BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Reviews by Molinda C. (Suffolk, VA)

The Fortune Hunter
by Daisy Goodwin

Average period romance (4/6/2014)

The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin is a highly readable Victorian era novel about a romance triangle. It centers on the Empress of Austria, the infamous Sisi, the Fortune Hunter of the title, Bay Middleton, and a young English heiress, Charlotte. Ms. Goodwin does an …more

Mating for Life
by Marissa Stapley

Great chick lit read (3/11/2014)

Marisa Stapely has an engaging writing style. Every chapter is headed by a description of an animals mating habits and she does a nice job tying these in with each of the characters through the story. Each character is well written and their stories are compelling and …more

Walk Me Home
by Catherine Ryan Hyde

A good read (4/23/2013)

Walk Me Home is a story about 2 sisters who are making their way to what they wish/hope will be a new home. Throughout their long walk they learn what home and love really are. Though this is a young adult novel, I was gratified to see that the children/young adult are not …more

The Caretaker
by A .X. Ahmad

Meh... (3/28/2013)

I was looking forward to this book. It is a genre that I enjoy...action/adventure and took place in two settings that I enjoy--India and Boston/Martha's Vineyard. Unfortunately, the story quickly fell flat. Outside of the protagonist, character development was lacking and …more

The Chance: A Novel
by Karen Kingsbury

Predictable (3/9/2013)

In the first 10 pages you absolutely know how the book is going to end. No plot spoiler here. The thing that kept me reading was that the story that was told is one I am always interested in reading. I like knowing that people...even fictional people...can overcome their …more

A Thousand Pardons
by Jonathan Dee

Page Turner (10/18/2012)

I was hooked from the opening pages of Jonathan Dee's "A Thousand Pardons". I could not put the book down and completed it the day that I started. It is a story about a family that falls apart and then some how puts things back together--but there is so much more. The …more

The Forgetting Tree: A Novel
by Tatjana Soli

Terrifying book (8/15/2012)

This is a great story but this book is emotionally terrifying. It is a story of loss and the control that we cede to others in times of need. This story examines the relationships in families and how hard we try to "make things" right for them. From the first page you know …more

Have Mother, Will Travel: A Mother and Daughter Discover Themselves, Each Other, and the World
by Claire & Mia Fontaine

Have Mother, Will Travel (6/17/2012)

This book takes work. Both mother and daughter spend time in self reflection and and in analysis of their relationship with each other. The world is their setting--apparently you need to take a break from life in order to be able to figure it out...what a luxury! I enjoyed …more

The Voluntourist: A Six-Country Tale of Love, Loss, Fatherhood, Fate, and Singing Bon Jovi in Bethlehem
by Ken Budd

I couldn't decide (4/16/2012)

My husband said, "You must be enjoying that book, you have laughed out loud several times", and while this was true, I was still undecided. The Voluntourist impressed me as the man's version (rip-off) of Eat, Pray, Love and because it was written by a man, I did not connect …more

Three Weeks in December
by Audrey Schulman

Read this book (1/19/2012)

I am a developmental pediatrician and so was drawn to this book because one of the main characters has Asperger's syndrome. The author did a great job getting inside that character's head and helped us to understand the point of view of an Aspie. This story is told in 2 …more

Wayward Saints
by Suzzy Roche

Quirky but rewarding (11/14/2011)

This is a good story about a mother and daughter finding themselves and each other after long years of estrangement. The writing is somewhat heavy handed with a few too many extraneous adjectives that got in the way of the plot for me. I appreciate that the author avoided a …more

Serena: A Novel
by Ron Rash

Serena (9/29/2009)

This book was difficult for me to read at first. I knew that something bad was going to happen and I wanted it to happen right then so that the pervasive sense of foreboding could go away. Well, bad things started happening all right. This is a Greek Tragedy set in a …more

Sweeping Up Glass
by Carolyn Wall

Great story! (8/10/2009)

This story seems on the face to be one of cliches that we have seen too often recently--southern white girl who is close to black townsfolk in the segregated south battling entrenched racism in her town. But "Sweeping up Glass" draws you in from the first page. There is a …more

Gifts of War: A Novel
by Mackenzie Ford

"Gifts of War", like some gifts, not all I hoped for. (5/3/2009)

"Gifts of War" did not draw me in in the way that I had hoped. As a person in the military, I was interested in this book as a work of historical fiction. In that sense, Mackenzie Ford delivers. Her story is set within the chaotic backdrop of England during WWI. She writes …more

BookBrowse Book Club

Real Americans
by Rachel Khong

From the author of Goodbye, Vitamin, a novel exploring family, identity, and the shaping of destiny.

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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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The Devil Finds Work
by James Baldwin

A book-length essay on racism in American films, by "the best essayist in this country" (The New York Times Book Review).

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The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris
by Evie Woods

From the million-copy bestselling author of The Lost Bookshop.

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