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Reviews by Dianne S. (Shelton, connecticut)

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Broken Country (Reese's Book Club)
by Clare Leslie Hall

Disappointing (5/1/2025)

Lies, secrets, and more lies. This is what this book is all about.

Set in the late '60s, this is a book about a poor girl falling in love with a rich boy. They are both out of their element, but it works...for a while.

I don't particularly like books that promote cheating on …more

Lessons in Chemistry: A Novel
by Bonnie Garmus

Wonderful (5/1/2025)

I don't know what to say about this fantastic debut novel, except WOW!

This is a must-read for both Baby Boomers and Millennials. This book shows that, as complex as it is to be a woman with a career now, you don't have anything over the women who were cracking the doors …more

Bad Boy: An Inspector Banks Novel
by Peter Robinson

Lacking Action and Excitment (7/6/2010)

I was a bit disappointed in this author and this book since I had heard so much about this author and had never read anything by him before.

This story had so much potential to be exciting and spine tingling and fell so far from the mark. Inspector Marks who I gather is the …more

Romancing Miss Bronte: A Novel
by Juliet Gael

Captivating (2/22/2010)

Romancing Miss Bronte - Juliet Gael

Romancing Miss Bronte is a fascinating factual and fictional look into Charlotte, Anne, Emily and Branwell Bronte’s lives. The bulk of this novel deals with Charlotte; her life her loves and her tragedies. As children in Haworth England, …more they are remarkably intelligent and imaginative, and I think that this fact is the only thing that could possibly keep them sane with all they have gone through and will keep them sane throughout their young adult lives. Branwell suffers from a love affair gone horribly wrong and turns to alcohol and drugs to get him through his days; Charlotte has lost her heart to a married man while she and her sister Emily were in Brussels - less is spoken of about Anne and Emily in this book and of course the book does focus on Charlotte’s life.

What could have been a depressing read if handled by any other author, wasn’t, for indeed their lives were bleak, and illness and death and hopelessness fills a lot of these pages. .
Insinuating itself among the tragedies, is a relentless hope that one day their words would reach others; their biggest dreams are to be published. And published they become albeit at their own expense. Of course later on we will find that Charlotte’s book “Jane Eyre” will become on of literature’s most enduring romances along with her sister Emily’s “Wuthering Heights”. And over the course of years Charlotte even finds someone who loves her, understands her and will put up with both her writing and her crotchety bigoted father.

I admit, that until I chose this book to review, I knew nothing about the Bronte’s and I’m almost ashamed to admit that I’ve never even read one of their books. But Ms Gael’s style of writing, the way she brought their gloomy lives into crystal clarity for me, has made this a very fascinating subject and one that I will certainly read more about. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to not only those who are scholars of the Bronte’s, or who love the classic tales that they wrote, but also to those who may find romance in tragedy, to those who want to learn what it was like to be a smart, imaginative woman during that time period. I started this book with dread because I am not normally interested in the heavier aspect of literature-but I am so happy that I chose this book. I was able to read outside my norm, become a bit more educated and even enjoyed myself. This book really hits so many high notes that it’s been days since I’ve finished “Romancing Miss Bronte” and I’m still thinking about this book. (less)

The Things That Keep Us Here: A Novel
by Carla Buckley

Wonderful, Thrilling, Chilling a Delight to Read (11/4/2009)

This is a phenomenal debut thriller about what happens to one family when a virulent bird flu pandemic hits the USA. And it has the potential to kill about 50 our of every one hundred that it infects. And then that potential turns to reality.

This is the story of one broken …more

The Book of Illumination: A Novel from the Ghost Files
by Mary Ann Winkowski

A Wonderful Surprise of a Read! (10/1/2009)

As it says on the back of the cover “the criminal underworld collides with the spiritual otherworld” describes this book perfectly! And for once what you read on the back cover and the blurbs is exactly what you get. Anza O’Malley is a ghost whisperer who can help those who …more

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