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864 results found for "strong women"

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/25/25 Edition

    You by Steve Cavanagh In Steve Cavanagh's twisty mystery Kill for Me, Kill for You , two strangers, women Because the women aren't linked outside of an anonymous grief support group, and because their friendship Ruth, a young married woman living elsewhere in the city, is brutally attacked in her own home--and the

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 9/16/24 Edition

    multi-million-dollar interstate drug ring; and I'm listening to a suspenseful mystery about a missing young woman Molly Aitken Molly Aitken's historical fiction Bright I Burn is based on the true story of the first woman Women in the 1200s aren't given much freedom, and she must wrest her power from her father, her husbands But a powerful woman is resented and feared, and threatening accusations begin to fly regarding how Alice While Chelsey struggles to be patient with the young woman who is coping with layers of trauma, she realizes

  • Review of Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

    Shipstead has created two independent, defiant, appealingly strong young women split by time. Shipstead has created two independent, defiant, appealingly strong young women split by time (and, secondarily

  • Six Satisfying Novels about Revenge

    please see Razorblade Tears. 03 The Change by Kristen Miller The Change explores the power of menopausal women In Kristen Miller's novel The Change, set in Mattauk, Long Island, three women cope with various challenges The tone of The Change is largely campy, as middle-aged women heroines unite against the book's sometimes Good thing we’re extra strong. A woman he'd invited to their home. Vanessa.

  • Six More Four-Star Historical Fiction Reads I Loved Last Year

    I read Illuminations with a group of women over a period of months, and we were captivated by the details a River. 06 Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall Marshall's debut historical fiction centers around women's Looking for Jane is a story of women living in three timelines who are linked through decades by a mysterious letter--and by enormously important, recurring dilemmas for women through the ages: unexpected pregnancies parts of themselves away; she doesn't shy away from sharing the sometimes-tragic outcomes of pregnant women's

  • Six of My Favorite Historical Fiction Reads of the Year

    Xishi is a beautiful young woman who makes her village in the region of Yue proud, for she will almost The ending is fanciful and strange; the tone of the book doesn't seem to be leading to a too-convenient The war and all its deprivations seem relentless, but for Cristabel, there is a strange and guilty thrill a character-driven story of the shocking, widespread, deadly West Virginia Mine Wars and thousands-strong What brings the book to life are versions of the real-life figures of Mother Jones (the elderly woman

  • Review of The Fraud by Zadie Smith

    sometimes testy, often incisive, and at other times diminished--a product of the limitations of single women to advance her cause for two specific young children of color--a limited but effective measure for a woman Women pick up the pieces, creatively fashioning avenues in which they may achieve what they wish within

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

    Yet he is presented yet again as extremely desirable to beautiful women. The women who are of romantic interest in Cormoran's life are, as in prior books in the series, emotionally His main interest, Robin, is strong and savvy, yet even she is coping with trauma and the aftermath of

  • Review of Light to the Hills by Bonnie Blaylock

    Blaylock celebrates tough women, stand-up men, and never-ending hard work. The mountain justice that's carried out by the women was thrillingly shocking. Other books I've loved about traveling librarians include The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and The

  • Review of Evil Eye by Etaf Rum

    In Evil Eye, Etaf Rum (author of A Woman Is No Man) considers a small-town North Carolina artist, mother Her childhood trauma has a strong hold on her, and only when she begins to face it can she fully realize Etaf Rum is also the author of A Woman Is No Man.

  • Review of The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin

    Book Society is darker than I'd anticipated, but appropriate as Martin explores weighty issues for women The women in Madeline Martin's Victorian London exist within tightly constrained rules and at the whims But when three women, all strangers to each other, are invited to the reclusive, three-times-widowed If you'd like to raise your blood pressure by reading about a bunch of destructive men subjugating women The end of the story involves a dramatic death and the promise of solidarity for the women who move forward

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 7/21/25 Edition

    When she sees an ad seeking for the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program, Joan becomes obsessed with being part of the 1980s training and with becoming one of the first women in space Schwab's lesbian vampire tale spans centuries, beginning in 1532 Santo Domingo de la Calzada as a young woman

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

    This was strange and interesting. Strange things begin happening to Cassie and Izzy when Cassie takes possession of the book, and soon In post-World War I London, female lawlessness in the form of the Forty Elephants gang of women, an offshoot the Elephant and Castle men's gang, butts up against law enforcement, which only recently includes women When the two aspiring women's bids for victory clash, traditional female roles and power structures are

  • Review of We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

    And at any rate, I loved the low-key thread of the premise that a strong middle-aged woman can find moments We All Want Impossible Things is heartbreaking and wonderfully strange, funny and full of love, and a

  • Review of Boy by Nicole Galland

    famed, sought-after "boy player" in Shakespeare's company, and his roles skillfully playing lovely women to Bacon's pursuits, and in boy's dress she has freedoms she never could during the era as a young woman

  • Six More Short Story Collections I Loved

    , Other by Bernardine Evaristo Evaristo offers a set of twelve interconnected stories about Black women The twelve women in Girl, Woman, Other --each of whom gets a chapter to tell her story, which is often loyalty, and how each of these factors shape their past, present, and future identities as Black British women interconnected friendships, partnerships, loves, struggles, successes, and the ways in which these twelve women's her grandparents lived and where she was born, here offers stories spanning forty years, featuring women

  • Review of Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong

    She explores the necessity of being a strong woman in a male-dominated profession. And I do love hearing the stories of women in comedy.

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 4/28/25 Edition

    fighting for the Confederacy since soon after they were married, and Libby is warden to her orphaned, strong-willed Because she hopes that a Union woman would take pity on her husband in the same situation, she cares

  • Six More Four-Star (and Up) Mysteries I Loved in the Past Year

    The women realize they may know too much about where the bodies are buried--literally--to be allowed I loved the women's complicated bonds, their crafty planning, their fights for justice, and their ability returns in all of her feisty, unconventional, clever glory, despite the significant constraints on women A Study in Scarlet Women is the first book in Sherry Thomas's gender-flipped Sherlock Holmes mystery It's about the infuriating, often tragic power mismatches between men and women, white and Black people

  • Review of Awake: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker

    Jen Hatmaker, who was married before she could legally have a drink and who built her identity as a woman Having inspired women for years as a leader in authenticity and a proponent of healthy relationships,

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

    Click here for my full review of Divine Rivals. 03 So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men by Claire Click here for my full review of So Late in the Day. 04 The Woman in Me by Britney Spears Spears's slim In her memoir The Woman in Me, Britney Spears offers the story of her life to date: select events of book reveals disturbing, ongoing abuse and frightening misuse of power while positioning Britney as a strong Please click here for my full review of The Woman in Me. 05 The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike #7) by

  • Review of The Sea Child by Linda Wilgus

    Isabel has always been a strong swimmer and loves the water, but she doubts this outlandish fable and and she ultimately feels destined to head to sea--in a time in history when it was unacceptable for a woman

  • Review of I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

    exposes age-old power mismatches; offers young characters agency; explores systemic violence against women It's about the infuriating, often tragic power mismatches between men and women, white and Black people Meanwhile our main protagonist is a middle-aged woman appealingly muddling along at times, doing her particularly powerful and heartbreaking in their copiousness--and in highlighting the brutality against women Lists include cases summarized in the vein of "It was the one where [insert specific circumstances of a woman's

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 3/11/24 Edition

    Everywhere (Frankie Elkin #3) by Lisa Gardner Frankie Elkin is the best at finding missing girls and women She's an unassuming middle-aged woman and a recovering alcoholic who has a compulsion: to locate missing But a strange feeling pervades everything on the island.

  • Review of The Rule Book by Sarah Adams

    Mackenzie is a sports agent who's constantly fighting against misogyny and double standards as one of few women and refusal to bend to societal pressures--whether by behaving in a more tough manner because she's a woman in a career where fewer women exist, or by using her femininity as a tool in that career.

  • Review of The Light After the War by Anita Abriel

    Vera and Edith are such a complementary WWII partnership, and I loved spending time with these strong Germany during the war; their wonderfully brave, practical, creative routes to survival as single young women Abriel introduces another enormous shift that shakes things up enormously yet again for both young women Vera and Edith are such a complementary partnership, and I loved spending time with these strong young women.

  • Six Great Historical Fiction Stories Set in the American West

    Historical fiction set in the West also lends itself to stories of strong female characters in a time when the world around them didn't support women's abilities, independent thinking, or determination. Kate is a tough young woman posing as a male cowboy. Turner's story is inspired by her family's memoirs, and her Sarah Prine is a strong woman living on the Walk on Earth a Stranger tells the story of Lee, a young woman with a powerful secret: an ability to

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 10/2/23 Edition

    But she's determined to follow her own path--and her strong-willed decisions fly in the face of rigid society's expectations concerning women, slavery, and appropriate marriage prospects.

  • Six Historical Fiction Backlist Favorites

    your alley, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women in A Well-Behaved Woman, both in the surroundings and the rigid views of the period about women, marriage between what feels frivolous and what is Ava's meaningful growth, including her important role in the women Meanwhile, privileged Charlotte has her own secrets, and when both women's true situations begin to be (especially black women) in that time who were without men to protect them.

  • Review of The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

    In a world of the near future, a young (unnamed) woman is one of several civil servants offered a mysterious building bonds deeper than either could have imagined; the love story between the bridge and Gore is strange willing to suspend my disbelief regarding; and my mind was bent around trying to follow some of the later strings

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

    type immersed in her own sometimes dark writing, she is disgusted by the rest of her cohort--childish women But the situation isn't exactly what it seems, and when a woman comes to town using Evie's birth name I loved the key elements of this story: the capable con woman, the past coming back to haunt her, the The novel flits between the stories of three women from disparate backgrounds, drastically different ; later in the novel the young woman realizes that "woodworking" wasn't meant to be a handbook, but a

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 12/4/23 Edition

    The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading a novel in two timelines about a young woman posing as a cabin abortions in pre-Gilded Age New York, Madame Restell; and I'm listening to Britney Spears's memoir, The Woman But Restell's story swirls with weighty issues still relevant today--women's rights and autonomy; the I'm listening to this as an audiobook. 03 The Woman in Me by Britney Spears In her slim memoir The Woman

  • Six Historical Fiction Mysteries Sure to Intrigue You

    Bridie is a strong female protagonist, and Things In Jars offers solid historical fiction details of Veronica to benefit from the author's own modern sensibilities in A Curious Beginning, but Veronica is a strong Abigail is clever, and her strong role in her partnership with the wonderfully odd Jackaby is satisfying Ji Lin speaks her mind and ruffles feathers even as she exploits assumptions about women, sexual attraction She doesn’t fit the mold of a typical woman from 1930s Malaysia nor that of the British colonists living

  • Review of How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

    released after 22 months' imprisonment for the drunk-driving accident in which she killed an older woman Harriet's fraternizing with the imprisoned women--both in and out of jail--seems particularly ill-advised

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 12/12/22 Edition

    causality; and I'm listening to a stand-alone historical fiction novel that's also a sequel, The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson The Book Woman's Daughter is Kim Michele Richardson's stand-alone sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, a book I listened to as an audiobook and loved. Richardson writes about strong Kentuckians and their environment, and in The Book Woman's Daughter she Click here for my review of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.

  • Six Wonderfully Witchy Stories

    with the sisters' complicated relationships and with the link Harrow draws between witching and the women's I adored how Harrow intermingled the women's suffrage movement with the reemergence of witching and women's or dialogue distracted me from what felt like the heart of the story (the Eastwoods' helping other women 02 The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden This is the third and final book in Katherine Arden's strong reading the Wicked Witch of the West story turned on its head as Maguire traced the origins of Elphaba, a strong-willed

  • Review of Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens

    Then Bridget falls for a fellow "sporting woman," and when the Buffalo Queen is threatened, she must Bridget is strong and no-nonsense yet also inexperienced and far from worldly.

  • Review of The Goddess of Warsaw by Lisa Barr

    I loved that brave women that drive the novel in both timelines. Lisa Barr is also the author of Woman on Fire , The Unbreakables , and Fugitive Colors .

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/18/21 Edition

    Blakemore's story about witch hunts in 1643 England and the young women who aimed to thwart them; and With plenty of youthful explorations of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, plus young women striving to strike Odd events are ascribed to dark forces, and dangerous rumors begin to swirl around the women on the outskirts Can the headstrong young women save their society from the arrogant men and their unchecked power? Then something really strange happens.

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 12/1/25 Edition

    Wonderfully Witchy Stories to Charm You , and again in my review of Natalie Haynes's A Thousand Ships , a woman-centered type immersed in her own sometimes dark writing, she is disgusted by the rest of her cohort--childish women

  • Review of A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn

    and as Veronica and Stoker follow clues they venture from a royal palace to an artists' refuge to a strange Veronica and Stoker; the allusions to each of their complicated pasts; their hilarious banter; and their strong-willed

  • Six Books about Brave Female Spies

    Tough women, secrets and smarts, and sneaky spying! Kate Quinn, the queen of historical fiction about women who are spies, recently recommended these titles If you like stories about brave women during wartime, you might also like the books I listed on the recent Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War II. I loved the strong female protagonists and seeing their fire and grit and growth.

  • Review of Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden

    find support and to function more fully in the present, she decides to refuse to be shamed as the woman I could see that some people...were uncomfortable with me coming out of my lane, a place where women To them, a woman writing about a man leaving is, somehow, worse than the man leaving.

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

    As always, her main characters are richly layered, struggle with terrible circumstances, retain strong Click here for my full review of Chenneville. 04 Time's Mouth by Edan Lepucki Lepucki's strange, interesting A friend's borrowed, rambling home becomes a refuge for unwed mothers and mothers-to-be, with the women on site treating Ursa as a goddess--and the children being horrifically neglected as the women enjoy Heart by Emma Donoghue Donoghue's captivating historical fiction centers around two real-life young women

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

    invincible--who has dropped out of sight and settled down to raise her young daughter alongside her strong-willed Amina soon finds herself entangled in a dangerous ocean quest to rescue a young woman, while fighting and she believes they're linked to the curse that the community believes has its hold on the Farrow women She would love to end the curse, the fraying of the Farrow women's minds, once and for all--by never

  • Review of Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March

    As he becomes involved with the family whose daughter and ward died, Captain Jim's endearingly strong mission as he tries to save those in need and avoid becoming emotionally entangled with a smart young woman and class, a deadly fear of scandal, and terrible mistreatment of those in lower castes, especially women

  • Review of Skylark by Paula McLain

    Alouette herself yearns for creative freedom, but as a woman with no standing, she is not allowed to and breathtaking power imbalances; dangerous mining practices; widespread captivity of inconvenient women

  • Review of Endling by Maria Reva

    find their mother, a disappeared activist who always fought against the practice of matching Ukrainian women Endling holds dark humor, sobering truths, and lots of gray area within a strange story.

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 9/9/24 Edition

    Ward's novel, set in the years before the Civil War and told from the point of view of an enslaved young woman anticipated: she's separated from her mother, sold, and forced to begin walking in a trail of roped women Without her mother's protection--and tales of their warrior-woman ancestors--Annie is left with only

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 11/20/23 Edition

    Reading Now I'm reading recently published stories by Claire Keegan, So Late in the Day: Stories of Women 01 So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men by Claire Keegan In the brilliant, Irish-born Claire stories from various eras in Keegan's career are revised and expanded here: Antarctica explores a married woman's

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