Category: Reviews

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Review of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

Posted on by Debbie

****4 stars

The main character of this novel, Emily, the author of a cozy mystery series, is in trouble. She’s been sick for months with a mysterious illness. Her husband has cheated on her, and they are in the midst of a divorce. Her best friend, Chess, a popular non-fiction self-help author, wants to help her. She suggests a summer away at a villa in Italy. Emily wants to go but becomes hesitant after learning that the villa was the scene of a murder that took place in the 1970’s of a musician who stayed there with his girlfriend and some friends. Despite Emily’s concerns, she takes the trip.

At the villa, Emily researches the murder. She becomes so wrapped up in it that she starts to write another book based on her findings and puts aside the cozy mystery she’s late in submitting to her publisher. When Chess learns what Emily is working on, she offers to co-write the book. Emily doesn’t want her to do that.

As Emily makes further discoveries into that old murder and sees similarities between her and Mari Godwin, the woman whose boyfriend was killed and who wrote a bestselling book after the murder, she believes the book Mari wrote holds a clue to what really happened that summer night at the villa.

Further revelations serve as plot twists to the novel which features flashbacks to the time of the murder. I felt the main plot of this gothic-like tale focused more on the friendship between Emily and Chess and how staying at the villa changes them. Without revealing the ending and the twists, the story kept me intrigued but seemed to lack the punch I expected. I’d still recommend it as a read for those who enjoy books that include flashbacks and eerie settings. I also found the descriptions of the authors and their writing process interesting because I write both cozy mysteries and other genres.

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Review of The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson

Posted on by Debbie

****4 stars

I found this to be an interesting novel about two women, Ann and Miriam, who form a friendship in the 1940’s when they work together as embroiderers for designer, Normal Hartnell, where they are chosen to embroider Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown. Because this is such a special project, they’re asked to keep their work secret.

As Ann and Miriam work together, they discover things about one another that they haven’t been able to share with others. Ann lives with her sister-in-law, now a widow because Ann’s brother was killed in the war. Miriam, who is Jewish, lost her whole family in the war and was imprisoned but survived. The two of them strike up a close relationship and end up living together when Ann’s sister-in-law moves to Canada. But an unfortunate turn of events, causes Ann to move to her sister-in-law’s home after she and Miriam complete the wedding gown.

Years later, during which the two women haven’t been in touch, Ann passes away. She leaves her granddaughter, Heather, a package with her name on it. The package contains a sample embroidery. This causes Heather to question her grandmother’s history because Ann or Nan, as Heather calls her, never talked much about her past. Heather decides to go to England to find out why she was left the embroidery and how it was connected to her grandmother.

I enjoyed the way each woman’s story was told in alternate chapters and the coincidences that Heather discovers as she pursues her grandmother’s past. The main focus of the book was the friendship between Ann and Miriam and what each brought to the other. The information about the wedding gown, embroidery, and the royal palace were also interesting. While the book wasn’t based on real women, Hartnell was the designer commissioned for the gown who had seamstresses and embroiderers working for him.

If you enjoy historical fiction and novels about the royal family told from a different aspect, you’ll like this novel.

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Review of Weyward by Emilia Hart

Posted on by Debbie

*****5 stars

Interesting story about a female line of witches that features three women from different times: Kate who lives in 2019; Altha who lived in 1619; and Violet who lived in 1942. These women have faced challenges in their lives. Kate is married to an abusive husband; Altha was on trial for practicing witchcraft; and Violet was raped by a relative. They all have an interest in nature from insects to plants. Kate is an entomologist. Escaping from her husband after learning she’s pregnant, Kate goes to her great aunt Violet’s cottage that she inherited. There she discovers secrets that are tied into her family.

I enjoyed this story, although I thought the women-centered viewpoint was overemphasized. However, the twist at the end earned it five starts from me. This is the author’s first book, and I look forward to seeing what she writes next.

 

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Review of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Posted on by Debbie

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

****4 stars

Spoiler Alert: This Review contains some spoilers

The main character, Cussy Mary Carter, also known as “Bluet,” lives in Troublesome Creek, Kentucky in 1936. She is one of the last of a line of blue-skinned people who existed then. This well-researched book follows Cussy as she joins the Pack Horse Librarians to deliver books and reading material throughout the town. Her father, a coal miner and widower, wants her to find a husband and uses a courting candle to attract one. Unfortunately, the man who asks for her hand abuses her and dies during a fit of anger. Because her husband was influential in the town, her “pa” makes a deal with the doctor who comes to their home to hide the body. In exchange, he allows the doctor to examine and test Cussy hoping to find out the cause of Cussy’s blue color and to correct it.

When the cause is determined to be a genetic condition and the doctor treats Cussy with a cure that makes her white, the medicine makes her sick and only lasts a day for each dose. Her father wants her to stop taking it, but she refuses, believing that it will change people’s opinion of her and that the side effects will resolve in time.

As Cussy continues her work bringing books to the townsfolk on her mule, she is pleased when people greet her and look forward to her arrival. Most of the people she serves are sickly and very poor. A young boy who she becomes close to dies from starvation despite her attempts to bring him what little food she can manage.

Two women in charge of the library project consider her “colored” and treat her as below them even when she takes the medicine that makes her white. Besides her book patrons and father, the only other person who views her as an equal is a newcomer to town named Jackson Lovett.

After a young woman, one of her book patrons, dies following childbirth and asks her to take the baby, Cussy discovers that her father has been killed in a mining accident. The day he left, he lit another courting candle. Lovett is the man who responds to it, declares his love for Cussy, and asks her to marry him even though she no longer takes the medicine for her skin condition and has a baby daughter.

On her wedding day, after the ceremony, the sheriff and a group of his supporters put Lovett in jail for marrying Cussy because of a law banning interracial marriages. The doctor tries to persuade them that Cussy is white but suffers a genetic condition that makes her skin appear blue.

The book doesn’t have the happiest of endings and is a sad story, which is why I didn’t give it 5 stars. Readers who enjoy less depressing tales might not find it to their taste. However, it’s an interesting novel based on true historical facts, and the author has written a sequel called The Book Woman’s Daughter.

 

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Review of Launch Pad: The Countdown to Publishing Your Book by Stephanie Larkin and Grace Sammon

Posted on by Debbie

Launch Pad: The Countdown to Publishing Your Book

*****5 stars

The second book of a 3-part series on writing, publishing, and marketing, Launch Pad: The Countdown to Publishing Your Book, features helpful advice for aspiring as well as published authors shared by professionals in the field. Included in this book are chapters addressing topics from working with editors, publishers, and illustrators to finding an agent to treating your writing as a business and much more.

The foreword is written by Zibby Owens, who relates her experience of publishing her memoir after 18 years. Now the publisher of Zibby Books, she is also the host of the award-winning daily podcast, Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, in which she’s interviewed more than 1300 authors. Her advice to writers: “You only need one editor, one publisher, to fall in love with your story or to see your potential . . . . So don’t give up until you find the right the company.”

Grace Sammon, the co-editor of this book, wrote the chapter on working with publishers and also provided the Afterward. It was Grace’s idea to create this series by collaborating with Stephanie Larkin, the CEO of Red Penguin Books. About this addition to the series, she writes, “We wrote this book to help make your world change, to help your book become real.”

“Own it! You are a Business!” is the chapter written by co-editor, Stephanie Larkin. Drawing upon her experience as publisher of Red Penguin Books, Stephanie discusses how debut authors need to adjust their expectations regarding becoming famous and making tons of money. She explains how royalties are calculated and paid, discusses Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited Program, book pricing, and other important publishing topics. She also outlines several other methods for authors to make money besides from their writing. These include speaking engagements, classes and workshops, and bulk sales. Her final piece of advice, “As you embark upon your publishing journey, remember that monetizing your book is a marathon – not a sprint – and that by exploring various options, you can find a way to enjoy the journey . . . and hopefully some profits as well!”

I recommend this book for the wealth of information it provides. It’s published in a handy Kindle edition on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Launch-Pad-Countdown-Publishing-Your-ebook/dp/B0C3G7KPV9/. The first book, Launch Pad: The Countdown to Writing Your Book, is also available, and the final volume in the series, Launch Pad: The Countdown to Marketing Your Book, comes out in June.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Review of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Posted on by Debbie

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

*****5 stars

I enjoyed this book. I felt it was charming and featured both funny and sad parts. The characters were well depicted, especially Elizabeth Zott, the chemist turned TV cooking star, and her dog Six-Thirty. I thought it was a nice touch to show the feelings and thoughts of the dog.

This bestselling novel takes place in the 1960’s when it was believed that a woman’s place was in the home and most women didn’t work. If they did, it was as teachers or secretaries. Elizabeth Zott followed a different path. She went into science and met her lover, Calvin, a fellow scientist, on the job. Their first meeting was when she stole some beakers from his office. Their second was even less complimentary as he threw up on her. But when they finally get together, they realize how much they have in common, including unhappy childhoods. Calvin had been an orphan, but his adoptive parents were killed in an accident and then he lost the aunt who took him in, so he ended up at an orphanage.

Without revealing the rest of the story, which has several twists, Calvin and Elizabeth don’t marry because she prefers to be an independent woman and wants her work considered on its own merits and not on Calvin’s. A turn of fate leaves her alone with a daughter, Mad (short for Madeline), and a dog, Six-Thirty. Both are quick learners and quite precocious. They end up helping Elizabeth after she’s fired from her job and is offered one as a cooking show hostess. While the producers have something else in mind, she steers the show toward the chemistry of which food is composed. Housewives love her, but men are not so happy because the advice she doles out along with her scientific recipes encourages their wives to go back to school, stand up to them, and live their own lives.

The ending is happy and features a twist that made sense but that I didn’t expect. This is a different type of book but one I certainly recommend to readers.

 

 

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Review of The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Posted on by Debbie

***3 stars

I read this book for a book club. I enjoyed the beginning and felt it had a lot of promise. The story takes place in 1954. I liked the premise featuring the main character, Emmett, a young man who is released from serving a sentence at a juvenile prison for accidentally killing a youth. He’s released after his father dies and goes home to his house in Nebraska where he is reunited with his younger brother, Billy. Not known to Emmett, two of his fellow prisoners have escaped and hidden in the sheriff’s trunk. When the sheriff brings him home, they get out of the car and hide, later announcing themselves to Emmett.

As the story progresses, a turn of events causes Emmett, his brother, and the two inmates, Duchess and Woolly, to take to the road for different reasons. Emmett wants to head to California to start a house flipping business. Billy also wants to go to California because he believes their mother lives there after leaving them years ago and sending postcards from spots on the Lincoln Highway. Duchess wants to locate people from his past to even scores, and Woolly, who has a condition that is never explained in the book but makes him appear dimwitted and in need of medication, just tags along for the ride. Another person who later joins them is Sally, a neighbor of Emmett and Billy, who has a crush on Emmett.

I liked the way that each chapter is told by a different person, but I found that this lengthy novel meandered in the middle. Toward the end, there was a twist that brought my interest back, but the ending itself was a disappointment. Unless the author is planning a sequel, I don’t feel that enough was revealed to tie up many of the loose ends. Although this hasn’t been the best book I’ve read, others may have a different opinion.

https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Highway-Novel-Amor-Towles-ebook/

 

 

 

 

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Review of The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

Posted on by Debbie

Note: I read this book on NetGalley before it was published. It’s now available for purchase at https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Spoon-Novel-Jessa-Maxwell/dp/1668008009.

*****5 stars.

I loved this book. Part of the appeal to me is that I’ve watched The Great British Bake Off and recognized many of the similarities. Each chapter is told by a different character who is a contestant on the Bake Week show. Besides getting to know each of these people, we also meet the hostess, Betsy Martin, whose home, a Vermont mansion, is where the contestants stay when they’re not baking in the tent. The novel opens with the murder, but it’s not revealed who has been killed.

As contestants are eliminated, it seems someone is tampering with the kitchen, switching the sugar with the salt, lowering the oven’s temperature, etc. Is this the killer? The reader doesn’t find out until other mysteries are solved. One of the subplots involve Lottie, a contestant who grew up with Betsy and is at the contest for the hidden reason of finding out what happened to her mother who worked as a cook at the mansion and disappeared when she was a young girl.

This reads like an Agatha Christie mystery, and I would consider it a cozy culinary mystery, although there aren’t recipes. This is the author’s first book, and it’s a winner. Don’t miss it. Lots of fun and several twists round out this charming tale.

 

Posted in Reviews

Review of Zero Days by Ruth Ware

Posted on by Debbie

*Note: This book was an advanced reader’s copy from Net Galley. It will be published on June 20 2023, and is available for pre-order on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Days-Ruth-Ware/dp/1982155299/

****4 stars

As a fan of Ruth Ware, I was eager to read this advanced copy of her new book. I initially found it interesting because of the main character, Jack’s, short for Jacintha’s, profession. She’s a pen tester (penetration tester) for companies, which means she breaks into them to find weak spots in their security. She’s assisted by her husband, Gabe, a computer software coder. After a tricky night in which she’s caught entering a building and can’t reach anyone including Gabe to vouch for her, Jack is released by the police and goes home to find her husband dead with his neck slashed.

Reading the rest of the book, in which Jack searches for her husband’s killer, I was hoping for Ware’s usual twist. I felt that there was a scarcity of characters. Jack first suspects her ex-boyfriend who is a police officer. She confides in her sister and her husband’s best friend but then finds herself on the run as her alibi is seen as sketchy, and the police believe she murdered Gabe.

I didn’t find the revelation of the person responsible for Gabe’s death to be a surprise. The twist that does finally arrive at the book’s end is one I considered earlier but didn’t involve the killing and had only a minor impact on my overall impression of the story.

I would still recommend this book to Ruth Ware fans, even though I don’t feel it’s her best.

Posted in Reviews

Review of Identity by Nora Roberts

Posted on by Debbie

*Note: This book was an advanced reader’s copy from Net Galley. It will be published on May 23, 2023, and is available for pre-order on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Identity-Novel-Nora-Roberts/dp/1250284112/

****4 stars

I’m a big fan of Nora Roberts and enjoy reading her standalones, trilogies, and the In Death series she writes as JD. Robb. However, I was disappointed by this forthcoming novel. The main reason is that I dislike mysteries that reveal the killer at the beginning of the book. I also found this too slow paced.

At the start, Morgan Albright, a young woman who moved around a lot during her childhood because her father was in the military, purchases a home with a friend and starts to set down roots for herself. She works at a construction company and also bartends at night to help save money to fix up and maintain the house. Just as things are going well, Morgan meets a man at the bar who she begins to date and invites him over for dinner with her roommate, Nina, and Nina’s boyfriend. During dinner, her date excuses himself to use her bathroom. A few days later, Nina comes down with a cold and stays home from her job. Morgan arrives home after bartending to find Nina dead. That’s just the beginning of the horror, as she also discovers her bank accounts have been compromised, her identity stolen, and the man she was attracted to is a serial killer.

As the book progresses, Morgan is forced to give up the house and her jobs in Maryland and move to Vermont with her mother and grandmother. She fears that Nina’s killer, who was after her and stole her identity, will find her and murder her, too.

There’s a long build up before Morgan’s fears are realized. Along the way, she learns important things about her mother and grandmother, gets a job at a family-owned bar, falls in love with a member of the family, and learns to protect herself by taking self-defense lessons.

I felt this book was more a romance than a mystery. It was well written, and I found the last few chapters exciting. Overall, I would recommend this to other readers of Roberts who don’t mind knowing the killer beforehand or a story that takes long to unwind.