Category Archives: United States

Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur

27 Wednesday Dec 2023

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Author of her own family story, Wild Game : My Mother, Her Secret, and Me, Brodeur is no stranger to family secrets.  This is her debut novel and I found it absorbing.  She knows Cape Cod nature so intimately that it is absolutely a character in the book –  a soothing backdrop to the events.

“A juicy portrait of a wealthy family on the brink of disaster. . . Little Monsters simmers with tension as secrets explode out into the open. . . Tensely constructed and absorbing. . . A consummate summer read, which somehow evokes smooth beach glass and hot pink sunsets with nary a mention of either.” —The Washington Post

“[An] engaging and neatly plotted novel. . . Little Monsters is so alluring, with its sense of looming familial implosion within a cultural implosion. . . Brodeur is very deliberately examining a small family horror story within a larger political context.” —The New York Times

“Shimmering. . . With this intricate story, Brodeur distinguishes herself as a novelist of the first rank.” —Publishers Weekly, *Starred Review*

“This smart, page-flipping novel has more secrets than you could successfully hide from your Sunday school teacher. . . [with] shades of Succession. . . Little Monsters offers the pleasures of a smart, absorbing debut novel.” —The Boston Globe

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Strip Tees by Kate Flannery

27 Friday Oct 2023

Posted by in Biography, History, United States

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This memoir tells the story of the millennial feminist meeting toxic patriarchal culture at American Apparel. Hilariously funny – I was cheering for Kate the whole way! 

“A racy, thoughtful memoir of [Flannery’s] tenure during the rise and fall of the controversial company…Flannery’s conversion from credulous retail recruit to company woman doesn’t trade in hyper-intellectual #MeToo-era analysis or retrospective scolding. Instead, its currency is the prickly panic of realizing your life doesn’t match your principles, spiked with salacious specifics that evoke the highly sexed environment of American Apparel’s cultural and commercial peak.”
―New York Times Book Review

“[A] bold debut memoir…Flannery succeeds in illustrating the fashion industry’s blurred lines in the decade prior to #MeToo, and the tough choices women faced between professional success and personal safety. This is an authentic portrait of the battle to remain true to oneself.―Publishers Weekly

“Begins like a classic Hollywood noir…Strip Tees goes down as easy as a rum and Diet Coke, breezily written and punctuated at its intermission by a few pages of glossy photos…[it’s] as if Flannery were recounting the saga of her ill-fated years at American Apparel directly to you ― not in a suburban basement, but perhaps over frozen rosé outside a hotel bar, where we can smell the pool water and swimsuit Lycra.”―Washington Post

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Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

18 Wednesday Oct 2023

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While they are all home working on the family’s cherry orchard, a mother tells her daughters the story of an important summer in her past. I always love Ann Patchett’s writing, and her new novel does not disappoint, with interesting characters and beautiful descriptions of Northern Michigan.

“Patchett’s intricate and subtle thematic web…enfolds the nature of storytelling, the evolving dynamics of a family, and the complex interaction between destiny and choice….These braided strands culminate in a denouement at once deeply sad and tenderly life-affirming. Poignant and reflective, cementing Patchett’s stature as one of our finest novelists.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“As this spellbinding and incisive novel unspools, Patchett brings every turn of mind and every setting to glorious, vibrant life, gracefully contrasting the dazzle of the ephemeral with the gravitas of the timeless, perceiving in cherries sweet and tart reflections of love and loss.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Meryl Streep…is ideal for narrating Tom Lake…. Streep delivers with her signature whimsy, her cadence lilting from wide-eyed innocence to winking wisdom, blurring the nostalgia for small-town Americana with dashes of big-city dreams.” — New York Times Book Review

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Night Wherever We Go by Tracey Rose Peyton 

22 Friday Sep 2023

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction, United States

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This is a disturbing look at slavery through the lens of forced conception and birth as a means to increase wealth for slave owners. Peyton’s use of language is beautiful and powerful

“Engaging, arresting…. Peyton positions Night Wherever We Go in conversation with contemporary novels that reimagine the expansion of possibilities for Black enslaved people in the American South…. [Night Wherever We Go] asks us to remember that our personal history—acting with whatever power, big or small, we have in our reach—transforms our communities, too.” — Boston Globe

“A powerful and inspired achievement. Tracey Rose Peyton gives voice to the enslaved women of this nation’s past who have, for far too long, had their voices gone unheard in the annals of history. She does them justice and then some. This one is not to be missed.” — Nathan Harris, author of The Sweetness of Water

“Night Wherever We Go is extraordinary: a beautiful book about harrowing things, beautiful because of its understanding of humanity, its astonishing language, and the plain brilliance of its author. I’m not sure I’ve recovered from the experience of reading it, or ever will, or ever should.” — Elizabeth McCracken, author of The Souvenir Museum

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Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen

15 Friday Sep 2023

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I loved this very funny historical fiction story from the 1960’s told from the point of view of the woman who became Helen Gurley Brown’s secretary when she took over running Cosmopolitan magazine. 

“Where the book sparkles brightest is in Rosen’s complete success in creating a soapy, small-town-girl-in-the-big-city story that includes sophisticated bad boys, designer clothes, and lots of smoking and day drinking. An ode to idealized 1960s New York, this champagne bubble of a novel takes the Mad Menapproach to depicting single, twentysomething women.”—Booklist

“Instantly absorbing, thoroughly researched and a fun, breezy read. It’s like revisiting ‘Mad Men,’ but from Peggy and Joan’s points of view.”—BookReporter

“Renée Rosen is my go-to for whip-smart heroines who love their work. Park Avenue Summer is a delightful summer cocktail of a read!”—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network

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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

11 Friday Aug 2023

Posted by in Fiction, romance, United States

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A modern love story about two childhood friends, Sam and Sadie, who reunite as barely-out–of-college adults to become partners in the intricately imagined world of video game design, finding an intimacy in their digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives.  

P.S. I never played a video game in my life but was swept away by this magnificent story and female heroine.

“Utterly brilliant. In this sweeping, gorgeously written novel, Gabrielle Zevin charts the beauty, tenacity, and fragility of human love and creativity. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is one of the best books I’ve ever read.” —John Green, author of The Anthropocene Reviewed

“Zevin… returns with an exhilarating epic of friendship, grief, and computer game development…. Zevin layers the narrative with her characters’ wrenching emotional wounds as their relationships wax and wane… Even more impressive are the visionary and transgressive games… This is a one-of-a-kind achievement.”—Publishers Weekly, starred

“Riveting… Zevin has written the book she was born to write, a love letter to every aspect of gaming…Zevin’s delight in her characters, their qualities, and their projects sprinkles a layer of fairy dust over the whole enterprise…Sure to enchant even those who have never played a video game in their lives, with instant cult status for those who have.”—Kirkus, starred

“You don’t have to be a gamer to appreciate the pulsing heart of this best-seller: In a story spanning three decades and references from Oregon Trail to Macbeth, Gabrielle Zevlin has written a modern, definitive story about work, love, and friends for whom you’d do and risk everything.”—Keely Weiss and Halie Lesavage, Harper’s Bazaar

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The Midcoast by Adam White 

24 Monday Jul 2023

Posted by in action, adventure, Drama, Fiction, murder and investigation, United States

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A propulsive drama that cares as deeply about its characters as it does about the crimes they commit, The Midcoast explores the machinations of privilege, the dark recesses of the American dream, and the lies we tell as we try, at all costs, to protect the ones we love. (Amazon)

“Looking for an addictive summer read? This crime drama embedded in a moving portrait of two Maine families marks the debut of a genius storyteller.”—People (Book of the Week)

“The Midcoast is a suspenseful, funny, and chilling uncovering of small-town secrets within a propulsive family drama. . . . A perfect summer read about a perfect vacation haven.”—Angie Kim, author of Miracle Creek

“In deft, knowing, and crystalline prose, Adam White writes, in essence, the novel about the Maine coast, a winsome, perplexing, and ultimately shadowy place that doesn’t give up its big secrets easily.”—Richard Ford

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Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

17 Monday Jul 2023

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In a wealthy section of Brooklyn Heights lives the Stockton family, where each of the three adult children navigates love, marriage, and their careers, including the spouses who marry into this unique family of great privilege. This is a well written book to bring to the beach this summer.

“A charming, funny, and keenly observed story about New York City’s one percent—and what it means to find yourself among them, whether by birth or marriage.”


—Town and Country “Love is at the heart of this sparkling debut novel by Jenny Jackson, which excavates old money and contemporary problems with satiric flair.”
—Southern Living

“This novel…is laugh-out-loud good….Love and money have always mixed like oil and water (not well), but Jackson finds new humor and warmth in her particularly witty debut.”—Harper’s Bazaar

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Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

03 Wednesday May 2023

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This was sadder than I expected, but I enjoyed this family saga of four sisters growing up near Chicago. 

“This sumptuous family saga is one of those rare novels whose singular characters are so beautifully rendered, it’s as if they’re your best friends, and you’re grateful to be in their orbit. Napolitano’s homage to Little Women, albeit set in late-20thcentury Chicago, will prompt you to slow down as you read, never wanting the book to end. When it does, prepare for tears.”—Oprah Quarterly

Hello Beautiful will make you weep buckets because you come to care so deeply about the characters and their fates. . . . [Napolitano] compels us to contemplate the complex tapestry of family love that can, despite grief and loss, still knit us together. She helps us see ourselves—and each other—whole.”—The Washington Post

“Radiant and brilliantly crafted . . . Napolitano’s [work] resists the easy satisfactions of the sentimental and never settles for simple answers to emotional predicaments faced by her characters.”—The New York Times Book Review

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The Late Show by Michael Connelly

01 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by in action, crimes against, detective, Fiction, murder, murder and investigation, mystery, suspense, United States

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This was my first time reading the prolific Michael Connelly, and I loved this mystery that introduces us to Renee Ballard, a detective in LA working the overnight shift. Ballard is a great character and the cases she tries to solve in this first story are compelling.

The Late Show introduces a terrific female character: Detective Renee Ballard…The pacing of Ballard’s debut story is breathless…Ballard is complicated and driven enough to sustain the series Connelly doubtless has in mind for her.– “New York Times”

A hard-hitting police procedural that captures the imagination from page one.– “RT Book Reviews (4 stars)”

The most intriguing mystery in The Late Show, though, is Ballard herself. Connelly is too skillful to hand us her resume in one document dump; instead, he fills out her portrait with a subtle hand over the course of the novel, a little background here, a glimpse of her temperament there, the revelation of her unusual living conditions sketched in between.– “Tampa Bay Times”

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