Reviews by Debra F. (Cudjoe Key, FL)

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The Magician of Tiger Castle
The Magician of Tiger Castle
by Louis Sachar
It's Magic (4/3/2025)
The Magician of Tiger Castle
Louis Sachar
I always enjoy when a children's/young adult author does the crossover to adult fiction. They always seem to get the right amount of whimsy with complex situations, and this was no exception!

I love stories about magic, it was there; …more
L.A. Women
L.A. Women
by Ella Berman
Women (3/6/2025)
This was not my favorite book. I had a hard time just 'liking' the characters; too much whining, too much complaining.
The story takes place in 2 different timelines. One of the women disappears and so they go back to the beginning of their relationship.
I generally enjoy …more
Happy Land
Happy Land
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The Kingdom (10/31/2024)
It is amazing how little we know of the history of certain people & places. I never knew there was a 'Kingdom of Happy Land" up in the North Carolina mountains with an honest to goodness King & Queen.

This story is about resilience & family & everything …more
The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl
The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl
by Bart Yates
pleasantly surprised (5/20/2024)
I was very hesitant to read this book, it didn't sound like something I would like but I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the character of Isaac Dahl, his ruminations, his relationships, his take on life.

I would definitely recommend this story, told over 96 years, in …more
The Funeral Cryer
The Funeral Cryer: A Novel
by Wenyan Lu
Funeral Cryer (2/4/2024)
It was very interesting to learn about funeral crying, Chinese culture, chinese food. The narrator, while sometimes wandering, expressed thoughts & feelings about her life, her responsibilities etc. Her life isn't easy, her husband not always nice...but there is the …more
The House on Biscayne Bay
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
Is it the House? (1/3/2024)
When Anna Barnes moves to Miami with her husband in the early 1920s, she is not thrilled, even though her husband has built her a gorgeous home there. What is wrong with this house?
Set in two time zones, exploring long ago secrets, a murder, a re-building & another …more
The Waters
The Waters: A Novel
by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Beware The Waters (11/28/2023)
A bit slow in the beginning. I really enjoyed the setting & the characters.

It is set in the swampy area of Michigan. A healer of sorts & her granddaughter live in an old cottage, with a dog, donkeys and chickens. Donkey is more comfortable around the donkeys, which …more
Wild and Distant Seas
Wild and Distant Seas: A Novel
by Tara Karr Roberts
Call me Ishmael (10/5/2023)
First off, being from Boston, I love books where I'm familiar with the territory. And I love historical fiction. And books about strong women. This story had everything I love about reading. I was transported back to a 'simpler' time. Using Moby Dick as a starting point was …more
Niceville
Niceville: A Novel
by Carsten Stroud
Nice or not (5/17/2012)
I enjoyed this story, told from multiple characters about a long-ago disappearance, cop killings, a bank robbery, and family. There is alot going on here and it took me a while to get into the story but once there, I didn't want it to end. A little thriller, a little horror, …more
Cloudland
Cloudland: A Crime Novel
by Joseph Olshan
Based on a true story?!? (2/29/2012)
Cloudland is a murder mystery with strong psychological twists and turns. The setting of Vermont (with wee bits of New Hampshire) highlights the rural landscape. Catherine Winslow finds a body while walking up her road. Her neighbor, a forensic psychiatrist as well as other …more
The Healing
The Healing: A Novel
by Jonathan Odell
The Healing (2/16/2012)
I really enjoyed this book from beginning to end. It was sweet, funny, and sad. You know a book is great when that happens. I loved the way the story unfolded, and thought the author did a good job of developing characters relevant to the time period and believable. I felt …more
Falling Together
Falling Together: A Novel
by Marisa De Los Santos
Not a Love Triangle... (9/6/2011)
Marisa De Los Santos takes three young people, Pen, Will, and Cat, and gives then quirks, beliefs, errors, and hardship. They love one another as friends until they don't.

The blow-up among them leaves each adrift. A college reunion promises to help them sort things out, …more
The Language of Flowers
The Language of Flowers: A Novel
by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Flowers in Bloom! (6/7/2011)
I can't say enough in praise of this debut novel about the facets of relationships between mothers and daughters, friends and lovers. The story is filled with heartache, heartbreak, small miracles, and love, and it's all pulled together with the meanings and messages of the …more
Outlander
Outlander
by Diana Gabaldon
Time and Love (2/26/2011)
Probably the best love story ever written! Gabaldon is a genius! Yes the book is violent and the premise seems unplausable, but it is amazingly well done. The characters are so full of life and dimension. They come to life in your head, and you can almost hear them speaking, …more
Outside Wonderland
Outside Wonderland: A Novel
by Lorna Jane Cook
Watching from "Here" (2/1/2011)
You will journey into the lives of three adult siblings who lost their parents as children; Alice, Dinah, and Griffen, (named after the characters in the Lewis Carroll stories).
Each one, in very different ways, tries to cope and to find happiness in their lives and the …more
The Tenth Song
The Tenth Song
by Naomi Ragen
Just okay for me... (10/9/2010)
This story is about a Jewish family in the "middle" of a financial scam to fund terrorism. The scandal brings out the "true" colors of the the family members; Shoshana, Josh, and Kayla and their significant others. Abigail, the wife, notices her friends vanishing, her rabbi …more
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  • Book Jacket
    The River Knows Your Name
    by Kelly Mustian
    A haunting Southern novel about memory and love, from the author of The Girls in the Stilt House.
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  • Book Jacket

    Happy Land
    by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

    From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.

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