Reviews by Becky H

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This Dark Road to Mercy
This Dark Road to Mercy
by Wiley Cash
THIS DARK ROAD TO MERCY (12/19/2013)
Two little girls who have just lost their mother to cancer are in foster care about to be sent to Alaska to live with Grandparents they have never seen. Enter their n’er-do-well father, a failed major league pitcher with a dark past and a sudden interest in his daughters. …more
The House Girl
The House Girl
by Tara Conklin
THE HOUSE GIRL by Tara Conklin (11/1/2013)
Josephine is a 17 year old slave in antibellum Virginia while Lina is a twenty something up and coming lawyer in present day NYC. The lives of these two become entwined when a wealthy Black client of Lina’s law firm starts a “slave reparations” law suit that becomes …more
The Wedding Gift
The Wedding Gift
by Marlen Suyapa Bodden
Read The Help or The Color Purple instead (9/14/2013)
I’m still not sure where or when the prologue was supposed to take place – perhaps it was a dream?

After some very stilted conversations and an inconsistent use of dialect, the story is interesting and holds your attention to the end. However, there are too many coincidences …more
The Screaming Staircase
The Screaming Staircase: Lockwood & Co.
by Jonathan Stroud
The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud (9/6/2013)
Lucy, Anthony and George are Lockwood and Company, a trio of children who can see, hear and sense ghosts. When ghosts become malevolent and plentiful in London and only children can defeat them, Lockwood and Company goes to work. Delightfully scary, with lots of blood and …more
In the Kingdom of Men
In the Kingdom of Men: A Novel
by Kim Barnes
Living in a company town (8/21/2013)
One of my friends lived in an ARAMCO compound during the 1960’s. The life depicted in THE KINGDOM OF MEN is much as she described it. Gin is running from a constricted life with a fundamentalist grandfather and finds herself living in the even more constricted …more
Five Days at Memorial
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
by Sheri Fink
Five Days at Memorial (8/13/2013)
Five Days at Memorial is two books in one. The first relates, through the eyes of those present, the happenings at Memorial Hospital during and after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Louisiana. The nurses, doctors, visitors and patients tell their stories as they …more
The Art Forger
The Art Forger
by B. A. Shapiro
self-fulfillling prophecy run pampant (8/7/2013)
This book will have you thinking about ALL the times you (or others) are influenced by what you EXPECT rather than what you actually see or hear or experience.
Although Shapiro uses real artist’s names and works, the novel is only loosely – very loosely – based on an actual …more
Letters from Skye
Letters from Skye
by Jessica Brockmole
A lovely story told in the lost art of letter writng (8/4/2013)
This was a lovely story with interesting people telling of their hopes and dreams in letters. A bit of a mystery is thrown into the mix in the last quarter. Just as in actual letters sent to strangers the characters become known bit by bit as they write about themselves, …more
Inferno
Inferno: A Robert Langdon Novel
by Dan Brown
Close calls and constant danger abound (7/31/2013)
INFERNO continues Brown’s tightly plotted, though rather incredulous, tales. The intrepid Robert Langdon is in Florence suffering from a head wound and amnesia. His foil is the intelligent and beautiful Sienna. Together they must save the world.
Brown’s characters are fairly …more
The Cuckoo's Calling
The Cuckoo's Calling
by Robert Galbraith
THE CUCKOO’S CALLING by Robert Galbraith (J K Rowling) (7/25/2013)
Rowling has written an engaging and tightly plotted mystery. The characters are well delineated and clearly drawn. I was especially impressed by how “true” the characters remained to themselves as the plot thickened (when I thought this was a debut novel). The situations …more
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot (7/25/2013)
It seems silly to go over the “plot” of this biography of Mrs. Lacks again, so I will just say that this non-fiction work details how Mrs. Lacks and her family were lied to, misled, ill informed, taken advantage of and used by the medical community after her cancerous cells …more
Loyalty
Loyalty
by Ingrid Thoft
LOYALTY by Ingrid Thoft (7/11/2013)
LOYALTY will have your heart pounding right along with “Fina”, the female and only non-lawyer member of the Ludlow family. Fina is a private investigator trying very hard to remain loyal to her family while solving the murder of one of her sisters-in-law and striving to …more
Loyalty
Loyalty
by Ingrid Thoft
LOYALTY by Ingrid Thoft (7/10/2013)
LOYALTY will have your heart pounding right along with “Fina”, the female and only non-lawyer member of the Ludlow family. Fina is a private investigator trying very hard to remain loyal to her family while solving the murder of one of her sisters-in-law and striving to …more
The Sandcastle Girls
The Sandcastle Girls: A Novel
by Chris Bohjalian
THE SANDCASTLE GIRLS by Chris Bohjalian (7/10/2013)
Follow Elizabeth, a proper Bostonian who is nursing at Syria’s Aleppo Hospital, and Armen, an Armenian engineer who fights with the British army in the Dardenelles, through 1915. The horror of the deportation of women and children into the Syrian desert after the massacre …more
City of Women
City of Women: A Novel
by David R. Gillham
The City Of Women (7/10/2013)
I started this book with great hope for a fascinating read. Kirkus and the New York Times promised a tale of love and intrigue. By the 100th page I was bored and didn’t like any of the characters. Sigrid seemed especially shallow. The plot hadn’t appeared yet and I quit reading. Sorry.
Children of the Jacaranda Tree
Children of the Jacaranda Tree
by Sahar Delijani
Interesting but Disappointing (6/19/2013)
I found this book to be both enormously interesting and vastly disjointed. It was difficult to follow the characters and time lines. Characters came and went with alarming frequency. Time jumped back and forth from the early days of the Iranian Revolution to the present …more
Amy Falls Down
Amy Falls Down
by Jincy Willett
A "good" read (6/15/2013)
After a slow start I really found myself enjoying the witty (though very dry) humor in this book. Amy grows on you as you discover more of her character and background. I especially enjoyed the names of the chapters, trying to see if I could find the relationship as I read. …more
Gulp
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal
by Mary Roach
GULP by Mary Roach (6/8/2013)
I always learn something when I read one of Roach’s books. And I usually am laughing when I learn it! Roach has a great (some would say twisted) sense of humor (don’t overlook the footnotes!) that enlivens a book that could be deadly dull. Never fear, Roach will entertain …more
Sisterland
Sisterland
by Curtis Sittenfeld
SISTERLAND by Curtis Sittenfeld (5/29/2013)
Twins, Kate (Daisy) and Violet, are psychic. One of them becomes a wife and mother and denies her ability. The other embraces it and actually earns a living by using her “senses” as a medium. When Violet, and later, Kate become convinced that a tragic earthquake will strike …more
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls
by Anton DiSclafani
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani (5/23/2013)
This big, rich novel covers only a year but manages to convey an entire lifetime. Thea, the main character, is a twin, a lover of horses and a girl who wants. Unfortunately what she wants is not necessarily good for her or her family or those she loves. Sent away from her …more

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