BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Reviews by Karen W. (Atlanta, GA)

Some of It Was Real
by Nan Fischer

A mystery and love story with psychic focus (3/9/2022)

Whether you believe in psychic powers or not, this is a fairly entertaining mystery with a love story thrown in. In fact, I wish there were more scenes of the psychic readings and fewer of the romance, but that's just me.

A Million Things
by Emily Spurr

Disturbing Mystery in Australia (5/13/2021)

Even though the setting is Australia, this story could happen anywhere. The two main characters, a young girl and an old woman, are well-done and although adversaries at first, become necessary for each other's survival. Both are going through trying times, and somehow …more

The Temple House Vanishing
by Rachel Donohue

Disturbed people ruin each other's lives (4/14/2021)

Even though this is billed as a murder mystery, it is more about mentally disturbed people and their bad influence on each other. The mystery takes 100 pages to occur. The author spends too much time in setting a dismal scene at a decrepit girls' school. I did not enjoy it …more

The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

The Personal Librarian (2/9/2021)

This novel, based on the real person who brought the Pierpont Morgan library to prominence in the early 1900s, focuses on her racial identity. Not only did Bella DaCosta Greene deal with gender bias, she secretly lived through racial bias since she was passing as white. …more

The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World: A Novel
by Laura Imai Messina

Pleasant novel about grief (1/6/2021)

How far would you go to talk to a person you lost to sudden tragedy? Evidently some would go far. This book references the actual phone booth (non-functioning) where survivors go to communicate with the departed. The varied stories of the grievers provide an interesting …more

BookBrowse Book Club

Real Americans
by Rachel Khong

From the author of Goodbye, Vitamin, a novel exploring family, identity, and the shaping of destiny.

About Discuss
The Devil Finds Work
by James Baldwin

A book-length essay on racism in American films, by "the best essayist in this country" (The New York Times Book Review).

About Discuss
The River Knows Your Name
by Kelly Mustian

A haunting Southern novel about memory and love, from the author of The Girls in the Stilt House.

About Discuss
The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris
by Evie Woods

From the million-copy bestselling author of The Lost Bookshop.

About Discuss

Members Recommend

Happy Land
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.

Read the Reviews
The Fairbanks Four
by Brian Patrick O’Donoghue

One murder, four guilty convictions, and a community determined to find justice.

Read the Reviews
The Seven O'Clock Club
by Amelia Ireland

Four strangers join an experimental treatment to heal broken hearts in Amelia Ireland's heartfelt debut novel.

Read the Reviews
One Death at a Time
by Abbi Waxman

A cranky ex-actress and her Gen Z sobriety sponsor team up to solve a murder that could send her back to prison in this dazzling mystery.

Read the Reviews