Great read! I enjoyed all of the characters; their quirks and their stories drew me in. It was fun and funny, sad and hopeful. This enjoyable book describes the drama of the ups and downs of mostly ordinary people working at an ordinary big box store. Recommended for book clubs.

This is a story of resilience, of survival, of human dignity. The author uses beautiful but raw language to tell us the history of this island community in his own writing style. There are themes of philosophy, art and carpentry mixed with family, food, love and death. I found the writing format to be challenging with the wandering sentences and paragraphs. I highly recommend this thought provoking novel for deep book club discussion.

A great read! I could feel the heat of Australia and taste the dust in my mouth as I read about Dirt Town. My heart could also feel the fun and the angst the kids of this small neighbor were experiencing. The excellent writing took me straight into the story. The adult characters also had back stories that were relatable and meshed with the children. I went through anger, sadness, empathy and love of the characters and pondered the authors question "who are we when no one is looking?" Highly recommended!

Well, I have to say after the first chapter or so, the pacing and set up of this novel was kind of slow for me. Then the corn started "popping"!! I was pulled in and didn't want to stop reading. Set in Iowa and a small town, I thought the story would not be fresh. I was wrong! It hits a fast pace with so many surprises and bends in the road. Interesting characters abound. I highly recommend this crime thriller....and please take your vitamins!

The cracks in the life of proper and elegant Mrs. March, who must have
fresh olive bread set on her table, become wider as her story unfolds. A seemingly perfect life starts to crumble with visions of things that aren't there, faces that change to be someone else, paranoia over her husband's activities and odd phone calls. The pressure of perfection as a housewife to a famous husband combined with a dysfunctional childhood builds to a tension filled and shocking ending. I related to the strong characters and the themes presented; and quickly became caught up in the story. Recommended!

Are creepy motels, the '80's , and ghosts your thing? Then this is the book for you! I truly loved this story. It's been a long time since a book has given me the heebie jeebies, but this one did. The creepy motel setting, perfect. Supernatural elements, that for me, were not over done, again, perfect. The eerie atmosphere and the 80's time line, superb. This book is a definite must read if you enjoy mysteries with these elements!

This story is an easy read, but full of topics, like loss of parents and husband, bigotry, religion, and family dynamics for good book club discussion. Main characters were done well in an interesting plot and a pretty setting on a river in Wisconsin. I liked this book, but found a few parts disjointed or maybe random. The relationship of Grandmother and Grandson was my favorite and their conversations about loss and change have stuck with me. I will be recommending this novel.

This story is set in beautiful Trinidad. The descriptions of this country give so much detail, I could clearly imagine it. The family of the story struggles to provide for their twin boys. There is widespread corruption in the country that the father wants no part of, but in the end, that corruption forces him to make an unthinkable choice. The flawed characters pulled me into the unsettling story. I'm glad I had the chance to read this ARC from BookBrowse and I highly recommend it for book clubs. The end is difficult but will bring much discussion.

I enjoyed this book so much. I thought the characters were well done. The descriptions of the routines that Denis has set up for himself to follow are marvelous and easily imagined. I laughed; I cried. I would recommend this book to book clubs definitely; so much to discuss. While I did feel it took a little too long to build up and develop some tension, once it did, the story moved faster, and I was completely immersed in Denis's world. I had a couple questions about 3 of the "stranger" characters that I wanted answered early in the story, but I understood why the answers, when I got them, came at the end. I have not read many fiction books about mental illness, and this was refreshingly different from my usual. I recommend this book and thank you to BookBrowse for the opportunity to read it.