Book Reviews by a Chick Who Reads Everything

Interview with J.D. Barker

Full disclosure: this interview has been edited for clarification.

Hello Everybody!

We got something special for you all on Book Reviews by a Chick Who Reads Everything today. We have a guest, who is a New Times Bestselling author of many titles, including his latest Something I Keep Upstairs. Please welcome, J.D. Barker! Hi J.D., how are you doing today?

J.D.: Hey Emily, how are you doing? Doing great.

Emily: I’m doing fantastic. Well, I’m glad to have you on today because I’ve got a whole load of questions for you, which I’m sure we’ll have a fun time talking about.

J.D.: Well, I’m fully caffeinated and ready to go.

Emily: Alright, so, what was the catalyst for writing Something I Keep Upstairs?

J.D.: Ooo, well, it’s funny ‘cause it takes me typically three months to write a book. This one took me about four years from start to finish, and mainly because a lot of it is based on a true story. I live on a little island off the coast of Portsmouth in New England called New Castle, and I go for a run every day, and at one point, I’m standing on the beach, and if I look out over the water about a quarter mile out, there’s this tiny, little island called Wood Island with one house on it. It’s only about an acre. It got the “what if” gene going in my author brain. At some point, I just decided that’s the house I wanted to include in my haunted house story.

Emily: That is awesome. One of the many things that people often note about in their reviews is your very extensive Author’s Note, which, as you have just mentioned, New Castle and Wood Island being real places. And, I was really fascinated to get into your mindset of doing all of this research and how those places inspired this book. But, I have to ask you since you mentioned that New Castle and Wood Island are real places, how have its residents reacted to the book if any?

J.D.: At this point, I haven’t heard anything negative, but I think that means they’re not talking to me. New Castle is a quiet little place. It’s a very small community. We got about 600 houses on the island, and I think about 900 people actually live here. I have no idea what this book actually means with regard to that. People have found me since I moved here, there’s a bike tour that comes through, and they stop in front of my house and point. People know that I live here. You mentioned my Author’s Note. The Author’s Note was all about the naming of the town like do I keep it, do I change it? Because typically, for something like this, you do change it. You know, you come up with something fictitious and kind of go on unless you’re using a big city like New York or Pennsylvania, err Philly, or someplace like that. But when I started going through this book, I had so many historical references that I used that it just wouldn’t make sense if I would have to change them all, which doesn’t make sense from a book’s standpoint. By leaving them, it doesn’t take much detective work to figure out where I’m really talking about. So in the end, I just decided to go ahead and leave it as is.

Emily: Ah, I see. The way you describe them does make me want to go to those places. I mean, I don’t know if I want to spend a night at the house on Wood Island because it’s a little spooky there. But then again, I understand that there was recently a giveaway or a prize for anybody, if you did something, you could spend a night at that house.

J.D.: Yes, so, whenever I have a book done, we always look at what people are doing to market their titles, so what is everybody else doing? And, I try to come up with something a little outside the box to basically get people talking. So, what we landed on is we’re giving away an overnight stay in the actual haunted house. So one month after publication, June 13th, we’re going to draw the name of one person. They’re going to pick three of their friends. We’re going to load them up on a boat, take them out to this private island, drop them off, and they’re going to spend 24 hours in a haunted house all by themselves.

Emily: Well, I hope they have a great time there.

J.D.: Me too, ‘cause I will not do it.

Emily: Yeah, I’m not sure if I would do it. It sounds cool, but I think I’m good with staying in the house I live in now.

J.D.: Well, we just did the book release party on the island in the house. It was a mix of people. We had friends and family and had lots of reporters there. We also had paranormal investigators there, so as we are having this party for the book release, they were running around the house with their various recorders, trying to pick up whatever they could. I’m really curious to see what they actually found. We’ve had activity reported out there for years. When I was researching this book, that’s one of the reasons why it took so long to write. I found stuff going back almost 400 years, things that have occurred out at this house, so there is a lot of history there.

Emily: Wow! That is amazing! I’d be curious to find those results too because for my regular job, I’m an archivist in Romeo, Michigan, and I do a lot of historic home research. I’ve had owners come up to me and be like, “Hey, can you research this house? We suspect there’s some paranormal activity in there. So, we want to learn more about the people who lived there.”

I find that to be fascinating. And I’m so glad that you have this book, and you really dive deep into the history of the house in that regard.

J.D.: Yeah, we found a lot of stuff, so even before the house was built, that island was used as a quarantine zone during Yellow Fever when that was going on. During the Spanish-American War, they used to dock ships out there, so they would capture a Spanish vessel, they would dock it out on Wood Island, and they would force everybody to stay on the boat until they either died from starvation or disease, and then, they would take the boat ‘cause that’s ultimately what they wanted. But I found so many records of people dying around that island. When I speak to the paranormal investigators, a lot of what they tell me seems to come down is energy. If something dies, that energy has to go somewhere, it doesn’t just disappear. So when a lot of people die in the same place, it’s almost like the place becomes a battery, you know, where all that energy gets stored. So, I think that would kind of lead to some of things we’ve seen in more recent times in some of the activity that’s taken place out there lately.

Emily: Wow! That’s amazing to hear all that. You have been open about your experiences with autism, which I greatly appreciate as someone who is also on the spectrum. How has that influenced your writing?

J.D.: I think it has actually helped me. I’m not quite so I would be able to do what I do today without it. When I first started off in this world, I was working as a book doctor and a ghost writer. I wrote a lot of memoirs for some very famous people, so I would have to sit down with, let’s say, a female politician, and I would interview her. I would take those interviews and transcribe them, and I would have to turn them into a novel written basically in a first-person narrative, so in her voice. I was able to do that, and this was before I was diagnosed with, what I learned later is as an autistic person, I tended to mimic other people. So, if I’m in a social situation, and someone cracks a joke, I’ll laugh because other people are laughing, not necessarily because I find it funny. I’m basically mimicking what I see other people do. What I’ve learned is that I’m able to mimic people on paper too. So, if you give me somebody, like in this case, recorded transcripts, I can use that. If I have written stuff in front of me, I can pick up on their writing style, their vocabulary, their cadence, basically continue writing a piece of text in their own voice, so I’m able to mimic them on paper as well as mimic them in real life.

Emily: Wow! That is really amazing. We got to love the superpower of mimicking other people, whether it’s intentional or not.

J.D.: Yeah.

Emily: In your books, you include a mix of genres, especially mystery, suspense, and horror. How do you maintain that balance and choose which ones to emphasize?

J.D.: For me, it really comes down to I like to have one common thread, and I’d like to think of that as suspense, so every one of my novels is a suspense novel, and it might include elements of horror or sci-fi or romance or western or whatever, but that’s usually a smaller piece of the overall puzzle. And, I find that as long as the suspense is there, my readers will come along for the ride, so the novels are similar enough where they’ll bounce from one to the next to the next even though I’m introducing some of these other elements.

Emily: Absolutely! I can definitely tell that from Something I Keep Upstairs. I was trying to figure out what’s going to happen, especially in the house, how Billy is going to deal with all of this. I remember just reading this and trying to figure out, “What is going on here? What is going to happen?”

So, you did a fantastic job with that, J.D..

J.D.: Thank you. In that case, it was primarily a thriller, and I lean heavily on horror. We actually dubbed it a chiller, which is a term that I stole from Peter Straub.

Emily: Yes, I think I remember reading about that at some point. That makes sense, so at least, I will label it as a chiller when I post my review and this interview up on my book review website. Speaking of Billy, if you were placed in the same situation as him, what would you do?

J.D.: Ooo, I don’t know. The story revolves around a 17-year-old kid named Spivey – Billy’s best friend, so his grandmother passes away. He had no relationship with her, but she leaves him this house on a private island, so he does exactly what you expect any other 17-year-old boy to do: he and his friends turn it into a party house. That’s probably honestly what I would end up doing with it too. You would create this place away from your parents, away from the authority figures, and just kind of have some fun, especially since it’s basically their final year, you know, of high school together, before they all take off for college. But at one point, partying out at this house gets old, and somebody raises their hand and says, “Hey, what would it take to take this house and turn it into a haunted house?”

You know they start exactly where you expect, there’s a couple of scary stories, somebody brings in a ouija board, but the tagline for the book is “For a haunted house to be born, somebody has to die.”

So, you know where they’re going, so the book is basically all about that journey.

Emily: Ah, yes! What a journey it is! It was such a rollercoaster of a ride reading it. One of the aspects you include is the musical Brigadoon. Now, I was in a production of that show when I was a teenager. What made you include that in the novel?

J.D.: You know, I had to explain, I don’t want to give any spoilers here, but the house basically bounces around a little bit in time, and certain things happen at certain times. The only other thing I could think of where that sort of thing happened was Brigadoon. I wanted to somehow tip people off as to what was happening without really telling them what was happening, so anybody familiar with Brigadoon might understand the reference. Other people might research it, but eventually, it all comes together.

Emily: Absolutely! I don’t think people really talk about Brigadoon these days, especially in the context of Golden Age musicals. Usually, it’s like Oklahoma or Carousel. I mean, Brigadoon is still in there, but the only main reference I’ve seen of Brigadoon as of late is the television show Schmigadoon that’s on AppleTV+. Have you seen it?

J.D.: No, I haven’t. It’s one of those…I was just on Broadway with my daughter, took her to see The Lion King. Brigadoon is not there anymore. That’s probably where it would have been at some point, but I think in today’s world, it has been relegated to high school plays and things like that, which is kind of sad ‘cause it’s a really cool story. I kind of feel it’s being forgotten.

Emily: Yeah, it is, and I would be forgetting about it if it weren’t for the fact that I was in a summer theatre production of Brigadoon when I was a teenager. But, I am glad that you are, at least, bringing it to the reader’s attention. Maybe they would seek out the musical as well as the 1954 film starring Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse.

J.D.: And maybe, we’ll see it back on Broadway someday, who knows.

Emily: Well, we’ll see. That would be interesting to see how they do it. I know it was 2017 or 2018 or 2019 when the Kennedy Center had a production of Brigadoon. It had Patrick Wilson in it and Stephanie J. Block. It was really good.

J.D.: That’s cool. Yeah, I’d love to see it come back. I love making references like that because it kind of reminds people of stuff, same reasons you just brought it up. You have all of these fond memories of it. You probably forgot about it for years, and all of a sudden, it’s back in the forefront.

Emily: Absolutely! I also want to talk about your collaborations with James Patterson. You have collaborated with him on a number of novels. How were those experiences, and are they any titles in the works?

J.D.: Originally, it was supposed to be one project. We were going to do one book together, and that was it. We actually have five out now. The latest one was called The Writer. It just released in March, debuted at number 2 on the New York Times list. We just have a lot of fun working together. We just started another one about a month ago, so we’re going to keep this going. For a while there, I was kind of his go-to guy when he came up with an idea for something scary, so we did a few of the probably only horror-related novels that Patterson has out there. The Writer is just a straight up thriller, and this one that we’re doing again, it’s just something different.

Emily: How did you actually get in contact with James Patterson to begin with?

J.D.: When my second book was coming out, it was called The Fourth Monkey, it was with HMH, which is part of HarperCollins now. One of the things the big publishers do is they send out copies of these books to all of the big-name authors a couple of months before they come out, hoping they read it and give you that one little quote that you can use on the cover or marketing or whatever. So, a copy of The Fourth Monkey landed on James Patterson’s desk, and he liked it enough, for he picked up the phone and called me and told me basically gave me his review of the book over the phone. And then, we decided to meet for lunch, and things went from there.

Emily: That’s wonderful! I can’t wait to read the next books that you have with James Patterson and even pick up previous ones like The Writer. They sound amazing.

J.D.: The Writer was a lot of fun.

Emily: Awesome! You just mentioned The Fourth Monkey. Some of your books like The Fourth Monkey and Dracul are getting turned into movies or television shows. Are there any updates regarding those adaptations?

J.D.: No, I’ve got eight different projects in what I call various stages of Hollywood hell. So, like this one’s got a director, this one’s got a writer, or this one’s got a star, and all of a sudden, you lose the star, and then, the writer goes away. It’s this constant rollercoaster ride. Anytime, my film agent calls me, it’s either really good news, or really bad news. The good news from my standpoint is that they keep getting optioned over and over again, but at this point, nothing has been filmed. It’s going to happen. It’s a number’s game. Somebody once told me that if you watch the credits at the end of a movie, you know, six minutes of names going by, every single person listed there had to be there in order for that movie to make it to the screen, so if you take one away, and all of a sudden, it comes apart. That’s kind of what I’m seeing. Every one of these productions is a perfect storm like everything has to come together at the exact right moment, or it doesn’t happen, or it gets paused. But like I said, I think sooner or later, we’re going to see one of them on the screen.

Emily: Well, I hope so too ‘cause I’m a massive fan of seeing how adaptations work. In fact, I actually run a podcast called the “Adapt Me Podcast,” where a guest and I talk about books that have never been adapted and how we would go about it. Who would you cast as the main characters from Something I Keep Upstairs in a possible adaptation?

J.D.: Ooo, that’s really tough ‘cause honestly, I’m not sure who is the latest and greatest out there when it comes to people in that particular age group. One of the things I’ve noticed is I literally had zero control over that, and I’m finding that even the people who are making these things like the directors and producers, they have very little control over it. What it really comes down to is scheduling. We’re going to shoot from this date to this date, and who’s available during those dates? So, I tend to keep my mouth shut because whenever I throw a name out there, it either comes back and bites me, or I don’t want to risk getting it in the press, saying “J.D. Barker wants so and so to be in a particular movie.”

I just stopped speculating on that sort of thing.

Emily: Ah, I see. I’d imagine if you got a name out here right now, and everybody would be like, “Oo, J.D. Barker is on this small-time book review website saying that he wants so and so to be in an adaptation of Something I Keep Upstairs. Ooo!”

J.D.: Well, it’s not only that. I know what names they are talking to, and I’ve got other people that I would like to see in it, and all of those things kind of get a little mixed up. I just don’t want to throw the wrong name out there.

Emily: That’s fair. What are some other projects that you are working on now?

J.D.: Like I said, I just started the latest one with James Patterson. My next one that’s going to be coming out, do you remember a film from the 90s called Flatliners?

Emily: That does ring a bell.

J.D.: Yeah, so it came out in 1990. It had this crazy cast. It had Keifer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Billy Baldwin, and Oliver Platt, all at the start of their career before they became these household names that they are today. It’s about a bunch of medical students that kill each other one at a time to try and figure out if there’s life after death, so they kill each other, and they bring themselves back. It was like this cool premise. I always liked the movie. It honestly still stands up today. The guy who wrote it happened to be on one of my other projects, and we got to talking and came up with this idea to reboot the franchise. So, I just finished up a novel to reboot the Flatliners franchise. I literally just sent it to my film agent about an hour ago. So, the novel is going to come out first, probably a movie or tv show after that, so we’re kind of doing things backwards, but it’s a fresh take on the idea.

Emily: Wow! That’s amazing! I’ve heard wonderful things about the movie. I would love to check that out.

J.D.: It’s a fun movie if you get a chance to see it. I would watch it.

Emily: Oh, that I will do. I will put that right on my list. Where can people find you?

J.D.: The easiest place to find me at jdbarker.com. I’m on all of the social medias @jdbarker. And like we talked about, the latest book is called Something I Keep Upstairs just released May 13, and you can find that anywhere.

Emily: That’s wonderful. Well, thank you for coming on today. It was certainly a pleasure talking to you and picking your brain on how you conceived Something I Keep Upstairs

J.D.: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Emily: Yeah, you’re very welcome.

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!

Something I Keep Upstairs Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advanced reader copy of this book by the author’s publicist in exchange for an honest review.

J.D. Barker is one of the most known authors in the mystery, suspense, and horror genres. His work has drawn praise from all over the literary world. Stephen King thought his novel Forsaken was so good that he granted permission for him to use one of his characters in it. On top of that, Barker has co-written a handful of books with James Patterson. I was recently given the honor of acquiring an advanced readers copy of Barker’s latest book Something I Keep Upstairs. It had me on the edge of my seat despite pacing issues.

Something I Keep Upstairs is about a haunted house on a remote island between New Hampshire and Maine. In the sleepy coastal town of New Castle, New Hampshire, seventeen-year-old Billy Hasler’s life takes a horrifying turn. When his best friend David Spivey inherits a mysterious home on a nearby island, it seems like the perfect place to hang out during the summer before college with no parents, police, or responsibilities. As Billy and his friends dig into the island’s dark part, they awaken an evil spirit that has influenced generations. What starts off as an innocent summer adventure quickly descends into a nightmare.

I was hooked from the very beginning. The likeable characters were the ones that I liked, and the unlikeable ones were those whom I was rooting against. The moral ambiguous ones were definitely in the grey area. I liked Billy quite a lot even though he was a bit bland, but I see why Barker wrote him that way. Many protagonists are written with some personality, so readers can insert themselves into the story. My favorite character was Spivey. He is socially awkward in a way that feels natural. In addition, he has been battling leukemia for a long time. When he inherits his late grandmother’s home on the remote Wood Island, he takes every opportunity to be at the house as much as he can, like having parties, so he can be a normal teenager just for the summer.

The strongest aspect of this novel is the plot. From the moment I read the first page, I knew I wanted to know more about what was going to happen. Every new development had me scratching my head in a good way even if I had some lingering questions when I finished. I wasn’t entirely sure how the home and the evil spirits on Wood Island worked, but in the end, I grasped enough of the logic and rooted for the characters that I wanted to succeed to keep going. Plus, that ending was insane. Also, I love how Barker included the musical Brigadoon to explain how the island works. I was in a production of that show when I was a teenager and had a great experience. It’s good to know that someone knows about it outside of the musical theatre nerds and the creators of the television show Schmigadoon.

If I had one complaint, it would be the pacing. I know some reviewers pointed out how slow the book was in the beginning, but I didn’t mind this. I liked how Barker gradually builds on the initial setup, which leads to the high octane finale. My issue was how he uses the two main narrators of the story. Even though Billy is the protagonist, the novel also emphasizes the point of view of Chief Whaley from the local police. Barker goes back and forth between the two, which was fine in the beginning. Billy sees first hand of what’s going on the island, and Whaley tries to obtain information on the circumstances surrounding it and later infiltrate it. It felt like the show Squid Game. However, once the third act arrives, I wanted to focus more on Billy and how he tries to escape. Everytime a new development occurred with him during that part, the novel decided to switch to Chief Whaley. This need to equally balance Billy and Whaley’s perspectives slowed down the flow.

Something I Keep Upstairs by J.D. Barker is a great chiller. It grabbed my attention from the very beginning with its likeable characters and increasingly insane plot. Even though it had some flow issues, I still was invested to see how everything would turn out. I can see why Barker has gotten a lot of praise. He is someone that I will definitely keep my eye on for future reads. I would recommend this to readers who love a mix of mystery, thriller, and horror; a good haunted house story; Stephen King; and James Patterson. Something I Keep Upstairs is out now, so grab a copy wherever you get your books.

Before I go, I want to let you know that I had the opportunity to interview J.D. Barker for the website. The transcript will be posted soon.

Six Days in Detox Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning: this review discusses addiction, alcoholism, mental health, and trauma.

I’ve read plenty of harrowing tales both for and outside the website. Some have stayed in my mind because of how well-written they were. On the other hand, if it’s poorly communicated, then I’m not going to get into as much despite the horrific situation being described. This was the case for the memoir Six Days in Detox by Dianne Corbeau. Even though it does a great job detailing what life is like for an addict detoxing in the worst place possible, I struggled to get fully invested because of its repetitiveness and editing issues.

Six Days in Detox is a memoir about the author’s time in an institution while she recovers from addiction. Dianne picked up alcohol after 26 years of sobriety. After a near-death experience, she is placed in a mental institution, beginning her journey back into recovery. Despite certain forces in that place, she gives it her all to survive the battle of her life. It takes a hard look at what goes on with an addict internally and externally.

I know I said this quite a lot when reviewing memoirs that deal with intense situations, but I couldn’t believe that actually happened to Dianne aka the author. The mental institution she was placed in sounds like the cruelest place ever. Everyone, including Dianne, is not given the proper medication that they need despite the orders from a prior doctor. Dianne’s roommate is awful, as in she thinks that Satan is out to get her and that people are stealing her stuff. I was happy when Dianne stood up to her. The worst thing is the head nurse whose only job is to supposedly make Dianne’s life truly miserable, especially when he doesn’t call her name to get her meds. He was so horrible that the only other person who would be friends with him is Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I’m thankful that Dianne only spent six days in that place.

The biggest strength of this memoir is how it explores an addict’s mindset. Dianne has manic depression, and she suspects she got this from her abusive biological mother whom she left at age 8. She spends the rest of childhood being homeless and later a drug addict. Luckily, she was able to become sober at 19, but during her sobriety, she kept thinking of the unresolved issues and emotions regarding her upbringing. To avoid reminding herself of them, she turned back to drinking even though she spent nearly 30 years on the wagon and worked as a professor. It’s during her time in the mental institution that makes her realize that recovery is a life-long process, and she needs to keep working at it to avoid relapsing again. At one point, Dianne expresses fear about what life would be like after leaving the horrific place because she doesn’t know what being sober is going to look like for her this time. I like how the memoir ends on an ambiguous note as a result.

Six Days in Detox could be a great memoir if it weren’t for the repetition and glaring editing issues. Throughout, Dianne kept bringing up certain points. These include the trauma she encountered, how awful the head nurse was, how much she needed her medications, how her organs were shutting down, and the fact that she had been sober for 26 years. In certain situations, I would overlook these repeatings. This is not one of those because it’s less than 150 pages and has seven chapters with six devoted to each day Dianne was in the mental institution. This disrupted the flow.

Before I go into the critique about the glaring editing issues, I have to make a confession. Before I publish my reviews, I have my husband Carl, who is a car journalist, look them over. It’s the reason why they are as polished as they could get. When I read certain parts of Six Days in Detox, I had to look them over at least twice and kept thinking of how the editor didn’t catch them. For example, part of a sentence is repeated twice in a single paragraph (p. 116). All I know is if Carl was editing this memoir, those errors would have been corrected immediately because he’s that good at his job (and I’m not saying that because he’s my husband).

Six Days in Detox by Dianne Corbeau has the potential to be a great memoir. It has a harrowing story about one woman’s stay at the worst mental institution possible while detoxing. In addition, it offers powerful insight into a user’s mindset when it comes to addiction and the struggle for sobriety. However, it kept repeating itself and contained some obvious editing errors. As a result, this slowed the flow and made me less invested in the story as I should be. I would only recommend this to readers who are curious to learn about what it means to be an addict. It’s a shame that the memoir is not as well constructed as it should be because the story is truly a powerful tale about recovery and overcoming addiction.

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!

Hive Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Mindbuck Media Publicity in exchange for an honest review.

It’s been about a year since I read a time-travel romance. The last one I looked at was The 23rd Hero by Rebecca Ann Nguyen, which involved going back in time to prevent climate change. Today’s novel Hive by DL Orton does something similar but with higher stakes and a second-chance romance. It works for the most part because of the premise and the wonderful characters.

Hive is the first book in the “Madders of Time” series. Inside a disintegrating biodome surrounded by rising sea levels and deadly robot bees, the last survivors of humanity cling to hope. Time is running out for the middle-aged couple Isabel – a dying scientist – and Diego. When she stumbles upon a long-lost spacetime bridge, the chance to change the past emerges, offering one final opportunity to rewrite history. However, going back in time means facing forgotten secrets and powerful forces seeking to control the future.

When Mindbuck Media asked me to read this book, they mentioned that I might be interested in Hive due to my interest in titles like A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman. I wouldn’t have necessarily pitched it like that, but I can see why. While that one doesn’t involve time travel, its aging main character has a second chance at life. In Hive, Isabel and Diego want another opportunity to prevent the end of humanity.

Hive reminded me of The 23rd Hero the most. Not only there’s time travel to prevent tragedy, but there’s also a romance at its core. The similarities end there. In The 23rd Hero, traversing through time is controlled by an organization for one goal: to prevent climate change. As for Hive, Isabel stumbles upon a spacetime bridge and wants Diego to go back in time to give a cryptic message to his younger self to save the Earth from various catastrophes and ensure the survival of their children. As much as I liked The 23rd Hero, I actually prefer Hive because there’s a bit more logic regarding the time travel, and it balances that with the romance more.

Hive also reminded me of modern Doctor Who, with how it uses time travel, romance, and humor to level the tension that the plot creates. After all, the Doctor and their companions have to save the world in a variety of ways, just like Diego and Isabel have to do here. Specifically, it reminded me of the episode, in which the Ninth Doctor and Rose go back in time to try to prevent her dad from getting killed in a car accident. Both the episode and the book constantly ponder how much timelines can diverge based on one change.

Prior to going into Hive, I had no idea that Isabel and Diego were in a previous series “Between Two Evils.” This was my introduction to them, and I liked them as a pair. I could sense how Diego loved Isabel so much that he was willing to go back in time for her. In addition, since they were former lovers prior to the disaster, their scenes of reconnecting in the cabin made me invested in their romance. Isabel was good too. She is a go-getter and cares a lot about Diego and the Earth. Plus, she’s trying to cultivate bees that could be highly beneficial for the environment. As the readers will see, it doesn’t go as well. Also, Dave – Diego’s best friend and Isabel’s ex-husband – is a great villain. He is awful on a whole number of levels, and yet, he’s the one behind the biodomes that could save people’s lives, including the main protagonists. While I enjoyed the chapters from Isabel’s perspective, I wasn’t into Diego’s all that much. He didn’t have that much of a personality outside of loving her.

Even though the focus of the novel is on Isabel and Diego, my favorite character was the third lead – Dr. Matthew Hudson. He’s the physicist who’s ordered by the government to figure out solutions when the destruction of Earth begins. I adore his scenes with his adult niece Cassie – another scientist – and his co-worker in the lab Sam. He has great banter with the government officials who try to boss him around. I absolutely wanted him to find Cassie and to get out of the lab the government put him in. He adds plenty of humor in a story that’s full of intensity.

Hive by DL Orton is a good introduction to the “Madders of Time” series. The plot is intriguing, and I certainly want to know how Diego and Isabel try to save the world. The strongest aspect is the characters. Even if Diego is underwritten, I still was rooting for him and Isabel to survive. In addition, Matthew is the best character, and I can’t wait to see what Orton does with him in the future. I would recommend this to those who watched Doctor Who as well as read time-travel romances like The 23rd Hero and other titles by DL Orton. Hive will be out tomorrow, May 6, so grab a copy wherever you get your books. The next installment Jump will be published in November!

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!

Adapt Me Podcast – She is a Haunting

Hi Everybody!

The latest episode of the Adapt Me Podcast is up right now. In it, guest and book lover Hadley and I discuss how we would adapt She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran into a mini-series. We talk about how the book stands out in the gothic horror genre with how it deals with French colonialism and how its visuals can translate well to a visual medium. Also, we discuss the importance of representing Vietnamese culture in the most authentic way possible. Check it out at this link!

In the meantime, I have a review of the book itself, so check that out too!

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!

She is a Haunting Book Review

I’ve read plenty of horror stories, but not much with a haunted house setting. How did this get away from me? I don’t know. Despite that, I’m glad that I started reading this horror subgenre. There are so many books that use that classic trope, so authors have to find ways to stand out. One such author Trang Thanh Tran did that with their debut novel She is a Haunting. It’s a good young adult gothic horror book set in Vietnam with a memorable location, critiques on French colonialism, and a multi-layered protagonist.

She is a Haunting is about a Vietnamese-American teenager who experiences hauntings in the French Colonial home her father is restoring. When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam to visit her estranged father Ba, she has to survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in a French colonial home he’s renovating. She has always lied to fit in, so if she’s straight enough, Vietnamese enough, and American enough, she can get the money she needs for college from her dad. However, the house has other plans. Each night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls make strange noises, and bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don’t belong. In the meantime, she finds interesting traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended to. At night, Jade can’t ignore the ghost of a beautiful bride who gives her this warning: don’t eat. Neither Ba nor her sweet sister Lily believe her when she tells them strange things are happening. With the help of Florence – a delinquent girl, Jade tries to expose the rotten appetite of a house that doesn’t want to be abandoned again.

Tran does a great job with making the house a well-defined character. The home Nhá Hoa may look beautiful on the outside, but it’s decaying on the inside and will rot the people in it. I love the ways that Tran paints the home in all of its glory, especially how the house shakes, makes the food go bad in a new fridge, and the hydrangeas climb up on its vines. The beauty and history make it appealing, especially to those unfamiliar with its colonialism backstory, but once Jade gets to know it, its ugliness becomes obvious.

At times, it was not an easy read. Tran is very good at terrifying readers with how the house behaves and tries to warn Jade. I was especially freaked out when she discovers larvae on Lily’s head. I was rooting for Jade to get out of the home as soon as she could. In addition, parts of it focused on how Jade suffers under that roof, especially with the sleep paralysis and with her dad and sister not believing her. Luckily, she tries to find ways to outwit the house with Florence’s help.

Furthermore, since the novel takes place in Vietnam, it makes a lot of sense to dive deep in how French colonialism impacts the house. Not only was it built in the French Colonial style, but it also exemplifies the cruelty associated with colonization. Through the ghost Cam, Jade finds out about the original owners – including Marion aka the Lady of Many Tongues. Jade’s ancestors worked for Marion, and she was awful to them, constantly reminding of their “savage” state. It also doesn’t help that Cam – a Vietnamese woman – was Marion’s sister-in-law. All of that resulted in the toxic environment the house emits. On top of that, American couple Alma and Thomas are interested in seeing the home get turned into a bed and breakfast. This is especially true for the former since she wrote her dissertation about the house and the French colonization of Vietnam – a point that Tran brings up a few times throughout. Some readers have expressed annoyance about how repetitive that could get, but I didn’t mind. After all, Jade is trying to convince the people around her that the house is haunted, so she has to hammer in those points in not-so subtle ways.

The book holds together well because of Jade. Jade is a complex character. She is full of insecurities. She’s Vietnamese American and bisexual, so she never felt like her true self in one place. On top of that, she lies to the people she loves because she doesn’t want to let them down even though some of them have already done that to her. And now, barely anyone believes her about the house being haunted. Her relationship with Ba is frustrating. She hates him since he left their family years prior to the events in the novel, and yet, for tuition money and approval, she comes to him in Vietnam to help him get the house ready for its opening. There’s even a scene, in which he gaslights her into believing that she made him leave. He’s as terrible as Jack Torrance from The Shining.

I was rooting for Jade with her scenes with Florence – the niece of one of the investors. At first, Jade doesn’t care that much since she believes Florence is ditzy, but her walls come down when they spend more time with each other, especially when making elaborate pranks to show how haunted the home is. With Florence, Jade felt the need to be truthful. I’m glad that Florence believed her about the house.

The novel is a textbook definition of the word slow-burn. The plot takes its sweet time moving from one point to another. It’s filled with Jade having the night terrors and seeing the flashbacks, then it switches to Jade doing something about the house. But, then no one believes her, and it goes into scenes, where she analyzes everything that led her up to that point, and repeats. However, the finale is insane and will burn into readers’ minds.

She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran is a good YA gothic horror novel. Having a haunted house story set in Vietnam offers so many possibilities, and Tran uses quite a lot of them. The home is equally beautiful and eerie, and I wondered what other things it could do. In addition, they do a wonderful job with critiquing French colonization by integrating in the histories of both the house and Jade’s family. As for Jade herself, she may not be the most likeable teenager, but many teen readers will certainly identify themselves in her. It’s not as easy to read because of how slow and intense it can get. I would recommend it to those who love gothic horror novels, especially Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and stories involving Asian-identifying and/or LGBTQ+ characters. It will haunt you in the best way possible.

Before I go, I want to let everyone know that I have recorded the latest episode of the Adapt Me Podcast. Guest and book lover Hadley and I talk about how we would adapt this novel into a miniseries. Keep an eye out for the link.

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!

Through the Glass Ceiling: Reflections on Feminism from the C-Suite Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Sasha Stolz Publicity in exchange for an honest review.

I am a feminist. I believe in equality for both women and men in areas like pay and opportunities. There are plenty of books that discuss this subject in a variety of forms, but one of the most common is in business. This makes sense since more women have been hired in many positions, including the top leadership ones, in the male-dominating corporate world. It’s also one of the best places to show how women shattered the glass ceiling. One of the latest books that dives into this aspect is Through the Glass Ceiling: Reflections on Feminism from the C-Suite by Sheelagh Whittaker – the female CEO of a Toronto Stock Exchange listed company. It’s a funny and introspective story about one woman’s journey in the Canadian corporate world with an engaging narrator and wonderful insight on gender equality.

Through the Glass Ceiling: Reflections on Feminism from the C-Suite blends memoir, feminist history, and career guidance all into one told by a former female CEO. Sheelagh Whittaker reflects on her experiences that shaped her approach to leadership from her role models to the lessons she learned in business school. As she ascends the corporate ladder, she encounters absurdities, victories, and drawbacks that define a woman’s journey in male-dominated spaces. Along the way, Whittaker discusses how feminism seeped into her consciousness, influencing the decisions she made at work and home. Through the Glass Ceiling is not just a memoir; it’s a call to action for aspiring women leaders looking to break their own glass ceilings, even when the path is anything but clear.

Prior to reading Through the Glass Ceiling, I had no idea who Sheelagh Whittaker was. I’m an American who’s not too familiar with the business world. Regardless, I found her story to be riveting, and she tells it in less than 200 pages. I admired her tenacity as she endured the business world while balancing her personal life even if she was oblivious to certain practices. Some things had to give and take like moving across the country to take a leadership position or ending a relationship. Whittaker tells some fascinating stories about the kinds of workplace abuse she encountered. For example, after she gave a presentation to members of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the network executive literally kicked her in the ankles (p. 55). I couldn’t believe it. But, did that guy meet Bill Clinton years later? Whittaker did, which I thought was amazing.

In addition, I adore her humor. One of the funniest things she recalls saying in the past is “We will have true equality when we have as many incompetent women in positions of power as we have incompetent men.”

That line made me laugh really hard because I thought of certain organizations that have ironically achieved that. And, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that it was funny. Whittaker mentions, “Over the years, some of my best friendships have evolved from people who came looking for the woman (me) who was recorded in Colombo’s Canadian Quotations for having first said that” (p. 61).

Along with the humor, my favorite part of Through the Glass Ceiling is the reflections on feminism and gender equality not only from Whittaker, but also from her sister, daughter, son, caretaker, and granddaughter. Each of them are from separate generations, which makes their views different as well as similar in some ways. For instance, I like how the granddaughter ruminates that even though no one told her she couldn’t do certain things because she was a woman, she held internal misogyny due to how she felt people would perceive her and her femininity as weak. Fortunately, she was grateful that what her grandmother helped paved the way in the initial feminist waves, so she can love and motivate herself to do what she wants to do (p. 145-148). It shows how feminism evolved from an external battle with getting a foot into the door to an internal one with embracing one’s true self.

Through the Glass Ceiling: Reflections on Feminism from the C-Suite by Sheelagh Whittaker is a fun and heartfelt memoir about one woman’s experiences in the business world and her views on gender equality. There are so many things to adore. I love the humor, the frankness, and how Whittaker and the people in her life talk about their views on feminism and how she made a difference. It’s also a quick read at less than 200 pages. Additionally, that line about achieving equality when both incompetent women and men are in higher-up positions is absolutely spot on. I would recommend this to readers who love reading about the business world and stories of women breaking the glass ceiling. Through the Glass Ceiling: Reflections on Feminism from the C-Suite will be tomorrow, April 22, so make sure you get it at your local bookstore or library.

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Books Forward in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning: this review discusses mental health.

Vincent Van Gogh is undoubtedly one of the greatest artists who ever lived. His work has been admired and emulated for over 100 years. His backstory of struggling to get his paintings out there and with his mental health are well documented. But, what I didn’t know was that his sister-in-law Jo Van Gogh was responsible for saving Vincent’s work from obscurity. Author Joan Fernandez dives deep into this part of Vincent Van Gogh’s legacy with her historical fiction novel Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh. It’s a wonderful story that features beautifully drawn out characters and explores what made Vincent Van Gogh so special.

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh is about one woman’s 15-year journey to preserve her brother-in-law’s paintings despite all the obstacles against her in turn-of-the-century Europe. In 1891, timid Jo Van Gogh Bonger lives safely in the background of her art dealer husband Theo’s work selling obscure artists, including his ill-fated deceased brother Vincent. When he dies unexpectedly, Jo’s brief happiness is shattered. Her inheritance – many of Vincent’s unsold paintings – is worthless. Despite being pressured to move back in with her parents, she defies tradition by starting a boarding house to raise her infant son alone and choosing to promote Vincent’s art herself. However, her ingenuity and persistence draw the opposition of a powerful Parisian art dealer who vows to stop her and to sink Vincent into obscurity.

Going into this book, I knew Vincent Van Gogh’s classic paintings like Starry Night, Sunflowers, and his self-portrait as well as his struggles with mental illness. In addition, I’m a Doctor Who fan, and I adore the episode “Vincent and the Doctor,” in which the Eleventh Doctor and his companion Amy Pond visit the painter and fight a monster. It’s best remembered for a scene towards the end, in which the Doctor and Amy take Vincent to The Gallery in 2010 to show him that his work will live on. It’s beautiful. I was also aware of his brother Theo since the Fall Out Boy album Infinity on High is lifted from a line from Vincent’s letter to him in 1888.

On the other hand, I had no idea who Jo Van Gogh was or how Vincent Van Gogh’s work became famous after his death in 1890. Nonetheless, I’m still glad that Fernandez brought Jo to life because she was a wonderful character. I loved her determination and vulnerability as she tries to sell her late brother-in-law’s work despite the obstacles in front of her. It’s one thing that she has no prior knowledge in marketing art, but on top of that, she is Theo’s widow and lives in a time, in which a woman’s place is supposed to be in the home, and Vincent was seen as crazy and deemed not worthy enough in the art world. But still, she’s determined to promote Vincent’s paintings not only to secure her son Vincentje’s inheritance, but also to show people who her brother-in-law truly was. Jo can be seen as nosy while interacting with various art dealers, which gets her into trouble, but she needed to be in order for Vincent to be recognized.

In addition, I like how Fernandez displays how Jo’s focus on selling could be lonely for her. During the novel, her family and friends raise concerns about how isolating Jo is with her work. Overtime, she finds a way to balance being a mother, running a boardhouse, having time for herself, going to socialist meetings, and marketing Vincent’s paintings.

Even though the book is called Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh, some chapters are told through Georges Raulf’s perspective. Raulf is a fictional character who stands in for all of the adversaries that Jo faced while promoting her late relative’s work. While he has his reasons for blocking every possible avenue for Jo to display the paintings, his actions can come off a bit too cartoony. This is why the novel can feel a little too melodramatic at times even though it’s already serious. Regardless, I enjoyed it whenever he got his comeuppance, especially in the second half.

The best part of this book was the research into Vincent Van Gogh’s life and how it explores why he appealed to many people even to this day. It’s apparent that Fernandez took plenty of time to dive deep into the artist himself. She references many of his paintings from his best-known to the most obscure and his letters to his brother/Jo’s husband Theo. Each section includes a quote from Vincent regarding a specific art piece and shows the work in question on the next page. Additionally, the author does a great job in showing how Jo gradually understands what made Vincent unique. There are plenty of scenes where she reads his letters and is moved by his words. Through this, she gets why Vincent wanted to paint the ordinary since he found extraordinary things in them. She soon realizes that she feels the same way on certain things like how she agrees with Vincent on how socialism can improve people’s lives.

When it comes to Vincent’s mental health, Fernandez handles this delicately. His “madness” looms all over the book. As mentioned before, past art dealers rarely wanted to work with Vincent because of his behavior. Vincent’s mother asserts that madness runs in the family, which is sadly proven when his sister Wil is committed to an asylum later in the book. Jo often ponders if her son Vincentje has that too. Despite barely knowing him, Jo is able to see Vincent as he was – a man who went against the grain – in his letters.

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh by Joan Fernandez is a wonderful book about a relatively unknown woman who made a difference in the art world. Jo Van Gogh is fleshed out and displays many colors just like her brother-in-law’s paintings. Easily, the best part of this novel is how it investigates what made Vincent Van Gogh appealing to a wider audience while being respectful to his mental health. I would recommend this to readers who love art, historical fiction, and stories about women breaking societal norms. Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh will be tomorrow, April 15, so make sure you get it at your local bookstore or library.

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!

Old White Man Writing Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Book Publicity Services in exchange for an honest review.

Over the years, I’ve read plenty of books that are undeniably unique, as they contain unusual storytelling methods. Anything from John Marzalkowski comes to mind as some of the best examples. However, there are others that are not as effective. Today’s subject Old White Man Writing by Joshua Gidding sounds like it could be something that interests and humors people, especially written by a man exploring his privilege. However, he fumbles the execution by doing too much and with a weak structure.

Old White Man Writing is a memoir about an old white man analyzing his life and the societal and cultural changes in the twenty-first century. As the author examines his privileged background, he explores his relationships with some of the people of color in his life and begins to address his white guilt and complex feelings that have arisen from an uneasy racial conscience despite being left-leaning. The events and reflections are conveyed through two characters. One is the author himself, who is an unreliable narrator in his own story, and the other is a fictional alter ego Joßche (or Jossche), a German literary biographer with a titanium membrane in his skull-the result of a childhood bicycle accident. With his commentary, Joßche keeps the author honest (at least he tries to), giving way to rather surprising results at the end. Ultimately, the readers and the two Joshes face a question, whose roots run deep through our contemporary culture: In an age of increasing diversity, who gets to have a biography, who doesn’t, and why?

Let’s start off with some good things about the book. The first is undoubtedly the premise itself. We certainly need more old white male authors examining their privilege, and he is more than willing. He does this with plenty of self-deprecating humor. I especially enjoyed the back and forth with Joßche. Joßche provides some good kicks to the author’s rear end. Moreover, I like how even though he claims he’s a progressive, he bravely admits that he has said and done insensitive things like gawking at a black man at a restaurant when he was a kid and flashing a group of black girls at college. In some ways, he reminds me of my husband and his friends.

The author is also not afraid to be sincere. The best part of this memoir was reading about his wife Diane’s battle with cancer and her eventual death. I could feel how much the author loved her and how hard he felt her loss. When he met Diane, he was going through a depressive episode, and she lifted his spirits. In turn, he became the best husband and father that he could be. After her death, the author tried to have a relationship with a Chinese-American woman named Mei-Li, but it didn’t work out. He does eventually find love again with a woman named Julie. I wanted to know more about that particular relationship. Regardless, I invested in his quest to find love again.

With all that being said, I had a hard time getting into it. It felt like the author wanted to introduce every possible theme all at once at the beginning instead of letting them play out naturally. This included his exploration of his white privilege, his bouts of depression, and Joßche. Speaking of Joßche, I didn’t have that much of an issue with him interrupting the author, for it’s set up well although I found the ending to be more a thud.

In addition, I was not a fan of the structure. It’s written in three parts with several sections. This could have worked if it was a one-man show performed live. But because it’s written, it should have been organized in a simpler way to offset the memoir’s ambitious nature. For example, John Marzalkowski’s work, especially Buy My Book: Not Because You Should, But Because I’d Like Some Money, is really absurd. To balance that out, he has them in chapters to make them more digestible. This structure would have been beneficial to Old White Man Writing, especially when introducing its many themes.

Old White Man Writing by Joshua Gidding is a decent memoir. Although there was plenty of humor and sincerity in examining Gidding’s privilege, the structure was wonky, and Gidding felt the need to introduce every theme all at once. These made it difficult for me to get into. That’s why I was invested in some parts, but not the whole. I will give it this: at least he’s not on his high horse unlike the author in the other book that examines white privilege I’ve reviewed for this website. If I had to recommend it, it would be to old, white readers, especially if they studied Latin and/or German (Gidding knows plenty about those languages). While Old White Man Writing is certainly unique, it could’ve been better.

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!

A Chain of Pearls Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Author Marketing Experts in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve covered a lot of mysteries on this website. They usually contain a similar formula of trying to find who and why someone committed the crime. Recently, I’ve been finding myself more drawn to the characters and their relationships in these mysteries. If they are done well, readers will keep coming back to them. A good example of this is A Chain of Pearls – a novel by debuting author Raemi A. Ray. It contains a memorable character trying to find out what happened to her estranged father in Martha’s Vineyard.

A Chain of Pearls is the first book in the “Martha’s Vineyard Murders” series. When the body of a respected journalist turns up on the shores of Edgartown Harbor, the official report rules it as an accidental death. But, why was he alone on a senator’s yacht during a nor’easter? That’s the first question London-based lawyer Kyra Gibson has when she arrives on Martha’s Vineyard to settle her estranged father’s affairs. She isn’t looking for closure. In fact, she hasn’t seen him in decades since he left her with her aunt after her mother died. But as Kyra digs deeper, she discovers that he had many regrets and wasn’t as retired as she believed he was. The more Kyra finds out, the more questions she has. With world-weary detective Tarek Collins, they uncover a web of intrigue and corruption involving a powerful senator, a dubious energy company, and a brutal murder. As they chase down clues, Kyra and Tarek face danger and race against time to solve the murders and uncover the secrets lurking beneath Martha’s Vineyard’s picturesque facade.

The mystery was well done. It contained some twists and turns as well as a finale that had me on the edge of my seat. There were plenty of red herrings too, so I was pondering who did it until it was revealed at the end. I didn’t mind that Kyra – a private citizen – was actively helping the police with their investigation because of how it personally affected her. Granted, she does some stupid things that impact the search and her relationship with Tarek, yet it still works out in the end.

Additionally, I enjoyed the environment. Ray made Martha’s Vineyard, specifically Edgartown, a character in of itself. It’s a cool coastal town filled with colorful characters like Grace and Charlie – the lesbian couple that Kyra’s father knew. There’s also the back and forth between the summer people and the native islanders. Most importantly, the descriptions are exquisite. I know that many reviewers have discussed this aspect prior, but they truly made me feel like I was there on Martha’s Vineyard with Kyra and the rest of the cast. I could even feel the brisk wind on the island. I can easily see why Kyra’s dad resided there.

I truly knew I would be intrigued by A Chain of Pearls when I read its synopsis of a woman dealing with her late estranged father. This personal conflict forms the backbone of the story, and it’s easily the best part. Because of how her dad abandoned her after her mother passed away, Kyra has a hard time trusting people and developed a hardened heart. She reminded me of Emma Swan from the television show Once Upon a Time as both have trust issues and make plenty of wise cracks. I could imagine Kyra with a red leather jacket similar to what Emma wore in the series. In addition, both find themselves working with detectives to solve a mystery in a remote town in New England. I enjoyed the banter Kyra has with Tarek the investigator. I kind of wondered if they were going to get together, but the mystery was still at the forefront.

I love how Kyra’s personal conflict is woven into the entire plot. As she searches for clues, she discovers how much her father talked about her and kept some of things she made while she was a child. It makes her realize that he cared about her more than she gave him credit for. I won’t spoil it, but I have to mention that the culprit has their own problems with their family that may or not be similar to Kyra’s.

A Chain of Pearls by Raemi A. Ray is a great mystery series debut. It has a good mystery that was filled with twists, turns, and a great climax. Raemi also does a fantastic job with the sense of place as readers like myself were able to imagine ourselves there. Above all, Kyra and her personal conflict are magnificent. They add plenty of dynamics to the story and absolutely make the book worth reading. I would recommend it to readers who want more character-based mysteries like the “Armand Gamache” series by Louise Penny and novels set in Martha’s Vineyard. I can’t wait to read the rest of “Martha’s Vineyard Murders” books.

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!