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On the surface, the main players in this book by Abby Jimenez are too outrageously beautiful, obscenely The other is a shockingly talented artist who abandoned the creation of new work after an incredibly painful

The main protagonists are young, but their concerns are weighty.

Wings by Sue Monk Kidd In 1803 Charleston, plantation owners wield cruel and immense control over their many people considered disobedient; the oppressive power exercised over the humans who are considered by many meaning in life; and the fraught, heart-wrenching, tender, likely ill-fated romance between the two main

The Last Confession of Autumn Casterly is a young adult mystery, and the main protagonists are high schoolers --mainly charmingly caring, funny, quirky, honest ones who add a lovely levity to the story.

I loved the grumpy, jaded dragon of a main protagonist but had trouble with the purely evil bad guy.

Six Great Bossy Historical Fiction Reads I loved so many historical fiction books last year. She rises through the ranks of palace concubines and gains almost unfettered access to the king, all The main protagonist's focus in her work is Commander Graham Gore (a character based upon a real figure He teaches English to children and adjusts to the shock of living in a flat with many other people--and

Second-Chance Books I've been reminded lately how much I love a good second-chance book in which the main Our main protagonist Tom makes a decision that strands him in our version of the world, which feels like Either to change a world--many, many worlds, each touched by the choices I make in my life, for every Harry August has been born (in a train station in 1919) many times. Some lives are notable, others comfortable, and still others are full of pain.

said that this story is so fully inspired by her grandmother's story that she didn't even change the main

Normal People could carry many trigger warnings. Rooney delves into issues of mental illness by laying out the main protagonists' loneliness, depression

I loved the Ottoman Empire setting, the strong female main protagonist, and the complications and sometimes She finds that she may be the only hope to save her war-torn country. King, surprising revelations, shifting alliances, opaque political machinations, and enmity between main which offers wonderfully flawed characters, plot twists and revelations, great banter, and endings you may

The other plotline concerns Lurie, a man who has adventures and challenges with his surprising, loyal gives a fittingly old-fashioned quality to the writing that feels as though it suits the time, the main imprisonment; experiences cruel and potentially fatal betrayal by one of their own; faces the wild and its many

Future Witches, Harrow writes about three sisters raised by a powerful mother who refused to leave the man Each of the three main protagonists here is a young woman in the midst of her own high-stakes crisis, Your blood may boil when you read the incessant underestimating of women and condescending tone of the Hill had told the papers, "if this is what happens when women gain some measure of power, we have grave

The dialogue is incredible, and the faulted main players are irresistible. beautiful In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss , Away , Lucky Us , Come to Me: Stories , and A Blind Man walking down the street--then she sees that he is armed, and to her horror, she sees him kill another man She can't explain what's happened, but she quickly realizes that now she may be able to stop the murder

The author winds old Scottish folk songs throughout the book, using it as a fluid way of binding the main

It may make me feel all the feelings, and/or may be intriguing and make me think, and it's usually engaging Family, pain, love, music, influence, trust, wonder, brutality, invention, discovery, loyalty, and most good, and they make mistakes and pay for them and live within their awful messed-up moments and their painful Were the Kennedys by Monica Wood In 1963 the Woods were a typical Catholic immigrant family in Mexico, Maine Wood gorgeously evokes the many characters and unfathomable events that changed her family's existence

frequently been very drunk, often sleeping rough, and has repeatedly been shaken down for money he may or may not owe to unsavory characters--he drinks so much that in his sober hours he isn't ever quite about faith and meaning in life; and the heart-wrenching, tender, ill-fated romance between the two main one of Robinson's other three novels in the Gilead series (these include Gilead, Lila, and Home), you may

chock-full book, our narrator is trying to piece together the events surrounding the shooting of a man Greedy Reading List Six Lighter Fiction Stories for Great Escapism. 06 Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi Main Gifty is an appealing main protagonist, and the journey Gyasi took us on was fascinating.

Gold glitter rains down on the congregation during the low-tech church services (no one looks up to see the leader's daughter doing this until the main protagonist peers up, late in the book); the bible is

Favorite Bossy Historical Fiction Reads of the Year I loved reading so many historical fiction books I'm fascinated by stories in which a woman poses as a man in order to achieve freedoms otherwise not Belle is fearful--particularly for her mother's sake--that her father's true origins may be uncovered All of this, along with her pain at the loss of her beloved father, keeps her closed off emotionally. Main protagonist Frankie signs up to leave her idyllic, privileged Southern California life--and the

The only problem is, Olive's nemesis, the groom's brother and best man Ethan, who despises her, also Olive was sarcastic to Ethan too, but she's our main protagonist, so we can see that she's afraid of

At one point, one of our main characters notes that academic commentaries through the ages have struggled

The great young adult fantasy elements are all in place here: magic, healing, a defiant main protagonist

Star Is Bored Author Byron Lane was Carrie Fisher's personal assistant in real life, and in his novel, main

Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, as an audiobook, which was 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 she can walk through a magical red door, she finds unexpected circumstances--and realizes that she may Kim's missing-person novel is a mystery and is structured around the discovery and exploration of what may

the past feel light years away, because Rocky's menopausal rage threatens to undo any joy she might gain To save their treasured family time together, Rocky may have to share secrets she never intended to reveal friendship between two young outcasts in small-town Monta Clare, Missouri: Patch, a pirate-playing young man disparate-seeming story that soon emerges, beginning with the premise of a serial killer whose actions haunt our main In Memoriam is beautiful, frequently painful, and offers a layered, complicated version of happy ever

The main protagonist and conflicted priest were irresistible characters. an impossible, magical turn of events, a moment of simple winter joy leads to renewed hope that they may Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would

wrap-up and a series of denouements and moments of redemption—yet Jewell also leaves you wondering if a main

My very favorite Bossy May reads! Here are the six books I most loved reading this past month. He teaches English to children and adjusts to the shock of living in a flat with many other people--and The main protagonist's focus in her work is Commander Graham Gore (a character based upon a real figure

This book had many moving parts, evolving points of view and senses of self, shifts between days and 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 lovely. 05 Jackaby ​ Jackaby is the first in a young adult supernatural mystery series, with memorable main realizing that I'd figured out the basic facts behind the mystery (although I hadn't figured out the many

The fantastic main players are back: Kell, the ward of the Red London's royal family who once thought

Erin French Erin French is the owner and chef of The Lost Kitchen, a 40-seat restaurant in Freedom, Maine

details of a life of moneyed ease and an abandonment on an unforgiving, uninhabited island after our main works alongside her family, caring for the plantation owners' daughter Violet, who is her own age, and gaining She also explores the complicated Violet-Junie dynamic, in which Junie is Violet's only company for many

This character is later key to bravely resolving the main and significant conflicts of the story when a story about feeling stuck, and friendship, and listening to your instincts, with vampires serving mainly

The banter is fantastic, and I laughed many times while reading this one. nontraditional, loving, zany family flips traditional views of unplanned, young pregnancy through the view of a main 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 reported as having died, but strange and unnerving clues indicate to Laura that something more mysterious may

overused from use in other stories (a tough, closed-off investigator, broken by her past; a strong, kind man unrequited love for her; the general outline of the disturbing situation at the heart of the book’s main

officer sending and receiving secret wireless signals, managing a network of agents across Europe, and maintaining for Leia; and her youthful obsession and affair with the gruff (and married) Harrison Ford--who is a main leader and trainer of the French Resistance despite the physical limitations of her false leg (which she gained

walking down the street--then she sees that he is armed, and to her horror, she sees him kill another man science fiction novel, Mandel plays with time and time travel as well as mysteries surrounding what may But all of these players and times feel in place mainly to serve as a structure to surround our true main protagonist, Gaspary, and we see the most depth and development and change; loyalty and love and

Six More Great Bossy Literary Fiction Reads I read so many read literary fiction books last year, this But Cushla--along with many other citizens--is more and more astounded by the increasing conflict between of the story, vividly building the constant undercurrent of tension, the twinges of fear, the devil-may-care 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

The dialogue is incredible, and the faulted main players are irresistible. beautiful In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss , Away , Lucky Us , Come to Me: Stories , and A Blind Man walking down the street--then she sees that he is armed, and to her horror, she sees him kill another man She can't explain what's happened, but she quickly realizes that now she may be able to stop the murder

The only problem is, Olive's nemesis, the groom's brother and best man Ethan, has been extended the same I also have a friend named Anna Kendrick, and not only because the celebrity Anna Kendrick is from Maine

sequel to the young adult mystery The Good Girl's Guide to Murder, which again features the fantastic main It seems his livelihood may be on the verge of obsoleteness as the heavily harvested woods dwindle, and and more concerned that regardless of what is uncovered about the mysterious death, his whole life may Davidson, and it's wonderfully wrought so far, with plenty of tension and few black-and-white answers but many

Lexie is the captivating character here, although she exists largely off page and in the main protagonist's The Drowning Kind is the newest story by McMahon, the author of The Winter People (and many others). There are many instances within the book in which a character begins to share key information and is

When a mysterious prisoner from the front arrives who could be friend or foe, our main protagonist Talin Casey is in the awkward, sometimes painful age and stage of shifting from young adulthood to being a

But Misery has her own reasons for willingly entering into this marriage--her best friend's safety may that time, all of her tenuous physical links to her past and family members--mixed though her emotions may For my full review, check out Grief Is for People . 06 Wellness by Nathan Hill Flawed main characters

through various avenues of hell, and the worldbuilding felt slim and glossed over during some of the many Harrow The Everlasting  involves jaunts through multiple versions of the same story, as our fantastic main I feel like this book and I have been circling each other since early May, and I was so delighted as estranged from her daughter, that deep tragedy has shaped her life and closed off her heart, and that she may

marriage, sex, politics, public and private behavior—and of course "society," which almost serves as a main A lady’s maid in love with the lady, racy scenes, angst, wonderful details of a life in service to a In this upstairs/downstairs novel, set in nineteenth century New York, Mary Ballard is a lady’s maid But on her own time, Mary is Irish exile Maire O’Farren, and she keeps mixed company as part of a secret Hardinger offers up many crisp and varied details of the time, she captures Bertie’s speech patterns,

Author Byron Lane was Carrie Fisher's personal assistant in real life, and in this novel, Byron's main the varied demands of an enormous star, and Lane explores the characters' challenges of striving to maintain

Kingfisher/Vernon is a prolific author who has published many standalone novels as well as multiple series greedy criminal mastermind Jacob Fagin into a character with a rich backstory, showing him to be a man I haven't read Oliver Twist  in many years, yet Fagin has remained ingrained in my head as a selfish, Within this timeline, Tom Metcalfe, one of our main protagonists, is an academic fascinated by the past And you can find Bossy reviews of many other mysteries here .

The Second-Chance Books I love a good second-chance book in which the main character gets the opportunity Our main protagonist Tom makes a decision that strands him in our version of the world, which feels like Either to change a world--many, many worlds, each touched by the choices I make in my life, for every Harry August has been born (in a train station in 1919) many times. Some lives are notable, others comfortable, and still others are full of pain.

Christian (with a name her parents purposely gave her in order to create assumptions that she is a white man ) within mainly white educational, religious, and societal frameworks. She became pregnant with Immanuelle by a man outside the claustrophobic community and died when Immanuelle Henderson's witchy tale is taking its main protagonist to a very dark place so far, and I'm not sure