BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Hello Beautiful: A Novel
by Ann Napolitano

What an excellent Novel! (7/23/2025)

HELLO BEAUTIFUL is an excellent novel. If you liked DEAR EDWARD, another Ann Napalitano novel, you'll be happy to know that HELLO BEAUTIFUL is even better.

I know that HELLO BEAUTIFUL is compared to LITTLE WOMEN. But they aren't at all alike except, maybe, that both books …more

Alias Grace
by Margaret Atwood

Unputdownable after page 43 (7/18/2025)

If you haven’t read a Margaret Atwood novel before, as I hadn’t, you might be put off by ALIAS GRACE if you give up before page 43. I almost did. Luckily, I reminded myself to give it a few more pages. It becomes a page turner after page 43.

Grace Marks was a real person, as …more

The Ghostwriter: A Novel
by Julie Clark

This is a mystery but not a thriller (7/14/2025)

An author who is a highly experienced ghostwriter is so hard up for money that she takes a ghostwriting job with her father, a successful horror writer from whom she has been estranged for many years. For most of his life, he's carried around a mystery. Now, he says, he …more

Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice
by Bill Browder

A Book Everyone Should Read (7/6/2025)

RED NOTICE is nonfiction, and I know that nonfiction can often be dull. But please believe that this isn't. You need to read this. RED NOTICE is a book that everyone should read.

This is Bill Browder's story of his experiences with Russia since the Soviet Union. He invested …more in Russia as CEO of Hermitage Capital Management and became the country's largest foreign investor. Then the Russians charged him with stealing and tax evasion, all lies, all made up so that he would stop accusing Russian oligarchs of doing exactly that and proving it. He had to leave Russia for his own safety and soon realized that anyone he worked with had to get out, too. What he didn't know at first was that even his lawyer was not safe there, even the lawyer who worked with his lawyer.

Eventually, Browder was able to convince his lawyer to leave Russia. But Sergei Magnitsky, Browder's other lawyer, would not. He believed too strongly in the law, that the truth would eventually win. But this was Russia, is Russia. Magnitsky would not lie, and the Russians arrested, tortured, and murdered him as a result.

This is also Browder's story of convincing other countries to enact laws, in the name of Magnitsky, to sanction these human rights abusers. Browder has devoted most of his life to this since Magnitsky's death. This is how he could see that Magnitsky's murderers are made to pay.

Everyone should read this so we remember the evil of Russia. As you read RED NOTICE, remember the news stories he speaks of and how they were presented to us at the time. For example, remember the news story of Vladimir Putin's no longer allowing Americans to adopt Russian orphans. That was his way of punishing Americans for enacting the Magnitsky Act. Putin says he did this for the orphans' safety, and that's how the media presented the story, as if we should take Putin at his word.

Browder wrote RED NOTICE 10 years ago. He followed up with another book, FREEZING ORDER, more recently, in 2022. Believe me, you'll want to read it when you finish RED NOTICE.

I read FREEZING ORDER first because I won it. It interested me so much I was sorry I hadn't read RED NOTICE first. And now that I've read it, I want to reread FREEZING ORDER. It will be the only book I've reread since THE GATEWAY TO STORYLAND when I was five. (less)

The Foundling: A Novel
by Ann Leary

Not for Me (6/28/2025)

Don't get me wrong--THE FOUNDLING is a good book, just not for me. So my criticism of it should not be taken as negative so much as the reasons it isn't for me.

The setting is Pennsylvania, 1927 and 1928. Mary was raised in a Catholic orphanage. Now she is secretary for a …more

Out of The Easy
by Ruta Sepetys

A YA Novel (6/17/2025)

Ruta Sepetys writes young adult historical fiction. I normally do not care for YA, but I've found that her books work well as crossovers to adult fiction. OUT OF THE EASY, however, although excellent for young adults, does not come across to me as adult.

Josie is 17 years …more

Upgrade: A Novel
by Blake Crouch

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature (6/12/2025)

Blake Crouch is the only science-fiction writer I will read with any regularity. That is because his plots and subject matter are never ridiculous. That is more true of UPGRADE than of any of his other books that I've read. He succeeds in making his main character and …more

The House We Grew Up In
by Lisa Jewell

Growing Up in the House of a Hoarder (6/5/2025)

Lisa Jewell has outdone herself with THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN. Although I normally prefer thrillers, which Jewell excels at writing and which I mistakenly thought this was, THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN is riveting and had me glued to the pages as much as any thriller.

The house is …more

The Hunting Party: A Novel
by Lucy Foley

Locked-Room Mystery That Bored Me (5/30/2025)

If you like locked-room mysteries, THE HUNTING PARTY should interest you. The characters are not exactly in a locked room, but they're all stuck on the remote grounds of a hunting lodge where a snowstorm prevents anyone from getting in or out. You will know from the …more

Clark and Division (A Japantown Mystery)
by Naomi Hirahara

Historical Mystery (5/25/2025)

Yes, I was late getting to CLARK AND DIVISION, and anything I say about it has probably been said already. But did I like it? Yes--mostly.

CLARK AND DIVISION is a historical mystery. In my opinion, that makes it better than most historical fiction. Plus, apparently, Naomi …more

H Is for Hawk
by Helen Macdonald

Both Wonderful and Depressing (5/16/2025)

H IS FOR HAWK is Helen Macdonald's book about herself and her hawk, a goshawk. This is why I wanted to read it. I didn't realize that it is also about her mourning over the death of her father and about T.H. White, writer of, among other well-known books, THE ONCE AND …more

I Cheerfully Refuse
by Leif Enger

I didn't get it (4/27/2025)

Leif Enger wrote two of the best books I ever read: PEACE LIKE A RIVER and VIRGIL WANDER. So I expected that I CHEERFULLY REFUSE would be another winner. But I didn't get it.

This book confused me. It's mostly doom and gloom in the near future. But it felt like Enger was …more

All the Broken Places: A Novel
by John Boyne

Another outstanding novel (4/18/2025)

No surprise, ALL THE BROKEN PLACES is an outstanding novel from John Boyne. This book is another example of why he is one of my go-to authors. Plus, although this is a standalone novel, if you read Boyne's THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS, you should notice and may like …more

Once There Were Wolves
by Charlotte McConaghy

You really do want to read this (4/13/2025)

I need to write this review well enough that it convinces you to read ONCE THERE WERE WOLVES. You really do want to. I read quite often, but I haven't read such a good book in at least a year, maybe five years.

This book has already been summarized so often, I only say that …more

West with Giraffes: A Novel
by Lynda Rutledge

I didn't think it would, but this book hooked me in (4/1/2025)

The writing style of the first 100 or so pages of WEST WITH GIRAFFES reads, I think, like a young adult novel, which I wouldn't normally care for. But I knew that this historical fiction is based on an actual story: in 1938 two giraffes really did live through a hurricane …more

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
by Sonia Purnell

You should know this story (2/9/2025)

A Woman of No Importance is a biography of Virginia Hall, a heroic World War II spy who, again and again, was treated as unimportant because she was just a woman. Although Sonia Purnell put together honest research for this book, the story of Hall's life is almost …more

Time of the Child
by Niall Williams

Another great Irish writer (1/11/2025)

Ireland seems to have a disproportionate share of great writers. I joke that they must have superior English and writing classes over there because several of my favorite authors are Irish. And now I just found another.

Niall Williams has written other books before, but Time …more

Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel
by Shelby Van Pelt

I recommend this book for a teenager (12/5/2024)

Most reviews will tell you that REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES is a good book. And it is. After all the hype about it, though, I was a little disappointed.

As you probably already know, a woman, Tova, who mops floors every night at an aquarium talks to the fish. And she finds …more

The Push
by Ashley Audrain

You won't be able to stop thinking about this (11/26/2024)

Although THE PUSH is an excellent novel you'll want to keep reading, that will be in spite of its subject matter. It is a woman's first-person account of her marriage to her college sweetheart and their evil child. It is written as if it is an explanation she has written …more

Under the Harrow: A Novel
by Flynn Berry

Skip this and try one of Flynn Berry's later books (10/23/2024)

UNDER THE HARROW was such a disappointment!

It looks like a short book, but it is longer than it needs to be. Parts 1 and 2 are about the overwhelming grief of a woman whose sister has been murdered. Her grief seems to have taken over her senses. These two parts are full of …more