⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars) What do you get when you throw together an eighty-four-year-old spitfire with a suitcase full of secrets and a twenty-one-year-old gamer girl who’d rather hide under the covers than face real life? In Colleen Oakley’s The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise, you get a hilarious, heart-squeezing road trip that proves friendship has no age limit. Louise hires Tanner as her reluctant caretaker, but before either of them knows it, they’re on the run—destination unclear, motives questionable, and plenty of “wait, WHAT just happened?” moments along the way. The dialogue is whip-smart, the characters are quirky and lovable, and Oakley sneaks in just enough mystery to […]
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Beautiful Setting, Bewitching Premise… But Just Okay
⭐⭐⭐ The Amalfi Curse was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, especially after loving Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary. But this one didn’t quite land for me. The setting? Gorgeous. The writing? Lyrical. The story? Well… here’s where things get murky. I’ll admit, I should’ve paid closer attention to the synopsis. Witches and magical curses aren’t really my thing, and the sea-witch storyline just didn’t hold my interest. The dual timeline (1820s and present day) had promise, but the pacing lagged in spots, and I never fully connected with the characters—especially in the historical chapters. I seem to be the odd one out here—early reviews are glowing, and fans […]
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Sailing Through Time & Secrets: “Across the Ages” Is a Heart-Racing Treasure
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gabrielle Meyer’s Across the Ages is everything I want in time travel fiction—heart, history, high stakes, and a dash of holy hope. Caroline is a gifted time-crosser living two lives: one as a disguised cabin boy aboard a pirate ship in 1727, the other as a preacher’s daughter caught up in Prohibition-era drama in 1927 St. Paul. The twists are fun, the romance is swoony, and the tension never lets up. As a Minnesota native, I loved the Twin Cities references—every landmark was familiar and warmly nostalgic. Meyer, who once worked for the Minnesota Historical Society, knows her stuff. That comes through loud and clear, especially in the informative author’s note. […]
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Backstage Pass to Heartache and Harmony
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits is a nostalgic and emotionally rich novel about fame, fallout, and the ties that fray—but never quite break. In the early 2000s, Zoe and Cassie Grossberg skyrocketed to stardom as the Griffin Sisters: one the spotlight-loving starlet, the other a shy musical genius. Then, just as quickly, they disappeared. Twenty years later, they’re not speaking, and Zoe’s teenage daughter, Cherry, wants to know why. This is a book about what happens when the beat goes on but the harmony breaks down. The sibling dynamic is messy and believable, full of old grudges and buried affection. There’s just enough behind-the-scenes music drama to keep things […]
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More Romance than Rocket Science
⭐⭐⭐-1/2 Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere follows Joan Goodwin, a quiet, brilliant physics professor who stuns everyone—including herself—by joining NASA’s Space Shuttle program in 1980. The setup hints at a high-flying, STEM-driven narrative, but the story spends more time grounded in Joan’s personal relationships: her bond with her niece, her complicated family ties, and a romance that becomes central to the plot. Reid’s writing is as strong as ever, and the ensemble cast of fellow trainees is engaging. There are moving moments and thoughtful themes about identity, love, and finding your place in the universe. But I was hoping for a deeper look at what it meant to be one of […]
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Mob Queen Is Fierce, Gritty, and Gloriously Unapologetic
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I absolutely loved Virginia Hill. Fierce, determined, and headstrong, she bursts off the page in Erin Bledsoe’s Mob Queen—a gutsy, gripping dive into the glitzy but treacherous world of 1930s organized crime. From the moment Virginia flees a violent marriage in Georgia and tumbles into Chicago’s mob scene, the stakes are life and death—and she rises to meet them with swagger and smarts. Bledsoe doesn’t sugarcoat the brutality. Mob violence is graphic and unsettling, and Virginia grows increasingly at ease carrying out the family’s dirty work. It’s a humanizing portrait of a woman who finds agency in a world that rarely offers it. Her relationship with Bugsy Siegel is steamy […]
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A Norwegian Twist on WWII Fiction
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Resistance Girl by Mandy Robotham offers a fresh take on WWII fiction by shifting the setting to Nazi-occupied Norway. It was a welcome change to step outside the usual France-or-England narrative and experience the war from a different vantage point. The icy backdrop, secret missions, and quiet acts of defiance give this story a unique atmosphere. The plot centers on a young woman drawn into the resistance after a personal tragedy. She’s not a superhero, but her courage feels real—and that grounded strength gives the book its heartbeat. There’s a romantic subplot that adds warmth, though at times it overshadows the larger wartime stakes. A few secondary characters […]
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A Gritty Slice of Oregon History
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kristina McMorris has a gift for blending history and heart, and her latest novel, The Girls of Good Fortune, digs deep. Set in 1888 Portland, the story opens in the city’s infamous Shanghai Tunnels, where Celia, a young woman of mixed heritage, awakens in a drugged haze, disguised and imprisoned. She’s about to be shipped off as forced labor—shanghaied into a nightmare that pulls no punches. Celia’s struggle to piece together how she ended up there takes readers on a twisting journey through corruption, injustice, and survival. As a half-Chinese woman passing as white in a time of deep anti-Chinese sentiment, her very existence is a balancing act. The […]
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Gorgeous Setting, Questionable Choices
⭐⭐⭐ If you’ve ever dreamed of escaping to the Amalfi Coast—eating lemon pasta, sipping crisp white wine, and staring out at the sparkling sea—One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle has your name on it. The book’s setting in Positano is downright dreamy. I loved the sensory details. The food, the wine, the charming seaside streets—I felt like I was there. On that level, the book is a five-star getaway. Unfortunately, the plot and characters didn’t live up to the scenery. The premise—grieving daughter somehow meets her mother as a young woman—requires a huge suspension of disbelief. I’m fine with a little magical realism, but this one felt too far-fetched, even […]
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Twists, Truths, and Tupelo Grove: Where Secrets Lie is a Must-Read Mystery
If you’re looking for your next binge-worthy suspense read, put Where Secrets Lie by Colleen Coble and Rick Acker at the top of your list. I just finished it—five stars, no hesitation. I couldn’t put it down. The story follows Savannah Webster, a professor at Tupelo Grove University who’s trying to move forward after a painful divorce. But when her ex-husband Hez shows signs of slipping back into trouble, and a dangerous smuggling ring threatens the university her family founded, she finds herself caught in a high-stakes tangle of secrets, lies, and buried history. What really stood out to me? The intricacies of the plot. Coble and Acker clearly did their research—this […]
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