The Things We Never Say ~ Elizabeth Strout

 

Yesteryear ~ Caro Claire Burke

 

Severance ~ Ling Ma

 

The Lion Women of Tehran ~ Marjan Kamali

 I didn't find it "heart-wrenching" or "emotional" but a well told sweeping history of Iran.

I loved the food descriptions, I loved the sense of place but I think it glossed over too much history

Lost Lambs ~ Madeline Cash

Don't be mislead by the cutesy kiddy cover ... it hides dark goings on!

A romp filled with chaos, a plot that twisted and turned, characters that were seriously deranged.

Loved the weird way the author used any opportunity to insert a silent "g" into words where "gnat" could gnaturally be formed. The book was filled with quirkiness and absurdities but I was still invested in the storyline.

Good People ~ Patmeena Sabit

 

This is Where The Serpent Lives ~ Daniyal Mueenuddin

 

The Mountains Sing ~ Nguyen Phan Que Mai

 

The Hotel at the corner of Bitter and Sweet ~ Jamie Ford

 

Cursed Daughters ~ Oyinkan Braithwaite

 

Once Was Willem ~ M. R. Carey

 

Flesh ~ David Szalay

 

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny ~ Kiran Desai

 

59 Minutes ~ Holly Seddon

 

The Killer Question ~ Janice Hallett

 

Speak to Me of Home ~ Jeannie Cummins

 What it is to be Puerto Rican or part PR

A good sense of identity 

American Dirt ~ Jeanne Cummins

 

Read it before but it's not in this blog! kept thinking it was familiar

A good read of the horrors of escaping the Mexican drug cartels.  A little fanciful at times (eg the relationship between the heroine and the drug boss)

The Correspondent ~ Virginia Evans

 Delightfully witty, subtle crafting of the character.

Told through letters written and received by the elderly, fusty, fiesty Sybil

Famous Last Words ~ Gillian McAllister

Wavering between a 3 and a 4 rating

A very enjoyable read. Not a who-dun-it but a why-did-he-dun it.

A loving husband "goes rogue", holds people hostage, shoots them and disappears.  I never quite knew where it was going or guessed the storyline.

The story is told from the point of view of the wife and the hostage negotiator.

A Thousand Splendid Suns ~ Khaled Hosseini