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Skylark by Paula McClain

January 16, 2026

skylark

A young woman is imprisoned in an insane asylum in the 1600s. A psychiatric medical student in Paris in the 1940s is faced with the realities of the Nazi invasion. These two unrelated characters sit at the center of Paula McLain’s latest novel, Skylark, because both are forced to venture into the darkest parts of Paris in order to find freedom. Alouette comes from a family ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: France, historical, Holocaust, WWII

Spinning Silver

January 14, 2026

spinning silver

In Spinning Silver author Naomi Novak takes the components of the fairytale Rumpelstiltskin and separates them in the same way the heroine in that story had to separate the straw to weave into gold. From seemingly unimportant, innocuous bits of chaff, Novak spins an entire storyline and then brings it all together for mesmerizing reading. The kind that jumps between characters ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: fantasy

Workhorse: A Novel

January 12, 2026

workhorse

Clo Harmon is a 25-year-old assistant at a fashion magazine. She’s a workhorse—eager, bright, hardworking, but with no fashion pedigree. Meaning she will never achieve her dream of being an editor because those jobs only go to the show horses—wealthy, skinny girls with Ivy League degrees and all the right connections.  What’s an ambitious, but unconnected woman to do? In ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 21st century, fashion, historical fiction, Manhattan

2025 Best Backlist

January 1, 2026

I couldn’t exit the year without an acknowledgement of the backlist books that kept me afloat in 2025. While there were excellent new books released in 2025 these six special novels, all published in previous years found me when I needed books to provide an escape, thrill me, make me laugh, and even break my heart a little.       Fantastic ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: book clubs, fantasy, historical, mystery, rom-com, vacation reading

My Favorite 2025 Books

December 29, 2025

favorite

  Remember me? I’m so sorry I’ve let this site atrophy. I’m still reading lots of books, but the attention span and the mental clarity needed to string together words for reviews, has been lost in the onslaught of increasingly surreal corruption and destruction in our government. The cognitive dissonance between what government should be and what it is right now means I’m ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Feature Tagged: favorite books

The No-Show by Beth O’Leary

December 26, 2025

no show

I’m keeping it simple with another rom-com winner for post-holiday enjoyment reading. Valentine’s Day is supposed to be one of the most romantic days of the year, but for Jane, Miranda, and Siobhan it’s been a big disappointment. Three strangers, each stood up at a different place, but… by the same man. In The No-Show by Beth O’Leary, we follow these women and the one man who ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: mystery, rom-com, vacation reading

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