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Reviews by Toby S. (Seattle, WA)

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The First Affair
by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus

Close to the truth? Fiction? Decide for yourself. (6/4/2013)

This is a very quick read and I read this chick-lit book in several hours. I generally enjoy some chick-lit novels but this one was somewhat disturbing to me. It's a story about a fictional young White House female Intern who is tempted initially by the president to start …more

In the Shadow of the Banyan: A Novel
by Vaddey Ratner

poetic and lyrical book about a brutal Cambodian holocaust (5/31/2013)

Vaddey Rattner has written in lovely, poetic prose and poetry an autobiographical novel of her brutally painful childhood during the Khmer Rouge Cambodian Holocaust. I admired this book. It must not have been easy to write about such suffering in forced labor camps and the …more

The Caretaker
by A .X. Ahmad

Very captivating novel with many intrigues (4/2/2013)

Having just finished "The Caretaker" A .X. Ahmad, I realized that I had stopped reading only once to take a break while reading this captivating novel. The pace of the plot was in the fast "thriller" category, and the several simultaneous themes were brought to a climax …more

Parlor Games
by Maryka Biaggio

A delightful surprise of a book! (3/14/2013)

I totally enjoyed reading this book! It's a sly and witty story of a charming woman who is actually a con artist and perhaps almost a bordeline person in her morals. I couldn't put this book down and read in all day so that I could finish it since it was so engrossing. May …more

Children of the Jacaranda Tree
by Sahar Delijani

I'm stunned by this book and extremely moved (2/4/2013)

Only rarely have I experienced in a book such pain and horror while at the same time experiencing such beautiful writing. The author, Sahar Delijani has written a novelized version of 3 generations of her family in Tehran, Iran.

Starting with the imprisonment and execution …more

The Spy Lover
by Kiana Davenport

VERY moving and beautifully written book (12/16/2012)

"The Spy Lover" by Kiana Davenport will remain long in my memory. (Only a small percentage of the many books I read do.) This tragic story, while graphic in it's description of battles in the Civil War, delves deeply into the nature of the love, loyalty and racism. The …more

Turn of Mind
by Alice LaPlante

Revealing glimpse into dementia (5/6/2012)

I admired the author's skill in allowing the reader to enter the mind of her main character Dr. Jennifer White as she progressively deteriorated into dementia. It was horrifying to share with Jennifer her initial awareness of her disease. At first keeping a diary of her …more

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

A love triangle reveals deadly secrets in this thriller for fans of *The Paper Palace* and *Where the Crawdads Sing*.

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