Why I’m not a book reviewer

I’m going to be very careful here not to slam those who do review books.  I admire many of them.  They read constantly and have a wide enough repertoire to give them a grand perspective on books. But the contents of a book review is about more than reading.  It’s about the reviewer’s personal history…

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LOW PRESSURE: a book recommendation

Sandra Brown and I go way back.  We started in the field of romance together, actually met at the first ever Romance Writers of America conference.  We raised our kids, saw them marry and have their own kids at roughly the same time.  Both straying from the romance genre, I entered the field of women’s…

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THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS: a book recommendation

Judi, one of my readers, recommended this to me in a recent blog comment.  I had already read several reviews of this book, but saw her recommendation at the moment when I needed something new. What a good read! The Light Between Oceans is set in the 1920’s, as was Rules of Civility, which I…

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RULES OF CIVILITY – a book recommendation

Another one, you say?  Wow, do you read fast!  I do, but only when I’m not writing, and since right now I’m hovering in the twilight between Sweet Salt Air and my next book, I have time.  As always, this isn’t as much a book review as a recommendation.  I can only tell you what I like. …

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A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES: a recommendation

I actually want to talk about two books – A Discovery of Witches and its sequel, Shadow of Night.  Please note, this isn’t a book review, simply a recommendation of two books that I’ve enjoyed reading.  Both were written by Deborah Harkness, and they have totally caught my fancy. If that phrase is old-fashioned, it’s…

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Working through the books in my beach bag

Actually, it’s not a beach bag, simply what would be in a hypothetical beach bag if I was to read at the beach as opposed to the lake, where comfortable, non-sandy, tree-shaded chairs abound.  I had read Home, by Toni Morrison, the weekend before, but last weekend was for Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.  And mind…

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SUMMERLAND: a recommendation

When I asked you Facebook fans for book recommendations, Summerland was mentioned several times.  So I read it, loved it, recommend it.  Here’s why. Sense of place.  The setting is Nantucket, where the author, Elin Hilderbrand, has lived since 1984, and she knows the island well.  From the very first page, you’ll see it, smell…

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My summer reading list

I ask you what you’re reading many a Tuesday in the SPEEDY BD SURVEY, and you have every right to ask me back.  The answer?  I can’t read much when I’m working on a book, but now that Sweet Salt Air is done and summer here, my to-read pile is growing. At the top is…

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THE HUNGER GAMES: a recommendation

I read a lot of popular fiction.  As a writer, I need to know something about books that are extraordinarily successful – i.e., what it is about them that makes millions of readers clamor to buy.  It was on that premise that I read “Twilight,” and loved it enough to read all four books more…

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Why I love FIFTY SHADES OF GREY

Surely by now you’ve heard friends talk of this book, and if you haven’t yet, you will.  Consider me a friend.  And here’s my talk. I love the characters.  Ana may be sexually naïve at the start of the book, but she has spunk and wit.  She takes on Christian as no other woman has;…

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