⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 stars) This novel had so much going for it—a dual timeline, a real historical figure, and a mystery rooted in the fate of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. I went in eager to learn more about Eleanor Dare, a woman I find absolutely fascinating. And while the premise had great potential, the execution didn’t quite live up to it. The story follows Alice, a war widow, and her daughter, Penn, as they return to their family’s ancestral home in the 1940s. There, they begin to uncover secrets tied to their lineage and the legacy of Eleanor Dare. The emotional threads—grief, identity, forgiveness, and healing—are the strongest parts of […]
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Aching, Thrilling, Unforgettable — Broken Country Is a Masterpiece of Love and Loss
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 glowing stars!) If you’ve been waiting for a book that grabs your heart, twists it around, and leaves you breathless in the best possible way—Broken Country is it. This novel has everything I love: an aching love story, rich emotional layers, and the kind of tension that keeps you turning pages way past bedtime. Clare Leslie Hall’s American debut is set in the wilds of the English countryside and tells the story of Beth, a woman torn between the life she chose and the love she never forgot. The narrative shifts between past and present, slowly revealing the legacy of first love—and the secrets it left behind. And […]
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A Literary Home Run—Heartfelt, Hopeful, and Unforgettable
When Crickets Cry is a beautifully written, meaningful story that lingers long after the last page. Charles Martin brings together Reese, a man running from a painful past, and Annie, a brave little girl with a lemonade stand and a failing heart. What unfolds is a tender, heartwrenching story of grief, grace, and the redemptive power of love. This book just kept getting better as I read. The spiritual themes are subtle but deeply moving—never heavy-handed, just gently stitched into the characters’ lives. It’s Christian fiction at its best: full of heart and truth, yet accessible to a wide audience. Yes, there’s an overload of medical content—it sometimes feels like Martin […]
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A Tale of Resilience and Hope from the German Perspective of The Great War
Alan Hlad’s A Light Beyond the Trenches offers a unique and deeply moving perspective on World War I, told from the German side—a refreshing change from the usual focus on the Allies. This novel gives a vivid portrayal of the horrors of war, but what struck me most was how the author focused on the resilience of people and their partnerships with dogs, and how these bonds changed lives in the most unexpected ways. The story centers around Anna Zeller, a German Red Cross nurse, and Max Benesch, a Jewish soldier blinded by the brutal effects of chlorine gas—a terrifying reminder of the chemical weapons that wreaked havoc during the war. […]
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Funny, Quirky, and Totally Entertaining!
Vera Wong is back, and she’s nosier than ever. In Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), Jesse Q. Sutanto serves up another delightful cozy mystery with a side of dumplings and unsolicited advice. This time, Vera stumbles upon a case involving a drowned influencer with more aliases than a spy. While cat-sitting for her son Tilly and his detective girlfriend Selena, Vera finds a file in Selena’s briefcase about the mysterious death. Naturally, she takes it upon herself to investigate, because why let the professionals have all the fun? What follows is a hilarious, heartwarming romp through San Francisco’s Chinatown as Vera inserts herself into the lives of her suspects—who […]
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The Lady’s Mine by Francine Rivers: Grit, Guns, and God in the Gold Rush
⭐️⭐️⭐️½ (3.5 stars) I normally wouldn’t pick up a book like The Lady’s Mine, but it was a book club selection—and I’m glad I gave it a chance, even if it didn’t completely win me over. Set in the rugged mining town of Calvada, California, Francine Rivers introduces us to Kathryn Walsh, a fiery suffragette exiled from Boston by her stepfather. She inherits her late uncle’s newspaper and quickly finds herself shaking up a corrupt and chaotic community. The setup has all the makings of a satisfying Western: a gutsy heroine, a brooding saloon owner (hello, Matthias Beck), and the kind of moral showdown that’s become a Rivers signature. I […]
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Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr: A Hot Mess in More Ways Than One
You know that feeling when you pick up a book that should be amazing… and then it just kind of punches you in the face with bad decisions? Welcome to my experience with Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr. On paper, it sounds like a slam dunk: a young journalist chasing down a stolen masterpiece tied to Nazi lootings. Art! Secrets! Betrayal! I was ready for a high-stakes thriller that kept me up at night. Instead, I got a melodrama that kept making me mutter, “Oh, come on.” Let’s start with the audiobook. Oof. The narrator, who is originally from Italy, had a strange tonality that didn’t match the American […]
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A Lush Return to India That Takes Too Long to Get Going
★ ★ ★ ½ Alka Joshi’s Six Days in Bombay kicks off with a bang—a famous painter dies under suspicious circumstances, and Sona, a young Anglo-Indian nurse, is suddenly the prime suspect. What follows is a globe-trotting journey from Bombay to Europe as Sona tries to clear her name and untangle the truth about Mira Novak, the enigmatic artist who changed her life in just six days. The setup is rich, and the premise has real intrigue. Joshi brings exotic locations to life with her usual flair. But where The Henna Artist and The Secret Keeper of Jaipur gripped me from the start, this one took a while to warm up. The first third drags, bogged […]
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Double Agents, Double Timelines, and Double the Tension
Charles Cumming’s Box 88 kicks off a gritty and brainy spy series with a foot in two eras: the Cold War’s dying days and the chaos of modern espionage. Lachlan Kite is the man in the middle—recruited straight out of boarding school into a shadow agency so secret even MI5 doesn’t know it exists. One minute he’s in France tailing an Iranian businessman tied to the Lockerbie bombing. The next, it’s 2020, and he’s being tortured for the secrets he uncovered thirty years earlier. Cumming pulls off the dual timelines with real finesse. The flashbacks don’t feel like detours—they add layers, deepen the stakes, and keep the tension tight. The 1989 […]
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A 1950’s Malibu Mystery
⭐⭐⭐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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