Annie Hartnett just blew me away again with her story about a 63 year old guy kind of on his last legs, a cat named Pancakes, two little kids he unexpectedly acquires due to a tragedy and his ex-wife and younger daughter. The whole story turns into a ridiculous roadtrip that happens on a whim … Continue reading The Road to Tender Hearts – Annie Hartnett
Category: Book Reviews
Daughters – Kirsty Capes (Audio narrators Ryan Laughton and Amber Gadd)
Daughters is a well told story about a dysfunctional family. As far as the reader can tell, putting everything together, Ingrid Olssen never wanted her two daughters. Lots of evidence supporting this comes through in this story that takes place two years after Ingrid's death but involves a lot of stories from many perspectives about … Continue reading Daughters – Kirsty Capes (Audio narrators Ryan Laughton and Amber Gadd)
The Impossible Thing – Belinda Bauer
The characters and the story crafted around wild bird egg collecting are stunningly well written. It opens in the present day with someone named Garrett trying to catch a man named Barr as he digs up some sort of contraband. They show up much later on and all is explained. Then, we are on a … Continue reading The Impossible Thing – Belinda Bauer
The Heartbeat Library – Laura Imai Messina (audio narrator Kenichiro Thomson)
The Heartbeat Library is a lovely novel centering on Shuichi, a well-known children's book illustrator, who returns to his childhood home after his mother's death. Along with the home, he seems to have inherited an 8 year old neighbor, Kente. The little boy was close to Shuichi's mother, who helped him with homework. His parents … Continue reading The Heartbeat Library – Laura Imai Messina (audio narrator Kenichiro Thomson)
Nobody’s Fool – Harlan Coben
Harlan Coben brings us a second novel starring Sami Kierce, a former Manhattan detective who lost his job because of inappropriate approaches to his investigations. I really enjoyed the plot, characters and writing in this novel. Coben never disappoints, but this time, he wowed me! Sami graduated from a prestigious private school where he was … Continue reading Nobody’s Fool – Harlan Coben
The Library of Lost Dollhouses -Elise Hooper (Audio narrated by Emily Rankin and Caroline Hewitt)
The Library of Lost Dollhouses is a wonderful multi-timeline story that centers on a fictitious library/museum in San Francisco, housed in a Beaux Arts Building, the Belva Curtis Lefarge Library. Belva Lefarge founded the library and lived on the top floor after her home burned down. The nickname of the library is, "the Bel." A … Continue reading The Library of Lost Dollhouses -Elise Hooper (Audio narrated by Emily Rankin and Caroline Hewitt)
America, Let Me In: A Choose Your Immigration Story – Felipe Torres Medina
It's important first of all to read the subtitle of this amazing book to get part of why it's the most entertaining and complete explanation of a complex area of law I've ever seen. Throughout, Medina uses every lawyer's classic explanation to clients that we call, "on the one hand (blah, blah, blah). Buuuttt, On … Continue reading America, Let Me In: A Choose Your Immigration Story – Felipe Torres Medina
O Sinners! – Nicole Cuffy
In O Sinners! there are two men who play the key roles. One is Faruq, a young man raised by an observant Muslim father and, until her death in a car accident, a mother who was less observant. Faruq writes for an online site but he needs a break shortly after his father dies. His … Continue reading O Sinners! – Nicole Cuffy
The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead (audio narrators Colson Whitehead and JD Dean)
Years ago, I saw a documentary on Florida's Dozier School for Boys and it led me to the official reports on the abuses the school piled on its inmates, White and Black, during its many years as a "reform school." Colson Whitehead won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2020 for the novel The Nickel … Continue reading The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead (audio narrators Colson Whitehead and JD Dean)
Listen to Your Sister – Neena Viel (Audio Narrators – Eric Lockley, Kristolyn Lloyd, Zeno Robinson)
Listen to Your Sister is partly a horror story, but the focus is on three African American siblings, raised in Hollywood, Florida and now living in Seattle at a time of racial strife. The youngest, Jamie, is 16. His 23 year old sister Callie is his guardian because a determination was made he was no … Continue reading Listen to Your Sister – Neena Viel (Audio Narrators – Eric Lockley, Kristolyn Lloyd, Zeno Robinson)
They Called me Bookworm 