A Doll's House Part 2 By: Lucas Hnath

Re-read this immediately after re-reading Ibsen's A Doll's House.  Reading these plays back to back, really highlights Hnath's brilliance in capturing the characters that Ibsen so beautifully created.  Part 2 takes place 15 years after the end of Ibsen's original; the language is updated, but unfortunately, the circumstances that caused Nora to leave haven't.  Hnath's look at marriage, misogyny and societal "norms" is as biting as Ibsen's and as insightful as it it heartbreaking.  And to top it all off, he manages to find humor in the situation.  A brilliant read on it's own a stunning piece when read in conjunction with Ibsen's original. 

A Doll's House By: Henrik Ibsen

Re-reading this one so I can read it and Lucas Hnath's A Doll's House Part 2, back to back.  The more times I read A Doll's House the more I appreciated Ibsen's structuring of the story and the guts he exhibited by writing this feminist piece, when he did. It's a classic for a reason!

The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu By: Ann Bennett

Despite a few inconsistencies I really enjoyed this story.  A young woman traces her grandmother's Word War II footsteps in India and Burma.  This starts as a journey of curiosity and respect and becomes a journey into self and into love.  Harrowing at times and deeply moving, Bennett has created some lovely characters and gives the reader a real sense of time and place throughout.

 

Drowning By: T.J. Newman

 

Damn, T.J. Newman can write a story!!!  No Sophomore slump here.  As with her first book , this second one starts off with a bang... a literal one as a plane's engine explodes, and Newman keeps exploding her plot as the reader gets sucked into the story.  Relentless in it's pacing, Newman's story is populated with everyday people, who become extraordinary because of the circumstances with which they are forced to deal.  With only two books under her belt, Newman has mastered the art of creating vivid characters and her imagination and storytelling ability are outrageously brilliant!

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone By: Benjamin Stevenson

This book is for anyone who likes a good mystery.  This book is for anyone who like good storytelling.  This book is for anyone who like dry wit and droll, humor.  This book is for anyone who appreciates smart, clever and creative writing.  In short this book is for everyone.  I can't remember the last time I had such fun reading a book and was in pure awe at how everything is explained , laid out and wrapped up.  I don't now what it says about me that I took such joy in so many dead bodies, but damn it this book is all sorts of AWESOME!

 

The 6:20 Man By: David Baldacci

An interesting and intriguing protagonist and an exceedingly well plotted mystery to solve.  Plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing until the mind blowing finale!  

Murder at a Cape Bookstore By: Maddie Day

The Cozy Book Group has their hands full with a town full of suspects in this thrilling addition to this series.  With a Spring Parade planned on a day threatening snow, and the Main Street businesses hocked off at the newly elected Head of the Chamber of Commerce the atmosphere is ripe for a murder!  Tightly plotted and populated with diverse and fun characters, Murder at a Cape Bookstore is the perfect beach read!

 

Four Leaf Cleaver By: Maddie Day

A cooking competition at Pots & Pans-how exciting...what could go wrong?  Apparently...everything!  Robbie has agreed to let her restaurant for the filming of a cooking competition and soon has several mysteries to solve.  With the usual cast of characters that we've come to love, Maddie Day has plotted a delicious mystery!

Nine Lives and Alibis By: Cate Conte

I am this author's first reader, so I was lucky enough to read the manuscript of this mystery before it was published.  The sign of a great author and a gifted story teller is the fact that even though I had read this before, I was totally engrossed in the mystery and couldn't wait to find out who did it!!  Halloween comes to Daybreak Island  and with it comes a famous psychic and his cat.  Throw in a couple of 40 year old cold cases and Maddie's insights and you have the makings of a great mystery! 

A Truth to Lie For By: Anne Perry

Wow-this one did not go in the directions I thought it would.  The ending isn't an ending, leaving the reader yearning for the next book!  Tense and fraught situations within Berlin are the setting for this novel of intrigue and suspense and shows that Ms. Perry lost none of her talent toward the end.

 

Appropriate By: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

A heart wrenching, yet humorous look at a family reuniting and imploding all at the same time.  Set in a crumbling ancestral plantation home this family comes together to  get the house ready for auction and in the process unearth secrets that may be better left buried. Quick, intelligent, snappish and stunning!

One Wrong Word By: Hank Phillippi Ryan

Whoa!  Twist after twist after twist enfolds the reading in a truly tangled web of he said, she said in this stunner of a read. It is impossible to know who is telling the truth in this thriller, until Ryan deftly pulls all the threads together in a beautifully satisfying conclusion!