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Dead Letters: A Novel

February 27, 2017

dead letters

  Parents expecting identical twins often decide to get whimsical with their children’s names and Marlon and Nadine Antipova are no different. To paraphrase the pretentious Marlon—his daughters would be the beginning and the end, explaining how Ava and Zelda came to get their names. This family story is the only sentimental one found in Caite Dolan-Leach’s mesmerizing ... Read More...

18 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, family, mystery, Random House, suspense, thriller

Mr. Splitfoot: A Novel

February 22, 2017

splitfoot

  A wild ride of a novel, Mr. Splitfoot, is of that class of fiction so creative it can hardly be categorized. This is a positive and a negative because it’s subjective enough that a reader will either be highly entertained or completely turned off. Somehow, I fell into both groups. I got the book in 2016 before its release and was unable to make it through more than 10 ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, family, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, mystery, social issues

The Fifth Petal: A Novel

February 17, 2017

fifth petal

  I carry no weight, no worth, no influence. I represent nothing. I do not exist…But remember this as you flee: You brought me into existence. I am not the cause, I am merely the effect.   The Fifth Petal is set in contemporary Salem, Massachusetts making it a heady concoction of witches, evil, superstition, murder, magic and tragedy. Rose Whelan, a local historian ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, Crown, mystery, New England, paranormal, suspense

Swimming Lessons

February 6, 2017

swimming lessons

  When Claire Fuller’s newest novel, Swimming Lessons, begins Ingrid has been missing for eleven years. Her daughters, Nan and Flora, have grown up and her husband Gil now spends most of his time going through the books in their house. He’s always been obsessed with the marginalia and ephemera left behind inside their covers, but now there is something more. Because in ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, England, literary, marriage, Tin House

Bellweather Rhapsody

January 16, 2017

bellweather

  Remember the movie The Shining? If so, forget what you thought about it in relation to Stephen King’s book and just recall its many amazing visuals. Now, turn it into a campy musical, turn it back into a novel and you have Kate Racculia’s Bellweather Rhapsody. Set in the Catskills in early November with a grand old hotel about to be the scene, once again, for a huge ... Read More...

15 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, humor, mystery, teen years

The Second Mrs Hockaday

January 9, 2017

second mrs hockaday

  Placidia is seventeen when she meets Major Hockaday and when he proposes that very same day she says yes. That he is a widower and has a small son makes little difference to her. It’s 1865 and given the war there’s no point in waiting for a proper courtship and wedding. In fact, the very next day they set off for the Hockaday’s home. From there, Susan Rivers’s novel The ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Algonquin Books, Civil War, debut, historical fiction, marriage, mystery, Southern life

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