Tag Archives: book review

Review: What You Wish For

Posted on by

What You Wish For
by Katherine Center
4 stars

If you are looking for a book that will bring you joy, look no further!  I came across Katherine Center last summer while checking in the new books.  Her book covers are beautiful!  Things You Save In A Fire caught my eye with the bright colors and flowers.  I was expecting a light romance, but was pleasantly surprised with something more.  This book is no exception.  While the book centers on a tragedy similar to Center’s other books I read, this one had such a big dose of happiness that it was hard not to smile while reading this.  The book centers on Samantha Casey, a school librarian.  Samantha loves her job, the kids, and her school family with such joy and passion.  When the new school principal, Duncan Carpenter, comes on the scene with his strict and controlling nature, Samantha works hard to uncover why the fun-loving Duncan she used to know is suddenly so fearful.  I loved reading the changes in Sam and Duncan throughout the book. The other characters were just as great.  Reading descriptions of Sam’s outfits made me smile.  The ending was great and I loved how everything came full circle.  I highly recommend this book and Katherine Center’s other books if you are looking for a happy ending.

 

Read-alikes

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

 

Review: The Book of Lost Names

Posted on by

The Book of Lost Names (to be released 7/21/20)
by Kristin Harmel
5 stars

Another excellent WWII historical fiction read by Kristin Harmel!  Harmel became a favorite of mine when I picked up When We Meet Again in summer of 2016. I quickly placed her other titles on hold at my library and devoured them. If you haven’t checked out Sweetness of Forgetting or The Life Intended, please do so! Her latest releases have not disappointed either! This book follows Eva, a young Jewish woman, who flees to a small town in France after her father is arrested. Using her talents as an artist, she meets a small group of people and begins forging identity papers for Jewish children to help them to flee to safety. She wants the children’s names to be preserved for after the war, so she begins keeping a code in a religious text that becomes The Book of Lost Names. I love how the book is based on a true story and I appreciate that Harmel always digs into subjects that aren’t as familiar to us, like the topic of forgery. The story has alternate timelines, 1940’s (Eva in the past) and 2005 (Eva in the present) Like Harmel’s previous books, I enjoy this jump back in forth in time. A great book about bravery, heartbreak, war, and even a love story. Highly recommend! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

 

Read-alikes

All the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

Echoes by Danielle Steele

The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah

 

Review: A Taste of Sage

Posted on by

A Taste of Sage
by Yaffa S Santos
4 stars

I am a sucker for magical realism…and for books about cooking, so this was perfect for me!  Lumi is a chef who loves to cook the Dominican style food that she grew up with.  She can also read people’s emotions when she eats their cooking.  When her own restaurant goes under, she gets a job as a sous chef in a stuffy traditional French restaurant.  (Of course the head chef is a dreamy redhead, even if he comes off as a jerk)  Lumi and Head Chef Julien butt heads immediately and Lumi vows to never eat anything he cooks.  But this is a romance, so I’m pretty sure you can see where the story is heading.

I admit that I am not familiar with Dominican food specifically, but all of the food described in the book sounds fantastic!  And I always love books that come with recipes in them!  Especially ones that include instructions like ‘Best served without bad juju.’  At one point in the book she adds apples to a traditional ratatouille recipe, which sounded intriguing.  Later there is a recipe for an all apple ratatouille that I am definitely going to have to try.

 

Read alikes:

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

 

Review: Who Speaks for the Damned

Posted on by

Who Speaks for the Damned
by C.S. Harris
5 stars

Who Speaks for the Damned is C.S. Harris’ fifteenth entry in the Sebastian St. Cyr historical mystery series.  Set in the Regency Era, the series centers around the aforementioned Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin.  Devlin is a nobleman who was once accused of murder and in the process of proving himself innocent, discovered he has rather a knack for ferreting out the truth.  Thus, he now investigates murder in the ranks of the nobility, always seeking justice for the dead.

This time Devlin is investigating the murder of Nicholas Hayes.  Hayes is the third son of the Earl of Seaforth, and was tried and convicted of a noblewoman’s murder 20 years ago.  Transported to Australia soon after his conviction, he was believed to be dead.  What, then, is his corpse doing turning up in Pennington’s Tea Gardens in the heart of London?  Why did he risk hanging by returning to England’s shores?  Who went to the trouble to murder Hayes, when all they needed to do was turn him in to the Crown to be hanged?

As Devlin investigates, several possibilities emerge as to why Hayes felt it necessary to return.  Did he seek to clear his name of a murder he did not commit?  Could he have sought revenge on those men he believed instrumental in helping to secure his murder conviction?  Perhaps he returned seeking to punish those he believed drove his brother to suicide just days before his sentence was passed.  Or was his return due to his wish to secure the future of the child traveling with him, a child believed to be his son and heir but who has now gone missing?

As Devlin unravels the intricacies of Hayes’ past and his present demise, the reader is immersed once again into the world of early 1800s London thanks to Harris’ excellent plotting, strong attention to detail, and character-driven writing.  Devlin, while a man of moral rectitude, is as human and as flawed a protagonist as you will find, which endears him to the reader all the more for it.  Hero, Devlin’s wife, is a strong, capable woman whose work among the poor of London’s streets attempts to highlight and correct the gaping chasm between the rich and the poor of the times, serving to illustrate them for the modern reader.  Jarvis, adviser to kings, Hero’s father, and Devlin’s constant nemesis, doesn’t disappoint in his constancy as a man of questionable morals who does whatever is necessary to ensure that no hint of scandal tarnishes the throne of England or besmirches the nobility.  I think of Jarvis as the Dolores Umbridge of the Regency Era—you love to hate him.

This series is one of the best historical mystery series being written today, and this fifteenth entry to the series is a most enjoyable read.  Harris’ plotting is fast-paced yet never formulaic.  The characters are likable and relatable, and the story-line unfolds with twists and turns aplenty.  Readers of this series will not be disappointed, and those new to the series will be delighted with their discovery of such a well-crafted, devour-able novel.  I never miss a Sebastian St. Cyr novel, and once you read one, you won’t want to miss one either.  They just keep getting better, and Who Speaks for the Damned is no exception.  A riveting read.

Read alikes:

A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

The Inheritance by Charles Finch

 

Written by Casey, a member of our Patron Services department. She loves mysteries, especially Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, and historical fiction. She also loves horror and fantasy novels.

Review: An American Marriage

Posted on by

An American Marriage
by Marisa De Los Santos
4 stars

Celestial and Roy, a young, successful couple from Atlanta, have been married for just over a year when Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years in jail for a crime he did not commit while visiting his parents in Louisiana. The author lets the reader know he is innocent because he was with his wife at the time. With both of their lives upturned, Celestial remains loyal to her husband, but after a few years, she finds herself adrift and turns to her childhood friend Andre for comfort. Then suddenly, after five years, Roy’s conviction is overturned and he returns to face Celestial and Andre while trying to figure out where he belongs. Roy, Celestial and Andre are each given a voice in alternating chapters, which pulls the reader back and forth weaving a complex of emotions for the reader on who to side while tugging at our emotions. I really thought this book was going to be about our broken judicial system in regards to racial inequality and mass incarceration, and while those topics were explored some, the story is really about the quiet devastation of a marriage that maybe wasn’t as solid as we all thought. I thought the story was beautifully written and I found myself rereading different passages because I was moved by the strength and flow of her words. Recommend.

 

Read alikes:

The Mars Room: a novel by Rachel Kushner

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward