Quick Book Reviews Blog

Lily King has made more than a few waves with the publication of her first novel Euphoria , and in March of this year she published her second work of writing, titled Writers & Lovers . It follows the story of Casey Peabody, a thirty-one year-old artist who arrives in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 with plenty of debts to her name and not much of a plan to go forward. The only thing she knows is she remains determined to live a creative life, a dream all her friends abandoned long ago.

Anne Tyler has long been known for her profound understanding of the emotional depth characteristic to human nature, and in Redhead by the Side of the Road she explores the power of human connections from a more lighthearted perspective. Following the story of the neatly-organized Micah Mortimer, we witness a series of events throwing his life in complete upheaval, in the process surprising him and leading him on a journey of self-discovery bound to change him forever.

Gretchen Berg has announced her arrival on the literary scene in style with the publication of her first novel, The Operator . In it, we follow the story of Vivian Dalton, a switchboard operator in a small Ohio town. One day, she overhears a rumour from a mysterious voice which might send her word to splinters. With time working against her, she begins digging her way to the truth behind the rumour, regardless of how much pain it could cause.

Sue Rainsford got quite a bit of attention to herself with the publication of her very first novel, titled Follow Me to Ground . It follows the unusual story of a daughter-father duo who work miracles and heal the sick in a small village. The arrival of a man they cannot cure changes everything.

Barbara O'Neal has left her big mark in the realm of books some time ago already, but it's not stopping her from writing more and more bestsellers, with her most recent, and perhaps most grandiose effort being When We Believed in Mermaids . The story follows Kit Bianci, a woman who believes her sister died in a terrorist attack fifteen years ago... until today, when she sees her face on the TV news. With little debate, she embarks on a journey in hopes of redemption and finding what was once lost, unaware she might be on the verge of losing just about everything.

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen may have written only three novels so far, but she has already demonstrated an uncanny insight into the human mind not only through her master's degree in psychology, but also her book The Liar . It tells the story of two women: a teenage girl and an eighty-eight year-old granny, both of them living mystifying lies which spin out of control. No matter how much they might gain, however, lies are seldom permanently sustainable, and they will both pay the price for their indulgences.

Jami Attenberg didn't need to write many novels to gain a considerable amount of attention from the literary community for her insightful perception of family and human relations. In All This Could Be Yours , she tells the story of Alex Tuchman, a mother and a lawyer, who tries to unearth the truth about her father who is now on his deathbed. By all accounts he was a bad man, but Alex wants to know it beyond all doubt, and this will require her to pry loose her tight-lipped mother in New Orleans.

T. Greenwood has earned many awards and accolades for her profound and piercing stories, and her recent novel Keeping Lucy is certainly another welcome notch in her career. The novel tells a story inspired by true events, following a mother who sets out to rescue her daughter Lucy, born with Down Syndrome, from a special school which turns out to be a real hell on Earth... sending her down the path of becoming a fully-fledged fugitive.

Rachel Joyce has an uncanny ability to get inside her characters' heads and paint unforgettable portraits there, something she demonstrates yet again with her novel The Music Shop . It tells the overtly-simple story of Frank the music shop owner as he attempts to connect to the one person who might carry him to salvation, the mysterious Ilsa Brauchmann. Inexplicably drawn to each other, they both come to learn about the healing powers of music and love, and perhaps gain a chance to overcome their emotional baggage.

Donato Carrisi has been a fantastic representative for Italian literature in the Western world, and his 2013 novel The Lost Girls of Rome is a fantastic example as to why. Taking place in, you guessed it, Rome, it follows a young widow, Sandra Vega, seeking answers after her husband, a journalist, supposedly plunged to his death at a construction site. Unsatisfied with the official version of events, Sandra sets on the trail of a secret society with a much darker and richer history than anyone could have imagined.

Though Anne Hillerman specialized in non-fiction literature for a long time, I believe she made a wise decision in trying her hand at writing novels, gifting the world with the Leaphorn and Chee series. In The Tale Teller , we follow Joe Leaphorn as he embarks on a dark journey to retrieving a tribal dress, all while Jim Chee and Officer Bernie Manuelito try to crack a series of burglaries culminating in a homicide.

War is an unimaginably complex beast and its repercussions often reach far beyond the battlefield in unexpected ways, something Lynda Cohen Loigman makes quite apparent in her second novel, The Wartime Sisters . In it, we are introduced to two estranged sisters who become reunited at the start of the Second World War at the Springfield Armory.

Sejal Badani has made a veritable splash in the world of literature with a sensational debut out of nowhere, and her second novel titled The Storyteller's Secret carries in the same vein. It tells the story of Jaya, a New York journalist who, in the wake of her third miscarriage, decides to travel to India and rekindle with her culture. In the process, she comes to learn about the incredible story of her grandmother through the words of the old family servant, embarking us on a tale of hopeful love and tragic struggle during the British occupation of India.

While there are a few careers where it is possible to learn everything there is to, authorship fall as far from this category as humanly possible. Virtually every single author, whether they've written a hundred novels or a hundred words, will admit they always have more to learn and new horizons to explore... it's a never-ending journey towards knowledge. Though Nina Romano definitely doesn't hold all the answers, she has been walking on this path since her early years and possesses a certain aptitude which can only come through time and experience: she understands herself within the context of her work better than most others. In our interview with her, we discuss her methodology as an author, how she approaches the writing of a book, and the many milestones she has traversed in her literary life.

Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie have established themselves as a powerhouse in historical literature, demonstrating a real knack for the ability to deliver accurate facts in entertaining fashion. In their latest joint adventure, titled My Dear Hamilton , they explore the storied biography of a woman often overshadowed by history, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, wife to founding father Alexander Hamilton.

Caroline Woods may not be a famous author yet, but nothing has stopped her for writing an ambitious and far-reaching family drama titled Fraulein M . It opens by taking us to 1930s Berlin, where two sisters are raised in a Catholic orphanage and find themselves trying to navigate the equally grandiose and terrifying waters of Nazi Germany. Fast forward almost forty years in the future, and we are presented with a woman in South Carolina who is determined to learn more about her family's history following the death of her father... a secretive history, tracing its roots all the way back to the Third Reich.

Jamie Ford has established himself as one of the few authors out there willing to tackle the uncomfortable subject of the oppressed existence led by many Asian-Americans during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In Love and Other Consolation Prizes he returns to his forte once again, telling the story of a young Chinese boy who is first sold by his mother as a means of getting him a better life, and then auctioned off to the madam of a brothel in the red light district. Curiously enough, it's where the boy begins to form his first semblance of an actual family and is embarked on a lifelong journey few could have ever predicted.