First of all, I love reality television. And I love a good parody. I thought The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey would be like Unreal, a parody of The Bachelor type shows, but about the catty the real housewives shows instead. This book was attempting that feat but, unfortunately,Continue Reading
Made for You is a twisty little tale told from the viewpoint of a “synth” (synthetic human or android) created to win the heart of the main character on a Batchelor type show. I love the concept of this book. It is nice to see AI portrayed in a goodContinue Reading
Expiration Dates begins with an unusual premise. Since her youth, Daphne has received a note stating her next boyfriend’s name and how long they will be together. All have been true. One day in her thirties, Daphne receives a note with a name but no date. Is this Jake herContinue Reading
Get your hankies ready! The Women is a near constant tearjerker. Nothing goes right for Frankie. Frankie decides to finish her nursing degree to join her brother in Vietnam. It’s 1965 and war is still considered a patriotic duty. The day she joins up, her family receives notification that Frankie’sContinue Reading
Do you try to help everyone around you leaving little time for your own needs and wants? Have you ever just had enough? If so, you will love Clover Hendry’s Day Off, a humorous look at one middle aged woman’s first day of putting herself first. Clover is a BritishContinue Reading
Womb City is set in a future African city. Women are treated atrociously. Really badly. The book includes the following trigger warning on its copyright page: “Content notice: Womb City contains depictions of blood, body horror, car accident, child death, death, death of a parent, domestic abuse, drug use, emotionalContinue Reading
Can a place be evil? Two thirty-something friends are about to find out in The Villa, an Italian mansion haunted by memories of sex, drugs, rock & roll, and murder… The plot is split between two timelines. In the present, two childhood friends try to deal with their issues asContinue Reading
None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive is a humorous book about a certain, relatively brief period in every married mother’s life, amplified up to eleven. Ramona is having an epically bad day. First, a hurricane is approaching and strangely that is not the worst news. AfterContinue Reading
In All Dressed Up, Becca is surprised to find her husband, Blake, has invited her to a murder mystery weekend in an authentic old mansion. Blake is trying to take Becca’s mind off his fling with his secretary. After all, she did agree to try and make their marriage work.Continue Reading
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is, of course, based on the famous tale by H.G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau. The original story was a cautionary tale against man’s hubris. The movie into which it was made was a horror film. This book, however, is a look into aContinue Reading
Whether you are luxuriating on a beach somewhere or sweating inside your own house this summer, you can feel like One of the Girls at a hen party in a secluded Greek villa. But beware! The secrets are oozing out faster than the sweat at this boozy gathering. “What happensContinue Reading
In Magpie, Marisa and Jake meet and quickly move in together. They try immediately to have a child. When Marisa becomes pregnant, the couple rent a room to Kate to make ends meet. Marisa feels that Kate is overly familiar with Jake. Is it just the pregnancy hormones making MarisaContinue Reading
Delphine, Lindsay and Margaux are The Ballerinas. In flashbacks, we see their complicated friendship from the age of twelve set in the world of Paris ballet. Now, Delphine has returned in her thirties to choreograph a new ballet with her old company, the Paris Opera Ballet, after a long stintContinue Reading
Isabel Puddles has returned to college to finish up her degree forty years after beginning it. She just completed a correspondence course to become a newly minted private investigator. Isabel breakfasts with her best friend every morning at the town’s cafe. She also works part-time in her nephew’s hardware store.Continue Reading
The Last Guest is advertised as an Agatha Christie and Mulholland Drive mashup. While it does have some characteristics of both, it is mostly a slow-paced behind-the-scenes look into the rich movie crowd’s symbiotic relationships. Elspeth is invited to her husband Richard’s fiftieth birthday party at his stunning mansion. SheContinue Reading
In Sankofa, Anna’s Welsh mother is dead. Anna’s husband has left her. When Anna finds the journal of the African father she has never met, she is intrigued. Can she make contact with him in West Africa? How will he react to her? Why was he kept hidden from herContinue Reading