Recent Reader Reviews

This is the story of three generations of the Chen Family. The first part is told by Lily who was born in the US on Long Island, NY. Lily starts out as an unpaid intern in 1999 and meets Matthew who wines and dines her. Matthew is an heir to a huge pharmaceutical company. Lily’s parents were scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. She falls in love with Matthew and they marry, but something is not right.
She discovers a devastating secret. It was a game changer.

In the second part 2021 we meet Nick, Lily and Matthew’s son. He is living on in isolated island in Washington State, with his mother. Lily …more divorced Matthew and ran as far as she could from him and his family. Nick never knew his father. He does a DNA test to find his father. He finally connects with him. He discovers that he looks exactly like his father. He can’t understand why his mother kept him from his father all these years. Matthew what's to be part of Nick’s life. Can Nick adjust to Matthew’s life style?
Part three is May’s story. She tells of her life in China during the Revolution. How she became a bio genetics scientist.

She did extensively research which she brought with her when she escaped from China. May is Lily’s mother. Nick has never met her. He was told she was dead. This was the most interesting part of the book it brings the other two stories together. This is the compelling story filled with secrets. It was very well written. I just would have liked to have known more. What happened to Matthew and Lily? This book is about race, science, relationships and betrayal. May’s story was the heart of the book as it pulled it all together. (less)

This is a haunting, deeply philosophical, and almost otherworldly novel, written in elegiac prose that feels poetic. It's short and succinct, and every word counts. It can also be confusing at times, but stick with it.

Masterfully written by Anne Michaels, this is the story of a single family covering more than 120 years—a family shrouded in tragedy but encompassed in a deep and abiding love. It's also a romantic story, but brace your heart because it's also incredibly sorrowful.

The novel, which was shortlisted for the prestigious 2024 Booker Prize, opens in 1917 on a snow-packed field near the River Escaut in …more Cambrai, in France during World War I where John, a British soldier, lies half-buried in the snow. He can't feel his legs, and he is hallucinating, remembering bits and pieces of his life, especially his one true love, Helena. We are then propelled three years hence when John is home with Helena, trying to restart his life, including his photography business. And then John begins taking photos of ghosts, an event that has a devastating impact on him. Again, a big jump in time to Anna, John and Helena's daughter…and then a jump in time to Anna and Peter and their daughter Mara…and then another jump in time to Mara and Alan.

It can be confusing because it bounces back and forth in time, introducing new characters whose connection to the characters we already know can be a bit murky at first. It can almost feel like a mirage until suddenly it clicks into place and meaning and you'll see clearly. Each chapter is labeled for location and year. Pay attention to that.

This is a story about life. And death and dying. And love and romance. And memories. Throughout the book are lyrical passages and plotlines about the spirituality of death and dying and the soul living on in a new and different state.

An example of just such a passage: "Everywhere the dead are leaving a sign. We feel the shadow but cannot see what casts the shadow. The door opens in the hillside, in the field, at the sea's edge, between the trees at dusk, in the small city garden, in a café, in a tram in the rain, on a stairway."

Exquisitely written with many passages that just beg to be read over and over, this is a novel that will likely offer hope and solace to those who are grieving. (less)

Chilling. Very, very chilling. And considering the times we are living in (I write this in April 2025), this book is terrifying. The dystopian idea of Big Brother watching your every move, governing your every action, paying heed to your every word has never before seemed so possible.

Written by Sandra Newman, this is a creative feminist retelling of George Orwell's classic novel "1984," told from the perspective of Julia Worthing, Winston Smith's illicit lover.

Julia is 26, smart, and an ideal citizen—doing everything she is supposed to do with a smile and only a little (private) cynicism. She is living an …more uncomplicated life in Air Strip One (formerly England), residing in a women's hostel, sleeping in a large dormitory room with dozens of others, and working as a mechanic in the Fiction Department of the Ministry of Truth. The Fiction Department is where books are "written" by machines that spout the party doctrine. Julia fixes the machines when they break, and she is good at her job. Because she is bored, she begins an illicit affair with Winston Smith—just for the clandestine excitement of trying to outwit the ever present telescreens of Big Brother. One day the manipulative and charismatic O'Brien, a high-level member of the Inner Party summons Julia to his luxury apartment with an offer she can't refuse. And while she really couldn't refuse it, the work she is then assigned is nefarious, ugly, and duplicitous, but she does it willingly. And that is when everything changes…and eventually falls apart.

What makes this rewrite different than the original is the female focal point. Not only do we see things through Julia's perspective, but also we learn much about how other women live in this restrictive government, both caring for and betraying each other. Still, it's not as strong as Orwell's classic.

This is a haunting, incendiary tale with a provocative and searing storyline that catapults from emotionally devastating to emotionally resonant. It's appalling and horrifying because it doesn't seem so farfetched as "1984" once did. And this sense that pieces and parts of it could really happen right now and right here is more terrifying than any horror novel.

Note No. 1: There are somewhat explicit sex scenes and very explicit scenes of violence and torture.

Note No. 2: Do read (or re-read) "1984" or at the very least look for a plot summary online before you begin this book so you can better appreciate the different perspective. (less)

I need to write this review well enough that it convinces you to read ONCE THERE WERE WOLVES. You really do want to. I read quite often, but I haven't read such a good book in at least a year, maybe five years.

This book has already been summarized so often, I only say that Inti (female) leads a team to reintroduce wolves into the Highlands in Scottland. Of course they deal with resistance. Eventually, it does appear that a wolf has killed two people.

Two other characters who play major roles are Inti's psychologically-troubled twin sister, Aggie, and Dunkin, the chief of police. Turns out, the book is not only …more about wolves. There are also mysteries about what happened to Aggie and whether Dunkin or a wolf killed a man.

Although I didn't read ONCE THERE WERE WOLVES in one sitting, as so many reviewers claim, I did have to force myself not to. (less)

Daughters of Shandong
By Eve J. Chung

A work of historical fiction inspired by Chung’s family who was displaced during the Communist Revolution in China. The Daughters of Shandong is told through the eyes of Hai, the eldest daughter of the Ang family. Hai along with her mother and sisters are turned out of their home in Zhucheng during the Revolution, enduring a long and difficult journey to reunite with their father and husband. This is about self-preservation, community, and achieving goals within a culture that devalues women. Through the experiences of Hai and her loved ones, we see the consequences of war, …more trauma, displacement, and gender-based discrimination while telling a story of survival and triumph.

I was fully invested in these memorable characters. With all the ups and downs this family and others endured, was difficult to fathom. It is an extraordinary debut; and I love when a new author can pull me in from the beginning, and when it happens, it’s like magic. Also, the cover of this book is so beautiful. I am so looking forward to what is next from this brilliant author.

Thank you to BookBrowse and the publisher for the book. (less)

Whisk together some sugar, a touch of salt, vanilla beans, flour, and several other ingredients, plus some French joie de vivre and a bit of mysterious magic, and you have the    The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris (OneMoreChapter). A delightful story that will warm up anyone's heart and put a smile on their face.

Edie Lane is ready for a change; she needs one badly. She leaves her small Irish town for what she thinks is a bakery job in Paris, but it turns out to be the small town of Compiegne, miles outside Paris, where rumors are the pastries offer a taste of magic. She decides to stay and ends …more up glad she did.

The whimsical novel, The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris, is full of love, and readers will fall in love with the engaging characters. It's the first novel I've read by Evie Woods, and I look forward to experiencing more magical realism in her previous books. (less)

This is the story of Planet Ocean. Powers has renamed it from Planet Earth. He describes the teeming life, the fantastical colors, the bizarrely unique life forms. Power’s setting is a teeny tiny atoll within a central Pacific archipelago. It is surrounded by vast ocean. We don’t need no continents. Take a deep dive and enjoy the view!

Playground's cast of characters is deeply realized. The story starts with childhood friends Todd and Rafi. We become intimate with their childhood dysfunction and psychological drivers. The guys are gamers, and although brotherly, they lock into an epic battle of one-upmanship. …more Todd invents a competitive social media platform called Playground, and becomes a billionaire. But that’s not why Rafi loses.

A small side criticism: I was not convinced that Todd’s so-called betrayal should have been so devastating. I guess it was the straw that broke the friendship. Clearly, Rafi had grievances piling up due to Todd’s privileged upbringing and racial naivete.

The ocean playground is anchored by the “liberated” Evelyne who is a master diver and oceanographer. She takes us under the sea for scientific and phantasmagorical touring, making friends with gigantic rays. She flames our grief for the polluted, overheated and destroyed ocean. Ina Aroita is the artist and romantic partner who produces massive sculptures from plastic junk picked off the beach. She creates beauty from waste. Ina brings us to her home in French Polynesia on the atoll Makatea.

In Powers prize-winning "Overstory", I got bored during the dozen introductory character constructions. But this time I knew I was in the hands of master. I let it flow. I allowed the masterful Richard Powers to take me on a character ride. I was rewarded in the finale where, as they say, he pulled it all together.

The character backstory leads to the central problem, given to us from an old text called “The Philosophy of the Common Task” by Nikolai Fyodorov. Starting from random elements, billions of years later evolution created life, then consciousness, then intelligence. Fyodorov posits that evolution will eventually tackle death. Hah! Lets go.

Powers suggests that there is hope for the human species. Forget Mars. We can “seastead”. Forget death, we can recreate ourselves with AI. He gives us a few tidbits of hope for the ocean itself, which has adapted to the mess created by humans. Shipwrecks become reef habitats. Species adapt to the heat. Don’t get complacent however, as Evie urges at the close of her book “without your love, the ocean will die”.

My head was spinning from the admittedly confusing ending and I had a lot to sort out. I read some analysis to help with that. I thought that AI had solved the problem of death and that we were resurrecting physical human beings. It wasn’t clear that they were resurrected in the alternate reality offered by Profunda.

I highly recommend this masterpiece. (less)

It's impossible not to love this book. And I mean love it like a favorite blanket…this is one of those books that I read with a smile and a frown, a laugh and a tear. This book will own your heart. It certainly owned mine.

Brilliantly written by Kent Hauf, this is the second in the three-part Plainsong series that begins with "Plainsong." And, yes, you need to read them in order because there are spoilers in this second book that you don't want to know if you haven't already read the first one.

This novel is the story of three groups of people living in the fictional rural setting of Holt County, Colorado. While …more they are very different, they have one thing in common: They are all emotionally damaged, but through their interactions with each other they achieve a level of healing:
• Raymond and Harold McPheron are elderly brothers who live 17 miles out of town on a cattle ranch. Orphaned at a young age, the two have always lived together and neither ever married. Two years ago, they "adopted" the then 17-year-old pregnant Victoria Roubideaux. The three became a family, and Victoria's little girl Katie is like a granddaughter to Raymond and Harold. And while they are proud and supportive of Victoria going away to college in Fort Collins, they desperately miss her.

• The Wallace family: Married couple Luther and Betty and their children Joy Rae, 11, and Richie, 6, are poor. Very, very poor. The parents are disabled and don't work so they live on welfare and food stamps. Rose Tyler, a devoted social worker, follows them closely, monitoring much in their lives. But Betty's Uncle Hoyt, a violent deadbeat, comes to live with them in their small, dilapidated, and (very) messy trailer, and nothing good comes of this.

• Mary Wells has two little girls, Dena and Emma. Mary's husband took off for Alaska, and as she gives up hope of ever seeing him again, she slides into a deep depression. Meanwhile, an 11-year-old boy down the street named DJ Kephart, who lives with and takes care of his grumpy, old grandfather, develops a deep friendship with Dena that may be the only thing that gives either of them a measure of happiness.

The writing, which is spare and sparse, reflects the equally spare and sparse landscape of Holt. But there is magic here. This spare and sparse writing seemingly transports the reader vicariously to become part of the spare and sparse setting. The plot is minimal. This is a character study about the deep truths of being human—the joys, the sorrows, the everydayness—but at some point just when you think nothing has happened, you will realize all that has happened.

I think this is a literary masterpiece. (less)

The Impossible Thing is the second book in the Rubbernecker series by award-winning British journalist, screenwriter and author, Belinda Bauer. Immediately post-WW1, making a living on a small-holding farm in Yorkshire isn’t easy; even harder for Enid Sheppard when her husband takes one look at their new baby daughter and abandons the family.

Tiny Celie Sheppard is given to the care of eight-year-old farm boy, Robert, but turns the family’s fortunes, and perhaps their sentiments about her, when at six years old, she shows a talent for climming. In a makeshift harness fashioned by Robert, she returns from under …more the overhang on the edge of her family’s holding, Metland Farm, with an extremely rare red guillemot egg. Egg Broker George Ambler is beside himself: what won’t a collector pay for such a beauty!

Almost a century on, Patrick Fort has been washing dishes at the Rorke’s Drift for three years and not yet tired of it. Returning home one winters evening, he discovers his friend and neighbour, Weird Nick, and Nick’s mum Jen gagged and bound in their unlit house. Two men in ski masks (it’s not even snowing!) with cable ties to secure the residents of Ty Newydd have ransacked the place. The only thing missing is a red egg in a fancy carved box.

Belatedly, Nick has discovered it’s illegal to sell, or even own, wild bird eggs, but the fleeting listing on Facebook Marketplace was sufficient, it seems, to make their little Welsh cottage a target. Legal or no, he wants the egg back. Patrick’s brilliant deductive work leads them to the probable thief, and Nick ropes in his unwilling friend to confront eggman456.

That doesn’t end well: “Before Nick could open his mouth, the big man grabbed him by the front of his jumper, yanked him forward, headbutted him, then withdrew and slammed the door. It all happened so fast that Patrick was left open-mouthed with amazement, already replaying it in his head. The door, the arm, the fist, the head, the door. It was like a very violent cuckoo clock.”

Before they finally locate the egg, and several more like it, there’s a courtroom scene with lots of shouting, a visit to a museum with thousands of eggs, and a jaw-droppingly vindictive destruction of a felon’s collection.

Patrick has a too-close encounter with dog droppings, is an accidental stowaway in the car of a nasty, violent man, and has to climb through a toilet window. A balaclava and a potato masher play significant roles. At one point, Nick asks where his sense of adventure is: “Patrick didn’t answer. He’d already accidentally had one adventure in his life and it had been very stressful. He didn’t really fancy another.”

Told through multiple narratives and a dual timeline, Bauer gradually reveals the path that the Metland egg takes from 1920’s Yorkshire to modern-day Wales and beyond. She gives the reader some wonderful descriptive prose “…barristers in yellowing wigs and black cloaks flitted between them like giant bats”, and only the hardest hearts won’t have a lump in the throat at the poor guillemot’s ordeal. There’s plenty of action drama which, together with the dialogue, offers some very black humour. Fans can only hope this isn’t the last we’ll see of Patrick Fort. Utterly brilliant.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by the publisher (less)

I am happy to say that this is the first book I’ve read by Charlotte McConnaghy, and am excited to know there are more novels by the same author out there that I will need to read!

As an atmospheric work of speculative eco-fiction, this book successfully captures the stark, brutal nature of life on an island in a relentlessly dominant and encroaching sea.

As a mystery, A Wild Dark Shore kept me highly engaged as Rowan, a woman washed up on the island’s shore, and Dom, the father of the children inhabiting the island, skirt around the reasons they are on the island, and the secrets they are holding.

Mostly, however, …more I was overtaken with the book’s exploration into what it means to be a parent in an unsafe world. I am well beyond my child-bearing years, but this book really made me question whether I would have the courage to be a parent in today’s reality.

Although this book was at times ominous and foreboding, it emanated the positive forces of love and trust needed in a family — and subsequently in the world — when our very existence may be heading towards a darker place. (less)