The Bright Forever by Lee Martin: Book Review

The Bright Forever by Lee Martin Book Cover

On a beautiful July evening, nine-year-old Katie Mackey disappears on her way to the library. And our hearts break. I just don’t know where to start. It’s hard not to compare this to Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, but there’s a huge difference. As I remember it, The Lovely Bones dealt with the family’s grieving Continue Reading…

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Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews: Book Review

Weezie Foley is back and better than ever. She’s trying her best to win Savannah’s historic district decorating contest, but the couple across the street are throwing tons of money into their efforts. To add to her troubles, her boyfriend Daniel always becomes decidedly Grinch-like at Christmas, and she just can’t get him into the Continue Reading…

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Un Lun Dun by China Miéville: Book Review

Un Lun Dun by China Mieville Book Cover

Strange things start happening around best friends Zanna and Deeba. A fox appears on the edge of the playground, watching Zanna. They come across graffiti saying “Zanna For Ever!” A woman they don’t know approaches Zanna in a cafĂ© and tells her what an honor it is to meet her. It all culminates one night Continue Reading…

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The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig: Book Review

Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig Book Cover

3.5 Stars. Charlotte just isn’t quite Henrietta, Letty, or even Mary. She spent much of the book just fantasizing about Robert. While interesting enough, I kept waiting for the comedy of misunderstandings and the adventure of French spies pitted against our faithful British crew to get started. About halfway through, things […]

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Mama Makes Up Her Mind by Bailey White: Book Review

Mama Makes up Her Mind by Bailey White Book Cover

4 Stars. You should see my copy of this book. One of my co-workers, who, for various reasons, has only recently seen how much I read, saw all the neon post-it flags sticking out of the side of my book and asked me what on earth I was doing. I blushed and tried to explain how the people in Bailey White’s humorous little […]

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Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout: Book Review

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout Book Cover

4 Stars. Olive is obviously at the heart of this collection of stories. It’s very easy for fictional characters to be all good or all bad. I had moments where I hated Olive, cheered her on, admired her, pitied her, and even loathed her. But if you look deeply inside all of us, isn’t that the way we would really feel about […]

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