BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Reviews by Julia A. (New York, NY)

Everything We Never Knew: A Novel
by Julianne Hough

Everything We Thought We Knew Turned Upside Down (7/21/2024)

I have just enough interest in and fascination with the paranormal (for want of a better term) to have enjoyed this book. Lexi's adventures in spiritual healing and her perseverance despite the skepticism of family and friends, were admirable. I enjoyed the colorful …more

Above the Salt: A Novel
by Katherine Vaz

A sweeping lyrical novel (10/6/2023)

I am amazed by how Katherine Vaz was able to take a small fragment of information about the real John Alves and weave it into a sweeping novel that held my attention from the very first page. I learned some things I didn't know before, such as the Catholic-Protestant strife …more

In the Time of Our History
by Susanne Pari

A Compelling History (10/18/2022)

Perhaps the immigrant group I know the least about is that of the Iranians who came to the United States after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This novel gave me insights into the world that they forged for themselves as they raised their U.S.-born children and adapted as best …more

The Empire of Dirt: A Novel
by Francesca Manfredi

Charming and Frightening (7/2/2022)

There is something both charming and frightening about this novel. The frightening part, the Biblical plagues ("Read the Book of Exodus," says Grandma) become a necessary adjunct to the plot, but lend a surreal quality to the book. Valentina's account of the year she was 12 …more

The Lies I Tell: A Novel
by Julie Clark

Clark does it again! (4/21/2022)

I didn't think Julie Clark could top The Last Flight, but top it she did! In Kat and Meg, she has given us two main characters about whom I has a reader came to care perhaps more than I should, given the human flaws of each. This book had me questioning even the very title. …more

Flesh & Blood: Reflections on Infertility, Family, and Creating a Bountiful Life: A Memoir
by N. West Moss

Writing rights the author's ship (8/28/2021)

N. West Moss was brave to write this book, which is partly an account of her illness, surgery, and recovery, and partly a memoir in which she keeps alive the stories of her Grandmother Hastings, whom I found to be a delightful character. While I got impatient with the …more

Never Saw Me Coming: A Novel
by Vera Kurian

Gripping (6/27/2021)

It is rare to read a novel in which the protagonists are psychopaths, but this author has the professional expertise and background to pull it off credibly. "Never Saw Me Coming" gripped me from the first page. I did like the other characters more than I liked Chloe, but …more

The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
by Sara Seager

An Outstanding Memoir (7/18/2020)

Sara Seager has had an extraordinary life so far. In this book, part memoir, part technical explanations of what astrophysicists actually do (the casual reader may want to skim these parts, though those of us who are fascinated by outer space will love them) she tells her …more

The Paris Hours: A Novel
by Alex George

I didn't want it to end (2/15/2020)

Rarely do I say about a book "I didn't want it to end." That is, however, the way I felt about The Paris Hours. Once I got used to the novel's pacing, the jumping back in time between the World War I years and the between-the-wars day in 1927 when the stories take place, …more

Mighty Justice: My Life in Civil Rights
by Dovey Johnson Roundtree , Katie McCabe

A Deeply Personal History of the Civil Rights Movement (9/17/2019)

In this remarkable book, the late Dovey Johnson Roundtree and her collaborator Katie McCabe present the history of the U.S. civil rights movement pre and post-Brown v. Board of Education in a way that made me understand both the struggle and the U.S. Constitution in new …more

Beirut Hellfire Society
by Rawi Hage

Unexpectedly Captivating (5/24/2019)

I've read a few other books about the period of the Civil War in Beirut, but this one was very different from the rest. Without giving anything away, I will say that the central character, Pavlov the undertaker's son, who is himself an undertaker, has enough quirky traits …more

D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II
by Sarah Rose

A Gift to Those Interested in History (4/9/2019)

D-Day Girls, described on the cover as being about the spies who armed the resistance, sabotaged the Nazis, and helped win World War II is a remarkable book. By profiling five women and four men, giving details of their exploits in France during the war as well as their …more

The Affairs of the Falcóns
by Melissa Rivero

A Deeply Human Story (12/19/2018)

The Affairs of the Falcóns puts a human face on the struggle of hard-working undocumented immigrants. This novel especially hit home for me, as a resident of New York City, which is where the action takes place. Yeas ago, I taught English to new immigrants, many of whom …more

My Lovely Wife
by Samantha Downing

My Not-so-Lovely Wife (10/9/2018)

"My Lovely Wife" is a page-turner. Almost from the beginning we know what the couple is doing; we gradually learn the why and the how. Along the way, we learn about the children, the friends, the acquaintances, the everyday life in the affluent area in which the family …more

Anatomy of a Miracle
by Jonathan Miles

Well Worth a Reader's Time (1/15/2018)

"Anatomy of a Miracle" is in many ways a remarkable book. It is written in a style that mimics a documentary closely enough that I actually found myself Googling Cameron Harris (interesting name, there is a real Cameron Harris who is somewhat notorious in the "fake news" …more

As Bright as Heaven
by Susan Meissner

A Most Engaging Reading Experience (10/31/2017)

I was stunned by how much I enjoyed this book! Susan Meissner is so skilled at writing from multiple points of view that I am left in awe of her talent. The four female characters (Pauline, Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa) who tell the story in alternating chapters captured my …more

The Gypsy Moth Summer
by Julia Fierro

Evil Lurks on this Island (5/14/2017)

Anyone of us who have lived through a "Gypsy Moth Summer" knows that nothing good comes of it—disgusting caterpillars and denuded trees seem a harbinger of even worse things. Such is the case here. The foreshadowing in this book is there almost from the first page. The …more

No One Is Coming to Save Us
by Stephanie Powell Watts

More enjoyable than expected (4/24/2017)

I enjoyed this book a lot more once I stopped trying to see the parallels with The Great Gatsby. I'm quite sorry the publisher chose to promote it that way. No One is Coming to Save Us stands alone as the engrossing story of a family beset by the problems that so many …more

Home Sweet Home
by April Smith

A tale for our times (12/25/2016)

"Home Sweet Home" is the first book by April Smith that I have read. Now I want to go to the library and get all her books. This one is a must read. The story is based loosely on a real series of events, but so fictionalized that anyone familiar with the details of the real …more

Rise: How a House Built a Family
by Cara Brookins

"You can do anything" (10/22/2016)

It is somehow fitting that I would be reading "Rise" in October, which among other monthly designations, is Domestic Violence Awareness month. Women react in many ways to intimate partner abuse. In Cara's case, she had not one, but two abusive husbands. She also had four …more

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Becoming Madam Secretary
by Stephanie Dray

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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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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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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