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When I saw the title of the book, Henry Must Die, I wasn't too anxious to get started, as I had read so many other great historical fiction tales about the wives and had also studied the history of the Tudor period. I recently saw the Broadway musical Six, which is based on Henry's life from the point of view of his wives. I've read the books of well-respected authors Jean Plaidy, Alison Weir, and Philippa Gregory.

What else could someone tell me?

I was in for a pleasant surprise.

Thankfully, I read the Acknowledgment section first to see what the reader needs to know, which set the stage for my imagination to be released on a wonderful journey ahead, suspended in fact for some playful fantasy and fiction.

The strength of female characters is so important in this book, and I give a lot of credit to Laine for standing up for women's rights. The world she created in her sisterhood allowed women freedom, independence, and justice. They were advocates for the arts and education, and the author used that to make each of the wives a powerful woman in her own right, and even stronger with her fellow sisters of the cause.

Laine didn't lump all the wives together, and each had a specialness to her. They ended up as change agents in a world dominated by men. My favorite was Anne, as she had had quite a time as a Queen, only to be disappointing to Henry in childbirth, except for Elizabeth.

Using a narrator, Maugerite d'Angouleme, a princess herself who prided herself on collecting interesting friends, was a perfect way to move the story forward.

The book's strength was its uniqueness and originality, with enough factual background woven in.

Thank you, Jillian Laine, for such an entertaining book. I will recommend this one to all my book club friends.

Feast captured an explosion of senses in the telling of the tale of a young girl born with the unique ability of taste. There was such a resilience to Minha that made her endearing to the reader. I felt like I tasted every dish along with her when she became the duc's poison taster. I suffered along with her during her periods of aloneness.
The author's strength was in her vivid descriptions.

My only area of weakness was that towards the end the pacing needed to slow down. Once leaving the castle, there was not enough time spent on developing her new life.

Although The Young Will Remember is a work of fiction, it reads like non-fiction. Many of the women in the book were human rights defenders and worked tirelessly to find victims of sexual abuse and slavery. The plight of "comfort women" was shared vividly. That cruel aspect of war was brought to the forefront in the book. "The old will die, but the young will remember." is a hopeful statement by the author to frame her book.

In the opening chapters, I was confused about what was happening and why an American correspondent - let alone a female - would have such freedom in a combat zone without military protection. A map of the country in its relationship to China and Japan would have been helpful, too. Once I got further into the book and other characters were introduced, I became engaged with the story. Ellie found her voice and compassionately supported Emma as she searched for her daughter, Yun-Hee.

The Korean War is complicated from the standpoint of the Asian countries involved and their histories together. As an American, I do not fully understand the Korean War, and this book made a good effort to educate me, especially on the human rights issues of women. The Author's Note and Acknowledgements clarified a lot.

Usually, I don't pick a fantasy/romance book. Too often, I feel that genre is superficial and not worth my time. In Stay a Spell's case, I couldn't stop reading and usually, laughing out loud. I was surprised, and I didn't want the book to end.
I was genuinely drawn into the story and would have loved to be in the bookshop with Tandy and her collection of new friends, princes, and even the special pirate. Bookstores are like second homes to me, too, and everywhere I travel, I search out a new one.
The plot flowed well, and the author made every effort to engage the reader through her character's conversations, filled with wisdom and sometimes plain silliness.
I was a bit confused about the spell on the pirate. Perhaps that needs cleaning up.
There was depth to the novel, leaving the reader thinking about what it takes to be happy. I highly recommend Stay a Spell to YA and adult readers.

Everything Lost Returns has a strong pull to the universe, especially Halley's Comet and the social issues of the early 20th century, which in certain respects repeat themselves today. Spiritualism was gaining in popularity, as were rights for female factory workers. The book captured a piece of history rarely written about in fiction. The little girl's face, representing Earthshine Soap Company, reminds me of other cereals, soups, and even Ivory Flakes, with child actors featured in the commercial and narratives about how they were "discovered" for their roles and never could break away from those images in adulthood.

Opal is a strong character, and her role in the story kept me emotionally invested because it is well-written. I had trouble with the present-day sections with Noona because I found them unclear, especially the opening chapter. I could not identify with her character well. Perhaps the notion that Haley's Comet was mistakenly thought to be the end of the world before it returned, and that those "happy pills" might be today's anxiety tablets, clarifies the novel's title.

Beth Ann Fennelly's micro memoirs snap, crackle and pop off the page with a variety of essays and one underlying story, that of her younger sister's untimely death.
Her brutely honest writing recollecting her 70s teaching stint in a newly-free Czechoslovakia where she never gets the culture, and her description of her mother-in-law's goodness when failing with dementia is suburb. Folded oven mitts? That's Fennelly's love in a nutshell for her husband and their ups and downs as a couple. Her whit and candor provide laughter and tears all on a single page.

The title of her book isn't clear until you realize what a profound impression her sister's sudden death was on her. When an Irishman makes a hasty exit from a party without bidding goodbye to the host and other guests is "An Irish Goodbye". Her sister left the world in just that way. One thing for sure is that Fennelly is not leaving the writing world anytime soon. There's more in her.

Bee Wilson's words in The Heart-Shaped Tin won me over from the very first sentence. Kitchen objects do have a life of their own and we don't realize that each might be loaded with meaning and nostalgia that we are not fully aware of. The book is described as a book of recovery from loss; however, there is so much more to the notions of the human stories Wilson tenderly weaves encountering charms, superstitions and our relationship to the world around us.

Perhaps, this book is a reminder to use your best china right now, share the stories with your grandchildren about the heritage of the kitchen spatula and let the junk remain in the drawer.

When They Burned the Butterfly is a fast-paced book intersecting reality and fantasy in the changing and developing of 1970s Singapore into an ultra modern city .
The strength of the narrative is in getting the reader to understand the conditions of that time and how people survived through gang associations and connections some shadier than others. The plight of women in the back alleys is written vividly, and the role of young Adeline forced to face her magical power among companions she never needed before is intense in its competitiveness.

In my opinion, the weakness of the novel is that it skips hurriedly through so many situations attempting to make its point instead of focusing on a few. I had a hard time relating to the main characters, and there were way too many minor ones. Therefore, pacing is an issue.

I doubt that I would have picked this book out to read on my own, and I honestly struggled to finish the novel.