In 1873, Vaudeline D’Allaire, a famous spiritualist, holds seances where murders have occurred to ask the spirits who killed them. She's highly sought after by both widows and detectives, but recent events in London cause her to flee to Paris. Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find out what happened to her sister leading up to her being murdered. These two fierce women team up and soon become embroiled in a mystery much bigger than they could have imagined. As the layers in the mystery start to unfold, you'll be drawn deeper and deeper into the occult with Vaudeline and Lenna, leading to an ending that you won't soon forget. I didn't think it was possible, but it's even better than The Lost Apothecary!
Dennis Lehane is back at long last with his best book yet. It's a gritty, thrilling, 1970s Boston Southie masterpiece no one but Dennis Lehane could write. Mary Pat Fennessy is the main character, and she's a tough Irish single mother trying to keep her daughter from the same life she's stuck in. She's so vividly written, you won't be able to tear yourself away. Just try and scrape your jaw off the floor when you get to the end.
I have to admit to instantly falling in love with the curmudgeonly Marcellus, one of three unforgettable characters in this stellar debut. Not many authors would be able to pull off making a reader fall in love with a misanthropic octopus, but Shelby pulls it off brilliantly. REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES is one of those books you want to put in everyone’s hands, so you can talk about it. It’s uplifting, hopeful, warm and funny, and I highly recommend everyone read it!
Be prepared, because once you start reading SISTER STARDUST, you will become obsessed with Talitha Getty. Claire (soon to be nicknamed CeCe) is a self-described Dorset mouse, eager to experience everything 1960s London has to offer. She gets a job as a shop girl, and a hip new boyfriend with contacts in the music world. When she returns to Dorset for her brother’s birthday, and her stepmother has planned a dud of a party, she calls her boyfriend, John, and asks him to bring some hip musicians to liven up the party. Not only do they play at the party, they scoop up CeCe in their custom Bentley and bring her along to Marrakesh with them to stay at the palace of Talitha and Paul Getty, the richest man in the world. Thus begins CeCe’s introduction to a whole new life full of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. She instantly connects with Talitha, and quickly becomes part of their world, that includes Yves St. Laurent, countesses, Rolling Stones, and new adventures every day. But vacations can’t last forever, even the most magical of ones. Jane Green transports her readers into Morocco, and you can practically smell the spices in the market, and you may just find yourself wanting to wear some elegantly embroidered caftans and lounge on cushions. Jane Green is a magnificent writer, and this is hands-down her best book yet.
What a gift to return to the Owens family we came to love in Practical Magic! Alice Hoffman’s gorgeous prose casts a spell on you as you read, and it’s a satisfying conclusion to this beloved series. Three generations of the Owens family – ones you already know and love, ancestors at the beginning of the curse, and the newest generation – all come together in a celebration of family and anyone who’s ever been in love.
Noah Hawley somehow captured all of the horror of our current times, yet somehow gives us hope. It was like watching a car crash and not being able to tear your eyes away. In the author's note, we're warned that there be math, and I learn we were born in the same year. Somehow I feel an even bigger connection to the story, as we have the same cultural references. Noah Hawley has channeled all of the anger and frustration we've all been feeling about the way the world is seemingly irreversibly doomed, and somehow combines this into the story of a group of teenagers on a cross-country rescue mission. It's also a fairy tale with Witches, Trolls, Orcs and a Wizard; Katniss, Legolas and the Gashlycrumb Tinies. The sheer magnitude of the numbers - of animals now extinct, people who believe the election was fake, Covid was fake, made me seriously depressed, but still I couldn't stop reading. The last part of the novel was sheer brilliance. So satisfying, fun, and so very well-done. I'll be thinking of ANTHEM for a long time.
In HER PERFECT LIFE, Hank Phillippi Ryan has created a character only she could write in Lily Atwood. If you’ve ever seen Hank in action, the word “perfect” will definitely cross your mind. Lily is a beloved reporter in the Boston area, a single mother with beautiful, charming daughter. I love how Lily brings her Emmy home and puts it in her daughters room! Hank includes all the insider details only she could know: adoring fans seeking selfies, how to turn your face to it’s best angle, the pressure of coming up with stories on a deadline, and living in the spotlight. She includes all the insider, backstage info, but also the darker side of celebrity. Lily starts receiving anonymous tips for blockbuster stories, but then her source starts to get a little more personal. And then we’re off at an un-putdownable pace, with twists and turns in Hank’s best thriller yet. I devoured it in one sitting, and loved every page!
I completely fell in love with this novel, especially Odile and her beloved library and its patrons. I had no idea there was an American Library in Paris, and it will be the first stop whenever we're able to return. Not only the story of how Odile balanced her life during the war, but how she taught young Lily about friendship, secrets and loyalty. Janet's love for the American Library comes through in every page, and she made me fall in love with it, too. J'adore!
After unknowingly making a bargain with the devil, Addie lives forever, surviving wars, plagues, and so many fashion trends! However, she is forgotten by everyone she meets the minute she leaves their sight. Addie brilliantly finds a way to use her curse to enjoy her very long life, but is tormented by her devil each year on the anniversary of their deal. 300 years later, she walks into a bookstore in New York City, and meets a man who remembers her. Combining history, magic, and romance, this brilliant novel will stay with you long after you read the last page.
Many adopted kids fantasize about their birth parents. As in, “My real parent were rich and my mom was a socialite, and they died tragically in a car crash”, for example. Libby has these same fantasies, but is shocked when, on her twenty-fifth birthday, she receives a letter from a solicitor who informs her that she has inherited a mansion in a posh area of London, overlooking the Thames. However, she soon discovers the real story is more like a Grimm’s fairy tale. Her parents committed suicide in the house with an unknown man, and were apparently part of a cult. Libby was discovered alone in the house as a baby, and given up for adoption. She supposedly has an older brother and sister, but they are nowhere to be found. There were other people living in the house, but no one knows who they were, and where they can be found.
Libby connects with a reporter who had written an article about she and her parents, and the mysterious circumstances of the conditions in the mansion. How did it go from a magnificent mansion filled with elegant chandeliers and royal thrones, to a dark, creepy house with no furniture, just cobwebs, ivy-covered windows and mattresses on the floor? Why were there locks on the outside of the bedrooms?
Alternating with Libby’s story are those of Lucy and her two young children, a homeless fiddle-player living in France; and an unnamed narrator who lived in the house at the time of the suicides, and tells his version of the story. Which is the true version? Who were Libby’s parents, and how did they get to the emaciated versions of themselves when they died? Lisa Jewell has delivered a masterpiece of a mystery, and you’ll be unable to put it down until you get to the last, brilliant page. And that last page is indeed, spectacularly brilliant!
Catherine House is a very exclusive, and VERY creepy private school., If you’re admitted, you have to commit to leaving the outside world at the gates. However, the rewards are tremendous, with graduates going on to become award-winning authors, artists, Supreme Court justices, and even presidents. Ines is one of the lucky ones to make it through the intense admission process, and quickly feels right at home, happy to adopt the uniform clothing and odd meals. However, her curiosity gets the better of her, and she’s soon wandering the halls in search of the secrets in its mysterious curriculum, including what happened to her timid roommate, Baby. Once you read the first page, you’re also committed to leave the world behind. It’s an unsettling read, yet completely seductive. Atmospheric, all taking place within the walls of Catherine House, a grand yet shabby building that begins to feel like a velvety prison. It’s a backdrop that contributes to the suspense, adding a gothic element that will make you feel like you’re in Catherine House yourself. It’s a haunting page-turner that will keep you riveted until the unforgettable ending. If you like dark disturbing mysteries, you’re going to love Catherine House!
There are those books where you seem to sink into them, occupying the space beside the characters as they go through their trials. The Last Romantics is one of those very special books. It begins in the year 2079, with Fiona Skinner, famed poet. Poets fill stadiums, the Second Amendment has been done away with, and Fiona is taking questions from her fans in one of her last events. A girl named Luna comes to the microphone, asks her the question Fiona has never publicly answered, and sends her back into the past to the story of she and her siblings. You become one of the Skinner siblings, a part of their feral summer in their youth when their mother is in the Pause, and when they are adults, managing the complications of family ties and responsibilities. Their challenging childhood makes them fiercely loyal to each other, and those ties remain well into their adulthood.
The Last Romantics is beautifully told, heart-wrenching, and will stay in your mind and in your heart long after you finish the last page. There are so many moments in this novel that had me thinking, eager to get home and pick up where I left off. Tara’s writing is elegant, easy to read, thought-provoking, and honest. I can’t wait for all my friends to read it so I finally have someone to discuss it with!
A book that takes place in the South of France AND about wine? Yes, please! This is the perfect novel to take on vacation - you won't be able to put it down. The story is captivating, alternating between the present day when Kate returns to the family vineyard to prepare for the Master of Wine exam, and World War II, when the family was either part of the Resistance or collaborators.
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The Lost Family is a saga you won't be able to put down. It begins in WWII where Peter Rashkin experiences a devastating loss, and follows him through his emigrating to New York City and becoming a chef and owner of Masha’s in 1965. The characters are so completely drawn, flawed and real, you feel that you know them. It's the story of a marriage from beginning, with a husband who can't recover from the scars of loss, and a beautiful wife who is trying to find her way. It's both funny and sad at times, and it will stay in your thoughts long after you read the last page.
This was such a clever, enjoyable mystery! Putting himself in the novel, yet keeping his personal life personal, was brilliantly done. I also loved all the references to an author's life, from writing for movies, to the relationship with agents and editors. Super fun read - I couldn't put it down, then laughed out loud at the ending!!!
The Woman in the Window is a twisty, Hitchcockian, thrilling mystery, and is 100% unputdownable! Anna Fox’s solitary existence in her New York brownstone is filled with watching black & white mystery movies, drinking wine, and keeping tabs on her neighbors through her windows. She’s suffering from PTSD caused by an unknown trauma, and is separated from her family for unknown reasons. She is fascinated by the new, seemingly picture perfect, family who moves in next door, and she compulsively spies on them. Then she sees a horrific event, and must figure out how to deal with trying to figure out what’s real, and what’s part of her paranoid agoraphobia. The way A.J. Flynn crafts this brilliant novel is perfection itself, both an homage to Hitchcock and fabulously original.
This is a touching novel about mothers, daughters, and the secrets we keep from each other. Clara never returned to her hometown in the Adirondacks after she went to college. Now her mother, Tamar, is ill and Clara finally returns home. Her questions build as her mother's memory fades. This is a perfect choice for book groups!
The Escape Artist is the best new thriller I've read in a long time! I'm so glad to know it's going to be a series. The two main characters, mortician Zig, and soldier Nola Brown are so richly developed, with flashbacks to the events that shaped them seamlessly woven with the current action. They are both flawed, yet believable and utterly complex. I can't wait to see what comes next!
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All parents have had those moments when something happens and you think, "This is it. The moment my life changes." This is the story of two families who face the unimaginable: they lose their children in a foreign country. The story alternates between characters, with each fully realized and fully drawn. Maile Meloy explores what happens to each marriage, the relationship between the wives, who are cousins and close since childhood, and between the siblings who are missing. The writing is incredible, and the story is such that you can't put it down until you find out what happens. It's such a satisfying read, making you really think, wondering how you would react in the same situation.
This is the most riveting and utterly gripping entry in the Inspector Gamache series, and that really says a lot! A figure in black appears in the town square, silent and unmoving. The entire town is on edge until it disappears, and a body is found. The story builds stealthily through the trial, and the parallel challenge facing Gamache at the Surete. This is the best one yet!
The Girls is narrated by 14-year-old Evie, an average teenager living with her recently-divorced mother in Northern California during the 60s. She is enthralled by a group of girls she sees walking through the park who catch her eye with their careless abandon. Evie ends up befriending the girls and following them to the "Ranch", which is run by a Manson-esque leader. Evie is a heartbreaking character, so desperate to be accepted, you want to grab her and shake her - or give her a huge hug. Emma Cline perfectly captures the pain of being a teenage girl who will do anything to be part of a group.
When she was eleven years old, Rose fell into a hole while walking in the woods. What she learned later was that she fell into a giant metal hand. Seventeen years later, she is a top-level physicist leading a team of people to understand exactly what that hand is, where it came from, and what it portends for humanity. Told in transcripts of interviews with an unknown questioner, this novel is an unbelievable story that is thought-provoking and thrilling!
Jean Taylor is reeling after the sudden loss of her husband in a freak traffic accident. Now that her husband is gone, everyone wants to know what she has to say about the crimes of which her husband had been accused. Will she keep the secrets she kept close in her marriage? Jean has never opened up to the police. She stood by her man, withstanding all the gossip and speculation. Will she tell the truth? Will she keep quiet? Told in alternating voices, this thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat. Perfect for fans of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train.
You won't want to start this one unless you have a whole day to spend reading; it will hook you right from the start. Nora is invited to a weekend "hen party" for a childhood friend whom she hasn't seen in 10 years. They stay in an eerie glass house in the middle of the woods. Two days after arriving, she wakes up in the hospital with no idea of what has happened. You will be riveted by how the story unravels with unexpected twists. This is one of the best mysteries I've read in a long time!
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy is every bit as endearing as it's predecessor, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. In this story, we see things from the viewpoint of Queenie as she waits in hospice for Harold to get there. Between postcards, Queenie reminisces about her days working with Harold, filling in many of the questions about their friendship. If you loved Harold, you will quickly fall in love with Queenie as well.