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900 results found for "strong women"

  • 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 .

  • 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 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

  • Six Bossy Favorite Literary Fiction Reads from the Past Year

    Forty women (one is a young girl, our main protagonist) live year after year as prisoners in an underground Male guards come and go, feeding the women minimal rations and never speaking. The women have no recollection of how they came to be in this place, and no information is forthcoming Then a blasting alarm sounds, the nearest guard drops his keys and flees, and the women scramble for The novel's tone doesn't assure a satisfying set of answers as to why the women were chosen for this

  • 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.

  • 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 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.

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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, 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, 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

  • 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 Bossy Favorite Memoir Reads of the Past Year

    I was intrigued by her one-woman trial and error method of determining her triggers, impulses, and coping Jen Hatmaker, who was married before she could legally have a drink and who built her identity as a woman as an audiobook. 06 This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir by Zarna Garg Comedian Zarna Garg I laughed out loud repeatedly while I was reading this charming memoir by this strong, funny woman. Please click here for my full review of This American Woman.

  • 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 The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

    This historical fiction novel from Quinn is a departure from much of my favorite Quinn fiction--brave women who initiates weekly makeshift attic-apartment dinner parties and builds bonds between the disparate women But none of the women is precisely as she seems on the surface. The ladies exhibit broadening horizons, and over the course of the story, each of the women stretches

  • Bossy Holiday Book Gift Ideas: Sports and Recreation Nonfiction

    Randy Savage by Jon Finkel (2024) Better Faster Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know about Women I feel powerful, strong. Hare shares the mental fortitude, grueling physical challenges, and how she became a middle-aged woman

  • 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

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

    But as the wedding week goes on, each woman is surprised by what she discovers about herself and the 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. 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

  • Review of Unsinkable by Jenni L. Walsh

    later timeline takes place in the time of World War II as Daphne, an intelligent and educated young woman protagonists are explicitly linked within the story, although the reader will know of their bond before the women Walsh is also the author of Becoming Bonnie, Side by Side, A Betting Woman, and The Call of the Wrens

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

    01 Sunny Side Up by Katie Sturino I loved Sunny's body positivity and her self-made-woman status. shake off the fact that nothing in the Bergdorf Goodman swimsuit section comes even close to fitting a woman Handles It and makes her dreams come true--thereby also taking care of fashion-conscious plus-sized women I loved Sunny's independence, savvy abilities, strong will, and, of course, her fashion sense.

  • My Six Favorite Reads of the First Half of 2025

    01 Isola by Allegra Goodman Isola , based upon the story of a real-life sixteenth-century woman, shifts 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 The women's fights to fully be part of a traditionally male-dominated field and the various ways in which When a mysterious woman washes up half-dead on the remote island of Shearwater, home of the world's largest

  • 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

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

    Bossy Favorites of the Month I've had a strong Bossy reading month. to find support and to function more fully in the present, she decides to refuse to be shamed as the woman The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan Cate Kay is a bestselling author--and a pseudonym used by a woman Stone Yard Devotional concerns a woman who leaves her Sydney life behind to live among nuns as an unbeliever and Violet Thistlewaite is determined to shed her identity as the Thornwitch, Shadowfade's right-hand woman

  • Six Spooky, Gothic Tales

    She's asked to play the role of maid to an unassuming, wealthy young woman in a dastardly plot to take the woman's inheritance and leave her to rot in an insane asylum. Bridie is a strong female protagonist, and Things In Jars offers solid historical fiction details of Montague; an unorthodox woman with an open mind and brave disposition, Theodora; a young woman who has be cruel, ruthless, and he's Wren's sworn enemy, a deadly force who has destroyed her countrymen and women

  • Review of The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown

    hidden book, an illiterate young girl, the powerful men who aimed to manipulate her, and two brave women links to Elizabeth Barton herself, and Alison dives into trying to add to her vast knowledge of the woman

  • Six More Bossy Favorite Historical Fiction Reads from the Past Year

    This historical fiction novel from Quinn is a departure from much of my favorite Quinn fiction--brave women sometimes testy, often incisive, and at other times diminished--a product of the limitations of single women The Fraud . 05 Isola by Allegra Goodman Isola , based upon the story of a real-life sixteenth-century woman please see Isola . 06 Trust by Hernan Diaz This story-within-a-story-within-a-story reveals a clever woman I was intrigued by the structure and by the peeks behind the curtains of a wealthy family and one woman's

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 5/11/26 Edition

    Reading Now Last week I gave a Spring Book Talk about recently published titles I thought that group of women fiction about a female physician and surgeon in 1849 London as she fights for respect and to advance women's Tennis brings together three women, formerly strangers to each other.

  • Review of Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine

    Julia Fine's Maddalena and the Dark is a gothic story set in 1700s Venice in which two young women's Yet she desperately yearns for some measure of independence, which is not easily available to the women But a young woman in that time has little say over her destiny.

  • Six More Books about Brave Female Spies

    Tough women, secrets and smarts, and sneaky spying! If you like stories about brave women during wartime, you might also like the titles I listed on the recent Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War II. 01 Miss Graham's makes the urgency of World War II code breaking come alive through the stories of three young women The Rose Code is a wonderfully spun historical fiction story of three very different women who answer

  • Review of The Child Finder (Naomi Cottle #1) by Rene Denfeld

    have felt overused from use in other stories (a tough, closed-off investigator, broken by her past; a strong

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 11/13/23 Edition

    invincible--who has dropped out of sight and settled down to raise her young daughter alongside her strong-willed Amina soon finds herself tangled in a dangerous ocean quest to rescue a young woman, while facing complicated

  • Review of Deadly Waters by Dot Hutchison

    of her fellow female students have to put up with from young men who won't hear no and don't treat women She's known for getting into tussles with men trying to prey upon women. The women are becoming less afraid--but the young men who have behaved abominably and often criminally The college friends have strong bonds of loyalty; they sometimes behave impulsively; and they are appropriately to attacks by men, and the women's primary concern is keeping themselves and each other safe.

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 2/12/24 Edition

    Powerful with divine blood, yet largely powerless because she is a woman, Medea is full of contradictions abound of foxes, which are believed to have the magical ability to transform into beautiful men and women Bao, a detective set on uncovering the mystery of the woman's identity and death, has long been fascinated

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/29/22 Edition

    a recently published historical fiction story that spans World War I and the 1970s, when the first women real-life stories of the first female volunteer librarians during World War I, as well as the first women The story shifts between 1918, when a young woman at the Dead Letter Office bravely embarks on a dangerous to France to serve as a librarian near the front lines of World War I, and 1976, when another young woman Each women's secrets could be their undoing, and they must each fight harder for their rightful places

  • Review of Missing Sam by Thrity Umrigar

    As Sam's disappearance stretches on, Ali, a gay culturally Muslim woman, is excoriated in the press for Much of the energy of the story centers around the women's reconciliation with each of their estranged

  • Review of Harrow the Ninth (Locked Tomb #2) by Tamsyn Muir

    The strong, ruthless, intelligent women in Harrow the Ninth absolutely steal the show--which is saying

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

    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. Julia Fine Julia Fine's Maddalena and the Dark is a gothic story set in 1700s Venice in which two young women's But a young woman in that time has little say over her destiny.

  • Review of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

    , Opal cuts a striking figure, and I loved witnessing her growth from a young, vibrant, unsure, but strong-willed icon of fashion, an outspoken speaker of uncomfortable truths about race and gender, and a determined woman story's early, painful tragedy, she shies away from facing difficult realities for a time before standing strong

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

    For my full review, check out The Marriage Portrait. 02 A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock #1) by irresistible heroine, but a fascinating examination of gender in Victorian society--and what happens when women A Study in Scarlet Women, the first in her Lady Sherlock series, presents Charlotte Holmes, a clever, forward-thinking, independent woman trapped in the Victorian age, a time in which women have little Click here for my full review of A Study in Scarlet Women. 03 True Biz by Sara Nović True Biz is a coming-of-age

  • Six More Contemporary Novels I Loved in the Past Year

    seemingly insurmountable complications; chosen family; and the healing power of love--in this atmospheric, strange The novel flits between the stories of three women from disparate backgrounds, drastically different The concept is mentioned in a conversation between a frightened young trans woman and a mentor of sorts ; later in the novel the young woman realizes that "woodworking" wasn't meant to be a handbook, but a

  • Review of The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

    Those urging me to write my memoir will want a patriotic young woman who fought to defend her country , a heroine to root for with a story clean and simple as a full moon—and I was that young woman, but Russia and the Ukraine, Mila, along with so many others, enlists to fight alongside countrymen and -women the Nazis, Mila forges an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, another formidable woman contrast between active female roles in the Russian military and the supportive, more peripheral positions women

  • Review of Revelations by Mary Sharratt

    Women’s stories never are. I read Mary Sharratt's Revelations over the course of this "school year" with my women's group. (To say that producing this publication was a groundbreaking feat for a medieval woman who was stifled Our main protagonist puzzles and angers those around her by challenging the limitations of what women or say in the year 1400, and the Church is particularly galled and upset by the audacity of such a woman

  • Review of The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II by Madeline Martin

    The young women's wartime experiences take Viv to glamorous Harrod's, settle Grace in a dusty old bookshop We see Grace become won over by the creaky old store and by her gruff boss, the shifting role each woman You might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World

  • Review of The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

    situation of trapped girls who devolve into paranoia, mayhem, fury, and destruction--with a wonderfully strong The teen girls’ “magic” and its perception by the girls themselves (and especially by the men and women This book brought to mind another young adult dystopian book in which the power of young women is brought

  • Review of Maame by Jessica George

    Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi but in my case, it means woman. The issues of race and of young-woman Maddie making her way in the world in London in Maame reminded me somewhat of Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo's interconnected stories about Black women in

  • My Very Favorite Bossy 2023 Reads

    That's some strong summer reading!) If you've read any of these, I'd love to hear what you think! Yet Kingsolver keeps Demon's voice strong even as he falters and as everything he has counted on seems As always, her main characters are richly layered, struggle with terrible circumstances, retain strong Check out my reviews of So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men and the short story collection Antarctica she pokes fun at her fellow writer in a sketch about talented but average-looking men dating gorgeous women

  • Review of The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri

    Simran is a strong female knight sworn to the queen, and Vina is a witch of the woods.

  • My Six Favorite Book Club Books of 2022

    attention to unspoken bonds, deep and unorthodox friendships, makeshift families, legendary dogs, and strong Kimmery Martin's Doctors and Friends begins with a group of seven women, friends since medical school For my full review, check out Doctors and Friends. 05 Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams Williams's In Beatriz Williams's historical fiction, Our Woman in Moscow it's 1948 and Iris Digby, her American Click here for my full review of Our Woman in Moscow. 06 Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr Doerr's Cloud

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