Milkman: A Novel by Anna Burns #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Editors’ pick Best Literature & Fiction

National Book Critics Circle Award Winner – 2018

Book Blurb:

In an unnamed city, middle sister stands out for the wrong reasons. She reads while walking, for one. And she has been taking French night classes downtown. So when a local paramilitary known as the milkman begins pursuing her, she suddenly becomes “interesting,” the last thing she ever wanted to be. Despite middle sister’s attempts to avoid him―and to keep her mother from finding out about her maybe-boyfriend―rumors spread and the threat of violence lingers. Milkman is a story of the way inaction can have enormous repercussions, in a time when the wrong flag, wrong religion, or even a sunset can be subversive. Told with ferocious energy and sly, wicked humor, Milkman establishes Anna Burns as one of the most consequential voices of our day.

My Review:

Yet another example of my apparent lack of appreciation for genius literary fiction. I was ready to DNF in…about ten minutes and several times after that. Yes, an audiobook and even if I hadn’t ramped up the speed, the author would still have been barreling through this book in it’s entirety without taking a breath.

What did I get myself into?

I was determined to finish it because it was to be on my list of Irish authors for this year’s Reading Ireland Month, the #Begorrathon, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Sorry, but I just couldn’t fathom this one.

Sheltered as we’ve been living in the States and only remotely getting news second or third hand, and at a time in my life when I was dealing with babies, I was far removed from what was going on “over there” except that “our boys” were still in ‘Nam and we wanted them home.

The protagonist here is a teenager, grappling with all the angst of teens the world over with the extra burden of an oppressive religion, an almost permanently hysterical mother, her education, and her lack of lining up a proper marriage.

What threw me at the beginning was the lack of names as everyone was referred to as (for instance) Almost Boyfriend, Third Brother-in-Law, Second Sister, etc. And the Milkman, wasn’t.

It’s a non-stop monologue that takes a single thought and multiplies it to all the possibilities that could result from the original thought and end with the worst scenario.

The only character I came close to engaging was Third Brother-in-Law and I couldn’t tell you why. I still didn’t know him any more than any of the main or support characters but the mother was the absolute worst.

A constant run-on self-dialogue that didn’t end and sometimes jumped into other persons, other scenes or situations, making it all but impossible to keep up with where we were now. Or why did we care?

This is supposed to be humorous—sorry—I didn’t find much funny with the horrible things going on (particularly the scene involving the dogs). No plot. No progression in the storyline. Oh, wait. No storyline. Everyone is paranoid, gossip runs rampant in an effort to…destroy(?) each other. A lot of narrative, nothing is settled. And then it ended.

SOOOO much philosophy! Dispensed, analyzed, regurgitated.

I’ll tell you what: Read the reviews on Goodreads. They should have gotten the awards!

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Two point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Political Fiction, Literary Fiction
Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
ISBN-10: ‎ 1644450003
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1644450000
ASIN: B07JJJTT29
Listening Length: 14 hrs 11 mins
Narrator: Bríd Brennan
Publication Date: Reprint edition – December 4, 2018
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Milkman – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Anna Burns was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is the author of two novels, No Bones and Little Constructions, and of the novella, Mostly Hero. No Bones won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize and was short-listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She lives in East Sussex, England. Author photo credit Eleni Stefanou

#ThrowbackThursday

Rosepoint Reviews – January Recap – Catch the winter reading bug, not the flu

#Rosepoint Reviews - January recap

January is a catch-up month around here, packing holiday decorations away, doing some cleaning, updating blog folders (and Challenge page) to 2025, and doing some general website housekeeping. I took a hard look at my challenges and signed up for the same few, but reduced goals this year. Just too much always going on to keep up and I’d dearly love to do some AI graphics.

After looking at WP templates and formats, it would appear I am pretty well stuck with the same one as I still don’t want to try the block editor again and so many of the templates only work with the block editor. As is, I’m finding problems with my widgets, the blocks interfering with spacing and I’m blocked from linking both Twitter feed and Instagram. Still, I want to update the look somewhat with whatever additional resources I have.

Decided I would continue to try for posts on Tuesday and Thursday—Sunday if the CE has a review available. Felt like our stats were dropping and I went in to get an average number of reviews per month, but last January 2024 (not counting bookish posts), we posted ten reviews. So then looking at all months and tallying the average, discovered that between the two of us, we are generally running about 11.33/books/mo. Maybe not fewer then, just a shift in where we are getting the books and an increase in audiobooks equal to the decrease in digitals.

I mentioned AI graphics before and looking at different apps and free downloads, found more than I thought available. I played around with the free version of Freepik, but the free version is very limited and doesn’t make sense to pay for the little I’d use. Between the two, the AI graphics on Canva (again my free version) offers greater diversity and is more user friendly. Still, one can always resort to Google Gemini 2.0 which creates limited graphics as well as text.

I’m using Goodreads to mine the opportunity for good audiobooks, as well as your suggestions, and books sourced at NetGalley, author and publisher requests, and my well-stocked library.

We managed thirteen reviews between us in January that included seven audiobooks. These links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase or source information.

Rosepoint Reviews - January Recap

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (audiobook)
Downstate: A Novella by Jeffery Deaver (CE review)
History’s Pages: The Knocknashee Story by Jean Grainger (5 stars)
The Burning and The Lost Coast by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman (audiobooks)
To Catch a Thief by David Dodge (CE review)
All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee
Half Moon Bay by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman (audiobook)
A Measure of Darkness by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman (audiobook)
The Crossing Places: The First Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths
A Dead Draw by Robert Dugoni (CE review)
The Investigator by John Sandford (audiobook)

Favorite Book of the Month

No question this month, All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee left me breathless and satisfied. I recommended it to the CE and he burned through it in a couple days. No doubt this would make a super selection for any book club.

Favorite for January – All We Thought We Knew

My Reading Challenges page…My Goodreads Challenge is currently at 18 of a 2025 goal of 125. No, keeping up with my Challenge page wasn’t a New Year’s resolution. I’ll get to it…
by and by.

Welcome to my new subscribers! So glad you joined our group. I hope all my readers are finding some amazing books to spend some quality hot chocolate, fireplace time with!

The Body in the Bookstore by Ellie Alexander #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

A Secret Bookcase Mystery Book 1

Book Blurb:

Behind the shelves of The Secret Bookcase, where the sun slants through the windows onto rows of classic crime novels, a body lies…

Bookseller Annie Murray is thrilled when the mystery-themed book festival she sets up to revive the dwindling fortunes of her workplace and sanctuary seems poised for success. But events take a shocking turn when a body is discovered hidden behind the shelves, and it’s revealed that the victim is Annie’s old college acquaintance.

Determined to ensure the festival’s success and save the small town of Redwood Grove from a killer, Annie begins piecing together clues with the help of her friends. But as the list of suspects grows longer—a local boutique owner, an envious old classmate, a bitter ex-boyfriend—Annie is drawn deeper into the case.

With the aid of her old criminology professor-turned-detective, can Annie unmask the murderer before they turn her festival into a real-life whodunit?

My Review:

I love it when I get the chance to get in on the ground floor—with Book 1 in a new series and by one of my favorite authors.

The Body in the Bookstore by Ellie Alexander — AI Icon by Freepik.com

The Body in the Bookstore introduces the reader to Annie Murray, bookseller and events manager of a quaint little bookshop in iconic rural Redwood Grove. Annie and her bestie Scarlet planned to open a detective agency after they graduated with degrees, but then Scarlet was murdered.

Business is lagging in the bookshop, however, book signings are not bringing in customers, and she comes up with a brilliant idea to involve the town in a special three-day Mystery Festival.

The festival is a big success until a body is discovered—in her bookshop.

Good thing the lead detective is her old professor with whom she can work and Annie and her local buddy get to work on the whodunit.

There are some engaging support characters here, including a kitty. Annie is a smart, independent protagonist, capable of delegating, multitasking. She uses what experience she’d gained from investigating her friend’s murder and begins a concentrated investigation. She has the clues, the support, and the resources.

The death of her friend Scarlet will continue to drive her and in the meantime, she has established a basis for the side hustle.

Looks to be a good start on the new series with an atmospheric small town and down home people. Writing style is well-paced with a solid cozy plot and those who enjoy the genre will surely enjoy this one.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Mysteries, Amateur Sleuth Mysteries, Women Sleuth Mysteries
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
ASIN: B0D64CW59W
Listening Length: 7 hrs 18 mins
Narrator: Ellen Quay
Publication Date: June 19, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: The Body in the Bookstore – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: ELLIE ALEXANDER is a voracious storyteller, a lover of words and all things bookish. She believes that stories have the ability to transport and transform us. With over thirty published novels and counting, her goal is to tell stories that provide points of connection, escape, and understanding.

She loves inhabiting someone else’s skin through the pages of a book and is passionate about helping writers find their unique storytelling lens. As a writing teacher and coach, she guides writers in crafting the story they’ve always wanted to tell while navigating the path to publication that’s right for them.

Find out more about Ellie, her books, and writing courses by visiting her online:

Website: https://www.elliealexander.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellie_alexander
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/elliealexanderauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elliealexanderauthor
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elliealexanderauthor
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ellielovesbooks
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/elliealexanderauthor

#ThrowbackThursday — AI graphic by Freepik.com

The Investigator by John Sandford #AudiobookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

A Letty Davenport Novel Book 1

Best Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense

Book Blurb:

By age twenty-four, Letty Davenport has seen more action and uncovered more secrets than many law enforcement professionals. Now a recent Stanford grad with a master’s in economics, she’s restless and bored in a desk job for U.S. Senator Colles. Letty’s ready to quit, but her skills have impressed Colles, and he offers her a carrot: feet-on-the-ground investigative work, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security.

Several oil companies in Texas have reported thefts of crude, Colles tells her. He isn’t so much concerned with the oil as he is with the money: who is selling the oil, and what are they doing with the profits? Rumor has it that a fairly ugly militia group might be involved. Colles wants to know if the money is going to them, and if so, what they’re planning.

Letty is partnered with a DHS investigator, John Kaiser, and they head to Texas. When the case quicky turns deadly, they know they’re on the track of something bigger. The militia group has set in motion an explosive plan . . . and the clock is ticking down.

My Review:

My second novel for this author, although the first was a Virgil Flowers series, a macho male protagonist apparently a spin-off of the Prey series. I don’t think this is another spin-off, but it almost feels as if it’s the same protagonist, just that now she’s a twenty-four-year-old recent Stanford Master’s graduate on her first job (Sheesh!) and she’s bored. Poor baby. Not sure how she got the job for a US senator, but it’s not law enforcement.

Coming from a horrific childhood, one of which had her tracking and killing animals for food and money, she definitely hit the lottery at age twelve. Yes, her particular adoption was more than luck, and they must have really spent some bucks cause now she’s too smart for twenty-four, too sophisticated for name brand jeans, and pushing rude and obnoxious.

Also, the book published in 2022 smacks in the middle of quite the immigrant conundrum. Letty is assigned a Homeland Security investigator, and she and Kaiser head to Texas.

A large militia group headed by a woman is focusing her troops and efforts on stopping a contingent of immigrants heading for the border. Their tactics are deadly. Letty subtly leads the more experienced Kaiser in infiltratation, as they fall into step as a team. Meanwhile, it becomes clear Letty has her equal in the antagonist, who is almost equally developed.

The pace gains speed as it nears the conclusion of the book which culminates with a cliffhanger into Book 2.

Yes, Letty is badass, but her field experience is not that of ex-military or an agent experienced under fire. She was educated in economics—not combat. She was…just too much. Interesting narrative, kept my attention, but also a story we have been living with for years. I can almost predict Book 2—so—I don’t think so.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Crime Fiction, Mysteries, Suspense
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B09B4FT7L2
Listening Length: 13 hrs 2 mins.
Narrator: Richard Ferrone
Publication Date: April 12, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Investigator [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK

The Author: John Sandford is the pseudonym for the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp. He is the author of the Prey novels, the Kidd novels, the Virgil Flowers novels, and six other books, including three YA novels co-authored with his wife Michele Cook.

#TuesdayBookBLog — AI graphic by Canva.com

The Burning and The Lost Coast by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Clay Edison – Books 4 and 5

The Burning

Book Blurb:

Things get personal for Deputy Coroner Clay Edison when a murder hits close to home in this riveting, emotional thriller from the best-selling father-son team that writes “brilliant, page-turning fiction” (Stephen King).

A raging wildfire. A massive blackout. A wealthy man shot to death in his palatial hilltop home.

For Clay Edison, it’s all in a day’s work. As a deputy coroner, caring for the dead, he speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves. He prides himself on an unflinching commitment to the truth. Even when it gets him into trouble.

Then, while working the murder scene, Clay is horrified to discover a link to his brother, Luke. Horrified. But not surprised. Luke is fresh out of prison and struggling to stay on the straight and narrow.

And now he’s gone AWOL.

The race is on for Clay to find him before anyone else can. Confronted with Luke’s legacy of violence, Clay is forced to reckon with his own suspicions, resentments, and loyalties. Is his brother a killer? Or could he be the victim in all of this, too?

This is Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman at their most affecting and pause-resisting – a harrowing collision of family, revenge, and murder.

My Review:

It’s a story that hits too close to home for Clay Edison, Deputy of the County Coroner’s Office. He is sent to the home of a dead man but is jolted when he spots his brother’s car in the garage. It’s not like he can point that out without severe repercussions for his brother as he is not that long out of prison. With his brother’s track record, he is torn between wanting to believe he had nothing to do with the deceased, but…

In the meantime, he needs to talk to Luke and that’s the rub. Luke is not answering his phone and his wife is not exactly coming forth with the why or how of him going missing.

I like the character of Clay and we get to learn about him in this installment, as well as peek into his fatherhood role. He continues to push the boundaries of his job description and in this installment is well over propriety. There are also some strong, well developed support characters, but I’m not a huge fan of his wife, Amy.

I actually started this series with Book 1, Crime Scene. Yeah, I know what you are thinking, how very unusual! True. I was a solid fan of Kellerman’s Alex Delaware novels, so I did have some experience with Jonathan and Book 1 definitely hooked me, not only with the premise of the protagonist coming from a different angle into the investigation, but also totally loved the narrator, Dennis Boutsikaris. His delivery is extremely dynamic providing realistic dialogue between characters. So yeah, as mentioned in my review of Crime Scene, I got on the wait list for Books 2, 3, 4, and 5. Well, these popped up first. (At this point, don’t you know I’m compelled to complete the entire series.)

There are some twists and I do enjoy the authors writing style. Their collaboration produces an interesting plot, if not entirely unique, lively and well paced.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Crime Thrillers, Suspense, Mysteries
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B0977QL7GY
Listening Length: 7 hrs 30 mins
Narrator: Dennis Boutsikaris
Publication Date: September 21, 2021
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Burning – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Lost Coast

Book Blurb:

Cut loose from his former life at the coroner’s office, Clay Edison has set up shop as a private investigator. It’s steady, safe work. Until it isn’t.

The trouble begins when a young man, tasked with managing his grandmother’s estate, hires Clay to examine some minor financial discrepancies. What starts off as a case of simple fraud rapidly explodes into a web of deception, an elaborate con game stretching back decades and involving countless victims.

All the evidence points to a tiny town on California’s rugged, remote Lost Coast. Good luck getting there, though. And Clay’s reward for surviving the journey is a trigger-happy welcoming committee, ready to guard their secrets with lethal force.

Navigating this landscape of savage waves and savage lies brings Clay into collision with a host of other players: a grieving mother, an enigmatic teenager, a reclusive military veteran, a foul-mouthed PI pursuing her own agenda. And the price of truth will turn out to be higher—and deadlier—than Clay could have imagined.

From the minds of Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman comes a heart-stopping tale of deception and redemption—bursting with action, suspense, and unforgettable characters.

My Review:

Ugh! I hate it when the main character totally changes everything, well, almost, as somewhere between Books 4 and 5, Clay Edison goes from being a County Coroner to a PI. Wha??? I signed up because I thought he was going to do forensics stuff. Nope, now he is the guy with a license (not badges). And as if he ever did, no longer worries about rules or laws.

Eager to take on new cases, he is looking into what might be a real estate fraud for a client. There are some intriguing unanswered questions, and failing to get enough info online or research decides he must drive to Swan’s Landing. The little town is remotely located on the Lost Coast of California, barely accessible on the roughest of roads and goat trails or by boat. Few inhabitants or services are available and the simple real estate fraud case begins to split into a suspenseful sub-plot.

The Kellermans take their time building the plot amid a masterfully painted description of the desolation and wild mountains on the rugged northern coast of California. (And I might add—as wild and beautiful as it is remote.) Equally well developed are the local inhabitants, unique, each viewing Edison as an outsider.

The storyline is finely paced, allowing the reader to savor the building tension with the discovery of each new piece of information. While my heart sank just a bit in the denouement, all loose threads were creatively woven into place.

It’s the fifth in the series, not sure there’ll be a sixth, although if there is, I’ll be there to sign up. In the meantime, look for future reviews of Books 2 and 3 when I get them. Book 5 might well be read as a standalone—he switched jobs—but not personality and there is a few backstories filling in blanks. Still, you might wish to read Clay Edison the coroner as well as Edison the PI just to get a flavor of the change in depth of the storyline.

I downloaded a copy of these audiobooks from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Private Investigator Mysteries, Crime Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B0CN3RYNZ3
Listening Length: 8 hrs 19 mins
Narrator: Dennis Boutsikaris
Publication Date: August 6, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Lost Coast – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Authors:

Jonathan Kellerman

Jonathan Kellerman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than three dozen bestselling crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher’s Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, True Detectives, and The Murderer’s Daughter. With his wife, bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. With his son, bestselling novelist Jesse Kellerman, he co-authored The Golem of Hollywood and The Golem of Paris. He is also the author of two children’s books and numerous nonfiction works, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children and With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and has been nominated for a Shamus Award. Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California, New Mexico, and New York.

Read more at:
http://www.jonathankellerman.com/

Jesse Kellerman

Jesse Kellerman has written dozens of plays and published seven novels, two of them cowritten with his father, Jonathan Kellerman. He has won numerous awards, including the Princess Grace Award for Playwriting (“Things Beyond Our Control”) and the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle (“The Genius”/”Les Visages”). His novel “Potboiler” was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. An essay, “Let My People Go to the Buffet,” was included in Penguin’s Best American Spiritual Writing (2011). His next book, Crime Scene, was also cowritten with Jonathan Kellerman and will be published in fall 2017. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and children.

The Narrator:

Dennis Boutsikaris

Dennis Boutsikaris was born December 21, 1952 in Newark, New Jersey, to a Greek American father and Jewish mother,^[1] and grew up in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.^[2] He took up acting while a student at Governor Livingston High School, because he felt he was too small to succeed in athletics.^[3] A graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Boutsikaris toured the country with John Houseman’s The Acting Company doing classical theatre. Boutsikaris was married to actress Deborah Hedwall; they divorced in 2002.

He can be heard in over 160 audiobooks and has received eight Audie Awards and two Best Voices of the Year Awards from AudioFile Magazine.^[14] He was voted Best Narrator of the Year by Amazon for The Gene.

Find him at:
http://www.dennisboutsikaris.com *

*Thanks to Wikipedia for this info.

Rosepoint Reviews – December Recap – Ready to Start a New Year?

Rosepoint Reviews - December Recap

As usual, NWI can’t decide whether to stay temperate or freeze the trees. It’s been back and forth and now coming out of warmish temps will plunge back into frigid. It’s the sun I miss most.

We enjoyed a quiet Christmas and will do so again New Year’s Eve, the CE and I celebrating the new year with a four-ounce lobster tail each and watching the ball drop. Getting harder and harder for us old birds to stay awake that long though. Hope you had a safe New Year’s Eve and aren’t holding a throbbing head and looking for aspirin this morning, though I certainly remember doing so more than once back when…

I am definitely burning out, always so overwhelmed with everything going on I can’t keep up with either the reviews, social media, or you, my readers. Contemplating, and can’t decide, whether to change the format I’m currently using from WordPress (bored with it! but scared of messing everything up). And/or perhaps dropping another day of reviews since even the three per week appear to be more than I can handle. Also looking for another graphics website (free, of course) that I could play with other than Canva. I see the trend now is toward AI generated graphics. Mercy! As with WordPress, a free subscription is fairly limiting. Perhaps you use a great graphics design website that offers free software? I’d love your suggestions!

Using Goodreads to mine the opportunity for good audiobooks, our reads are also sourced at NetGalley, author and publisher requests, as well as your reviews and recommendations.

Despite the crunch of the holidays and our son moving, we managed thirteen reviews between us that included five audiobooks. These links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase or source information.

Rosepoint Reviews - December Recap

Lost Souls by Theo Baxter
The Waiting by Michael Connelly (audiobook)
Hold Strong by Robert Dugoni (CE review)
Deep Freeze by Michael C Grumley (audiobook)
Random in Death by J D Robb (CE review)
Still Me by Jojo Moyes
The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang (audiobook)
Crime Scene by Jonathan Kellerman (audiobook)
Nothing Left of Me by Alex Walters (CE review)
The Sideways Life of Denny Voss by Holly Kennedy
You Never Know by Tom Selleck (audiobook)
What Is Wrong with You? By Paul Rudnick (CE review)
I’ll Have What She’s Having by Chelsea Handler

How did you do in the Goodreads Choice Awards for 2024? Of the fifteen categories, I had four make the final list and was gratified that The Women by Kristin Hannah, who I voted for in two categories, won for Historical Fiction. In the meantime, Goodreads has come out with the stats for our reading year for 2024 and I hope to have a post on it shortly.

Favorite Book of the Month

Once again, my vote goes to Kate Quinn and her co-author Janie Chang for their saga of strong women survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, based on a number of historical tales including the real-life story of a woman still holding her place in the De Young Museum.

Favorite Book for December – The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

My Reading Challenges page…My Goodreads Challenge is at 134 making my goal of 130. I’m fairly sure I also made the Audiobook, Historical Fiction, and NetGalley Challenges, but until the dust settles around here, I can’t be certain. That will come later.

Welcome to my new subscribers. I hope all my readers, including you, are having a magical and love filled holiday season with family, food, and fun. Make it memorable!

Happy New Year!

You Never Know: A Memoir by Tom Selleck #AudiobookReview #Rich & Famous Biographies

Best Biographies & Memoirs

Book Blurb:

There are many miles from the business school and basketball court at the University of Southern California to 50 million viewers for the final episode of a TV show called Magnum P.I. Tom Selleck has lived every one of those miles in his own iconoclastic and joyful way.

Frank, funny and open-hearted, You Never Know is an intimate memoir from one of the most beloved actors of our time, the highly personal story of a remarkable life and thoroughly accidental career. In his own voice and uniquely unpretentious style, the famed actor brings listeners on his uncharted but serendipitous journey to the top in Hollywood, his temptations and distractions, his misfires and mistakes and, over time, his well-earned success. Along the way, he clears up an armload of misconceptions and shares dozens of never-told stories from all corners of his personal and professional life. His rambunctious California childhood. His clueless arrival as a good-looking college jock in Hollywood (from the Dating Game to the Fox New Talent Program to co-starring with Mae West and escorting her to black-tie social functions). What it was like to emerge as a mega-star in his mid-thirties and remain so for decades to come, an actor whose authenticity and ease in front of the camera connected with audiences worldwide while embodying and also redefining the clichés of onscreen manhood.

In You Never Know, Selleck recounts his personal friendships with a vivid army of A-listers, everyone from Frank Sinatra to Carol Burnett to Sam Elliott, paying special tribute to his mentor James Garner of The Rockford Files, who believed, like Selleck, that TV protagonists are far more interesting when they have rough edges.He also more than tips his hat to the American western and the scruffy band of actors, directors and other ruffians who helped define that classic genre, where Selleck has repeatedly found a happy home. Magnum fans will be fascinated to learn how Selleck put his career on the line to make Thomas Magnum a more imperfect hero and explains why he walked away from a show that could easily have gone on for years longer.

Hollywood is never easy, even for stars who make it look that way. In You Never Know, Selleck explains how he’s struggled to balance his personal and professional lives, frequently adjusting his career to protect his family’s privacy and normalcy. His journey offers a truly fresh perspective on a changing industry and a changing world. Beneath all the charm and talent and self-deprecating humor, Selleck’s memoir reveals an American icon who has reached remarkable heights by always insisting on being himself.

My Review:

You might get the impression by the length of the blurb that this gets a little on the verbose side? Well, possibly.

I waited for my turn on the library audiobook and it was worth the wait. I was interested to see what he thought important and given that his years with Magnum PI ran into minute detail on specific episodes, the rewriting of each, and the next season’s problems, I’d guess that was where his heart is.

The man was a head-turner, no question, but have to say when Magnum ran (December 11, 1980 to May 1, 1988), I was busy with a three and five-year-old and if I had time to watch TV was probably too exhausted to remember tuning into much of the Magnum seasons.

Oh, wait! “But I have to say” and “I gotta tell you” were repeated so many times I wondered why the editor didn’t cut a few. But anyway, I gotta tell you, he read his book to me. Or it seemed like it. Well, he didn’t just read it. The book was spoken in an easy, comfortable and conversational tone. I just needed the overstuffed easy chair with a glass of Moscato.

I didn’t get to ask questions though, and if I had, I might have asked about the blanks in his story—more on his early childhood—his marriages. More…personal stuff. And, maybe more about Blue Bloods. Eegods—that was longer running than Magnum (fourteen seasons) as opposed to seven on Magnum. Actually, I was really surprised by all his credits—a much longer list than I had any clue. (After all, the man’s been involved in the industry fifty years.)

It appears he was incredibly lucky, this was certainly not a path he was originally set on. Serendipity worked for him more than once, with the possible exception of his loss of the role that Harrison Ford got in the Raiders flicks.

He was divorced from first wife Jackie when he met Jillie Mack who was playing in Cats in London. It has to be Jillie that kept him coming back to see that one (eight times!?). I snoozed through a large part of it.

I did enjoy many of the thoughtful memories, the stories of the locations, the one in Yugoslavia in particular. They did have too much fun! I wondered sometimes if his generous and considerate memories of the many men and women he was associated with were paving a story for the picture of a loving and sweet hero or was that really who he is? There was an obvious change from his humble beginnings as he got more popular during Magnum to his exertion of more power. And how could you not? He’d had a lot to learn and obviously learned it very well.

He dropped a lot of names, including Princess Di, but I particularly loved his friendship with James Garner, always one of my favorites. Memories were kept on the charitable side followed by the story of his 63 acre ranch located in Ventura County, California when he retired from Blue Bloods. That’s a beautiful area, my brother born there back when there were more acres of orange groves than houses. Before the drought hit California, his ranch was a thriving avocado farm.

If you enjoy celebrity memoirs, you’ll enjoy this one, particularly because it’s narrated by the author. If you are looking for trash on all his associates, you might not. I’d recommend it, however.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Rich & Famous Biographies, Biographies & Celebrities & Entertainment Professionals, Actor & Entertainer Biographies
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B07QPQF4DB
Listening Length: 15 hrs 27 mins
Narrator: Tom Selleck
Publication Date: November 19, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: You Never Know – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Tom Selleck, born in Detroit, Michigan on January 29, 1945. Tom Selleck is an American actor, film producer, and California Army National Guard veteran. He is most known for starring as private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988), as Peter Mitchell in the comedy film Three Men and a Baby, and as NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan in Blue Bloods on CBS since 2010. (Goodreads bio)

Thomas William Selleck is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series Magnum, P.I., for which he received five Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, winning in 1985. (Wikipedia–short bio and portraits)

Happy Holiday week!

The Phoenix Crown: A Novel by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang #AudiobookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Best Literature & Fiction

Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Historical Fiction (2024)

Book Blurb:

From bestselling authors Janie Chang and Kate Quinn, a thrilling and unforgettable narrative about the intertwined lives of two wronged women, spanning from the chaos of the San Francisco earthquake to the glittering palaces of Versailles.

San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace.

His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined . . . until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice.

My Review:

While I’m totally mystified by the genre this title falls under, I’m a solid Kate Quinn fan and waited my turn for the library audiobook. This time around, Quinn collaborates with Janie Chang and between the two have seamlessly taken a number of different period stories and created The Phoenix Crown. Actually, that artifact only came up a few times in the story and it was near the end of the book.

My grandfather was caught in this earthquake. I wish I had gotten more stories from him but I do know he sustained a broken hip in the massive earthquake that wrought so much damage that the fire it started burned for three days.* The storyline counts down to the event in April 1906. On the San Andreas fault, the earthquake was felt as far north as the Oregon border, to the east as far as the Nevada border, and to the south in Las Angeles. Chinatown was burned to the ground as was Nob Hill and most SF landmarks.

There are several POVs including Gemma, Suling, and Alice. Their stories are linked by antagonist Henry Thornton. Not the first book I’ve read of the plight of the Chinese immigrants of the time given their role in the construction of the railroads. Suling becomes my favorite character as she relates her circumstances, a strong woman who doggedly plugs along on her quest for freedom when she is orphaned and third uncle is prepared to marry her off. She works for the family’s laundry but is a talented embroideress and it is that talent that helps to catapult her into independence.

Gemma has a gorgeous voice but is relegated to the backup voices or choir as she confronts debilitating migraines if faced with solos. She meets Thornton who sweet-talks her into believing he’ll make her a star. Uh huh. Of the three, she is weakest.

Alice Eastwood is a botanist and based on a real person of the time who still has her work displayed in the de Young Museum (read the epilogue and author’s notes at the end for how this all came together and that’s a fascinating account in itself).

The tension builds in the countdown to the earthquake. The three women unite in an effort to survive Thornton and the quake but five years later as realization hits that the Phoenix Crown survived, they know they must find Thornton once and for all.

“It wasn’t enough for a woman to be talented, clever, or good. That wouldn’t save her.”

It’s a story of the strength of women, particularly when they work together, the hardships faced at the time, the lively and burgeoning city, and the arts. More than just the name of the Crown, there is a little play with the words Suling and Phoenix, both rising from the ashes.

I had a little problem keeping up with Suling, alternately called Susie and Gemma’s friend (who is the reason for her moving to San Francisco). I first thought a man, Reggie, but that name changed as the plot progressed into a sub-plot.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. Narrated in part by Saskia Maarleveld–also a big fan–she always does a super job. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: World War I Historical Fiction, Historical World War I Fiction
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B0BSP718CY
Listening Length: 11 hrs 35 mins
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld, Katharine Chin
Publication Date: February 13, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: The Phoenix Crown – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Authors:

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. All have been translated into multiple languages. Kate and her husband now live in Maryland with three rescue dogs.

Janie Chang‘s historical novels have been critically-acclaimed Canadian national bestsellers. Her novels THREE SOULS and DRAGON SPRINGS ROAD were long listed for the International Dublin Literary Award. Her third novel THE LIBRARY OF LEGENDS was a Book of the Month Club pick. Her fourth novel, THE PORCELAIN MOON, was named one of the 5 Top Historical Novels of 2023 by the Toronto Star. THE PHOENIX CROWN, a novel co-authored with Kate Quinn, released in February 2024.

Her stories often feature a family connection, drawing from a family history with 36 generations of recorded genealogy and stories about life in a small Chinese town in the years before the Second World War, including tales of ancestors who encountered dragons, ghosts, and immortals.

Born in Taiwan, Janie has lived in the Philippines, Iran, Thailand, and New Zealand. She now lives on the beautiful Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada with her husband.

Have a merry Tuesday!