Reviews by Dorothy M. (Maynard, MA)

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Her Name Is Rose
Her Name Is Rose
by Christine Breen
Music, Flowers and Romance (1/24/2015)
Christine Breen's debut novel is a charming love story about recovery from loss and the acceptance of new possibilities. It is the story of Iris Breen and her adopted daughter Rose - flowers and music flow through this story - and the men they meet. Set in Ireland with …more
A Fireproof Home for the Bride
A Fireproof Home for the Bride
by Amy Scheibe
The title understates the complexity of this story (11/28/2014)
I was totally captivated by Amy Sheibe's A Fireproof Home for the Bride which - unlike the romantic image the title presents - is the story of a young woman raised in the 1950s in a severely religious home by a mother that substituted rigid rules for the love she couldn't …more
The Last Good Paradise
The Last Good Paradise
by Tatjana Soli
Sometimes you're just not the right person to talk about a book (11/3/2014)
This book appears to be confirming the old principle "no matter where you go YOU are always there". Ann is a successful lawyer who doesn't want to be one but is supporting her husband Richard who longs to be a celebrity chef but needs his unscrupulous friend as a front man. …more
Small Blessings
Small Blessings
by Martha Woodroof
Small Blessings is indeed one (4/26/2014)
Small Blessings by Martha Woodroof is a delightful, gentle story about second chances. The main character Tom Putnam is a college professor married to a woman with serious psychological and emotional problems. But Tom married her 23 years ago and he has spent those years …more
Through the Evil Days
Through the Evil Days: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery
by Julia Spencer-Fleming
This is a true page turner (8/23/2013)
Through the Evil Days is the 8th book in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery series and, unlike some series that get a bit tired, this one just continues to accelerate. Set in the apocryphal Appalachian town of Miller's Kill, it follows the lives of Clare - an …more
Lookaway, Lookaway
Lookaway, Lookaway
by Wilton Barnhardt
Lookaway, Lookaway - a Dixie Land you might not expect (5/27/2013)
Wilton Barnhardt has written a book that is both hilariously funny and exceptionally intelligent. Jerene Jarvis Johnston is the quintessential Southern bell - charm on the outside and steel to the core. The story of her family - her husband who was supposed to be an …more
The Good House
The Good House
by Ann Leary
A Wonderfully Honest (if deluded) Narrator (11/17/2012)
In The Good House Ann Leary has created an appealing although seriously flawed character who will have you rooting for her even as you are appalled by her behavior. Set in a upscale north shore Massachusetts town with it's townies and its wealthy newcomers and Hildy Good as …more
The Innocents
The Innocents: A Novel
by Francesca Segal
The joy and pain of families (5/2/2012)
The Innocents is a lovely debut novel set in a Jewish community in London that explores the choices we make and the cost of those choices. Told from the point of view of Adam, who believes he has everything he ever wanted until he sees possibilities that he never knew were …more
A Land More Kind Than Home
A Land More Kind Than Home: A Novel
by Wiley Cash
Evil comes in many Guises (2/28/2012)
In A land More Kind than Home, Wiley Cash tells the story of a church community in the mountains of North Carolina in the grip of a self-styled pastor who appears to fancy himself a god. The story is told through the voices of three people - an old woman from the church, …more
Until the Next Time
Until the Next Time: A Novel
by Kevin Fox
Suspense, Love, History, Mysticism - it has it all (1/31/2012)
Kevin Fox uses the story of the Corrigan family to explore the "troubles" in Ireland, the mysticism of Celtic stories, the links between the past and the present and the promise of enduring love. Told in alternate chapters between the past and the present, it follows Sean …more
Folly Beach
Folly Beach: A Lowcountry Tale
by Dorothea Benton Frank
Just in time for the Beach Bag (5/28/2011)
Dorothea Benton Frank has written a light hearted romance in Folly Beach that is a love letter to the Carolina low country and a historical look at a 1920s-1930s artistic renaissance in that area. The story is centered around DuBose Heyward, the author of Porgy and his wife …more
Original Sin
Original Sin: A Sally Sin Adventure
by Beth Mcmullen
She's a Bird - She's a Plane (1/27/2011)
Lucy Parks Hamilton is a suburban stay at home Mom with a 3 year old son and a husband who is saving the world one tree at a time. But when she was Sally Sin, she was an agent for the U.S. Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction - saving the world by eliminating one …more
The Philosophical Breakfast Club
The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the World
by Laura J. Snyder
From generalist amateurs to professional scientists (1/5/2011)
At the beginning of the 19th century, what we now think of as scientific pursuits were the purview of talented and often wealthy amateurs. Scientist was not a word, there was no money to support research, and the concept of a scientific method was unknown. Four visionary …more
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
by Amy Chua
A Look at Chinese Parenting (10/27/2010)
Amy Chua begins her book on the value of Chinese parenting with a list of what her children were never allowed to do - including watch TV or play computer games, have a playdate, or not play the piano or violin. And it includes such parenting tactics as telling her young …more
Man in the Woods
Man in the Woods
by Scott Spencer
A look at the randomness of life (7/2/2010)
Scott Spencer has created two interesting characters - a carpenter who seems pulled from a slower and gentler time and his partner - a woman who has discovered sobriety and Jesus, and is making a career of it. He then looks at what happens to them and to the people they …more
The Scent of Rain and Lightning
The Scent of Rain and Lightning: A Novel
by Nancy Pickard
The Past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past. (1/24/2010)
Lots of mysteries seem based on William Faulkner's quote and the latest from Nancy Pickard is another story where things that happened years before have come back to haunt everyone involved. Twenty three years ago when she was three, Jody Linder's father was murdered and …more
State by State
State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America
by Sean Wilsey, Matt Weiland
What you don't know about America (11/4/2009)
Inspired by a WPA project that produced books about each state and dedicated to the proposition that although the country is being increasingly homogenized the states still retain unique characteristics, this book consists of 50 essays by 50 exceptional writers – one per …more
Burnt Shadows
Burnt Shadows: A Novel
by Kamila Shamsie
Burnt Shadows - a book you shouldn't miss (5/3/2009)
Kamila Shamsie has written an incredible book in Burnt Shadows. Beginning just before the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and leaving you (I didn't feel that it ended because this is a book that stays with you) in the aftermath of 9-11, she explores the world …more
Sweet Mandarin
Sweet Mandarin: The Courageous True Story of Three Generations of Chinese Women and Their Journey from East to West
by Helen Tse
To England from China by way of Hong Kong (5/5/2008)
I saw a quote once that said “Anyone who says you only have one life to live hasn’t learned to read.” Sweet Mandarin, a memoir by Helen Tse, shows just how far a book can take you into another life. Sweet Mandarin is the name of the restaurant Helen Tse and her two sisters …more
Resistance
Resistance
by Owen Sheers
Resistance is an exceptional book (2/26/2008)
Using the resistance plans the British put in place during WWII, author Owen Sheers has imagined a world in which they were necessary, telling the story of a tiny farming community in Wales. The writing is wonderful, places and people drawn in such honesty and beauty that …more
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