Whiskey & Charley (NetGalley) Annabel Smith Sourcebooks Landmark Twins Whiskey and Charley were identical in looks, but couldn’t have been more different in temperament. Whiskey, the first born, was athletic, brash, and daring as a child. As an adult, those same qualities served him well as an ad executive and his successes were many. Charley …
The Second Sister (NetGalley) Marie Bostwick Kensington Press Lucy Toomey is a campaign staffer, jetting city to city as her boss makes a run for the White House. She works long hours, puts her love life on the back burner, and neglects just about everything that makes life wonderful—like food, friends, family, and fashion. (Her …
Th1rteen R3asons Why Jay Asher RazorBill Penguin More than a few of my students recommended I read Jay Asher’s Th1rteen R3asons Why and this one was a doozy–very difficult to read, but incredibly meaningful. Clay Jensen picks up the package from his porch without much thought–hmmm, cassette tapes?–but his life is forever changed. His co-worker, …
Take Me With You Catherine Ryan Hyde Lake Union Publishing August Schroeder is heavy-hearted: his motor home, broken down and towed to a garage; his annual summer trip to Yellowstone on hold. For two days he passes time watching his Jack Russell terrier Woody run circles around two young boys hanging around the back of …
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey (Edelweiss DRC) Rachel Joyce Random House We expect our happiness to come with a sign and bells but it doesn’t. When The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce was published in 2012, the novel was short listed for the Booker Prize and won UK National Book …
Leaving Time Jodi Picoult Ballantine Books From the first page of Jodi Piccoult’s new novel, we’re drawn into the story of Jenna Metcalf and her mother, Alice, separated in a terrible accident years before. Each narrates her journey as she searches and longs for the One Missing and the love they have for each other …
Uncommon Reader Alan Bennett Piqador Mrs. Queen Takes the Train William Kuhn Harper Perennial I’m one of those wackos who, on July 29, 1981, got up at 4:00 AM to catch the first network coverage of the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer to Charles, Prince of Wales. (I believe the winner was NBC which started …
Spool of Blue Thread (Edelweiss DRC) Anne Tyler “The disappointments seemed to escape the family’s notice, though. That was another of their quirks: they had a talent for pretending that everything was fine. Or maybe it wasn’t a quirk at all. Maybe it was just further proof that the Whitshanks were not remarkable in any way …
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin Algonquin Books What’s better than a book recommendation from a book-lovin’ friend? Nothing. So as soon as a friend wrote on my Facebook wall that The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry was fast and fun and right up my alley, I was on it. Plus I’m …
Etta and Otto and Russell and James (Netgalley) by Emma Hooper Simon and Schuster Emma Hooper’s debut novel begins with a note we all hope never to read: “I’ve left.” Except Etta has left, she says, because she’s never seen the water—and so, at eighty-three, she begins her three thousand kilometer trek across Canada, east …
This is my symphony 