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Reviews by Melissa S. (Rowland, NC)

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Libby Lost and Found: A Novel
by Stephanie Booth
Reality and Fantasy (8/15/2024)
Libby Lost and Found, by Stephanie Booth, is a quick, quirky, and fun summer read. Booth weaves together a tale of imagination and reality that connect and intertwine in an endearing and strangely dependent way.

Throughout the novel, I found myself rooting for Libby, not tomore
The Mystery Writer: A Novel
by Sulari Gentill
Authors and Murder (1/13/2024)
After doing a little research into Sulari Gentill's list of previously published novels, I was intrigued and eager to start The Mystery Writer. After a bit of a slow start, the novel picks up pace by introducing subplots and hints of mystery to come. Subplots of past trauma,more
This Is Salvaged: Stories
by Vauhini Vara
Art (8/11/2023)
In Vauhini Vara's This Is Salvaged, the short stories read as a piece of literary art. Each story has the quality of easy readability and immediate depth. However, many of the stories end abruptly and sometimes very unexpectedly. I think this is why I relate the book to amore
The All-American: A Novel
by Joe Milan Jr.
No Land To Call Home (2/20/2023)
Talk about a novel that delivers the unexpected! Joe Milan Jr.'s The All American proves itself hefty enough to hold its own amongst many accomplished American emersion authors. I found myself gripped from the first chapter. Bucky, Sheryl, Bobby, and Uncle Rick set the tonemore
The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
by Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch
The Untold History Lessons (1/8/2023)
Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch's account of the possible conspiracy to assassinate the leaders of the three largest WWII allied countries is a historical work that reads, in most places, like a true crime fiction novel. I found myself engrossed throughout most of the book andmore
Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China's Civil War
by Zhuqing Li
History on a Personal Level (6/10/2022)
Coming from a background of zero knowledge of the history of China's civil war and subsequent horrors of the crimes against humanity, I found Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden both heart wrenching and fascinating. I found myself over and over again saying, "Is thismore
When Broadway Was Black: The Triumphant Story of the All-Black Musical that Changed the World (aka Footnotes)
by Caseen Gaines
Theatrical Black History (4/21/2021)
"The 1920's were the years of Manhattan's Black Renaissance. It began with Shuffle Along… a honey of a show… swift, bright, funny, rollicking, and gay, with a dozen danceable, singable tunes.." – this quote is how Langston Hughes sums up the revolutionary all black musicalmore
The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
by Sara Seager
"Orbit" of Grief and Loss (7/11/2020)
"I would choose for my heart to be broken rather than never feel a change in its beat." Sara Seager, award-winning astrophysicist and mom of two boys reaches the above conclusion after years of wandering in her own orbit of grief. While Seager is busy advancing in hermore
Migrations: A Novel
by Charlotte McConaghy
Migrations (4/21/2020)
I agree with one reviewer of Charlotte McConaghy's novel Migrations in that it is a "deeply moving and consistently unsettling novel, both personal and global." From the first page, Franny Stone reveals just enough about herself and the environment to know something ismore
Miss Austen
by Gill Hornby
The lost art of letters. An entire novel devoted to past letters and their significance to the present. (2/24/2020)
“Let us take that path.” The first words of Gill Hornby’s "Miss. Austen" provide a foreshadow of the “path” Cassandra ends up taking on her journey to preserve her sister’s reputation posthumously. As an avid Jane Austen fan, I admit I have never given much thought to hermore
The Lost Man
by Jane Harper
Abuses Stronghold (1/4/2020)
Harper's stand-alone third novel is every bit as engrossing as her first two! The crime mystery is typical, but her ability to bring both characters and settings to life is anything but. I found the re occurrence of abuse throughout the novel and its stronghold until themore
Remembrance
by Rita Woods
Remembrance (10/30/2019)
Rita Woods' massive 400-page debut novel, "Remembrance", does not disappoint. Woods artistically weaves history and fantasy into a lyrical story of slavery, despair, love, and desires. Following the journeys of three women (and countless other subplots) from both past andmore
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir
by Jaquira Díaz
Overcoming Soul-Deep Disappointment (9/11/2019)
In Ordinary Girls, Jaquira Diaz delivers both a soul torturing and to your core inspirational memoir that leaves the reader wondering how in the hell she lives long enough to finish college, much less create a productive, meaningful, and successful life. Diaz's childhoodmore
The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt: A Novel
by Andrea Bobotis
An Inventory of Family (7/26/2019)
Set in the deep south, Bobotis spins a tale of reality deeply familiar to fellow southerners. Beyond the sad repercussions of racial injustice and bigotry, she dives into the mystery of personal perceptions. As the novel begins, the reader is subjected to Judith'smore
The Last Romantics
by Tara Conklin
So Many Voices (1/9/2019)
I found myself engrossed in Conklin's "The Last Romantics" from the first page. The setting with which the novel begins hooked. At first, the reader feels this novel will take on a futuristic society, when in fact, the future only comes back to the scene at the very end.more
Golden Child
by Claire Adam
Choices and Consequences (11/8/2018)
I struggled with this novel. The prose is beautiful leading the reader to very vividly picture Trinidad and it's dry dusty environment. I feel like I have physically sat in Clyde and Joy's living room, maybe even petted their dogs' eager heads. I felt real fear regardingmore
Sold on a Monday
by Kristina McMorris
Redemptive Love (8/15/2018)
"Sold On A Monday" starts as a story of depression and desperation. During a time in our country's history when jobs, money, and food are extremely scarce, especially in rural areas, the desperation of a family so poor they're feeling forced to sell their children weighsmore
America for Beginners
by Leah Franqui
Coming Of Age At Any Age (4/11/2018)
"America For Beginners" by Leah Franqui is a smooth read. Franqui's characters are all dealing with their own set of heartache, expectations, and reality. Even though the main characters come from completely different walks of life, their stories are intertwined in a waymore
Extraordinary Adventures
by Daniel Wallace
A Not-So-Ordinary Life (2/13/2017)
The synopsis of Wallace's most current novel is described as the unfolding of the adventures of a painfully ordinary man trying to do an extraordinary thing- change the course of his life. I have to somewhat disagree with the premise that Edsel Bronfman is an ordinary man.more
Home Sweet Home
by April Smith
A Timely Story of family, hard work, political suspicion (1/16/2017)
"Home Sweet Home" is a novel based on the timeless theme of the American Dream. We follow a family through major life changes in the hopes of accomplishing the life they feel their family was meant to live. Who can't relate to that? The reader very quickly realizes thismore
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