I don’t remember exactly where I saw this book mentioned but I loved the premise. It pits a notoriously corrupt bank against a vicar who isn’t quite as naive as they expect him to be. Reverend Tom Goodman gets fired […]
The Arctic Curry Club
Svalbard is an archipelago north of mainland Norway. Because it is so far north there are three months out of the year where the sun never rises. This is the time of year when Maya moves to Svalbard because her […]
The Donut Trap
Obviously I had to read this book. Look at that cover! Who doesn’t want a romance set in a donut shop? Jas is floundering. She graduated from college but went right back to working in her family’s donut shop. She’s […]
The Kitchen
I loved this book! This story gathered me in from the beginning. Maggie is the protege of a chef at a three star Michelin restaurant. When he dies unexpectedly she thinks she will take over running the restaurant. She is […]
Girl on the Run
Jane is a woman who is looking forward to starting a new life. She was the famous girlfriend of the lead singer of an up and coming band. Then she caught him cheating and went into hiding. What the press […]
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted
I’m surprised that I liked this book as much as I did. Actually, I’m surprised that I even read it. Usually I avoid stories dealing with infertility. I tend to hate people who talk about “not being able to relate” […]
The Village Inn of Secret Dreams
This is the story of renovating a run-down inn in a small British town. The current owners are nearing retirement and haven’t wanted to invest in the inn for a long time. It shows. The food is inedible and the […]
Espoused
I loved the premise of this book. What would life looked like if all first marriages dissolved after 15 years? What if couples had to prove that they wanted to stay together longer than that? The world building is the […]
The Book of Longings
I’ve been a Sue Monk Kidd fan since before she started writing fiction and I’ve loved watching her transformation as a writer. I’ve had The Book of Longings on my iPad for a while. I’m not sure why I didn’t […]
The Ballerinas
I requested this book from NetGalley based on the cover. I also loved the description of long simmering rage in women. I was on vacation when I started this book and I read it over the course of a day […]
The Devil Comes Courting
Amelia is a Chinese woman who was taken in by an English missionary when she was a child. She was raised to be a proper English lady. But she has always had lingering doubts about her worthiness because although she […]
The Office of Historical Corrections
Short story collections are truly hit or miss for me. Either I absolutely adore them (How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?, Ghost Summer) or I can’t get into them at all. I grabbed this collection from the library based on […]
Blind Tiger
The books that I tend to read with shapeshifters have always been more Urban Fantasy than Paranormal Romance. I wouldn’t have had this book on my radar except that I saw it mentioned on Twitter. That tweet talked about a […]
The Hat Girl From Silver Street
This is an engaging story of a young woman who is struggling to keep her family afloat. She is working as an assistant hat maker to a woman whose ideas are out of fashion and who isn’t shy about stealing […]
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
I didn’t know quite what to expect from this book. I’m generally up for reading anything described as “quirky” and this is definitely that. In an out of the way corner of Tokyo there is a cafe that always stays […]
This Is My America
This book stressed me out enough that I had to do something that I never, never do. I went and read the last chapter. Then I backed up two more chapters and read from there. I just had to get […]
The Enchanted Garden Cafe
I was drawn immediately to this story because of the description of a woman spending her life trying to be the grown-up in her mother’s life. The Enchanted Garden Cafe is the kind of place where there are acoustic music […]
Christmas at the Marshmallow Cafe
I’m not a person who loves Christmas stories. However, I am a sucker for stories about people taking over some kind of cafe. When I saw this book offered I hoped the joy in the trope overrode my annoyance with […]
The Cookbook Club
This is a fun story about three women who get together to try out dishes from the cookbooks that they have but don’t always use. Margo has hundreds of cookbooks and a husband who doesn’t like to eat. Trista is […]
The Midnight Bargain
I picked up this book knowing nothing about it based on my love for the author’s previous work. I think I like this one better than those. This is a deeply feminist story. In this world, all people might be […]