Some of It Was Real tells a beautiful story about a psychic who’s not entirely sure she’s really a psychic and the investigative journalist who assumes she’s a fraud and dedicates himself to exposing her. The book straddles the border between Women’s Fiction and Romance, taking a deep dive into the psyche of each character…
Corinne starts out strongly, with brilliantly-observed and realistic portraits of its teen characters as they struggle to walk a fine line between being worldly and being godly. But when we flash forward, the characters lose the plot and the book loses its delicate balance. Morrow’s writing compels, but the book stalls and the end result…
Four messily intertwined lives, a lot of soapy melodrama, and a time of healing light the way in Barbra O’Neal’s This Place of Wonder. The narrative bounces between operatic moments of melodrama and quiet character introspection, and the two extremes never really balance out, though they do make for moments of giggleworthy, ripe humor. When…
The Lost and Found Girl is entertaining enough, but feels like more of the same from Maisey Yates. This could well be another of her contemporary romances, but it offers up no bold strides or new twists to her regular style aside from some rather dark plot choices. Pear Blossom, Oregon is known for only…
Girls They Write Songs About successfully captures what life felt like back in the late nineties in big cities across the world. It also captures what young friendship and fumbling early career and relationship choices feel like with painful accuracy. But it starts to meander around its halfway point, leaving the reader stranded. Rose and…
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle is a captivating tale about reconnecting with your past in order to have a better future. When renowned designer Cressida Westcott left her childhood home, she vowed never to return. Her parents had died, her brother Eustace subsequently treated her abominably, and so she struck out on her own and…
Jane Austen’s Emma and swinging. Those are two flavors you wouldn’t necessarily pair up, but Taylor Hahn marries them in a modern AU called The Lifestyle. The story that ensues is fun and fast paced, but the end result is predictable and kinda trite. In this version of the tale, our Emma is high-powered executive…
There’s something about a Kristan Higgins story that I love. She’s lately released a number of standalone women’s fiction novels, and I’ll be honest – each time I look at the premise I’m a little daunted by how emotionally complex the book appears. Death of a spouse, weight and body image issues, infidelity… none of…
If you’ve missed Nina and her friends from The Bookish Life of Nina Hill you absolutely must read Adult Assembly Required. It’s a sequel featuring a different couple who know Nina, Polly and company, and it is absolutely fantastic. If you haven’t read Nina Hill yet, rush out and pick up both books now. They’re…
A lovely look at life in Britain after World War II, Bloomsbury Girls gives us a glimpse at the time between the end of the war and the social upheavals that led to the women’s right movements of later decades. It’s a good story, but not one that engaged me deeply in the various plights…
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