Reviews by Grace W. (Corona del Mar, CA)

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The Last Chance Library
The Last Chance Library
by Freya Sampson
We are what we read (7/10/2021)
Are we what we read?

Freya Sampson's The Last Chance Library, is a charming and thoroughly engaging homage to books, libraries and librarians. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. The characters were so vividly and efficiently portrayed. I was totally caught …more
The Four Winds
The Four Winds
by Kristin Hannah
Be Brave (3/31/2021)
I totally plowed through The Four Winds. Truly it is a gritty story, wonderfully depicting spirited women trying to overcome adversity in order to protect their families. The treatment of "Okies" makes one very angry. Extremely culpable are the locals and land owners, who …more
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
by Marie Benedict
Capturing the Mastermind of Mysteries (3/26/2021)
As a lover of Agatha Christie, this book is the next best substitute for an A.C. mystery. Marie Benedict posited a creative telling of Agatha's mysterious disappearance. I enjoyed her method of weaving the story within the story with the hunt for Mrs. Christie. Agatha would …more
Daughter of the Reich
Daughter of the Reich: A Novel
by Louise Fein
A Great Read (3/8/2020)
I could not put the "Daughter of the Reich" down. Even before finishing the book, I raved to friends about it. I am an avid read of fiction occurring in times of rising authoritarianism. I loved the 'Nightingale" and "All the Light We Cannot See". This book towers above …more
A Long Petal of the Sea
A Long Petal of the Sea
by Isabel Allende
A Long Petal of the Sea (2/9/2020)
A beautifully written epic story of love and resistance against the rise of authoritarian governments during the Spanish Civil War and in Chile. The characters and plot lines are wonderfully crafted. A haunting story that I could not put down.
Lola
Lola
by Melissa Scrivner Love
Lovely Lola (3/3/2017)
I'll try to avoid any spoilers in this review. The story of Lola has lots of action and suspense, and will keep your interest to the end. Lola is definitely not your typical drug lord (or should I say lady). Author Melissa Scrivner Love describes vividly the scenes within …more
Home Sweet Home
Home Sweet Home
by April Smith
Home Bittersweet (12/7/2016)
Home Sweet Home by April Smith is well-written. Yet, the first 125 pages of detailed vignettes about the various characters made me wonder if the multitude of story threads would come together. Satisfactorily, the threads did became woven. The book captures the bleak …more
Lady Cop Makes Trouble
Lady Cop Makes Trouble: Girl Waits with Gun #2
by Amy Stewart
Kopp Sisters Thrive (5/19/2016)
Lady Cop Makes Trouble is the sequel to Girl Waits with Gun, the debut or the Kopp Sisters Novel series. I enjoyed the first book immensely. To me, Lady Cop Makes Trouble plodded along for the first 100 pages, with more description than action. The writing is quite good, …more
The Dark Lady's Mask
The Dark Lady's Mask
by Mary Sharratt
Rich Tapestry (2/2/2016)
I couldn't put down The Dark Lady's Mask and I didn't want it to end. The story is a rich tapestry, finely woven with exquisite details of place, well-developed characters, highly evolved themes. It is a novel of Shakespeare's muse, yet more deeply it is a story of an …more
The Forgetting Time
The Forgetting Time
by Sharon Guskin
Not to be forgotten (12/7/2015)
Sharon Guskin's debut book, The Forgetting Time, is an excellent read and extremely well written. The plot is fast paced. The characters are vividly portrayed and highly engaging. Beautiful themes of living in the present moment and forgiveness punctuate the story-line. …more
Home by Nightfall
Home by Nightfall: A Charles Lenox Mystery
by Charles Finch
Victorian Detective (9/10/2015)
The advance, uncorrected proof that I read of "Home by Nightfall" by Charles Finch will greatly benefit from a major and a skillful editing of the draft book. I was greatly distracted by the awkward sentence structure, the inconsistencies in the scene descriptions, and …more
What Doesn't Kill Her
What Doesn't Kill Her: A Reeve LeClaire Series Novel
by Carla Norton
Not as Edgy as Normal (5/4/2015)
Having read Edge of Normal, I was familiar with the characters in Carla Norton's second Reeve LeClaire thriller-- What Doesn't Kill Her. This second book lacked much of the tension and suspense of the first book. I found I could put this story down, even during what might …more
Her
Her
by Harriet Lane
Is it Her or Me (5/4/2014)
Maybe it's me, but I am not taken by this book from Harriet Lane. The storyline was meandering, filled with scenes, vignettes and little action. To me, the story seemed to be all adjectives with no verbs. The plot conveyed some sparks of insight into the two primary …more
Through the Evil Days
Through the Evil Days: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery
by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Evil Days and Nights (9/2/2013)
If I could give ½ stars, I might rate this book 3 ½ but not a 4. Through the Evil Days is a continuation of a mystery series that I have not read. Unlike many series stories, I was either annoyed or felt disadvantaged because I did not know the nuances from the prior books. …more
Amy Falls Down
Amy Falls Down
by Jincy Willett
Birdbath Creation (6/11/2013)
Is it a cheap shot for a writer to write about a writer? Maybe. Yet Jincy Willett in Amy Falls Down crafts a fascinating story from beginning to end. Is a reader a sponge, sandglass or a strainer or does an author create a story that a reader wants to absorb like a sponge? …more
Her Last Breath
Her Last Breath: A Kate Burkholder Novel
by Linda Castillo
Breathtaking (5/4/2013)
Her Last Breath was the first Kate Burkholder Amish mystery that I've read, but it won't be my last. The story was so well crafted, and the characters and scenes were so vivid, that I was totally swept into the plot. The plot was suspenseful throughout, and the ending did …more
Crime of Privilege
Crime of Privilege
by Walter Walker
Justice for the Privileged is different (4/10/2013)
That the wealthy and powerful have a different justice system than the average American is not really a revelation to most of us. Crime of Privilege tracks members of a well-known family from Cape Cod that has extensive political and societal connections. The family, …more
The Good House
The Good House
by Ann Leary
What the Good House Tells (12/2/2012)
My rating was a borderline between a 3 and a 4. The Good House interested me with its first sentence, "I can walk through a house once and know more about its occupants than a psychiatrist could after a year of sessions." Later, the storyline annoyed me with its disjointed, …more
A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar
A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar: A Novel
by Suzanne Joinson
Amazing women in amazing times (5/6/2012)
Suzanne Joinson's novel is engaging, weaving an adroitly balanced story set in the time frames of 1923 and today. The book grabbed me at the first page and kept my interest throughout. The pacing between the two time periods was exceptionally well done. The characters and …more
An Unmarked Grave
An Unmarked Grave: A Bess Crawford Mystery
by Charles Todd
A War on Many Fronts (4/9/2012)
Unmarked Grave is the fourth in the Bess Crawford mystery series, yet requires no prior knowledge of the earlier books to make for a thoroughly engaging and entertaining read. Bess Crawford is a plucky and highly capable nursing sister assigned to the field hospital and aid …more
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