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Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

October 19, 2020

magic

A healer, living alone in the woods, discovers a baby girl left in a basket in a snowy meadow near her home. The infant is guarded by a large black raven, letting the woman know this is no average baby. She is the beginning of the Owens women clan and this is Magic Lessons, Alice Hoffman’s prequel to Practical Magic. Hannah, the healer, takes the girl home, names her Maria and ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: family saga, historical fiction, magic

The Book of Two Ways

October 9, 2020

book of two

Jodi Picoult’s new novel, The Book of Two Ways, straddles the worlds of death and life choices, both in the present, and in the case of death, all the way back to ancient Egypt. Dawn is a woman fifteen years into a marriage when she decides she wants to know what might have happened in the life she had as a graduate student. Unlike other alternate lives novels (Life After Life) ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: chick lit, historical fiction

October Under-the-Radar Reads

October 7, 2020

october

I already made a big fuss about the eight books of fall I was ready to read, but now I'm back with four new books I'm reading this October. I haven't heard much about any of them in the bookish world, but each has piqued my interest for a different reason, so we'll see. (For a more detailed synopsis of each, click on title link to go to ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Feature, Reading Tagged: debut, historical fiction, literary, memoir, science fiction

What I’m Reading in August

August 3, 2020

august

  Somehow August is already here and I don’t know if I think it’s too soon or what took so long. I’ve really lost the ability to process time. Also, apparently to dress myself as I went half a day with a tee shirt on backwards. Sigh. The good news is that my July reading went well, even if it was different from my usual fare. Nonfiction came on strong. This month ... Read More...

18 Comments
Filed Under: Feature, Reading Tagged: historical fiction, lists, racism, thriller

The Woman Before Wallis: A Novel

July 27, 2020

wallis

My love of British royalty is old news. Earlier in the month I read, The Heir Affair, about the fictional modern-day travails of a newly married Prince of Wales and his American bride. I loved it and am happy to be back today with historical fiction about the real royal family. Bryn Turnbull’s The Woman Before Wallis is the best of both worlds—scandal encompassing the royals ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1930s, debut, England, historical fiction

Mexican Gothic: A Novel

July 24, 2020

mexican

Sometimes it requires a bit of effort to tease out a book’s theme or premise based on the title. That’s not the case in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s debut novel, Mexican Gothic. It is exactly that, a noir horror novel set in 1950s Mexico. Noemi is the pampered daughter of a wealthy family whose her father asks her to go to a remote town to visit her newly married cousin, Catalina. ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: fantasy, historical fiction, horror, Mexico

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