The Bog Wife drew me in with its atmospheric story about a crumbling ruin that is home to five waring siblings and a bog whom their family has an ancient bond with. Part eco gothic thriller and part coming of age, this story is very weird, but in a good way!
I loved the story, the characters are interesting and the writing was well done, especially the visceral descriptions about the harmonious nature of bogs, and the not so harmonious relationships between humans among themselves and with nature. For those who like to discuss books there is a lot to ponder here. I enjoyed this storyline, it put me in mind of Andrew Krivak's book The Bear and Lauren Groff's The Vaster Wilds.

I got chills when reading this speculative fiction story about a town surrounded by its identical past and future and the towns people living out their lives while contemplating their free will vs their fate.
The writing is beautiful but at times melancholy. This creative story includes a mystery, a coming of age, first love, and life’s unbearable choices but also hope, making this a great bookclub pick.

I had to think about this one for an entire day before I could sort my feelings out about it. It’s a complicated story and reading it felt a bit disconnected like it was two separate stories that were forced together without much transition. But I think I have decided that was Orange’s point, to bring together an indigenous families past and present in all its disjointed and harsh trauma, and to witness the loss of their history, cultural significance, their person.

Wandering Stars is the continuation of the characters in Oranges first book There, There. It is the story of the Star and Red Feather families of Oakland California and their family’s Cheyenne ancestors generational trauma starting with the Sandcreek massacre and Carlisle Indian industrial school leading up to the situational trauma and aftermath of the Oakland PowWow shooting in There, There. Orange’s brilliant writing makes you feel the depth of discomfort that this family is experiencing in their situational and generational trauma. His writing expertly showcases how past and present trauma can destroy and disconnect indigenous Americans from their History, Language and Culture. If you would like an in depth conversation about how colonialism has affected Indigenous Americans then pick this book for your 2024 bookclub selections. There are endless topics to ponder and discuss but It won’t be published until the end of February so please put this on your TBR list asap!

Ben fountains Devil Makes Three is set in Haiti in the early nineties during the US governments involvement in the violent Coup d'état fall of the democratically elected president Jean Bertrand Aristide.

The story unfolds surrounding the rise of a brutal military dictatorship, an international embargo, drug trafficking and how the local Haitian civilians, American expats, CIA agents and local Haitian leaders are affected. Some use the chaos to take advantage of money and power while others are just trying to survive day by day. This is a love story, a history lesson and a political thriller. It is a brilliant picture in all things sorrowful about war and violence and the beauty of the human spirit.

At times I couldn't put it down and other times I felt lost and confused but it definitely made me want to read more about Haiti's history. I admit I don't read a lot of political thrillers so some of the political jargon was especially confusing but I could sense it was sharp and meaningful so I spent a lot of time looking things up and at 531 pages this really dragged out the time reading this monstrously long book! That's the only complaint I have because the story itself is excellent! 3.75 stars for me only because it was so long and felt it to be a bit wordy in places it didn't need to be. Hopefully the published version will include an index and references to help the reader along.

I would recommend this book for serious book clubs that do not mind long books and like to dive in and discuss the nitty gritty as there is so much to discuss in this book!

Monika Helfer's family story is interesting and would be captivating if not for the disjointed writing style which may have something to do with the translation. The story is about a family living in Western Austria during WWI and centers on a women named Maria and her children coping and surviving the trauma of war and a hostile community. The story is told through Maria's granddaughters memories and from other family members who related their stories to her.

Book clubs will find much to discuss about the price of war isolation, family, trauma and community architecture. The characters are interesting and I liked that she used a child's POV to tell the story, but at times it was hard to follow the jumping plot and rambling storylines. The fact that the book is only 175 pages long saves it in my eyes because the story was good but I do not think I could have tolerated the writing style past 200 pages! A solid 3-stars for the plot.

This book is written in a profound way that makes it heartbreaking yet hopeful, and will make you dig deep and explore uncomfortable truths about America and racism. The premise is of a Black Nurse who eventually discovers a terrible injustice done to her patients and fights for the truth to be known. The tragedy of our nation's shameful medical abuse of POC, class and socioeconomic level, especially women, is laid bare here. However, there are threads of hope that pull you along the storyline without diminishing the significance of the damage that has been perpetrated in these communities. It begs the reader to think about how relevant the mistrust in our society's public health initiatives with POC is after being Betrayed so many times in the past and who are still being misrepresented in disproportionate ways today.

Book clubs will love this book as it really invites deep thought and discussions about medical ethics and institutional racism. Anyone who enjoys truthful historical fiction will like this hard hitting and well written book for the warm characters and the unapologetic descriptions of past US medical abuses.

My only criticism was I felt the main character who played the black nurse often overstepped her authority on people she was trying to help, but thinking back now, maybe that was the authors intention as she in her own way was privileged in income and opportunity compared to the community she served. It seemed she blindly overstepped on the freedom of choice of the very people she was trying to help.
People who like this book would probably also enjoy reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I give this book 5 outstanding stars and wish to Thank BookBrowse and Berkeley publishing for the digital copy on NetGalley of this ARC. This opinions are all my own without any other compensation.

This book caught my attention from the get go. I have family in Australia so I enjoy books with Australian settings but the subject matter is what hooked me as it's very close to my heart. This book will be fantastic for bookclub discussions and people with personal or family histories dealing with mental health issues. I enjoyed Emily Spurrs writing style and was shocked to find myself in tears several times reading this amazing story! It was both Beautiful and at times Devastating hanging out in Rae's head. Lettie and Rae's relationship, based on their shared experiences, will be eye opening to those who have been blessed not to have had to deal with mental health issues which makes this book a Jewel! 5 stars. I loved everything about this book! Looking forward to more Spurr books!

Good historical Fiction on women and medicine set in the mid 1800s London. The book examines how women were band from practicing medicine and ethical situations in discovering lifesaving techniques. There is a big romance set in this book,
but enough medical experiments and surgeries to keep this geeky science girl interested! The Historical references were good and interesting and the characters were complex and endearing. In some ways the romance was important in context to demonstrate the difficulties of women trying to break that glass ceiling and all the rules of convention it involved but I felt it was too predictable and was tiresome at times. I really adore Nora the main character who is adopted by a distracted but brilliant Doctor and his housekeeper. The Doctor is inclined to step out of “the box,” when it comes to how and who is practicing medicine, so Nora is not denied a brilliant education in science however impractical it will be to her. Nora is bright, compassionate and has strong moral values yet she is totally unconventional for her time throwing many people in her life off guard! However, this never stops Nora from pushing forward to obtain her dreams and I felt akin to her right away. A book I would recommend to fellow historical fiction lovers. Interesting note about the author Audrey Blake, which is a pseudonym of Jaime Fixsen of Canada and Regina Sirois of Kansas! Being from Kansas, I loved this book involved a local author How fun!!