The Book Nook
Stay tuned to see what our groups are reading!
The Book Nook
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Exciting news, the Book Clubs now make up one third of our membership! Please welcome new book club members, Debbie Knopke and Pam Petropoulos to The Boozy Bookworms.
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Here is what our book clubs are reading!
Between the Covers:
She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica --Rating 4
Mary Kubica is a best-selling author on NY Times, Amazon and Goodreads. She specializes in the
mystery, thriller genre. She has been translated into 30 languages and has sold over 20 million
copies. She is a high school history teacher and uses a very unique writing style of adding
many bits, pieces and characters to the story and lets the many twists and turns suddenly reveal the Big Ending to HER as she writes.
The author herself said her main theme was to address the major fears of all women such as being stalked, mugged, kidnapped etc. This might have been the most interesting discussion
we have had on all of our books. It had 3 different sections, two different timeframes, and
characters with two different names. There were misdirections everywhere. There was a long discussion on the title of who was the "she". In the end it could have been every woman in the
book. Our own reviews were as diverse as they have ever been.
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Book Babes:
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn.
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
The Boyfriend by Frieda McFadden.
Boozy Bookworms:
48 Cues into the Disappearance of My Sister by Joyce Carol Oates --Rating 3
We had a great time today discussing 48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister by
Joyce Carol Oates. This was a "creepy mystery" where a woman mysteriously vanishes from her small-town home, and her sister must tally up the clues to uncover the truth behind the mystery. The fate of the missing beauty slowly comes to light in this suspenseful story about
the complex relationship between the two sisters. Just "ok" and did not inspire to
immediately read more of this author.
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Ozarks Bookies:
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker -- Rating 4
The book follows two teenagers, Patch and Saint, whose lives are forever changed by a
traumatic event in their small town. Patch, a young boy with one eye, saves a girl from a
kidnapping, but is taken instead, becoming a missing person. Saint, his best friend, dedicates
years to finding him, leading to a decades-long search spanning multiple perspectives and
revealing truths that could change their lives forever. The story explores themes of trauma,
loss, love, and obsession, weaving together a missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller,
and a love story. We really enjoyed the book.
The Grace Year by Kim Ligget -- Rating 4
The book is about sixteen-year-old Tierney. Along with other girls from Garner County, Tierney is sent into exile for a year, believed to be a time to expel their dangerous magic. This tradition is
fueled by the fear that girls' skin emits a powerful, aphrodisiacal force. Not only did we have a
lively discussion about the book but we debated who should play the parts, should this book ever be made into a movie. We thought the book was very well written.
Read Between the Wines:
The Wife by Alafair Burke -- Rating 4
A stunning domestic thriller in the vein of Behind Closed Doors and The Woman in Cabin 10 -
in which a woman must make the impossible choice between defending her husband and
saving herself.
When Angela met Jason Powell while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed
their romance would be a short-lived fling, like so many relationships between locals and
summer visitors. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other
plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a
chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother's home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past.
Recommendations for Great Reads
The Silver Ladies of Penny Lane by Dee MacDonald
Summer Island by Kristin Hannah
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
The Lost Book Shop by Evie Woods.​
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The Briar Club
by Kate Quinn
Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; policeman’s daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.
“Quinn evocatively balances the outward cheerfulness of the 1950s with historical observations exploring racism, misogyny, homophobia and political persecution in this sharply drawn, gripping novel.” - People Magazine
The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
The author is 44 years old from Nova Scotia Canada and is mixed race of Mi'Kang Indian and French heritage. Her family were berry pickers in Maine in the 60's and 70's. She has a Masters in Fine Arts and Creative Writing and currently is teaching Creative Writing in Toronto. The Berry Pickers is her first novel. She has won many awards for this novel including the Andrew Carnegie medal, Barnes and Noble best 10 novel, and Amazons First Book award. She has done many interviews and has added facts such as she is a descendant of accused witches, a revolutionary war sailor, a reader of books and a teller of tales.
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"I couldn’t put this book down, not only because I was eager for the mystery to be completed, but also because it is so beautifully written, with every phrase deserving of the yellow highlighting I give to especially lovely passages."
The Boyfriend
by Freida McFadden
Sydney Shaw, like every single woman in New York, has terrible luck with dating. She's seen it all: men who lie in their dating profile, men who stick her with the dinner bill, and worst of all, men who can't shut up about their mothers. But finally, she hits the jackpot.
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Her new boyfriend is utterly perfect. He's charming, handsome, and works as a doctor at a local hospital. Sydney is swept off her feet.
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Then the brutal murder of a young woman―the latest in a string of deaths across the coast―confounds police. The primary suspect? A mystery man who dates his victims before he kills them.
A new, twisting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Teacher and The Housemaid!
She's looking for the perfect man. He's looking for the perfect victim.
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth.
At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty
“Poignant, engrossing.”—People • “Lisa Wingate takes an almost unthinkable chapter in our nation’s history and weaves a tale of enduring power.”—Paula McLain
All the Colors of the Dark
by Chris Whitaker
1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the smalltown of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.
When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.
Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.
A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession and the blinding light of hope.
From the author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that “hits like a sledgehammer . . . an absolutely must-read novel”
The Briar Club
by Kate Quinn
Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; policeman’s daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.
“Quinn evocatively balances the outward cheerfulness of the 1950s with historical observations exploring racism, misogyny, homophobia and political persecution in this sharply drawn, gripping novel.” - People Magazine
The Diamond Eye
by Kate Quinn
Based on a true story, An unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet book- worm who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper.
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Our group had a very in-depth discussion on the strength and courage of Mila Pavlivhenko, who fought in the Russian Army during WWll. From a studious Ukrainian girl to history's deadliest skilled sniper known famously as "Lady Death". We dis- cussed key themes found in this novel, trauma and recovery, coming to terms with past losses and assimilating them into a new sense of self. Most enjoyed Mila's unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness.
"When you're young and you've known nothing but peace, you assume there will always be time for everything."
Recipe for a Street a Perfect Wife
by Karma Brown
In this intriguing dual narrative novel, a modern-day woman finds inspiration in hidden notes left by her home’s previous owner, a quintessential 1950s housewife. As she discovers remarkable parallels between this woman’s life and her own, it causes her to question the foundation of her own relationship with her husband—and what it means to be a wife fighting for her place in a patriarchal society.
"Recipe for a Perfect Wife is a bold, intoxicating, page-turner. Karma Brown has long been a favorite of mine and this book is proof she just keeps getting better and better. This is a thrilling, audacious story about women daring to take control."
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Queens of London
by Hannah Webb
Ginny led a lively discussion on the historical novel that alluded to, maybe women can have it all, as long as they're willing to steal it. There were some
interesting comments and talking points related to that subject and the children involved in the book, including the police.