⭐⭐⭐½ stars Susan Meissner’s A Map to Paradise serves up a moody 1950s Malibu setting, a missing screenwriter, and three women bound by secrets. Blacklisted actress Melanie hides out in a beach house with Eva, a quiet housekeeper, and June, the screenwriter’s cryptic sister-in-law. When Elwood disappears and strange things start happening, the women are drawn into a web of buried truths and shaky trust. Meissner nails character development—each woman has potential, and the emotional undercurrents are there. But the storytelling felt off this time. The POV often wandered, the structure was clunky, and there were too many long flashbacks that pulled me out of the moment. Some elements just […]
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A Stirring Journey of Faith, Friendship, and Finding Peace After War
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Long Way Home by Lynn Austin is a beautifully written novel that tugs at the heart and offers a hopeful message about healing after trauma. Set in the wake of World War II, the story follows Jimmy Barnett, a shell-shocked veteran confined to a VA hospital, and Grace, a quiet young woman determined to uncover the truth behind his silence. As Grace digs into Jimmy’s past, she uncovers a moving tale of love, sacrifice, and the unseen wounds soldiers carry home. The book also weaves in a second powerful storyline: that of Gisela Wolff, a young Jewish woman trying to survive the horrors of Nazi Germany. Her family’s journey—from […]
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Gorgeous Setting, Glacial Pace: A Historical Tale That Overstays Its Welcome
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 stars) The School of Mirrors starts strong with a haunting setup—young girls unknowingly trained to become mistresses for King Louis XV under the guise of privilege. The first half, focused on Véronique, is atmospheric and emotionally charged. The backdrop of Versailles is vivid, and Stachniak doesn’t flinch from the gritty realities of power and exploitation. But the pacing wears thin. Once the story shifts to Véronique’s daughter, the plot begins to meander. Many chapters felt overly long, with slow-moving scenes that didn’t add much to the story. At times, the book became downright tedious. The emotional arc dulled, and just when a storyline picked up, it would […]
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A Time-Crossed Tale of Duty and Destiny
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ Book One in the Timeless series What if you had to choose between two lives? I’ve always been a sucker for time travel—especially when it’s wrapped in history, heart, and just enough tension to keep you flipping pages past bedtime. Gabrielle Meyer’s When the Day Comes does exactly that. I loved this story so much. The setup is gold: Libby lives two lives—one in 1774 Williamsburg, the other in 1914 New York. On her 21st birthday, she has to choose which life to keep living. I mean… talk about a high-stakes birthday. Both timelines are richly drawn. In colonial Virginia, Libby faces an arranged marriage and the sparks of revolution. In […]
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She Writes About Killers. Now She Might Be One
Talk about twists and turns—The Writer is a wild ride from page one. It checked all my boxes: tense, gripping, fast-paced, and flat-out fun for anyone who loves thrillers. The plot is a maze. Just when you think you’ve cracked it—boom—another twist hits. Patterson’s name is everywhere, and let’s be honest—some are hits, some are misses. But teaming up with J.D. Barker? Total win. The story opens with a bloody crime scene, a true-crime author covered in blood, and one big question: did she do it? NYPD Detective Declan Shaw thinks it’s an open-and-shut case. The deeper he digs, the murkier it gets. The pacing is classic Patterson—short chapters, punchy […]
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Wish You Were Here Starts Strong, Then Takes a Hard Left
Jodi Picoult is a smart writer, no doubt about it. Wish You Were Here starts off strong, with Diana O’Toole heading to the Galápagos solo when her surgeon boyfriend Finn stays behind in New York to deal with COVID. Stranded on Isabela Island with no luggage, no Wi-Fi, and no plan, she finds shelter with a local woman and bonds with a troubled teen named Beatriz and her (very available) dad. Diana begins to rethink her carefully plotted future. The first half is beautifully written, full of rich detail and emotional weight. The island setting pops, and the early pandemic backdrop is all too real. Picoult’s research shows—whether she’s describing […]
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Secrets, Lies, and Baby Bumps: A Twisty London Thriller
Greenwich Park starts with prenatal yoga and ends with a punch to the gut. Katherine Faulkner’s debut is a twisty domestic thriller that unwraps like a baby shower gift with something sinister inside. Helen is pregnant after years of loss, married to a charming architect, and living in a dreamy Victorian home. But when she meets Rachel—a chain-smoking, wine-guzzling hot mess at her prenatal class—her carefully built life cracks. Rachel latches on fast. She’s fun, unpredictable, and clearly hiding something. So is everyone else, apparently. We get multiple narrators (Helen, her chic sister-in-law Serena, and Katie, a dogged reporter), all tied together by a dark event from their Cambridge days. […]
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Unveiling a Hidden Heroine: A Review of Let Us March On
Shara Moon’s Let Us March On brings overdue attention to Elizabeth “Lizzie” McDuffie, a maid in FDR’s White House who quietly advocated for civil rights. Known as the “Secretary-On-Colored-People’s-Affairs,” Lizzie acted as a vital bridge between the Black community and the President—an incredible feat for a woman in her position during the 1930s. Told through Lizzie’s eyes, the story offers an inside look at the Roosevelts and the political landscape of the time. Moon captures Lizzie’s strength and determination, showing how she used her role to push for justice in subtle but powerful ways. That said, the pacing lags in spots, especially when it gets too bogged down in politics. […]
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A Bookshop, a few Mitfords, and a Slow-Paced Novel
Let’s start with what worked: The Mayfair Bookshop has a great hook—London, WWII, a charming bookshop, and a spotlight on Nancy Mitford. The historical setting is rich, and the real-life Mitford drama adds some sparkle. If you’re already a fan of Nancy and her scandal-prone sisters, you might find the behind-the-scenes stuff intriguing. There’s gossip, heartbreak, and the war looming in the background, which makes for decent historical fiction. But here’s the thing: the dual timeline structure doesn’t quite balance. Nancy’s chapters are clearly the main event, while the present-day storyline feels like filler. Lucy, the modern book curator, just didn’t do it for me. Her quest to uncover a […]
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Picks and Pans, Issue 36
Buckle up—we’re taking a whirlwind tour through stories set in places as wild and varied as Hollywood, ancient Israel, the muddy banks of the Mississippi, and the candlelit alleys of Venice. This issue has something for everyone: a dash of historical drama in WWII London, a taste of revolution in New York and Philly, heartland tales from the Upper Midwest, and Southern soul from North Carolina. Some of these reads were extraordinary—books I’ll be recommending for years. Others? Let’s just say they didn’t live up to the hype. But that’s part of the fun, right? Come see which ones soared and which ones sputtered. The Last Exchange By Charles Martin […]
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