BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Reviews by Bonnie G

Flashlight: A Novel
by Susan Choi

A challenging but ultimately rewarding novel (7/2/2025)

This is a tough one to review. At nearly 500 pages it is meaty, weighty, intense, gorgeously written, and wonderfully plotted. At the same time, it can be ponderous and a little confusing. There is no doubt that this book will reward readers of intelligent historical …more

Women and Children First: A Novel
by Alina Grabowski

Stellar storytelling (6/18/2025)

Grabowski's novel unpacks the events surrounding the sudden death of a teen in a small depressed MA town. The story is told through the voices of 10 women - young and old, who are adjacent to, part of, on the periphery, or deeply impacted by the young girl's death. The …more

Wild Dark Shore: A Novel
by Charlotte McConaghy

A perfect novel (6/18/2025)

All the stars. Charlotte McConaghy has written the perfect novel. She has created a beautiful and frightening elegy to our world in all its disarray and disorder and also done wonders to celebrate the unbreakable bonds between parent and children.

Hazel Says No: A Novel
by Jessica Berger Gross

Well crafted multi person contemporary novel (6/4/2025)

This is a well-crafted multi-person contemporary novel that jumps off from the question of what if Hazel said no - specifically to the lecherous small town principal who propositions her. And not just no, but no and then telling her community about it rather than sinking …more

What Kind of Paradise: A Novel
by Janelle Brown

What if the Unabomber had had a daughter? (5/29/2025)

Brown's latest is an excellent genre mash up - a dash of literary fiction, an achingly difficult coming of age story, a drop of romance, a compelling mystery and a frightening thriller. Brown's story asks the question, simplified so as not to give away too much plot - what …more

The Ghostwriter: A Novel
by Julie Clark

Another winner (5/22/2025)

When you approach a new Julie Clark mystery, you must accept that you will do little else until you finish it. You will ignore your work, put down your phone, and forget to make dinner, all in service of ripping through another well told, smart story. Clark specializes in …more

The Names: A Novel
by Florence Knapp

Stellar novel (4/17/2025)

Occasionally someone says, "you rate too many novels 5 stars." So I thought about this and attribute it to the following: 1) I am choosy about what I read and do my research so the odds are high it will have merit and be good; 2) as a lifelong voracious reader, I recognize …more

The Eights
by Joanna Miller

Moving and Illuminating (4/16/2025)

Women know well the uncomfortable experience of being the sole woman in a hostile environment. Women also know well the validating experience of being surrounded by women who lift you up and support you during the good and bad times. Miller has written a universal story …more

The Bright Years
by Sarah Damoff

Redemptive and hopeful (4/10/2025)

As readers, we all long for a well written story with a redemption arc; a book that tackles some of society's most heart-wrenching issues - addiction, adoption; a book that shares a viewpoint but does not hammer the reader over the head with dogma or ideology. The Bright …more

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
by Sarah Wynn-Williams

A clear eyed frightening behind the scenes look at big tech (4/10/2025)

When you can't stop thinking about a book, when it invades your dreams, when you ask everyone you know to read it ... you know it has had an impact. Even if Meta was not working so hard (and succeeding in part) to get this book and the author's voice quashed, I would be …more

Tilt: A Novel
by Emma Pattee

A wild dystopic but all too real ride (3/25/2025)

Pattee's novel is one of those read straight through in one sitting book. Actually, this book is one of those where you have to physically restrain yourself from reading the last few pages to find out what happens! Tilt tells the store of one day in the life of Annie, who …more

Famous Last Words: A Novel
by Gillian McAllister

Buckle up - this one is a roller coaster (in the best way!) (2/25/2025)

Not going to lie, I am here for anything Gillian McAllister writes. But unlike some of my other long term mystery and thriller writers favorites, McAllister's novels just keep getting better and better and better. My recommendation for Famous Last Words is to read it as …more

Show Don't Tell: Stories
by Curtis Sittenfeld

Another winner from Sittenfeld (2/25/2025)

I often think of Curtis Sittenfeld as the author of short stories for people who don't typically read short stories (i.e. me!). Her stories are accessible, the world-building extensive, and the messages profound. This collection is no different. The protagonists - mostly …more

Tilda Is Visible: A Novel
by Jane Tara

Self help with a fictional twist (2/25/2025)

Tilda is a sweet fable about aging women who let themselves become invisible by society. Tilda is disappearing - she has been diagnosed with invisibility - slowly losing herself and disappearing to those around her. But as the spiritual guide to whom our heroine turns for …more

How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty
by Bonny Reichert

Superb memoir of food and family (1/14/2025)

Bonny Reichert grew up hearing her Holocaust survivor father telling her "Sweetheart, do you hear me? It's okay. It's over and we survived." But what Ms. Reichert comes to understand - through painful discussions with her father, travel back to Poland, and through the …more

Sandwich: A Novel
by Catherine Newman

Funny and nostalgic (11/4/2024)

A fast read about important topics that will resonate if you are a middle aged woman living in her “sandwich” era - balancing growing and grown kids with aging and aged parents, all while being in a long loving and long suffering marriage. It will also resonate if your …more

The God of the Woods: A Novel
by Liz Moore

Moore has done it again with another fantastic novel (11/4/2024)

This book is 10 out of 10. Moore does her magic with a multi perspective multi decade story of two disappearances separated by about 10 years, the first in the 1960s and the second in the 1970s. Saying anything more about the story gives it away. Best to enter this one cold …more

Wanted: Toddler's Personal Assistant: How Nannying for the 1% Taught Me about the Myths of Equality, Motherhood, and Upward Mobility in America
by Stephanie Kiser

Compulsive, silly and profound (11/4/2024)

Compulsive. Funny. Profound. As our world gets more divisive, not less, it is critical to read memoirs that offer windows into worlds not our own. Sure Kiser shows us how the ultra ultra wealthy live in NYC as she nannies, with all its liberal values, absurdities and glam. …more

Long Island Compromise: A Novel
by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

An outstanding novel from Brodesser-Akner (11/4/2024)

Every now and then a book comes along that is so good that it is also so hard to read. This is one of those books. This book has possibly the best propulsive opening scene I have ever read, followed by one of the hardest chapters dealing with sexual transgressions and drug …more

The Sequel: The Book Series #2
by Jean Hanff Korelitz

The Sequel is a worth sequel (11/4/2024)

The Sequel is as much fun for voracious readers as The Plot. Sprinkled throughout a solid mystery thriller, Hanff Korelitz slyly winks to the peculiarities of the book business. She saves her sharpest knives for book signings, the idea of sequels, agents and editors, book …more

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket — Before Dorothy
by Hazel Gaynor

Before Oz, Aunt Em leaves Chicago for Kansas in a powerful tale of courage, change, and new beginnings by Hazel Gaynor.

About Discuss

Members Recommend

Angelica
by Molly Beer

A women-centric view of revolution through the life of Angelica Schuyler Church, Alexander Hamilton's influential sister-in-law.

Read the Reviews
The Whyte Python World Tour
by Travis Kennedy

Rikki Thunder, drummer for '80s metal band Whyte Python, is on the verge of fame, love—and a spy mission he didn’t expect.

Read the Reviews
The Original
by Nell Stevens

In a grand English country house in 1899, an aspiring art forger must unravel whether the man claiming to be her long-lost cousin is an impostor.

Read the Reviews