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Reviews by Susan R. (Julian, NC)

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The Last Girl: A Maeve Kerrigan Novel
by Jane Casey
Great British Mystery (4/14/2013)
I enjoyed this book, but think that I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous three books in the series. I have just ordered the first three books so that I can get some of my questions answered.
I enjoyed the main character of Maeve Kerrigan and thought thatmore
Children of the Jacaranda Tree
by Sahar Delijani
Fantastic Debut Novel (2/9/2013)
Sahar Delejani has written a fantastic novel. It is gritty and emotional and hard to read due to the subject matter. At the same time it is uplifting and shows hope for a brighter future for Iran. The characters were well written and unforgettable -- I will be thinkingmore
A Land More Kind Than Home: A Novel
by Wiley Cash
Loss of Innocence (3/11/2012)
I feel that a book is good if I continue to think about the characters in it after I have finished reading. The characters in this book continue to come to mind over a week after finishing it. These characters were so well developed that I felt like I knew them and wantedmore
Folly Beach: A Lowcountry Tale
by Dorothea Benton Frank
Folly Beach - Past and Present (6/9/2011)
I have read every book that Dorothea Benton Frank has written and this is absolutely the best one yet. She does a fantastic job of presenting a story inside the story. The modern story is about Cate Cooper and the changes in her life that cause her to move back to Follymore
The Sweetness of Tears: A Novel
by Nafisa Haji
The Sweetness of Life (3/21/2011)
I was very close to giving up on this book for the first 50 pages but I continued reading because I had really enjoyed this author's first book (The Writing on my Forehead). I made a list of all of the characters as they appeared in the book so that could connect themore
An Amish Christmas: A Novel
by Cynthia Keller
To be, rather than to seem (8/26/2010)
The Hobarts are a modern well to do family with all of the latest electronics living in Charlotte NC. Meg Hobart, the mom, questions some of the excesses of her kids lives but is totally enmeshed in their upwardly mobile lives. Due to unfortunate circumstances, their livesmore
The Hand that First Held Mine: A Novel
by Maggie O'Farrell
The Hand that First Held Mine (3/5/2010)
I thought that the book started slowly and I had a hard time getting involved in the characters. After about 50 pages, I started to really enjoy it. Once I got to that point, the characters became very real to me and I enjoyed getting to know them. I laughed and I criedmore
The Lotus Eaters: A Novel
by Tatjana Soli
Collateral Damage (1/5/2010)
This novel by first time author Tatjana Soli was a haunting depiction of the war in Vietnam from several different fronts. We saw the view of the US military, the view of the Vietnamese civilians and the views of the war photographers who were frequently caught in themore
Serena: A Novel
by Ron Rash
GOOD vs EVIL (9/6/2009)
This is the classic story of good vs evil. On the evil side is Serena - she wants to control the environment and nature. She has no remorse for cutting down trees and totally destroying the environment and the people of the NC mountains. Rachel is the good - she understandsmore
Sweeping Up Glass
by Carolyn Wall
Fantastic Read (8/10/2009)
During the first few pages of this book, I kept putting it down - I didn't think that I could read it. However, once I learned all of the major characters, I got totally engrossed in it. I didn't want to read it too fast and miss anything. The book is fantastic and would bemore
Burnt Shadows: A Novel
by Kamila Shamsie
Burnt Shadows (5/2/2009)
The beginning of this book was confusing -- I would have preferred to get to know the characters better before the horror of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. However, I kept reading and found the book to be really good. The scope of the book was huge - Japan, India, Pakistan,more
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