This is the story of Jane, through two decades, after she falls in love with a man with a big history in a small town. It was a light read - nothing spectacular - but reminded the reader that people are complicated, and life doesn’t always turns out in ways you anticipate.

Melissa Henderson used to be a bestselling author, but after the death of her son she has retreated to New England. She puts all of her efforts into fixing up her new home. She has stopped writing and has divorced her husband. During the story, it is revealed her sister is a nun. She wanted to be an actress, but when things didn't work out she ran away and joined a convent. Melissa was upset by this, it is revealed that when she was younger she got pregnant and went to Ireland to deliver her baby. She tried before to find the little girl she delivered but all the records were destroyed. Will her sister Hattie, the nun, help her find her daughter using her connection to the convent. I haven't read a Danielle Steel novel in awhile. It did not disappoint.

This was fantastic. I couldn't put it down, and read the entire thing throughout two reading sessions in one day, because sleep was not an option until I had answers. It's like the romantic comedy version of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. August has just moved to New York to try and get lost in the city. She's been alone almost her entire life, as her uncle went missing before she was born and her mother has been dedicated to finding out what happened to him ever since. August learned to speak so she could ask questions, and learned to read so she could help sort through files. She was practically raised to be a detective, but she's done with that now. Now, she's going to finish college and figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life. At least, that was the plan, before she a wreck of a first day that is ultimately salvaged by meeting a girl named Jane on the subway. Jane is quickly all encompassing - she has a way of being able to charm anyone - and before August knows what's happening she's meeting up with Jane on her commute every day. But no matter how many times August asks Jane to meet up with her outside of the subway, it just doesn't seem to happen. Because Jane can't ever leave the subway. Originally from the 70s, Jane has been stuck riding the same line for fifty years, with no idea what's going on. August makes it her new mission to find a way to free Jane - even if that means they can't be together anymore. I loved discovering what happened to Jane, and the highly supportive atmosphere August has found herself in. This is such a cute, up-lifting book.

Set in a world where Slasher films really did happen, Lynnette is a member of what's known as the "The Final Girls Club." The club is made up of women who meet a very specific criteria - they all were the only survivors of two massacres, and they all killed the person responsible. They meet once a month to support each other and work towards moving on with their lives - until one day one of the members doesn't show up on time. Her monster has come back to kill her. Now, Lynnette is on a race to not only keep herself alive, but to keep the members of her club alive as well. This probably would have worked pretty well as a movie, honestly, but as a book it didn't quite work for me. First, Lynnette as a narrator was awful. She's unreliable from the start, so I found myself utterly distracted the entire book because I was always trying to figure out if I should believe what was happening. I know a lot of books use the unreliable narrator trope now, but it was a difficult sell in this book. I would have much preferred if a different narrator (Heather?) was responsible for telling us what was going on. Or if Lynette's character was tweaked a little. Second, the plot twists were not really plot twists. It was really easy to figure out who was going to be responsible for the killings happening, so that was disappointing. The twists didn't leave me going "oh wow!" so much as "ugh, finally, we got there." My third issue is that it seems like Grad Hendrix either didn't keep track of everything, didn't want to explain everything, or thought that no one would pay attention. For example, at one point a character is mentioned to have a cell phone that they are going to use to keep track of Amber Alerts and to check in with every five hours. Three sentences later, they say that they're going to keep the phone turned off and only have it on for the check in times. How...how are you checking for Amber Alerts? Why did you make a big deal about checking for Amber Alerts, only to then say you're turning the phone off and not getting them anyway? In another scene, Lynnette is dictating a message for someone to send. She claims that it was a difficult process, and that she had to spell out a lot of the words. The example given is using "p as in Paul which is fascinating, because the only words with "p" in her message are purchased, photos, people, and peace. Am I really supposed to believe that someone couldn't spell one of those words without help? Really? I could go on and on, but honestly? I had high hopes for this book. The summary sounded great, and I was really excited to read it. I'm glad I didn't spend money on it. The writing is just not good.

This was an interesting book especially as I had no idea that the Jewish Race had ever been banned from England! It is set in the 1660s and in current time with the people in current time (Helen and Aaron) discovering the story of Ester who scribed for a Rabbi blinded in the Spanish Inquisition. Ester is actually an intellectual who uses her position to air her views in a time when a woman was not permitted to do such a thing. During the story we learn a lot about her tragic life whilst at the same time we discover that Helen and Aaron have secrets of their own. It is an emotional book with some sad parts and triumphal parts. I was hooked from beginning to end.

This was just kind of boring? It's the story of real-life Belle da Costa Greene, who was hired by J. P. Morgan to be his personal librarian. She is in charge of finding and purchasing all of the rare books he wants for his collection, and in exchange he pays her a salary that is sufficient enough to keep her family comfortable. There's a lot of room for things to be stressful here - first, Belle is a woman, and it's not common for a woman to be hired for this position during the time period. She also deals with the stress of being the main income provider for her family, as her father left when she was a child. And, of course, Belle has to content with the fact that while on any official document she has been checking the "white," box, with enough digging, anyone would be able to find out she was lying - Belle's father is black. This is very much historical fiction, and is not at all a biography about Belle - however, with that in mind, I expected more to happen? It seems like a book where the character is constantly stressed, but nothing ever really seems to happen. There's no real tension or drama here to make the book compelling.

Evelyn Valpey, aware of her painful past and unsure of her role in society and the war effort, takes on a job with the "War Office" where she takes on the enemy--Fifth Column--by adopting a character unknown to herself and her friends. A bit rambling at times and moving from 1939/40 to 1948, the story explores MI5, counter intelligence, and Evelyn's inner turmoil.

The amazing compilation of the writing of 80 writers and 10 poets spans four hundred years of the African American experience. Each of the ten sections includes 8 writers (each taking 5 years to cover) and one poet. The writers’ approaches are varied and well-known to little known stories emerge. I finished feeling angry but inspired.

I didn't love this book. I didn't really understand everything it was saying. I have been to the ride before where the Rolling Thunder is and I wanted to learn more about the ride and why it happens. Maybe when I'm older I will understand it more.

What a fun book! I like the alligator character in the book. I also enjoyed how the elephant sneezed out the words-that was funny and creative. The illustrations were perfect and the elephant images turned into letters was really clever. Elephants are one of my fav animals!