Salem, Mass is the location of this story. In the beginning three women women are murdered that are suspected of being witches.The worse thing was the banshee cry. Rose was there and though a professional women she was suspected of the murders and went a little crazy.

Cassie was a young daughter of one of the murdered women and Rose protected her and became her surrogate mother. Hearing Rose is doing poorly she comes back to Salem with her singing bowls to help.

I really enjoyed this book learning about singing bowls.

A wonderful story of a mystery set in China of today. I loved the characters and savored reading the book. Well written and flowed. Not for readers that want a one night read.

What an interesting book. I am descended by grandparents of the Dakotas in the 1850s As a result I am interested in all the stories of these brave people. Although the book is fiction, it is based on a real women's life although she preferred to be not Lucy but Joseph.

As Lucy becomes the victim as a women she reaches out to rid herself of that victim and becomes a man in dress and demeanor. She may then support herself and make a life outside of a marriage. This is the story of that freedom she strives to attain.

A translated German mystery novel that is a fast read but not boring at all. The narrator takes us with him to all the pertinent people connected to the gruesome murders; of the farmer and his wife, daughter and her 2 children, plus a maid, which had transpired in the home and the barn. The narrator gave us a chance to know all the key players. We learned their dreams, the local gossip, and the thoughts in their minds.

The author is an impressive story teller and worthy of our notice with the unfolding of the story.

We read the Coming of Age books but this is the opposite. This book is the Autumn of Age. It is a great story of a Mom with six daughters all different personalities of course. What has happened to make Mimi a little withdrawn and why do her girls think there is some secret that is with held from them.
This is a book for Mothers and Daughters and even has an edge of romance to the story.

I found the book subject interesting but only finished half of it as it traveled between times and characters at a rapid rate. I just could not settle into the story.

I had to give it a four as it was way too wordy. Description is needed but it was overkill.

The story was really good and deserves a 5 as was in a small way like the TV show, Person of Interest. The timing was off , just when you got into the story it would shift you to another completely different scene.

This story has five generations of women all in the same home. The story catches you in the beginning and attaches you to one of the women. It progresses to the secrets and loves that women hide in their hearts.
Buy a jar of olives and let your tongue roll around it as your mind wanders through the olive groves.

I have been to Arcadia.
This is one of those rare books in which the writer hypnotizes you.
I had a hard time getting through this book as I could only read a few pages at a time. Not being a physiologist, I can only wonder why. I think it was too rich for my mind to handle in large doses.
The story starts with a hippie commune in Arcadia, New York, built on the idealist premise that all human being are equal with the same work ethic. Then the freeloaders and the king pin (Handy) erode the system.
This story we hear through a sensitive Childs (Bit) brain as a toddler on through the middle age of 55years old and a photographer in the City. We only know what his brain tends to tell and therefore no quotation marks are used.
There is no big “Wow” moment as the story is of ordinary people living their ordinary lives. With a quiet, introspective, telescopic glimpse of Lauren Groff’s characters in the mind of Bit Stone we get to read on that road.
With the writing of Lauren Groff we are transported to the world of beautiful phrases and thoughts.

Beth McMullen is a California resident and that is all I can tell you or….shoot you.
This is her debut novel about Lucy Hamilton; spy, stay-at-home Mom to Theo, and wife to Will a tree hugger.
We meet Lucy crawling around her backyard looking for something or someone her intuition has alerted her senses. We learn that her paranoia is because she had been a spy by the name of Sally Sin.
This fell a little short on the comic side for me and I was not thrilled by the flashbacks, as they seemed a little contrived and not flowing. It is a good story and has well described characters especially Ian Blackford her former handler. I think future novels will be better.
This is reminiscent of Jane Doe on Hallmark Mysteries.

People is wise ‘cause they get out in the world and live. Wisdom comes from experience—from knowin' each day is gift and accepting it with gladness. -----But ain’t no book in the world gonna make you wise.
Beth Hoffman has written a feel good story that has a delightful cast of characters amid the loss of a mother in mind and then body.
CeCe is a smart 12 year old and by today’s definition was abused as a child and her mother is nuts in a funny sad way. Her mother, Camille, is a Georgia belle rotting in the cold of Willoughby Ohio and keeps reliving her glory days as an Onion Queen. The father is unable to cope with his wife’s illness or CeCe so he becomes mostly.. absent. This all takes place in the 1960’s.
As her mother’s illness results in her death, CeCe goes to Savannah, Ga to live with her wealthy great, great aunt Tootie Caldwell. and her household help Oletta Jones. This is where the fun and adventures begin.
I am not sure why anyone lumps this book together with THE HELP except they are both in the South in 1960. It is more poor girl to rich girl with the good and evil witches along for the ride. Once you meet Violene and Thelma, that is all you need to fully enjoy this book complete with a cat fight at a posh garden party.

I had never read a Lee Child book before and did not know what I was missing. It is also a series that is written to start with an end book without loss of continuity.
Jack Reacher has a rugged Clint Eastwood aura but not a physical entity to this reader. He is an ex-military man with no ties to anywhere or anyone. An enigma.
In "Gone Tomorrow" he sees a woman on the subway, in New York City, that looks to be a suicide bomber. She has all the characteristic tells. His military training makes it imperative that he confront her as gently as is possible. This will open Pandora's box of all Government agencies with initials and political figures.

I may have missed the author’s intent in this book. I never really connected to the characters but the energy of the TV show Pushing Daisies with splashes of Alice in Wonderland did keep me turning the pages looking for that elusive moment. At times I missed the quotation marks that were nonresistant.
The story is divided into four parts. It is the story of a girl with a gift, from eight years old into her twenties. Rose lives with her father, a fact only lawyer, the fanciful mother, and the brother, Joseph, with his own weird gift. It is a story of a dysfunctional family with each person having a part that is just not typical.
Rose’s gift is the’ gift of food tasting’ but not just the flavor of the food, but the growing, marketing and finally the cooking. All of the steps it takes from beginning to end. She can tell you the local it was grown, how it was marketed, and what the cook was feeling it was prepared. This is not all good.
The phrasing was wonderful and I would stop and just re-read sentences.
‘A name so vague I never remember it.’
‘Out the window, the breezeless stillness of a desert spring.’

This book will take you on a journey through the mist of truth, whole truth, and the half-truth of Yvonne’s life. After her husband’s sudden death she will travel to Turkey, recreating the memory of the joyous times of their honeymoon. It is there she will meet her landlord as she has rented his mistress’s home, his wife who is just a little curious, and a young boy whom she befriends.
I liked this book and the pace and rhythm of the writing did not lag.
Anyone who has lost someone close to them will understand her meandering and confusion along with a quiet strength. The selfishness that prevails as you are afraid you will lose YOU and because you do not quite know who you are.
It seems the author has an acute knowledge of this purgatory.

I gravitated to this book as the reviews stated the story was born of a real person but fictionalized.

It started out very strong and the characters were very much like the yuppy culture of today. As it went on I started to dislike Erika as a spoiled brat. She was gifted with the voice of an angel and yet angry as she could not have a child. I almost felt her stamping of feet….but I want a child and then continue my dream to sing opera in Italy. The husband, Peter, was almost as bad.

Enter the timeless issue of fertility and the doctor, Dr. Ravell , with his modern designs for infertility treatment.

The three lives become intertwined in Boston, beautiful and lush coconut plantations in Trinidad and finally in Italy.

This book has a romantic story to tell and is an easy read.

I enjoyed this story of India, adoption, culture differences, families and history.

The author takes you on a journey with Somer, a singular breadth of view, only child of well-to-do parents brought up in California and her meeting and marriage to Krishnan, a fellow intern that happens to be from India.

Somer is not a bad person at all, but has the plight of an only child that has never had to share or compromise.

The contrast is in the parallel story where we meet Kavita, an Indian woman that morns the loss of two daughters, one that she gives to an orphanage and one that dies.

My favorite character is Krishnan’s mother, Sarla. As a mother-in-law she is judgmental but understanding of this new daughter-in-law and is portrayed as a wise woman and great grandmother.

Secret Daughter has deep meanings of differences in old cultures. Some can be ever so cruel but others are wonderful

I know you will want to read and savor this powerful book of strong, smart women with so much food for thought and contemplation.

A quiet, thought provoking book that was so well written and interesting. A story based loosely on a William Dawes. The Lieutenant is the story of a young man that never quite belonged as he was a genius and maybe autistic. I found him shy, naive, and innocent even after encountering war. After the war he ended on a ship taking prisoners to New South Wales. It is here that the real story takes place and Kate Grenville writes a clean and clear story of the behavior of humans.

This was a hard book to finish because I found myself lost in thought and not reading. A beautiful book.

This book was the best book I read this year, hands down. I was taken hostage in its pages and hated to be torn from them.

When I cannot capture the imagination of a book, I tend to find the phrases that do not work with the time period. It was disconcerting to read a five person account. Not being a writer I do not know what could be done but it was a little daunting having to change thought processes for each main character.

Walk through the streets with descriptions of Mykonos, the interworking of the Political force and the ever present pagan gods alongside the Christian saints.
Meet Andreas the Chef of Police as he involves all the above in a mystery that has lots of suspects and bodies that keeps you guessing until the end!