I must have a thing for betrayal books. Two books I’ve recently granted DIK status – Rightfully His and Prospect Street – have explored themes of betrayal. There is something extremely affecting about the feelings dredged up from this type of situation. Jeanette Baker does a fine job of exploring these feelings, and by setting…
My sister highly recommended Female Intelligence, and so I read it. The payoff was only so-so, however. This was an amusing book with an interesting (and familiar) premise and good humor, but, unfortunately, it also had a slow start, rather poor characterization and a plot that did not engage. Lynn Wyman has made a career…
While reading Down by the Water, I was yet again reminded why women’s fiction is not my favorite genre. This book is not good; it earns the first “F” I have given in my tenure as a reviewer. It features unlikable people, right down to the children, a plot that meandered all over the place,…
Man, oh, man, this book gets off to one s-l-o-w start, but once things get moving The Fortune Teller’s Daughter is enjoyable fiction with an extremely strong romantic component, a hint of paranormal elements, and an appealing New England setting. Tired of years of moving from town to town with her fortune-telling mother, Sabine Heartwood…
My review copy of Flight Lessons came with a press-kit interview with Patricia Gaffney in which she sums up her heroine’s faults and virtues and the main conflict of the book. It’s interesting stuff. Unfortunately, those two pages of summary seem more on-point than the first hundred pages of the book itself. There’s some excellent…
I confess – I initially put off reading Prospect Street, Emilie Richards’ hardcover debut novel. It’s a rather long book, a little intimidating looking, and sometimes reviewing longer books can be a chore, especially if they don’t hold your interest. It turned out, that was not something I should have worried about. From the first…
Step-Ball-Change is a short, quiet little story about the joys of change and the challenges of family. I discovered Ray this spring when I ran across a copy of her first book, Julie and Romeo. I’ve been waiting for this one somewhat anxiously, curious to see if Ray would be able to reproduce the wonderful…
I want to live in Grace Valley. I want to go there and meet these wonderful, lovely, funny, serious, hard-working, sensible, tolerant people, and be one of them. If Just Over the Mountain had been a true romance, it would have been my first grade-A Keeper in a long, long time. As it is, this…
For Better, For Worse is a silly book. Sometimes this can be a good thing. Silly books can make you laugh, forget about a busted water heater, or just help to not take life so seriously for a few hours. You could say that the world is a better place for having silly books, but…
Finally, an enjoyable story that entertains from beginning to end! With its snappy, sassy style and unpredictable characters, Love in Bloom’s is the perfect book to grab for a long day at the beach or any old day when you’re feeling stressed and are longing for a quirky romantic pick-me-up. When Ben Bloom died unexpectedly…
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