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The Staircase in the Woods

June 9, 2025

staircase

I’m not a huge horror fan, but I am easily influenced by a book’s cover and that was all it took to lead me into Chuck Wendig’s novel A Staircase in the Woods. Who could resist a cover like this? Or this premise: Five high school friends partying in the woods discover a staircase in a clearing. They dare Matthew, one of the five, to climb it and he does. And then he jumps off ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: horror, mystery, supernatural, suspense, vacation reading

Count My Lies

April 4, 2025

count

Sloane can’t help herself—she’s a compulsive liar. When she sees a handsome man at the park helping his hurt daughter she immediately offers her services as a nurse. She’s actually a manicurist, but in Count My Lies this is just the first strand of a web she spins to get the life of her dreams. From this seemingly unplanned meeting Sloane slowly insinuates herself in the ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: mystery, suspense, vacation reading

Heartwood

April 2, 2025

heartwood

  …the act of walking while carrying the weight of my pack had wrung all the sadness out of me, the sadness for myself and for the world, and that in that moment, I was totally without stress, confusion, or agitation, and that I was perfectly, blamelessly, whole. The trail transformed me. The Appalachian Trail is known as one of the greatest hiking experiences. For many ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, literary, suspense

All the Colors of the Dark

July 10, 2024

all the colors

When 13-year-old Patch sees a girl being abducted he acts without thinking and rushes the kidnapper. The girl escapes, but what follows changes Patch’s life and is the foundation for Chris Whitaker’s new novel All the Colors of the Dark. Patch and everyone he knows is changed by his heroic act in this opus saturated with the feeling of a writer who is leaving it all on the ... Read More...

21 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, Midwest, mystery, suspense

May Reading Recap

May 31, 2024

may reading

May was a lovely month for books and for spring in Seattle. We had a great mix of rain and sunshine—kind of like my reading. Of the books I read the majority were successful and either reviewed or will be reviewed. Sadly, this means all I have left for this recap are the books that I didn’t like as much.  But I do love the gorgeous lilacs in this graphic so there's ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: cultural, literary, mystery, suspense

The Wealth of Shadows

May 22, 2024

wealth

Every time I think I’ve read about WWII from every possible perspective I’m proven wrong. This time is was due to Graham Moore’s The Wealth of Shadows, a novel of the war told solely within the realm of economics. Specifically, the reluctance to get involved on the part of numerous key political figures in the United States and how a secret offshoot of the Treasury Department ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, historical, suspense, thriller, WWII

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