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Quill is a Native American living with her family on the rez in cold Minnesota. The quiet of the woods and the crisp air seems like the perfect safe place for her to run and train for the next marathon until the day she hears a woman scream. When Quill and her husband go back to check they can't find anything except tire tracks and her insistence at what she heard falls on deaf ears at the tribal police. Days later she and her friends are almost run off the road, native women are going missing or drugged at the casino and a child is abducted but the tribal police have few leads. Quill and her two friends take matters into their own hands and investigate putting themselves at great risk. It is their sense of family, community and tenacity that creates change. Sadly, Native Americans go missing frequently so not only is this a heart pounding mystery but also a cry for awareness and call to take charge. Readers of Tony Hillerman, Nevada Barr will enjoy. 4 stars 
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A cozy magic store goes wand to wand with newcomer mages in a small town where only one shop can survive. Charlie and her two moms live and work in the cottage spell shop that has been the family business for generations. It is all Charlie wants in life to keep the shop going but that might all change when a hot mage and his sister move into town with an updated store and plans to get the only license. If only Fitz and his sister were horrible but they are anything but and what turns into a friendly competition is made more difficult by all the sparks flying between Charlie and Fitz. Cozy magic meets "You've Got Mail" retail romance for the perfect read to end summer and get ready for Halloween. Fans of THE EX HEX by Erin Sterling or LEGENDS & LATTES will enjoy. 3 1/2 stars  In the vein of THE STEPFORD WIVES Vincent Tirado explores a strange mostly white gated community and the effects it has on the Korean American and Dominican American gay couple who buy their dream house there. Sol and Alice have worked hard to buy a place of their own and can't believe their luck when they find something in the "near perfect" community of Maneless Grove. Everything is too perfect, the neighbors are way too nosy and overly friendly which is making Sol twitch. The final straw for her is being forced to sign a multi page HOA agreement. Alice is the more social of the two and she acclimates much faster but is still not immune to the many weird things going on. All of this, including Sol being accused of plagiarism and home on a forced sabbatical, is causing tension in their marriage. From the haunted house vibe to the zombie teens in the woods to the voices in her head Sol is having one scary nightmare. This story will appeal to the author's young adult fans as well as adults who enjoyed LOVECRAFT COUNTRY and ONE OF OUR KIND. 4 stars  Jane is biracial and has long known the frustrations and racial tension of having one leg on the Black side and the other leg on the White side of the fence. She and her husband and two kids have been bouncing from apartment to apartment for awhile and now have an opportunity to housesit for a year in a posh L.A. neighborhood. They are living the good life with a studio for her husband to get ready for his big art show and for Jane to finish her second huge novel. She is unprepared for the less than optimistic response from her agent on her opus and takes a chance meeting with a Hollywood bigwig producer looking to create a hit romcom about "being mulatto". Jane feels she is halfway accepted by this group, halfway committed to her marriage and halfway committed to her dream of becoming a respected novelist. This is a heartfelt look at hanging on to your dented reality while faced with all the shiny possibilities and false hope of Hollywood. Readers of THE VANISHING HALF and LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND will find much to like here. 4 stars  Grace Winters is a retired math teacher and recent widow who suddenly finds herself left a home on the island of Ibiza. She is surprised that her friend whom she hadn't seen in many years would have left her this but she also needs a change of scenery. Ibiza has a profound effect on Grace. At 72 she learns to scuba dive and it is in these strange and magical waters that Grace has an epiphany. She receives the gift of mind reading not only of the humans around her but animals and birds as well. This comes in handy as there is a developer who is building a resort that will destroy the environment and sacred habitat whom activists and her new friends are trying to stop. I love the way this book begins with Grace responding to a letter from a former pupil who is going through a crisis moment. Matt Haig reminds us that we are human capable of great love and even greater mistakes and all of us have the ability to change lives. He also tries to cement the message that there are wondrous places on this Earth that will not survive unless we change our behavior. A second act of courage and adventure with a dollop of magic provides the perfect mix of delightful story and a call to action. Readers of Lydia Millet and PLAYGROUND by Richard Powers will enjoy this. 4 stars  A barrister on an island with no memory of how she got there or the killer she is defending in a high court. She crawls along trying not to slip up while gathering tidbits of memory along the way. The only thing she is sure of is that her young daughter is not safe until she gets the mass killer acquitted. This is an ambitious debut which would have worked much better for me if I understood the jargon and rules of the British court system. There is a lot going on in this story. If you are a fan of locked room mysteries, British courtroom thrillers and like the amnesia angle then this will be a complicated puzzle you will have to solve. 3 1/2 stars  An outstanding depiction of women writers in two timelines not being given their due simply because of their gender. Emilia, trained as a courtesan at an early age, is under the protection (read gifted) to a Lord in Queen Elizabeth's court. Thankfully, he is kind and allows her freedom so she can quietly develop her poetry. Years pass and she makes friends with Kit Marlowe who sees her great talent and helps devise a plan to sell her writing to those less talented men like Will Shakespeare under a false name. When Emilia falls in love with someone she shouldn't and the unthinkable happens she is cast out yet picks herself back up to continue to market her writing. Generations later, Melina a young female playwright has the same sexist pushback her ancestor Emilia did in trying to break thought the all male barrier of Broadway. This story rings true because it is based on Emilia Bassano thought to be the first female published poet and the author's note at the end is well worth checking out. Jodi Picoult has done it again with rich vibrant characters (I loved Kit Marlowe) and perfectly researched storyline connected to current day that showcases a resilient woman who overcame abuse, great loss and obscurity to follow her dreams. Anyone who enjoys stories of Queen Elizabeth's court, and the retellings of Shakespeare's famous plays will enjoy this feminist historical fiction. 4 1/2 stars  A momentous adventure story based in truth full of uncharted territory and danger in untested waters. An enthusiastic steamship inventor and his family undertake the voyage of a lifetime as they embark on the maiden voyage of their steamship on the mighty Mississippi the full length ending in New Orleans in 1811. Lydia Roosevelt is very pregnant and along with their toddler daughter make this journey with unwavering faith that her husband's ship will make the voyage showing the world what is possible and wowing investors and travelers along the way. This journey would have been arduous for anyone but they weathered hostile people, waterfalls, earthquakes and countless other dangers while Lydia remained at her husband's side. This is an adventure story with a rugged determined woman at its center. Diane C. McPhail does an admirable job balancing the extreme danger with the joy of discovering what was just around the bend and experiencing it with the ones you love at your side. If Mark Twain were a woman this is the story they would have penned. 4 stars  A fever dream of a story about an adventurous husband who drags his wife off to a remote island in search of an illusive spider whose silk holds magical powers. The women of the island embrace Sophia but her husband steals the spiders bringing them back to England which sets a curse into motion. A generation later the factory spinning the spider silk is in full operation employing the whole town - men, women and even young children. Henry is a grieving audiologist who is hired to help cure the owner's deaf daughter. While he is unable to improve her hearing he becomes obsessed with the silence provided by the spider silk and sets about marketing it. Caught in the seductive web of recognition and the lavish attention of the lord of the manor/factory owner, Henry tries to prove his worth while looking the other way at the plight of the young workers whose health is failing. It is a classic story of the class divide, unrequited love , the horrible working conditions of young factory workers and the allure of magical creatures without a thought to how they might exact their revenge. Atmospheric writing that will attract readers of Lydia Millet and Adrienne Young. 4 stars  Happy book birthday to THE THIRD WIFE OF FARADAY HOUSE by B. R. Myers All the elements of a classic gothic mystery are here with a distinctly modern view of women's roles. In love with a dashing naval officer Emeline is sure he will save her from having to take her only other option- that of marrying a widower several times over. When that doesn't happen and she travels to the remote island of her intended only to find that his current wife isn't even dead yet. Sinister forces are at work and Emeline just has to keep the second wife alive long enough for the swooping rescue by her naval officer. A less than wholesome main character (who you grow to like), poison, murder, ghosts, jealousy and much witty banter make this a quite enjoyable romp through the mists and hidden dangers of the island. 4 stars  |
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