#audiobookreviewer – Rosepoint Publishing

Ask Again, Yes: A Novel by Mary Beth Keane #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday #ComingofAgeFiction

Editors’ pick Best Books of the Year 2019

Book Blurb:

How much can a family forgive?

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie NYPD cops, are neighbors in the suburbs. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come.

In Mary Beth Keane’s extraordinary novel, a lifelong friendship and love blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next thirty years. Heartbreaking and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes is a gorgeous and generous portrait of the daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness.

My Review:

Oh, look! It’s me swimming upstream again!

This is an intergenerational story that is told from multiple POVs. It starts out well with a hook regarding the two children that will grow into adulthood and through their children as well in a span of thirty years.

Peter and Kate are drawn to each other for some unfathomable reason after Peter moves nearby with his family. While Kate’s mother is happy and excited to welcome Peter’s mother to the neighborhood, Peter’s mother wants none of it and refuses attempts at being friendly neighbors. Both fathers are officers in the local police department.

Peter’s mother has taken a strong disliking toward Kate when the kids become teenagers and what starts as a small altercation escalates into a horrific tragedy for both families.

It’s a tragedy that will mark all members of both families the rest of their lives. After that whole scene is over, the rest of the story mumbles on until the reader is hoping for something…anything…just not more tragedy. But that’s what you get.

This reminded me of the years, generations ago, when the two in a totally miserable marriage but stayed together “for the children.”

That only served to make the children as miserable as the adults and colored the children’s relationships for the rest of their lives. And so it does here. The two cops were both Irish, initially bonded over that background, and along with that culture the alcohol associations.

I thought the pace to be agonizingly slow and felt most sorry for Kate. I couldn’t invest in either of the fathers, Peter’s mother was just dreadful, and I felt would never again be ready to be unleashed on society. Peter was so damaged, I just didn’t want to hear it. Somewhere in the middle, the plot broad jumped the timeline, which distracted the storyline forcing the reader to play catch up.

Sorry, but I just found it depressing and kept thinking about the kids—digesting this dysfunction until you can believe that if that’s what they learned, they’ll pass it on to the next generation. UGH.

It’s dark, full of flawed characters that even the ending only seemed to make worse. There were questions unanswered and nothing resolved. I breathed a sigh of relief when the end was declared.

This book was rather controversial with readers on both sides but Amazon awarded an Editors’ pick for Best Books of 2019. So you can decide whether this family life fiction is for you or not. I can’t recommend.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Two point Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Coming of Age Fiction, Family Life Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Narrator: Molly Pope
Release Date: May 28, 2019

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Mary Beth Keane is the author of five novels, including Ask Again, Yes, which was a New York Times Best Seller, The Tonight Show Summer Reads pick, and has been translated into twenty-two languages. Keane was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in the Creative Arts, and has received citations from the National Book Foundation, PEN, and the Hemingway Society. Her new novel, Whale Harbor, is forthcoming from Scribner Books on September 29, 2026.

#TuesdayBookBlog

By Any Other Name: A Novel by Jodi Picoult #AudiobookReview #FictionSagas #TuesdayBookBlog

Editors’ pick Best Books of the Year 2024

Book Blurb:

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.

My Review:

Oh, the whispers! Did Shakespeare really write his volume of works? A controversy long ballied back and forth. Forced to read Shakespeare in high school, of course, the introduction to the master and most definitely the reason I failed to seek out further works.

In this overly long narrative (much like Shakespeare’s works), there is a split timeline, a device I usually enjoy. Emilia Bassano is a talented writer in the sixteenth century, although in a severely female-restricted era struggles to get her works noticed. Actually, I thought it unusual a woman back then was taught to read or write, but failing to find any success, compels Shakespeare to publish her works under his name.

The author has obviously researched the subject well and sets forth some very compelling arguments, positing Shakespeare as a publisher of various authors while using his name and position. The writers of the pieces, usually so thrilled to see their works in the public are happy to pay Shakespeare just to have it published.

Gees! She had me convinced her theories made a lot of sense!

Come Melina Green, a playwright who has just written a piece regarding her Elizabethan ancestor, Emilia, and we are thrust into contemporary times and still very much a male-dominated industry not wholly unlike that of Emilia’s.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult — By Any Other Name – UK cover

Not sure why, but I seem to find the story of the ancestor more persuasive than the descendant. Shakespeare is very well developed as a character. He oozes a superior male attitude, demonstrates the good old boy posture with his male buddies, and knows how to make money. You get to know Shakespeare and turns out he is a man like many others except he was credited with writing upwards of forty plays.

For me, the Melina chapters tended to slow the pace and let’s face it, this is a very long book. I felt Emilia was fleshed more fully, a real woman back then with a mind of her own and backbone to push her agenda. It was fun that Melina’s roommate, Andre, submitted her work, and he also proved an interesting, well-developed character.

Certainly enough food for thought, grist for the mill and all that. I enjoyed the concept and thought in a debate, the author could well hold her own. Readers who enjoy split timelines and well-researched literary fiction would find this an engaging read—or listen. Just look at the list of narrators! They definitely help to keep your attention. Now, if it just wasn’t quite so long.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Fiction Sagas, Family Saga Fiction, Literary Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrators: Billie Fulford-Brown, Laura Benanti, Jodi Picoult, Jayne Entwistle, Andrew Fallaize, Joe Jameson, John Lee, Nicholas Guy Smith, Simon Vance, Steve West
Release Date: August 20, 2024

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, including Mad Honey, Wish You Were Here, The Book of Two Ways, A Spark of Light, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister’s Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire.

Follow Jodi Picoult on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter: @jodipicoult

#TuesdayBookBlog

Two Audiobooks Mini-Reviews – Her Last Breath – The Last Word by Taylor Adams – #CrimeThrillers #Suspense

Here’s your chance at a Twofer! I offer a short review of two gripping audiobooks on one page; short, sweet, and spooky. You like spooky? Good! You’ll get it with either of these audiobooks, same author (Taylor Adams) made more fun with the narrators. (Links on individual covers are to Amazon.)

Oh, and if you like a little twist at the end that you didn’t see coming, have I got a book for you!

Her Last Breath: A Novel

Publisher: William Morrow
Narrator: Sophie Amoss

My Thoughts

Hang on to your hats because this one will have you caving (yes, caving!) with Tess and her BFF Allie. Allie is a successful travel influencer, having literally done some amazing globe-trotting jaunts to capture her followers.

Tess is claustrophobic and a debt-ridden legal assistant. Hassled by a stranger prior to entering the cave—unfortunately the type you descend into the depths rather than walk through an enclosed space—they realize the guy has followed them.

It isn’t long before the cave diminishes into a body-squeezing tube of blackness. GEES! If you’ve ever had a problem with tight spaces, this vividly descriptive, fast-moving plot will have your heart pounding and sweating bullets.

The deeper Tess goes, however, she realizes maybe the stranger isn’t the whole problem. Where is Allie? Tess leans heavily on bits and pieces of survival strategy she learned largely from Allie and her explorations. But who is Allie really and what is this whole adventure about anyway? Can Tess find her way out of the cave?

Well, as they say, “you’ll let out the breath you realize you were holding.” Maybe. But you’ll love it. So, something new and different. This gets intense! Lower your lights, the volume, and wrap that blankee around yourself. It gets cold in those caves!

Suspense fans? Thriller fans? It doesn’t get much more thrillerish than this. Released this year, it’s in your library. No excuses. Totally recommended.

The Last Word: A Novel

Best of #BookTok
Publisher: William Morrow
Narrator: Carlotta Brentan, Jim Meskimen

Well, this one will give us reviewers a few thoughts to ponder! A new tweak right out of the hook, an author who really, really, didn’t like the review Emma wrote. What else has she got to do? She’s house sitting in a house remotely located on the coast. (AH, cue the wind…)

Her neighbor recommended this book and Emma discovers it’s a solid DNF, but plods on through and actually leaves a one-star caustic review. (Yeah, no. I could have told her that.) Surprisingly, the author writes back and asks her to take it back off Amazon. She won’t do it.

Then he gets nasty. She digs in her heels.

Then he becomes threatening. She realizes it might have been an oops, but too late now.

So Emma didn’t take this house sitting job out there by herself, thank heaven. She has Laika, her dog. Loved the dog. Emma is busy trying to heal a broken heart, walking on the beach (highly overrated in the winter), drinking, and chatting with her neighbor via a whiteboard. Clever! And maybe someone should know about the crazy author who is stalking her? You might be able to predict the storm that has the rain and wind banging the doors and windows of this place, right? EEK!

Yes, I see it–Adams is a master at writing suspense, thrillers, builds in the tension, sprinkles it with a little humor, adds a spritz or two of disbelief, and develops some wildly wacky characters. He has a strong and compelling writing style, unique plots with race car pace.

I had a good time reading the reviews for this book. I’m aware this is not a debut novel. It’s funny to read, however, the reviewers who reviewed this one mentioning a one-star review they’d left before that were now nervous, or not, regarding Adams sudden appearance at their door.

Now THAT’S funny! Obviously, those previous reviews gave him the plot for this one. This standalone was interesting—somewhat scattered—somewhat over-the-top, with perhaps one too many twists? Obviously, I’d say the author has grown in his style, dialed back some previous overdoing, and found a happy compromise with his twists. If I were going to recommend a Taylor Adams book, though, it’d be the one above, and heartily at that.

The Author: Taylor Adams is the author of several acclaimed thrillers including NO EXIT and THE LAST WORD. His newest novel, HER LAST BREATH, released February 2026 to starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, BookPage, and Library Journal. His works have been featured as Book of the Month Main Selections and Amazon Editor’s Picks. NO EXIT has been published in 32 languages and was adapted as a Hulu Original film directed by Damien Power (Killing Ground), produced by PGA-winner Scott Frank (Logan), and starring Havana Rose Liu (Bottoms), Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick), and Dennis Haysbert (Breakthrough).

His novels have been praised by critics at The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, and by bestselling authors including Joe Hill, Riley Sager, A.J. Finn, Michael Koryta, and Karen Dionne. “Taylor Adams is a master of suspense,” said Michael Koryta. “I’m already impatient to see what he does next.” Publishers Weekly wrote in their starred review: “Adams is a writer to watch.”

Adams lives in Washington State with his family.

Website
http://tayloradamsauthor.com/

Twitter
tadamsauthor

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to these audiobooks. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain #AudiobookReview #bookclub #TBT

Book Club at the YMCA

Best Books of the Year 2011

Nominee for Favorite Book of 2011, Winner for Readers’ Favorite Historical Fiction (2011), Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Goodreads Author (2011)

Sorry, but this one was regarding Ernest Hemingway—not my fav. We have to remember it’s a novel and certainly not penned by Wife Number One, Hadley Richardson. At twenty-eight years old in Chicago 1920, she definitely would have been termed a “spinster.” I don’t think it was the Jazz Age Paris that set Hemingway into a hard-drinking social life with some cronies who were already achieving name recognition, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. I think the man, well ahead of the myth, was already a hard-drinking narcissist who pulled Hadley along for the ride. And when it ended. It ended.

But what a ride it was!

This is the book club selection for March, discussed rather low key at our April meeting.

My Thoughts

Hadley experienced a tragic childhood, from the suicide of her father to the death of a sister in a fire. Neither his family nor hers had been thrilled with the two together. Hadley was considered the old maid at 28 and Hemingway back from the war at just nineteen.

After she met Hemingway and together enjoyed a whirlwind romance, they were married in 1921. Shortly after, they moved to Paris where he struck up with contacts during his fledgling foreign correspondent days and Gertrude Stein in turn introduced him to additional authors who fed his need for the spotlight and his ego.

Living a fast-paced Bohemian life took a toll on the marriage; the drinking, the free-wheeling moral code, his lust writing the Great American Novel…and women. Her discovery of his affair with her friend, however, became the final straw.

Many thanks to our local well-stocked library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own as well as my interpretation of the consensus of the book club participants.

Book Club Thoughts

The publisher provides pointed questions for discussion at the book club.

The Paris Wife - UK cover — The Paris Wife – UK cover

Among the items specifically examined this time were:

►We were reminded a couple times that this book is fiction, a novel, not a biography. We can draw some conclusions but would have to independently research key details of interest.

►A big question regarding what her perceived role was, with the majority feeling it was to feed his ego, and unfortunately, following his success, no longer needed that extra support.

►We wondered what Hadley might have seen in him and the consensus generally felt that he took her out of her expected lonely, spinster life to one of discovering the big world out there.

►A big point of discussion was the loss of his entire work to date when she traveled to meet him. Did he ever really forgive her for losing all his manuscripts? Perhaps we’ll never know.

There were additional questions and discussions, of course, one being the lifestyle and the hard drinking of Paris life, and the contradiction of Hadley’s acquiescence to attending the running of the bulls (and death of the animals) by occupying herself with crocheting baby clothes.

Book Club rating vote

Book Details:

Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrator: Carrington MacDuffie
Publication Date: February 22, 2011

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Paula McLain is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels The Paris Wife, Circling the Sun, Love and Ruin, and When the Stars Go Dark. Her latest novel, Skylark, a GMA January 2026 pick, is a mesmerizing tale of Paris above and below, revealing a story of courage and resistance that transcends time. McLain was born in Fresno, California in 1965. After being abandoned by both parents, she and her two sisters became wards of the California Court System, moving in and out of various foster homes for the next fourteen years. When she aged out of the system, she supported herself by working as a nurse’s aid in a convalescent hospital, a pizza delivery girl, an auto-plant worker, a cocktail waitress–before discovering she could (and very much wanted to) write. She received her MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan in 1996, and is the author of two collections of poetry, a memoir, Like Family: Growing Up in Other People’s Houses, and the debut novel, A Ticket to Ride. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, O: the Oprah Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Real Simple, Huffington Post, the Guardian and elsewhere.

The YMCA Book Club

The Astral Library: A Novel by Kate Quinn #AudiobookReview #MagicalRealismFiction

in Magical Realism Fiction

Book Blurb:

From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes a gorgeously written fantastical adventure which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures. Beautifully performed by award winning narrator, Saskia Maarleveld.

Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives…inside their favorite books.

The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself? Includes a bonus conversation with Kate Quinn, Saskia Maarleveld, and Tessa Woodward (editor of The Astral Library).

My Review:

From the creative mind and the commanding master of her craft comes the author from a whole new direction no one saw coming. I devoured her 20^th Century books and looked for more—jumped on this one and noted Saskia Maarleveld as narrator. An absolute powerhouse of audiobooks. And a departure from anything I expected. Note to Self: Must read the book blurb in addition to author and narrator.

Stretching my chops as a reader into fantasy, a genre heaven knows I don’t often do.

But, hey, we’re talking Kate Quinn and I must admit it is an uncommon and unique experience. Written well, haven’t you put yourself in a book? FMC Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned to do that. Within the Boston Public Library, she often escaped her fierce struggle for survival as a foster care kid. But this time, she also happens upon a hidden door that opens to another library, a librarian, and books. These books are different.

Alix is a great character, full of the feisty intelligence we are used to in a female protagonist from a Quinn novel. There are some strong support characters as well. Appreciated the fashion descriptions of the different periods; the sights and sounds all come alive under Quinn’s pen.

I loved escaping to Boston. Drank in the historic atmosphere, the buildings, the people, food and drink, then to be whisked away to London or…? Alix is not the only one who has found a refuge from tedious lives, however. Having made a choice to escape into the book of their choice, some may not have turned out to be the glorious and safe haven they expected.

The antagonist appears to be the library board, which is ready to change the rules, and it’s a fight Alix eagerly tackles. The storytelling blurred just a bit for me there. There is a modicum of romance and the character of the Astral librarian is a hoot. I loved the shout-out to the various authors of the classic novels. It’s a prose-filled exploration of simultaneous alternate lives.

Heavy into fantasy, metaphysical, and Quinn books, you’ll enjoy the departure of her famously popular historical fiction novels. I enjoyed it, but must admit it won’t be my favorite Quinn book.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Magical Realism Fiction, Fantasy Action & Adventure, #Literary Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow
Narrator: Kate Quinn, Saskia Maarleveld
Release Date: February 17, 2026

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of southern California, she attended Boston University where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. She has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga, and two books in the Italian Renaissance, before turning to the 20th century with “The Alice Network”, “The Huntress,” “The Rose Code,” “The Diamond Eye,” and “The Briar Club.” She is also a co-author in several collaborative novels including “The Phoenix Crown” with Janie Chang and “Ribbons of Scarlet” with Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie, Eliza Knight, Sophie Perinot, and Heather Webb. “The Astral Library,” releasing in 2026, is her first foray into magical realism. Kate and her husband now live in Maryland with their two rescue dogs.

Rosepoint Reviews – March Recap – April Weather is no Joke

Rosepoint Review Recap-March-Hello April!

Definitely going to be a wet and wild April with lingering thunderstorms from March—a crazy pattern with warm temps to 70s plunging 40 degrees in a few hours. Normally, I’d be starting seedlings, thinking garden, planning appropriate veggies and symbiotic flowers.

First goal: Take down that poor tree in front of our kitchen window that only had one viable limb left. The CE surprised me by getting a big jump on it before I was even dressed and by mid-afternoon we had it down, limbs in the garbage bin, area raked and swept. What a job! I’m hoping it will be a good spot for some water plants. I tried lotus flowers last year, but failed to provide sufficient sun. This may be too much sun. We’ll see.

Old tree on the left and after it's cleared. — Old tree on the left–tree is gone on the right.

Hail, same spot — Hail one day later, same spot.

March is birthday month for me and I was celebrated with a visit from our daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandkids. The little ones are so much bigger than last we saw them, the youngest still a baby. They got to have a tour of Chicago from our son who works there, a short and sweet visit, but so happy to see them all.

Of course, we also celebrate Reading Ireland Month in March and I participated once again, experiencing a recommendable movie, a wacky newly released series, as well as ebooks and audiobooks. We made our usual corned beef and cabbage (better this year), which also made delicious leftovers—the CE’s fav.

The CE and I read or listened to a total of ten books in March. As always, the major source of our books is the library (audiobooks and ebooks). (We also review books from NetGalley and author and publisher requests.) The links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.

Rosepoint Reviews - March Recap

Singing Bones by S G Ullman (CE review-publisher request)
Countdown by Sara Driscoll
The Burning Soul by John Connolly (CE review)
Murder in an Irish Churchyard by Carlene O’Connor

Audiobooks

See How They Hide by Allison Brennan (mini-reviews)
My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney (mini-review)
Thirst Trap by Gráinne O’Hare
The Compound by Aisling Rawle
To the Moon and Back by Karen Kingsbury
The Storied Life of A J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Favorite Book of the Month

Can I cheat just a bit and nominate a movie instead of a book? What if the movie was based on a book–written by Declan Power? The Siege of Jadotville was compelling and powerful.

Favorite for March – The Siege of Jadotville

My Reading Challenges page…March was just too busy to update. My Goodreads count is still off, but landing page shows 40 of a challenge of 175.

To all my dear readers and fellow bloggers, thank you so much for taking the time to check out my posts and reviews. I’m trying to up my bloghopping and hope to see you soon.

To the Moon and Back: A Novel by Karen Kingsbury #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Baxter Family Collection

Book Blurb:

Brady Bradshaw was a child when the Oklahoma City bombing killed his mother. Every year, Brady visits the memorial site on the anniversary to remember her. Eleven years ago on that day, he met Jenna Phillips, who was also a child when her parents were killed in the attack. Brady and Jenna shared a deep heart connection and a single beautiful day together at the memorial. But after that, Brady never saw Jenna again. Every year when he returns, he leaves a note for her in hopes that he might find her again.

This year, Ashley Baxter Blake and her sister Kari Baxter Taylor and their families take a spring break trip that includes a visit to the site to see the memorial’s famous Survivor Tree. While there, Ashley spots a young man, alone and troubled. That man is Brady Bradshaw. A chance moment leads Ashley to help Brady find Jenna, the girl he can’t forget.

Ashley’s family is skeptical, but she pushes them to support her efforts to find the girl and bring them together. But will it work? Will her husband, Landon, understand her intentions? And is a shared heartache enough reason to fall in love?

My Review:

It would appear that I managed to come in well after Book 1 and may be the final book in this series. My first with the author and treading on romance as well as Christian romance. As you will know, I’m not big on romance.

Federal building following the Oklahoma City bombing — Photo courtesy Wikipedia*

This installment remembers the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, who parked their rental truck laden with explosives in front of the nine-story federal building. An act of domestic terrorism, it destroyed more than a third of the building as well as damaging other buildings and destroying vehicles.

Jenna and Brady both lose their parents in the tragedy but serendipity puts them together at the site when they are 17. It’s Brady who leaves her a letter at the site every year since then, hoping to meet up again.

Ashley Baxter learns of the story when she meets Brady on a Spring Break with their children and feels she would be able to help find Jenna. Together Jenna and Brady shared a memorable day, the heartache, the loss, the memories, and their progress to overcome the disaster. They also shared numbers, but despite Brady’s return each year, has not been able to link up again. Perhaps they were meant to be together, maybe not, but it’s been ten years and Brady is about to give up.

The author writes with tender prose around the catastrophe, exploring the characters’ stories with her view on the position of God in such a nightmare. Who would have committed such an act? Why?

Ashley appears to be the protagonist, though there are other POVs, and Ashley is heavily bent on finding Jenna. The attention away from her hubby creates friction with him, but she’s pretty sure she is on God’s mission.

I loved the story of the Survivor Tree and the annual sapling giveaway—that’s a beautiful tribute—and an amazing tree. This is a story of love, redemption, and the journey to overcome monumental, life-changing loss with the power and support of God.

I enjoyed parts of the story, even if a romance, but got a little weary of the sermonizing as well as the struggle with hubby who it appeared backed down and apologized fairly quickly.

And Jenna and Brady. Really? I thought it stretched credulity a bit and the ending too Hallmarky (I even think I heard violins). I’m a fan of happy ever after. I’m sure you remember that. But this one pushed me into disbelief and I couldn’t buy it. Not sure I missed too much by coming in on this one when I did, but I’m thinking this is not a series for me.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance, Religious Romance, Christian Mystery & Suspense Romance
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Narrators: January LaVoy, Kirby Heyborne

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Karen Kingsbury, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, is America’s favorite inspirational storyteller, with more than twenty-five million copies of her award-winning books in print. Her last dozen titles have topped bestseller lists and many of her novels are under development with Hallmark Films and as major motion pictures. Her Baxter Family books are being developed into a TV series slated for major network viewing sometime in the next year. Karen is also an adjunct professor of writing at Liberty University. In 2001 she and her husband, Don, adopted three boys from Haiti, doubling their family in a matter of months. Today the couple has joined the ranks of empty-nesters, living in Tennessee near five of their adult children.

Audiobooks with earphones and earbuds

*Wikipedia photo

The Compound: A Novel by Aisling Rawle #AudiobookReview #readingirelandmonth26 #TBT

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, THE NEW YORKER, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, OPRAH DAILY, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY

Amazon Best Literature & Fiction

Winner for Readers’ Favorite Science Fiction (2025)

I am reviewing this audiobook for Reading Ireland Month. It is hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Please use the hashtags #readingirelandmonth26 or #begorrathon if you choose to participate.

Book Blurb:

Lily—a bored, beautiful twenty-something—wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door.

Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams—but what will she have to do to win?

Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends.

My Review:

Boy, can I pick’em. It’s the whole reality show thing and I’m not a fan. Don’t watch them. But Lily has decided to participate in a reality show, one she is familiar with, remembers some of the history, knows or can anticipate what to expect.

I missed that it was a blurred dystopian type world, perhaps sometime in the near distant future. That world outside is crappy. Lily is ready to escape—anywhere. And “anywhere” becomes a vague and obscure feature. She is one of twenty vying to become the last person standing, espousing the mantra “Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Winner takes all.” She is pretty but vacuous.

The Compound - UK cover — The Compound – UK cover

The narrative captures the support characters through Lily’s eyes with her set of morals (or lack of them), ideologies, thirst, and competition. No one is viewed “what you see is what you get” as everyone might have ulterior motives. Who is next to stab you in the back and step over your body to climb the ladder?

From playing musical beds and graphic details to plotting the next exit candidate, this one left me cold, battling to get through, and tired of the language, the loss of humanity, and any real characters in which I could engage or invest. The call to Lily’s mum at the end did it for me. That’s just sad.

Well, mercy. Maybe you’re a fan of reality TV. This might work for you. Or dystopian? This might work for you. But not a book for me. Shouldn’t have chosen or failed to DNF. Cannot recommend.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Two point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Dystopian Fiction, Dystopian Science Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrator: Lucy Boynton
Release Date: June 24, 2025

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Aisling Rawle was born in 1998 and raised in County Leitrim in the West of Ireland. She now lives in Dublin. The Compound is her first book.