Category Archives: Fiction
The Adoration of Jenna Fox
You may be one of the throng who are waiting for 8/24/10 when Mockingjay is released and concludes The Hunger Games trilogy (linked to Dawn's review if you aren't sure what all the hubbub is about). But The Hunger Games isn't the only dystopian YA lit out there. While you are waiting for your copy to arrive, or for your number to come up on the library's waitlist (my YA librarian said that she has 8 copies on order, and there are already almost 60 names on the request list), here's another book with a strong female lead that you might want to consider: I listened to the audiobook of The Adoration of Jenna Fox a while ago -- a long while, and I've been remiss in posting a review, even ...
Fragile
I have to admit that I wasn't familiar with the author Lisa Unger, but the description of her newest release, Fragile, immediately appealed to me. While her previous four novels fit into the literary thriller genre, her newest book combines a mystery in the plot with a realistic depiction and exploration of the complex nature of family relationships. Set in The Hollows, a small town outside of New York City, this novel introduces a large cast of characters, who are all interconnected in some way, from the coincidental to the significant. Much history exists among the key players-- the adults among them all attended school together and they have produced the next generation of the town's families. At the center of the story is Maggie, who couldn't get out of town fast enough upon graduation but was ...
Come Sunday
Come Sunday is a debut novel by Isla Morley. It deals with one of those subjects that many moms do anything to avoid pondering -- in fiction or otherwise -- the death of a child. But if you will give me some latitude, I will try to convince you that's not what this book is about (in fact, that's not what most of them are about). Yes, her only child is killed in an accident. Yes, that changes who she is overnight, but the death of her child is actually a force that causes her to examine other things in her life -- her marriage, her past, and her future. The writing is good -- honest and true without going over the top. I think it's because it's not overly introspective. The story is ...
Georgia’s Kitchen
When Jennifer sent me the first set of books available for my first review here on 5M4B, she warned me to be careful what I choose. She said, "if you really think you’ll like it, then take it, but if you’re not sure, then be discriminating." As soon as I read the description of Jenny Nelson’s first novel, Georgia’s Kitchen, I knew it was a great first choice. Georgia Grey has it all – she’s a renowned chef at a top NYC restaurant, engaged to a handsome lawyer and has dreams of opening her own restaurant. After an influential restaurant critic publishes a scathing review and her fiancé dumps her, she escapes to Tuscany to work for her former mentor, lick her wounds ...
Back on Murder
Back on Murder is, from what I understand, J. Mark Bertrand’s first foray into detective fiction and it’s a good one. Really good. Everything that marks a good book is here: compelling plot, complex characterization, smart prose. It is an intricate, intelligent mystery with a complicated and sympathetic protagonist. I liked Back on Murder. I liked it a lot. Houston homicide detective Roland March was once one of the best. Now he's disillusioned, cynical, and on his way out. His superiors farm him out on a variety of punishment details•until an unexpected break gives March one last chance to save his career. And his humanity. All he has to do? Find the missing teenage daughter of a Houston evangelist that every cop in town is already looking for. But March has an inside track, a multiple murder nobody ...
A Good Confession
Whenever I read British literature, I find myself transported. It seems so foreign to me, even more so than reading the South Asian authors and Middle Eastern authors who I love, perhaps because I always feel like it should feel more similar to my own experience, since they speak the same language. So I’m surprised when I read a story just how different it is. A Good Confession is set in 1950’s England and Ireland, and the setting is lush and rich and a very real part of the story. Cathleen Brogan is a young widow. Her husband has just died at less than 30 years old, and her life is suddenly changed. This is not a grief-stricken novel, although Cathleen often wonders – and echoes the fears that most of us ...
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Jennifer Donovan
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