Reviewed by Donna Meredith Keep No Secrets, Julie Compton’s powerful sequel to Tell No Lies, is guaranteed to keep readers turning pages into the wee hours of the morning. Both of Compton’s courtroom thrillers are set in St. Louis, Missouri, where she grew up. Like Jodi Picoult’s best works, Compton’s novels sizzle with all the […]
“The Day is a White Tablet,” by Jill Fletcher Pelaez
May 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Jill Fletcher Pelaez creates a compelling fictional world steeped in lesser-known details of the last days of the Civil War in her novel The Day is a White Tablet. The story is told through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Tench Traymore, a black youth charged with the task of caring for his […]
“Orchard of My Eye,” by Mark Canter
April 3, 2013 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith A science fiction and thriller hybrid, Mark Canter’s Orchard of My Eye offers a fast-paced and engaging read. Canter teaches comparative religion at Florida State University. This background is reflected in the philosophical underpinnings of this novel. The main character, Nat Colt, is a research scientist dying of brain cancer. Nat imagines […]
Donna Meredith Interviews George Weinstein
January 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
DM: I read this novel right after finishing The Whistling Season, by Ivan Doig. A struggling rural family and community stand at the center of Doig’s novel and yours. Yet they couldn’t be more different. The adults in Hardscrabble Road have a severe deficiency of parenting skills. Many types of abuse occur in this novel, from […]
“Hardscrabble Road,” by George Weinstein
January 2, 2013 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Hardscrabble Road, by George Weinstein, is a hard novel to read—not because it is poorly written, but because the MacLeod family at the heart of the story is so dysfunctional that at times it makes you want to cry. The tale is set in South Georgia during the Depression. Yet it […]
“Sea Change,” by Karen White
September 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Review by Donna Meredith Though the back of the book hails Karen White as “the ultimate voice of women’s fiction,” Sea Change is more of a paranormal romance than women’s fiction. What’s the difference? While women’s fiction may have romantic elements, other issues of women’s lives take precedence, such as female empowerment or relationships […]