Books, Writing and Other Fun Stuff
Beautiful Setting, Lukewarm Story I have mixed feelings about The Summer You Were Mine by Jill Francis. While the family’s Italian villa setting is beautifully described, the story itself didn’t grab me. I had a really hard time caring about the main […]
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with 32 Books by Irish Authors Looking to add a little green to your reading list? In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here’s a list of books by Irish writers from every county in Ireland. I haven’t read […]
Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity by Laura Meckler asks the question: Is it possible to set out to create a truly integrated town and succeed? Meckler was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, so her interest is natural, […]
Read to Death at the Lakeside Library by Holly Danvers is the third book in the Lakeside Library series and the first I’ve read. It was easy to get swept up in the story without reading the first two. Read to Death […]
In Death at a Scottish Wedding, author Lucy Connelly returns us to Sea Isle, Scotland, where American transplant Dr. Emilia McRoy has settled in as town doctor (which she expected) and coroner (surprise!). This second volume in the Scottish Isle mystery centers […]
In Trust Issues by Elizabeth McCullough Keenan and Greg Wands, sibling failures-to-launch Kagan and Hazel blow through their trust funds and become estranged from their mother. When she dies under mysterious circumstances, they blame her husband, who disappears soon after, taking her […]
How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill,” edited by Jericho Brown “How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill,” edited by Jericho Brown, is a book that deserves a place on the shelf of any […]
A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family by Rabia Chaudry Fatty Fatty Boom Boom is a behind-the-scenes look into the life of the woman with whom many of us feel a parasocial relationship. Beyond her velvet voice, steely determination and dogged persistence, […]
This One Didn’t Grab Me Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke My rating: 3 of 5 stars Vinyl Resting Place is the first volume in the Record Shop Mysteries series by Olivia Blacke. I’m sorry I didn’t love this one for several […]
The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a surprisingly fun read, considering heartwarming isn’t usually my jam and there was a thread of grief and loss woven throughout. The characters were well-differentiated and […]