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Best Debut Novels of 2017

December 20, 2017

debut

  Hello, fellow readers! How are you handling the holidays so far? I’m happy because the house is decorated, my shopping and shipping are finished. Now if only compiling my list of favorites from 2017 was as easy to manage. I really struggled with Monday’s choices, but thankfully today is a bit better. I couldn’t come up with ten best debut novels but I did have eight ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Feature Tagged: childhood, family, favorite books, historical fiction, lists, mystery, social issues

November Reading Wrap-Up

December 1, 2017

november

  Who knew November could be a blockbuster month for reading? I can’t go so far as to say the books were blockbusters, but I read a lot of them. The best part? I redeemed myself during Nonfiction November 2017 by reading 5 nonfiction books! That’s more than I’ve read in the last two years combined. Granted most of them were under 300 pages, but maybe that’s the secret to ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: chick lit, health, historical fiction, Knopf, lists, Little Brown and Company, mini-reviews, mystery

Glass Houses by Louise Penny

October 30, 2017

glass

  There’s nothing like stumbling upon an established author, falling in love, and finding out they have a substantial backlist of books. It’s even better when the books are part of a series because it means getting to go back to the beginning without having to wait for the next book—guaranteeing great reading for a long time. And in these days of meh/blah reading, having ... Read More...

12 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, Minotaur Books, mystery, St. Martin's Press, suspense

Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka

August 23, 2017

girl

In real life, the victim of murder should always remain at the forefront of the story, but in fiction there is no such rule. The girl in Girl in Snow is Lucinda Hayes, a pretty teenager found dead on a school playground. Someone has killed her and while the townspeople may care, author Danya Kukafka is more interested in Cameron, an odd boy who likes to watch people in their ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, literary, mystery, Simon & Schuster

Emma in the Night

August 18, 2017

emma

  Apparently, I’ve moved from dystopian novels this summer to thrillers. On Monday I reviewed See What I Have Done a novel about Lizzie Borden, which I found fascinating more for its bizarre family dynamics than the actual murders. Now I’m back with Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker, a contemporary novel with a family that makes the Bordens look like the Brady Bunch. ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, family, mystery, psychology, St. Martin's Press

See What I Have Done

August 16, 2017

see

No one is free from the stain of darkness in Sarah Schmidt’s See What I Have Done. Which may not be surprising because the novel is about Lizzie Borden and the death of her father and stepmother. If somehow you made it through childhood without hearing the rhyme about her, you’ll have to google it yourself. I, for one, was mildly obsessed. Mostly because the thought of a child ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 19th century, Atlantic Monthly Press, book clubs, debut, family, historical fiction, mystery

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