⭐⭐⭐ After loving Black Cake, I went into Good Dirt with high hopes, which may be why this one felt like such a letdown. Charmaine Wilkerson aims for another sweeping family story, but this time the pieces never fully click. The novel follows Ebby Freeman, whose childhood trauma and family history are tied to the loss of a stoneware jar passed down through generations. On paper, that heirloom should carry deep meaning, yet I kept wondering why anyone would want it in the first place and why it held such enormous value. Instead of anchoring the story, the jar often left me scratching my head. Wilkerson raises intriguing questions about legacy, race, and […]
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When Your Ex Is Your Handler, Nothing Goes According to Plan
⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ (4.5 stars) The Handler is a sharp, high-octane spy thriller with a killer hook: a disgraced former CIA operative forced back into the field—with his ex-wife as his handler. That alone is enough to grab your attention, but Woodward delivers far more than a clever premise. Meredith Morris-Dale is a talented CIA case officer whose career hangs by a thread after a mission goes sideways. Instead of being shown the door, she’s handed an impossible assignment. A long-embedded CIA mole inside Iran’s uranium enrichment program wants out, and the only person he’ll trust is Meredith’s ex-husband, John Dale. Fired, sidelined, and bitter, John is the last person she wants to […]
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Books, Codes, and Quiet Courage in WWII Europe
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Librarian Spy is a thoughtful WWII spy novel inspired by the true history of America’s little-known “library spies.” I enjoyed learning the fascinating ways books, newspapers, and printed materials were gathered, analyzed, and transformed into intelligence during the war. The story follows two women on parallel paths. Ava, a librarian at the Library of Congress, is recruited by the U.S. military and sent to neutral-but-dangerous Lisbon, where she works undercover collecting and microfilming enemy publications. Across the ocean, Elaine joins the French Resistance through a clandestine printing press, fully aware the Nazis are hunting both the press and those who run it. Their stories connect through coded messages and […]
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A Sequel That Leaves New Readers Behind
This novel makes one thing clear pretty quickly: it was written with prior knowledge in mind. Having never read The Woman in Cabin 10, I often felt unmoored, as if I’d walked into the second half of a conversation and was expected to keep up. Key relationships and emotional stakes are taken for granted instead of built on the page, which makes it hard to fully invest. The setup should work. Travel journalist Lo Blacklock, sidelined by motherhood and a changing media landscape, jumps at the chance to attend the opening of a luxurious Swiss hotel on Lake Geneva. The owner is a reclusive billionaire, the setting is glamorous, and a […]
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Love and Survival Under Africa’s Darkest Sky
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ All the Glimmering Stars by Mark T. Sullivan had a special pull for me. My daughter studied abroad in Kampala, Uganda, and while I knew the country’s beauty, I also knew its violent past. This novel brought that history into sharp, painful focus. Inspired by a true story, the book follows Anthony Opoka and Florence Okori, bright, principled teens coming of age in 1990s Uganda. Both believe in being good humans—right up until they’re kidnapped and forced into the Lord’s Resistance Army. Anthony is drawn terrifyingly close to warlord Joseph Kony and his secrets, while Florence fights to hold on to her sense of self as the world around her unravels. When […]
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A Brilliant Sea Story of Honor, Love, and Moral Courage
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Oceans and the Stars is a rousing blend of war novel, love story, and moral compass—and it may be one of Mark Helprin’s most cinematic books yet. Honestly? This should be a movie. Stephen Rensselaer is a Navy captain near the end of a stellar career: disciplined, principled, and stubbornly unwilling to play political games. When he bruises the president’s ego, he’s reassigned to command the Athena, a small, supposedly doomed patrol ship meant to embarrass him. Instead of resigning, Rensselaer does what he always does—he serves. While overseeing the ship’s fitting out in New Orleans, he falls into a last-chance romance with Katy Farrar, a brilliant and formidable lawyer […]
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A Familiar Story, Sharpened by Historical Research
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Killing Jesus: A History by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard retells the life and execution of Jesus of Nazareth with the pacing of a political thriller. The authors trace the events leading up to the death of the most influential man in history, placing Jesus squarely in the volatile world of Roman-occupied Judea. Power struggles, fragile alliances, and ruthless authority figures make it clear why his execution became inevitable. What surprised me most is how fresh the story felt. Sometimes we know a biblical narrative so well that the details blur. That didn’t happen here. I picked up historical tidbits that had my spiritual mind reeling, especially around the political pressure cooker involving Rome, Herod, and […]
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A Quietly Powerful Portrait of Grit and Grace
⭐⭐⭐⭐ O Pioneers! is one of those novels that sneaks up on you. On the surface, not much “happens,” yet by the end, it feels like you’ve lived an entire life on the Nebraska prairie. First published in 1913, it marked Willa Cather’s first great novel and set the tone for much of the work that followed. Set in the late 19th century, O Pioneers! follows Alexandra Bergson, a determined young woman who inherits her family’s struggling farm. While her brothers doubt the land—and her—Alexandra trusts her instincts, digs in her heels, and slowly turns hardship into opportunity. She’s practical, steady, and quietly radical for her time. As the progeny of Swedish and Norwegian […]
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The Neighbors Look Nice. They’re Not.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Other People’s Houses turned out to be a great way to stumble into a series. This was my first time reading a DC Morgan novel, and I’m officially in—now I want to read the rest. Set in a glossy UK suburb where everyone appears successful, the story peels back the carefully curated lives of neighbors who are desperate to keep up appearances. When a wealthy couple is murdered in their pristine home, the investigation exposes tangled relationships, financial secrets, and resentments that have been quietly festering for years. Mackintosh does a nice job juggling multiple perspectives, keeping you guessing about who’s lying, who’s hiding something, and who’s capable of […]
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A Horrific Thriller That Goes Way Too Far
⭐⭐⭐ Pretty Girls is a book I finished out of stubbornness, not enjoyment. I like a solid thriller. I can handle dark subject matter. But this one pushed straight past dark into twisted, gory, gruesome, and deeply disturbing territory. The violence is graphic to an almost numbing degree, with explicit depictions of torture, sexual assault, and murder that felt excessive rather than necessary. Instead of heightening suspense, it often pulled me out of the story. That said, Slaughter can write. The novel is complex, the characters are well developed, and the emotional fallout within the family feels authentic. There’s a strong foundation here, even if it’s buried under layers of brutality. […]
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