The Last Painting of Sara de Vos

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith   290 pages

Manhattan, 1957: Marty de Groot and his wife, Rachel, host a benefit while a treasured painting is removed from their bedroom and replaced by a meticulous forgery. Until that night, the original had been in the de Groot family for 300 years.

Amsterdam, 1637: Sara de Vos waits to see the chief overseer of the St. Luke’s guild of master painters to ask that he reinstate her to its ranks. The first woman ever admitted into the guild, she has been “suspended” for selling paintings outside the group’s purview.

Sydney, 2000: Eleanor Shipley, an internationally renowned art historian, nervously awaits the arrival of two apparently identical paintings for a show devoted to works by female painters of the Dutch Golden Age. One is the original Sara de Vos painting, “At the Edge of a Wood,” stolen from de Groot; the other is the forgery, painted by Shipley herself nearly 50 years earlier. 

In addition to the story’s firm historical grounding, the narratives of all three characters glide easily among the centuries without a snag. Smith’s 1637 is as convincing as his 1957or 2000, his Amsterdam in its Golden Age is no less vivid than millennial Manhattan. The novel’s themes and images reflect forward and backward in time, its plot sprinkled with uncanny details about the characters and circumstances surrounding the Dutch Doppelgängers.

Posted By:   Regina C.  

That Left Turn at Albuquerque

That Left Turn at Albuquerque by Scott Phillips   272 pages

Maybe my disappointment in this book is more extreme because my expectations about the premise simply didn’t materialize. I don’t tend to shy away from black comedy, but I had been hoping for a fun caper about art fraud. Instead, I was drawn into the downward spiral of drug deals gone bad, gratuitous violence and senseless homicide, and exposure to characters simply incapable of staying clear of those wrong left turns. While I often root for the bad guy, this black story might better appeal to those who are drawn to exaggerated train wrecks and excruciating amoral self-sabotage. I just wasn’t in the mood...

Posted By:   Regina C.  

The Night Watchman

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich   451 pages

Confession: This is my first exposure to Erdrich, despite her award-winning reputation, and I was not excited about the experience. I didn’t connect with the novel, but I was interested in the historical elements of the story, with the prospect of historical fiction that follows indigenous characters reckoning with another attempt by the US government to erase their tribal presence. While some might call Erdrich’s writing style immersive and sweeping, I just found it too slow and my attention kept waning. However, without succumbing to Hollywood theatrics, she skillfully portrayed the determination of indigenous people to not be rendered invisible, and adeptly exposed the insidious practice of human trafficking as applied to modern Native women.

Posted By:   Regina C.  

Fiction Can Be Murder

Fiction can be Murder by Becky Clark   282 pages 

A last minute grab as we were exiting the building for weeks of sheltering-in-place, this first of a new series is a home run for cozy mystery fans alone. The protagonist, Charlee, is a mystery author whose agent is murdered  in the same manner as a character in her new, unpublished novel. Needless to say, she is Suspect #1, in addition to her beta readers and members of her critique group, so she must find the killer before she's arrested for the crime or winds up next on the killer's radar. Charlee Russo is a cleverly written, imperfect amateur sleuth, very clutzy with a wild imagination, a good thing when you write mysteries for a living, not so much when you are on the trail of a killer. She is protective of her friends but still needs to question and verify everyone’s alibi, as much for her peace of mind as solving the case.  Not a bad series start…

Posted by: Regina C.  

Me

Me by Elton John 374 pages

Did the man have an editor? Do differences between American and British English extend to grammar and punctuation? These are not rhetorical questions - the writing of this autobiography was so sloppy that it distracted from the content throughout. However, I believe this is an authentic, entertaining life story heavily written by the man himself. His wry observations and self deprecating comments made me literally laugh out loud  and shed a few tears on more than a few occasions. Don’t get me wrong, I am an Elton John fan, but ultimately, this is another celebrity story: miserable suburban childhood, early musical failures, sudden meteoric success, sex, drugs and dodgy financial advisers, and eventual redemption through marriage, parenthood and activism.

Posted by: Regina C.  

Better Off Read

Better Off Read by Nora Page   325 pages

A last minute grab as we were exiting the building for weeks of sheltering-in-place, this first of a new (Bookmobile Mystery) series is a home run for cozy mystery fans alone. “When her best hope of saving her storm-damaged library is found murdered, senior librarian Cleo Watkins hits the road in her bookmobile in search of justice.” The premise is great, a librarian fighting to keep the city's public library alive, a murder needing to be solved, a small town setting, Southern cooking...all elements of a cozy mystery. However, the cast of quirky characters is too numerous to  fully develop; it’s as if the author wanted to introduce them all, relevant to the plot or not, in the first book, which distracted from necessary plot and denouement details. It’s OK, but more established series are better…

Posted by: Regina C.  

You Are A Badass

You Are A Badass: How To Stop Doubting Your greatness and Start Living An Awesome Life by Jen Sincero  244 pages

This book came highly recommended to me and I wanted to love it and in most all ways I do, if I just hadn't read the foreword by the author.   Jen Sincero is this dynamic motivational speaker and will surely light a fire under any one who reads her works, however, in her foreword she talks about waiting around in her bathrobe for a month ralking ti her dog and fretting over whether any one would buy this book.   Jen, come on, you are supposed to own belief in yourself and be this powerhouse not mopping around in worry thinking what you have to say is unworthy.   It put a damper on my enthusiasm for what she had to say even though what she has to say is awesome, but, I felt like she is not fully committed to believeing what she is telling her readers.  That lessened my experience with her book but even with that I would highly recommend this book, just DON"T READ THE FOREWORD and you will be fine and highly impressed,

 - Shirley J/

Save Me the Plums

 Save Me the Plums: My “Gourmet” Memoir by Ruth Reichl 304 pages

You know you have too many books when you snag an Advanced Readers Copy of one of your favorite writers; it makes its way into your reading space, and then gets lost among the books.  Drat it, welcome to my world! If you understand this, then you know how excited I was when, in adding more books to the bottom of a pile, I discovered this little gem!

If you have never read of Ruth Reichl’s other memoirs, you’ve missed out.  I was hooked by her style and voice the minute I finished reading the first page of “Tender at the Bone.” I laughed and laughed, but the sad part, like all of her books, is that these are true stories.

Reading Reichl’s books is like getting to know a person from the time she was a child (ten years old--- I think was the first time we meet her in “Tender’) until she’s an adult.

This volume opens with Reichl discovering “Gourmet” magazine when she was eight years old and hanging out with her father.  And in this volume, Conde Nast has offered Reichl the job of a lifetime: Editor-in-Chief of her all-time favorite magazine.

She turns it down, citing that she is a writer, not some corporate paper-pusher. Of course there wouldn’t be a book if Reichl hadn’t eventually given in and joined the team.  At that time, 1999, the magazine was on its last legs.

Reichl was given carte blanche to recreate the magazine, but resistance from staff was overwhelming.  Eventually she managed to turn the magazine’s voice from hoity-toity to setting the world on fire as the articles became in-depth pieces and recipes more accessible.

Readers will feel as if they are in the board room, in the ‘Gourmet’ kitchens, in the hallways of 4 Times Square, where the magazine was located. A fast read, fun and exciting and includes a few recipes that I just have to try. “Save Me the Plums: My ‘Gourmet’ Memoir” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Threads: A Depression Era Tale

Threads: A Depression Era Tale by Charlotte Whitney 327 pages

I was excited when I won this book in the giveaway section of the Shelf Awareness newsletter. I was dismayed when the book opened with “A Note on Mid-Michigan Farm Dialect.”  Ninety-five percent of the books I read with dialogue aren’t very good—the dialect gets in the way. Not so with this intriguing tale of three sisters over the course of 1934. It sort of got in my way in the beginning, but it soon evened out. 

To tell a story with three different narrators is challenging, even for a seasoned writer, which Whitney is not.  But she does it superbly!  And to keep the voices clear and recognizable to each sister is quite the feat!  I never had a problem knowing which sister was talking at any given time.

This is the story of three sisters:  Nellie, seven; Irene, eleven, and Flora, 17.  Remember the old adage that there are three sides to every story?  Two who tell the story and the truth.  Here we get three sides of each story, as each sister gives her account of what is happening.

And there is a lot happening.  The girls live on a farm in mid-Michigan, and reads are treated to what life is like in this hardscrabble time. 

Nellie is still too young to really know how the Depression is affecting the family.  She visits the farm animals every day, especially the cows that stand under the cherry blossom trees. She even has an imaginary friend, ZeeZee, who is an alien.  But one day, Nellie finds a shallow grave of a dead baby.  Whose it is and how the discovery affects the little girl runs through the entire novel.

The middle sister, Irene, seems to have more faults than good qualities. She finds faults with the world in general and especially with her sisters.

The oldest sister, Flora, wants to get go on dates and get married.  She eyes a schoolmate and fellow church member, Henry, as her savior from spinsterhood.  But when rumors start to fly that the dead baby Nellie found is Flora’s, well her chances to wed seem to disappear.

There are a lot of other interesting characters that the readers meet in the small farming community. By the end I felt as if I had been part of the lives of these people.  I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, always looking forward to my reading time every evening. 

As I read,  wondered how on earth could Whitney without leaving the readers hanging. Easy-peasy---an epilogue that thakes place forty years later.

 “Threads: A Depression Era Tale” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Knowing: A Bulwark Anthology

 The Knowing: A Bulwark Anthology (Book 1 in a series) by Brit Lunden   104 pages

Not too long ago, I reviewed Brit Lunden’s “Bulwark.” I had believed it to be the first in a series, but I was wrong.  “Bulwark” is the jumping off place for a series of paranormal novellas written by different authors, totaling nine at this moment in time. Each author writes about a different character from the rural town of Bulwark, Georgia.

Lunden, the original author, goes back to the original story with her choice of characters: JB Stratton.  JB is now seventy years old. The love of his life, his wife Ellie, has been gone for more than twenty years. He lives alone, outside town, with his memories.

One night he rescues a couple from an accident nearby, bringing them to his cabin as they wait for the Sheriff Clay Finnes to arrive and sort it all out. While they are waiting, the rescued female sees a picture of Ellie and begins to accuse her of being a witch and abducting her children. But that’s not possible since she has been gone so long.

The story shifts to fifty-two years ago when JB and Ellie meet in high school. She is newly arrived from up North and has the cutest Northern accent. JB is smitten, but things don’t look too good for them to become a couple. Her family is wealthy; his is dirt poor.

Then the story makes another shift. This time back to the Civil War and, I believe, a small battle that was fought near Bulwark, during which the couple meet. I felt that episode needed to be fleshed out a bit, but it proved the point of “knowing.”

The story goes on to tell JB and Ellie’s high school romance, his dreams of going to college (with an appearance by legendary football coach Bear Bryant), and how those dreams turned out.

Like the original, “Bulwark,” the story moved along at a quick pace, even though it wasn’t scary. It was okay and “The Knowing: A Bulwark Anthology” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Truths I Never Told You

Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer 352 pages

Be sure to have a hanky near when you sent off on this emotional journey through two women’s fight with postpartum depression. Book clubs will want to add this novel to their reading list, especially anyone who is a fan of Jodi Picoult, Kristen Hannah and Sarah Jio.

Beth Walsh has a six-month-old son. She and her husband have tried for years to have this child.  She expected the exhaustion and sleep deprivation, but the one thing she cannot reconcile is her lack of maternal instincts and feelings. It’s not that Beth doesn’t love Noah, she’s just not all that into him. Her heart doesn’t melt she looks at him, and sometimes she forgets all about him. She keeps delaying returning to work in the hopes that those motherly instincts kick in.

Part of Beth’s problem is that she has nowhere to turn. Her mother, who died when she was two, isn’t there to help her. Her sister makes mothering seems like the most natural thing on earth; she can’t reveal what’s really happening to Ruthie. She’s struggling alone, and her husband doesn’t see it.

That is part of Beth’s emotional baggage. At the same time, her father must be admitted to a nursing home due to dementia. Since Beth isn’t working and her three siblings are, she takes on the task of clearing out their childhood home.

She finds the attic door locked and must call a locksmith to let her in. What she finds inside turns her world completely upside down: it’s full to the rafters with her father’s paintings and trash. As she begins to clean, she discovers a note attached to a canvas.  A note written in her mother’s handwriting. This sets her off on new journey to find each note that goes with the canvases.

Interspersed with Beth’s narrative is what appears to be the notes, that were indeed written by her mother, Grace, in 1957. This was a little unclear if its was notes or a journal entry, but they were hard to read.  Grace was also suffering from deep postpartum depression.

As the novel progresses, Beth becomes obsessed with her mother, the notes, and trying to figure out exactly what happened to her.  It’s not helpful that Beth’s father cannot remember.

Author Rimmer takes reads on a dark journey to one family’s secrets and dark pasts. I can’t wait for someone I know to read this so we can chat about it.   “Truths I Never Told You” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

A Hundred Suns

A Hundred Suns by Karin Tanabe 400 pages

One of my all-time favorite authors, Fiona Davis, called this novel “A haunting evocative tale.” USA Today said that it “…leaves you gripping the edge of your seat.”  I was excited to read this book.

I curled up in my favorite reading chair, ready to had to a faraway land (French Indochine [now Viet Nam], 1933) to join a family dynasty (Michelin [as in rubber]) and following a trail of secrets. At 400 pages, I was ready for a long escape from the stay-at home orders of the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic.

The first chapter opens in the Hanoi train station on November 20, 1933. Author Remmer does an excellent job in capturing its feel…and by the time I reached the end of Chapter One, I was sure that this would be a wonderful novel. It felt like something out of Alfred Hitchcock movie.

Chapter Two backs the story up and the rest of the novel explains how a minor cousin of the famous Michelin family, Victor Lesage and his family had arrived in order to be the overseers of two rubber plantations. They are the first of the famous family to ever reside on the plantations.  Riots and massacres are no strangers to the area, but back in France, the Michelins have been able to ignore it.

And that’s where the author lost me. It was a tough read after that. I didn’t understand all the French, and I assume what we now call Vietnamese, words. Not to mention the names of places that I couldn’t decipher nor could I place in either the Northern or Southern parts of the country.

As I read some of the Hitchcockian chapters returned, and I would be glad I had slogged through. But then that joy quickly disappeared again. 

I’m sure the problems I encountered with this novel were more me than the author’s fault. But still, I must give “A Hundred Suns” receives 2 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Last missed post from April: DOMINO The Book of Decorating

DOMINO The Book of Decorating: A Room By Room Guide To Creating A Home That Makes You Happy by Domino Editors Deborah Needleman, Sara Ruffin Costello ^ Dara Caponigro   271 pages

A very user friendly book with illustrations throughout and down to earth explanations that any one can understand and pretty much follow without too much strife   I particularly liked how they explained why certain things go together even though they might be different styles and how to play on your color palette throughout the room to bind the look together as a cohesive theme and how to add one amazing thing or bright color surprise to really make a room pop.   This book added a new wrinkle to my brain and gave me new eyes to see what a space could become. I really liked this book,  It was like taking Decorating 101.   I highly recommend it to anyone who loves to see the fabulous decorating ideas of others and they tell you to steal their ideas!  Bravo, good book.

- Shirley J.  (email missed by Jen O.)

Missed post from April: Turn Coat

Turn Coat: A Novel of the Dresden Files Audio Book 14 hours, 45 minutes - 420 pages

In this book in the series Harry finds romance,  He continues mentoring Molly when all hell breaks loose within the Wizards Council- with an unlikely crime and suspect.   Murder, mayhem and monsters abound in this paranormal whodunit.   I really liked the humor in the dialogue.   I do highly recommend this series to all who enjoy a little magic with their murder.
 - Shirley J
(email missed by Jen O.)

Post from April: We are all the same in the dark

We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin   352 pages  (e-galley)

Trumanell may have disappeared a decade ago, but her brother Wyatt still hears her voice.  People in their small town are still looking for her, and suspect Wyatt knows where she is. When Wyatt finds a young girl abandoned in a field, he thinks it's a sign from Trumanell. However, Odette Tucker, the town's youngest cop, thinks this girl is bad news. Desperate to figure out who this girl is, and find Trumanell for once and for all, Odette has to delve into her own dark past.
This is a dark psychological thriller filled with twists and unreliable narrators.  A deep sense of unease threads its way through the story, and it is difficult to know who to trust or what will happen in the end.
Good for readers who enjoy dark psychological suspense, and a general sense of uneasiness combined with a steady pace and compelling characters.

For LibraryReads: Trumanell disappeared 10 years ago, but has left an indelible mark on her small town, her brother, and best friend. When a damaged young girl is found, is there a link to Trumanell?
Good for readers who enjoy dark psychological suspense, and a general sense of uneasiness combined with a steady pace and compelling characters.

 - Jen O. (sent to myself and then missed in my email)

Missed post for April: What Cats Think

What Cats Think by John Spray, illustrations by Mies van Hout  44 pages

Very colorful, very spot on thoughts likely to cross feline minds.   Made me pause to remind myself to be more forgiving when one of the kitties jumps up on the counter and chows down on something I just made for me.   "But it smelled so good..."  I must be more mindful of my babies point of view and not expect them to respect property rights   We are a family, we share everything instead.    Love this book- so to the point and absolutely spot on - wouldn't you know it was written by a 40 year veteran public investigator.   He certainly did his homework on cats!  Bravo!  And the illustrations jump out at you, too.   Excellent!  I recommend it to one and all- all ages literally and especially to those of us with a deep abiding love of our feline friends.

 

- Shirley J (and I missed the email for April - Jen O.

Missed post for April: Small Favor: A Novel of the Dresden Files

Small Favor: A Novel of the Dresden Files  Book 10 in the series by Jim Butcher
14 hours 420 pages

What do Mab, the Billy Goats Gruff, Ivy the Archive,  Arch Angels, Fallen Andels and a cake doughnut with light vanilla icing and sprinkles have in common?   This story.  Excellent as always with a huge cliffhanger.   I highly recommend this series.

- Shirley J  (and missed in my email to post - Jen O.)

Malorie

Malorie by Josh Malerman   320 pages (e-galley)

This is the sequel to Bird Box (which was made into a Netflix film . . . which I did not watch).

When we last saw Malorie in Bird Box, she has led her children to a safe place. Still blindfolded and threatened by the dangerous creatures outside, this sequel to Bird Box focuses exclusively on Malorie and her two children. Now teenagers, her son is especially eager to explore the outside world. When a stranger finds them and tells them of a special Blind Train, and that Malorie's parents are listed as alive, Malorie makes the wrenching decision to leave all that is safe and try to find the train. But once they find this train, will it deliver them to people she loves and to a safer place?

I was intrigued by this story, since I enjoyed Bird Box (and did not watch the Netflix adaptation). While I liked the sense of danger running through this book and the focus on one character and her children, I found the ending of the book to completely unsatisfying. Too many loose ends for my taste.

The Space Between Worlds

The Space Between Worlds by by Micaiah Johnson   336 pages

Cara has always been quite good at dying, a talent which enables her to move between the multiverse, pulling data and other information for her employer. However, on this visit to a different Earth, Cara discovers that one of her last remaining doppelgangers has died under mysterious circumstances. Now, she is in a new world, but still carrying an old secret and entangled in a plot that could endanger the entire multiverse.

This isn't much a science fiction book as it is a story about the exploration of self, of how far someone will go to help someone they love, and also how far and how deep a secret can be carried. Cara is an intriguing and flawed character, and while I felt the plot sometimes struggled a bit, she is compelling and I wanted to see how the story ended.

They Never Learn

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo 352 pages  (e-galley)

Scarlett has no sympathy for the men she kills. After all, they asked for it. College student Carly is starting to look at her classmates the same way, noticing that some boys just seem to be entitled, dangerous jerks. What connects Scarlett to Carly? You'll be surprised when you find out.
Told with a sharp, dark sense of humor and a steady, almost compulsive pace, this psychological thriller takes us into the mind of a ruthless, deadly and intelligent predator.

Is it wrong that I found Scarlett to be an enjoyable character? She's an apex predator and I found her compelling (and also very much connected with some of her dark humor). She's the kind of woman with a razor-edged smile, someone who is dangerous but so, so interesting. I found the juxtaposition of Carly against Scarlett made me wonder how they were connected -- and then once that reveal happened, it totally made sense. I liked that the author kept me guessing and a bit off balance about what would happen. Really liked this book!

For LibraryReads: Scarlett has no sympathy for the men she kills. After all, they asked for it. The question is, will she finally meet her match? Told with a sharp, dark sense of humor and a steady, almost compulsive pace, this psychological thriller takes us into the mind of a ruthless, deadly and intelligent predator.
For readers who enjoy dark psychological thrillers. Similar author: Chelsea Cain