Robin_S

What a fun book to read! I zipped through the pages in one sitting and enjoyed every calamity the characters caused themselves. The Take by Kelly Young features two strong female characters, one young struggling to make her mark on the world and the older woman trying desperately to hang on to being at the top of her career. They need each other to reach their goals, but individual ambitions threaten their results.
It was easy to get caught up in the characters. At different points of the novel, I either admired them both & was totally embarrassed by them. I was definitely caught up in their behaviors.

As I wrote, this book was so enjoyable, I see it as a great summer/beach read.

If you enjoy reading novels centered around romantic love, Chanel Cleeton's An Infinite Love Story is the book to read. The focus of this novel is the enduring love between a young woman starting out her adulthood as a journalist & a fighter pilot who dreams of becoming an astronaut. The plot takes place during the 1960's when the USA was dealing with the Vietnam War, space exploration was just beginning, & feminism was starting to take root. While all of these events are mentioned in the book, this is truly a story of the love between Vivian & Joe, the main characters.

Wow! What an interesting read! This book affected me so much, I had to take a few days off after reading to write this review. The Young Will Remember by Eve J. Chung is a historical novel that takes place during the Korean War, 1951-1953. It's a story of a young female war correspondent for an American newspaper who gets trapped in the North Korean territory during the war. While this novel is fiction, many of the actions portrayed were events that actually occurred during this time period.

Characters are so well defined, I became emotionally attached to their lives. I empathized with them through their decisions & actions. The first few chapters felt slow & non-engaging, but pushing through was well worth the journey. I knew nothing & had never read anything about this war. This book clearly exposed the causes & horrors of such a crisis.

Overall, I have to say it was one of the best books I have read this year (2026) & as soon as it is officially published, I plan to buy copies for my book clubs. It's definitely a book to share & discuss with others.

The House of Hidden Letters is about a woman who wins a housing lottery, allowing her to purchase an old house in need of renovation on a remote island in Greece. The storyline develops with the addition of some history, culture, & other characters who are entertaining. The author uses a dual timeline, the main character's timeline being current & another character's timeline being the early 1940s.

I enjoyed this book, as it was a very easy read and had enough suspense to keep me engaged.

Lynn Cullen's novel was so well written that somewhere along the reading, I had to remind myself that this book was fiction. She described her characters and the lives of women of the mid-century in a manner that made it easy to care about them and their struggles. The book is lengthy but necessary to identify and feel for the characters' friendship and lives.
I enjoyed reading and even knowing part of the outcome, I was fully engaged in the story.

I just finished reading Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto. I definitely give it 4/5 stars. This was a touching story of a grandmother sharing her past with her awkward granddaughter. Through the telling of her past, the grandmother was trying to let it be known that everyone struggles with the choices we have to make to grow and find happiness.

The characters and plot were well developed. I was pulled in immediately & held fast to the end. While this novel might be considered a LGBTQ read, I found it simply a story of family love.

I was impressed by the amount of American women's history I never learned in any of my courses in college & grad school, even when taking Women's History courses. This book has encouraged me to seek out other books about the role of women during the Revolutionary War period. I found the history provided in the book to be very compelling.

I wanted to keep reading just to learn more about the role of Angelica Schuyler & her sisters during this era in the beginning days of America. I will say it was pretty dense in some areas, with many historical individuals & events popping in & out of the book, & trying to keep them in order, sometimes having to go back & review who they were. I would have found it easier if some sort of directory of people & a timeline were included. I have already recommended this book to several of my friends & look forward to discussing Angelica with them.