⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 Set in the charming village of Thirsk, Yorkshire , when three retired primary school teachers, (Thelma, Pat and Liz), are faced with the suspicious death of a friend, Topsy, they reluctantly take up the task of uncovering the “ordinary evil” lurking beneath the unassuming facade of their quiet…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Twists within twists within more twists. Maybe one twist too many? You decide, - I confess, I still haven’t made up my mind. Ellen Saint is one “crazy obsessed mother.” Neurotic, icily consumed by her rage (superseding her remarkable fragility), plagued with anxieties, including a terrifying (and thematic to…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Wow. That was one ending I did not predict! What a fabulous ride - twists and turns do not come anywhere near describing the devious path this book takes to tell its tale. A dark and clammy story brimming with fear, fearlessness (is it a good thing? Is it…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A perfect little picture book - bursting with hope, delight and the soul-affirming promise of a nascent new day. As a little girl and her grandmother sow a garden we see the wonder each little seed brings, following the cycle of life laid out for us, from the tiniest…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 What a charming book! Targeted for children aged seven and up; bursting with reproductions of classic art, captured with color and energy breathing life onto every page - this visually spectacular and lovely little book teaches children about the artist Cézanne, helping set the stage for a life-long…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 From her earliest days on “ One Day at a Time”, I’ve always thought of Valerie Bertinelli as a living, breathing, approachable, everyday kind of person, albeit one who is beautiful, talented, and a very successful TV star. She always just came across as so kind, so real,…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 I am a fast reader. It will typically take me a day, perhaps two, to read a book, obsessively finding the time to squeeze in more reading for a book that I am particularly enjoying. This book, “The Ballerinas”, broke my pattern apart. Hooking me from the very…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 Sinking into this book on a rainy afternoon with a cup of tea and a cozy blanket; meeting with these characters, their beautifully articulated world and and their mesmerizing stories; I could not imagine a better place to be. Wendell Combs, a strong, somewhat austere military veteran has…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The eight stories in this wonderful collection will sneak up on you - so perfectly curated are they that you will find yourself carried away to a time and a place as evocative and immersive as if you were lost in the pages of a full-length novel. Very reminiscent…
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 What happens when four friends take a trip that most would consider delightful, - and in this creepy and disturbingly-multi-layered case, find instead it exceeds their very worst fears. Rachel Hunter, forty-two years old, is a compassionate and non-confrontational kind of woman - a good wife and a…