Weyward by Emilia Hart

August 4, 2025

Weyward by Emilia Hart

Kate flees from her abusive partner to a cottage she inherited from her great aunt Violet, who lived there from the 1940s until her death. While living there, Kate finds writings from a woman named Altha, an earlier ancestor who was tried as a witch in the 17th century.

This book should come with a warning, several actually. Plenty of sensitive subjects and triggers including domestic abuse, animal abuse, violence against women, rape and sexual assault, obsession, humiliation, pregnancy termination, and violence in general, so reader, be warned. Three interconnected stories set in different times. I was much more interested in Altha and Violet's stories that in Kate. I've read enough variations of Kate's story to be over it. Yeah, men suck and they've been treating women like shit since time began. It was hard to read a whole book where there is one good male characters (Graham, Violet's brother) and only two women characters who haven't been abused by men (Kate's mother and her friend Emily). Also, magical realism is just not my thing. It does have a beautiful cover.

Weyward was the original form of weird, as in the Weird Sisters or witches in Macbeth. The first editions of Macbeth used weyward instead of weird.

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger

July 10, 2025

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger

Lila Pereira is an unconventional mother, focusing on her career as the executive editor of a major newspaper and leaving the raising of their daughters to her husband Joe and household help. But her youngest daughter Grace yearns for a regular mother who goes to PTA meetings, bakes cupcakes and takes her to soccer practice. After Lila's death, Grace receives a letter that Lila left her, telling her to go find out what really happened to Lila's mother, who disappeared when Lila was a toddler. Grace realizes how little she actually knows about her mother's family and wonders if you can ever know yourself if you don't know your past.

Part 1 is Lila and Joe's story, and I loved it. But the last 2/3 of the book is mostly about Grace, the youngest daughter, a real whiner and completely unlikeable, probably the least interesting character in the book. When I first started reading it, I thought it would appeal to readers who enjoyed Ann Patchett or Ann Napolitano, but the last two thirds morphed into something more like Sally Rooney, with a bunch of characters under 30 who are completely self-centered and unaware (putting your life on hold for five years to start a podcast???? Or "I can't ask her to marry me until she gives me the signal"???? What does that even mean????). It takes until around the 85% mark for the search for Lila's mother to begin, and then it is anti-climatic. Disappointing.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

I Will Ruin You by Lincoln Barclay

October 29, 2024

I Will Ruin You by Lincoln Barclay

A teacher's act of bravery puts him in the crosshairs of a former student intent on blackmail, plus exposes him to unexpected fallout from a number of sources.

Another solid psychological thriller from Lincoln Barclay, told through several POVs. After a fast beginning, the story slows down but the author winds in all the threads at the end. It gives a different look at the fallout that those involved in thwarting violence can experience. Sensitive readers should be aware of some difficult subjects, including drugs, school violence, and sexual abuse. Fans of Harlan Coben or Lisa Jewell will enjoy Barclay's latest book.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

October 15, 2024

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

The Van Laar family own a large swath of land in the Adirondacks region of upstate New York, where they employ many of the local residents to run their exclusive summer camp. The camp is mainly for the children of their wealthy friends. But when their daughter Barbara goes missing from the camp, panic erupts immediately, because she isn't the first Van Laar child to go missing.

There were around 800 holds on this at the library, so I was skeptical about whether it would be worth the wait, but it totally was. I never went to summer camp, but if it was anything like this, I probably would have hated it. That said, this was a really enjoyable book as well as a quick read that kept me turning the pages. Good storytelling, interesting characters with many different viewpoints, and a dual timeline with two linked mysteries. The reader gets the backstory of many of the characters, which helps explain their actions and motivations. Many of the female characters could have been a little stronger, a little smarter, but they were a product of their upbringing and the time they lived in. The 1970s were a time when women were just starting to break out of the stereotypes of the 1950s and 1960s (aka the dark ages). Even when I graduated from high school in 1971, there were three acceptable career path for women who were college educated: teacher, nurse, or secretary, and those were only acceptable until you got married and had a family. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a good story.

Pan, the god of the woods, source of the word panic

Things Don't Break on Their Own by Sarah Easter Collins

August 2, 2024

Things Don't Break on Their Own by Sarah Easter Collins

One morning, 25 years ago, a girl set out to walk to school. Her younger sister soon followed. One arrived at school, the other didn't, never to be seen again. Her sister's disappearance shaped every aspect of Willa's life. But at a dinner at her best friend's house, Willa realizes that circumstances surrounding her sister's disappearance may not be as they appear.

We all have false memories, either things that didn't happen or memories that are a composite of a group of experiences, or even events where we couldn't possibly have been there (such as the child who is positive that they were at a particular family event, when actually the event occurred years before they were born but they heard about it so often, they are sure they have a memory of it). Recurrent themes here are breaking and mending, re-making something beautiful from the pieces of something else, whether it is a ceramic bowl, a family, or your own identity. While there is a mystery, it is secondary to the characters. I would call this novel psychological fiction or suspense, rather than a thriller. The villain really is the villain, but not in the way you expect. My only criticism is that the ending feels a little rushed. This would be a great vacation or beach read, but also a good book to cozy up with in the winter. It may take a couple of chapters to get into, but stay with it. Recommended for readers who psychological fiction where things are not at all what they appear, such as the books of Gillian Flynn or Freida McFadden.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

My Love Story by Tina Turner

June 12, 2024

My Love Story by Tina Turner

The late Tina Turner's second memoir, which focuses on Tina's life and career after Ike. She notes early on that she lived without Ike twice as long as she was with him. In her second husband, Erwin Bach, Tina met the love of her life and became an international superstar.

A sweet heartfelt memoir about the second half of Tina's life. She is candid about her joys and tragedies, including her oldest son's suicide and her increasingly serious health issues in later life. Recommended for anyone who enjoys memoirs or the lives of musicians.

Tina Turner still shaking it in her 60s

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

January 6, 2024

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

Lucy and Savannah were best friends, until the night that Savvy is murdered, and Lucy is found wandering the streets covered in Savvy's blood. Because of a severe head injury, Lucy has no memory of what happened, so her friends and family immediately suspect that Lucy killed Savvy. She relocates to Los Angeles and starts a new life, until a popular podcast called "Listen for the Lie" announces that their next season will investigate Savvy's murder.

So many lies here. There is a lot going on: we have an unreliable narrator who has no recollection of events due to a head injury; the small town of Plumpton, TX, is a twisty little place, with everyone focused on projecting the image that life is perfect, when in reality, everyone is having an affair with everyone else; a couple of men that everyone loves are actually very violent and abuse their partners regularly. I hated Lucy's parents for automatically believing the story that Lucy's lying husband was telling - they also did not see that Lucy received proper care for her injuries (my mother would have been the same way, more concerned what the neighbors and the people at church would think, and telling me not to make a fuss). As one of the characters notes, people always prefer to believe a man's version of events. Grrrrrrrrr. This is a good mystery with well-developed characters - not sure it was necessary to toss in all the adultery and domestic abuse.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

A small town in Texas - don't be fooled by the polite, perfect surface appearance

Broadway Butterfly by Sara DiVello

August 1, 2023

Broadway Butterfly by Sara DiVello

Set in 1923 in New York, flapper/model Dot King is a fast-living Broadway girl with several sugar daddies supporting her lifestyle, found dead in her 57th Street apartment. Homicide detective John Coughlin in assigned to the case and immediately sets about identifying Dot's gentlemen friends. Over at the Daily News, Julia Harpman is one of the few women reporters in New York, and the only one covering the crime beat. When it becomes apparent that several influential men were involved with Dot, the police allow the case to go cold. Julia is determined to secure justice for Dot and begins her own investigation.

True crime fiction based on an actual murder case. The story is told from three POVs: the detective, the reporter, and the wife of one of the sugar daddies. The story is well-researched and the author gathered the facts from a variety of sources. I love true crime cold cases so this one should have ticked all the boxes for me. But the story seemed to drag - maybe it was the author's writing style. It was disappointing that the case has never been solved.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Dot King, murdered in 1923, never solved

Hilda Ferguson, Dot's ex-roommate 

The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring

May 12, 2023

The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring

Dalton is a small town in Maine, where everyone is linked to everyone else: Bridget Frazier's parents own the lumber mill, the largest employer in the town; Bridget is married to police officer Nate Theroux and they have a new baby; Nate's mother Bev manages the local nursing home and is having an affair with library director Trudy Haskell (both Bev and Trudy's husbands know about the affair and choose to ignore it); Trudy is married to the town doctor; Rose Douglas is one of Dr. Haskell's patients and is in an abusive relationship with the father of her children. Then the sudden death of a town resident affects everyone living in Dalton.

Taking place over the course of one year, this is a quiet lovely book about interlinked lives that will break your heart. In a small town, everyone knows everyone else's business, public or private, or so they think. But you never really know what is going on inside someone else's life or marriage, no matter how perfect it looks from the outside. Readers who enjoyed A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella will enjoy The Road to Dalton.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Aroostook County, northern Maine

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

February 25, 2023

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

After divorcing her abusive husband 12 years earlier, Olivia McAfee and her son Asher live a quiet life in New Hampshire. Olivia has a successful beekeeping business, and her son is a high school senior and star hockey player. When Asher's girlfriend is found dead, Asher is accused of murder. But in the course of the trial, unexpected facts are revealed that point to another suspect.

Picoult once again takes on current topics, including domestic violence, abusive fathers, and gender reassignment/correction. I believe this is her first collaboration with another author for a full-length novel. Like most of her books, the reader is seeking answers most of the way through the book (although I guessed the truth shortly after Lily, the girlfriend, is discovered at the foot of the stairs). The characters backstories are gradually revealed in flashbacks; Lily's story is told backward, from the day of her death to the time she and her mother moved to New Hampshire. Olivia's history with her abusive doctor husband isn't much of a surprise (you never know what's going on inside a marriage), but the episodes of abuse go on longer than necessary - does the reader need to hear about EVERY time Brandon abused Olivia? I also got tired of the teenaged angst (why hasn't he called me? did she break up with me? does he still like me? is she sorry she slept with me? Lotsa drama), and there was a lot of repetition. Really, the book could have been 100 pages shorter without damaging the narrative, and considering how long the book was, there was no resolution with either of the fathers - one minute they're part of the story, and the next minute they're just gone. I'm glad I stuck with it, because the story got more interesting about halfway in. I listened to the audiobook which had two different narrators for Olivia and Lily. 

The parts about bees and beekeeping were interesting, and often had parallels to the story. Mad honey is apparently a type of honey that can make you very sick or affect your mind if you eat it. Personally, I don't like the taste of honey (although I have a honey and orange blossom shampoo from Beekman 1802 that smells divine), and I have a mild allergy to bee stings.

This would be an excellent choice for a book club since there are many topics to discuss. Recommended.

Different types of beehives

City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita

December 7, 2022

City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita

A group of teens living in an isolated Alaskan town find a boot with a dismembered foot on the shoreline. This is a frequent occurrence and the gruesome find is chalked up to a suicide or someone who fell off a cruise ship. But when an Anchorage detective hears about the discovery, she wonders if it is related to the disappearance of her husband and son a year earlier. She travels to the town, only to be stranded by a snowstorm and avalanche. With nothing else to do, she begins digging into the town and its residents.

This starts out as a nice "locked room" mystery with a limited number of characters who live in the same building in the same tiny town. Everyone is stranded by the snowstorm, unable to leave. There is even a moose named Denny. But about 2/3 of the way in, the author introduces a group of characters from a nearby Native American village (the "Rez Men," who she takes great pains to emphasize are NOT Native American) who are able to move about and come and go as they please. They all sound like their dialog is from a 1950s B-movie. I'm sure the author liked all of her characters and didn't want to make one of them the bad guy so she decided to pin it on someone from outside the town, but I hate it when authors do this. It's a cop-out.

Also, the two detectives are conducting a thorough investigation up until this point, but at the 2/3 mark, they suddenly get stupid. Instead of thoroughly searching the town and surrounding area for two children who go missing, including the nearby abandoned military compound (hint, hint), they decide to hop on snowmobiles and go search the Native American village that is two hours away.

The ending is just two unbelievable. The reader is supposed to believe that the murder victim in a tiny isolated town was somehow involved with the deaths of the detective's husband and son. How unbelievable is that?? Talk about a stretch.

And why does Cara, the female detective, start seeing and talking to ghosts, including her dead husband? I know she is supposed to have PTSD, but ghosts have nothing to do with the story and an editor should have cut out those parts. It pisses me off when authors portray women as weak-minded. The male detective doesn't hear or see anything supernatural.

Yamashita tried to deal with too many big issues: domestic abuse, drugs, poverty, suicide, illegal immigration, PTSD, the plight of many Native Americans. These are all important topics, but pick one (or two, at the most) and work with it.

Disappointing.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Talkeetna, Alaska, where this novel does NOT take place

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

January 30, 2020

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

Loosely based on the author’s life growing up in Queensland in Australia, this is a story of coming-of-age meets survival.  Eli Bell and his older brother August live with their mother Frances and her boyfriend Lyle, both heroin dealers, in the suburb of Darra outside Brisbane in Queensland, Australia.  August is mute following a childhood trauma, while Eli searches for what it takes to be a good man.  Lyle is the only father figure that Eli remembers, and he loves Lyle deeply and wants to believe that Lyle is a good man, despite his profession. But unexpected events force Eli out of childhood, as he attempts to navigate a world of crime, drugs, and domestic abuse.

Normally I don’t care for books with juvenile narrators since the point of view is usually pretty narrow, but Trent Dalton has written a pair of very engaging characters in Eli Bell and his brother August.  Eli's voice is full of poetry and unexpected humor, a combination of adolescent adventure and adult experiences.  Most of the characters are based on people that Dalton knew as a child - I did love the inclusion of Arthur “Slim” Halliday, an actual criminal best known for his jail escapes, who Dalton knew when he was a child.  However, I don’t think the episodes of magical realism added anything to the narrative, and the last 50 pages of the book stretch the reader’s belief a little too far.  Other than that, the first 400 pages of the book are a wonderful read, not always pleasant or happy, but always heartfelt.

The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs

August 18, 2019

The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs

Caroline Shelby always loved to sew and dreamed of being a fashion designer.  But in the cut-throat world of New York fashion, she is betrayed by her mentor who destroys her budding career.  When a close friend dies of an overdose, Caroline returns to her hometown and her family in Oysterville, WA, bringing her friend’s two orphaned children with her.  With her new responsibilities, she needs to start over and make a life for the three of them.  Caroline is certain that the scandal and shame she feels is the worst thing that could happen to anyone, but she quickly learns that many of the women she meets have secrets of their own.  Her evolution is eased by renewing her relationship with Will Jensen, a long-time friend.

I requested an e-ARC for this title since I am an avid sewer, but the “sewing circle” turned out to be a domestic abuse support group.  Some sewing happens but it's sort of a side plot.  The topic of domestic abuse and violence is hugely important and pulled right from the headlines.  Too many influential men have been permitted to bully and abuse women and children, their actions hidden by their positions.  My dad always said that it doesn't take a brave man to hit a woman, a child or a dog - to him, men like that were despicable.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of women’s fiction (a little too predictable), but Susan Wiggs is a popular women's fiction writer, and readers of both women’s fiction and romance should enjoy this title.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for a review.