The character of Pearl in Hotel Cuba may be the best female character I have come across in a very long time. She carries the book. From the opening pages, author Aaron Hamburger tells us everything we need to know about Pearl. First her name: to use a cliche, she is a real gem. Three paragraphs in: "Eat," says Pearl, offering an orange to her younger sister, Frieda." From her youth (which was really not a youth as we know it), Pearl has always taken care of Frieda just as she has taken care of others. She grows a tough protective shell, in part from her embarrassment of not knowing the ways of a new culture but mostly from her own insecurity as the family workhorse. The sheer joy of Hotel Cuba is watching Pearl's growth first as a woman but also as she gains confidence in her work as a seamstress. It's like watching a colt learning how to walk on wobbly legs while you are rooting all the way for it to gain stride and trot off into the sunset. Hotel Cuba is beautifully told, a testimonial to the strength of the human spirit and a reminder that, no matter what, we need to keep putting one foot in front of the next to move forward. Or, as Pearl ponders near the book's conclusion: "This is how life is, giving up some things to get others.You make these decisions one at a time, find the best way to push forward, and move to the next thing. It's the opposite of making a dress, where everything is planned out before you act. Only when you look back on your life do your choices create a line, a shape, yes a pattern."

Oh how I loved this book: lyrical, heart-wrenching and so well-crafted. At its heart, "River Sing Me Home" examines slavery just after the "emancipation" of slaves in the Caribbean islands, primarily in the sugar trade. But more importantly, it is an allegory of Rachel who refuses to be bound by the life others would have her live and begins a search for her children, all taken from her to sell into slavery. Pretty much used for breeding, Rachel had 11 children, five who survived and taken from her at various ages.

More than Rachel's journey, what struck me was our interconnectedness and the beauty of helping one another navigate life's rough roads. From the book's early chapters, Rachel receives help from Mama B who comments on "the connection between all things.... We can't just take; we also must give." And "Because someone help me when me need it. And you should not take help if you not gon' give it when the time comes." As Rachel gains confidence and strength, she flowers in the help she gives to others, paying forward what she received.

Her discovery of each child was fascinating and each so different. There were no fairy tale reunions but the bitter reality of reconnecting after suffering so much trauma.

"River Sing Me Home" was an impressive, moving first novel by Eleanor Shearer and hopefully we will have more of her beautiful writing in the years ahead.

It seems we have a new sub-genre of books featuring the social commingling of young people (often troubled young women) with octogenarians for an outcome that solves problems for both ends of the age spectrum, e.g. "The Story of Arthur Truluv" and "A Man Called Ove". This is the basic formula for "The Big Finish" by Brooke Fossey. I really wanted to like this book, especially since the first impressions made by the cover art looked like there would be a clever treat in store. But I just couldn't engage my temporary suspension of disbelief to buy the premise that a house full of elderly folks and one uber-attractive chef would be able to help a young woman deep in the throes of alcoholism complete enough of a detox in a couple of days, thereby enabling a dramatic personality makeover. And while the old folks were endearing in a "Cocoon" sort of way, the references to shaky hands, walkers and other nursing home type trappings became a little tired about mid-way through the book. "The Big Finish" tried to offset the hardship of aging with humor, but I found one of the more compelling themes to be the very real worry of many of Centennial's (the name of the nursing home) residents that their lifespans would outpace their financial resources. All in all, I enjoyed "The Big Finish" but felt that some of its predecessors achieved more success with the formula.

I am a Joshilyn Jackson fan. I love her small town characters, her sense of humor and her humanity. So I am predisposed to like just about anything she writes. This was the case with "Never Have I Ever" which was somewhat of a departure from earlier books in that it is MUCH more suspenseful and just plain scary… almost a mash-up of Joshilyn Jackson meets Gillian Flynn. We still have the appealing small town characters and the chuckle-out-loud moments. And like her earlier books, secrets factor heavily into the plot and character motivation, and these secrets drive the edgy darkness of the plot. Amy Whey seems your typical suburban mom: power walking in the morning, attending book club meetings, caring for her adorable infant son and shuttling teen-age step-daughter. Her routine is remarkably unremarkable until Roux shows up in the neighborhood and throws Amy's carefully-balanced life into disarray. (Love the sticky, pasty symbolism of Roux's name as well as "rue" pun opportunity.)

I didn't expect the darkness and incredible suspense of "Never Have I Ever" and Jackson does a masterful job building surprise after surprise into the plot. It had me turning pages far beyond my typical bedtime. Scuba diving factors heavily into the story, an activity which introduced Amy to her husband and step-daughter and an activity which brings about a crisis with Roux. We feel Jackson's love of diving which she characterizes in her author's notes as "….a meditation, it is peace" which sharply contrasts with the war which Amy is waging with Roux.

A delicious, page-turning treat!

Margo Channing, meet Maurice Swift, your successor to the crown of bald-faced ambition.

Aside from my extreme prejudice to love anything John Boyne writes, I found myself feeling a bit anxious about 1/3 of the way into "A Ladder to the Sky." At this point, I had no great positive feeling for any of the characters and only a sinking feeling that things would get worse. And worse they got but along with way, I came to appreciate this chilling look at the literary business proving that politics is not the only venue for back-stabbing vitriol. It is a masterfully-crafted character study of Maurice Swift seen from the eyes of two of his victims as well as himself.

For some reason, I have always seen writing as a noble profession with little of the ugliness that can be encountered in more pedestrian careers. But "A Ladder to the Sky" indicates that it is subject to the same ugliness of human nature as other vocations. Maurice Swift is the epitome of the professional climber and his single-minded pursuit of success gets progressively more violent as the story progresses. At first, he is simply careless with the feelings of others but the casualties of his ambition get progressively worse the longer he goes unchecked.

It is a frightening story well told.

Rich People Problems. I had this refrain in the back of my head while I read "The Family Tabor." The book revolves around patriarch Harry Tabor who, by all outward appearances, has it all: a beautiful family, prosperity and a dynamic self, a self which shows no sign of diminishing at 70 years of age. But on the occasion of his receiving Palm Springs' Man of the Decade recognition for his good works, Harry has a crisis of confidence.

And thus, author Cherise Wolas begins our trip down the rabbit holes of Harry's and each member of his family's introspection. It is beautifully written, at times a little heavily-handed so, but we dwell so long in this introspective world, it becomes a little tiresome. Each family member strives for excellence, to eschew the "quotidian," a word Wolas must really like because it is liberally sprinkled throughout the novel. Hopefully an editor will prune a few of them.

At the heart of "The Family Tabor," we have the theme of atonement which runs parallel to the intense religious examination of some of the characters. I think the essence of the book's message is in the last sentence of chapter 49: "because the past is always part of the present."

At the end of the day, I couldn't help but feel Wolas was trying too hard — to impress us with the language and the DEEP meaning. I appreciate her skill but felt like I needed to walk in the real world after closing the last page.

Disclaimer: I am a pushover for time-travel fiction. It all started with my fascination with the television show Bewitched and Elizabeth Montgomery's fantastic nose. For a theme that requires an absolute suspension of disbelief, it's interesting how some of the best time travel writers have very strong academic chops. Diana Gabaldon has three degrees including a Ph.D in Ecology. Along comes Melodie Winawer, who brings her share of impressive academic credentials as a physician-scientist and associate professor of neurology at Columbia. My conclusion is that, while time-travel seems to be a fanciful theme on the surface, high-quality work requires a painstaking attention to detail and enormous intellectual discipline to bring it off. And Melodie Winawer sure does that.

Her protagonist is neurosurgeon Beatrice Trovato who demonstrates an uncanny empathic connection with her patients. In fact, "Empathy" is the title of the first chapter where we meet Beatrice who is singularly focused on her career. Her social life is limited to visits to a neighborhood book store where she has befriended the owner. Her only family tie is to her brother, Benjamin, a scholar living in Siena, Italy where he is as equally obsessed with his chosen path studying medieval life and the events leading up to the disaster known as the Black Death. Brother and sister have been apart for three years and Beatrice decides it is high time for a trip to visit the part of the world that has so enthralled her brother.

Beatrice is in Siena only a short time before her empathic gift emerges in a different way and propels her from present-day to 1347. Winawer is an excellent writer and moves effortlessly between modern vernacular to language that feels medieval but without all of the confusing parts. I really liked the characters of Beatrice and her medieval paramour and also appreciated that Winawer refrained from moving into the "bodice-ripping" terrain that is familiar with certain other time-travel fiction. Winawer keeps the love story compelling without sinking too much into romantic novel territory and gives you the satisfaction of learning something along the way. What could be better?

I first met Armand Gamache in book 6, "Bury Your Dead", and was so smitten with all things Gamache that I went back to book #1 and started working my way through the Louise Penny series. Thankfully we return to the wonderful location of Three Pines after the departure to another location in the previous book. The release of tension is palpable as Gamache drives from Montreal to the village of Three Pines where the Internet is impossible, the newspapers are at least a day late and the residents as good as it gets. The innocence of Three Pines is even more compelling juxtaposed against the city of Montreal where Gamache continues to investigate a secret that threatens to bring down the entire province, unless it first brings down Gamache in his attempt to find the truth. The case he is working involves a former client of Myrna, who left her therapy practice to open a book store (library) in Three Pines. Myrna's client possesses a secret that started at her birth and as Gamache works to reveal this secret, he also makes his own investigation into the secret that lies rotting at the core of the Surete du Quebec. When Penny departed from Three Pines locale in the previous book, she also introduced a rift between Gamache and his right-hand man, Jean-Guy Bouvoir, struggling with an addiction to pain-killers. The relationship between Gamache and Bouvoir has been the soul of the series and I was so disappointed to see its eminent destruction, which continues in "How the Light Gets In". Penny has brought Gamache to the apex of his career and has also achieved the best in her series with "How the Light Gets In".

Walk Me Home is why I love Bookbrowse First Impressions. Otherwise, I would never have read this wonderful book or met its author whose earlier works I can't wait to read. I pretty much devoured Walk Me Home in one setting – aboard a 4-hour plane ride that felt like four minutes, and finished the rest in the car on the way home from the airport. Luckily I was not driving.

Walk Me Home begins with sisters Carly and Jen, ages 16 and 11, in the first of many crises. They are escaping by bicycle from an event that takes much of the book to unwind. Hyde perfectly captures the angst of youth with the push-pull of sisterhood. While some of their crises may lack perfect plausibility they do capture a terrific story which enjoys the magnificent setting of the western U.S.

There’s not much joy in this book, despite its opening celebration, a quinceañera, which I had to look up to learn that it is a sweet 15 party. The quinceañera is for the daughter of Octavio Mejia, the loyal manager of a ranch owned by Forster and Claire Baumsarg. We also meet the lemon tree that served as the source from which the thousands of trees were grafted to sustain the Baumsarg family for decades until the march of progress slowly ate away at the neighboring ranches leaving only theirs remaining. It’s ironic that the book opens with the celebration of a young girl entering womanhood as it leads to the first chapter and the kidnapping of Claire’s son, Josh, who will never make that same rite of passage. This act changes Claire and her family forever. The book moves at a leisurely pace, forcing you to feel their loss and filled with lush descriptions of ranch and family life. It is the ranch that anchors Claire, first through the opening tragedy and later when she is diagnosed with breast cancer. You feel her despair as she swims aimlessly through each day, assisted by Minna, an exotic Haitian barrista, fired from her job at a local coffee shop only to be discovered by Claire’s daughter, Lucy, anxiously searching for a caretaker to help navigate Claire through the throes of cancer treatment. Minna is both enchanting and frightening, slowly captivating Claire with her elixirs and tales of her magical upbringing. The pacing and language are remarkable, as is the character development. I did feel that the chapters focusing on Minna’s history were a bit abrupt, with a tacked-on feel to the rest of the story. But they did help to make sense of some of her motivations and actions. The Forgetting Tree creates a beautiful melancholy, made visceral by words and descriptions and the very human-ness of the characters.

A Simple Murder is the first published book by Eleanor Kuhns and I had the good fortune of receiving a First Impressions copy. The book is terrific – an amazing first effort and even better, promises a series. I became so enthralled with the characters, the locale and the mystery, I read the book over a period of two days! The story is set in 1796 when widower William Rees, a weaver by trade, returns to his farm from a round of travels, only to discover his 14-year old son, left in his sister’s keeping, has left home to join the Shakers. Rees travels to the Shaker community to bring his son home and is requested to solve the murder of a Shaker sister. This was the book’s one soft spot – the implausibility of why both the town sheriff and the Shaker elder would approve of an outsider to solve the crime, and Rees’ son’s recommendation that his father be considered for the task. The younger Rees is full of recrimination for his father’s abandonment at the hands of his aunt who packs him off so she and her nasty husband can assume wrongful ownership of Rees’ farm. In addition to Rees’ work to solve the murder, there are many dynamics at work in the book and many characters that can be a bit tricky to track. The Shaker village setting is most compelling and the selfless devotion to community an interesting counterpoint to the greed that serves as the backdrop of the book. I enjoyed learning a bit more about the Shakers and found the language and descriptions to be quite authentic. The resolution was terrifically satisfying and I can’t wait for the next book in the series. I am a fan!

King Peggy is not a book I normally would have chosen since I tend more toward fiction. But I am so glad I chose it from the books available for review, drawn toward the comparison of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. For sure King Peggy shares the African locale, featuring a cast of whimsical characters living in often harsh conditions. And like No. 1 Ladies', King Peggy shares a compelling, forceful protagonist with one major exception -- Peggielene Bartels, aka King Peggy, is very real. Born in Ghana, Peggy was educated in England and makes her way to the United States, where she has worked as a secretary in the Ghana embassy for many years. Her suburban one-bedroom condominium is modest by some US standards, but to her family and friends from Ghana, she is living in the lap of luxury, having achieved a level of success that some entire villages will never reach. Yet Peggy's life is not terribly satisfying or exciting. She moves through each day putting one foot in front of the other, yearning for her absent husband who rejoined his family in Africa after several failed attempts at starting a family.

But a late-night call changes all that when she is informed of her election as King of Otuam. And so begins an adventure made both amazing and fantastical as Peggy's "Yankee" can-do approach blends seamlessly with the mystical teachings of her African heritage to catapult Peggy into a role that changes her life and that of the 7,000 souls in her Otuam home forever. I was enthralled, amazed, delighted, overwhelmed and inspired by King Peggy.

The book took hold from the first page and didn’t let go until the last line. At the heart of the book are the well-drawn and very gripping characters including Piet Hoffman, an ex-con and former military man caught up in an intrigue that would have made a lesser man a pawn. Then we have Ewert Grens. Not having read any of the earlier Roslund & Hellstrom books, I had not yet made his acquaintance but definitely plan to go back and get to know him in the earlier books. We pick up at a particular painful part of his life with the passing of his wife. With both characters, we experience personal redemption as well as vanquishing of others whose self-serving motivations have gone unchecked for a very long time. This was an intricate, sophisticated plot, fantastic pacing and a very satisfying close. Wonderful!