we find that our main protagonist Mal has been having a secret, fulfilling relationship with him her mother's dementia and verbal abuse around Mal's sister's long-ago disappearance, the lingering pain

  • Review of Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart

    Her main friend seems to be her talking chess game, who was made in Korea so understands some of Vera's Many of the key elements of her observations are placed in quotation marks, and this is a very funny, sometimes-hesitant takes on the family and world around her are often delightfully spot-on, and she sees many

  • Newer Romantic Novels Perfect for Savoring Summer's Last Gasp

    love interest didn't ring true to me, and while he was very nice, I was partially turned off by his many For my full review of this book please see Sunny Side Up . 02 One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune The main Definitely Better Now by Ava Robinson In Ava Robinson's debut novel, she offers an appealingly imperfect main Jimenez Abby Jimenez layers tough situations and messy complications into her rom-coms, and here, her main But Xavier's painful past and Samantha's challenging present might make a future for the two impossible

  • Review of Break Wide the Sea (Break Wide the Sea #1) by Sara Holland

    has his eye on taking over her family's company rather than falling in love with Annie (and that he may So many elements of this premise are favorites for me--a strong young female main protagonist, ship life She may so far be powerless to enact major change, and she is certainly dismissed by the men around her

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 1/5/25 Edition

    The secretive, haunted author has attempted to work through the pain and complications of her past by listening to The Three Lives of Cate Kay as an audiobook. 03 Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood The main

  • Six Historical Fiction Mysteries to Intrigue You

    This book had many moving parts, evolving points of view and senses of self, shifts between days and Along with the kickass, whip smart, savvy, kind, and irresistible main protagonist Bridie are her striking Raybourn may allow Veronica to benefit from the author's own modern sensibilities in A Curious Beginning , but Veronica is a strong and unorthodox main protagonist, and for me this aspect of her character works adult supernatural mystery series of the same name, and in it, author William Ritter provides memorable main

  • Review of Bull Moon Rising (Royal Artifactual Guild #1) by Ruby Dixon

    I listened to Bull Moon Rising in audiobook form, and hearing it all read to me may have exacerbated plus-size woman who loves books and wears glasses and is the irresistible object of affection for the main

  • Review of Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

    story can take on a life of its own--in this novel featuring a science fiction tale within Okorafor's main only disabled and overwhelmed by her overly controlling and opinionated family as she has been for many The family's collective assumption that they may, unsolicited, rightfully weigh in on Zelu's every decision

  • My Six Favorite Reads of the First Half of 2025

    details of a life of moneyed ease and an abandonment on an unforgiving, uninhabited island after our main Child  is the power of the small-town Faha community--gossipy and desperate for dirt as its citizens may In one timeline, an abused wife makes a stand for a whimsical name suggested by her daughter Maia, Bear Each timeline produces a vastly different boy, a significantly shaped sister Maia, drastically different Brendan is not the main protagonist, despite the novel's title, yet he is central to the story in that

  • 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 Enter superfan Peanut Brixton--who may be even more familiar with The Falling Children books than Libby

  • Review of Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes #1) by Elizabeth Lim

    In this young adult novel, the first in a magical fairy tale duology from Elizabeth Lim, main protagonist I couldn't wait to find out how Lim would make this plot construct of a wordless main protagonist work

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