Home Made is an inspirational and timely read that shows how powerful human connections can be.  

One night while Liz Hauck and her father were cooking dinner, Liz made a suggestion that they start a weekly cooking program at the residential home for boys in state care  which was a part of the human services agency her father co-directed.  Unfortunately, Liz's father passed away before they had the chance to start the cooking program together, but Liz decided to honor her father by going forward on her own.  

I was so inspired by this book and how Liz was able to impact the lives of the boys in the home by showing up for what turned out to be over 100 dinners.  This book also speaks to the influence those same boys had on Liz's life.  When you set out to make a difference in the world, sometimes the biggest difference you make is in yourself.  I think her idea to cook together with the boys for an hour and then eat dinner together was brilliant.  Coming together in that way provided an opportunity to bond over a common goal, teach life skills and have conversation as a sort of family unit.    

I hope that this book inspires people in other communities to start up their own weekly cooking programs and see what grows from that experience.  I truly feel that if we spent more time looking for what we have in common instead of looking for what divides us, a lot of healing could take place on many levels.

This book clearly was a five star read for me and I hope that you will pick up a copy today for your own dose of inspiration.  I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.   

What's Done in Darkness is the perfect blend of dark and twisty that will keep you reading late into the night.  

17 year old Sarabeth has seen her world completely turned upside down.  Her father found religion and decided the family needed to leave everything behind to move to a farm outside of town so they could be closer to God.  Sarabeth finds the expectations and constraints of life in Wisteria, Arkansas to be overbearing as it is, but then she finds out her parents are planning her marriage.  Burdened with these thoughts, Sarabeth sets up their roadside produce stand for customers, but the customer that arrives has other plans.  Sarabeth is found a week later abandoned by the roadside, and the police and her community have more questions than Sarabeth has answers.  

Told in alternating chapters between the days before Sarabeth's abduction, and five years after the abduction, when she is now known as Sarah, this fast paced novel will have you turning pages at record speed.  Being a native of Southwest Missouri, I found that the novel was well researched and resonating with me as being an authentic representation of the area.  This was a five star read for me, but be prepared because you won't want to put it down.

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  

I've found that you can always count on Wendy Wax to deliver an engaging novel with multiple unique female characters with diverse perspectives, that also draws on how those same very different people come together and find common ground that unites them.  The Break-Up Book Club is no different.  

Jazmine, Judith, Sara and Erin are the four main characters, but there are several minor characters (Dorothy, Meena and Annell) that also play a major part.  The book club held at Annell's bookstore Between the Covers is the connecting factor for all the women.  Each character is at a unique point in her life, both in age and relationship status, and the author handles all of those stories in a genuine and relatable manner.  The Break-Up Book Club is really a beautiful story of friendship, resilience and strength.  

It is sometimes challenging to keep all the characters straight, but I believe that might have been because I kept having to put the book down and pick it back up again (not by choice), and if I had been able to read it in fewer sittings, I think that might not have been an issue.  Either way, I enjoyed this novel and this unique cast of characters.  I'm hoping there might be a sequel in the future so we can see how these ladies continue to grow and change.

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  

Eighteen year old Sadie Gault believes it can't get much worse than living in the cramped conditions of the Jewish ghetto of Krakow with her parents, until the day that her family must escape the Germans by rushing into the sewer system beneath the city.  The original plan to simply travel through the sewers to another location is no longer safe so they, along with another Jewish family, must remain in the sewers in order to stay alive.  

Ella is living a somewhat comfortable life in Krakow, though she doesn't agree with her stepmother consorting with the Germans.  Her stepmother has always been cruel to her and Ella hopes to soon receive travel papers for Paris so she can join her older brother there.  During an errand for her stepmother, Ella captures a glimpse through the sewer grate of a young woman in the sewers.  This chance encounter will change both Ella and Sadie's lives forever.

The atrocities suffered by the Jews in Krakow, Poland during World War II were heartbreaking, and Pam Jenoff's latest novel delves into that world with a completely different perspective.  The descriptions of life in the sewer are so detailed that they truly give you a feeling of what that experience would have been like for those families.  The author develops characters that you bond with over the course of the novel and it goes without saying that this is an emotional read.  

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  

 

Off The Wild Coast of Brittany was an engaging novel with a present day story of two sisters that are working through some of their childhood issues as they grow closer to knowing each other through restoring guesthouse on the island of Brittany and a look into the resilience and determination shown by the residents of that same island during its occupation by German soldiers during WWII.  

Natalie finds herself at a crossroads in life.  She is supposed to be writing her next novel and restoring the guesthouse with her boyfriend Francois Xavier, but he has left her to return to France and she finds herself with nothing to write about.  Her sister Alex shows up seemingly out of the blue, and the two sisters begin to work on their strained relationship and guesthouse renovations.  

Newly married Violette is shocked when her husband leaves the island to support the French troops and then German soldiers take over their town.  She finds an unlikely friend and confidante in the German officer Rainier, who has his own secrets to keep.  

I really enjoyed this completely unique novel about WWII and felt transported to the charming island of Brittany.  Both the present day as well as the story set during the war were equally compelling.  I did feel the ending was a bit rushed, but perhaps that was because I wasn't quite ready to let go of the characters and have their stories come to an end.  

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  

I was really intrigued about The Bohemians when I first heard about it.  Dorothea Lange is one of America's most well known photographers and I was slightly familiar with her photographs from the Great Depression, so this historical fiction novel exploring more of her early days in San Francisco during the early 1920s sounded fascinating.  

Dorothea Lange left the east coast with her camera at her side to head out for adventure, only to have disaster meet her when she arrived in San Francisco.  Luckily, she encounters several people willing to help her navigate the new city and she develops a close friendship with Caroline Lee, a Chinese American aspiring fashion designer. Caroline introduces Dorothea to Monkey Block, the artists community in San Francisco, where Dorothea quickly feels at home. Dorothea also meets the dashing painter Maynard Dixon and is immediately drawn to him and his charismatic energy.  When Dorothea finally opens her first portrait studio in San Francisco, she recruits Caroline to be her assistant.  It is this relationship that is the primary focus of the novel.  The Bohemians also sheds light on the suffering Chinese Americans endured during this time and puts a fictional face and name to the real life assistant of Ms. Lange.

I appreciated the author's detailed research and the way she developed the characters over the course of the story.  I enjoyed this novel, but only wish it might have also covered more of Ms. Lange's life and career.  I felt like it spurred my interest in her, but then left me wanting when the story ended.  It was a good introduction to her early life and inspired me to delve into my own research into her career.

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

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Karen White has written another spellbinding novel about friendship, love, and resilience combined with a mystery that must be unraveled.  

One narrative explores the world of models Eva Harlow and Precious Dubose in 1939 London.  Precious and Eva are the best of friends and nearly inseparable.  Precious's southern roots sometimes embarrass Eva since Eva is hard at work trying to cover up her own background.  Eva has created a new backstory for herself, but the new life she is creating comes with a price.  

In 2019, Maddie Warner has returned to London to assist with an article and exhibition centered around Precious Dubose and her vintage wardrobe.  As Maddie interviews Precious, she learns there is much more to her story than Maddie initially thought and Precious also has an amazing insight into the internal struggles Maddie is facing in her own life, following the loss of her mother.  As Maddie unravels Precious's story, will she find the answers to her own life's questions?

The Last Night in London is full of just the right amount of intrigue and suspense, but also has the heart and authentic voice that I've come to expect from a Karen White novel.  I could feel the danger the characters faced during the war and I also enjoyed reading how the characters in 2019 pieced together the pieces to solve the puzzle.  I loved the southern touch to this mostly English set novel.  I was reminded all over again why Karen White is one of my favorite authors.

Highly recommend this engaging story!  I received this book courtesy of the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.   

The Code Breaker is a fascinating novel that truly gave me an insight into both the science itself and the talented scientists behind the exciting and controversial advances that have been made.  

I'll be honest, I was a little daunted by the thought of reading this book because science really isn't my best subject and I hoped it wasn't all going to be completely over my head.  I needn't have worried.  The author does an amazing job of conveying all the information about this complicated field, but not leaving the reader behind.  He is able to explain very technical information in a clear manner, all the while not making it condescending in any way.  I was impressed by the dedication the scientists showed to their field and also somewhat surprised at how competitive the field is.  It was also interesting to me to learn more about the partnership between universities, researchers and business.  

This novel could not be more timely and I felt it was an important work to read to stay informed about this crucial field.  I left with a greater understanding of the gene editing process, the complicated moral and ethical issues faced and the process behind the creation of the COVID vaccines.  

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  

I was so thrilled to see that Lisa Scottoline had written a new book and to find out that it was historical fiction really had me intrigued.  I had read her legal thrillers and her humorous essays but I was eager to see how she would write historical fiction.   

Eternal had me so captivated that I read most of the novel in one setting.  The characters are so well written and the pacing of the novel is absolutely spot on.  You can tell from the first pages that it is very well researched and while reading, you are truly transported to the streets of Italy.  I noticed today that there is a tour of the locations posted on her website that I can't wait to watch.

Eternal is the story of three young friends Elisabetta, Marco and Sandro, who couldn't be more different.  Elisabetta dreams of becoming a novelist some day.  Marco struggles with school and his father is pushing him to train as a cyclist.  Sandro is a Jewish mathematics prodigy with dreams of making big change in the world.  They've been friends since they were children but now Marco and Sandro are both hoping to make their romantic feelings known for Elisabetta.  Their world is about to change as Mussolini's Fascists become more aligned with Hitler's Nazis, and Italy seems to change overnight.  

This novel presented a different side to many of the historical fiction novels I have read over the years.  I had not read one that provided a viewpoint of Italy and Mussolini's Fascist government both before World War II started and then once it reached Italy.  I appreciated the level of research that went into the novel and felt that it really added to the authenticity of the storyline.  

I highly recommend Eternal and I hope you love it as much as I did.  I think it would make a marvelous book club selection and there seem to be many resources on her website for both a book club and just a curious reader who wants to know more.  

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.  

After reading Surviving Savannah, I have a severe book hangover.  I can't get over the characters and the descriptions of the sinking of the steamship Pulaski. Even though I finished the novel a few days ago, I can't bring myself to start reading anything new because I just want to stay in Savannah and learn more about these characters and the shipwreck.  

Everly Winthrop grew up listening to her Papa tells stories about the Pulaski and its passengers, while she marveled at the painting of the steamship that hung in her family's home.  Now as an adult, she has been asked to guest curate a special exhibit on the recently discovered Pulaski and the artifacts that have been found nearly 180 years after its tragic sinking.  As Everly's research brings her closer to the truth of what happened to many of the passengers, including the 11 members of the Longstreet family, Everly also begins to reflect on what it means to be a survivor and how in essence you survive the surviving.   

I am truly amazed at the level of research that Ms. Callahan did to bring this story to life and I am so grateful that she did.  Not only did I learn about the Pulaski, but I also felt immersed in the city of Savannah itself.  To realize that in real life, the artifacts and treasures on board the Pulaski are being recovered from the ocean floor just about 30 miles off the coast of North Carolina some 180 years later is amazing.  The novel and the true story of what transpired as well as the recovery of the ship's contents are riveting.  

Surviving Savannah is a story that will stay with me for a long time.  It's a story of determination, grit, perseverance, faith and love.  It is a book you will want to discuss with someone so I'd recommend buying your best friend a copy too.  Trust me, I've talked to my family about this book so much that my 9 year old son can tell you all about the "Titanic of the South" and they want to plan a trip to Savannah next spring to see the full exhibit of the artifacts.  

If you are a historical fiction fan or simply love a great story, you should drop whatever else you are doing and start reading Surviving Savannah today!

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.