Drowning in Paper Flowers by E.L. Westbury

Posted on 08/16/2026 | Leave a comment

Rating: *** (3/5)

Published: Atria, June 2026

Format: Trade Paperback

Genre: Mystery

Source: Publisher

Things are not as perfect as they seem in the Powell household.  Ruby’s aware that her husband Jack has been cheating on her for the past 4 years. Her kids, teenaged Millie and 6 year old Mason, offer a different set of challenges.  We get various narrative perspectives: Ruby, as she tries to make Jack’s life as miserable as possible; Jack, who balances family life, business, and his affair; Ivy, Jack’s mistress; and Millie, who is navigating the social quagmire that is high school.

What starts as a domestic drama turns into a sordid tale of intrigue and murder.  I enjoyed the story and how all the various deceptions were revealed.  But good lord these people were miserable and it’s not always a pleasant reading experience when every page drips with negativity.  One thing I found distracting was the author’s heavy handed use of similes and metaphors.  Overall, decent plot, okay characters, mediocre writing.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

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Ransom by Daniel Silva

Posted on 07/29/2026 | Leave a comment

Rating: **** (4/5)

Published: Harper, 2026

Format: Hardcover

Genre: Thriller

Source: Personal Collection

When a billionaire’s wife goes missing while on holiday with her girlfriends, he hires Gabriel Allon to find her.  Before long, the ransom demands begin, but is the missing woman really worth a billion dollars?

As much as I look forward to every installment in the series, this one was more predictable and less clever than usual. Sure, we get to revisit some of our favorite characters, and one of our most familiar enemies is creating international chaos.  I enjoyed how a simple “kidnapping” turned into a major global crisis, but it seemed more formulaic than usual.  It’s still fun solving crimes with Mr. Allon.

Also by Daniel Silva:

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Notorious by Hayley Nolan

Posted on 07/25/2026 | Leave a comment

Subtitle: Anne Boleyn and the Great Tudor Hoax

Rating: *** (3/5)

Published: St. Martin’s Press, December 2026

Format: ARC

Genre: Nonfiction

Source: Publisher

I have read dozens of books about the Tudors, but this is the first time Elizabeth Barton was featured so prominently.  The Holy Nun of Kent was ushered out of obscurity and deemed a saintly prophet by clergy who sought to profit (hah) from her so-called visions.  And what did her angels allegedly tell her?  That King Henry VIII was doomed if he cast aside Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. 

Really this book is about different factions within England at the time vying for either traditional religion or for reform.  So it’s Catholics championing Barton, versus Anne and her reformist leanings.  Did this dichotomy and presumption that Barton is responsible for years-long struggle for Henry and Anne’s marriage warrant a full book?  Maybe not, but it was an interesting interpretation of events surrounding both women’s downfalls.  Nolan was a little to heavy handed in her arguments for Barton’s role in the affair and that Anne was executed because of her dedication to charity and her aversion to Rome. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

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The Everest Mystery by Julie Summers and Jochen Hemmleb

Posted on 07/14/2026 | Leave a comment

Subtitle: Sandy Irvine, George Mallory, and the Truth Still Buried on Everest

Rating: *** (3/5)

Published: St. Martin’s Press, August 2026

Format: ARC

Genre: Nonfiction

Source: Publisher

Part biography of Sandy Irvine, part analysis of his and George Mallory’s 1924 Everest summit attempt, this book felt like a continuation of Mark Synnott’s The Third Pole.  Like Synnott, Summers and Hemmeb have personal connections to the search for the truth…  Summers is the great grand niece of Irvine and Hemmeb was on Mt. Everest when Mallory’s body was finally found.  Since then, a boot containing Irvine’s foot and labeled sock have been found, but very little detail of that discovery was provided here, which was a bit anticlimactic.  I feel like the authors provided a more comprehensive timeline of Irvine and Mallory’s final days, but the continued inconclusiveness was not particularly satisfying.  I do hope that one day, someone can (find the camera? Irvine’s body?) definitively prove whether or not the pair summited.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. 

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One of the Family by Mark Edwards

Posted on 07/12/2026 | Leave a comment

Rating: **** (4/5)

Published: Atria, August 2026

Format: ARC

Genre: Mystery

Source: Publisher

Patrick is just along for the ride to Scottland to meet his girlfriend Holly’s family for the first time at their vacation home during the New Year holiday. And oh boy, does he have every reason to be nervous, and not just because Holly’s father Charles is a rich tech company owner.  They are also meeting Charles’ fiancé for the first time, and this Jasmine is the same age as Holly and her siblings Miranda and Lewis.

There’s a lot to unpack with this clan who are fiercely loyal to their family.  In a secluded village on the Scottish coast during a snow storm, with cabinets full of hunting rifles, creepy caves where deaths have occurred, and decades long grudges…  What could go wrong?!  Poor Patrick gets sucked into this messy family drama and as the body count rises, he realizes everyone is complicit is some form of backstabbing, ruthlessness, and even murder.  You also get a twenty-year-old back story about a related tragedy, a little corporate espionage, and some good old-fashioned blackmail.  Overall, it was a fun family drama with enough twists and turns to keep me (and Patrick) guessing.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

Also by Mark Edwards: The Wasp Trap

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The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

Posted on 07/08/2026 | Leave a comment

Rating: ***** (5/5)

Published: Spiegel & Grau, 2026

Format: Hardcover

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Personal Collection

Stockett’s long-awaited sophomore novel did. Not. Disappoint!  Birdie Calhoun’s mother sends her to Oxford, Mississippi to borrow money from her sister Frances’s wealthy husband so they don’t lose their house.  But not everything is peaches and cream in Oxford, and soon Frances and her mother-in-law realize their husband/son has completely duped them…

Switch perspectives to Meg, who was sent to the Orphanage in Oxford when her mother seemingly abandoned her.  The mistreatment she experiences at the hands of the orphanage’s director is horrendous, but then she meets Birdie, who has volunteered to help get their bookkeeping in order.  The connection they make is a bright spot in Meg’s life and a catalyst for how the rest of the book plays out.

I ADORED how both Birdie and Meg had distinct voices and how their experiences were portrayed.  If I thought it was hilarious when Birdie got drunk for the first time, that was nothing compared to the shenanigans she gets up to in the latter half of the book.  And Meg’s wide-eyed awe was so endearing, like the first time she encountered chicken pot pie: “Lord, this thing tastes like a damn chicken dessert.”  You know it’s a great novel when you LoL and actually read passages aloud to your spouse!  Of course, the nasty antagonist orphanage director gets her comeuppance in true Stockett style, though I thought her humiliation could have been on a grander scale.  Still, it was funny, heartwarming, and the characters were brilliantly rendered.  Bravo.

Also by Kathryn Stockett: The Help

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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Posted on 07/01/2026 | Leave a comment

Rating: ** (2/5)

Published: The New American Library, 1847

Format: Pocket Paperback

Genre: Fiction

Source: Personal Collection

Reading about unhappy characters is not my favorite endeavor.  The weird love triangle between Heathcliff, the elder Catherine, and Linton was anything but romantic.  The younger generation didn’t inspire much enthusiasm either.  Heathcliff was a tyrant, sure, but everyone else was equally obnoxious in their treatment of one another. The whole book was a bunch of Gothic, immature backstabbing and I didn’t particularly enjoy it…

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It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell

Posted on 06/29/2026 | 1 comment

Rating: ***** (5/5)

Published: Atria Books, June 2026

Format: Hardcover

Genre: Mystery

Source: Personal Collection

Here is more proof that Jewell is the queen of the domestic thriller!  Jane finds a lost dog wandering the property of her tumble-down manor house, and its chip provides the owner’s address in Hampstead Heath.  When she arrives at the house, she is shaken to her core.  It’s the same house where, two decades ago, she was almost abducted.  With nothing better to do, Jane takes it upon herself to figure out what ties this particular house to the lost dog and a missing girl renting a nearby cottage under a pseudonym. 

Jane’s self-proclaimed P.I. sleuthing never felt like she was just a busybody snoop.  I enjoyed all of the different characters’ narratives both past and present.  Just when you think one character is sinister, you get a whole different perspective that flips your perception of the situation.  This Hampstead Heath house of horrors has some terrible secrets and Jewell delivers them with great pacing and dramatic flair.

Also by Lisa Jewell:

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The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kuskin, Illustrations by Marc Simont

Posted on 06/27/2026 | Leave a comment

Rating: ***** (5/5)

Published: Harper Collins, 1982

Format: Paperback

Genre: Children’s

Source: Personal Collection

I had so much fun revisiting this favorite from my childhood.  The illustrations are amazing and I love the music theme.  My dad used to read this to me as a child and it was pure nostalgia. 

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Agrippa by Robert Harris

Posted on 06/24/2026 | Leave a comment

Subtitle: A Novel of Ancient Rome’s Descent into Dictatorship

Rating: **** (4/5)

Published: Doubleday, September 2026

Format: ARC

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Publisher

Our title character is a first-hand witness to history.  As a boy, Agrippa befriends Octavius, the great-grand nephew of Julius Ceasar.  Little did they realize that Octavius would become Ceasar’s sole heir and the first dictator of the Roman Empire.  Agrippa accompanies Ceasar’s army as he suppresses rebellions and eventually, after Ceasar’s murder, rises through the ranks due to Octavia’s patronage, becoming the second most powerful man in Rome.

I didn’t expect that a novel about battles and political intrigue would be so engaging and captivating.  It’s a testament to Harris’s writing that Agrippa is a compelling narrator.  The battle scenes aren’t overly detailed or tedious.  As expected, there is some political back-stabbing, but that’s how powerful men stay in power.  The character development was solid, the historical backdrop was vivid, and I am pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

Also by Robert Harris: The Second Sleep

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