Tag: womensfiction

Posted on

#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.

Posted on

#BookReview: I Know You Killed Your Husband by Steena Holmes

Scene In Service To Story. As It Should Be. With the exception of those tales where the scene is *intended* to *be* the story, scene should generally support the story of a tale and enhance it – and this book does that quite well. Yes, there are a lot of Parisian details. Holmes has been there a few times, loves it, and wanted to celebrate it in a tale – similar to so many other writers over the years, including her colleague in the Facebook group Readers Coffeehouse Kimberly Belle’s 2024 release, The Paris Widow.

Here, what we actually get is a very dark, very twisty tale of college friends who both share some very dark secrets… and are keeping other equally dark secrets from each other. This is one of those tales where there are no angels… and yet there may be a few antiheroes, depending on one’s perspective. There are aspects here that will be challenging for some readers, yet they primarily happen off screen and only the aftermath is really seen on screen at all – which can perhaps be all the more concerning for some. Yet Holmes works them with care, treading the line between hyper realism and preachiness quite well, never really veering into preachy – at least for me. Read the book for yourself and let us know what you thought of that wherever you see this review. 🙂

If you enjoy dark, twisty thrillers involving long time friends, you’re going to enjoy this book. If you enjoy being transported to Paris via books, you’re going to enjoy this book. It really does work well on both levels, even as the Parisian setting truly is in service to the story and never feels excessive or weighty at all. And if you enjoy books that are twisting until almost the very last word… yep, this is absolutely going to be your kind of book.

Very much recommended.

This review of I Know You Killed Your Husband by Steena Holmes was originally written on May 18, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: The Missing Ones by A.R. Torre

HBO Desperate Housewives. This is one of those books that requires a certain composure to be able to withstand – but for those with the fortitude, it will be quite fun and delicious indeed. One where everyone has secrets, a lot of them are dark, and some of them are the kind that tend to grab a lot of headlines when exposed, even when among fully consenting adults.

Spice level is maybe jalapeno or so, *maybe* a touch hotter, but it is more the exact scenarios of the spice that will test more people than the actual heat of it. So more like a very concentrated lemon suppository kind of heat than a “I’m breathing fire” heat. The kind of heat that (mostly) doesn’t *hurt* so much as make at least a lot, perhaps most, of people extremely uncomfortable.

The other things that will be difficult for some are the multiple perspectives combined with seemingly no real distinction between them – these are all similar people with similar enough backgrounds living similar enough lives, and the way they “speak” on the page doesn’t really differentiate themselves strongly, so it can be difficult at times to keep track of whose head we’re in at what point. Combined with a short documentary style interview paragraph or so at the beginning of each chapter, most often from still other perspectives, it can be a lot at times, even for such a short-ish (300 ish page) book.

But for those with the fortitude, this really is a strong, delicious book that has a lot to offer. It hits in some expected ways… and a few unexpected ones to boot. Torre knows what her readers will expect in such a situation and tale, and both gives and withholds these expectations to craft a story that is compelling for what it actually is. One where you could absolutely see even a lady reading this book with a strong maduro cigar as she lounges out on her back pool deck overlooking the 18th hole at a golf course, daring the fat asses playing through to ogle her knowing that she could ruin any of them in an instant. So, not exactly the “chilling poolside in Vegas with the girlfriends” vibe, yet also far from a girlboss thing as well.

Overall a strong book that will prove itself too strong for some readers – and that is perfectly ok for both the book and those readers who know themselves well enough to know they likely can’t withstand it. For those who do choose to take on the challenge though, please do leave a review yourself wherever you found this one.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Missing Ones by A.R. Torre was originally written on May 17, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: The Players Club by Rachel Mills

Female Fight Club Has Zero Magical Realism. A lot of the low-rated reviews of this one claim they expected magical realism in this book and… why? There is literally *nothing* about this book that I can find in the days before its release that would indicate there is a shred of magical realism anywhere near this book… because there isn’t any. Expecting any here is entirely on you, not on the author, and it is a you problem, because again, there is no magical realism in this text. At all.

Instead, what we do get is a rather intense psychological drama that really is a female version of Fight Club in so many ways. Approached from this perspective, the tale actually works quite well indeed, even when it does get a bit quick and hazy with particulars at times.

Pretty well the opposite of light and fluffy bubblegum, this is more akin to a nicely done elk steak – deep, satisfying meat, but slightly atypical for most people in a way that will feel weird at times yet is ultimately quite satisfying indeed. Perhaps best enjoyed with a strong red wine and even, if that is your thing, an equally strong cigar. Again, truly, not that light poolside/ beachside read with a ceviche and a margarita. At all.

But for those that dare… it really is quite fun in its own way, and quite devastating in others – there may in fact be some dusty rooms at times here.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Players Club by Rachel Mills was originally written on May 15, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: Meet Me In Italy by Brenda Novak

Solid Women’s Fiction/ Romance Blend. This is one of those tales the genre blends between women’s fiction and technically satisfying all known RWA/RNA “romance genre” requirements… while being around habanero spicy to boot, at least in once instance. (Others are closer to jalapeno or even milder, though still stronger than a warm glass of milk.)

Told from a few different characters’ perspectives and thus allowing them all to feel fully fleshed out, one weakness here is that many characters outside these specific perspective characters often feel… not as fully fleshed out. Indeed, at least a few are “I need a character in this role” thin – but for the most part they’re also barely relevant to the story at hand, so it does make at least a degree of sense that they aren’t as strongly written. Particularly given the length of the tale even with these “less fully fleshed out” characters – giving them more to do and making them feel more fully alive the way our main characters do could easily have added a few dozen pages to this already decently chunky tale, particularly given its type.

Overall this is exactly one of those safe *enough* women’s fiction / romance blends that while it may have a thing or two here or there that may begin to step on some toes, for most readers this really will go down about as easily as a cool bottle of Coca Cola on a hot summer day – which is exactly what it was designed to do, clearly. It is that exact kind of not-quite-bland-yet-also-not-too-memorable tale that is almost explicitly designed to appeal to as many readers as possible, and I have exactly zero doubt that it will do exactly that. If you’re looking for a safe *enough* read over the summer, one that transports you to an exotic location – again visiting Italy’s Amalfi Coast, as Sarah Penner’s The Amalfi Curse did last summer and a few others have done over the years – and tickles the brain *enough* and warms the heart *enough* while also providing *enough*… “excitement”… for other regions of the body that it will quite clearly play well with the summer “beach read” / “vacation read” set, which this is clearly intended for.

One thing that makes this a touch more interesting to read after its release (due to life issues arising just before its release, despite having had it as an Advance Review Copy for nearly four months prior to release) is Novak’s public announcement about her own real life shortly after the publication of this book and how that seems to inform various aspects of this tale.

There is also a decent amount of social commentary about various topics, specifically the publishing industry as well as a few others, but other than perhaps the publishing industry “inside baseball”, none of it ever really comes across as preachy. Again, this is where the brain is tickled a bit while never going so far as to produce real agitation, at least for most readers.

Ultimately this is a book that will likely do everything it set out to do – a perfectly safe, flavorful enough, summer/ vacation/ beach read that will play well with the women’s fiction/ romance set generally while being perhaps a bit spicier than the Hallmarkie crowd specifically would prefer.

Very much recommended.

This review of Meet Me In Italy by Brenda Novak was originally written on May 11, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: Five Star Summer by Sarah Morgan

Low Stakes Medium Spice Sarah Morgan/ Hallmarkie Summer Tale. Sarah Morgan basically has two settings: summer and Christmas, and she seems to make it a point to release both types of book every year. This being a May release and given the title, it is obviously her summer version. Which does involve coastal/ beach living and general summer-ish vibes without being too country or culture specific. (Well done as this book takes place in both the UK and the US, though the bulk of the tale is in the UK.)

If you’ve never read a Sarah Morgan tale before, this – like pretty well all of them, at least in my experience – is a solid introduction to her general style and conforms pretty solidly to “her style”. Not to the level of “if you’ve read one of her books you’ve read them all” but certainly to the level of the Hallmarkie “everything will be in this style with different particulars and take that as you will”, and yes, there is a difference there.

Those that can’t stand the heat of a jalapeno or so, know that this book is likely too spicy for you. Those that need a Carolina Reaper to be able to feel any heat at all, know that this book is nowhere near spicy enough for you. For most readers that fall somewhere in between, this book will likely be engaging without being distracting.

Overall, as I said in the title, really just a solid low stakes, medium spice, Sarah Morgan/ Hallmarkie type tale perfect for when you want to escape “actual” reality and know that there isn’t anything problematic or disturbing (for most readers, at minimum) in the book you’ve chosen to escape into.

Very much recommended.

This review of Five Star Summer by Sarah Morgan was originally written on May 3, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: Handle With Care by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

Don’t You Forget About Me. Yes, the title is a Breakfast Club reference… because at its heart, this is essentially a Breakfast Club tale for adults – of a type, at least. A group of strangers forced together all day, all with secrets of how they found themselves there at that moment. An emotional tale of what happens over those several hours.

And, in a bit of irony, other than the “it has cussing!!!!” one star review, literally every complaint in every existing one star review on Goodreads as I write this review nearly 10 days after publication of this book (despite having had it as an Advance Review Copy for several months!) is actually addressed either by realizing that this is a Breakfast Club type tale or even directly within the tale itself as things are wrapping up.

This one hit hard in a few different ways for me. One character has a situation where they made a similar choice to one I made over 20 yrs ago that continues to haunt me at times. Another faced an impossible situation that I’ve faced with far lower stakes more than once. Another sheds some light on some of the things that almost had to have been happening in those involved in the real life situation I mentioned moments ago that continues to haunt me.

But even without those direct personal connections – connections that are almost so common as to be universal, which was one of the things that, again, made Breakfast Club itself so beloved – this really is one that if you have a heart at all, it is going to feel the pull in these words. At some point, which may be different for each reader, the room is *going* to become very dusty indeed. Whalen just has a way of doing that, and this book is no different there.

Indeed, the *one* thing I can find to fault at all is a particular bit in the author’s note at the end that will leave a sour tinge of an aftertaste to many readers – but that is literally the author’s note after the story itself is completed. The story itself is truly an emotional successor to Breakfast Club for those with a bit more “life experience” since that era, and absolutely *nails* this particular vibe.

Very much recommended.

This review of Handle With Care by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen was originally written on April 23, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: Silverleaf by Kellie Coates Gilbert

Solid Southern Royalty Family Drama. We don’t have actual royalty in the United States, but in different areas of the country we do have very rich families – sometimes rich going back many generations, sometimes (particularly over the last century) much newer (ala The Great Gatsby). This is a modern tale of one such family, and Gilbert really does a great job of bringing us – even those of us who themselves rose from “trailer park trash” to having “respectable” jobs and titles like I have – into this world in a stunningly vivid manner that will truly transport you to the hills of western Appalachian horse country from no matter where you may actually live in the world.

Having grown up just miles away from a prominent horse racing facility and event – the Atlanta Steeplechase at Kingston Downs in Kingston, GA – and rubbing elbows with some of the elite of my home County on the borderlands of southern Appalachia and Atlanta due to… well, I never actually knew why and the one thing I was aware of seems a bit too self aggrandizing to proclaim in this review… I actually have enough experience at the fringes of the type of family Gilbert creates in this book to truly say that at least from my perspective, this entire tale was simply all too real.

Yes, including the… let’s say “family dynamics”… at play here. Some of which are a lot more universal than just the Southern Elite “royalty” type families, and at least some of which I’ve seen play out across family, friends, and associates no matter their “status” in “society”. Here, Gilbert really manages to bring these elements out as just as real and powerful as the setting she puts the family in, and the two sides of the tale combine rather spectacularly.

One thing that I appreciated that others may not find as appealing is how Gilbert managed to craft a mildly Christian tale here but keep it more muted and more “this exists in this world” level rather than any remotely preachy aspect to it – even the actual prayers in the text are simple meal-based “grace” prayers that are legitimately common throughout the region and not really sectarian at all. More formalized than the joke “Good food, Good meat, Good God let’s eat!” prayer you’ll hear at some Southern meals, but really at about the same theological depth, at least in the content of the prayers shown in this text. To flip it around a touch, it is really more akin to having an LGBT couple in the tale that everyone simply accepts as they are without making any real fuss about it and without it truly playing a role in the tale. Again, truly just a “this exists and now we’re moving on” level. Which will still be too much for some readers, for the same reasons the LGBT couple’s presence would be too much for other readers, and hey, you do you. You’ll find no judgement from me on that point, but I do appreciate when authors are able to integrate these types of things into their stories – either direction – in this exact manner, and Gilbert truly does an excellent job of this from the Christian side here.

This is Book 1 to a new series, and it does in fact show – we get a fully fleshed out world, one complete tale here (with enough room to follow it going forward without it continuing to be the main focus), and a lot of side stories such that clearly some of them will get their own stories, while seemingly others may be a bit of a running plotline of sorts perhaps through the entire series. It will be interesting to see how Gilbert plays these lines in particular, and one great thing to note is that even as I write this review the day before this book actually releases to the public, Book 2 is actually coming in just a couple of weeks! I for one am very excited about that for several reasons, chief among them being I won’t have read over 100 books between books in a series for a change! 😀 But seriously, this is absolutely a tremendous setup for a series that we’re going to want to come back into this world at least a few times, and I’m truly glad the first of those is very soon.

Very much recommended.

This review of Silverleaf by Kellie Coates Gilbert was originally written on April 15, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: A Spell For Saints And Sinners by Emily Carpenter

Not Southern Gothic. At All. More A Modern Day Gatsby. With Witches And Magical Realism. I’ve read at least one or two of Carpenter’s books before this one (and have a few more), and I know Carpenter knows Southern Gothic – Gothictown, her 2025 release, was spot on for that genre. But this aint that at ALL.

Yet what we *do* get is an “on trend” (re: magical realism) update to The Great Gatsby, that great work of Americana from a century ago, brought into more modern times (complete with sexting and #MeToo elements!) and with a Southern flair, moving it from New York to Savannah yet keeping a lot of the same overall look and feel… yet adding the fact that our main character is a witch and psychic. Had the description been based more on this, I do think at least some of the existing 1* reviews likely wouldn’t be there, as this is far more accurate than the current “official” one.

So yes, for those who want nothing at all to do with any form of witchcraft at all… I’m telling you now, this aint gonna be the book for you.

But for Mass Effect fans… our main character shares at least one verbal tic with one of the more popular characters in that franchise (certainly one of my own favorite non-Shepard characters), so you may want to read this book for that alone. Particularly if you love that particular verbal tic. But if you’re one that plays the drinking game of it… don’t do that with this book. You may get even more drunk than you do from playing ME3. 😉 Or maybe you’re a college student and/ or in your 20s (or later, really, but let’s face it, most of us grow too old for this shit by our 30s or so) and *want* a literary drinking game. In that case, I have a book for you! 😉 No judgement, have your fun. Just try not to land in jail, please. 😉

Gatsby is one of the Great Works Of American Literature for *reasons*, and while this book does a good or even great job of updating it and moving it several hundred miles South, it doesn’t *quite* hit *those* levels. Still, it is absolutely a solid look at how at least some of the themes explored in that book have both changed and remained the same over the last century or so, and for that alone it would do well to be studied in collegiate literature classes at minimum, perhaps even Junior/ Senior level high school classes… assuming, of course, modern high school students remain capable of such analysis and critique that was required of high school students when I was still in school 30 yrs ago.

One last personal note: I had this book for months as an Advance Review Copy before finally getting to it about a week after its release due to some personal “real life” issues that arose in mid March 2026 and are ongoing through April 2026 (and really all summer before they are fully resolved), and for whatever reason I had it listed as 288 pages long when I first entered it into my tracker when I originally downloaded it just before Halloween 2025. Finding out I was both missing the deadline *and* that the book was nearly twice as long as expected was… interesting. But that was also no fault of Carpenter or anyone involved in the publishing of this book and was entirely on me. Still, as it did come to bear on my overall experience with the book, it needed to be noted in my review. 🙂

Overall, this really was a strong book for what it actually is, and I think readers who go in with a more honest expectation of what it actually is will enjoy it quite a bit. But yes, readers who approach this book expecting Southern Gothic and finding absolutely none of that will feel disappointed, and honestly so. So approach this as the modern day update to Gatsby, moved to the South and with witches and magical realism added that it is, and I honestly think you will enjoy this book quite a bit, if that is something you’re into at all.

Very much recommended.

This review of A Spell For Saints And Sinners by Emily Carpenter was originally written on April 8, 2026.

Posted on

#BlogTour: The Last Daughter by Soraya Lane

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a truly great finale to an amazing series. For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Last Daughter by Soraya Lane.

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

What. A. Finale. This is the book that has had 7 books before it to hint at and build up to. The book whose story actually begins the entire event. The book that fans who have been following this series all along have been waiting for… and it absolutely delivers.

Make sure you read the seven books before this one before you read this one. They lay the groundwork and build the anticipation well in telling their own stories while revealing bits and hints of this one, and most all of the ladies from the contemporary side of those stories show up in some fashion here. Even while these stories are all ultimately romances, there are also enough women’s fiction elements to all of these stories (contemporary and historical) that there are indeed some spoilers to some of those stories within this story… which isn’t an issue if you read them first. 😉

Jeremy Robinson likes to tell people that they can read his book Prime, about the origins of one of his teams and written after several of the books featuring that team had been published, first when encountering that particular team (his “Chess Team”) for the first time. I’ve always recommended against that as one of Robinson’s oldest fans who was there when he was first coming up with the idea (and thought it wouldn’t play well… boy was I wrong!). To me, that series absolutely needs to be read in publication order so that you get the full impact of Prime when you get to it in that order.

And here is where the above story ties into Lane’s Lost Daughters: Yes, on the historical side this is *the* story that begins it all. We get a *lot* of answers on that side of it, and from that side of it you may argue that this book serves as a prequel that perhaps *should* be read first. You would be wrong… because the *contemporary* side of this novel absolutely serves as a coda to the entire series here.

Remember, this entire series is built on a fusion of the historical and the contemporary, merging Lane’s “brand names” of Soraya M. Lane (historical fiction) with her Soraya Lane (contemporary romance/ women’s fiction) “brand”. In the historical side of this tale, we get the origin story that allowed the entire rest of the series to take place. In the contemporary side of this tale, we get the ending that ties everything together in a nice little bow.

… or does it?

Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Last Daughter by Soraya Lane”