contemporary

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Wow. Let me just say, I loved this book! I went into it not really knowing what it was about and the story was such a pleasant surprise. Now I know why it was all over Instagram! The story focuses on Daunis, an 18 year old girl living in a small Michigan town near the Canadian border. She is part Caucasian and part Ojibwe Native American. She doesn’t really fit into either world, and has hopes to start over while away at college. But, a family tragedy puts those plans on hold and she stays to care for her mother and ailing grandmother. Rather than out-of-town college, she plans to attend community college classes with her best friend.

Continue reading →

March 30, 2022 0

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

This is a very good contemporary mystery/thriller set in the Washington D.C. area. Avery is a therapist that lost her license. Since then, she’s developed a 10 step treatment method and has been using it to counsel those in crisis. She meets new clients Marissa and Matthew Bishop, a young couple that seems to have it all. But Marissa was unfaithful and she is desperate to repair her marriage, not only because she doesn’t want to lose her husband, but for the sake of their 8 year old son.

Continue reading →

March 11, 2022 0

Dating Dr. Dil (If Shakespeare was an Auntie #1) by Nisha Sharma

3.5 stars

This is a fun and flirty contemporary romance. Kareena Mann is an attorney living in her childhood home with her family. She just turned 30 and is more interested in restoring her deceased mother’s old car than dating. When she finds out her father is selling their home, she makes a deal with him. If she gets engaged in four months, he will sell the house to her. But, it won’t be easy because Kareena believes marriage should be a love match. While helping her sister who is appearing on a local tv show, she sees Dr. Prem Verma, or Dr. Dil. He believes that “love” is actually harmful to one’s health and believes that it is not necessary to have a happy marriage. In the middle of the show Kareena and Prem get into an argument that goes viral.

Continue reading →

March 6, 2022 0

The Little French Bookshop by Cecile Pivot

This is a good epistolary fiction set in contemporary France. Esther runs a bookshop and when she loses her father to suicide, she runs an ad in the newspaper inviting people to join her letter writing workshop. Five people sign up – a disillusioned businessman, a husband and wife struggling with her postpartum depression, a lonely elderly widow, and an awkward teenager trying to deal with his brother’s death from cancer. The group meet first in person to get to know each other, and are asked to answer one simple question: What Battles Are You Fighting?

Continue reading →

February 18, 2022 0

Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead (Finlay Donovan, #2) by Elle Cosimano

4.5 stars

Love, love, love this book!!! Cosimano knocks it out of the park once again. I was concerned that Book Two would suffer a sophomore slump and because I loved the first book so much, I started this book with a bit of trepidation. Happily, my concerns were for nought, because this book is everything I wanted and more.

Continue reading →

February 2, 2022 0

Chloe Cates is Missing by Mandy McHugh and Amanda McHugh

This is a very good mystery/thriller that will keep you riveted until the end. The whole story takes place in less than 24 hours, and the tension is palpable. The story is told in short chapters through four main characters’ point of view. There are plenty of unreliable narrators whose lies pile up one after another, and the author slowly dolls out twists and turns with each chapter. The ending was both satisfying and frustrating in that it leaves the ultimate conclusion to the reader’s imagination.

Continue reading →

January 23, 2022 1

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

3.5 stars

This is a pretty good mystery/thriller that is a quick and easy read. When Chloe was 12 years old six young girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. Chloe’s father was ultimately arrested for the crime and sentenced to prison. Twenty years later Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and engaged to get married.

Continue reading →

January 16, 2022 1

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

This is a fun, fast-paced contemporary mystery/thriller set during a 10 year college reunion at Duquette University. Jessica Miller has been planning her triumphant return to college after the death of her roommate Heather during her senior year. After Heather’s death, everything Jessica had planned for her life fell apart, including her dream graduate program, the friendship with her six best friends, and her dream boyfriend.

Continue reading →

December 30, 2021 0

The Geek that Saved Christmas by Annabeth Albert

This was a very cute, contemporary LGTBQIA Christmas story. Gideon Holiday lives in a idyllic neighborhood that decorates their homes each year to raise funds for charity. Every house, that is, except his grumpy, hot neighbor Paul Frost. Paul wants nothing to do with bow-tie wearing Gideon or the Christmas decorations that take over the neighborhood each December.

Continue reading →

December 25, 2021 0