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We Are the Brennans: A Novel

August 20, 2021

brennans

Sunday Brennan lives in L.A. pursuing her dream of being a writer, right up until she gets in a drunk driving accident and her emergency contact is her older brother, Denny. Despite living on the opposite side of the country he arrives, forcing her to acknowledge her dream is not happening and it’s time to come home. This is We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange, a contemporary ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, family, vacation reading

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller

August 16, 2021

unsettled ground

When twins Julius and Jeanie’s mother, Dot, dies it signals an end to their life as they’ve known it. They live quietly in a small rural cottage on enough land for Dot and Jeanie to sell vegetables and eggs by the roadside and to a local grocer. Julius works in construction and does odd jobs. Their needs are small as they don’t pay rent on their house; their free time spent ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, family, literary

God Spare the Girls

June 23, 2021

god spare

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...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, debut, family, religion

One Two Three by Laurie Frankel

June 7, 2021

one

Bourne has always been a small town, but after the chemical plant polluted its waters, killing off citizens with cancers and producing a generation of children all impacted by carcinogens and other destructive pollutants, the town drew further into itself. It’s been seventeen years since that disaster and for 16-year-old triplets, Mab, Mirabel, and Monday nothing of interest ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, family, social issues

What Could Be Saved

January 18, 2021

saved

The word “normal” ceases to exist in families who lose a child. Either they re-form together into a new unit or they separate. After 8-year-old Philip disappears in What Could Be Saved, the Preston family is the latter. They shatter, with the four remaining members—father, Robert; mother, Genevieve; daughters, Beatrice, and Laura, leaving Thailand to return home to the U.S. ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: cultural, family, Southeast Asia

Summer Nonfiction Mini-Reviews

August 26, 2020

nonfiction

I’m sure you’re all tired of hearing my astonishment over my nonfiction reading, but honestly, this is the first time in all my years of blogging where I have 3 5-star nonfiction books before the year is even over. And this is just from the last two months! I’m not going to bore you (yet!) with my thoughts on why this is so, but get right to it, with two more  nonfiction books ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature, Non-fiction Tagged: essays, family, memoir

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