This is a sweet, lovely and engaging story about Esme Nash, who moves to New York City seven years after she had planned to move there with her college boyfriend, Liam. Before graduating college, Esme and Liam had found an apartment and landed jobs in New York City. Just a day or two before Esme…

In this novel, Meg moves to New York City with her husband and two young children. They have moved from Los Angeles into a borrowed Tribeca loft when Meg’s husband, Iliya, gets a promotion as the head of global membership of a private club. Meg is a copywriter, and she is feeling unmoored as she…

I love this book, and I can assure you that you do not have to be a gamer to enjoy this novel. My biggest video game accomplishment is being a mediocre Frogger player back in the day, and I honestly did not realize that the book was about video games before I started reading. The…

Liv Green has been a fan of author Essie Starling since she was a schoolgirl. When young Liv was trying to make sense of her world after losing her father in an accident, she wrote to the author and much to her surprise and gratitude, she received a warm response from Essie Starling. Liv became…

This book kept me guessing until the end, even when I was sure that I knew what was going on. Honestly, it is not hard to keep my guessing; I am terrible at predicting what will happen in a story and I do not spend much time trying to figure out plotlines and cliffhangers.The Woman…

Counterfeit, a fictional fraud-novel by Kirstin Chen, is a fast-paced story that delves deeper than you might expect. The novel is initially narrated by Ava Wong, a Chinese-American Stanford graduate who is taking time away from her corporate law career. At first glance, her life seems perfect, and then Ava reveals that her husband works…

Naomi Krupitsky’s novel The Family is an engaging, engrossing story about two young girls who grow up together in Brooklyn in the 1940s. Sofia and Antonia are neighbors and best friends whose immigrant fathers work in “The Family.” Sofia and Antonia do not understand what “The Family” is, exactly, but they do sense that people…

I love books about libraries, and books about bookstores, and books about books… but I did not really love this book. The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections is a mystery written by Eva Jurczyk, and the setting is a university library in Canada. Liesl Weiss has been given an unexpected promotion when her…

Abbi Waxman’s most recent novel, Adult Assembly Required, features some of the same characters seen in her earlier book The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. You do not need to read any of Waxman’s previous books before you read this one (but I am pretty sure that you will not regret reading The Bookish Life…

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner The Summer Place is Jennifer Weiner’s newest book, a family drama in which EVERYONE seems to have a secret. And each of these secrets has the potential to greatly alter, if not ruin, someone else’s life. This book tells the story of three generations of a family, and is…

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata I was REALLY looking forward to reading this book, and it did not disappoint! It was not at all the book I was expecting to read, however. This is Sayaka Matura’s tenth book, and it is her first book to be translated into English. The narrator is Keiko, a…

The Truth About Melody Browne by Lisa Jewell Single-mom Melody Browne cannot remember anything that happened in her life before her ninth birthday. When she turned nine, her house burned down and destroyed both her possessions and her memories. Melody is in her early thirties and lives with her seventeen-year–old son, Jack,  in a subsidized…

Everything Must Go by Camille Pagan Laine Francis is a home organizer living in Ann Arbor with her husband, and grieving the recent loss of her dog. Laine grew up in New York City, and one thing she knows for sure is that while she enjoys visiting her sisters and mom in New York, she…

While Susan Rigetti’s crime fiction novel Cover Story is not the best book I’ve read recently, it was engrossing and I couldn’t put it down. It has strong  Inventing Anna vibes, and if you are enjoying all the con artist shows that are currently streaming as much as I am, I confidently recommend this book.…

Amanda Pellegrino’s novel Smile and Look Pretty exposes the precariousness of industries which rely on the exploitation of assistants to maintain status quo. Cate, Lauren, Max and Olivia are four close friends who are all assistants to powerful figures in various entertainment industries. These twenty-something women all had big dreams when starting their careers, and…

Julie Otsuka’s new book, The Swimmers, is a little bit of a puzzle. It is beautifully written, and heartbreaking in its clarity. Is it a novel? Is it essays? Is it a collection of three novellas? Maybe it does not matter what it is, but it is a little jarring when the first “novella” or…

True Biz is Sara Nović’s latest novel, and takes the reader on an amazing journey. The story is told from the perspective of three narrators. One is February Waters, the headmistress at an Ohio boarding school for Deaf students. February is a hearing ally to the Deaf community, who grew up with a Deaf mother.…

Sally Hepworth’s latest novel, The Younger Wife, is an engaging domestic suspense story that will appeal to everyone who loves Sally’s writing as much as I do. The book begins at the wedding of Stephen Aston and Heather Wisher, and the narrator is an unnamed wedding guest. Stephen’s adult daughters Tully and Rachel are bridesmaids,…

The Fashion Orphans by Randy Susan Meyers and M.J. Rose [This book is so new no libraries own it yet. Please check back here to see about future availablity] In this novel by co-authors Randy Susan Meyers and M.J. Rose, estranged sisters Gabrielle and Lulu find themselves thrown together to solve some mysteries around their…

How Do I Un-Remember This?: Unfortunately True Stories Podcaster Danny Pellegrino’s new book will make you laugh-out-loud one minute, and shed some quick tears the next. Danny shares memories of growing up in the 1990s as a “closeted kid” in a small town in the midwest, and we learn how the internet and reality television…

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi, is the first book in the Jaipur Trilogy, and is currently being adapted for a TV series. The novel tells the story of Lakshmi, who escaped an abusive marriage at age seventeen and fled to the city of Jaipur. She establishes herself as a henna artist to the women…

The Sisters Sweet by Elizabeth Weiss. The Sisters Sweet is the debut novel of author Elizabeth Weiss. The story is set in Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s, and narrated by Harriet. Harriet and her twin sister Josie are the daughters of Maud and Lenny. Maude is a former Vaudeville performer, whose rise to fame…