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Reviews

Reviews

by Kate Broad - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Summer, 1999. Rachel Fiske is almost 18 when she arrives at her aunt and uncle’s mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. Her glamorous aunt is struggling to heal from an injury, and Rachel wants to help --- and escape her own troubles back home. But her aunt is oddly spacey, and her uncle is consumed with business. The only bright spot is Claudia, a recent college graduate, an aspiring artist, and the live-in babysitter for Rachel’s cousin. As summer deepens, Rachel eagerly hopes their friendship might grow into more. But when a tragic accident occurs, Rachel must make a pivotal choice. Caught between her desire to do the right thing and to protect her future, she’s the only one who knows what really happened --- and her decision has consequences far beyond what she could have predicted.

by Hal Ebbott - Fiction

It’s an autumn weekend at a comfortable New York country house where two deeply intertwined families have gathered to mark the host’s 52nd birthday. Together, the group forms an enviable portrait of middle age. The wives and husbands have been friends for over 30 years, their teenage daughters have grown up together, and the dinners, games and rituals forming their days all reflect the rich bonds between them. This weekend, however, something is different. An unforeseen curdling of envy and resentment will erupt in an unspeakable act, the aftermath of which exposes treacherous fault lines upon which they have long dwelt.

by Mary Dixie Carter - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Marguerite Gray is a lifestyle icon known for her garden parties, high-end business ventures, and being the muse behind the famous Serge Kuhnert painting, Marguerite by the Lake. For the last few years, Phoenix has been the gardener on the famed Rosecliff grounds, home of Marguerite and her husband, Geoffrey. When a storm threatens the launch party for Marguerite’s latest book, Phoenix rushes to Geoffrey’s side to save him from a falling tree. Geoffrey is grateful --- perhaps too grateful. Marguerite is…jealous. Phoenix becomes embroiled in an affair that could destroy her career. But soon after the affair begins, Marguerite falls to her death. Now Phoenix has another secret, one that haunts her even as Geoffrey invites her to move into the manor with him.

by Jo Harkin - Fiction, Historical Fiction

In 1480, the arrival of a well-dressed stranger from London upends John Collan’s life forever. John is not John Collan, the son of Will Collan, but Lambert Simnel, the son of the long-deceased Duke of Clarence. Lambert has been hidden in the countryside after a brotherly rift over the crown --- and because Richard III has a habit of making his nephews disappear. He is removed from his humble origins and sent to Oxford to be educated in a manner befitting the throne’s rightful heir. There he encounters the intractable Joan, the delightfully strong-willed daughter of his Irish patrons, who is imbued with both extraordinary political savvy and occasional murderous tendencies. Together Lambert and Joan form an alliance that will change the fate of the English monarchy.

by Susan Meissner - Fiction, Historical Fiction

With her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life on hold, starlet Melanie Cole has little choice in company. There is her next-door neighbor, Elwood, but the screenwriter’s agoraphobia allows for just short chats through open windows. He’s her sole confidante, though, as she and her housekeeper, Eva, an immigrant from war-torn Europe, rarely make conversation. Then one early morning, Melanie and Eva spot Elwood’s sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his beloved rose garden. After that they don’t see Elwood at all anymore. Where could a man who never leaves the house possibly have gone? As they try to find out if something has happened to him, unexpected secrets are revealed among all three women, leading to an alliance that seems the only way for any of them to hold on to what they can still call their own.

by Holly Brickley - Fiction, Women's Fiction

It’s a Friday night in a campus bar in Berkeley, fall of 2000, and Percy Marks is pontificating about music again. Hall and Oates is on the jukebox, and Percy --- who has no talent for music, just lots of opinions about it --- can’t stop herself from overanalyzing the song, indulging what she knows to be her most annoying habit. But something is different tonight. The guy beside her at the bar, fellow student Joe Morrow, is a songwriter. And he could listen to Percy talk all night. Joe asks Percy for feedback on one of his songs --- and the results kick off a partnership that will span years, ignite new passions in them both, and crush their egos again and again. Is their collaboration worth its cost? Or is it holding Percy back from finding her own voice?

by Layne Fargo - Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction

Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating --- and each other --- to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers. Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end. As the 10-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story.” Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story.

by Fabienne Josaphat - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Nettie Boileau joins the Black Panthers’ Free Health Clinics in Oakland in 1968 and is soon swept up in an all-consuming love affair with Melvin Mosley, a defense captain of the Black Panther Party. When Nettie and Melvin head to Chicago to help launch the Illinois chapter of the Panthers, they find themselves targets of J. Edgar Hoover’s famous covert campaigns against civil rights leaders. As she learns more about the inner workings of the Panthers, Nettie discovers that fighting for social justice may not always mean equal justice for women.

by Austin Duffy - Fiction

1994, the summer leading up to the ceasefire between Britain and the IRA. In the Northern Irish border town of Cross, after decades of violent activity protesting British rule, a community plays out its end game. Francie, a hardened yet troubled IRA man, has authorized the murder of a policeman by two teenage henchmen. The Widow Donnelly protests in the town square because her son has gone missing. Young Cathy Murphy, a Protestant, is trying to find her place among a people who ignore her. And pathological Handy Byrnes, whose marksmanship makes him a valuable weapon, is out of control. Meanwhile, paranoia is growing because operations are beginning to go wrong. The townsfolk suspect a tout, but no one is willing to accept the evidence before their eyes.

by Maame Blue - Fiction, Women's Fiction

On the cusp of 30, Ghanaian Londoner Whitney Appiah was born with a special gift. The massage therapist can physically sense where her clients’ trauma lies and heal them. But Whitney has no idea that she, too, is suffering. Tragic events from her youth have left a terrible, unseen mark. When a dangerous encounter with the man she’s dating triggers a wave of fragmented recollections, Whitney embarks on a journey to reclaim her memories and the truth that is buried deep in her early years growing up in Kumasi, Ghana, during the 1990s. Spanning three decades, told through the viewpoints of Whitney, sisters Gloria and Aretha, and their house help Maame Serwaa, THE REST OF YOU explores what happens when we try to move forward through the lacuna of our past.