To Read or Not To Read

I was super excited to read my first Lucy Foley book, so I'm very sad to report that I did not enjoy this one at all. I found the book itself to drag, and that the action was predictable, despite its inventive structure. I wasn't able to relate in any way to the amateur sleuth main character, which made me feel very distant from the novel itself. It can be an enjoyable read to those looking for something mildly entertaining, but if you're looking for a nail-biting mystery, I would suggest looking elsewhere.  Lucy Foley studied English literature at Durham University and University College London and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry. She is the author of five novels, including The Guest List and The Hunting Party . She lives in London.  Jess needs a fresh start. She's broke and alone, and she's just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn't sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash ...

Despite being a very quick read, The Bookshop of Forgotten Dreams doesn't live up to its potential. Lackluster in both plotting and overall storytelling, this romance will be most appealing to readers looking for a very quick and neat read. Author of debut phenomenon Dear You and other bestsellers, Emily Blaine has become, with over 600,000 copies sold to date, the queen of contemporary French romance. A Breton by birth and a Parisian by adoption, her greatest pleasure is writing, and hearing from her readers.  Sarah and Max should never have met. She's a shy bookworm who's barely ever left her little village; he's a bad boy actor with the world at his feet. But when Max crosses one line too many, he's faced with community service in Sarah's bookshop. With an unruly theatre group to run and a gorgeous, tattooed stranger under her roof, Sarah's about to discover that real life is more complicated than anything she's ever read in her beloved books.  I, lik...

Inspired by a true story, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is historical fiction at its most accessible. A quick read, Heather Morris's debut novel is perfect for fans of true stories looking for fast and engaging reads.  Heather Morris is a native of New Zealand, and now resides in Australia. For several years, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, she studied and wrote screenplays, one of which was optioned in the United States. In 2003, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who "might just have a story worth telling." The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Their friendship grew, and Lale embarked on a journey of self-scrutiny, entrusting the innermost details of his life during the Holocaust to her. heather originally wrote Lale's story as a screenplay—which ranked high in international competitions—before reshaping it into her debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz .  In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly tr...

It's no wonder Colleen Hoover's books are topping charts and trending on social media everywhere. With addictive prose and darker stories, readers can't get enough of her works. It Ends with Us is a prime example of this, a personal story with a dark bend. For me, there was a bit of untapped potential in the development of different characters' stories, which led to a two-star review. Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Slammed, This Girl, Point of Retreat, Hopeless, Losing Hope, Finding Cinderella, Maybe Someday, Ugly Love, Maybe Not, Confess, and November 9 . She lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. She asks you to visit her at ColleenHoover.com .  Lily hasn't always had it easy, but that's never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She's come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spa...

A thoughtful and touching memoir covering ground from love to loss, Jason Rosenthal's memoir is meant for those also in the recovery process from losing a loved one. Unfortunately, I found it very difficult to get invested in this novel for reasons I detail below, but that doesn't take away from its significance to the community of people who needed his words and this story. Jason B. Rosenthal is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Boy , cowritten with his daughter, Paris. He is the board chair of the Amy Krouse Rosenthal Foundation, which supports both childhood literacy and research in early detection of ovarian cancer. A lawyer, public speaker, and devoted father of three, he is passionate about helping others find ways to fill their blank spaces as he continues to fill his own. Jason resides in Chicago, a city he is proud to call home. To learn more, visit amykrousrosenthalfoundation.org .  On May 3, 2017, Amy Krouse Rosenthal penned an op-ed piece for the New ...

Rosie Walsh's The Love of My Life is a testament to the types and strengths of love that exist in our lives. Part mystery, part contemporary fiction, this novel will appeal to multiple types of readers, especially those who love not being able to fully guess an ending. Rosie Walsh lived and traveled all over the world, working as a documentary producer and writer. Ghosted , her American debut, was a bestseller and has sold more than one million copies worldwide. The Love of My Life is her second novel. She lives in Devon, England, with her partner and two children. You can find her online at RosieWalsh.com . Emma loves her husband, Leo, and their young daughter, Ruby: she'd do anything for them. But almost everything she's told them about herself is a lie. And she just might have gotten away with it if it weren't for her husband's job. Leo is an obituary writer; Emma is a well-known marine biologist. When she suffers a serious illness, Leo copes by doing what he kno...

This supernatural thriller is chilling and exciting all at once. Following a twenty-nine-year-old hospital receptionist as her true crime hobby becomes all-consuming, The Book of Cold Cases reads like a Dateline episode come to life, with twists and turns that only the heroine can explain the truth of.  Simone St. James is the bestselling and award-winning author of The Sun Down Motel and The Broken Girls . She wrote her first ghost story, about a haunted library, when she was in high school, and spent twenty years behind the scenes in the television business before leaving to write full-time. You can find her online at SimoneStJames.com .  In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect—a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crime scenes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation o...

Truly one of the best books I've ever read, it's easy to see why A Tree Grows in Brooklyn  has earned spots on coveted lists like TIME's Best YA Books of All Time and one of The New York Public Library's Books of the Century . Honest, achingly beautiful, and heartbreaking, Betty Smith's masterpiece is a must-read for all readers. Betty Smith was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1896, the daughter of German immigrants, and grew up in the borough's Williamsburg section. In addition to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , Betty Smith's novels include Tomorrow Will Be Better (1947), Maggie-Now  (1958), and Joy in the Morning  (1963). She also had a long career as a dramatist, during which she received both the Rockefeller Fellowship and the Dramatists Guild Fellowship. She died in 1972. You can find more of my reviews of books from TIME's Best YA Books of All Time  here .  From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for the oft...

Darius the Great is Not Okay  is a spectacular young adult novel that explores the complexity of emotions related to one's identity. Darius Kellner, the titular character, has more to balance than most, and Adib Khorram writes a story full of heart, and heartbreak. A quick read, which doesn't compromise on complexity one bit, Darius the Great is Not Okay is absolutely brilliant. Adib Khorram lives in Kansas City, Missouri. When he isn't writing (or at his day job as a graphic designer), you can probably find him trying to get his hundred-yard freestyle under a minute, learning to do a Lutz jump, or steeping a cup of oolong. Visit Adib at AdibKhorram.com or follow him on Twitter @AdibKhorram. You can find more of my reviews of books from TIME's Best YA Books of All Time  here .  Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's a Fractional Persian—half, his mom's side—and his first-ever trip to I...

Lan Samantha Chang's retelling of The Brothers Karamazov  is dark and chilling, diving deeply into the original story to tell a unique one about the immigrant experience and three flawed brothers. An engrossing read, The Family Chao is compelling with an ending that is determined to haunt anyone who reads. Lan Samantha Chang is the author of a collection of short fiction, Hunger , and two previous novels, Inheritance  and All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost . Her work has been translated into nine languages. The Director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, she lives in Iowa City. You can find her online at lansamanthachang.com . The residents of Haven, Wisconsin, have dined on the Fine Chao restaurant's Americanized Chinese food for thirty-five years, content to ignore any unsavory whispers about the family owners. But when brothers Dagou, Ming, and James Chao reunite with their parents in Haven, the family's simmering secrets boil over at last. Before long, brash, charismatic...

Ann Patchett's utterly transportive The Dutch House is truly worth the read. A generational story that focuses as much on characters as the setting that gives it its title, this novel is exquisite. Ann Patchett is the author of eight novels and three works of nonfiction. She is the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, England's Orange Prize, and the Book Sense Book of the Year, and was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. Her work had been translated into more than thirty languages. She is the co-owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband, Karl, and their dog, Sparky. You can find her online at AnnPatchett.com .  At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelph...

I read Angie Cruz's Dominicana for a class a while back, and when I saw that she had another novel, on top of the fact that she was visiting my college campus in the fall, I just knew I had to pick up How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water . Just as inventive and compassionate as everyone's said, Cruz's latest is a masterpiece. Angie Cruz is the author of the novels Soledad, Let It Rain Coffee, and Dominicana , which was short-listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction and a Good Morning America  Book Club pick. She is a founder and the editor in chief of Aster(ix) , a literary and arts journal, and is an associate professor English at the University of Pittsburgh. You can find her online at angiecruz.com . Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her midfifties, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara inst...

Cassandra Clare's most character-driven novel yet, the finale of the Last Hours trilogy will please fans who have fallen in love with this big-hearted, flawed, and resilient cast of characters. A worthy ending for this group of Shadowhunters, Clare also seems to set up some interesting plot twists for the future....which, for the Shadowhunter universe, still remains to be seen.  Cassandra Clare is the author of the #1 New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestselling Shadowhunter Chronicles. She is also the coauthor of the bestselling fantasy series Magisterium with Holly Black. The Shadowhunter Chronicles have been adapted as both a major motion picture and a television series. Her books have more than fifty million copies in print worldwide and have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. Cassandra lives in western Massachusetts with her husband and three fearsome cats. Visit her at CassandraClare.com . Learn more about the world of t...