Welcome to Three Pines, a community in rural Quebec that could really be any town anywhere, with its dynamic and interesting characters. This first book in a series introduces Three Pines and the main character, Chief Detective Armand Gamache, who is an interesting and deep character. Mystery readers will connect with him immediately. With good plot turns, well developed characters, and crime, Louise Penny’s first novel is deserving of its awards.
The first in a new series by Janet Evanovich, Wicked Appetite is a fun, easy read. Main character Elizabeth Tucker or Lizzy is a strong interesting character whom readers will enjoy getting to know.
Lizzy, a pastry chef by trade, finds out she has an unmentionable ability to identify enchanted objects. The objects she is supposed to identify are the seven stones of power, each said to represent one of the seven deadly sins. She is joined by Diesel, another unmentionable there to protect her, Gerwulf Grimoire, there to use her ability to enhance his power, a one eyed ninja cat, a monkey and others who help her to locate the first of the stones — the gluttony stone. Recommended.
Set in bohemian New York City, this book shows what it was like to be a woman and an artist at the turn of the twentieth century. Louis Comfort Tiffany was one of the first to recognize women’s artistic abilities and have women working in his studio. Clara Driscoll is head of his women’s division and at times his muse. A colorful cast of characters share Clara’s triumphs and challenges. Based on truth, this is a moving glimpse into an important time in our history. Recommended.
Another interesting glimpse into the past from Tracy Chevalier. An unlikely friendship between middle-class spinster Elizabeth Philpot and working-class Mary Anning forms through a shared love of the hunt for and defining of fossils found in and around an English seaside town. The remarkable creatures are as much Elizabeth and Mary as are the fossils they find. An enjoyable read from the author of Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. She lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.
Not your typical good vs. evil story, this complex tale takes the reader across time blending mystery, suspense and romance. An enjoyable read with an unpredictable ending.
Three generations of extraordinary women are driven to unite in crisis and discover the rewards of reconciliation and love.
Alice Hoffman tells a wonderful story about real characters. She easily weaves in some fantastical elements like each woman’s special gift. Eleanor can tell if a person is lying and Jenny experiences other people’s dreams. The reader easily gets engrossed. Highly recommended.
A year after her world was nearly destroyed, sixteen-year-old Green has become the one villagers turn to for aid, expecially to record their stories, but Green will need the help of other women who, like herself, are believed to be witches, if she is to find her best friend and her one true love. A wonderful, quick read along with Green Angel. Each can be read in one or two sittings. Both are haunting and memorable.
Haunted by grief and by her past after losing her family in a fire, fifteen-year-old Green retreats into her ruined garden as she struggles to survive emotionally and physically on her own.
