I love books about books and I’m a sucker for a story within a story—this book delivered for me on both counts. Part of the narrative takes place in London in 1939 during World War II, and the other twenty years later in a rare bookshop. The magic of this novel lies in the power of fairy tales and the unbreakable bond between sisters.
The perfect pacing of Henry’s interlaced timelines pulled me steadily through the story from the opening page until its rewarding conclusion. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a historical read that will warm your heart and restore your faith in the potential of stories to make us whole.
When a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed.
In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that…
I love The Collector because art expert Emma Kelly’s life is full of secrets that she has to keep a lid on while she investigates worldwide art terrorists.
She flies all over the world, trying to protect masterpieces from being damaged. Emma’s attitudes toward life and her secrets are a joy to immerse myself in.
Art expert Emma Kelly arrives at the Metropolitan Museum to meet with disgraced philanthropist Boyle York only to learn he has been murdered. His body and a nearby masterpiece are splattered with blue paint. In the following days, works of art around the world are attacked with the same paint, which Emma believes has something to do with the Virgin Mary. Emma's husband, Elliott Baldwin, the Assistant Director in charge of the FBI's New York City field office, isn't convinced but appreciates her expertise.
Following a lead, Emma travels to her other home in Bath, England, and continues her search…
Puzzles intrigued me since I was a three-year-old. Puzzle pieces that fit into pre-sized spaces. Then, disassembling and reassembling small 3-D animal shapes. Crosswords were next. Finally, Nancy Drew entered my life. I was addicted. Sherlock and Agatha became my mentors. But I loved to paint as well, so art was my first major at Michigan State University. Changed it to advertising in my senior year. Shortly after, Leo Burnett hired me to write print and radio media for Buster Brown shoes. Television was next. I solved many advertising puzzles at Foote, Cone & Belding, but after retiring, mystery re-entered my life when I wrote my first book.
The plight of a single mom is an unusual state of being for a former cop who is dragged into a murder investigation.
Technological secrets open the door to an acute realization of how easy it is to reach into someone’s past and learn that anyone’s life is most certainly an open book. Baldacci writes it with an understanding of tech, an honest representation of a mom with a mind that won’t stop, and murder by one who refuses to forget.
His characters are never cookie-cutter, that's why I read his books.
Memory man FBI agent, Amos Decker, returns in this action-packed thriller to investigate the mysterious and brutal murder of a federal judge and her bodyguard at her home in an exclusive, gated community in Florida from international bestselling author David Baldacci.
Things are changing for Decker. He's in crisis following the suicide of a close friend and receipt of a letter concerning a personal issue which could change his life forever. Together with the prospect of working with a new partner, Frederica White, Amos knows that this…
From the time I was a girl, I’ve loved stories that put a lump in my throat even as I’m laughing. As a fiction writer, that funny-sad tone is the one I go for in my own work. I gravitate toward female protagonists of all ages who break the mold—women who are intelligent and strong but who also have unconventional, quirky personalities. Women who can be hilarious, infuriating, and heartbreaking—sometimes all at once. Because they are complex and unique, these women tend to struggle with life’s challenges more than their contemporaries. That’s what makes their stories so interesting, and why I have chosen the books on this list.
When Mar’s husband divorces her, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy starting over, she’s ready for new adventures—as long as she can keep things casual. Each month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical consultant. . . and a handsome novelist who wants more than she can give. Mar learns from each encounter. But can she open herself up to true connection?
Surrounded by quirky, endearing characters, Mar navigates her…
"A fun, entertaining novel! I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't enjoy this book as much as I did." -Leslie A. Rasmussen, award-winning author
When Mar Meyer's husband divorces her for another woman, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy to start over, Mar is young-looking, fit, and ready for new adventures-as long as she can keep things casual.
With each passing month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next. Among them: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical…
'An absolute treat of a read with all the ingredients of a vintage murder mystery: a country house, mysterious dead bodies and three actresses all keen to catch the killer. Perfect weekend reading!' Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal
'Celebrates and gently satirises Golden Age crime novels in a hugely entertaining country house mystery' The Times ----------
Three rival actresses team up to solve a murder at the stately home of the author who made them famous - only to discover the solution lies in the stories themselves. A contemporary mystery with a Golden Age feel, perfect for fans of…
I've been writing for 20 years, and the more I learn about the craft, the less interested I am in big, bombastic thrillers about the end of the world. Now I'm more impressed by books that do a lot with a little. Some talented writers can spin a gripping story out of nothing more than two people in a room (Stephen King's Misery is one of my all-time faves). The domestic noir genre lends itself to this kind of minimalism. Sure, serial killers are scary, but not as scary as the thought that your spouse might not be who they seem.
Pippa has everyone else's dream husband. Not only is Gabe gorgeous and a loving father to their two daughters, but he's also a bona fide hero—they live in a house on the edge of a cliff, and Gabe has talked several would-be jumpers out of committing suicide. But one day, a woman falls to her death. Pippa doesn't see the event, but she does see Gabe a split-second later, arms outstretched—did he reach out to save the woman, or did he push her off the edge?
It's a great set-up, and the author refuses to rest on it. The story takes one bold leap after another (if you'll pardon the expression) but never leaves the reader behind. When I realized that half the chapters would be narrated by the dead woman, speaking from beyond the grave, I should have been disbelieving, but instead, I was even more intrigued.
'Gabe is alone at the cliff's edge. His arms are outstretched, palms facing the empty air.'
He said she jumped. He wouldn't lie.
Before the woman went over the cliff, Pippa and Gabe were happy. They have the kind of marriage that everyone envies, as well as two sweet young daughters, a supportive family, and a picturesque cliff-side home - which would have been idyllic had the tall beachside cliffs not become so popular among those wishing to end their lives.
Gabe has become somewhat of a local hero since they moved to the cliff house, talking seven people down…
I
absolutely adored this book’s preceding trilogy, The Shades of Magic series, and so this book felt like coming home.
It was a love letter to the characters
I had grown to adore and missed, and it was a thrilling introduction to a host
of new characters. Because there was a sense of returning, it was easy to feel
comfortable settling back into this world, but in typical Schwab style, she
quickly pulls the rug from under you as new depth and breadth is explored both
in the magic system and in the four-tiered world.
Plus, she’s introduced a tiny
skeleton owl companion that I became entirely too invested in and have far too
much anxiety around its wellbeing.
It's
a masterpiece, and it really gives meaning to the Austen quote: “If I had loved
[it] less, I could talk about it more.”
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and set in the world of A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab opens a new door into perilous adventure and tangled schemes with The Fragile Threads of Power.
Once, there were four worlds, nestled like pages in a book, each pulsing with fantastical power, and connected by a single city: London. Until the magic grew too fast, and forced the worlds to seal the doors between them in a desperate gamble to protect their own. The few magicians who could still open the…
I was born in the world’s most isolated capital city – Perth, Western Australia. Ever since my family packed up and drove across the vast Nullarbor Plain to relocate to South Australia, I’ve been fascinated by our eerie, wide-open spaces. There’s no doubt that family folklore fed into this. My Finnish mother arrived as a ten-year-old, recalling that when she first felt the heat, she thought: “This is hell.” My father and his family arrived from the Netherlands. I love my country, but this continent presents dangers in its arid isolation – all captivating to a storyteller.
The Island achieved an incredible feat by inducing two competing thoughts in my mind: this couldn’t possibly happen, and this could possibly happen!
A family of four is on an Australian driving holiday and is unexpectedly allowed entry onto a privately owned Dutch Island. This isolated setting soon makes them vulnerable and reliant on others. I loved following the characters’ journeys as they grappled with how to protect themselves and their loved ones. They’re "ordinary everyday people" who are forced to take action—and there’s plenty of it!
As with most of the best thrillers, there are multiple points of view that ratchet up the tension.
I’ve been the dorky bookworm, the party girl who laughs too loud, the gamer-tomboy, and the doting mother of two kids who is now in a happy, loving marriage. Through all my shifts and changes, the one constant thread in my life was love. But not the rough, I-have-to-hurt-someone-to-get-it kind of love you might find in dark romance novels (although I enjoy those too sometimes). My kind of experience with love is that it’s at its best when it’s fun and when it’s easy. If you can find your most authentic you in the pages of a rom-com, you’re guaranteed an escape from reality that’ll pull you deeper into yourself.
There’s something so inexplicably enticing about forbidden romance. Even these days, when a man knows they can’t have a certain woman for all sorts of reasons, the moment where that man breaks, the moment where he loses control, that’s exactly the kind of magic I want in an all-consuming romance novel.
If you’re looking for that added spice of a hilarious, sexy nanny and older, grumpy cowboy, you’ll find that, as well as unforgettable forbidden romance elements in this spicy cowboy romcom.
If you’re going to read only one Elsie Silver book, make it this one.
Working as a nanny for the world's grumpiest single dad should be simple…except she can't keep her eyes off him. And he can't keep his hands off her.
Cade Eaton is thirteen years older than Willa Grant, and he barely looks her way, even though she's living in his house for the summer. That is, until she gets him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then, all bets are off―and so are their clothes.
Cade is gruff, a little rough around the edges, but broad-shouldered ranchers with calloused hands and filthy mouths are…
Crook Manifesto is
a follow-up to Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle. This time, set in the 70s, we
return to the world of Ray Carney, now running a more successful and larger
furniture store right on 125th St, in Harlem. And again, Carney is a
cipher for Whitehead to explore the sights, sounds, and humanity of one of
America’s most fascinating, volatile neighborhoods.
Whitehead is at the top of his game here as he captures the styles and rhythms of
the city in all its glorious, bell-bottom 70s groove. Carney’s block of Harlem is a powder keg of crime
and racial tension, with the Black Panthers marching in the streets, corrupt
cops demanding pay for protection, and, of course, more petty crimes and con
artists.
The book is peppered with rich, funny, painful moments and broken lives.
He makes it look so damn easy as his language be-bops along and somehow…
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of Harlem Shuffle continues his Harlem saga in a powerful and hugely-entertaining novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory.
“Dazzling” –Walter Mosley, The New York Times Book Review.
It’s 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to keep his head down and his…
I really could not put it down, in part because of its length, in part because of the thought-provoking nature of the interaction, and certainly in part because of the characters' relationship. I was honored to have been asked to write a review for it. It is an amazing book sure to evoke reflection.
Life flows in ways of its own choosing, not always relinquishing control to each individual. Often, we cannot change the course of events that determine health, death, and so many other emotional and physical trials. Each of them could certainly defeat us if we had to face them alone. But what if we had one person, just one, that we could always count on? One person to whom being young or beautiful, rich or even right, mattered not at all?
One person that could endure distance and time, sorrow and joy, secrets and revelations, silence or a feast of words.…
