A quirky story about a dysfunctional family and children who needed the best of care.

The twins, Bessie and Roland, tended to combust into flames when things did not go their way. Lillian was their governess and the only one who could help them and calm their fears. Set up in their own house, on their fathers large estate, Lillian and the twins learned to trust one another, and Lillian became very protective over them, as she begins to find meaning in her own life. As their father begins his upward rise in his political career, the children become an obstacle. This was something that Lillian would not allow.

This is a short book and I read it in one day. I found my self laughing out loud while reading this book. There were characters that you really wanted to cheer on and characters that you just wanted to kill. A fantasy written to provoke you into analyzing the roles of parenthood and what is important in life.

I enjoy books by David Joy due to their grit and salt of the earth presentation. The blatant in-your-face, no-holds-barred story telling. Stories told clear and precise. Joy tells stories that other authors placate and tell through assumptions and overtures and by hinting at what is really happening. Even the main characters in one of Joy's novels are not usually brought to light by other authors - a section of the population that seems too forbidden to write about. Joy takes on the challenge and always comes out a winner.

I will admit that I have liked the rest of the books I have read by Joy more than I did this one. It was not due to the writing or the topic - both of those were standard Joy - but it took me longer to get into this book than normal. I was unclear exactly what this book was about for a considerable amount of time and I think that hesitation broke down some of the enjoyment I find in reading Joy's books.

As in the biggest of cities, the same drug problems exist way back in the foothills. Whether you come from wealth or poverty the drug epidemic is alive and thriving. This book gives us the knowledge of, the reactions to, and the consequences of three men involved with this epidemic. One is a man on drugs, one is the father of a man on drugs and one is the law, trying to quell the distribution of these drugs. All three face legal and illegal actions stemming from their interaction with each other.

As I said, gritty and in your face, makes this a book not to miss.

Do not be fooled - this is a book about sexual abuse. It is not about seduction, or about love. This is a story about an adult, 42-year-old, male teacher grooming his teenage students. There are parts that are hard to read after understanding the premise of the story.

With that said, I will admit that Russell did a good job of writing this book from the teenagers’ point of view. A teenager, Vanessa, who did not know better - who at 15 years old had not dated and had no idea what love or a healthy male/female relationship should be. Typical age of those very easy for an older man, a pedophile, to groom.

The story takes us from this traumatic relationship up through Vanessa's life. It is obvious how this relationship, at this young period of her life, molded Vanessa. It touched her relationship with her parents, future relationships with females and especially future relationships with men. It also showed how the relationship between Vanessa and her abuser both stayed the same and also changed over time by alternating between her present and her past.

The author stated that this book took her 18 years to write. Although a very touchy subject, she did a very good job of it. I think that it might have been a bit too long, and some of the content could have easily been left out without diminishing the story. However, I believe that this is an author to watch - as long as it is not another 18 years before she publishes again.

Originally I wanted to give this book 4 stars - I did really enjoy most of it. However this author wrote without quotation marks. WHY??!?! In my opinion, a terrible mistake for an author, especially for a new author. Usually I would have just quit the book and given it away, but due to the insistence of a friend, I read the book. As I said, quotation marks aside, I enjoyed most of it. I thought the ending was rather bizarre and could have been much better, but the overall story kept my attention and I thought was well put together.

There were 7 authors in this book. Each a female - ranging in age from a young child to an older grandmotherly woman. They were all in Odessa Texas, during the beginning of the oil boom. Each person was somehow related to another. And through their narrative we hear the story of Glory, a young 14 year old girl raped by a senseless drunk, 20 some years old, out to get his own enjoyment.

We go through the morning after the rape, right up through, what that town called a 'trial', and the outcome of punishment for the young rapist. The fears, the sacrifices, and the other obligations and challenges of the narrators advance us through the book.

This was a good format that the author did very well. Seven narrators sounds like a lot and that you would get confused, but that does not happen. You read on just to see how these females related to and were intertwined with each other and what their association to Glory was. With a less confusing and more solid ending this book would have been much better.

Now knowing that Wetmore writes without quotation marks, I will thoroughly investigate her next book before picking it up to read - regardless of recommendations.

Basically this is the story of a Zhorzha, who is trying to find her missing sister LaReigne. Along for the ride is Gentry - described as "Gentry is an actual knight, complete with sword, armor, and a code of honor." Therein is where the problem exists...

I must admit that I scanned portions of this story. I felt duped by the synopsis, after I started reading the book. No where did I find the word 'fantasy' related to this book. Any indication of fantasy is subjective in the wording of the synopsis. Sentences like "Zee is nobody's fairy tale princess" and "Zee may not be a princess, but Gentry is an actual knight, complete with sword, armor, and a code of honor." I took as subjective author lingo meaning Zee was no weakling or goody two shoes type, and that Gentry was her rescuer, a person she looked up to. But once I got into the book I realized that Gentry was a knight - a 17th century Knight - and he spoke in all the 'thee" and "thou" and "weren" and "aren" language spoken back then.

Definitely not my favored period in history, nor my favored type reading material. So I forced my way thru the book to get the jest of it, scanning when I could. Had the synopsis been a little bit clearer, or at least contained a sentence letting you know that it was a fantasy of a contemporary woman with the side kick of a 17th century Knight, I would probably have refused the gift from the publishing house as not my type of reading material.

Having not read the authors other book - All the Ugly and Wonderful Things - I cannot comment on her writing or authoring abilities. To do so would be incorrect due to my dislike of this book.

I like to change it up every once in awhile and read a contemporary cozy or fluff piece. Usually I really like them because they are of a light subject and easy read. In my literary world they are a pallet cleanser, entertaining and easy on the brain.

However... I was not a fan of this book. It was not a problem with the writing, or with the story line. My problems came from the clutter of characters. It seemed like all the major characters in this book carried their own entourage. I felt all they did was clutter up the story. I did however love the character Briar.

I also did not like the story ending. It seems that Emira was short changed by everyone, friends, boyfriend, employer - everyone.

Now with all this said, I would still try another book by Kiley Reid. I don't think the story premise was bad, nor was the writing in this story. With a bit more experience, with less to prove, I think Reid may end up a good, well sought after, author. This one, her debut book, just missed the mark with me.

I like historical fiction in general, but I really liked this story. Add mystery on top of historical fiction and that made it all the better. This was based on a true story, and even some names and places are actual, while others were changed for privacy reasons and the story was filled in where no actual fact could be found.

It is 1829 in Iceland. A woman is sent to be housed with a family, that doesn't want her, while she waits her execution. She is to be executed for murdering her previous master. Her crime and trial is based on the stories of others. While working as free labor for this host family she is visited multiple times by a young priest and it is through his visits that her side of the story is told.

You know going in that Agnes dies. She is the last person to be beheaded in Iceland. But it is her story that captivates. How she got into the position to be charged with killing two men, how she survived the loneliness and cruel treatment of her host family, and how she withstood her trip to the gallows.

The writing is impeccable and transfers you to that North Iceland homestead Agnes has been assigned to. You feel her loneliness. You empathize with the family forced to harbor a criminal. You await the execution right along with Agnes, as you finally hear her side of the story. It is very easy to lose yourself in this harrowing story, as you feel the pending doom and commiserate with Agnes.

We all know that our past helps to dictate our future. We can run from our past, turn our backs on people and places from the past, disavow our past in many ways, but still it remains. Everyday of our life stays with us, including the past.

Two girls, twins, take separate and very different paths in life. African American, but very light skinned, one remains black and one chooses to be white. One twin was defiant, one recessive and shy. How different their lives become.

We spend time getting to know these twins as children, how they were raised. Then after they separate, we follow the lives of each adult, comparing and contrasting. This pattern also tracks the offspring, each of their daughters. Both so very different. Until one daughter seeks the truth and finds her cousin.

I found this book to be even better than I expected. Having read Bennett before, I knew how strong her writing was, how well she developed characters and how intricate her plot can get. I think this book is ever better than her debut book, The Mothers. However... similar to her first book, I was disappointed in the ending of this story. If Bennett has a flaw in her writing ability, it is book endings. As with her first book the ending of this book just seemed to fall off, fall flat. It does not leave you wanting more, it leaves you with a loss, a feeling of non completion. The ride through the story was great, nice and smooth, entertaining and comfortable, then it came to a screeching halt, lost in a fog, wavering disbelief, no idea of what path to follow.

In hopes that her story endings will improve, I will not hesitate to pick up another Bennett book. The ride is worth the dubious ending.

All the elements that I like - some characters based on real live people, takes place in the early 1900's, a little bit of a mystery, and set in an amusement park.

The protagonist is Pin, a young girl, who dresses as a boy (not a spoiler) and roams the midway while her mother tells fortunes. After a crime is committed in one of the attractions, it becomes known that there is a killer on the loose. Pin gets fully entangled in the investigation trying to track down the infamous child killer.

This book had a lot of early 1900 inventions. Lots to do with the cinema and carnival life. It mentions a number of then current movie actors, such as Charlie Chaplin. It highlights the slums of an early Chicago, along with the bias of class distinctions and how the police department discriminated, but all told within the story format.

One character was based on a true to life person and he became a central character in the story. There was a two page follow up on the real life of this person and also a number of books referring to him in the Bibliography.

I did enjoy this book, however I also felt that the mystery portion of this book could have been a bit stronger, given that the author is a well established writer.

Swab your cheek. Read your DNA. Change your life! What could be easier?

That is the premise of the story. Small town Louisiana installs a photo booth type DNAMIX fortune teller in their local grocery store. For $2 change your life - get the readout and learn just what your potential really is. It doesn't take long for everyone in town, teens, housewives and professional people to try their luck. Among them are a married couple Douglas Hubbard and his wife, Cherilyn - who up to that time thought they were very happy. Then the changes begin...

Wow! Very enjoyable book ! Something new -not the same old, same old. A bit science fiction but I would say more magical realism. Once you are in this book the pages turn like softened butter - very smoothly you move from one thing to the next. Marriage, evolution, community, separation, division, redemption and wonder.

Tired of the same old thing? Open this book - take a journey like non other. Wow! Very enjoyable book !

2.5 stars Thank you to BookBrowse and W.W. Norton Company for allowing me to read this book. Expected publication: September 1st 2020

For me this book was very unusual. There were some beautiful descriptions of the Montana landscape and mountain ranges throughout the story, but the plot line was an all together different manner. The story revolved around death - both animal and human.

Ruthie Fear was the main character - from her youth, with only a father to raise her in a poor hollow of undeveloped land to her adulthood in the same poor scratch for a living substance, just outside a Native American reservation.

Native American themes, fantasy monsters, pain and sorrow, and death propels this story along. In many parts I felt the story was very disjointed and really made no sense with the only thing to fall back on was Ruthie's age and where her situation was at the time.

Very unusual that a male author would decide to write a book through the eyes of an adolescent girl. Possibly that is where I read the lack of common elements and felt the story was disjointed.

2 stars Thanks to BookBrowse and W W Norton and Company for allowing me to read this ARC. Publishes June 2, 2020

Totally neurotic!! Throughout the whole book there was only a couple of spots that I could relate to this woman. Having been born to a hypochondriac drama queen, it was easy for me to recognize the type. Every simple little itty-bitty thing blown out of proportion. A knack for taking the mundane and dramatizing. A book of individual essays - each mundane, boring, yet fabricated as something special.

I believe that this author, Tsing Loh, has a syndicated radio program. I do believe that had I ever heard the program I would never have opted for the book. And now having read the book - will certainly never go looking for the radio program.

Totally not my taste in book, writing or authors. I suffered enough as a child - this exaggerated hype, while all too familiar to me, is the last thing I ever want to come close to again!

From page one I started enjoying this book. It is a book of secrets, told through a family trip. And a trip it is, not a vacation.

A family of three sibling, plus spouses, take a cross country trip, one they took as children. Then they took the trip with their Grandfather and things did not turn out well. Now they are re-stepping the same path, although mandated, to be included in their Grandfather's generous will. As they travel, they become a smaller group and many secrets are revealed.

Of the four siblings and others you begin to pick your favorites. Then you follow them with expectations. By the end of the book your alliances may have changed.

This book reads really well. It is smooth and easy to read. My only objection was the ending. It seemed very abrupt and not a good closure. I believe this portion could have been done better.

It has been a while since I have read a book on the Holocaust. Although I am not of Jewish faith, each book seems to dredge up feelings and images that are simply overwhelming. Knowing that this was a memoir - dubbed as 'A Post Holocaust Memoir' - I went into it very slowly, while also reading a couple other books, to even out the drama and sadness of this one.

I found that I both liked and disliked this book. There were plenty of sections that delved into the lives of Foer's family - I especially liked the parts referring to her Grandmother. But there were also parts that just seemed out of place - such as her repeated mentioning of her sons achievements.

I understand that having to ferret out your past history and family would take a lot of resilience and research. And I admire Foer for what she undertook, especially under the auspice of the Holocaust. However, I believe this book may have been better had her son written it instead.

What a funny, funny book. Has been some time since I have laughed out loud at a book. But this one did it.

A local nursing home, an old curmudgeon and his roommates granddaughter. These make for a cute, funny and heartfelt story. As Duffy and Josie come to an understanding, Duffy's room mate Carl and the rest of the group from the nursing home rally around to see to it that Josie has the best of care.

Easy reading, good character development and a heartfelt story plot, with a lot of witticism from the lovable curmudgeon, Duffy. Light, entertaining, enjoyable book. Worth the read.

A knock comes at your door. A new neighbor introducing themselves. How innocent can that be?

In this case, nothing but madness. As Roux injects herself into Amy's life all hell breaks loose. Amy is a happy comfortable house wife with a new baby, step daughter and wonderful husband, who is also a part time deep sea diving instructor. Her family is comfortable and her friends are many. Her best friend Charlotte is a treasure. But Amy has secrets - and Roux plans to use those secrets to her advantage.

This is another great book by Jackson. After what I thought to be a slow start, her story moves along nicely, her devious plot keeps growing, and her characters are first rate. Betrayal, deception, and the ability to uncover facts, takes this story into the deep recesses of one person's hell.

3.75 starts Thank you to Ecco for allowing me to read and review this ARC. Published on June 4, 2019.

How do you make moral decisions? Does it depend on the circumstances? Depend on who may be involved? Depend on the outcome or on who knows what your decision is? Would that be different if you were a 12 year old child?

This is the story of Violet who had to make a moral decision. She had a secret. A secret about her brothers. She kept that secret, until she couldn't keep it anymore. Once revealed everything in her life changed. She had to leave her school, her friends, her very home. Her family shunned her. And not for a short time, but most of them for the rest of her life. She was 12 years old and the youngest of 7 children and none of them, including her parents, spoke to her for years afterward.

Two of her older brothers had killed a boy - a racial killing. Violet had overheard them talking and they shared their secret with her. Both brothers were convicted and sent to prison. Her family went into financial debt due to this and her father never forgave her.

The novel continues with the life Violet lived. How she processed what she had done. How she made a new life for herself and how she at long last related to the remaining members of her family, which also included one very traumatic episode.

A story of relationships, survival, overcoming family separation, loyalty, regret and love.

In my opinion one of Joyce Carol Oates' best books.

4.5 stars

Ewww! I feel like an idiot! I did not follow the clues at all! I was gobsmacked when the plot twist happened. This was a good book! I look forward to reading more by Michaelides. This book is worthy of a seasoned author, and being Michaelides' debut novel only has me hoping that he is well into his next book.

Criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber is treating Alicia Berenson. She has shot her husband, then has gone silent and has been placed at the Grove, a secured inpatient psychiatric center. Theo is trying to track down why she shot her husband when it seems they had a great life. Alicia is a painter, her husband Gabriel is a fashion photographer.

In the interim Theo and his wife Kathy begin to have marital problems. How much of his own trauma is rubbing off in his treatment of Alicia? Or is the treatment of Alicia worming its way into Theo's life? Where does the transference start and stop?

This is an exceptionally good debut novel. One you should not miss.

3 stars Thank you to Crown for allowing me to read and review this ARC. Published June 4, 2019.

London, WWII, spies and a mother/daughter situation. Controlling, busybody Mother went in search of her daughter in London. Once there she finds out that she had been lied to and daughter Betty is missing. Betty is involved with M15 and is a spy. However Mom has been keeping a few secrets from Betty also.

Personally I did not connect very well with any of the characters - other than Mr Norris. He came across as a Don Knotts type character, which I did find refreshing.

Characters and story in this book are suitable for a cozy mystery series. There is some humor and some violence - however shaded. It is not a story that puts you on edge or forces you to turn pages, but more of a beach or cozy read. Don't expect a great spy novel or a great WWII story - this book is neither. It is not a heavy hitter. Even the serious and quasi-violent parts are more in the flavor of the Keystone Cops or Three Stooges.

When considering this novel think more meddling busybody than WWII spies.

3.5 stars rounded up
Another cute caper by the Kopp Sisters. This is book #4 in the series. This series started out based on a real story about Constance Kopp, first female deputy sheriff in Hackensack New Jersey. I believe now, into the fourth book, that maybe fiction has totally taken over.

As we come to the end of Robert Heath's reign as Sheriff we are left with a less than fulfilling ending. Constance is up in the air as to what her future will be. The new man voted in as Sheriff does not believe that there is any need for a female matron at his jail.

After a heroic rescue of a hand cuffed man in the river, helping to release a wronged wife from the insane asylum, and suffering through her sisters building of a traveling pigeon coop, many things are changing for Constance.

I fear that one of the main characters of the book may on his way out - which would be a shame. But book #5 Kopp Sisters on the March is already published - so off to the library to see how this series will continue....