My feelings for Miracle Creek are complicated. This is an unquestionably good book. The story is complex and interesting. The characters have well developed psychology. It asks big and important questions. However, it may have been too real for me to enjoy. Not enough of an escape.

Miracle Creek is by debut author, Angie Kim. The book is loosely based on many of her personal experiences. Moving to the US as a young teen from Korea. Later, becoming a lawyer. Having special needs children that have benefited from non-traditional, borderline experimental treatments. Including the H-Bot treatment that is central to the story. Angie Kim’s passion and experience shows in the character relationships, treatment descriptions, and the courtroom drama.

I liked a lot about this book. I liked the way that she portrayed the same event from multiple points of view, without being repetitive. You really get to understand the complicated rationale for why characters did what they did. You see that sometimes terrible things happen because we excuse and accept small transgressions. I loved how Kim made you question the line between good and bad. When does treatment become abuse? When does a consensual act become assault? When is “doing the right thing” too little, too late? It’s a thought-provoking book.

Fans of courtroom, medical and family drama will enjoy this book. Parents of special needs kids and adult children of immigrants will feel seen. This might be a good choice for readers of contemporary, popular and general fiction. I would recommend reading a few pages to see if you think this might be a good fit for you.

Goodreads Summary

How far will you go to protect your family? Will you keep their secrets? Ignore their lies?

In a small town in Virginia, a group of people know each other because they’re part of a special treatment center, a hyperbaric chamber that may cure a range of conditions from infertility to autism. But then the chamber explodes, two people die, and it’s clear the explosion wasn’t an accident.

A showdown unfolds as the story moves across characters who are all maybe keeping secrets, hiding betrayals. Was it the careless mother of a patient? Was it the owners, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? Could it have been a protester, trying to prove the treatment isn’t safe?

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Check back on Tuesday for a Best Books About Witches Book List!

For a long time I couldn’t figure out why the books with “Whoever’s” Wife or Daughter as the title rubbed me the wrong way. I knew that I didn’t like them, but I didn’t know why. The realization was gradual, but I feel like I now fully understand my issue with these books.

The problem is the possession. The “This-Man’s” Wife or Daughter. Like she does not exist without that relationship. She is defined by what some male relation does for a living. She is not her own person.

Many of these books have a good premise. Many of them feature a wife or daughter who is the real hero of the story. I can understand why an author or publisher might chose that title. Maybe she is breaking free of His shadow or secretly responsible for all of His accomplishments. However, there are other, better options. She Has a Name!

While there are legions of books with “So-And-So’s” Wife or Daughter as the title, the opposite is not true. I have been hard pressed to find books with “Some-Lady’s” Husband or Son as the title. I guess men aren’t usually defined by their women, weird.

Here are the books with the best opportunity to be re-christened. They feature strong female lead characters who are their own people, with their own lives and accomplishments. I have included my corrected title suggestions. Please comment below with your own ideas!

Alchemist’s Daughter by Katherine McMahon - Raised by her father in near isolation in the English countryside, Emilie Selden is trained as a brilliant natural philosopher and alchemist. When Emilie against her father's wishes experiences the passion of first love, she is banished to London.
Corrected Title: The Alchemist’s Banishment

Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin - When Anne Morrow, a shy college senior with hidden literary aspirations, travels to Mexico City to spend Christmas with her family, she meets Colonel Charles Lindbergh. The two marry in a headline-making wedding. In the years that follow, Anne becomes the first licensed female glider pilot in the United States. 
Corrected Title: The Glider Pilot

Engineer’s Wife by Tracey Enerson Wood - When Emily Warren Roebling marries 'Wash' Roebling a lifetime of family fun and happiness seems within her grasp. But then Wash accepts the position as Chief Engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge, it changes both of their lives forever. Wash convinces Emily to be his messenger to the site. Little by little, Emily finds herself taking over the project-with no formal training. Emily throws herself into building the bridge but faces suspicion and disparagement at every turn as she supervises dangerous construction sites and argues for the safety of the bridge amongst Manhattan's male elite. 
Corrected Title: Emily’s Bridge

Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch - Magdalena, the clever and headstrong daughter of Bavarian hangman Jakob Kuisl, lives with her father outside the village walls and is destined to be married off to another hangman’s son. A drowning and gruesomely injured boy, tattooed with the mark of a witch, is pulled from a river and the villagers suspect the local midwife, Martha Stechlin. Convinced she is innocent, Magdalena races against the clock to find the true killer.
Corrected Title: Magdalena in the Time of Witches

Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani –Enza's family faces disaster and she, is forced to go to America with her father to secure their future. Enza begins her impressive career as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera House that will sweep her into the glamorous salons of Manhattan. A portrait of the times, the places and the people who defined the immigrant experience, claiming their portion of the American dream with ambition and resolve, cutting it to fit their needs like the finest Italian silk.
Corrected Title: The Seamstress

Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman - When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw. Zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants.
Corrected Title: Antonina’s Zoo
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While I was writing this post, it made me realize how pissed I would be if someone wrote a book about me and gave it one of these titles. FYI, it would be “The Contractor’s Wife”, gag. So, just in case, my biography is to be called “Bossy Librarian” (obviously), because I am Bossy and a Librarian. What is your biography title? Comment below:

Check back on Thursday for a No Spoiler Book Review of Miracle Creek

I know I am a little behind on Kristin Hannah. Costco is selling value packs of her books, for god’s sake. I avoided her for a long time because, I don’t like sad books. I know it’s limiting, but it’s true. I finally read Nightingale about two years ago and now, Great Alone. I will never avoid Hannah again. She has earned my trust, and apparently Costco’s.

The Great Alone features a family that decides to live off the land in 1970s Alaska. It does not go well. Basically, if it can go wrong, it does. Which is probably pretty realistic for people trying to survive in Alaska. Somehow, even with all the devastating things that happen there is always the exact right amount of hope to keep you reading. Kristin Hannah is the master of manipulating my emotions.    
 
I don’t usually like books or movies set in the ‘70s. They focus too heavily on the nightclub and drug scene, which is completely uninteresting to me. While this book is set in the 70s, there are none of the typical elements that I avoid. The setting is perfect for this story, post-Vietnam War and limited technology. People living in rural Alaska at the time might not even have electricity, let alone a telephone. Lots of political tension and dangerous isolation. Perfect.

This is my first ever Bossy Book Club selection. The Great Alone would be a great choice for most book clubs. Discussion questions are available from Kristin Hannah’s website. This book will appeal to readers of historical fiction, family drama, general fiction, popular fiction and literary fiction. People who are interested in life in Alaska and living off the grid, might be interested in this fictional rendition of that lifestyle. Read this when you are in the mood for a devastating yet hopeful cry.

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Check back Tuesday for a special Women's History Month post

Now that the dust has begun to settle on the previous year’s publishing; I have compiled a list of the most popular and acclaimed adult books from 2019. Many of these titles have won awards, and they all have at least a 4 star rating and jillions of reviews on Goodreads. I have included books from the major fiction genres and non-fiction. I excluded sequels and anything that would not have broad appeal. Starred titles have been added to my personal To Be Read List and I am in varying stages of reading and reviewing several of these books. Here are some of the most inspiring, intriguing, frightening, funny, realistic and outlandish titles from 2019.

Contemporary Fiction

Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah - After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. Her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises. The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles. As the summer nears an end and Ursa gets closer to her fifth miracle, her dangerous past closes in.

Fantasy and Science Fiction

Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher - When a beloved family dog is stolen, her owner sets out on a life-changing journey through the ruins of our world to bring her back in this fiercely compelling tale of survival, courage, and hope.

*Middlegame by Seanan McGuire - Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story. Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math. Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realize it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow - In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. (Review in process)

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig - Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. They will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it. As the rest of society collapses all around them, the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. No Spoiler Book Review Here.

Historical Fiction

*Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes - Set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond. When a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. She will be joined by four other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.

Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead - As the Civil Rights movement begins to reach the black enclave of Frenchtown in segregated Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to heart: He is "as good as anyone." But for a black boy in the Jim Crow South in the early 1960s, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy the future. Elwood is sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called The Nickel Academy.

Mystery

Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell - Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them. (Review in process)

*Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides - Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Whisper Man by Alex North - In this dark, suspenseful thriller, Alex North weaves a multi-generational tale of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town.

Romance

Flatshare by Beth O’Leary - Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time. They’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window. (Review in process)

*Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Prince Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations.

Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren - Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. When an entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds. She doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

Non-Fiction

*Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb - With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates - If you want to lift a society up, invest in women. Convinced that all women should be free to decide whether and when to have children, Gates took her first step onto the global stage to make a stand for family planning. That step launched her into further efforts: to ensure women everywhere have access to every kind of job; to encourage men around the globe to share equally in the burdens of household work; to advocate for paid family leave for everyone; to eliminate gender bias in all its forms. No Spoiler Book Review Here.

*Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness - Before he stole our hearts as the grooming and self-care expert on Netflix's hit show Queer Eye, Jonathan was growing up in a small Midwestern town that didn't understand why he was so…over the top. From choreographed carpet figure skating routines to the unavoidable fact that he was Just. So. Gay., Jonathan was an easy target and endured years of judgement, ridicule and trauma—yet none of it crushed his uniquely effervescent spirit.

*Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell - Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know. And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world.

Summary excerpts from goodreads.com

Do you have plans to read or have you read any of the above books? What was your favorite book published in 2019? Comment below:

Check back on Thursday for a No Spoiler Book Review of The Great Alone.

Release Date April 7, 2020

Age of Witches is a perfect candidate for a good old fashioned book burning. Honestly, if some ultra-conservative Christian church group doesn’t buy boxes of this book with the sole intention of burning them, they are missing out!

Not only is this book about witches, but the main characters are basically the 1890s version of feminists. These witches refuse to submit to the men in their lives, and they go even further, using their power to influence men and elevate women. If all that weren’t enough to set off extremist Christians, parts of this book read like a grimoire, very “how-to”. PS I am now a witch…

This book is set in late 1800s New York and England. Women are expected to marry, support their husbands and have babies. The three main characters are all determined to be more than just someone’s wife or daughter and they are not afraid to use magic to get what they want. Harriet is an herbalist using her magic to heal. Frances is an ambitious social climber, she is an adept influencer. Annis is a witch’s apprentice with a horse obsession. Side note: a LOT of this book is about horses. If you are interested in opening stables or starting a breeding program, this book is for you. The characters are headstrong, confident and dangerous. They are exactly the kinds of women who would have been accused of witchcraft at that time, or even today.

This book was not perfect, but it kept me turning pages. While it works as a stand-alone, it would make me happy if the author wrote a sequel. I would certainly pick up another book about these women. Fans of Magical Realism, Fantasy and Historical Fiction may like this book. Anyone looking for fictional tales of witchcraft or women’s rights and history may also be interested.

Again, huge miss if there is not at least one book burning!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers of this book for allowing me advance access in exchange for this honest review.

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After wading through hundreds of upcoming titles, I have narrowed the list of March releases to these seven Can’t Wait Books. I flipped through book review catalogs, book blogs and library chat forums to ensure that I found the most interesting and original new books. I try to include a variety of Fiction, Non-Fiction and even Young Adult books, however this month’s books lean toward dark adult mysteries with only a few exceptions. I generally avoid including books that are a continuation of a series. Starred titles have been added to my personal to be read list.  

When I decided to become a blogger I had no idea what I was getting into. No clue. Fortunately, it did not take me long to find The Ray Journey Blog. Not only does Ray publish helpful articles on topics like, social media marketing and how to optimize your Pinterest efforts, she also helps bloggers connect with other bloggers and grow their audience. As a blogger it is a natural progression to someday publish a book, so I was excited to read Ray’s, Your Ultimate Guide to a Powerful Book Launch.

Your Ultimate Guide to a Powerful Book Launch is a concise guide on how to promote your self-published books. The book is 79 pages, but it is absolutely packed with information on exactly what to do at every phase of your book launch. She covers how to determine your niche and find your audience. She also includes a list of publishing platforms with a simple grid showing the commission structure, perks and rules of the various options. One of my favorite things about this guide is that it includes a thorough checklist at the end, so you won’t miss any steps. I know when I go to publish I will be referring to Your Ultimate Guide to a Powerful Book Launch.

If you’re not familiar with Ray check out her blog The Ray Journey. Not only does she have articles for bloggers, but also health and financial information as well. If you are considering self-publishing, be sure to check out her handy guide to a Your Ultimate Guide to a Powerful Book Launch. 

Thank you to Ray for allowing me advance access to this book in exchange for this honest review. Follow this link to purchase Powerful Book Launch.

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I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. I’m not much for mysteries and I’m okay with Sherlock, but I’m not fanatical. I really just read this because I was in the mood for historical fiction and it was available for check-out. Plus, the cover is intriguing.

Study in Scarlet Women was a fun combination of Pride and Prejudice and Sherlock. The financially precarious Holmes family has an abundance of unmarried quirky daughters. One of whom takes up solving mysteries to pay the bills. This is the lady’s version of the famous Sherlock Holmes mysteries.

I felt such a connection to Charlotte Holmes. She’s beautiful, fashion forward, bold and one of the most intelligent people of her time. I am none of those things, but I am socially awkward. So, we have that in common. She is flawed and fun. I think most readers will enjoy spending time with her.
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This book will appeal to mystery and historical fiction readers. Fans of Jane Austen are likely to connect to the female protagonists. Fans of Sherlock will enjoy the challenge of solving the cleverly crafted mysteries. You may also enjoy this No Spoiler Review of Above the Bay of Angels.

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There were a few years that I was infatuated with the humorous-contemporary-romance genre. I stalked these titles, stared at them in bookshop windows, and followed them around the library. I may have overdone it a little, because after a while my interest started drifting to other genres. I still like Romance, but we're "just friends".

I went through my romance obsession when the Devil Wears Prada was in style. Since then I have only picked up a handful of books that are traditional romance. Most of what I read now is romance that is also something else, like historical romance or paranormal romance. While my favorites aren’t by Nicolas Sparks or Emily Griffin; these mixed genre titles are perfect for Valentine’s Day.