The Lost Apothecary
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner drew me in with its gorgeous cover and tantalizing premise. I normally do quite a bit of research on books — reading reviews, trying to get a sense of the plot, etc. — before mentally committing to reading something. But with The Lost Apothecary, I decided to take a …
Klara and the Sun
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is a “soft” science fiction book (dealing with the implications of science fiction without much emphasis on the science behind it). Ishiguro fans likely know that he’s no stranger to the genre, having penned other sci-fi titles in the past (The Buried Giant and Never Let Me Go). …
The Wife Upstairs
In The Wife Upstairs, Rachael Hawkins reimagines the classic gothic novel Jane Eyre as a Southern Gothic thriller set in Alabama. It’s in some ways successful, less so in others. On the plus side, The Wife Upstairs borrows from Jane Eyre, but modernizes and twists the story in interesting ways. A lot of the base …
The Four Winds
In Kristin Hannah’s recently released The Four Winds (published February 2, 2020), Elsa is a woman trying to raise two children on a Texas farm as they watch the lands dry out and as relentless dust storms ravage everything in sight. All around them, people pack up and leave for greener lands and jobs out …
The Push
I was really impressed by The Push by Ashley Audrain. It wasn’t a book I was expecting to like, much less one that I’d be eager to recommend to others. I actually only read it because one of my book clubs put it on the docket, and I wanted to be able to participate. I …