Reviewed by Honey Rand Three years ago, while training for a half-marathon, I listened to zombie books. I know, blasphemy, right? Audio and zombies, how low could I go? Then there is the success of Fifty Shades of Gray and its sequels in print and the movies. I can’t tell you the times I’ve heard […]
March Read of the Month: “Call It Horses,” by Jessie Van Eerden
March 11, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Becca Spence Dobias Call it Horses is a difficult text in multiple ways, and as is often the case, its difficulty makes it an incredibly rewarding read. Perhaps most challenging is its subject matter, which includes domestic violence, pregnancy loss, cancer, death, and suicide, but its prose, too, is thick and intentional, each […]
“The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street,” by Karen White
March 3, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Brandy Renee McCann The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street, the sixth novel in the Tradd Street mysteries series by Karen White, brings readers along with Melanie Trenholm as she uncovers the story of a Revolutionary War era spy ring. The rich and evocative language of the opening scene unmistakably draws readers in and […]
“Shakespeare’s Secrets,” by Bonnie Hoover Braendlin
February 25, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Janet McCann Bonnie Hoover Braendlin’s second mystery in the Caulfield-Sheridan series is a delight. In the first novel, Love and Death in Venice, she takes her duo to Venice where they get themselves in grave danger attempting to solve a murder that leads to the center of a truly evil organization. Her second, […]
February Read of the Month: “Goshen Road,” by Bonnie Proudfoot
February 10, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Bonnie Proudfoot’s Goshen Road dives deep into West Virginia rural life with a tale that sweeps across multiple generations. The novel has been selected for the Women’s National Book Association’s Great Group Reads program and is longlisted for the 2021 PEN/Hemingway Award for Best Debut Novel. The novel provides multiple viewpoints, […]
“Wanting Radiance,” by Karen Salyer McElmurray
January 27, 2021 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith The pages of Wanting Radiance, a luscious literary novel by Karen Salyer McElmurray, are haunted by characters yearning for love—or something else they can’t quite name. As Ruby Loving says, she is “hungry and what she wanted was a miracle to fill her up.” Her daughter Miracelle thinks the emptiness might […]
“Obscura,” by Frank Paino
January 20, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by William Walsh I remember in graduate school how I admired Frank Paino’s ability to move people with his strength of words and deep painful angst on subjects that neither I nor most poets could write about. I felt his passion for history and the truth his narrators were conveying. Whether the narrator was […]