While murder is never amusing, if ever it was, this is the book that would make it so. Four women of a "certain age" have been assassins throughout their working lives. Now the tables are turned and they must outsmart the killers who are pursuing them. A fine tale of female bonding, cooperation, and mutual success. A fun read.

Exiles could have been a great book, but somehow just missed the mark for me ... Jane Harper is a good writer, and the concept of this book was a sound one, the character development, which is an important element of any fiction book for me, was excellent ... especially the characters of Aaron Falk and Gemma Tozer. But, it somehow still missed the mark.

I think some better editing might have been a great asset to this book. Many chapters seemed repetitive, and shifting back and forth between the present day and the time of the crime could have been handled a bit more deftly.

I seem to remember the same feeling about Jane Harper's earlier work: The Dry. Good book, but something's not quite right. Would I recommend it - yes, but I'd be sure to tell reader's that while I like the characters and the basic premise, I have reservations about the overall book.

Bryn Turnbull does a very good job in making the broad sweep of a very major historical period - The Russian Revolution - accessible by making it the story of the Imperial Romanov Family, as seen through the eyes of the eldest Romanov daughter, The Grand Duchess, Olga. Through that focus, the reader is able to absorb the scope of change that took place in Russia from the early 1900's to the final day of the monarchy in July, 1918. The story moves back and forth between 1913, 1918 and the years in between, providing glimpses of life in the various Romanov palaces, the country house at Tsarkoe Selo, and then throughout their exile. At first I found the shifting time frames a bit off-putting, but the technique helped to contextualize much of the drama that was Russia in the early 1900's and 19teens. It also provides an opportunity to introduce many of the other characters who influenced Olga and strengthened her resolve live as The Last Grand Duchess. It enables the reader to see Olga as she matures from a dreamy romantic girl to a woman who meets the demands of a life of sacrifice to a greater cause and to her family.

The Romanov family had ruled Russia for three hundred years at the time of the revolution. Even though Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra thought of themselves as humble, devout people, I was struck by the opulence of their lives, especially in contrast to the lives of their subjects. The entire family (and the Empire) was impacted by the hemophilia of the Tsarevich, Alexi, because it was that illness that brought Fr. Grigori Rasputin into their lives. While Turnbull makes no judgments on the good or evil done by Rasputin, there is little doubt that he wielded a huge influence on decisions made, especially while the Tsarina "stood in" for the Tsar while he was at the battlefront.

I think the book accomplished a great deal that one always hopes historical fiction will - that is, to make one want to learn more about the reality of the period it covers. I certainly felt challenged to review what I knew of the Russian Revolution, the Romanov's, Rasputin, Lenin, Trotsky and the beginnings of communism in Russia and beyond. Kudos to Bryn Turnbull for a job well done, and in the words of one of her characters, allowing us to witness "the true cost of war ... the price paid by the gallant...by the loyal."

Fun may not be exactly the right word for the feeling evoked by a murder mystery, but this book certainly did make me want to visit book stores, and talk to others about books once more. Let me explain: for the past year plus, so much of what I've seen being published has been books about some marginalized person or group, or about what's wrong with America and our way of life, or about being "woke." Frankly, I've found them tiresome. I read for entertainment, not for challenges to my core beliefs.

Then, along comes Black Widows by Cate Quinn, a well-written, absorbing, well-plotted book about three women married to the same man at the same time. Their husband has been murdered, but who is his killer? Quinn draws her characters well - each wife loves Blake, but each has a resentment or a problem with him, or with his extended family.

If you like mysteries and suspense as much as I do, and if you like to stay up late turning pages (even when you know you should turn off the lights), then you'll enjoy Black Widows! It's a "fun" read, a book that makes reading an interesting diversion rather than a rant.

Because of my work in a local bookstore, I was fortunate to receive an advanced copy of Therese Anne Fowler's newest book. Fowler has done wonderful work in drawing characters one can care about, or despise, or for whom one can wish redemption - just like people we know in real life.

The story encompasses so much of life as we know it today: changing neighborhoods, changing values, new money vs. old not-so-much money, visible priorities and hidden motives, young love and innocence, older love and some cynicism ...

The Whitman family, a newly married successful businessman, his wife and her teenage daughter, moves into Oak Knoll, North Carolina, and nothing will ever be the same again, as our third-person neighborhood narrator informs us as he/she walks us through what happened thereafter.

The Whitman's raze the home and trees on the property they purchased in order to build their McMansion. Their decisions impact the property next door, owned by a Ph.D. environmentalist and forester, Dr. Ashton-Holt, a widowed single mom raising her brilliant bi-racial son by herself. Conflict was inevitable...

I found myself hoping against hope in some portions of the book, cheering for different characters on different pages, groaning at what the foreshadowing hinted at. The conflict of values will touch home for almost every reader - the resolution of those conflicts will cause many readers to reexamine their own thinking ... it did for me.

I truly loved this book because the characters and the plot were so well intertwined - everything rang true to the last heart-breaking page. Recommended this book to my book club, and am eagerly awaiting its February publication date.

I really wanted to like THE BIG FINISH, but, sadly, there was NOTHING to like. Had I not been committed to writing a review for Book Browse, l I would have thrown the book away after the fist two chapters.

The plot is somewhere between the movies, Grumpy Old Men, and Lost Weekend. There are no characters in this book, only caricatures ... the bumbling old guys, the nurse withe the heart of gold, the hard-hearted owner of the assisted living facility, the beautiful but broken granddaughter and the sweet older ladies who want to help. The dialog bounces between colloquial Sourthern ..."fixing to," to standard English circa 1964 ... "daddy-o." Really???? The blurb on the back of the book promises a "funny, insightful, and life-affirming debut." Oh, how I wish. What the book delivers is demeaning to people who actually live and work in assisted living facilities It trivializes the social changes faced as people age out of their own homes and often fall away from their social network as well. What could have been a warm, respectful treatment of the realities of lifestyle and family changes was anything but. Have time to waste? Waste it on doing your nails, mowing the lawn, taking the dog for a walk, or visiting an older person in a nursing or assisted living facility. Don't waste it reading this book.

This may be one of the most important books I've ever read - particularly for women like myself, of a "certain age," whose lives have been affected by the loss of important markers - husbands, careers, family relationships that change as one grows older.

In compelling prose, May Pipher challenges us to explore questions that many of us avoid as uncomfortable. But, she reminds us, those questions are also unavoidable, if we wish to live fully for as long as we are able.

Aging is difficult, and while Pipher has no magic wand to change that reality, she does provide guideposts. These come in the form of questions and challenges to which we alone have the correct answers for ourselves.

I heartily recommend this book for women ages 45 and up, and especially for those over 65. If there was one thing I wish Pipher had done, it would have been to craft a series of workshops that could use this book as a reference point.

Get it; read it; you won't be disappointed.