A Potpourri of Opinions

  The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise Colleen Oakley Publication date: March 28, 2023 by Berkley Genre: Women's Fiction, Humor Rating: 5 👢👢👢👢👢 Summary: Twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. Preferably one where she can continue sitting around in sweatpants and playing video games nineteen hours a day. Since she has no credit or money to speak of, her options are limited, so when an opportunity to work as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman falls into her lap, she takes it. One slip on the rug. That’s all it took for Louise Wilt’s daughter to demand that Louise have a full-time nanny living with her. Never mind that she can still walk fine, finish her daily crossword puzzle, and pour the two fingers of vodka she drinks every afternoon. Bottom line -- Louise wants a caretaker even less than Tanner wants to be one. The two start off their living arrangement happily ignoring each other until Tanner starts to notice things—weird things. Like, why does

  The Bookseller's Daughter Daniela Sacerdoti Publication date: June 27, 2023 by Bookouture Genre: Historical Fiction  Rating: 3 🍷🍷🍷 Summary: ‘As the soldiers arrived on our sandy beaches, a brave young girl hid beautiful leather-bound books. She risked her life to protect the secrets of this island and save the man she loved. I want you to find the books, dear Francesca. Her diary holds the first clue, take it, and uncover her incredible story…’ As golden sunlight shimmers across the crystal-clear water, Francesca arrives on the tranquil Italian island of Santa Caterina in search of precious rare books. She quickly discovers she was invited by the island’s mysterious owner, alongside handsome local book collector Thiago, to unlock a secret spanning generations. Together, they learn the books were hidden during the Second World War by Helèna, the daughter of a bookseller, who sacrificed everything to save the island’s treasures from the Nazis. With only Helèna’s diary to guide t

The Secret Book of Flora Lea Publication date: May 2, 2023 by Atria Books Genre: Historical Fiction Rating: 4 🍷🍷🍷🍷 Summary: When a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed. In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own. But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappea

  The Tiffany Girls Shelley Noble Publication date: May 9, 2023 by William Morrow Genre: Historical Fiction Rating: 4 🍷🍷🍷🍷 Summary: New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble wows with a gripping historical novel about the real-life “Tiffany Girls,” a fascinating and largely unknown group of women artists behind Tiffany’s most legendary glassworks. It’s 1899, and Manhattan is abuzz. Louis Comfort Tiffany, famous for his stained-glass windows, is planning a unique installation at the Paris World’s Fair, the largest in history. At their fifth-floor studio on Fourth Avenue, the artists of the Women’s Division of the Tiffany Glass Company are already working longer shifts to finish the pieces that Tiffany hopes will prove that he is the world’s finest artist in glass. Known as the “Tiffany Girls,” these women are responsible for much of the design and construction of Tiffany’s extraordinary glassworks, but none receive credit. Emilie Pascal, daughter of an art forger, has been shu

  Hammer of Fate The Rune Song #1 G. N. Gudgion Publication date: June 1, 2023 by Second Sky Books Genre: Fantasy Rating: 4 👢👢👢👢 Summary: “No surrender. No retreat.” With twenty enemy swords at their backs and a broken bridge ahead, the last knights of an outlaw order turn to fight. A young woman with forbidden magic joins their final stand. And as blade meets blade, she starts to sing… Adelais was raised in the far north, learning stories of the old gods and the skill of weaving runes into magic. Now, she is locked in a convent far from home, forced to kneel to a foreign god. When inquisitors arrive with plans to torture an innocent man, Adelais cannot stand by. She aids an attack to free the prisoner and joins the raiders as they flee into the night. Her new companions are the last of the Guardians—once a powerful holy order, now ragged fugitives, hunted almost to extinction. The knights carry a secret treasure, precious and powerful enough to shape kingdoms. Their pursuers, desp

Her Lost Words Stephanie Marie Thornton Publication date: March 28, 2023 by Berkley Genre: Historical Fiction Rating: 5 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 Summary: From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to Frankenstein , a tale of two literary legends—a mother and daughter—discovering each other and finding themselves along the way, from USA Today bestselling author Stephanie Marie Thornton. 1792. As a child, Mary Wollstonecraft longed to disappear during her father’s violent rages. Instead, she transforms herself into the radical author of the landmark volume A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , in which she dares to propose that women are equal to men. From conservative England to the blood-drenched streets of revolutionary France, Mary refuses to bow to society’s conventions and instead supports herself with her pen until an illicit love affair challenges her every belief about romance and marriage. When she gives birth to a daughter and is stricken with childbed fever, Mary fears it will be her many