Before Dorothy

Author: Hazel Gaynor
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2025
Pages: 368
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Chicago, 1924: Emily and her new husband, Henry, year to leave the bustle of Chicago for the purpose of their own American dream among the harsh beauty of the prairie. But leaving the city means leaving Emily's beloved sister, Annie, who was once closer to her than anyone in the world.

Kansas, 1932: Emily and Henry have established their new home among the warmth of the farming community in Kansas. Aligned to the fickle fortunes of nature, their lives hold a precarious and hopeful purpose, until tragedy strikes and their orphaned niece, Dorothy, lands on their doorstep.

The wide-eyed child isn't the only thing to disrupt Emily's world.
Drought and devastating dust storms threaten to destroy everything, and her much-loved home becomes a place of uncertainty and danger. When the past catches up with the present and old secrets are exposed, Emily fears she will lose the most cherished thing of all: Dorothy.

Review:  Purely by coincidence, I began listening to this book on the same day that I started reading, Emerald's of Oz by Peter Guzzardi It's been forever and a day since I've watched the movie, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and even longer since I read Frank L. Baum's book. 

Hazel Gaynor is a wonderful historical fiction novelist so I knew I would enjoy Before Dorothy. Within the first couple of chapters, I thought for sure this would end up being my next five-star read. However, very shortly, it became a novel that would have been more aptly titled Before Oz. I just wanted more about young Aunt Em and her sisters. That said, I still highly recommend this novel. 

Gaynor recommends Timothy Egan's book, Worst Hard Time, for related reading. It is excellent non-fiction reading for more information about the Dust Bowl.

Hazel Gaynor Novels
A Memory of Violets
The Girl from the Savoy
The Girl Who Came Home

Coauthored Novels
Fall of Poppies
Meet Me in Monaco

Emeralds of Oz: Life Lessons from Over the Rainbow

Author: Peter Guzzardi
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2019
Pages: 176 (3 hours, 16 min)
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: After a lifetime in book publishing, Peter Guzzardi had edited a remarkable group of diverse authors, from Stephen Hawking to Deepak Chopra, from Carol Barnett to Douglas Adams, from Byron Katie to Geneen Roth. yet everything he'd learned from working with them felt oddly familiar. One day it suddenly became clear: all that wisdom had its roots in a file he'd watched as a child, The Wizard of Oz.

That revelation led to this book. It's a jewel box of insights drawn from Dorothy's heroic journey from helpless in Kansas to powerful in Oz, then back to Kansas, transformed by what she found along the way. In Emeralds of Oz: Life Lessons from Over the Rainbow, we discover what the most-matched file in history has to teach us. With that knowledge we become free to embark on our own journey, having activated the power to direct our lives that we possessed all along
.

Review: Purely by coincidence, I began listening to this book on the same day that I started reading, Before Dorothy, Hazel Gaynor's latest historical fiction novel. It's been forever and a day since I've watched the movie, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and even longer since I read Frank L. Baum's book. 

Emerald's of Oz and Before Dorothy were wonderful companion novels, and between the two, served as a great refresher to the original book and movie.

The Seven Year Slip

Author: Ashley Potston
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2023
Pages: 368
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Sometimes the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it. 

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn't want to get to close to anyone - she isn't sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt's apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would've fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in the future. 

Her aunt always said that the apartment was a pinch in time, a plac
e where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she'll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time - but a matter of timing.

Review: I typically like time travel novels, although I'm not so much into fluffy romance novels. I decided to give this one a chance and started it over Labor Day weekend. The weather was perfect and this novel had a lightness about it that suited. It was cute and enjoyable. I found myself wanting to jump ahead to see if pieces came together as expected, but I held back and went along for the ride.

The Girl in Suite 11

Author: Ruth Ware
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press, 2025
Pages:
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel - owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann - arrives, it's like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to reestablish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago.

The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo's ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus' hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She's greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus' mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy. 

What follows is a thrilling cat-and-mouse pursuit across Europe, forcing Lo to ask herself just how much she's willing to sacrifice to save this woman. . .and if she can even trust her?

Review: Odd that a follow-up to The Woman in Cabin 10 was 10 years later because I barely remember a thing about that novel.

The Woman in Suite 11 is not my favorite Ruth Ware novel, or even in the top three of her best, in my opinion. I mean how much bad luck can one person have in a decade.

That said, if you're able to suspend belief and don't think too much, it's not a bad story. More than once though I wanted to smack Laura and ask, what are you even thinking? And Judah. Good grief.

I don't recommend this novel, unless you're like me, and want to read all of Ruth Ware's novels.

Ruth Ware Novels
One by One
One Perfect Couple
The Death of Mrs. Westaway
The It Girl
The Lying Game
The Turn of the Key
The Woman in Cabin 10
Zero Days