A Beautiful Idea That Never Quite Comes Together

⭐⭐⭐ 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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Amy’s Picks and Pans, Issue 24

Such a month of great reading! It’s rare I have three 5-star ratings. Demon Copperhead, Hinds’ Feet on High Places, and Go as a River were so spectacular and so different. I found a couple of new authors to follow, but I was also disappointed by two of my favorite authors—William Kent Krueger and Daniel Silver. Don’t worry… I’m not counting them out! See if you can find something to add to your TBR list this month. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver “The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.”—Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead. This is my third book by […]

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Black Cake

Eleanor Bennett left a puzzling inheritance for her children, Byron and Benny. It includes a note, a USB drive with an audio recording, and a traditional black cake from a family recipe found in the freezer. In her message, Eleanor shares the story of her life. In 1965, a young woman fleeing an arranged marriage and suspicion of murder disappears into the surf. Cutting all ties, she crosses oceans, reinvents herself, and makes heartbreaking choices to take control of her life hoping to reunite with her first love. Byron and Benny haven’t seen each other in years. Can they set aside their differences to deal with their mother’s hidden past? […]

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