It’s been a heck of a year, and with family medical issues, I’ve been remiss in getting out reviews for the many wonderful picture books I’ve received from publishers. So just before the new year, here are some that I think are important for different reasons. Some are just really funny, some have wonderful messages, and others will make kids (and adults) think.
Continue reading
During Bookreporter.com’s end of the year event, a fellow reviewer named “Don’t Let Him In” by Lisa Jewell as one of his top two picks for 2025 — high praise indeed. I decided that I wanted to make sure to include this one in my 2025 book reviews, and boy, am I glad that I did. This novel is a masterpiece of suspense, and using different points of view and different narrators to provide us with significant insight into the characters. Her choice to make Nick Radcliffe, the man at the center of the novel, tell his story in first person narrative is brilliant as his narrative, at first seemingly rational, becomes more and more unhinged as the novel progresses.
Continue reading
“The Snow Lies Deep” and perhaps nowhere deeper than in a small village in rural Vermont at Christmas. Paula Munier takes us right into the heart of the small, picturesque town of Northshire as the town celebrates the holiday season in grand style. The village is hosting the “Solstice Soirée,” “twelve days of eating, drinking, and making merry, beginning on the winter solstice and continuing through Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and Christmas right on to New Year’s Day.”
Continue reading
With her debut novel, “The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter,” author Brionni Nwosu presents a stunningly beautiful story about a woman who makes a deal with Death. The result is that the title character, Nella Carter, evades her own imminent death and becomes immortal. Her quest is to prove to Death that there are enough worthwhile humans, humans who are kind and good and loving, that Death should not end all human lives and start the human race anew.
Continue reading
Gordon Korman’s many middle grade novels are like juvenile addictions — kids can’t get enough of them. In fact, of all the book reviews I’ve written over the past decades, it’s Korman’s reviews that get the most views. They are beloved and popular for good reason. “Snoop,” his latest novel for middle grade readers, is no exception. Korman’s ability to combine a “normal” kid with circumstances that make him (or her) do the right thing, overcome obstacles, and help others, is brilliant.
Continue reading
In all of Jenny Colgan’s books, the setting is truly as important as any character; whether it’s the seaside or a charming corner of Edinburgh, her settings never fail to enchant and charm us. “The Secret Christmas Library” is no different. The setting, in a castle in northern Scotland in freezing winter, is breathtaking as Colgan describes the huge heaps of brilliant white snow, the sparkling sea, the majestic stag, and the centerpiece: a massive, decaying, neglected, isolated estate.
Continue reading
What does it take to have it all? And what does one give up in order to keep it? These are questions that Hank Phillippi Ryan explores in her newest mystery, “All This Could Be Yours.” There are many meanings in that seemingly simple titular phrase, and we see the many permutations along the way as we follow main character and debut author Tessa Calloway on her best-selling novel’s book tour.
Continue reading
In this delightful historical fiction mystery series, the not-so-proper Lady Petra Forsyth must solve the mystery of the murdered chef. This was no ordinary chef, but one who had served as chef to the royal household and also, years earlier, to Petra’s father’s house. Who would have murdered Sir Rufus Pomeroy?
Continue reading
“The Seven Rings” is Nora Roberts’ last book in “The Lost Bride Trilogy,” and it’s set on the rocky coast of Maine, in a beautiful manor home filled with ghosts. Some of the ghosts are members of the Poole family who owned the mansion, others worked there and their spirits still inhabit the spacious rooms. But there is one entity that doesn’t belong, an evil spirit, who longs to possess the manor home and is willing to kill anyone who gets in her way. She killed seven Poole brides and stole their wedding rings, and she is intent on being the mistress of the mansion.
Continue reading
“Hurricane Heist” is the second book in James Ponti’s new detective series, “The Sherlock Society.” This very clever middle grade series features the first person narrator Alex Sherlock, his two best friends Yadi and Lina, his sister Zoe, and his grandfather, a retired journalist. They live in South Florida in Coconut Grove and since the first book, have been looking for Al Capone’s missing Florida treasure — a stash of money that was secreted somewhere in Southern Florida and never found.
Continue reading
The newest entry into the delightful time-travel murder mystery series by Kelley Armstrong, “Death at a Highland Wedding,” might be my favorite of the four books in the “Rip Through Time” series. In this mystery, Mallory Atkinson, a 21st century Canadian detective who has traveled in time back to the 1870s, journeys with her employer and his family and friends to Scotland for the wedding of Hugh McCreadie’s sister.
Continue reading
David Rosenfelt’s 31st (!) entry in the Andy Carpenter Mystery series is “Dogged Pursuit.” But this one is significantly different from the earlier entries in one important way: it’s a prequel featuring Andy as a rookie in the defense attorney business. He’s approaching thirty years of age and has decided that it’s time to help those who are essentially victims of the system. He wants to give the wrongly accused a real chance in court. And though he’s relatively young, and all his previous work has been on the prosecution side, he has an inner confidence that whispers, “Help people. You can do it.”
Continue reading