Good Reads & Views

Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich
Fiction

What it’s about: Stephanie Plum’s Grandma Mazur is a widow...again. This time her marriage lasted a whole 45 minutes. The unlucky groom was one Jimmy Rosolli, local gangster, lothario (senior division) and heart attack waiting to happen.  As a result, she’s got unwelcome attention from his former “business partners” who think she’s keeping information.

Starring:  Stephanie Plum, a New Jersey bounty hunter.

About the Author: Over the course of the last 25 years, Janet Evanovich has written a staggering 23 #1 New York Times bestsellers in the Stephanie Plum series. In addition to the Plum novels, Janet has co-written the New York Times bestselling Fox and O'Hare novels (including The Big Kahuna with Peter Evanovich), the Knight and Moon novels, the Lizzy and Diesel series, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, and she also coauthored a graphic novel, Troublemaker, with her daughter, Alex.

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What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
Fiction

Reviewer’s Say:  "You'll be counting the days until you can return to the Virgin Islands with these characters in the concluding volume of the trilogy. Print the bumper sticker-'I'd Rather Be Living in an Elin Hilderbrand Novel'" (Kirkus-starred review).

Series Alert: This is the second book in the “Paradise” series. 

You might also like: The Guest Cottage by Nancy Thayer or Dreams of Falling by Karen White.

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Inheritance: A Memoir of Paternity, Genealogy, and Love by Dani Shapiro
Nonfiction

About the Author: Dani Shapiro is the best-selling author of four memoirs and five novels. Her short fiction, essays, and journalistic pieces have appeared in The New Yorker, Elle, The New York Times Book Review and many other publications. Dani has taught in the writing programs at Columbia, NYU, The New School and Wesleyan University. She lives in Connecticut with her family.

What it’s about: In 2016 the author received the results of a genealogy DNA test and learned that her father was not her biological father. This is the story of family secrets and a woman's urgent quest to unlock the story of her own identity.

What the reviewers say: "Profound... The true drama of Inheritance is not Shapiro’s discovery of her father’s identity but the meaning she makes of it...Shapiro’s account is beautifully written and deeply moving — it brought me to tears more than once."—Ruth Franklin, The New York Times Book Review

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This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel
Fiction

About the author: Laurie Frankel is an American author who writes warm, witty mainstream and domestic fiction with characters whose personalities ring true. Frankel often writes about serious topics from love, loss, and our need for companionship, to unplanned pregnancy and the difficulties of raising a transgender child.

Reviewers say: "Well-plotted, well-researched, and unflaggingly interesting...As thought-provoking a domestic novel as we have seen this year."―Kirkus (starred review)

You might also like: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng or Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

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Finding Family: my search for roots and the secrets in my DNA by Richard Hill Nonfiction What it’s about: At 18 years old, Richard Hill accidentally discovered that he had been adopted. Assuming he would never know any details, he was startled to learn many years later that he had a half-brother.  What then began as a search for his mother and brother turned into a decades long search for the identity of his biological father. What the reviewers say: "An engaging, page-turning memoir that thoughtfully puts together the pieces of a family puzzle" (Kirkus Reviews). You might also like: Inheritance by Dani Shapiro or White Like Her by Gail Lukasik Visit Roseanne’s My Librarian Page

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan Henry
Fiction

About the author:  Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times bestselling author. Her work has been included in short story collections, anthologies, magazines, and blogs. Patti attended Auburn University for her undergraduate work and Georgia State University for her graduate degree. The mother of three children, she lives in both Mountain Brook, Alabama, and Bluffton, South Carolina, with her husband.

Reviewers say: "It's a novel. And it's a very good one. . . extraordinarily accurate. . . more accurate than most biographical essays that have been written about my mother" - Douglas Gresham, son of Joy Davidman, wife of C.S. Lewis (Read Aloud Revival).

You might also like: The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin or Love and Ruin by Paula McLain.

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Flash Count Diary: Menopause and the Vindication of Natural Life by Darcey Steinke
Nonfiction

About the author: Darcey Steinke is the author of the memoir Easter Everywhere and the novels Milk, Jesus Saves, Suicide Blonde, Up Through the Water, and Sister Golden Hair. Her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Review, Vogue, Spin, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and The Guardian.

What it’s about: Menopause hit Darcey Steinke hard and she longed to understand menopause in a more complex, spiritual, and intellectually engaged way. In Flash Count Diary, Steinke writes frankly about aspects of Menopause that have rarely been written about before.

What the reviewers say: “A keen exploration of menopause . . . Provocative ideas and illuminating personal stories centered on the idea that ‘it is not menopause itself that is the problem but menopause as it’s experienced under patriarchy.’” ―Kirkus

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The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close
Fiction

About the author: Jennifer Close is the bestselling author of Girls in White Dresses and The Smart One. Born and raised on the North Shore of Chicago, she is a graduate of Boston College and received her MFA in fiction writing from The New School in 2005. She now lives in Washington, D.C., and teaches creative writing at George Washington University.

Reviewers say: “Hilarious…A pleasure to read…[Close] has a light, precise touch about the way a young marriage works when the partners are caught between old ideals and new realities.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post 

You might also like: All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin or Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen

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The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand
Fiction

About the author: Elin Hilderbrand first discovered the magic of Nantucket in July 1993. She has lived there for 25 years, has written 20 novels, and is the mother of three teenagers. Her latest, Summer of ’69, is her first historical novel.

What the reviewers say: “Hilderbrand keeps things moving briskly in between sumptuous descriptions of food, drink, and tableware, throwing in an in-depth lesson on the restaurant business for good measure. Fun, stylish, and absorbing vacation reading.” Joanne Wilkinson―Booklist

You might also like: The Little French Bistro by Nina George or The Last Time I Saw Paris by Elizabeth Adler

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The Distancers: An American Memoir by Lee Sandlin
Nonfiction

About the author: Lee Sandlin is the author of Wicked River, Storm Kings, and The Distancers. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and book reviewer for The Wall Street Journal. Born in Wildwood, Illinois, he grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. He died in 2014.

What it’s about: Follows seven generations of the author's Midwestern family through The Great Depression, World War Two, and the dust bowl years, where he learned the value of family and the art of keeping one's distance.

Reviewers say: “A bit of general Americana and the ghosts of one family that settled comfortably for a while in a place between Chicago and the Mississippi provide an amalgam that now and again buttresses important matters known to all of us.” (Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2013)

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