Book Review: "The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl" by Bart Yates

Isaac is 96 years old, a historian and journalist, who is writing his memoir. But how do you summarize a life? He decides to focus on 12 different days throughout his life, days which truly had an impact.

Isaac’s story begins in Utah in 1926, when eight-year-old Isaac and his twin sister Agnes are trapped in an avalanche. From that point on, the book focuses on a specific day every eight years. Sometimes the circumstances are dramatic, like when Isaac is aboard a warship during WWII, and sometimes they’re simpler and more joyous.

While some people appear in one vignette only to never be heard from again, the core characters are Isaac, Agnes, and Isaac’s best friend, Bo. Aggie is the fiery, opinionated one, who cares fiercely for her brother, and Bo is truly affable and loyal to both Dahl siblings.

“…few things on earth are more frightening than the possibility of love.”

I enjoyed how the story was told but at times it felt very Forrest Gump-like, with Isaac popping up at different points in history. And while I’ve always been a fan of Bart Yates’ writing, some of the events chronicled seemed very overdone, like the Dust Bowl and the Civil Rights Movement.

This was our book club pick for October. Some people were conflicted, some really found the book moving. I fell somewhere in the middle, although there were places that made me feel real emotion.

Book Review: "Of Sunlight and Stardust" by Riley Hart and Christina Lee

Tanner’s wife used to dream of them moving into an old house on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They would restore the dilapidated barn; she would paint and he would make his own beer. But she died before he could buy the house, so he bought it anyway and planned to make the renovations they discussed. One year later, he’s still too consumed by grief to do anything.

Cole spent some time in prison for looking the other way while things went wrong at the garage where he worked. When he got out of jail, he was homeless and as a felon, had little chance of finding a job, so he traveled to the town of Red Bluff to try for a fresh start.

When Tanner meets Cole, he can see his pain and his need for someone to give him a chance. Tanner offers Cole a job to fix up the barn in exchange for a place to sleep. The barn was rumored to have been damaged years before in a fire allegedly set by the son of the previous owners before he apparently ran off with his best friend.

Under the barn floor, Cole finds an old journal which apparently belonged to Tom, the young man accused of setting the fire back in 1948. As Cole and Tanner read the journal, what they find is the story of a young man in love with his best friend Charlie, at a time when those feelings were enough to get you hurt or killed.

At first, Cole and Tanner bond over their shared loneliness and grief, but over time, they develop a strong friendship. And the more they read about Tom and Charlie’s story, the more they’re drawn to one another, until friendship turns to passion. When they discover the truth of what happened to the barn and the young men, they know they must seize their chance at happiness.

I thought this was such a beautiful story, full of emotion, romance, and steam. These characters—as well as Tom and Charlie’s story—really found a place in my heart and my mind.

Book Review: "Stars in an Italian Sky" by Jill Santopolo

I’ve been wanting to travel to Italy for a long while now, so needless to say, each time I read a book that is set there, I get the urge to plan a trip. And after reading Stars in an Italian Sky, I want to go pronto, pronto.

In 1946, Giovanna, her father, and her sister return to Genoa after fleeing during WWII. They reopen her father’s tailoring shop, where Giovanna not only helps with the customers, but dreams of her own designs as well. One day, Vincenzo, the handsome son of a count, comes into the store to have some clothes altered. At that moment it’s as if lightning struck Giovanna in the form of Vincenzo.

The two spend a great deal of time together, much of it in secret. Vincenzo knows his father would never approve of him marrying a tailor’s daughter, but he knows that his heart wants nothing but Giovanna. Yet when the country votes to become a republic, abolishing the monarchy and nobility, it creates a rift that changes everything for both.

In 2017, Cass and her boyfriend Luca, an artist, are ready to get married. But when they bring their families together to celebrate their engagement, and Cass’ grandmother meets Luca’s grandfather, it reveals past history that neither Cass’ family or Luca’s was aware of.

The dual-timeline story was romantic, emotional, and fascinating to see the parallels between both couples. The actions of Vincenzo’s family—and Luca’s, for that matter—were infuriating at times, but love endures. This was such a beautiful story of following your own path, no matter the consequences, and no matter how long it takes.

I’m a big fan of Jill Santopolo and love all of the emotion she brings to her books. I’ll be waiting for her next one!

Book Review: "Go As A River" by Shelley Read

This is a moving and beautifully evocative story of a young woman who follows her heart.

It’s 1948. Ever since her mother, aunt, and cousin died in an accident, Victoria has become the woman of the house. She cooks all the meals for her father, brother, and uncle, not to mention the workers on her family’s Colorado peach farm. It’s a house full of tension, as all three of her family members have issues of their own.

One day she meets Wilson Moon, a young Native American man who has left his tribal land to pursue his own path. For the first time in her life, Victoria knows what it feels like to want someone and be wanted. But their time together is fleeting, because her town doesn’t like the idea of someone who is different having free will to do what he wants.

When tragedy strikes, she leaves home and escapes into the mountains, where she ekes out a solitary life for herself despite the challenges posed by the elements and her own limitations. But when she returns home, so much has changed. She soon learns of the government’s plan to flood her town, so she is determined to save all she can, especially her family’s peach orchard.

This is based on the true story of the destruction of Iola, Colorado. It’s an emotional story of love, betrayal, fear, isolation, friendship, and resilience. Victoria is a truly memorable character whose bravery and ingenuity in the face of adversity was moving and inspirational.

Book Review: "The Jeweler of Stolen Dreams" by M.J. Rose

Powerful and magical. M.J. Rose has done it again!

This dual-timeline novel is focused on French jeweler Suzanne Belperron. In 1942, she was ahead of her time in terms of her jewelry creations, with color and form, and she counted heiresses and royalty among her customers.

But while Belperron was world-renowned for her jewelry, perhaps her greatest contribution to society was secretly getting countless Jewish families out of France since WWII began. As the Nazis draw closer to discovering her secret, the risks increase, until the unthinkable happens.

In 1986, Violine is an appraiser for an auction house who is asked to visit the home of a political candidate and son of a former Senator. He has inherited a house full of valuable items that he’d like Violine to appraise.

She’s wowed by everything, but feels particularly drawn to a vintage trunk. Since childhood, Violine has had the ability to determine the provenance of an object and feel the secrets of its owners. What she discovers inside the trunk, a secret cache of precious jewels, awakens nightmarish visions. What are they, and to whom did they belong?

The lives of Suzanne and Violine intertwine as she tries to find out more about the jewels. But what will her discoveries mean, not only to history, but to her own life?

I don’t read much historical fiction, particularly set during WW2, but I always make an exception for M.J. Rose. I’m so grateful to Get Red PR Books and Blue Box Press for inviting me on the tour for this book.

Book Review: "Even Though I Knew the End" by C.L. Polk

This is a novella that’s a little creepy, a little mysterious, a little fantastical, even a little poignant and romantic.

⁣ ⁣ Helen is a talented magical detective in Chicago in the early 1940s. But instead of being recruited into the shadowy Brotherhood, promising her soul in exchange for her brother’s life leaves her shunned and without the Brotherhood's support. She knows she only has a few days left to live before the devil comes calling.⁣

⁣ But Helen’s mysterious client offers her a job too good to resist: find out the identity of the brutal murderer being called the “White City Vampire” and her debt will be considered paid. That means she’ll be able to spend the rest of her life with Edith, the woman she loves.⁣

⁣ Figuring out the identity of the killer is far more complicated than Helen bargained for. She finds herself in the middle of a gigantic web full of unspeakable evil. Will she be able to survive to enjoy her freedom, or will the job prove too dangerous?⁣

⁣ This was fairly outside my comfort zone but I absolutely loved it! It has a lot of different elements—magic, angels and demons, and a sapphic love story. At its core this is a story of how far we’re willing to go for those we love. I would love if C.L. Polk wrote a sequel someday!!⁣

Book Review: "Big Red" by Jerome Charyn

Jerome Charyn's Big Red is a compelling, fascinating novel about Old Hollywood.

I was so excited to be part of the virtual tour for this book, and I’m grateful to Over The River PR, Jerome Charyn, and Liveright Publishing for the signed first edition!

“I was an actress who couldn’t act, a dancer who couldn’t dance, a singer who couldn’t sing. So I went straight to Hollywood after my sophomore year of college.”

With those words we are introduced to Rusty Redburn, the book’s feisty narrator. It’s 1943. She is in love with the movies and the movie business, and works at Columbia Pictures.

The legendary Rita Hayworth is Columbia’s biggest movie star to date. But studio mogul Harry Cohn is worried about Hayworth, because she’s with troubled filmmaker Orson Welles. So Cohn does what any other studio head would do—he hires Rusty to spy on Hayworth. She becomes her private secretary and confidante, but things don’t quite unfold the way Cohn hopes.

I found this book so fascinating. It’s a look behind the curtain at the rise and fall of a Hollywood legend, but at the same time it’s commentary on how actresses were treated by the studio system. It’s also an interesting look at what life was like for a lesbian in the 1940s.

Whether or not you’re a fan of classic movies and Old Hollywood stories, this is a great read.

Book Review: "Decanted" by Linda Sheehan

And another book keeps me up late because I can’t stop reading—Decanted by Linda Sheehan. This was really entertaining.

Samantha loves wine. She loves learning about new varieties and she has an exceptional palate for nuances and flavors. She dreams of a career in the wine industry and hopes to get her accounting firm to consider branching out into that industry.

One day, inspired by the memory of her spirited great-aunt Vivian, she quits her high-pressure accounting job and goes to France, to help a renowned family harvest their grapes. It’s hard work in a gorgeous setting (the family’s handsome son doesn’t hurt) and she learns so much about the business—not to mention about love.

Julien takes her all over France to understand how different wines are made, and what differentiates exceptional wine from good wine. It's an incredible, invaluable education. But when she leaves France suddenly she’s more determined than ever to make her own wine—and make it exceptional. She’ll need hard work, luck, confidence, and more inspiration from Aunt Vivian.

Meanwhile, snippets throughout the book show Vivian, a young woman who goes to pre-WWII Paris to escape the boring life her parents want for her. There she becomes an artist’s muse and finds herself in the midst of some extraordinary situations.

Decanted was a great story about following your dreams and believing in yourself against all odds. I learned so much about wine (the author is co-owner of a winery in Napa so she knows her stuff) and boy, this book made me hungry! It’s a hopeful, emotional, sexy, enjoyable book.

Suzy Approved Book Tours, Linda Sheehan, and Black Rose Writing provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. (Sheehan also sent a bottle of wine!) Thanks so much for making it available!!

Book Review: "The Astonishing Life of August March" by Aaron Jackson

Aaron Jackson's The Astonishing Life of August March is utterly charming and delightful.

August March took his first breaths in a New York City theater prior to World War II. Born to an actress during the intermission of her play, she abandoned him amidst her soiled costumes. He was found by an elderly laundress, who becomes his de-facto mother, but knowing that she wasn't truly the maternal type, she nurtures him when she's at work, but leaves him to spend his nights in the theater.

August is a wild but intelligent child, one who speaks in Shakespearean monologues and is prone to dramatic declarations because he grows up watching every theatrical production. At one point he even befriends an English actor who played King Lear. He knows what makes a good production and what makes a disastrous one, and he's more than happy to share his opinions.

But August knows nothing of the outside world and doesn’t know how to interact with people, and when his time in the theater comes to an end in the days after WWII, he must make his way in the world. His life is a continued adventure, from pickpocket to prep school student, drunkard to high-stakes con artist. But while he may have companions, he always feels alone.

Yet despite the adventures, the highs and lows he experiences through his life, August longs for some sense of normalcy, for people to care for him. He thinks he may have found that with Penny, but is it for real or is she going for the ultimate con herself?

I thought this was such a fun, enjoyable book, and the characters are truly memorable. This was a special story which would make a fun movie, because August was so fascinating.

The Astonishing Life of August March is one of those books that sticks with you. I definitely wished it were longer.

Book Review: "The Alice Network" by Kate Quinn

"Why did it matter if something scared you, when it simply had to be done anyway?"

Bravery can come from the least likely of sources. And in Kate Quinn's The Alice Network, she weaves together a story of some brave but unknown women from history with some fictitious ones.

In 1947, Charlotte “Charlie” St. Clair has been dragged to Europe by her mother. Charlie is 19, pregnant, and unmarried, and the plan is to go to Switzerland to have her “little problem” taken care of. But Charlie is less interested in dealing with her own issues and would rather try to find her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared during WWII.

Charlie escapes her mother’s clutches and flees to London to try and find a woman who supposedly can help her. When she meets Eve Gardiner, the woman is drunk, angry, and pointing a gun at Charlie, and refuses to help her. But when Charlie utters one man’s name, and the French city where Rose had supposedly gone during the war, Eve reluctantly agrees to help.

It turns out that Eve isn’t just a drunk older woman—during WWI she was a spy, part of the Alice Network, a group of women trained to ferret out information from the most dangerous of sources. Stationed in France, Eve was excellent at her job, until something goes awry, and a betrayal tears down the whole network. She bears the physical and emotional scars all these years later.

This is a great historical fiction book, alternating between Eve’s time in France in 1915 and Charlie’s 1947 efforts to find Rose. It’s intense, suspenseful, and emotional, and although it was a tiny bit too long, I really devoured it. I've heard Quinn's other book, The Huntress, is good as well.

It's funny: I often say that historical fiction isn't my thing because I'd much rather read contemporary stories than anything else. But strangely enough, all of the historical fiction I've read lately (without really considering it "historical") has been pretty great. So now I'm just a big contradiction, lol.

Book Review: "Big Lies in a Small Town" by Diane Chamberlain

Is Diane Chamberlain's newest novel, Big Lies in a Small Town, worth all of the buzz it's been getting? Simple answer? Heck, yeah!

Morgan Christopher has seen better days. Once an aspiring artist, she’s serving a prison term for a crime she didn’t commit. And then one day, she gets offered an unbelievable opportunity, and her life changes again.

A legendary artist whose work she admired stipulated in his will that Morgan must be hired to restore an historic WWII-era mural to hang in a gallery that he had designed before his death. She has no idea how he knew her name and she has no experience with restoration, but if she does it, she’s free. Of course, there’s a very strict deadline, one that the artist's daughter is going to ensure she meets—or else.

The mural is in worse shape than anyone imagined, and there are some strange images included. The original artist allegedly lost her mind and disappeared before the mural could be finished. , but first she has to learn how to restore the mural and ready it to be hung in the gallery. It's no easy feat, especially given the short time period she has. But failure is not an option.

Morgan becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to the artist. At the same time, she is struggling with trying to start her life again, although she is wracked with guilt about what happened in the accident that led to her prison term, as well as anger at the person who left her in the lurch. How can a person who has never been really given love or respect love or respect themselves?

In dual narratives, we follow the artist’s journey in 1940 and what happened to her, and we follow Morgan’s efforts to beat the clock and the damage that time has inflicted on the mural. The artist's story is one of being a stranger in a small town, jealousy, racial tension, and struggling with mental illness.

This is a really compelling, well-told book that I really enjoyed. I definitely saw there was potential for Chamberlain to take Morgan's story down several more melodramatic roads and I was so glad she didn't do that. I did think, however, that there were a few too many coincidences for my liking.

This is the first of Chamberlain's books I've read, but it won't be the last, as many friends have spoken very highly of her. This would probably be a really good movie or television miniseries!

Book Review: "The Lost Girls of Paris" by Pam Jenoff

C'est magnifique!!

In 1946, shortly after World War II ended, Grace Healey is living in New York, fleeing for an anonymous life in the city after the tragic death of her husband. One morning on her way to work she takes a detour through Grand Central Station, where she trips over a suitcase hidden beneath a bench.

She can't resist opening the suitcase, and when she finds a group of photographs, each of a different woman, she can't seem to explain why she has this powerful need to keep them.

Grace soon finds out that the suitcase belonged to Eleanor Trigg, a British woman who ran operations for a group of female spies during the war. These women were deployed throughout Europe, given missions as radio operators, couriers, and other necessary positions to help defeat the Nazis. Twelve of these women—the women in the photographs Grace found—never returned home. This motivates Grace to try and figure out what happened to them, and what Eleanor Trigg was looking for in New York City.

Grace's quest to uncover the truth is juxtaposed with the story of two other women. We follow Eleanor as she is tapped to create this program that brought women into the war as special agents, then tries to understand what is going wrong as her agents are being captured and messages are being compromised, and then, after the war, she, too, wants to understand what happened to the women under her supervision. The book also follows Marie Roux, one of Eleanor's special agents, a young mother who wasn't really sure she was cut out for this type of mission, yet found her bravery and strength just when she needed it most.

The Lost Girls of Paris is inspired by true events. It really does a great job putting a human face on those courageous people, particularly young women, who risked everything to help defeat those seeking to destroy the world.

I am not one who typically reads historical fiction—in fact, I think I've read one other work of historical fiction this year. But when I was offered a chance to read a pre-publication copy of The Lost Girls of Paris, something about the book intrigued me. I thought it was an excellent book, full of rich characters, suspense, emotion, and historical details, all of which made it a tremendously fast read. (I read the entire book in one miserably rainy day.)

I'm new to Pam Jenoff's books, but I was really impressed with her storytelling ability and the evocative imagery she used. I felt the different conditions Marie found herself in, I heard the noises of the city as Grace encountered the suitcase at Grand Central Station. The book took a little bit to build up momentum, but it really hooked me, as I hoped I'd get answers to all of the questions the characters raised.

If you're not a fan of historical fiction, don't be dissuaded from reading The Lost Girls of Paris. It's an excellent novel, a great character study, and even has some suspense, as you wonder how everything will be resolved. If you are a fan of this genre, you probably already want to read it! (And if not, you should!)

Park Row Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "Noir" by Christopher Moore

Well, it's been a while since I've read a book that should have been accompanied by a drum set, in order to generate rimshots after every joke, but this definitely felt like one of those!!

"There are times in a guy's life when he finds himself floating facedown in a sea of troubles, and as hope bubbles away, he thinks, How the hell did I get here?"

It's 1947 in San Francisco. The country has just started putting all of its pieces back together following World War II. Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin is the evening bartender at Sal's Saloon, and he spends his evenings helping the city's denizens bury their troubles with the help of cheap liquor. Sam always has his hand in some other scheme, either because he needs to make more money or he has connections that range throughout the city. (Most often both.)

Then one night, of all of the gin joints in the world, in she walks—a flirtatious blonde, "a size-eight dame in a size-six dress and every mug in the joint was rooting for the two sizes to make a break for it as they watched her wiggle in the door and shimmy onto a barstool with her back to the door." The dame, it turns out, is named Stilton (like the cheese), and she takes a shine to Sammy. And the shine is more than mutual.

As much as Sammy would like to do nothing more than romance "the Cheese" (as everyone refers to Stilton), he's got his hands full. His boss wants him to recruit a group of women to "entertain" a bunch of VIPs. He may have been inadvertently involved in the assault and kidnapping of a somewhat racist policeman. Oh, and he might have also brought a deadly black mamba snake into San Francisco—and the snake didn't waste time before inflicting some damage.

But is that why two dark-suited, sunglasses-wearing investigators are on his trail? Or is there something else?

When the Cheese goes missing, Sammy needs to take action. He recruits a motley group of friends and associates to help him follow her trail, and it leads them into the middle of one hell of a mess, with cross-dressing members of a secret club, government investigators bent on "taking care" of anyone that gets in their way, and, well, there may be a space alien in the mix as well.

Sammy doesn't know what to make of any of it, but he knows he wants the Cheese back, so he'll take on any enemy that comes his way—even if it may be carrying a space blaster.

Noir is a wacky, corny, somewhat disjointed novel that is simultaneously funny, odd, confusing, and downright bizarre. But all of these adjectives perfectly describe the storytelling of Christopher Moore, author of books like The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and Island of the Sequined Love-Nun, among others. As I saw in the description of this book, "Think Raymond Chandler meets Damon Runyon with more than a dash of Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes All Stars," but I'd throw in a little Men in Black as well.

I was a big fan of Moore's in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but after a while I found myself rolling my eyes more than laughing when I read his books. For some reason I expected something slightly different from Noir, and while it started out that way, by the end there were so many competing storylines, not to mention occasional narration from Petey the black mamba snake, that I just wasn't sure what I was reading.

This is a book that takes on its story with great gusto. I marveled at Moore's creativity, but all in all, Noir didn't quite work for me. However, if zany, no-holds-barred books pique your interest, definitely give this one a try.

Book Review: "White Houses" by Amy Bloom

Fifty-five years after her death, and more than 70 years after she left the White House following her husband's death, Eleanor Roosevelt remains one of the most intriguing women in history. She certainly was a role model for trailblazing women not interested in being confined to the boxes in which society wants to contain them, but rather working to bring about change wherever it is needed.

While much is known about her public persona, her personal life has always remained more of an enigma. More and more, it is understood that her marriage to FDR was more one of convenience than romance, and while his affairs were the stuff of gossip, hers, with women, were kept more secret.

Perhaps Eleanor's most notable relationship was with Lorena "Hick" Hickok, once the most prominent female reporter in the U.S. Hick and Eleanor met in 1932 when Hick was covering FDR's campaign for president. Instantly smitten although the two come from vastly different worlds—the patrician Eleanor was both enchanted and horrified by Hick's rough-and-tumble exterior—after spending some time together their friendship deepens into intimacy.

Hick moves into the White House and becomes known as Eleanor's "first friend." Their relationship is as talked about within White House circles as FDR's are, but the president seems content if his wife is, and he gives Hick a job within the administration. And while it is clear both women love each other, Eleanor is conflicted about her feelings for Hick, her role as First Lady, and whether she should continue to enjoy her relationship, or whether she isn't a suitable match, and if she should set Hick free.

Amy Bloom's White Houses is a fictionalized account of the decades-long relationship between two women who have seen so much, yet still find wonder in each other, even at a time where such relationships could mean ruin. It's a story about how the power of love isn't always enough to see you through, but the strength of a friendship can power a relationship. It's also a story of a woman who grew up poorer than poor finds herself in the midst of a life she couldn't even begin to dream of, yet she can't have everything she wants.

"I wasn't in love with Eleanor. We had agreed that 'in love' had burned out after four years for us, the way it does for most of us, in two months or two years and, I guess, never for some lucky people. Instead of a trail of fire roaring through, those people get small candles steadily lighting the way home until death do they part, and only the young are stupid enough to think that those two old people, him gimping, her squinting, are not in love. I got by. I lived amputated, which sounds worse than it felt. I learned to do all kinds of large and small tasks, with part of me missing, and I feel pretty sure that the people who watched me in the world thought that I was entirely able-bodied."

White Houses follows the two women through three decades of their relationship, and flashes back to Hick's hardscrabble childhood and young adulthood, where she learned how to fend for herself. Although it moves a little slowly at times, it's a poignant love story and a look at history that I found fascinating, moving, and thought-provoking. Hick is brash and confident, yet she has a tender, vulnerable side that Eleanor often brings out in her, while Eleanor had two faces—the public woman bent on saving the world, and the private woman who just wanted to be loved but didn't know if she was worthy.

I have been a big fan of Amy Bloom's for a number of years and find her writing absolutely dazzling. This book is beautifully written, and while I didn't completely warm to Bloom's last few historical novels, preferring her more modern fiction, I really enjoyed this one. Her words conveyed the emotional conflict, the longing, and the protectiveness both women felt, and brought so much depth to this story.

NetGalley and Random House provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!