Tag: seniorcitizen

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#BookReview: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Less Thriller, More Up Meets Anne Of Greene Gables Meets Lizzie Borden. Wow. So much to say about the book, but its impact really is about that ending, and thus all I can really say *there* is that it really is quite impactful and extremely well done.

One of the most important things I can tell you though is exactly what I said in the title. This is not your typical dark mystery/ thriller, even with the body count it has. This is much more a lighthearted ish psychological drama with a lot of depth. The Up elements are even in the description of the book, but are very well done. The Anne of Green Gables and Lizzie Borden elements – and to be clear, I’m mostly familiar with those stories themselves due to my wife being a fan of them, so please don’t crucify me on exact details here – also work quite well and between the three you really get an interesting blend of a story that I don’t think I’ve ever seen done quite this way.

There are a lot of things within this tale that various people will find disturbing, perhaps disturbing enough to want to defenestrate the book over, perhaps from the highest location available. Don’t. Keep going. Because even those elements are here to serve a purpose in this story, and it is a story that needs to be seen and understood.

No, perhaps the greatest strength of this story – even as I adamantly disagree with the US cover tagline that “sanity is subjective” and indeed that idea is quite harmful itself, because both reality and thus sanity (as defined by the degree to which your mind complies with reality) *are*, in fact, quite objective – is just how well Hepworth weaves in such an intricate display and discussion of mental health. Some of it is very obvious and surface level, but there is also a great deal left understated or even completely off the page yet crystal clear.

Overall truly an excellent story from a master storyteller, and the 10K+ Goodreads reviews as of the moment I add this one show that quite a few people already know of it.

Very much recommended.

This review of Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth was originally written on May 20, 2026.

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#BlogTour: Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a solid thriller that uses multi-perspectives from a rare type of character class to tell an excellent tale. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookHype.com / BookBub.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com) and YouTube:

Not For Everyone. Read It Anyway. This is one of those tales that with its focus on a distinct type of character – namely, elderly residents of a care home – and with its use of multiple perspectives to tell its tale won’t be something everyone likes. Well, not everyone likes [insert your personal favorite book here], so read this one anyway and maybe see some things from perspectives you might never have considered before. To me, Glass creates her characters well – yes, they are all old and have some stereotypical elder shenanigans, but they’re also all truly complex characters with their own secrets and motivations and connections, and this winds up working well to drive the narrative, particularly as we get deeper into the overall story here.

Ultimately a satisfying thriller that sits comfortably within its genre as far as overall story goes, and with the particular characters employed helps it to stand out a bit from the literal millions of other books within this general space. If you enjoy thrillers at all, this is absolutely one you should check out. And even if you don’t generally enjoy thrillers, this is still an interesting one to try out to see if you may be more open to the genre than you thought.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass”

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#BookReview: A New Leash On Life by Patricia Sands

A Moving Ending. Yet again packing quite a bit of story into such scant page count, this is a great ending to this series that gives an epilogue of our dog breeder Leslie’s adventures while also telling a compelling story of life after your long time husband has been diagnosed with dementia. It *also* manages to spend the most time out of the United States than any other book, and only Collar Me Crazy, book 2 of the series, spends more time outside of Dragonfly Cove itself.

And yet the tale here is still absolutely centered around Dragonfly Cove and this most recent litter of puppies from Leslie. Here, Chance gets his time to star as the central puppy of the story – and yes, once again (as is so often in this series) he tends to steal the scene most times he’s around.

Again using an elderly main character (as the previous book, Teacher’s Pet did), this tale does a remarkable job of showing both blood and found family and how they all come together. Truly a great tale in a small package, and yet again more evidence of how page count doesn’t give any indication of just how good a story is, with this one clocking in just over 150 pages.

Very much recommended.

This review of A New Leash On Life by Patricia Sands was originally written on January 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: Caroline, Adrift by Kay Bratt

Another Strong Family Tale From Bratt. This is yet another tale where Bratt uses elements of her own life and where she is in life to craft a fiction tale that explores deep issues in a serious yet also light-ish manner. Here yet again she shows great love for her youngest daughter’s adopted home of Hawaii and shows that having family thousands of miles away can still result in close bonds – if efforts are made. But the main story is of a woman facing the all-too-real scenario faced by so many women nearing or above Senior Citizen Discount age: what happens when you lose your partner of decades? This is the main thrust of the story, and Bratt does a tremendous job of exploring this scenario, particularly as it also relates to having adult children with their own lives, through the course of this sub-150 page novella. Packing quite a bit here, it is often forgettable just how short this story is – while it reads quick due to its actual length, Bratt manages to have *so much happen* that it “feels” like it could have had an extra 50-100 pages. In other words, don’t let the short actual page count fool you – this is a complete tale, just one without the filler and perhaps extra drama of an actually longer tale. And for those familiar with Bratt’s real-life work rescuing dogs and particularly Yorkies… yes, a Yorkie also appears here. 😀 Ultimately a strong tale filled with great topical exploration… and more drama than ever happens on any of *my* cruises. 😀 Very much recommended.

This review of Caroline, Adrift by Kay Bratt was originally written on January 2, 2023.