Yesterday, I blogged about my upcoming books I’ve selected and that post is a start in blogging about what I’m reading and why. In the past couple of years or so, certain themes in stories have weighed heavily on my mind. Not only that but if the themes and content is something I should be reading as a follower of Christ. I’ve always read widely but was cautious about content and my Christian conventions. However, I’ve agreed to review books that I wasn’t fully aware of its content and have done my best to honor those commitments keeping in mind that I’m not reading a biblical world view on morality and so forth. I have noticed in the past few years that a particular genre from certain authors I once enjoyed reading has become darker and too graphic in human nature to say the least which-I admit-reflects much of the world we live in today. This is not pointing fingers or making accusations towards others but a reflection on my own choices I make about reading material that I want to chose to read or omit from my life.
I’ve also reflected on the issue of how readers and reviewers on NetGalley are given information about the books we choose to read. I believe there is not enough information about its content and NetGalley should provide more information about any disclaimers of content we should be aware of since we are making a commitment to read said books. Yes, I am aware of the argument if that were the case, there would be so many books not selected to read because of the disclaimers and that wouldn’t be fair to the author and so on…I was onboard with that argument for a long time but I am no longer. After all, movies come with ratings and provide disclaimers.
I realize I haven’t always been consistent in my reviews to point out any content that people need to be aware of if they need or want to avoid for various reasons.
More times than not, I felt trapped into reading said books and recently I’ve rejected two books and stated my reasons to the publishers with respect of course. This may be difficult for many readers and authors to hear but as a long-standing book blogger, my experience as a book reviewer and reader needs to be voiced even at the risk of losing subscribers.
Christians are encouraged to engage with secular books-including fiction for an understanding of the world but we should also be discerning and cautious. That is true for secularist as well. For anyone in society really.
I have read many books that dealt with sensitive and difficult topics in such a way to make the story readable to a wide audience without compromising the readers convictions of what they can read without feeling uneasy or question if this is something they should be reading in the first place. My thanks to writers who weaves the story thus. I have more thoughts on this topic and may share more at a later time.
I tend to read multiple books at once due to my moods, what I’m studying or what I’m reading for pleasure. I know many say they can’t read like that but I’ve been able to do so for a long time now. Look at it this way, people usually watch multiple tv shows on a weekly basis and are able to keep up with the plots and characters without any problems. Taking notes or talking with a friend about what you’re reading is a good idea. I also like to go back a few pages sometimes to immerse myself back into the story. That said, if I’m really into a story and I don’t want to put it down or can’t wait to get back to it, I will focus on that story before moving on to the next one. I have finished a few books since the last time I blogged about books and I’m hoping to move on to a few books I’ve listed below.
I’ve had, “One Good Thing” by Georgia Hunter in my currently reading pile for quite a while now and haven’t been able to finish it. For some reason, I’m just not able to get into the story. Perhaps it is because I’ve read so many World War II stories and I’m experiencing burnout. That has happened to me before with this theme. I want to give the story a fair critique so I will be putting it aside temporary.
Side note: There are many books I’m using for study that I haven’t blogged about as of yet or I study and reference them on an ongoing basis.
Stephanie
The Lies They Told by Ellen Marie Wiseman(I have an advance reader’s copy)
Pub Date Jul 29 2025
In rural 1930s Virginia, a young immigrant mother fights for her dignity and those she loves against America’s rising eugenics movement – when widespread support for policies of prejudice drove imprisonment and forced sterilizations based on class, race, disability, education, and country of origin – in this tragic and uplifting novel of social injustice, survival, and hope for readers of Susan Meissner, Kristin Hannah, and Christina Baker Kline.
When Lena Conti—a young, unwed mother—sees immigrant families being forcibly separated on Ellis Island, she vows not to let the officers take her two-year old daughter. But the inspection process is more rigorous than she imagined, and she is separated from her mother and teenage brother, who are labeled burdens to society, denied entry, and deported back to Germany. Now, alone but determined to give her daughter a better life after years of living in poverty and near starvation, she finds herself facing a future unlike anything she had envisioned.
Silas Wolfe, a widowed family relative, reluctantly brings Lena and her daughter to his weathered cabin in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains to care for his home and children. Though the hills around Wolfe Hollow remind Lena of her homeland, she struggles to adjust. Worse, she is stunned to learn the children in her care have been taught to hide when the sheriff comes around. As Lena meets their neighbors, she realizes the community is vibrant and tight knit, but also senses growing unease. The State of Virginia is scheming to paint them as ignorant, immoral, and backwards so they can evict them from their land, seize children from parents, and deal with those possessing “inferior genes.”
After a social worker from the Eugenics Office accuses Lena of promiscuity and feeblemindedness, her own worst fears come true. Sent to the Virginia State Colony for the Feebleminded and Epileptics, Lena face impossible choices in hopes of reuniting with her daughter—and protecting the people, and the land, she has grown to love.
Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together by Ilana Kurshan (I have an advance reader’s copy)
Pub Date Aug 26 2025
In Children of the Book, Ilana Kurshan explores the closeness forged when family life unfolds against a backdrop of reading together. Kurshan, a mother of five living in Jerusalem, at first struggles to balance her passion for literature with her responsibilities as a parent. Gradually she learns how to relate to reading not as a solitary pursuit and an escape from the messiness of life, but rather as a way of teaching independence and forging connection. Introducing her children to sacred and secular literature—including the beloved classics of her childhood—helps her become both a better mother and a better reader.
Chief among the books Kurshan reads with her children is the Five Books of Moses, known as the Torah, which Jews the world over read in synchrony as part of the liturgical cycle. In the five parts of this memoir, Kurshan explores the surprising resonances between the biblical text and her experiences as a mother and a reader – from the first picture books that create the world through language for little babies, to the moment our children begin reading on their own leaving us behind, atop the mountain, as they enter new lands without us. A testament to the enduring power of shared texts, Children of the Book celebrates the deep pleasures of books.
The Dark Library by Mary Anna Evans(I have an advance reader’s copy)
Pub Date Jun 24 2025
Estella Ecker has returned to Rockfall House, the last place on earth she wants to be. Years after she ran away from her overbearing father, she has been forced back home to walk in his footsteps, teaching at the college he dominated and living in the fabulous home where he entertained artists and scholars for decades—and perhaps she owns it now, because her mercurial mother has disappeared. At the center of everything—the whispers, the rumors, the secrets—is her father’s library of rare books, which she had been forbidden to touch while he was alive to stop her.
Everyone in town is watching Estella, with her dead father’s name on their lips, and no one seems to care about her missing mother. Who were her parents, really, and is the answer hidden somewhere in the depths of Rockfall House? And who will Estella be, if she gathers enough courage to find that answer? What she will discover is that no one can escape the secrets hidden in this dark library.
Suspenseful and unsettling but ultimately triumphant, The Dark Library by acclaimed author Mary Anna Evans is a compelling tale of mystery, family secrets, and the quest for truth.
I’ve got quite the collection of books I’m currently reading. I don’t usually have this many going at once but seeing as they are -for the most part-from different genres…For the exception of. “Letter from the Dead” and, “Murder at the Loch”. That said, those two mysteries couldn’t be more different. I’m just about finished with, “Murder at the Loch” and I just received, “Letters from the Dead” on Monday from the publishers. It has been ages since I’ve received a physical copy. That has been by design by me because of the volume of books I have in the house as it is and I’m currently working on acquiring physical copies of theology, ancient cultural background and early church history for studies.
Ever since I came back from a much-needed break from reviewing, I’ve only been reading books for review via ebook through NetGalley. I am listening to, “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” via audio-book and I’m really enjoying the story. I grew up knowing this story and it is among my favorites. Listening to the story is a real treat.
As far as reviews go, I do have a few coming up soon. Be on the lookout for those.
Stephanie
Letters from the Dead by Isabella Valeri
Expected publication Date: May 27, 2025by Atria Books
For the first eleven years of her life, the precocious daughter of a great European family tracing its roots back more than fifteen generations, never set foot on land that her family didn’t own. Cloistered on a sprawling estate in the Alpine foothills, as the youngest sibling of her generation she has little knowledge of the dark forces gathering in the shadows to strike at her family. But, when her insatiable curiosity leads her to uncover a priceless text hidden hundreds of years before, she shines light into corners meant to be left in the dark and threatens to uncover secrets that could trigger an internecine battle for succession.
Then, with no warning or explanation, she is whisked away on a private jet and exiled to an elite but isolated all-girls boarding school in the United States. More than a decade later, now in her twenties, she finds her bank accounts abruptly frozen by her family. She is recalled from her affluent but empty existence abroad. Little does she know that her family has plans for her, including an arranged marriage. Worse, as she draws closer to discovering the horrific act that sent her into exile a decade before, and shadowy enemies close in on her family, she must face her most dangerous and powerful foe: her own father.
Murder at the Loch by Dee MacDonald
Recent retiree Ally McKinley has stepped out with her puppy Flora for a walk by the loch in the tiny village of Locharran, taking a break from running the coziest little guesthouse in the Highlands. But Ally’s peace and quiet is sunk when she and Flora find the body of a mysterious woman floating in the water…
Before she knows it, Ally finds herself wading into the middle of a new investigation. Who was the mystery woman and why was she killed? Her enquiries take her all over the from the corner shop and the nearby hotel to the turreted castle, home of local earl Hamish Sinclair where preparations are underway for his upcoming – and much gossiped about – wedding.
The body in the loch soon has the rumour mills buzzing. But then Elena, the earl’s new bride, is also found poisoned to death the morning after her marriage! With two deaths to investigate, the police appear to suspect almost everyone in Locharran, even Ally herself…
Determined to uncover the truth and clear her name, Ally finds poison at the home of one of her suspects and thinks she might be on the right path to solving both murders. But with a killer on the loose in the Scottish Highlands, can Ally unravel the clues before the next person in a watery grave is her?
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by by Jules Verne
When an unidentified “monster” threatens international shipping, French oceanographer Pierre Aronnax and his unflappable assistant Conseil join an expedition organized by the US Navy to hunt down and destroy the menace. After months of fruitless searching, they finally grapple with their quarry, but Aronnax, Conseil, and the brash Canadian harpooner Ned Land are thrown overboard in the attack, only to find that the “monster” is actually a futuristic submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by a shadowy, mystical, preternaturally imposing man who calls himself Captain Nemo. Thus begins a journey of 20,000 leagues—nearly 50,000 miles—that will take Captain Nemo, his crew, and these three adventurers on a journey of discovery through undersea forests, coral graveyards, miles-deep trenches, and even the sunken ruins of Atlantis. Jules Verne’s novel of undersea exploration has been captivating readers ever since its first publication in 1870, and Frederick Paul Walter’s reader-friendly, scientifically meticulous translation of this visionary science fiction classic is complete and unabridged down to the smallest substantive detail.
Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up: A New Look at Today’s Evangelical Church in the Light of Early Christianity by David W. Bercot
Sex and money scandals. An exploding divorce rate. Drug-addicted youths. And an ever-growing worldliness. Today’s evangelical church is fighting battles on all fronts. And we seem to be losing these battles to the relentlessly encroaching world. Perhaps the answers to our problems are not in the present, but in the past. Because there was time when Christians were able to stand up to world.
The author takes you on an engrossing journey back to the time – back to the end of the first century. Here is an inspiring account of what Christians believed and practiced at the close of the age of the apostles – and how the church eventually lost the Christianity of that time.
But Will The Real Heretics Please Stand Up is not primarily a history book. It’s a fresh, creative look at the problems facing the church today – and the solution to those problems. It’s a call for today’s church to return to the simple holiness, unfailing love, and patient cross-bearing of the early Christians.
Publish date: March 4, 2025 by Sourcebooks Landmark
1613: King James – sixth of Scotland, first of England, son of Mary, Queen of Scots – has unified both countries under one crown. But the death of his eldest son, Henry, has plunged the nation into mourning, as the rumors rise the prince was poisoned.
Andrew Logan’s heard the rumors, but he’s paid them little heed. As one of the King’s Messengers he has enough secrets to guard, including his own. In these perilous times, when the merest suggestion of witchcraft can see someone tortured and hanged, men like Andrew must hide well the fact they were born with the Sight.
He’ll need all his gifts, though, when the king sends Andrew north to find and arrest Sir David Murray, once Prince Henry’s trusted courtier, and bring him a prisoner to London to stand trial before the dreaded Star Chamber.
My thoughts:
In 1613, Andrew Logan- King James’s Messenger- is given the task of arresting David Murray and bringing him back to England to stand trial.
Logan is a man of duty while holding true to a moral compass and discipline despite the pressures and opinions from his peers. I began to see this about Logan early on and was curious on how this task at the King’s demand would play out. His convictions to do right by others at his own peril had me cheering for him. Without giving too much away, I will say that Logan exemplifies the best of what a king’s messenger ought to be.
I must confess it isn’t often I read historical fiction stories that take place in the 1700s regarding King James’s – sixth of Scotland court. What do I mean by that? I have read a couple books and articles about King James and there was always something about his character and ruling I disliked or mistrusted-if you will. I was curious on how Kersley would depict him and I was surprised-in a good way-by her characterization of him. It I how I imagined him to be.
For me, the story really took off when Logan and others began their dangerous journey to arrest Sir David Murray. The interactions and growing camaraderie between the characters made the story all the more praise worthy and heart-felt in my eyes.
I must confess, I had my doubts upfront about the theme of, “Born with the Sight.” Will it overpower the story? How will it be dealt with and weaved through the story and will it be heavy handed? Kearsley’s out depiction of the Sight was balanced and well-drawn out and I was quite relieved.
What a wonderfully woven historical story with a fantastic cast of characters and a suburb historically depiction of court life, perilous duty and adventure. This is my top favorites of Kersley’s work and seeing as I have been a bit critical of her stories in the past, I’m giving The King’s Messenger five stars.
Be sure to read the author’s notes at the end. You won’t be disappointed and you will learn a few historical details that will enhance your thoughts on the story.
Stephanie
I received a review copy from the publishers through NetGalley for an honest review.
Every Precious and Fragile Thing begins with Mallory Ward a social worker who loses a client due to a tragic death. The reader experiences heartache and shock right along with her and reader discovers this isn’t the only time she has been faced with lose of life in more ways than one. Not only that, Mallory and her mother Helen’s relationship is tattered and Mallory holds on to resentment beginning from her childhood into adulthood. She refuses to see that she is spiraling and her boss (who is also a friend) forces her to take the summer off work to deal with her unresolved issues and healing. With no where else to go, Mallory returns to childhood home on the Rhode Island coast and she is immediately is confronted with her fragile relationship with her mother and an unexpected person from her past that drove her away long ago.
Helen Ward has devoted decades of her life caring for the terminally ill and helping people prepare for their last moments on this earth. Her home is filled with keepsakes from her clients and she has always put her clients and work first leaving her daughter to feeling neglected and unloved. Unexpectedly Mallory appears and Helene has a chance to mend their relationship.
This story is told in multiple point of views with dual timelines that reveals secrets, horrible assumptions, loss, and heartache that threatens the healing of two families. Will they be able to forgive each other and come together to heal what is broken before it is too late?
I felt every thread of the character’s emotion at the very core of my being. There were moments in the story that my vision was blinded by tears and as I write this now, I’m tearing up.
There are layers of themes in this story and one in particular is a something that has been on my mind for a long time: mortality. Over the years I’ve been studying many time periods in our world’s history and how approaching death or how one’s last moments in this life varies over time. Our relationship with death and how we approach those last moments shapes the very fabric of civilizations. This story put me front and center of this theme was superbly weaved though it’s pages.
I can not praise this story enough and find myself still playing the scenes in my mind that impacted me so. You know a story is worthy and unforgettable when it has moved you so much, you hold the characters in your heart.
Stephanie
I’ve rated this book five stars even though I would rate higher if I could.
My thanks to the publishers for an ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.
This is going to be another fabulous year of great books coming out, reading and discovering new authors. I recently finished reading, “Every Precious and Fragile Thing” by Barbara Davis and it moved me so much that I’m still thinking about the story and getting teary eyed. My review will be posted closer to the publish date. I’m currently reading a couple others including, “Babylonia” by Costanza Casati and it is fabulous! I’m delighted to have discovered Casati’s work and look forward to seeing what she publishes next. I already have so much to say about the story, the time period and where the story takes place. Also, I should be posting my review of, “Sisters in Science” by Olivia Campbell soon. I’m a bit behind on that one because how important this story is and I want to make sure my review conveys the importance of women’s contribution to Science.
I know I said I was all set for the titles I was going to read and review this year but I can’t turn down invites to Random House and Atria books often. That is my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Ha!
The next Reader’s Log will be about the book I got for Christmas! Can’t wait to share! – Stephanie
Paris Undercover (A Wartime Story of Courage, Friendship, and Betrayal) by Matthew Goodman
Pub Date Feb 04 2025 by Random House Publishing Group
Description
Two women in Nazi-occupied Paris created a daring escape line that rescued dozens of Allied servicemen. With one still in a German prison camp, the other wrote a book about it—a memoir built on fabrications. Now the bestselling author of Eighty Days shares their incredible, never-before-told full story.
Etta Shiber and Kate Bonnefous are the unlikeliest of heroines: two seemingly ordinary women, an American widow and an English divorcée, living quietly together in Paris. Yet during the Nazi occupation, these two friends find themselves unexpectedly plunged into the whirlwind of history. With the help of a French country priest and others, they set out to rescue British and French soldiers trapped behind enemy lines—some of whom they daringly smuggle through Nazi checkpoints hidden inside the trunk of their car.
Ultimately the Gestapo captures them both. After eighteen months in prison, Etta is returned to the United States in a prisoner exchange. Back home, hoping to bring attention to her friend Kitty’s bravery, she publishes a memoir about their work. Paris-Underground becomes a publishing sensation and Etta a celebrity. Meanwhile Kate spends the rest of the war in a Nazi prison, entirely unaware of the book that has been written about her—and the deeds that have been claimed in her name.
In researching this story, Matthew Goodman uncovered military records and personal testimonies that reveal, for the first time, the shocking truth behind Etta’s memoir and the unexpected, far-reaching consequences of its publication. More than just a story of two women’s remarkable courage, Paris Undercover is a vivid, gripping account of deceit, betrayal, and personal redemption.
Letters from the Dead by Isabella Valeri
Pub Date May 27 2025 by Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
Description
This addictive debut novel takes us into an intoxicating world of old money, privilege, and family intrigue as a young heiress must return home from a decade-long exile to face the powerful enemies arrayed against her, including those within her own family.
For the first eleven years of her life, the precocious daughter of a great European family tracing its roots back more than fifteen generations, never set foot on land that her family didn’t own. Cloistered on a sprawling estate in the Alpine foothills, as the youngest sibling of her generation she has little knowledge of the dark forces gathering in the shadows to strike at her family. But, when her insatiable curiosity leads her to uncover a priceless text hidden hundreds of years before, she shines light into corners meant to be left in the dark and threatens to uncover secrets that could trigger an internecine battle for succession.
Then, with no warning or explanation, she is whisked away on a private jet and exiled to an elite but isolated all-girls boarding school in the United States. More than a decade later, now in her twenties, she finds her bank accounts abruptly frozen by her family. She is recalled from her affluent but empty existence abroad. Little does she know that her family has plans for her, including an arranged marriage. Worse, as she draws closer to discovering the horrific act that sent her into exile a decade before, and shadowy enemies close in on her family, she must face her most dangerous and powerful foe: her own father.
Princess Elizabeth’s unlikely assassin finds himself on the hook for two murders in this light-hearted Tudor mystery series!
August, 1558. As London is bustling with growing trade from foreign lands, and Queen Mary’s health is once again a hot topic, Jack Blackjack has much to keep him busy. And that’s before his new tenant – a Dutch merchant – disappears under a cloud of suspicion, quickly presumed murdered, and Jack’s latest female companion’s body is found mere streets from her dwelling place.
People around Jack keep inconveniently getting murdered, and he seems to be the most likely culprit! With both the authorities and the unsavoury echelons of London on his tail, nowhere is safe for Jack to hide. He must go about proving his innocence – and uncovering the mirky truth – while ensuring he doesn’t find himself dancing the Tyburn jig!
The question is – can he rely on friends in high – and very low – places to get him out of this ever-increasing mess?
My thoughts:
I must caution you, stepping outside the door of your home and taking a stroll down the streets in 1558 London, may be at your peril. At least it is for Jack! How he manages to survive through the whole story is anyone’s guess. I would like to step inside the book and shake some sense into Jack. Whichever way he seems to turn, he gets himself in a tight spot and also, he seems to have a knack at putting other lives in jeopardy.
I enjoyed reading Jack’s adventures and his troubles he finds himself in is hilariously comical, and it is highly entertaining how others perceive the kind of man they believe Jack to be and when we read what Jack is thinking in the moment, it’s not like how others perceive him or is it? More times than not, the reader must discern if this was an actual character flaw in Jack or some clever ruse.
Jack is questioned or interrogated so many times, I don’t know how he keeps a clear mind with all his excuses. I couldn’t stop chuckling. My goodness! He says anything to just stay alive which is understandable in his situation.
What a fun historical mystery!
I’ve rated this book four stars. Now I must read the other books in the series before this one. Stephanie Hopkins
I obtained an ARC from the publishers through NetGalley for an honest review.
The New Year is almost upon us and many book lovers are sharing their anticipated reads for 2025. That has always been hard for me to do since I’m a mood reader. That said, I usually have a list of projected titles I want to achieve. Do I read all the titles on my curated lists I select to read in a year? Err… Not usually but in my defense, the lists I make do help in regards to keeping track of the books I want to read whether it be sooner or later. There is also something so satisfying about making book lists. I may have shard these thoughts before.
Now when it comes to reviewing ARCs, organizing is key. I’m pretty much set on 2025 ARC’s and I’m looking forward to a new year of book reviewing, discovering new titles, reading and sharing them. Below are three new ARC’s I’ve recently obtained. Excited!
What are some of the titles you are looking forward to in the new year? Are you a NetGalley member? No? I highly recommend becoming one.
Stephanie
Every Precious and Fragile Thing by Barbara Davis
Pub Date Feb 18 2025 by Lake Union Publishing
Description:
A mother and daughter try desperately to reconcile just as a decades-old secret threatens to shatter their relationship forever in this powerful story from the bestselling author of The Echo of Old Books.
For social worker Mallory Ward, working with at-risk youth is a calling. But when one of her clients is tragically killed, she finds herself at a crossroads. Despite long-held resentments toward her distant mother, Mallory retreats to her childhood home on the Rhode Island coast to contemplate her future. Instead, she’s confronted by her past, not only in the renewed tensions with her mother but in the unexpected appearance of a familiar face—and the wrenching losses that drove her away a decade ago.
Helen Ward’s home is filled with precious keepsakes from her patients, a testament to decades spent caring for the terminally ill. Her work has always come first, though, leaving little time to connect with her daughter. Over the years, the rift between them has become a chasm, so when Mallory appears unannounced, Helen sees it as an opportunity to repair their broken relationship.
But hidden among Helen’s mementos are the keys to her past…and a terrible secret that threatens to destroy the fragile new trust between them forever.
No Precious Truth by Chris Nickson
Pub Date Apr 01 2025 by Severn House
Description:
The first in a brand-new WWII historical thriller series introduces Sergeant Cathy Marsden – a female police officer working for the Special Investigation Branch – who risks her life to protect the city of Leeds from an escaped German spy!
Leeds, 1941. As the war rages across Europe, Police Sergeant Cathy Marsden’s life since she was seconded to the Special Investigation Branch has remained focused on deserters and home-front crimes. Until now.
Things take a chilling turn when Cathy’s civil servant brother, Dan, arrives from London with a dark secret: he is working for the XX Committee – a special MI5 unit set up to turn German spies into double agents. But one of these agents has escaped and is heading for Leeds, sent to destroy targets key to the war effort. Suddenly Cathy and the squad are plunged into an unfamiliar world of espionage and subterfuge.
With the fate of the country and the war in the balance, failure is not an option, and Cathy must risk everything, including her own life, to stop a spy.
Trust Me On This by Lauren Parvizi
Pub Date Apr 08 2025 by Lake Union Publishing
Description:
Two half-sisters on a road trip to see their dying father end up miles from where they expected in an emotional novel about secrets, forgiveness, and what it means to be family by the author of La Vie, According to Rose.
Zahra Starling and her younger half-sister, Aurora, have nothing in common. Not their childhoods or their personalities. And certainly not their outlooks. After a terrible loss, Zahra prefers the solitude of her LA kitchen to people, especially family. Bubbly Aurora, a rising Hollywood starlet, has everything she’s ever dreamed of, except a relationship with her sister.
Then comes a plea from their dying father, who wants both daughters by his side. He has a secret to share that’s been a long time coming.
It’s Zahra’s last chance to bring closure to the past, even if traumatic memories mean there’s no way she’s stepping foot on a plane. For Aurora, road-tripping to Seattle is the perfect escape and the chance to win over prickly Zahra.
What starts as a rough ride reopening old wounds evolves into something neither expects. When they finally reach their destination—and the truth that awaits them—the sisters will need each other like never before.
Differentiating between red herrings and explicit content for shock value or book sales in mystery-thrillers.
Today, I thought I would share a book I’m currently reading and discuss a little about difficult passages that may be disturbing, or what one may feel is inappropriate. Oftentimes, a reader can come across a scene where they wished they hadn’t read or wish they had just skipped over entirely. But what should one do if they’re reviewing a book for the publisher or author and come across this problem? Should they just give up on the book entirely, or power through it, hoping for the best? Personally, I really think it depends on a few things.
Firstly, it depends on the type of reader you are and what you can handle or not handle. I’ve noticed through the decades the different stages I’ve gone through with reading material. What I will tolerate, what I deemed appropriate or inappropriate. What disturbs me and so forth… Like, is it just for shock value for book sales or does it serve a purpose to drive plot of the story? Does it attest to the character’s human nature and lifestyle? What are the purposes of these scenes?
There can also be that the theme or scene-if you will-upsets one’s psyche on a personal level. One must consider these things when reading physiological thrillers and literature as a whole. If you are a reader who reads widely, even then one can have limits and there is nothing wrong with that; one must use discernment in all things.
I’m currently reviewing an ARC of, “The Last Room on the Left” by Leah Konen at the invite via email from the publishers, and I’ve come across two difficult but brief scenes I could have-in all honestly- done without. It seriously had me pause and considered if I wanted to finish this story or not. The next morning, I reflected more on whether or not to continue with the story. The pause had me ask myself the question whether or not the difficult but brief scenes were a red herring or just shock value. As I read further, I came to the conclusion that they are definitely red herrings. To be honest, the old me would have probably given up on the book entirely. I’m glad I didn’t in this case and I believe the author did a good job with writing these scenes without dragging it out. They serve the right purpose in story-telling, in my opinion.
If you come across scenes when reading books for review, what is the standard you set for yourself, and do you ask or consider the questions I mentioned above?
Edit: My review for, “The Last Room on the Left” by Leah Konen will be posted on January 4, 2025.
Stephanie
The Last Room on the Left by Leah Konen
Expected publication January 14, 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons – Penguin Random House
Kerry’s life is in shambles: Her husband has left her, her drinking habit has officially become a problem, and though the deadline for her big book deal—the one that was supposed to change everything—is looming, she can’t write a word. When she sees an ad for a caretaker position at a revitalized roadside motel in the Catskills, she jumps at the chance. It’s the perfect getaway to finish her book and start fresh.
But as she hunkers down in a blizzard, she spots something through the window: a pale arm peeking out from a heap of snow. Trapped in the mountains and alone with a dead, frozen body, Kerry must keep her head and make it out before the killer comes for her too. But is the deadly game of cat-and-mouse all in her mind? The body count begs to differ . . .
On January 19th I posted about a few selected non-fiction books I have added to my wish-list. There are too many to count and not enough time in the hours of a day that direct our attention elsewhere! A bibliophile’s struggle one might often say. This topic is an enjoyable pastime to discuss among fellow book lovers and I’m delighted to be sharing this book blog entry with you.
This past weekend I began reading Martin Luther by Eric Metaxas and I’m enjoying his telling of Luther a great deal. I wanted to read a highly regarded biography on Luther and was delighted to find a copy at Half Price Books. I was fortunate to obtain a hardback that is in excellent condition. Below you will find the description of the Luther book and a few other titles that may pique your interest.
Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World by Eric Metaxas
Description
On All Hallow’s Eve in 1517, a young monk named Martin Luther posted a document he hoped would spark an academic debate, but that instead ignited a conflagration that would forever destroy the world he knew. Five hundred years after Luther’s now famous Ninety-five Theses appeared, Eric Metaxas, acclaimed biographer of the bestselling Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, paints a startling portrait of the wild figure whose adamantine faith cracked the edifice of Western Christendom and dragged medieval Europe into the future. Written in riveting prose and impeccably researched, Martin Luther tells the searing tale of a humble man who, by bringing ugly truths to the highest seats of power, caused the explosion whose sound is still ringing in our ears. Luther’s monumental faith and courage gave birth to the ideals of liberty, equality, and individualism that today lie at the heart of all modern life.
Ben & Me
In Search of a Founder’s Formula for a Long and Useful Life by Eric Weiner
Pub Date 11 Jun 2024
Description
New York Times bestselling author Eric Weiner follows in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, mining his life for inspiring and practical lessons in a book that’s part biography, part travelogue, part personal prescription.
Ben Franklin lingers in our lives and in our imaginations. One of only two non-presidents to appear on US currency, Franklin was a founder, statesman, scientist, inventor, diplomat, publisher, humorist, and philosopher. He believed in the American experiment, but Ben Franklin’s greatest experiment was…Ben Franklin. In that spirit of betterment, Eric Weiner embarks on an ambitious quest to live the way Ben lived.
Not a conventional biography, Ben & Me is a guide to living and thinking well, as Ben Franklin did. It is also about curiosity, diligence, and, most of all, the elusive goal of self-improvement. As Weiner follows Franklin from Philadelphia to Paris, Boston to London, he attempts to uncover Ben’s life lessons, large and small. We learn how to improve a relationship with someone by inducing them to do a favor for you—a psychological phenomenon now known as The Ben Franklin Effect. We learn about the printing press (the Internet of its day), early medicine, diplomatic intrigue and, of course, electricity. And we learn about ethics, persuasion, humor, regret, appetite, and so much more.
At a time when history is either neglected or contested, Weiner argues we have much to learn from the past and that we’d all be better off if we acted and thought a bit more like Ben did, even if he didn’t always live up to his own high ideals. Engaging, smart, moving, quirky, Ben & Me distills the essence of Franklin’s ideas into grounded, practical wisdom for all of us.
Drawn Testimony
My Four Decades as a Courtroom Sketch Artist
by Jane Rosenberg
Pub Date 13 Aug 2024
Description
A penetrating, compulsively readable memoir about the four-decade career of America’s top courtroom sketch artist, for fans of Lab Girl and Working Stiff
Jane Rosenberg is America’s pre-eminent courtroom sketch artist. For over forty years, she’s been at the heart of the story, covering almost every major trial that has passed through the New York justice system. From mob bosses to fallen titans of finance, terrorists and sex abusers, corrupt cops and warring entertainment icons, she has drawn them all.
In Drawn Testimony, Rosenberg brings us into the high-stakes, dramatic world of her craft, where art, psychology and courtroom drama collide. Over the course of her legendary career, Jane has had a front row seat to some of the most iconic and notorious moments in our nation’s recent history, sketching everything from Tom Brady’s deflate-gate case, to John Lennon’s murder trial to cases against Ghislaine Maxwell, John Gotti, Harvey Weinstein and most recently, the indictment against former President Donald Trump. Readers will learn how she has honed her unique powers of perception, but also what her portraits reveal, not only about her subjects, but about the human condition in general.
Fearless, fascinating and gorgeously written, Drawn Testimony captures the unique career of an artist whose body of work depicts history as it’s happening.
My Roman History
A Memoir
by Alizah Holstein
Pub Date25 Jun 2024
Description
In this exquisite and profound memoir, a medieval historian traces her lifelong obsession with Rome and the encounters with the city’s past and present that became fulcrum points in her life
From the time she first felt called to its gates as a high school student fascinated by Dante and Italian thanks to a life-changing teacher, Rome has been a fixed star around which Alizah Holstein’s life has rotated—despite the fact that she bears no Italian heritage, and has never lived there long enough to call it home.
In this kaleidoscopic yet intimate memoir, her shifting relationship to a vibrant city layered with human history becomes a lens on why we look to the past, on the mysteries of affinity and desire, and on what it means to grow up. Holstein weaves the stories of Romans past and present, and encounters with the city of historical figures from Petrarch to Freud, into the narrative of her evolution from a curious student abuzz with the thrill of discovery, to a lonely researcher in a city to which she feels she belongs despite knowing no one, to an ambitious young historian struggling to find her place in the halls of academia. Following a trail of memories—that first taste of a tartufo cioccolato in Piazza Navona, the ancient walls of the Via Appia blurring from the back of a motorcycle, the smudge of ink on a manuscript left by a scribe’s hand over seven hundred years before—she explores what it means to be romana, Roman—and to find solace and self-knowledge in the presence of the past.
An enveloping, original, and deeply resonant account, set against one of the world’s most beguiling cities, of the unexpected things that give our lives meaning, My Roman History is a profound depiction of the winding path to self-realization, which—much like history itself—is mysterious, captivating, and ever-unfolding.
