Paperback Crush

Author: Gabrielle Moss
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Quirk Publishing, 2018
Pages: 256
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Those pink covers. That flimsy paper. The nonstop series installments that hooked readers through their entire adolescence. These were not the serious-issue novels of the 1970s, not the blockbuster YA trilogies that arrived in the 2000s. Nestled in between were the girl-centric teen books of the 80s and 90s - short, cheap, and utterly adored.

Review: I absolutely loved this trip down Memory Lane. I lived on a steady diet of The Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley Twins/Sweet Valley High through middle school and even a bit into my freshman year of high school. And, who can forget the Sunfire historical fiction novels that started with Amanda, teenager on a wagon train to Oregon. So much nostalgia, and more, in this book. Don't be surprised if some of those novels pop up in future blog posts. I should revisit some old favorites that, in some way, shaped who I am today.

Stars, Stripes, & Summer Nights

Author: Celeste Dador
Genre: Teen Fiction
Publisher: Random House Children's Publishing, 2026
Pages: 320
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Abigail Cary-Alzona, eldest daughter of President Constance Alzona, just wanted one normal night as a teenager. But after an impulsive pizza order later makes her front-page news, Abby is officially exiled to a Wi-Fi-free country inn for the summer, along with her little sister, Elle.

The inn belongs to Gabriel Calabrese's family. Gabriel is sarcastic, camera-obsessed, and definitely not dazzled by presidential perks (also, kind of the reason for the whole pizza fiasco). But Abby's determined to make the most of her time away from the White House - with a summer bucket list full of things real teens get to do. Pool parties. Picnics. Maybe even a first kiss.

As she and Elle dive into small-town life, Abby starts to see what makes Gabriel tick. An maybe, just maybe, she's falling for him. . .

Review: We have the Goodreads, It's Literally Summer Challenge, to thank for this one. This prompt includes books with the word Summer in the title, and there's a long list from which to choose. I was scrolling in the challenge, taking note of different books. When I took my son to the library that same day, Stars, Stripes, & Summer Nights was on a Teen Display we passed on our way to his favorite section. I took it as a sign.

This was cute. Obviously it's a summer romance book written for teens, and it's exactly what you'd expect it to be. A fun little read to get away from the heavier themes I've been reading lately.

Julie Chan is Dead

Author: Liann Zhang
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Atria Books, 2026
Pages: 320
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Julie Chan has nothing. Her twin sister has everything - except a pulse.

Julie Chan, a supermarket cashier barely scraping by, finds herself thrust into the glamorous yet perilous world of her late twin sister, Chloe VanHuusen, a popular influencer. Separated at a young age, the identical twin sisters were polar opposites and rarely spoke, except for one viral video that Chloe initiated (Finding My Long-Lost Twin and Buying Her A House #Emotional).

When Julie discovers Chloe's body, she doesn't call the police. Instead, she slips into her dead sister's meticulously curated life; luxury fashion, high-end skincare, and a devoted online following who never noticed they weren't quite the same.

At first, the transformation is seamless. Julie relishes the perks of influencer fame, but quickly learns that behind Chloe's flawless feed lay secrets far darker than she imagined. Her sister's final days were shadowed by paranoia, manipulation, and something far more sinister.

Now trapped on a private island retreat with Chloe's inner circle - an elite clique of influencers obsessed with status and secrecy - Julie is forced to keep up the act while being haunted by her sister's untimely death. As events spiral out of control, Julie uncovers the sinister forces that may have led to her sister's demise and realizes she might be the next target.

Review: Let's start with what I liked about this novel - the commentary, actually satire, on social media and influencer culture, entertaining. The author's writing style - highly readable. I would give this author another chance if she were to writer a second book.

The story itself? I don't know what happened. It started out strong and then around the midway point, it fell apart. It's as if the author didn't know what to do with this story she was crafting so she took it off the deep end. It's two books in one, as though the author's twin took over her manuscript. It's not a bad book, just weird, disjointed, and leaves the readers with weak explanations and, as a result, loose ends. Read at your own risk 😝

Sinking the Sultana

Author: Sally M. Walker
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2017
Pages: 208
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: In 1865, the Civil War was winding down and the country was reeling from Lincoln's assassination. Thousands of Union soldiers, released from Confederate prisoner-of-war camps, were to be transported home on the steamboat Sultana. With a profit to be made, the captain rushed repairs to the boat so the soldiers wouldn't find transportation elsewhere. More than 2000 passengers boarded in Vicksburg, Mississippi. . .on a boat with a capacity of 376. The journey was violently interrupted when the boat's boilers exploded, plunging the Sultana into mayhem; passengers were bombarded with red-hot iron fragments, burned by scalding steam, and flung overboard into the churning Mississippi. Although rescue efforts were launched, the survival rate was dismal - more than 1500 lives were lost.

Review: Something came across my Facebook newsfeed about the Sultana, and it conjured up a hazy memory about learning of this tragedy years ago. My interest was piqued so I searched my library's card  catalog and Sinking of the Sultana was the one result it returned.

The question of the Sultana is who is responsible for its sinking, and unfortunately, there's no definitive answer. In the end, the answer is probably many people. There were moments where multiple people at different points in the Sultana's story that a difference decision or choice could have been made and wasn't.

A Single Thread

Author: Tracey Chevalier
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2019
Pages: 336
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: 1932. After the Great War took both her beloved brother and her fiancé, Violet Speedwell has become a "surplus woman," one of a generation doomed to a life of spinsterhood after the war killed so many young men. Yet Violet cannot reconcile herself to a life spent caring for her grieving, embittered mother. After countless meals of boiled eggs and dry toast, she saves enough to move out of her mother's place and into the town of Winchester, home t one of England's grandest cathedrals. There, Violet is drawn into a society of broderers -- women who embroider kneelers for the Cathedral, carrying on a centuries-long tradition of bringing comfort to worshipers.

Violet finds support and community in the group, fulfillment in the work they create, and even a growing friendship with the vivacious Gilda. But when forces threaten her new independence and another war appears on the horizon, Violet must fight to put down roots in a place where women aren't expected to grow.

Review: I have more criticisms of this novel than I do praise, unfortunately.
Firstly, if I had to hear Tom call his sister "Old Girl" one more time, I might have screamed. It was awful and at 38 Violet was hardly old. If she had been, it would have been worse.

One criticism directed at the editors - one of the characters mentions something is as normal as routine as "brushing their teeth." While I understand the reference and ubiquitous nature of brushing teeth in the 21st century, I remember my grandmother saying that people really didn't when she was young. She was born in 1918 so this minor detail didn't ring true to me.

If I'm being honest, I don't know if I would have stuck with the print version of this book. I am far more tolerant of slow-plot novels when they're audiobooks. The metaphor of Violet stitching herself a new life while working on her embroidery for the Westminster Cathedral was not lost on me, but every character bears a certain sadness.

Violet is a surplus woman, thanks to the number of men killed and severely wounded during WWI. Her mother, a widow and grieving the loss of a son killed in the war. Even a newborn baby doesn't escape Chevalier's pen of pity when Violet mentions her new niece's unfortunate name - Gladys.

I'm torn on whether or not to recommend this novel. Violet is a strong character, belling ringing and embroidery are well-researched topics, and I imagine life in 1930s England for this class was described accurately. However, there are better post-World War I historical fiction novels available, for example check out author Jennifer Robson.

Also, because I was curious, I googled. The original embroidered kneelers and cushions from the 1930s at Winchester Cathedral are still in use. The cathedral still has an embroidery corps who clean, repair, and reupholster the pieces. This was perhaps the most interesting part of the novel. While the designers of the embroidered pieces drew on the history of the area for their designs, I would have preferred they chose religious themes.

Tracey Chevalier Novels
Girl with a Pearl Earring

Moonlight Over Paris

Author: Jennifer Robson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2016
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Spring 1924: Recovering from a broken wartime engagement and a serious illness that left her near death, Lady Helena Montague-Douglas-Parr vows that for once she will live life on her own terms. Breaking free from the stifling social constraints of the aristocratic society in which she was raised, she travels to France to stay with her free spirited aunt. For one year, she will simply be Miss Parr. She will explore the picturesque streets of Paris, meet people who know nothing of her past - and pursue her dream of becoming an artist.

A few years after the Great War's end, the City of Light is a bohemian paradise teeming with actors, painters, writers, and a lively coterie of American expatriates who welcome Helena into their romantic and exciting circle. Among them in Sam Howard, an irascible and infuriatingly honest correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. Dangerously attractive and deeply scarred by the horror and carnage of the war, Sam is unlike any man she has ever encountered. He calls her Ellie, sees her as no one else has before, and offers her a glimpse of a future that is both irresistible and impossible.

As Paris rises phoenix-like from the ashes of the Great War, so too does Helena. Though she's shed her old self, she's still uncertain of what she will become and where she belongs. 

Review: Unbeknownst to me, this is actually the third novel in The Great War series. I read the first way back in 2014, Somewhere in France. I picked up the Moonlight Over Paris off a historical fiction shelf at my local library. I do plan to read the second novel, After the War is Over, but when I realized I was reading the series out of order, I was enjoying Moonlight Over Paris too much to quit (or postpone). These are standalone novels so it's not an issue.

Jennifer Robson Novels
Somewhere in France

Hazel Says No

Author: Jessica Berger Gross
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Hanover Square Press, 2025
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: When Hazel Blum's father gets a tenured job at a prestigious college, she and her family relocated from Brooklyn to a middle-of-nowhere town in Maine. With her mother, Claire, a clothing designer, and her father, Gus, an American Studies professor, Hazel and her eleven-year-old brother, Wolf, slowly acclimate to their new lives and connect with the town's sprawling community. That is, until a dramatic fallout on the very first day of her senior year tips the fickle balance of idyllic Riverburg and impacts everyone in her family.

Tracking through the perspectives of each member of the Blum family, this relatable fish-out-of-water story handles big issues with great empathy and humor, capturing the love that unites one unforgettable family and the essence of life in small-town Maine.

Review: This took me a few chapters to get into the rhythm of the book, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. I think about the author's writing process when it comes to books that tell a story from different perspectives, and do it well. How does one know where to overlap details, how to pull out new information, and make it believable and cohesive.

I've seen criticism from other readers that after the one incident that happens early on in the story, nothing else happens. I disagree. This one incident sets of a series of behaviors, ramifications, and ultimately healing. The author does a great job of revealing the ripple affects from one decision. It's really well-done. This is not a high energy, on-the-edge of your seat novel - rather it's reflective and exploratory.

The Woman Who Smashed Codes

Author: Jason Fagone
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2018
Pages: 464
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: In 1916, at the height of World War I, brilliant Shakespeare expert Elizabeth Smith went to work for an eccentric tycoon on his estate outside Chicago. The tycoon had close ties to the US government, and he soon asked Elizabeth to apply her language skills to an exciting new venture: code-breaking. There she met the man who would become her husband, groundbreaking cryptologist William Friedman. Though she and Friedman are in many ways the "Adam and Eve" of the NSA, Elizabeth's story, a vital piece of women's history, incredibly has never been told.

In The Women Who Smashed Codes, Jason Fagone chronicles the life of this extraordinary woman, who played an integral role in our nation's espionage history for forty years. After World War I, Smith used her talents to catch gangsters and smugglers during Prohibition, then accepted a convert mission to discover and expose Nazi spy rings that were spreading like wildfire across South America, advancing ever closer to the United States. As World War II raged, Elizabeth fought a highly classified battle of wits against Hitler's Reich, cracking multiple versions of the Enigma machine used by German spies. Meanwhile, inside an Army vault in Washington, William worked furiously to break Purple, the Japanese version of Enigma - and eventually succeeded, at a terrible cost to his personal life. 

Review: I learned a lot reading this novel - about espionage, counter intelligence, and about a couple integral to American History, but of whom I had never heard. The author did a great job explaining a technical topic in a way that was accessible to a novice, and he kept it interesting.

The Lumbar Baron's Wife

Author: Lynn Austin
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, 2026
Pages: 368
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: After a devastating loss, Hannah Wagner never imagined she'd leave her comfortable home for the harsh, unfamiliar wilderness near Lake Michigan. But when Henry Abernathy, a friend of her husband, John - offers them a fresh start in a booming lumbar town, where John's skills as a doctor are sorely needed, Hannah reluctantly agrees.

Review: This was such good historical fiction. Sometimes I struggle with dual-timeline novels, but some authors have a talent for weaving the past and present and various characters together. Kate, Hannah, and Ashley spoke to me. What a novel.

Heart Life Music

Author: Kenny Chesney and Holly Gleason
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2025
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Heart Life Music shares the stories of a kid from small town East Tennessee with a dream fueled by sports and music around him. When high school football came to an end, he knew there must be something more. In college, Kenny Chesney found himself on a bar stool with a guitar and an unexpected connection between people, life, and songs. His heart caught fire. With Nashville's vibrant creative scene, characters, legends, and places now long gone from the city he encountered in those early days, Chesney explores the quest to find himself as an artist and a man, as well as a sense of home anywhere there's an ocean. These are the stories of the unlikely game changer who became the sound of coming of age in the 21st century, made friends with his heroes, rocked stadiums, and founded a No Shoes Nation.

Review: I flew through this memoir. Kenny comes off as a normal, likeable guy. His "normal" changes after he becomes famous, but how could it not? I really liked his older music (in the 1990s) and have a lot of great memories tied to this songs.

The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club

Author: Martha Hall Kelly
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 2025  
Pages: 336
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: 2016: Thirty-four-year-old Mari Starwood is still grieving after her mother's death as she travels to the storied island of Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. She's come all the way from California with nothing but a name on a piece of paper, Elizabeth Devereaux, the famous, but reclusive Vineyard painter. When Mari makes it to Mrs. Devereaux's stunning waterfront farm under the guise of taking a painting class with her, Mrs. Devereaux begins to tell her the story of the Smith sisters, who once lived there. As the tale unfolds, Mari is shocked to learn that her relationship to the island runs deeper than she ever thought possible.

1942: The Smith girls - nineteen-year-old aspiring writer Cadence and sixteen-year-old war-obsessed Briar - are faced with the impossible task of holding their failing family farm together during World War II as the U.S. Army arrives on Martha's Vineyard. When Briar spots German U-boats lurking off the island's shores, and Cadence falls into an unlikely romance with a sworn enemy, their quiet lives are officially upended. In an attempt at normalcy, Cadence and her best friend, Bess, start a book club, which grows both in members and influence and they connect wit ha fabulous New York publisher who could make all of Cadence's dreams come true. But all that is put a risk by a mysterious man who washes ashore, and whispers of a spy in their midst. 

Review: I'm not typically a fan of "book-ish" novels, but I liked the cover, title, and premise of this one. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it either. The opening chapters had so much potential, but it never quite got off the ground. 

I like the bit of mystery surrounding the main character (in 2016) presence on the island. Then we switched to 1942 with two main characters, and did not revisit 2
016 until after much of the story had been told. Three main characters were too many as well. I also struggle when character names seem out of touch or unlikely for the time - Briar and Cadence did not seem like women who would have lived in 1942. Of course anything is possible, but when you tell me a story is set in 1942, I need it to feel authentic. Young women in 1942 would have been born in the 1920s so names like Helen, Ruth, Frances, and even Mildred would have been more believable and not so jarring in the story.

The author's note at the end was the most interesting part of the novel.

Martha Hall Kelly Novels
Sunflower Sisters

Growing Up Amish

Author: Ira Wagler
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, 2011
Pages: 288
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: One fateful starless night, 17-year-old Ira Wagler got up a 2am, left a scribbled note under his pillow, packed all of this earthly belongings into a little black duffel bag, and walked away from his home in the Amish settlement of Bloomfield, Iowa. Now, in this heartwarming memoir, Ira paints a vivid portrait of Amish life - from his childhood days on the family farm, his Rumspringa rite of passage at age 16, to his ultimate decision to leave the Amish Church for good at age 26. Growing Up Amish is the true story of one man's quest to discover who he is and where he belongs. 

Review: I was looking for a short-ish audio book that I'd be able to finish this month and I saw this one on the library shelf. Growing up in western Pennsylvania, it's not uncommon to pass an Amish buggy on the road, or to drive by their farms in the countryside. I love American History and to me the Amish are a glimpse into our country's pioneering days. I find it fascinating. While I'm far less "judge-y" now, as a child I could not understand why anyone would choose to live that way long-term.

A couple of years ago my sister was researching our family tree and discovered that our paternal grandmother's ancestors were in the first group of 500 Swiss/Germans that traveled from Europe in the early 1700s and settled in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Ultimately, they settled permanently in Lancaster, which is still well-known and one of the largest contingents of Amish.

If I'm being honest, I was disappointed in this memoir. If the reader is hoping to find out what it's like to "grow up Amish," this isn't the book. This about Ira leaving the Amish not once, not twice, not even three times, but five.

Also, I wanted to know where Ira is today. Where he went and what he did after he left his Amish community for good. Did he marry, have children? 

You can feel the inner struggle, but his motivations and what, if any growth, he experienced when he was finally able to break-away. The potential was here, but the author needed to be vulnerable with his audience.

At Gettysburg

Author: Tillie Pierce Alleman

Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Arcadia Press, 2016 (first published in 1889)
Pages: 118
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: A touching and thrilling story of a young's girl experiences at the battle of Gettysburg.

Review: I was in the Gettysburg this area for a flag football tournament and had some down time. I toured The Shriver House, which was one of the best tours I've ever taken in Gettysburg. I've explored this town so extensively that I don't require a GPS to get around so to say this is a worthy tour means something.

Tillie Pierce was the 15 year old neighbor of the Shriver family and their stories are intertwined.

The tour guide strongly recommended At Gettysburg and it really was worth the read. Several of Tillie's memories and details have been substantiated by experts.

Capital Dames

Author: Cokie Roberts
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2015
Pages: 512
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: With the outbreak of the Civil War, the small, social Southern town of Washington, D.C. found itself caught between warring sides in a four-year battle that would determine the future of the United States.

After the declaration of secession, many fascinating Southern women left the city, leaving their friends - such as Adele Cutts Douglas and Elizabeth Blair Lee - to grapple with questions of safety and sanitation as the capital was transformed into an immense Union army camp and later a hospital. With their husbands, brothers, and fathers marching off to war, either on the battlefield or in the halls of Congress, the women of Washington joined the cause as well. And more women went to the Capital City to enlist as nurses, supply organizers, relief workers, and journalists. Many risked their lives making munitions in a highly flammable arsenal, toiled at the Treasury Department printing greenbacks to finance the war, and plied their needlework skills at The Navy Yard - once the sole province of men - to sew canvas gunpowder bags for the troops.

Review: I wanted something different than what this ended up being, but there were several woman who were household names and prominent figures during the time of the Civil War that history has since forgotten. Details about the Civil War weren't knew since I read a lot of historical fiction and was a History major. However, for someone not as familiar, they might find those sections of the book interesting and helpful for context.

Maybe it's because I've gotten older or perhaps because of "the COVID years," but as I read or listen to historical novels, whether fiction or non-fiction, the impact of events that have long been a part of our conversation and psyche fester in my mind. I think about the real people who endured such hardships and I have a renewed appreciation for how long the Civil War lasted - people's lives and families completely altered and upended. Then, consider how the war changed cities themselves, in this case, Washington, D.C. However, Atlanta and Richmond were also changed. Families lost entire generations and children never existed because the men who would have been their fathers were casualties of war.

Had the Civil War not occurred, how different would things looked, or how long would it have taken to get where we are today? I do not mean the obvious outcomes such as freedom for Blacks, constitutional amendments etc, but rather, the further industrialization of the North, women entering the work force (although generally World War II is credited with women having more options to earn money and support their own independence), and an increase in taxes (the war had to paid for somehow). It's food for thought.

The Dogs of Venice

Author: Steven Rowley
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2025
Pages: 80
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis:  After months of planning a romantic holiday getaway in Venice, Paul is blindsided when his five-year marriage suddenly unravels. Fueled by heartbreak, Paul endeavors to take the trip alone. Soon after arriving in Italy, he notices a small, scruffy, self-assured dog trotting alongside a canal with the confidence he so desperately wants for himself. When their paths cross again, Paul feels compelled to learn how his new four-legged friend thrives on his own. Amid the food, sights, and welcoming people of Venice, Paul's journey culminates in a magical encounter that leads him to feel real connection - to a dog, to a foreign city, and most importantly, to himself.

Review: Steven Rowley is also the author of The Guncle, which I loved. This book was just okay. I wanted a bigger take-away from the novella.

Steven Rowley Novels
The Guncle

A Long Winter

Author: Colm Toibin
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2007
Pages: 135
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: A young man named Miguel returns to his family in the Catalan Pyrenees upon completing his military service. His younger brother, Jordi, will be departing for his service a week after Miguel's arrival. he will be gone for two years. Miguel notices their mother's increasingly erratic behavior and understands that she is drinking.

As she becomes increasingly unstable, her husband resorts to drastic measures. Unable to abide his betrayal and her own grief, she walks of into the mountains. A blizzard sets in and the search for her is future. No one will find her until the spring thaw arrives.

Review: I am really struggling getting into novels. I'm back in the office four days a week and my daughter is graduating. I feel very busy and unfocused outside of working hours. I chose this book randomly while searching the stacks for skinny books.

Surprisingly, I fell into this book on the first page and read all 135 pages in one sitting. There were some loose ends left untied, but all-in-all, a very good story.

Route 66 100 Years

Editor: Jim Hinckley
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Motorbooks, 2025
Pages: 224
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: The most iconic road in American history is turning 100. Over the past century, Route 66 has far surpassed its original prosaic purpose as an automotive thoroughfare from Chicago to Los Angeles, becoming a pop culture icon embedded in literature, song, film, and (most significantly) our imagination. It remains so even decades after the Interstate system mostly bypassed it.

Review: I first learned of Route 66 on a trip to Albuquerque and Gallup, New Mexico when I was a freshman in college. Signs and references to The Mother Road were everywhere in that area. These were the pre-internet days and I remember asking about it. It captured my imagination, and in the years since I have learned more about it.

This month, my parents took a bus trip along Route 66 to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Knowing they were taking this trip, I bought this book for my dad for Christmas. Many of the sites and stops they made, including restaurants, are listed in this book. I followed along in this book as they made their way along the route. 

While my family and I haven't made a concerted effort to drive Route 66, we have been to various stops along it, including driving on a section of the original Route 66 in eastern
Oklahoma.

The Astral Library

Author: Kate Quinn
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2026
Pages: 304
Rating: Do Not Recommend

  

Synopsis: Alexandria "Alix" Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives. . .inside their favorite books.

The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life. a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian free through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy - Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?

Review: I stepped outside my usual genres and into fantasy only because this is a Kate Quinn novel. Fantasy / Magical Realism will never be my cup of tea, and after this I will probably stop trying to find a novel in that genre that I like.

This book also felt like a lecture on several issues, which made it even harder for me to get into. I wish she would have stuck to the premise of exploring living inside books, which is what this novel claims to be about, but it isn't.

The Wars of the Roosevelts

Author: William J. Mann
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2017
Pages: 656
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Drawing on previously hidden historical documents and interviews with the long-silent "illegitimate" branch of the family, William J. Mann paints an elegant, meticulously researched, and groundbreaking group portrait of this legendary family. Mann argues that the Roosevelts' rise to power and prestige was actually driven by a series of intense personal contest that at times devolved into blood sport. His compelling and eye-opening masterwork is the story of a family at war with itself, of social Darwinism at its most ruthless - in which the strong devoured the weak and repudiated the inconvenient.

Mann focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt, who, he argues, experienced this brutality firsthand, witnessing her Uncle Theodore cruelly destroy her father, Elliot - his brother and bitter rival - for political expediency. Mann presents a fascinating alternate picture of Eleanor, contending that this "worshipful niece" in fact bore a grudge against TR for the rest of her life, and dares to tell the truth about her intimate relationships without obfuscations, explanations, or labels.

Mann also brings into focus Eleanor's cousins, TR's children, who stories propelled the family rivalry but have never before been fully chronicled, as well as her illegitimate half-brother, Elliott Roosevelt Mann, who inherited his family's ambition and skill without their name and privilege. Growing up in poverty just miles from his wealthy relatives, Elliott Mann embodied the American Dream, rising to middle-class prosperity and enjoying one of the very few happy, long-term marriages in the Roosevelt saga.

Review: I love a good family saga, and that's exactly what this book is, albeit non-fiction. The Roosevelts were an interesting bunch. My biggest takeaway though is that politics has not changed in 100 years. We're fighting the same battles and trying to win the same demographics. And, politics was dirty business then just as it is now.

Side note, author William J. Mann is not a relative of Elliott Roosevelt Mann.

Commonwealth

Author: Ann Patchett
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2017
Pages: 336
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating's christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny's mother, Beverly - thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.

Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this  chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.

When, in her twenties, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leon Posen and tells him about her family, the story of her siblings is no longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another.

Review: This book has been on my list to read for what seems like forever, and I guess it really has been. This was published in 2017. Amazing how time flies.

I loved my prior read, Broken Country, so much that I knew any book that followed was going to be tough to get into. Even still, I don't know if there's any situation where Commonwealth would be a book I'd remember for all the right reasons. There were time leaps and a lot of characters. 

This is the same subgenre as The Nest and The Immortalists and I didn't enjoy either of those either, and in truth, Commonwealth was the most tolerable.