There are a number of things about In Search of the Rose Notes that I really liked. For one, I love the way that author Emily Arsenault portrays the friendship between Nora and Charlotte, both as children and later as adults. I love the mystery storyline, the way the children pursue their “investigation,” the difficulty that Nora has dealing with it… Read more
I think this is the first time that reading a book has made me want to watch a tv show. I’ve read books and wanted to see them made into movies, but I don’t normally watch a lot of television. Still, I might have to make an exception for Justified, the show based around Raylan Givens. Givens appears in Riding… Read more
This is apparently my week for finally catching up on a few reviews that have been in the hopper. I really tried to love Love Me. There are a number of genuinely funny bits. But overall, it’s just too much. There’s not enough plot to hold the funny bits together. “I’ll have the Jesus Fish sandwich,” one diner requests. “A… Read more
Contemplating this review, I started off thinking that This Burns My Heart has all the hallmarks of great historical fiction. It takes place in an exotic location (South Korea) in an interesting time period (1960s). It has an ambitious female protagonist, Soo-Ja Choi, who wants to do great things. There is plenty of conflict for Soo-Ja — with her parents, her… Read more
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In Reluctant Muse, Carrie takes a job at Betta Burger to pay her college expenses. Mr. Singleton, the boss, isn’t too bad, but his nephew, Steve, is a real jerk. Luckily, Carrie has the blonde, handsome Jamie to show her the ropes — literally. Their friendship, after Carrie’s initial reluctance, becomes something much, much more. Carrie has a lot of… Read more
A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France is proof that a book can be both heart-breaking and uplifting. It is the the story of the woman behind the French resistance to the Nazis, women who worked in secret, died in secret, and were mostly unheralded for their work. But most importantly, it is… Read more
When I heard the news of Robert B. Parker’s passing, I was heartbroken. I have been reading his Spenser novels for ages and the thought there would be no more of them — too much to contemplate. Sixkill is the 39th Spenser novel and, according to the book jacket, “the last Spenser novel Parker completed.” Now, that doesn’t sound very…final. It… Read more
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