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The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll

May 16, 2018

favorite

There is a book for every mood and sometimes, your subconscious knows what you need better than your thinking mind. I had no idea how hungry I was for flat-out over-the-top drama until I finished Jessica Knoll’s newest novel, The Favorite Sister. I was drawn to the book by its premise—a reality TV show about a group of high achieving, self-made, female millennials whose life ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, mystery, New York City, pop culture, satire, Simon & Schuster, women

The Map of Salt and Stars

May 14, 2018

map

Making maps is the fulcrum for Jennifer Joukhadar’s debut novel, The Map of Salt and Stars. Rawiya and Nour are young women who tell their stories side by side even though they are separated by almost a thousand years. Rawiya is a sixteen-year-old in ancient Ceuta who longs to see the world beyond her village so she leaves home in the guise of a young man and becomes an ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, contemporary life, cultural, Middle East, mythology, Touchstone, war

Love and Ruin by Paula McLain

May 7, 2018

love

  It wasn’t bravery when you did what you had to do. Paula McLain’s novel, Circling the Sun, was one of my favorites of 2015, largely because she portrayed Beryl Markham so well as a woman who wasn’t content to follow the norms of her times—get married, have children—but who understood that the only way to follow her own path meant the norms would never be an option. ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 20th century, Ballantine, historical fiction, war, women, world war II

A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out

May 2, 2018

guide

  Let’s not beat around the bush: I’m a sucker for a clever book cover and when I saw A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out I knew I wanted to read the book, even if the title didn’t wow me. I mean, please…her skirt is a book! I want it. Add to that this is a novel about a young woman who got an English degree because she loved books and reading so much, only to discover that ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, Dial Press, friendship, new adult, women

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

April 25, 2018

night

Set in 1947 The Night Diary is the story of twelve-year-old twins, Amil and Nisha, who live in what was once India but has now, almost overnight, turned into Pakistan. Their mother, who died giving birth, was Muslim, but their father is Hindu—making them unwelcome where they are. They must get across the border into India and begin a new life away from everyone they have known ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1940s, book clubs, childhood, India, religion, young adult

The Magnificent Esme Wells

April 20, 2018

esme

Esme Silver is the flaxen haired, china doll, daughter of a Busby Berkley dancer and a handsome, low level grifter. They live in Los Angeles where her parents are certain her mother’s big break into movies is always only a day away. Except the only thing that is ever a day away is them being kicked out of their apartment because her father blew the rent money at the track. ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1950s, childhood, Harper, Las Vegas

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