THOUGHTS ON THIS 'n THAT

  RIVER SING ME HOME (Berkley) by Eleanor Shearer is inspired by the true stories of the brave woman who went looking for their stolen children after the abolition of slavery in 1834.  It's hard to believe its a debut novel, because Shearer's prose and narrative are so powerful and complex.  River Sing Me Home is the story of Rachel, a woman slave who has given birth repeatedly and had five children survive only to be taken away and sold.   The British King declares the Emancipation Act effectively ending slavery, but the plantation owners announce they are now apprentices and have to work on the plantation for six more years. It's at this point Rachel decides to run and search for her five children.  She doesn't know if any of them are alive, but she is driven by the fact, a mother cannot be free without knowing what has become of her children. She begins her dangerous journey in Barbados, then on a river deep in the forest of British Giana and finally across the sea t

  Lena's in her twenties, Evelyn her seventies. What could they possibly have in common? In J.L. Cole's new novel THE WIDOWS' PACT, there's nothing like two people being depressed and having experienced trauma to bring them together. Lena and Evelyn see each other regularly on Cheap Tuesdays at the local theatre, but haven't connected, until one  Tuesday  they do. Working at a job she hates, drinking wine and looking forward to Cheap Tuesdays keeps Lena from falling into a deeper depression. Dying, failing health and grandkids are all Evelyn talks about with her friends. They're a perfect couple to become friends. Their friendship takes time to evolve, but once it begins, they are the other's best cheerleader. But one of them has a secret and the other a troubled past, which each will have to deal with. THE WIDOW'S  PACT is about second chances, friendship, trust and finding the humor in ... well, everything. Jenna Hanger, writing as J.L. Cole, resides

  “ The first thing we did was change our names. We were going to be Sappho ,” so begins this intrepid debut novel, centuries after the Greek poet penned her lyric verse. Ignited by the same muse, a myriad of women break from their small, predetermined lives for seemingly disparate paths.  In 1892, Rina Faccio trades her needlepoint for a pen. In 1902, Romaine Brooks sails for Capri with nothing but her clotted paintbrushes; and  In 1923, Virginia Woolf writes: “I want to make life fuller and fuller.” Writing in cascading vignettes, Selby Wynn Schwartz spins an invigorating tale of women whose narratives converge and splinter as they forge queer identities and claim the right to their own lives. A luminous meditation on creativity, education, and identity,  After Sappho  announces a writer as ingenious as the trailblazers of our past. AFTER SAPPHO was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Selby Wynn Schwartz Schwartz is the author of THE BODIES OF OTHERS: DRAG DANCES AND THEIR AFTERLIVES, w

               WHAT WOULD YOU DO FOR THREE MILLION                                                         DOLLARS? Four young women in author, Audrey Carlan's book, THE MARRIAGE AUCTION (BlueBoxPress) decide to auction themselves off to men, sight unseen for three million dollars each. All four ladies have different reasons for their desire to marry a man they've never met before - number one, the money. Faith, Savannah, Dakota and Ruby form an unlikely sisterhood. Each has secrets, wicked desires, intense family drama that they're trying to put behind them. I went into reading THE MARRIAGE AUCTION not quite knowing what to expect. It made me think of the Demi Moore film, "Indecent Proposal" from 1993. If you missed it, not to worry. There are four episodic books in Carlan's, THE MARRIAGE AUCTION. Each ends with a cliffhanger that will have you wanting to read the next one  right away . I read the first book and it hooked me from the page one. The characters

  Emily Wibberley  and  Austin Siegemund-Broka  are no strangers to romance stories—they met and fell in love in high school and are now five-years married.  DO I KNOW YOU?  (Berkley) follows a couple who married young and are struggling to remember why they fell in love in the first place.   Eliza and Graham’s marriage is quietly failing, and they find themselves on a weeklong getaway intended for their five-year anniversary. When they are introduced as strangers at the hotel bar, instead of correcting the well-meaning guest, they find themselves…  enjoying  the act? They flirt like it’s their first date and share pillow talk secrets like they haven’t been sharing a bed for the past five years. The two decide to spend the rest of the week as strangers, creating alter egos who embrace the parts of themselves they thought were lost. Their chemistry is palpable and everyone at the retreat can see—this game of pretend that may just be the spark they need to reignite their relationship. Em

  THE ONCE AND FUTURE SEX (WWNorton) is a vibrant and illuminating exploration of medieval thinking on women’s beauty, sexuality, and behavior. What makes for the ideal woman? How should she look, love, and be? In this vibrant, high-spirited history, medievalist Eleanor Janega turns to the Middle Ages, the era that bridged the ancient world and modern society, to unfurl its suppositions about women and reveal what’s shifted over time—and what hasn’t. Enshrined medieval thinkers, almost always male, subscribed to a blend of classical Greek and Roman philosophy and Christian theology for their concepts of the sexes. For the height of female attractiveness, they chose the mythical Helen of Troy, whose imagined pear shape, small breasts, and golden hair served as beauty’s epitome. Casting Eve’s shadow over medieval women, they derided them as oversexed sinners, inherently lustful, insatiable, and weak. And, unless a nun, a woman was to be the embodiment of perfect motherhood. In contrast,

  I don't know about anyone else, but  not  knowing is the scariest situation I can face. Not knowing where your children are, not knowing the whereabouts of a friend you haven't heard from, not knowing if your friend or loved one is going to live or die after an accident. MHR Geer takes that premise to a new level in her book, ASSUMED.  Anne in Miami receives a call from her BFF Sandy in St. Martin saying she's in trouble and needs her to come to St. Martin. Once she arrives, the mysteries unravel. Sandy  won't answer texts or phone calls, and she's no where to be found. Police arrive and Anne finds out Sandy isn't Sandy. Her name is Gilda Jorgensen and not only is she dead, she has a rap sheet, into some scary stuff and apparently some goons are trying to find her and the three-million dollars she's stolen.  A cryptic message from Sandy/Gilda arrives on her phone. "Find the money. Take it and run." ASSUMED becomes a cat and mouse mystery, leading

  A stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building, in this gripping debut by an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter. When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel.   After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town—all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village.   Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide. Will she be able to unravel their secret

Stacy Willingham's second novel, ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS (MinotaurBooks) delivers a gripping story about a mother with a troubled past. One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her—literally. Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year. Isabelle's entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle's past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childho

  Author Mary Kubica once again grabs readers by the neck and doesn't let go until the end in her new novel, THE NICEST COUPLE (ParkRow). Two couples, two close friends, one missing husband… Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend’s house after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found. Lily Scott, Nina’s friend and coworker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that  nobody  can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered. Queen of suspense  Mary Kubica  delivers a high-octane, edge-of-your-seat thriller filled with delicious lies and shocking betrayals, and shows how even the deepest secrets will alwa