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Reviews by Rebecca G. (havertown, pa)

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The Jackal's Mistress: A Novel
by Chris Bohjalian
Bohjalian at his best (2/5/2025)
I have a complicated relationship with Bohjalians books. To me, they are either very good like Hour of the Witch or meh, like the Princess of Las Vegas. So I went into this book with caution but with hope. I’m glad to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Kudos to Bohjalian formore
The Pecan Children
by Quinn Connor
Unexpectedly good (5/3/2024)
My first reaction to this book was one of disappointment. It appeared to be just another family drama. Twin sisters not getting along, one moved to the big city, one stays on the farm. They resolve their differences plus rekindle romances with their first loves. Meh. Butmore
A Great Country: A Novel
by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
A Great Country? (3/17/2024)
Ashok and Priya Shah leave their home in India, where the written caste system is oppressive and restrictive and move to America, the land of dreams and supposedly a great country. They work hard and after 20:years are able to move into a gated, elite community. All is wellmore
The Funeral Cryer: A Novel
by Wenyan Lu
Disappointing (2/1/2024)
I was really looking forward to reading this book. I know nothing about the profession of Funeral Cryer and I was hoping to learn more. I was so disappointed. The entire book is the funeral cryer (the reader never learns her name) musing and whining about her job, her life,more
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
A Historical Mystery (12/15/2023)
This is a book about a house. It’s a house that becomes the obsession and eventual demise of two men, one at the end of WWI and another at the start of WWII. It’s the scene of two, or is it three, murders involving the wives of these two men. It’s a house despised not onlymore
Daughters of Shandong
by Eve J. Chung
Hope amid sorrow (11/2/2023)
It's difficult these days to comprehend what's happening to people especially children in Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine. Power struggles kill everyday people and there are places around the world that have dealt with oppression for centuries. The Daughters of Shandongmore
Trouble the Living: A Novel
by Francesca McDonnell Capossela
A fractured family (10/10/2023)
I tend not to read books with dysfunctional families as living with mine was hard enough. I was intrigued by this book though since living through war in Northern Ireland was far enough from my own experiences that I felt I could read it without bias. I’m so glad that I did.more
Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel
by Anthony Marra
Incredible (9/4/2023)
There have been so many books written about WWII that it’s difficult to find one that tells a new story or Carrie’s a new perspective. This book is the rare story; richly written and hard to describe. It’s the story of the influx of European emigres during the war many ofmore
Devil Makes Three: A Novel
by Ben Fountain
Devil Makes Three (8/26/2023)
This book is a challenging read. It's an interesting story of survival in Haiti during a different time in the country's history. I learned so much about Haiti and the struggles of Haitians who continue to deal with corruption and dangerous politicians. Unfortunately themore
Delicate Condition
by Danielle Valentine
Rosemarys Baby revisited (7/8/2023)
Not quite. But I loved the movie. I rooted so hard for Mia Farrow, hated her husband and her creepy neighbors. In the end, she was a mother and she wanted to take care of that little monster. I rooted for Anna the same. After all she'd been through I wanted her to have hermore
The Montevideo Brief: A Thomas Grey Novel
by J. H. Gelernter
Fun historical fiction (3/28/2023)
So after reading about the first twenty pages of this book I wasn't sure I wanted to go on. There's a lot of fluff in those pages and I was worried with such a short book that the fluff would take up a lot of the story. Happily, I didn't have to worry. The book is based onmore
The All-American: A Novel
by Joe Milan Jr.
Not for me (1/31/2023)
This book started out very slow for me. I’m not a fan of football and I found Bucky’s family to be incredibly unlikeable. I was hoping things would get better. Unfortunately, for me, not so much. I just could not connect with Bucky. I felt really sorry for his circumstancesmore
The Mitford Affair: A Novel
by Marie Benedict
Women who could change the world (12/2/2022)
Marie Benedict never fails to find women live in the shadows of great men yet have the power to change or affect history. The Mitford sisters certainly fit this category and Ms. Benedict has recreated their stories in a way that is so fascinating. Diana and Unity,more
The Last Russian Doll
by Kristen Loesch
Historical Fiction at its best (10/1/2022)
The Last Russian Doll is a beautifully written but very complicated book. At times it’s difficult to discern what is happening and I felt when finished that there was so much unresolved. As historical fiction, it is outstanding. A captivating story with well thought andmore
River Sing Me Home
by Eleanor Shearer
So powerful (9/6/2022)
Occasionally I read a book that stops my heart, takes my breath away and pulls at all the emotions I can possibly feel at one time. River Sing Me Home is that book. It's the heartbreaking story of slavery in the Caribbean, those that did the backbreaking work on the sugarmore
Shadows of Berlin: A Novel
by David R. Gillham
Powerful (3/29/2022)
My favorite genre, or perhaps, obsession used to be WWII fiction. I stopped reading them because I wasn’t finding anything new and I felt I was becoming somewhat immune to the graphics which seemed to be inevitable. Shadows of Berlin is an exception. It’s a powerful andmore
Some of It Was Real
by Nan Fischer
Unexpectedly good (2/18/2022)
This is the first book that I've read in a while that I could not put down. On the surface, it's the story of two adversaries, Sylvie, a rising psychic-medium who may be a fraud and Thomas, a journalist, out to prove she is one. Thomas wants a story and challenges Sylvie tomore
Activities of Daily Living: A Novel
by Lisa Hsiao Chen
A Tale of Two Stories and Musings (1/8/2022)
I have to admit up front that I'm conflicted about this book. It's basically a book with two story lines but it's also packed full of little known snippets of information and the authors musings mostly about those little snippets. I actually found this to be the best partmore
The Lighthouse
by Christopher Parker
Unexpected (9/27/2021)
This book started out very slowly for me. I felt the writing was stiff and it wasn’t very interesting. But I also couldn’t put it down because I wanted to know about the lighthouse and it’s relevance to Amy’s story. Reading further, I was just confused as the story reallymore
Ariadne
by Jennifer Saint
A Pleasant Surprise (4/5/2021)
I was very hesitant to read this book. Greek mythology is not really my cup of tea. I certainly am glad that I did. The story of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, king of Crete after the slaying of the Minotaur, her brother is a fascinating one. She finds herself on Naxos,more
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