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Reviews by Becky H

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The Memory Library
by Kate Storey

a mother's love (12/10/2024)

THE MEMORY LIBRARY by Kate Storey
A mother and daughter who once loved to read together and discuss the books they had read are now estranged for no apparent reason. When the daughter, who now lives in Australia, learns her mother has fallen and needs help, Ella grudgingly …more

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel
by James McBride

excellent writing (11/25/2024)

THE HEAVEN AND EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride
Heartwarming and yet filled with the frailties of humans is my one sentence comment on this book. HEAVEN AND EARTH tells the story of the town of Pottstown, Pennsylvania in the 1920’s and the disparate group of people who …more

We Solve Murders: A Novel
by Richard Osman

engaging and intriguing (10/3/2024)

WE SOLVE MURDERS by Richard Osman

Osman has written another intelligent murder mystery peopled with fully drawn characters, an intricate plot, and a sense of humor. He does spend a fair amount of time establishing his characters, but the intelligence of the resulting plot …more

Falling
by T. J. Newman

A THRILLING RIDE (9/13/2024)

FALLING by T J Newman

After you suspend logic, this thriller delivers thrills a minute and then some. The premise is simple. The bad guys have kidnapped a pilot’s family and want hm to crash his plane or they will kill his family. What follows is a relentless thrill ride as …more

Girl Falling: A Novel
by Hayley Scrivenor

GIRL FALLING by Hayley Scrivenor (9/4/2024)

Insidious and evil. Dark and depressing. Murder or accident? And yet I HAD to keep reading. The writing was beautifully done, keeping ones desire to know and understand at a high pitch. Three women, one evil, one good, and one …also evil?...also good?….which is it? Who is …more

Bad Animals: A Novel
by Sarah Braunstein

a disturbing read (1/9/2024)

I have given BAD ANIMALS a couple days to "sit with me" before writing this review. I'm still not sure how I feel about the book. It was well written, the story was mostly engaging; but I didn't like any of the main characters. I can't decide if Maeve was just a total …more

Last Summer on State Street: A Novel
by Toya Wolfe

A book you need to read (1/9/2024)

I live in Chicago and for several years drove past the Robert Taylor Homes every day on my way to work and back to my home on the North Side. Those Homes were a source of fear, and yet also hope for both the people who lived there and the people who just drove by. Wolfe …more

Daughters of Shandong
by Eve J. Chung

"Worthless" girls are powerful (11/16/2023)

"Girls are nothing more than wives for other people's sons." And so begins the story of Hai, her mother and her sisters. When the communist revolution comes to their area, the girls and their mom are left behind by their wealthy landowning family with only a vague promise …more

Devil Makes Three: A Novel
by Ben Fountain

Devil Makes Three (10/22/2023)

I very much disliked this book. It was too long by at least 100 pages. It was too disjointed as time, place, and characters jumped from page to page, even paragraph to paragraph with not even a line break to give the reader a clue to the jump. There was too much …more

Above the Salt: A Novel
by Katherine Vaz

An enduring and endearing love story (9/15/2023)

After a slow start, due primarily to the detailed, short and apparently unconnected vignettes, I got into the rhythm of this detailed tale of one family persecuted for beliefs and forced to leave their homeland for America. John, the main character, starves with his mother …more

Peach Blossom Spring: A Novel
by Melissa Fu

China from 1938 - 2000 (7/19/2023)

The turmoil in China from 1938 to 1998 is the background for this family tale. Meilin, a young wife and mother, loses her husband to the Japanese invasion and then must flee with her 4 year-old son when the marauding Japanese attack her family’s village. The book continues …more

Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel
by Shelby Van Pelt

a surprisingly delightful read (7/16/2023)

I was prepared to dismiss this book as entirely ridiculous after my self-appointed requirement of 75 pages; however, what I discovered was a perfectly delightful, well written and tender character study.
The story concerns a 70-year-old woman stuck in grief for a teenaged …more

Only the Beautiful
by Susan Meissner

a Must Read (5/15/2023)

This two-pronged story tells of the young vinedresser’s daughter, Roseanne, who is orphaned and then turned into a maid/servant by her supposed guardians. The inter twining story tells of Roseanne’s “aunt” who has shown her great kindness and love, but is far away in Europe …more

King of the Armadillos
by Wendy Chin-Tanner

Hanson's dIsease and teenagers (4/29/2023)

I had a hard time putting this book down. I needed to find out what happened to Victor, his family and his friends in the 1950’s. Chin-Tanner made them real people and I was invested in them from the first pages of this coming-of-age novel. Victor, a 15-year-old Chinese …more

The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
by Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch

Scary, and real (4/19/2023)

The plot to kill the three leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union at the Tehran Conference (World War II) was led by an untrained, unskilled and abandoned “spy” who had been sent to Tehran very early in the war. His only orders were to gather …more

The Light in the Ruins
by Chris Bohjalian

Murder, love revenge, whaqt is not to like (4/19/2023)

This a mesmerizing story of love, war, murder, betrayal, politics, desire, despair, forgiveness and revenge. A noble Italian family is devastated by events during World War II. Their beloved villa, surrounded by centuries old olive and grape orchards, and a depository of …more

Iron Curtain: A Love Story
by Vesna Goldsworthy

An intriguing and timely novel (1/26/2023)

IRON CURTAIN is a delight to read. It has humor, pathos, tension, fear, love, loyalty, tragedy, responsibility, faithfulness and patriotism. Milena and Jason, as well as all the supporting characters, are well drawn, and accurate. The descriptions of the two countries …more

Scatterlings: A Novel
by Resoketswe Martha Manenzhe

Great descriptions and Native tales, but ultimately frustrating (10/24/2022)

I SO wanted to like this book. The premise of the story, a racially blended family caught in the prejudice and cruelty of the Immorality Act in South Africa, is fascinating. Abram, a White, is condemned by the beloved children born to him and his Native (Black) wife, Alisa. …more

Killers of a Certain Age
by Deanna Raybourn

Killing for hire can be fun (9/19/2022)

This is a fun romp through assassinations – although these are assassins with scruples – they only kill those who deserve to die to make the world a better place. That is-- until someone puts a hit on them!
Four women assassins who have spent their whole lives working for “ …more

The Immortal King Rao: A Novel
by Vauhini Vara

Ultimately Unsatisfying (4/6/2022)

I thought this was going to be an Indian dalit makes good in the tech world, creates a new world order that turns on him and he responds with more techie intrigue book.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a wide ranging but superficial family drama with a vast cast of …more

BookBrowse Book Club

Daughters of Shandong
by Eve J. Chung

Based on the author’s family story, comes an extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters’ escape from Taiwan.

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Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus

Praised by Parade and The New York Times Book Review, this debut features a 1960s scientist turned TV cooking star.

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The Lilac People
by Milo Todd

For fans of All the Light We Cannot See, a poignant tale of a trans man’s survival in Nazi Germany and postwar Berlin.

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