The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes by Chanel Cleeton.
There are three separate story lines over three different time periods. The first is in 1900 after the Cuban War of Independence and Spanish American War. The second is during the middle 1960's under the rule of Fidel Castro. The third is set in present day. I found the first two story lines to be authentic and believable, but the third one seemed contrived and forced.

While it was an interesting read, it was difficult to follow. I think the same result could have been achieved by focusing the novel on the first two story lines and leaving out the third story line, which was not as engaging or authentic as the first two. Although the story was unnecessarily confusing, I am glad I stuck with it until the end when it did all come together.

In addition to the story lines, the novel highlights how powerful and important books can be and the emotional impact they can have on individuals. I really liked the idea of how a book can have such an impact on multiple people's lives and how it can bring people together.

As mentioned, a theme of the novel focuses on the importance and power of books, and this could make for a great discussion in a book club setting. However, I am not sure I would recommend this book to my book club because the story was overly complicated and difficult to follow.

While this is not one of my favorite books, I did learn a number of interesting things about various periods and events in Cuba. I would recommend it to readers interested in Cuba during post war and Fidel's rule.

Girl Falling by Hayley Scrivenor
Girl Falling is a novel that takes place in Australia with various themes including friendship, romance, loyalty, acceptance, secrets, crime vs accident, and police investigations.
The author constructs the story by alternating chapters between present day and the past allowing the reader to piece it together as they read.
There are a number of very vivid descriptions of physical places and rock climbing. However, the descriptions of people and their interactions felt more forced and geared more toward a young adult audience. I also found some of the detailed descriptions in the story to be of mundane or unimportant things that felt like unnecessary filler and did not add to the story.
While I found some of the written dialog and details to be more typical of a Young Adult novel, I would not recommend this for teens because of the numerous suicide references. Also, the LBGTQ focus could result in it being banned as a YA novel in some locals.
I would not say this is one of the favorite books I have read this year. However, the short chapters and alternating chapters quickly move the story along, and it has a lot of twists and turns along the way making it a fun summer read.

Review for Pony Confidential, Christina Lynch

Pony Confidential is a unique way to tell the story of a murder mystery. It is a clever, whimsical story about two main characters: the pony and a young woman named Penny, who had owned the pony when she was a child.

An Interesting construction of short alternating chapters tells the story from the pony's perspective and Penny's perspective. The short chapters make the story move along quickly. However, the story does become a little convoluted along the way and there are a lot of contrived coincidences. The animal characters are well drawn, and I found them to be the most interesting characters.

Although the story is written in a whimsical manner and is a fantasy, there are a number of serious themes incorporated into the novel including:
•   Relationship between animals and people
•   The competitive horse world
•   The treatment and mistreatment of animals, particularly horses
•   Family relations and dealing with mental illness issues of a child
•   Love, Friendship, Can people change
•   and the Judicial system and Life in a woman's prison.

As a fantasy, the reader needs to suspend reality when the animals wax on philosophically; when the animals are talking; and when the pony travels all over the country and even enters a building and rides an elevator.

I found the story to be a bit disjointed and the reader needs to piece it together. At times it is hard to follow the timeline of The Pony's story and Penny's story. The timelines were not always parallel. The author may have done this on purpose so the reader would need to piece the mystery together.

The novel includes some very philosophical statements from various characters (animal and human ), and I actually wrote the quotes down because they were worth pondering.

In conclusion, this was not your usual mystery novel. The story is whimsical and a fantasy, yet I found myself turning the pages to find out what happens next and to see if the pony actually solves the mystery. I would not recommend it to my book club because we tend to read more serious books and the writing seemed to be more appropriate for a young adult audience. But it might be a fun book for a young adult book club.

The Writing:
The Adversary is a very well written book with clear, concise, clever, and sometimes even whimsical style. The author uses very vivid descriptions. While skillfully written, some of the more violent and brutal passages may be unsuitable for more sensitive readers.

I like the way the author uses the chapter titles to foreshadow what is to come in each chapter. And I found it engaging the way the author would present a scene or event only to leave the reader hanging, but then circle back to explain it later.

The Story:
The Storyline is well constructed, although it is a dark story showing the extreme lengths with which two adversaries will go in order to thwart one another. The story is full of cruelty, brutality, debauchery, revenge, as well as raucous and bawdy behavior. At times, the two main characters demonstrate extreme cruel, vindictive, and vengeful behavior.

On the lighter side, the story provides an in-dept description of life in a small fishing village in Newfoundland, and there is an interesting subplot regarding Quakers, as a minority, in Newfoundland. The author also uses interesting symbolism and quotes throughout the story.

While I did not find the story to be a mesmerizing, page turner, it does build to a climax toward the end and captivates the reader to stay with it to see what happens to the two adversaries, as well as the secondary characters.

I would not recommend this for my book club. Although it is very well written, I believe it may be too violent and brutal for a number of the book club members.

Above the Salt, a novel by Katherine Vaz, is a story of enduring love between two people. It is a complex story with related and tangential subplots focusing on religious strife, immigrants, inventions, war, horticulture, betrayal, loyalty, and family.

I found the title intriguing. "Salt" is referred to a number of times throughout the novel, and without giving anything away, the explanation of the phrase "Above the Salt" was fascinating.

Ms. Vaz is an excellent writer. She has a poetic and lyrical style. Her writing is descriptive, and she uses various short and interesting vignettes to keep the story moving.

The civil war is an important part of this novel, and I credit the author for providing authentic descriptions of the horrors of war, without being overly graphic or gratuitous.

I would compare this book to a movie where viewers say it is a good story and the cinematography is breathtaking. I would say this novel is a good story and the poetic and lyrical writing is spellbinding. There were times I simply savored the writing by reading it slowly or even twice in order to enjoy it as much as possible.

I would definitely recommend this book. I also believe it could be a good book club choice, as long as the members are willing to take the time to read a book over 400 pages and accept that they may want to read slowly or even go back and reread some of the passages. That being said, I do believe book club members would find the book lends itself to a great discussion.

Magogodi oaMphela Makhene is definitely a skillful writer. Her short stories included great descriptions and some very cleverly written sentences. I am normally a big fan of historic fiction, however, without an understanding of the various African phrases used throughout and knowledge of specific references to African history and apartheid, I found it difficult to fully follow the various storylines and the authors intent.

The All American by Joe Milan Jr. is a fast-paced story with a lot of action centered on Bucky, a Korean, American male teenage adoptee. Short chapters keep the story moving along, making it a page turner. The author writes using an authentic voice capturing how a teenager would think, act and talk.
Bucky, the main character, is a high school running back and there are a lot of football images and many analogies between Bucky's reality and the game of football throughout the novel.
The author does an excellent job of vividly describing Bucky's life in a small rural town in the State of Washington with his adoptive mom and family. The description of his life in Korea, after being deported because of a problem with his adoption status, is well drawn. The reader can readily grasp and sympathize with how difficult it would be to navigate in a strange country where you know no one and are unable to understand the language.
While I enjoyed the book, I am a little hesitation to give it a full-throated recommendation for two reasons. The book does have twist and turns along the way, but at times the reader may not be sure where the story is going. However, it does come together by the end. Also, readers who have no knowledge nor interest in football may find all the football imagery and analogies tedious.
Notwithstanding these concerns, I believe The All American could make for a good book club discussion focusing on any number of themes presented in the novel.

The Other Eden is a very well written book. I would highly recommend it if you have the time to take a deep dive to explore the writing and savor the lyrical writing and exceptional imagery. While I would not recommend it if you are just looking for a quick, easy read that doesn't require much effort. Many of the sentences are lengthy and complex and some may require a second read to fully gasp the meaning. However, if you take the time, it will be a memorable experience.
The characters are well developed, and the story is most thought provoking. From the title you might correctly expect the novel to include religious and spiritual references. However, the tone is not preachy, rather the references are used to further support the themes in the book.
The author adeptly describes the contrast between how the main characters view themselves and their lives and how they are viewed by those outside their community who control their future. The author leaves the reader to ponder this contrast and whether the everyday life of both may be nearly identical, yet extreme prejudice results in unjust actions.

Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas is a well written, character-driven novel set in the Sudan. Abbas carefully describes each of the main characters, while also weaving their back story throughout to make for a more complete picture of each one. The novel explores a group of five diverse characters focusing on their interactions, conflicts, tensions and how each one grows and changes to overcome conflict and reduce tensions.

If you generally prefer an action-packed plot driven novel vs. a character driven one, I recommend giving this novel a chance. Stay with it until the end, and I believe you will find it worth the journey.

As a book club member, myself, I believe Ghost Season could be an interesting book club selection. A stimulating discussion could ensue of how differences and divisiveness can cause unfortunate results and how a group of very dissimilar people can form a cohesive team in the time of strife and danger. The discussion could also move onto how mistrust and misunderstandings can cause unnecessary conflict and even tragic violence.

Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China's Civil War by Zhuqing Li is a non-fiction book that reads like a novel. It is a real page-turner. The author uses alternating chapters to tell the stories of her two aunts, who are sisters. Li describes her aunts' experiences, trials & tribulations, ambitions and accomplishment as they lived in two very different Chinas. One lived in Mainland China, known as the Peoples Republic of China or Communist China and the other lived in Taiwan, known as The Republic of China or Traditional China.

I truly enjoyed the book. In addition to being a great story, I gained a much better understanding of the contrast between life in Mainland China and on the Island of Taiwan after the communist came to power in 1949.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an engaging, character-driven story and is also interested in history. For me, I found answers to many questions westerns have about the conflict between the communist and the nationalist in China. The story spans decades including the Japanese invasion, WWII, the rise of Communist China and the two Chinas, culture revolution and re-education. The story also describes how things changed after the visit of Richard Nixon, the death of Mao, the Tiananmen Square protests, and China's economic reforms moving it toward a capitalist economy and global power.

Zhuqing Li did an excellent job of telling her aunts' stories, while enlightening the reader about the two Chinas.