joycesmysteryandfictionbookreviews

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The Month’s Best Psychological Thrillers

This month is chock full of it—whatever you want, it’s here. There are elaborate, several day long weddings. There are tense family reunions in …
The Month’s Best Psychological Thrillers

Lisa Jewell: How I Accidentally Wrote a Detective Into My Psychological Thriller

Between the ages of twelve and thirteen I read the entire Agatha Christie oeuvre in under a year. They were like crack for me, my first addiction, I …
Lisa Jewell: How I Accidentally Wrote a Detective Into My Psychological Thriller

Some e book bargains for 8.11.22

The Emperor of All Maladies

The Odyssey (not Homer) by Lara Williams

The Barbara Pym Collection Volume One

Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood

Churchill’s Secret Messenger

Arrowsmith-American classic story of a doctor

The Confessions of Nat Turner

Before We Were Yours

Case Histories and other Kate Atkinson titles

Run Away by Harlan Coben

The Pull of Stars

The Last Trial by Scott Turow

Room and Akin by Emma Donoghue

Girl Last Seen and other titles by Nina Laurin

The Girl in Green

Photos will be back soon…apologies

A Vintage Wedding by Katie FForde

Katie Fforde’s books have been welcome reads to me for many years, starting with The Rose Revived a number of years ago. Now, annually, I look forward to her latest title. Ms. Fforde writes the perfect escapist read with just enough drama, along with the promise of a happy ending. Just right for when life is just that little bit too overwhelming.

In A Vintage Wedding, three women living in the same small village meet and form a business together. Vintage Weddings will hopefully offer the perfect day while not breaking the bank in costs.

Readers follow Beth, Lindy and Rachel along with their male counterparts, family, and friends in these pages. Beth is house sitting; Lindy is a mom with chaos around her; Rachel is her opposite as the story opens-she is neat and clean and hates mess. Watch how each of them experiences life and grows over the course of the novel. It will give you a most pleasant read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this title. All opinions are my own.

Published in 2017.

Be who you are meant to be: Laverne Cox

by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara

Laverne Cox is an icon to many. She has shown us how to live an authentic life. How did she come to live as her true self and to be comfortable with her identity? Young children will find out as they explore this latest, excellent entry in the ongoing series Little People, Big Dreams.

Any child who knows that their perceived sex does not mesh with their identity will be reassured by this book. It will also be a wonderful tool in teaching acceptance and respect for others. It belongs in nursery school and home libraries. Well done!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (Quarto Publishing Group) for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub Date 13 Sep 2022

Travel: Door to Door by Emma Walton Hamilton

Many may know this author as the daughter and collaborator of Julie Andrews. With this book, Ms. Hamilton stands firmly on her own two feet. This is a collection of poetry that beautifully explores many facets of daily life.

Here are poems that are written in differing styles-with rhyme, without, with interesting layouts on the page. All invite the reader in and encourage them to contemplate. For example, in Joint Custody, the feeling of always being caught in (or the victim) of two worlds is vividly expressed. In The Accident of Birth, readers are invited to consider the life they wish to lead, should it be that of the orchid or the dandelion? I choose the dandelion. One more example, Chemistry-how would it be to be the person described as “you make my bread rise?”

Throughout are poems to enjoy and think about. Bravo, Emma!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub Date 13 Sep 2022