Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Reviews by Tillie H. (Baltimore, MD)

If you'd like to be able to easily share your reviews with others, please join BookBrowse.
Order Reviews by:
Karolina's Twins
by Ronald H. Balson
Excellent book about the Holocaust (7/29/2016)
Wow! A well-written book that was hard to put down. Although this is another book about the Holocaust, it was also a book about determination and finding love and joy amidst the horrors of the war. It is definitely a book I will consider for my senior book club. Love this book!!!!!
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
by Phaedra Patrick
Heartwarming (4/20/2016)
This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. A story of "you're never too old" to start living. A book of mixed feelings and discovering oneself even when you thought you were too old and set in your ways to have such wonderful discoveries. The book takes us from a small town in England, to London, Paris and India. I truly loved this book, even though I'm not fond of British books.
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
by Phaedra Patrick
Wonderful book (4/4/2016)
This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. A story of "you're never too old" to start living. A book of mixed feelings and discovering oneself even when you thought you were too old and set in your ways to have such wonderful discoveries. The book takes us from a small town in England, to London, Paris and India. I truly loved this book, even though I'm not fond of British books.
The Same Sky
by Amanda Eyre Ward
Ehhh (2/12/2015)
I enjoyed the book, but thought the two stories should have intertwined much earlier than at the end. I kept wondering how these two stories were going to connect to each other. For that reason, I could only rate it 3 stars.
The Heist
by Janet Evanovich
Love it! (6/12/2013)
I have to disagree with the pros! I didn't think it was laugh-out-loud funny!

Great book. If you start out thinking this is going to be another Plum spinoff, you're in for a surprise. Janet can write/co-write some serious mystery/intrigue. The cast of characters is a little wild and some of the things they pull off are a little wacky, but it didn't make me laugh out loud like Plum. Overall, it was a good book. Light mystery/intrigue, no real blood and guts type of thing and she keeps it clean. There is sexual tension, but no down and out sex scenes, which is good for those who want it clean.

I've just finished this one and want to see more! - Janet and Lee - write fast!
Her Last Breath: A Kate Burkholder Novel
by Linda Castillo
Superb installment to this Amish series (5/7/2013)
Wow, Linda never fails to bring a suspenseful thriller to the readers. This one is no exception! Kate Burkholder continues to be torn between her former Amish life and her current Englisher life. People she has known her whole life are keeping secrets that she never would have expected, and she gets drawn into a tangle of lies and deceit that nearly kills her. This series just gets better and better all the time. If you love suspense and thrillers, this is a page-turner you won't want to put down.
Flight Behavior
by Barbara Kingsolver
Flight Behavior says it all (10/16/2012)
It’s the story of Dellarobia, who finds herself restless with life. She's basically trapped in a marriage with a man who she has come to love because he's good to her. She wakes up one morning set out on going to a rendezvous with a younger man who has flattered her. Instead she finds a colony of Monarch butterflies that have migrated to her little town in the Appalachian Mountains. She is so awestruck by this sight that she decides to go back to her family and "do the right thing". When her father-in-law announces that he wants to cut the trees down, she rises up and tells the community that she has seen this miracle of the butterflies.

Her announcement brings notoriety to her and starts a phenomenon that will rock her world to the core. She becomes very involved in the study of the butterflies and finds that she has more to offer the world than what her life consists of at this point. This phenomenon leads her to discover that she has just been settling for things because of the mistakes she has made.

It’s a very poignant story of a young woman struggling to find her true self and place in the world. As she struggles to find who she really is, she encounters secrets about her in-laws and husband. As the story concludes, the secrets lead her to once again make the decision to leave her current life, but to go off in a totally different direction. She decides to stop settling for what she has and go for more.

A very well-written book that will leave you with more knowledge about Monarch butterflies than you ever thought you needed, and shows the struggles of life in an Appalachian community.
The Innocents: A Novel
by Francesca Segal
Just so-so (6/6/2012)
This book has an interesting storyline, but there is so much extraneous material in it that it became a chore to get through it. The plot intrigued me, but I just couldn't get through the entire thing because of how things moved so slowly.
The Sometimes Daughter
by Sherri Wood Emmons
Loved this book (3/19/2012)
I loved this book. It was a great read from start to finish. It truly shows that just giving birth to someone does not make you their true mother.

It's the story of a young girl (Judy) struggling to cope with her feelings about growing up with a mother (Cassie) who ran away from reality and dropped in unannounced at the most inopportune times was incredible. The book was well-written from the viewpoint of the daughter who was caught in the fine line of hate and love for the woman who gave birth to her and walked out on her.

How can you grow up loving a mother who keeps leaving you to chase her own rainbows? The devastation Cassie brings every time she drops in out of the blue sends Judy back to dark places when she realizes that her own mother is too self-centered to be there for her at any point in her life.

I personally would love to see a sequel to this book, years down the road when Judy has become an adult and has a family of their own.
The Good Father: A Novel
by Noah Hawley
Compelling (1/19/2012)
This is a compelling novel about a father whose son has been accused of murdering the next president. The book is very well written and shows how the father believes in the son's innocence no matter what the media says. His journey through process causes him to soul search to discover if there is something he could have done to prevent this tragedy.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. The only part of this book that I didn't like is that he seeks to compare this situation with all the other assassinations that have made headlines in the past 5 decades. But, I would still recommend it.
Tides of War: A Novel
by Stella Tillyard
Slow moving (11/29/2011)
I thought this book was very slow moving and often confusing. So many characters to keep track of when going back and forth between home and the war setting.
Not one of the better books I've read this year.
The Night Circus: A Novel
by Erin Morgenstern
Magic vs reality (11/14/2011)
A wonderful book where magic and reality are blended together. The reader is quickly drawn in to the uniqueness of the circus, as well as the lives of Celia and Marco and the contest they must complete. Drawn together by a bond that was forced upon them as children, they build the circus which becomes the platform for the contest.

I highly recommend this book. It combines fantasy, intrigue and romance in a delightful book, sure to please.
Falling Together: A Novel
by Marisa De Los Santos
Friendships and love (9/7/2011)
Excellent book. I would highly recommend this book to someone who is seeking a book about friendship. Particularly someone who is looking to reconnect with old friends. It also demonstrates that you and someone you don't particularly like can achieve a bond and you can see the good in everyone.

I would highly recommend this book to a book club as there are many things that would make for a lively discussion.
  • Page
  • 1

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Missing Thread
    The Missing Thread
    by Daisy Dunn
    The fabric of ancient history is stitched heavily with stories of dramatic politics, conquest, and ...
  • Book Jacket: Model Home
    Model Home
    by Rivers Solomon
    Rivers Solomon's novel Model Home opens with a chilling and mesmerizing line: "Maybe my mother is ...
  • Book Jacket
    The Frozen River
    by Ariel Lawhon
    "I cannot say why it is so important that I make this daily record. Perhaps because I have been ...
  • Book Jacket
    Prophet Song
    by Paul Lynch
    Paul Lynch's 2023 Booker Prize–winning Prophet Song is a speedboat of a novel that hurtles...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Rose Arbor
by Rhys Bowen
An investigation into a girl's disappearance uncovers a mystery dating back to World War II in a haunting novel of suspense.
Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

No pleasure is worth giving up for the sake of two more years in a geriatric home.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.