BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Reviews by Barbara B. (Harlingen, TX)

Ordinary Love: A Novel
by Marie Rutkoski

Ordinary Love (4/5/2025)

Many readers will be offended by this story, others will have questions and some will be happy this tales is being told.

Emily and Gen knew each other in school, became best friends and lovers in high school. As is expected in college years they moved into different paths. …more

Making Friends Can Be Murder
by Kathleen West

Making Friends Can Be Murder (2/18/2025)

Seven women all with the same name of Sarah Jones meet and bond. They identify each other by using their age "so as not to be utterly confused." Seventeen is the youngest and 69 is the oldest..

Wait, what if one of them is only pretending to be a Sarah Jones. Why is the FBI …more

Songs of Summer
by Jane L. Rosen

Songs of Summer (1/9/2025)

This is a delightful book, not a boring page in it. Maggie May has always known she was adopted. She is 30 years old when she and Jason, her childhood forever friend, decided to search for her birth mother, Beatrix has not spoken to her sister for 30 years.

Matt and Dylan …more

Jane and Dan at the End of the World
by Colleen Oakley

Jane and Dan At the End of the World (11/19/2024)

In my 86 years I have read thousands of mystery/thriller books. This plot is so original and clever I read it start to finish in one day. Jan and Dan go to an exclusive posh restaurant to celebrate their anniversary.. Before they can order a group of young thugs enter and …more

Happy Land
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Happy Land (10/24/2024)

I loved the story and characters of this book. The Civil War has ended. The KKK is rampant. A group of freed people trek to remote Appalachia. They establish a communal village based on the laws and leadership of the African communities they were forced to leave. They call …more

In the Garden of Monsters: A Novel
by Crystal King

In the Garden of Monsters (8/4/2024)

I don't think I should be reviewing this book. It is totally out of my reading genre. If you love or even just like Greek/Roman mythology this is the book you want to read.

Imagine Salvador Dali in Italy's Garden of Monsters to re-create the story of Persephone and Hades in …more

Follow the Stars Home
by Diane C. McPhail

Follow The Stars Home (5/1/2024)

This was a delightful read. The author, though, has me confused. In her preface she states that the story is a work of fiction, all names, places and events products of her imagination. Reading the bibliography of her research she has given the characters names of real …more

The Funeral Cryer: A Novel
by Wenyan Lu

The Funeral Cryer (3/21/2024)

In The Funeral Cryer no one has a name, just an occupation.The middle age woman telling her story is a paid professional hired to cry and sing at funerals in her Chinese village. I suffered with her as she struggled questions "who am I":, "does anyone love me". Though she …more

The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton

Familiar plot (12/12/2023)

This book was a quick, easy read. with just a bit of a twist at the end. Tells the story of 3 women who have lived in the same Florida mansion... As I read I kept thinking "another house book"... Another book with chapters alternating characters and story lines. Felt like I …more

Becoming Madam Secretary
by Stephanie Dray

Becoming Madam Secretary (10/22/2023)

Frances Perkins was just a name. When the first chapter hinted at her accomplishments I knew this was a must read.

Frances struggled with family issues and for a public service career at a time when women were just gaining suffrage. Franklin Roosevelt appointed her to be his …more

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Book Jacket — Lessons in Chemistry
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Praised by *Parade* and *The New York Times Book Review*, this debut features a 1960s scientist turned TV cooking star.

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