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Reviews by Sandi W.

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Fagin the Thief: A Novel
by Allison Epstein
A deeper probe of Fagin... (12/21/2024)
3.5 stars Thank you to BookBrowse and Doubleday for allowing me to read and review this ARC. Publishes Feb 25, 2025.

I am pretty skeptical about retellings. Seldom do I care for the changes that are made to the original story or characters. However with this book, it was notmore
Beast of the North Woods: Monster Hunter Mysteries #3
by Annelise Ryan
OH NO! A Hodag... (11/7/2024)
4 stars Thank you to BookBrowse and Berkley for letting me read this ARC. Publication is January 28, 2025.

A man is found dead and gutted in a field. Andy, having found the man, and it being his well known rival, is accused of the murder. He swears that he saw a Hodag andmore
We'll Prescribe You a Cat
by Syou Ishida
Up lifting, delightful and cozy... (7/28/2024)
4 stars Thank you to BookBrowse and Berkley for a copy of this book to read and review. Published March 8, 2023

Totally enjoyed this book. Five related stories and the first book of the We'll Prescribe You a Cat series. The tie between the stories is the Kokoro Clinic formore
The Day Tripper: A Novel
by James Goodhand
What day is this????? (12/20/2023)
Thank you to BookBrowse and Mira for a copy of this ARC. Publishes March 19, 2024

Do you have trouble remembering what day it is? How would you like to wake up to a morning in 2014 one day and then a morning in 1998 the next day? Quite confusing. That is the life of Alexmore
The Witches at the End of the World
by Chelsea Iversen
Bonds of Love... (9/9/2023)
I so wanted to like this book much more than I actually did. I like books driven by characters, as in speech, or by the plot, where ever the story is going. I found this book to revolve more around the 'thoughts' of the two main characters. So between that, and the prosemore
The House of Lincoln: A Novel
by Nancy Horan
Abraham Lincoln from a new persapective... (6/8/2023)
A different take on the life of Abraham Lincoln. This story is told from the point of view of a young Portuguese refugee, Ana, who went to work for the Lincoln's as a Saturday girl. She not only looked after the children, but did some housework. As she aged she become moremore
King of the Armadillos
by Wendy Chin-Tanner
Great Debut... (6/2/2023)
4.5 stars Thanks to BookBrowse and Flatiron Books for a chance to read this ARC. Publishes July 25, 2023.

This is a great debut novel by Wendy Chin Tanner. She based the story on her own father when he spent time in Carville, Louisiana. Carville has a federal institutionmore
The Gifts: A Novel
by Liz Hyder
Great Debut Book (4/23/2023)
I am usually leery of books that come from too many points of view and was therefore leery of this book. However I think the author did a great job in keeping the protagonists separated and involved in their own stories until the time to bring them all together.

You won'tmore
Homestead: A Novel
by Melinda Moustakis
The Ups and Downs... (3/16/2023)
As much as I wanted to like this book I fear that I did not. Where other people read 'artistic prose' I read choppy hard to understand sentences that just felt incomplete in thought. Although by the end of the book I had gotten into the cadence of the writing, that did notmore
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise
by Colleen Oakley
Such a fun story. (11/17/2022)
Such a fun story. Character driven, laugh out loud funny, mystery. Put an octogenarian and a 21 year old together on a cross country road trip in an aging Jaguar, add in a decades old crime and a failed soccer career, then put a twist at the end. That sums up to onemore
River Sing Me Home
by Eleanor Shearer
From Barbados to Trinidad she walked and sailed (10/5/2022)
3.75 stars Thanks to BookBrowse and Berkley Books for the ARC and allowing me to read and review. Publishes January 31, 2023

Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. These are the names that have Rachel laying awake at night yearning. These are the fivemore
The Empire of Dirt: A Novel
by Francesca Manfredi
Beliefs and superstitions (7/20/2022)
Three generation of women in the Italian countryside with varying beliefs and superstitions. The pressure put on a young girl when she reaches womanhood.

This book reads easily and is very well written. From the premise it sounds as if it could go either way - a goodmore
Take My Hand
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Where is the justice... (9/28/2021)
4 stars Thank you to BookBrowse for the digital copy of this ARC. Publication is April 2022.

This story is fictional. But this story is inspired by a real life event. The year was 1973. The problem was not only racial but ethically despicable. This case ended up in federalmore
The Sunset Route: Freight Trains, Forgiveness, and Freedom on the Rails in the American West
by Carrot Quinn
Carrot Quinn was running... (8/24/2021)
3.5 stars Thank you to BookBrowse for giving me this book to read and review. Published on July 6, 2021.

Carrot Quinn was running. Maybe not running from, but trying to run to.

Carrot - born Jenni - had a miserable childhood. A schizophrenic mother, a brother raised apartmore
The Nickel Boys
by Colson Whitehead
There were only 5 ways out ... (10/9/2020)
Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday books for a chance to read and review this ARC. Published Jul 16, 2019.

Another winner by Whitehead. Having read Underground Railroad I was excited to see this book. Although feeling that this book was somewhat milder than Undergroundmore
Evvie Drake Starts Over: A Novel
by Linda Holmes
The Widow and the Man with the Widow Maker Arm! (10/9/2020)
3.5 stars Thank you to Linda Holmes and Ballantine Books for sending me this ARC and allowing me to read and review it. Published June 25, 2019.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I usually hold these books for a point that I need a palette cleanser, somethingmore
The Whisper Man
by Alex North
see this story unfold from a number of perspectives... (10/9/2020)
5 stars Thank you to Edelweiss and Celadon Books for allowing me to read and review this book. Published on August 20, 2019.

I don't often give a book over 4 stars - at the most. It takes an exceptional book to get more than that out of me. This was that book!

I have nevermore
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
by Olga Tokarczuk
take my review with a grain of salt... (10/9/2020)
3 stars Thanks to Edelweiss and Riverhead Books Publishing for the chance to read this ARC. Published August 13, 2019. This is a translated book. Originally written in Polish.
This book was so confusing for me. There were parts that I really liked and parts that franklymore
In West Mills
by De'Shawn Charles Winslow
how things are carried down thru generations... (10/9/2020)
3.75 stars Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for a chance to read and review this book. Published June 4, 2019.

This was a first time read of anything by Winslow and I am not sure exactly what is was about this book, but I loved it. I think it was a mixture ofmore
Today We Go Home: A Novel
by Kelli Estes
the effects of war on a female soldier - past and present... (10/9/2020)
4 stars Thanks to BookBrowse and Sourcebooks Landmark for a chance to read this book. Published September 3, 2019

I really enjoyed this book. I had not read Estes before, but I know she had a prior book, that I will now secure and read.

In alternating chapters this bookmore

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