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Reviews by Janet P. (Spokane, WA)

Look on the Bright Side
by Kristan Higgins

What a great read (7/18/2024)

This is the first of Kristan Higgins books I've read. I definitely enjoyed it. It's not high brow literature but it includes great believable characters that are easy to like (or not like in the. case of Lorenzo Santini). The romance is not hot and heavy which I enjoy. I …more

The Kindest Lie
by Nancy Johnson

race, class, secrets, family (1/22/2022)

This was an intriguing read that kept me involved from page 1. It is a family story dealing with Ruth, a woman who made it out of small town America and is living the "American Dream" with her husband Xavier. But Ruth has a secret that is alluded to early in the book. For …more

The Voyage of the Morning Light: A Novel
by Marina Endicott

slogging along (7/11/2020)

This book was a story of two sisters, a young native boy adopted by the older sister and the husband of that older sister. The bulk of this book takes place during the end of the 18th century during a long (long long) trip from Canada across numerous Seas to deliver good …more

Sold on a Monday
by Kristina McMorris

Fascinating story (9/21/2018)

This story brought forth depression era US so vividly that I felt I was involved in the poverty which became the main story in the early 1930's in this country. The book's cover intrigued me with a picture of a little child leaning over a suitcase along with a sign on the …more

Anatomy of a Miracle
by Jonathan Miles

Anatomy of a Miracle (2/7/2018)

It took me quite a while to figure out whether or not this was a novel (the title includes an asterisk which leaves the reader wondering and "A Note on Methodology" which must have been tongue in cheek but made me question further) or non-fiction. Because of its style, I …more

Strangers in Budapest
by Jessica Keener

"Strange strange skies" (10/27/2017)

The opening quote to Jessica Keener's novel from "The Rolling Stones, 'Moonlight Mile'" truly described my feelings after a trip 25 years ago to Budapest, "Oh I'm sleeping under strange strange skies." Thus, I was fascinated to order, receive and read this book. I had just …more

Mercies in Disguise: A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and the Science That Rescued Them
by Gina Kolata

To know or not to know (11/22/2016)

To know or not to know seems to be the question considered in this book by author Gina Kolata. The reader is introduced to a family trying to discover the illness which they think may be plaguing more than one of the family members. The book takes us to research done by a …more

Since She Went Away
by David Bell

Since She Went Away (6/16/2016)

I love mysteries and this was an excellent mystery. I struggled between a 4-5 for this book and if there was the option, I would give it a 4. The characters were believable and the personal relationships felt real and natural. There was never a time that I didn't believe …more

All Is Not Forgotten
by Wendy Walker

I was hooked! (10/20/2015)

Wendy Walker's book lived up to its cover quote ,"The most stunning psychological thriller I've ever read...I loved it!" I was reading another novel when the book arrived, so my husband grabbed it and two days later reported, "it's great!" So Walker drew in both the husband …more

What Doesn't Kill Her: A Reeve LeClaire Series Novel
by Carla Norton

Did it Kill Her? (4/30/2015)

I received this book and within the next two days found time to read it whenever I could squeeze in the chance. My husband saw how engrossed I was and picked it up the second I was done and he chose it over tv or any other interruptions too. Now we are both planning to buy " …more

He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and His Daughter's Quest to Know Him
by Mimi Baird with Eve Claxton

The Moon was Painfully out of Reach (2/27/2015)

I was attracted to this book because of personal history. In both family and friends I have been touched by Bi-Polar Disorder through three individuals. The family suffering and pain as well as the pain to the individuals diagnosed has truly marked my life. My heart already …more ached for the disarray I saw this cause in families. Therefore the subtitle "The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and His Daughter's Quest to Know Him" hooked me. Mimi Baird is one brave woman. She reveals to the reader the confusing love, fear, hate, pity and confusion that any mental illness, but specifically Manic-Depression, brings to a family, and in her case, to a daughter kept from the truth of her father's illness until very late in her life. Dr Perry Baird was a brilliant physician lost to his world of success and accomplishment, to mental illness, in a time that the first solution was incarceration in Mental "Hospitals" and the final "solution" was lobotomy. The inclusion in the first half of the book of the handwriting of Perry Baird through his varying submissions to his "future book" along with doctor's comments and Mimi's memories was a stroke of genius. There was something compelling about reading the words, "I am caught, caught, caught" in Dr. Baird's own handwriting. The psychological effect on the reader multiplied over what it would have been had those words only been included in the book's normal font! Much of Perry Baird's narrative while hospitalized sound like anything but a crazy person, yet the reappearing sense of grandeur and need to work around the clock, interspersed with times of crippling sadness and depression spoke volumes. To realize that this man, with all he had working against him, came close to understanding the biological nature of his malady, again was heartbreaking. Dr Baird's own words, "And so the story unravels itself. A story predestined to take the course it has followed, a character on the stage of life, seemingly driven along by strange compulsions beyond his understanding. So much happened so quickly, so much to remember forever, so much to haunt the corridors of memory...We are only to such a limited degree the pilot of our soul, the captain of our ship," left me in tears. These are the last words we hear from Dr. Perry Baird before his daughter Mimi, our author, begins again her story of her search for a father, who was removed from her life at age six. I was greatly moved by this book and highly recommend it to anyone interested in medicine, mental illness, family love and lore. It was quite a read! (less)

The Same Sky
by Amanda Eyre Ward

The Same Sky (12/18/2014)

This book tells the story of a young Honduran girl, Carla, and her brother (with a mother in the US) and of a woman named Alice who lives in the US with her husband Jake. The story weaves back and forth between these two protagonists, leaving the reader convinced that their …more

The Paris Winter
by Imogen Robertson

Art, sociology, history combine in a turn of the century mystery (7/22/2014)

This was one of those books I couldn't put down, except to hit my computer to help me discover what life was really like in Paris of 1909-1910. What I found in my research was that I was receiving a colorful, accurate description of Paris during that winter of those years …more

Buying In
by Laura Hemphill

I didn't entirely buy in (10/31/2013)

Laura Hemphill tells a great story. If I had more than just one category with which to rate this book I would have given Ms. Hemphill a 5 for story, a 4 for quality writing and a 2 because of use of details that are quite hard to follow for a non-wall-street-wise reader. I …more

The Affairs of Others
by Amy Grace Loyd

disappointed in the affair (7/18/2013)

I am a huge Jess Walter fan so when I read his comments regarding this book I was excited. However, the book was a forced read for me. I felt I owed it to the publisher to read a book that was given to me free of charge, so I did. The main character was clearly a tortured …more

A Murder at Rosamund's Gate: A Lucy Campion Mystery
by Susanna Calkins

A great murder mystery (4/1/2013)

I was glued to this book from the first page. Period mysteries are my favorite, but so often the murderer is either obvious or a ridiculous character added at the last second to fulfill the author's need for a culprit. This was neither of those. The characters were well …more

A Murder at Rosamund's Gate: A Lucy Campion Mystery
by Susanna Calkins

A Murder that kept me Guessing (4/1/2013)

I couldn't put down this book from the minute I picked it up. The period was displayed in a fascinating manner, the characters were true to life and well written and the mystery itself took me in and kept me reading. It was a book that I was sorry to see come to an end. I …more

Bone River
by Megan Chance

"Something Was Coming" (12/4/2012)

I am from the Pacific Northwest and spent some years living on the Yakima reservation where I enjoyed museums, discussions and classes focusing on Native American culture. Megan Chance caught the slow moving sense of the tribes of the Northwest in the narration of a late …more

A Simple Murder
by Eleanor Kuhns

A mysterious trip to another era (4/18/2012)

The two days I spent reading A Simple Murder by Eleanor Kuhns brought me racing back to the book anytime I had a chance. I'm a former high school English teacher and a lover of just about any genre, but my pet peeve is a mystery book that ends with the committer of the …more

Loose Diamonds: ...and other things I've lost (and found) along the way
by Amy Ephron

Things I've also lost and found along the way (8/16/2011)

Amy Ephron's new book of 18 essays brought chuckles and tears to me, a woman who had lived through similar times. I'm a mother of four, wisely divorced, happily remarried, a daughter of a mother who would never dream of putting a milk bottle on the table, and a somewhat ADD …more

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Becoming Madam Secretary
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New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating novel about an American heroine France Perkins—now in paperback!

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The Husbands
by Holly Gramazio

The Husbands delights in asking: how do we navigate life, love, and choice in a world of never-ending options?

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The Jackal's Mistress
by Chris Bohjalian

From the New York Times bestselling author of Hour of the Witch, a Civil War love story of a Confederate wife and a wounded Yankee.

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A Map to Paradise
by Susan Meissner

From the USA Today bestselling author of Only the Beautiful. 1956, Malibu, California: Something is not right on Paradise Circle.

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Reviews by Janet P. (Spokane, WA)

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