On Friday I reviewed two summer thrillers that didn’t come through for me, but I acknowledged I’m finicky these days. Thankfully, I’m back with two more high-octane summer novels that kept me reading until the last page. Hang on. I have to start my review of Falling with a big caveat: DO NOT read this book if you’re on a plane. Bill Hoffman is a long-time pilot ... Read More...
God Spare the Girls
What do you do when your entire family is perfect, but you’re 18 and confused? For Caroline Nolan, in God Spare the Girls, it’s an especially complicated question because her father is Luke Nolan, pastor of a megachurch in Texas. Her mother Ruthie is the perfect matriarch, calm and always perfectly coiffed. Worst of all, is her older sister Abigail, her father’s favorite for ... Read More...
The First Day of Spring
“I am here. I am here. I am here. You will not forget me.” These are the words painted on a wall by 8-year-old Chrissie, a girl so desperate for attention in a world that gives her none that she commits a reprehensible act. She lives alone with her mother and everything, including love, is in short supply. She is starving for the things a child needs to thrive, powerless to ... Read More...
Olympus, Texas: A Novel
When the word Texas is in the title there’s an automatic expectation that what lies between the covers is going to be as bold, brash, and over-the-top as the state itself. In this way, Olympus, Texas does not disappoint. The Briscoes are the stars in the novel’s firmament, even if their shine is due to their bad behavior. Patriarch Peter can’t keep his hands to himself, which ... Read More...
What Comes After
When a novel begins with a shocking act of violence it often indicates more dramatics, more action, to come. In the case of What Comes After, author Joanne Tompkins opts to go a different route, turning the novel inward to the lives of the characters left behind. A small Washington town is rocked when childhood best friends are found dead in a murder-suicide. The murdered ... Read More...
Sorrow and Bliss: A Novel
Sorrow and Bliss opens after Martha and her husband Patrick have returned from a party he threw for her 40th birthday. It did not go well and two days later Patrick says he’s leaving. It’s both an ending and a beginning for Martha as she grapples with what to do next in a life that often feels like too much to bear. When she’s 17 Martha is suddenly under such physical, ... Read More...
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