#greatreads – Rosepoint Publishing

Dear Debbie by Freida MFadden #AudiobookReview #DomesticThrillers

in Domestic Thrillers

Book Blurb:

Sometimes, enough is enough . . .

Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction. Or at least, she did.

These days, Debbie’s life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie’s done being the bigger person.

She’s done being reasonable and practical. It’s time to take her own advice.

And now it’s time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.

My Review:

Sometimes, you just deserve something fun. I’ve read a number of McFadden books in the last few years. Admittedly some better than others. This one had my head swimming.

No way can my head swing that far out without needing a straight jacket. This protagonist is off her rocker. I stopped questioning what I was hearing and just listened for the pure joy of it. The narrators did a great job and I’m sure they enhanced the book somewhat but this plot was really going to keep my drop-jawed attention regardless.

Debbie can really think up some weird stuff. You’ve got to keep reading or listening just to see if she’s going to get away with it. But then it gets worse. She is seething with all the emotional baggage she’s been holding in and once the match is lit, she is ready to dispense with the rage and impotence. She will find a way to mete out some karma.

Oh, that delicious dark humor! It’s a great balance for the more serious scenes in the foreground. She is dealing with thieving neighbors and teenagers, one of whom has a despicable boyfriend, a husband doing mysterious things (an affair?), a lecherous boss who fired her over a questionable advice column she wrote, and a friend at the gym who is bizarrely interested in all things Debbie’s family.

And did I mention she is extraordinarily good at designing apps, one of which she’s installed on her family’s cell phones. There is just a heap of those little things careening out of Debbie’s psyche, including the one that happened while she was at MIT. That one was hard to overcome. Or did she?

It’s a bit insane. If you’ve read McFadden books before, you know the hit and miss, the characters that carve out a persona so real, you want to help, and the ones who don’t elicit more than a casual glance. This plot is fast. It’s almost criminally over the top—yeah—just enjoy that part. It’s engaging, entertaining, and a wild ride. The only part that let me down just a bit was the ending—the epilogue. Was that overkill? You be the judge.

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 point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Psychological Thrillers
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Narrators: Julia Whelan, January LaVoy, Scott Brick
Release Date: January 27, 2026

Title Links:

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

The Author: #1 New York Times, Amazon Charts, USA Today, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author Freida McFadden is a physician who has penned multiple bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. Freida is the winner of the International Thriller Writer Award for Best Paperback Original, the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Thriller, and was honored as one of TIME 100’s most influential people in the world for 2026. Her novels have been translated into more than 45 languages.

Freida lives with her family and cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

To hear Freida talk about herself more in the third person, check out her website freidamcfadden dot com.

Have a great day!

Mad Mabel: A Novel by Sally Hepworth #AudiobookReview – Dark Humor Literature & Fiction

in Dark Humor Literature and Fiction

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Meet Mad Mabel.

Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She’s lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years–longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else’s business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past that she has worked exceedingly hard at concealing. Because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.

When a new little girl (talkative, curious, nosy) moves into the neighborhood and stops at nothing to befriend Elsie, her carefully-constructed life threatens to come crashing down as the secrets in Elsie’s past start coming to light. Who was “Mad Mabel” fifty years ago? Who is Elsie Fitzpatrick today? And if the past has a habit of repeating itself, who has the most to lose?

Told with Sally Hepworth’s twists, humor, charm, and heart, MAD MABEL is novel that weaves past and present together–through the power of justice and redemption, and all the way to its stunning conclusion.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press

My Review:

Oh I have greatly enjoyed this author previously in deeply suspenseful literary novels, the last one being Darling Girls. The lady can write. This one doesn’t carry that tension-filled nail-biting thriller genre quite like that one, but nonetheless, was unique and quite entertaining.

Yes, once again, a protagonist near my age—I loved it! And of course I was listening to the audiobook and expected to hear that querulous voice so often attributed to an octogenarian, but, thank you, while just a little sharp, it merely reflects the woman’s no-nonsense personality. She’s had it tough and the book will explain why. But not right away.

I loved Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick. She’s a great main character and oozes personality. It’s one of those tough hide, soft heart things and it almost immediately bumps up against the latter when seven-year-old Persephone moves into the neighborhood with her single and struggling mother, Roxanne.

Persephone drove me nuts and for awhile, I had the same go away reaction to her as did Mabel. Long after I was ready to kick Persephone to the curb, Mabel was grudgingly beginning to hide obvious tender feelings for the poor thing, needy and lonely as she was.

In the meantime, Mabel discovered her neighbor in his little home…dead. This will not go well with her history and as there was a bit of antagonism between the two, it won’t take long for that bit to be discovered. Mabel’s background includes a murder conviction when she was fifteen. Even in her old Australian neighborhood, will she never be able to outrun that history?

The author does a fine job of weaving dual timelines with little twists that tease the imagination and beg the question—was Elsie the unfortunate child of deadly circumstances, bad timing, questionable coincidences and circumstantial evidence? Can anyone have this much bad luck? Is she, after all, innocent?

I enjoyed the sense of humor, the dialogue, and the build of empathy for Elsie…and the kid, as well as the contradictions in how her neighbors perceived her. No one believed this. She took in the victim’s dog? She didn’t like that dog. This is some great storytelling and the twists at the end truly caught me by surprise. Loved it. Yeah, I’ve got to recommend this one to my book club.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys a good satirical plot that will keep you flipping pages and forgetting the main character’s age. As my good motobuddy used to say, “age is just a number.”

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

Book Details:

Genre: Dark Humor Literature & Fiction, Domestic Thrillers, Dark Humor
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Narrator: Hannah Fredericksen, Jenny Seedsman
Release Date: April 21, 2026

Title Links:

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

The Author: Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including The Good Sister and The Soulmate. Her latest novel, Darling Girls, was released in Australia in September 2023, and will be released in North America in April 2024.

Drawing on the good, the bad and the downright odd of human behaviour, Sally writes incisively about family, relationships and identity. Her domestic thriller novels are laced with quirky humour, sass and a darkly charming tone. They are available worldwide in English and have been translated into twenty languages.

Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her three children and one adorable dog. She has recently taken up ocean swimming (or to put it more accurately, ocean dipping).

5 stars

The Caretaker: A Novel by Marcus Kliewer – #BookReview #GhostThrillers

in Ghost Thrillers

Book Blurb:

Follow the Rites…

Nothing less than the survival of humanity is at stake.

From Marcus Kliewer, a new “titan of the macabre and unsettling” (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author), comes an eerie supernatural horror about a young woman who accepts a caretaking job from Craigslist, only to discover the position has consequences far greater—and more dangerous—than she ever could have imagined.

EXCITING OPPORTUNITY:
Caretaker urgently needed. Three days of work. Competitive pay. Serious applicants ONLY.

Macy Mullins can’t say why the job posting grabbed her attention—it had the pull of a fisherman’s lure, barbed hook and all—vaguely ominous. But after an endless string of failed job interviews, she’s not exactly in the position to be picky. She has rent to pay, groceries to buy, and a younger sister to provide for.

Besides, it’s only three days’ work…

Three days, cooped up in a stranger’s house, surrounded by Oregon Coast wilderness.

What starts as a peculiar side gig soon becomes a waking nightmare. An incomprehensible evil may dwell on this property—and Macy Mullins might just be the only thing standing between it, and the rest of humanity.

Follow the Rites…

His Review:

Macy is a hungry young woman helping to support and put her little sister through school. And just in time, an ad appears for a very nice salary just for watching an old mansion for a few days. What could be more attractive? Yes, the mansion has a bad reputation and its owner is old and very eccentric, but she is close to losing the apartment they share and food is extremely scarce. She jumps at the chance despite her little sister’s badgering.

Things happen at the mansion that defy logic. Doors close, cold air comes out of nowhere and lights go on and off without explanation. Her instructions are to lock up at night and allow no one in, no matter what the situation. The property is multiple floors and she decides to stop at the top and work her way down. However, after turning off the lights on the upper floors and working her way down, strange noises and lights coming back on just after being shut off are becoming the norm. She begins to think there are strange forces at work here. But she and her sister desperately need the money to avoid eviction!

C E Williams This is a very well-written spooky story which gradually deepens in a mysterious way. It becomes a story very hard to set down. Read, enjoy and wonder! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

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

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Ghost Thrillers, Horror Literature & Fiction, Suspense Thrillers
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books/12:01 Books
Publication Date: April 21, 2026
Source: Local library

Title Link(s):

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

Marcus Kliewer - author — Photo courtesy Goodreads

The Author: Marcus Kliewer is a writer and stop-motion animator. His debut novel We Used to Live Here began life as a serialized short story on Reddit, where it won the Scariest Story of 2021 award on the NoSleep forum. Film rights were snapped up by Netflix, and it was acquired by Simon & Schuster for publication even before it had been extended into a full-length novel. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Follow him on Instagram @marcus_kliewer for exclusive book updates / writing things / stop motion animation & a lot of pet videos. [Goodreads]

Find Marcus at:

Website
https://www.instagram.com/marcus_kliewer/

Genre
Thriller, Paranormal, Horror

If Walls Could Talk by Jean Grainger #BookReview #HistoricalIrishFiction #TuesdayBookBlog

The Dunmara Series – Book 1

in Historical British & Irish Literature

Book Blurb:

Dunmara, County Clare, Ireland

Orla can’t believe the bombshell her husband of thirty years has just dropped. The future she imagined is gone, and she’s forced to redefine her entire life while grappling with something from her past that doesn’t quite add up. An opportunity to attend a wellness retreat with her best friend at Dunmara House seems like exactly what she needs to find her way forward.

Connecticut, USA, 1969

Jeannie is part of the first ever intake of women to Yale University. Her father thinks it’s a waste of money, but Jeannie knows she has what it takes to be a novelist—she just needs a chance. While America is at war in Vietnam, and all over the country people are clashing, her life unexpectedly takes her to Ireland, where a course is set that will ripple through generations.

Standing since 1689, the stately Dunmara House in Ireland has seen life in all its guts and glory. Now, as two women’s lives become entwined across time, the old house slowly reveals its secrets.

Perfect for fans of Kate Morton, Lucinda Riley, and Diana Gabaldon, this evocative time-slip novel weaves past and present into an unforgettable story of love, secrets, and resilience that will stay with you long after the final page.

My Review:

One of the reasons I enjoy Ms Grainger’s novels so much is her obvious love of her country and its ancient history. I’m in awe that you could have a several-thousand-year-old ruin behind your home. There are descriptions of the ancient origins of decaying walls and Celtic traditions throughout.

Another reason would be the witticisms and sense of humor that grace the pages that lighten the load of even a solemn or sad occasion.

“A lack of organization on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.”

“…her face will take her further than her feet.”

“Oh, that guy, honest to God, if there was work in the bed, he’d sleep on the floor.”

This narrative follows several women and trades off chapters between them as they are developed. Orla, Jeannie, and Safira have vastly different life experiences and each harbors a secret which is dribbled out in tiny spoonfuls.

Jeannie wanted to be a writer but her college career was interrupted by an unexpected turn of events that ended with her family sending her to Dunmara House in Ireland and just like that becomes Margot. The time frame around Vietnam held a different moral compass back then.

Orla finds her life upended with the announcement of her husband’s leaving for younger pastures.

Safira, from Bali, is still baffled by many of the traditions of the Irish, but works her heart out over a goal she is secretly working for. It’s to the point where she begins the cleaning process. That, after cleaning at her day job.

There are several other close support characters, but the main character really is the Dunmara House. Once she has it cleaned and positioned for operation, she’ll need help. Not the oily antagonist who also envisions the property.

This book started out a bit slow for me and for some reason I had a bit of a problem really getting into it. The characters become interconnected in a positive way that will easily slide into Book 2, and I suspect there will be further development among the characters but felt moments of déjà vu with the plot. The names may have changed, but I think I recognize these ladies.

The author is quite the storyteller and can weave in elements of family drama, love and betrayal, but the descriptive scenes and that Irish sense of humor keep me coming back. A nice start to a new series.

Many thanks to the author for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Historical British & Irish Literature, Historical Irish Fiction, Women’s Historical Fiction
Publication Date: April 22, 2026

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK

The Author: Jean Grainger is a USA Today bestselling author with over 100,000 5* reviews of historical and contemporary Irish fiction. She is acclaimed for her authentic portrayal of Irish life and history. Born in Cork, she draws from her experience as a history lecturer, teacher, and tour guide to craft characters that feel like friends, and sometimes foes. Grainger’s works span multiple series and standalone novels, covering significant periods in recent Irish history, but told from the perspective of families, the humans behind the headlines. Her stories often intertwine historical events with personal journeys, exploring themes of family, friendship, and human resilience. Grainger’s writing style, characterized by its warmth and authenticity, has earned her comparisons to renowned Irish authors like Maeve Binchy. Her dedication to research and character development has resulted in a loyal readership who feel deeply connected to her stories and characters.

The Colonel’s Revenge by Jeffrey K Schmoll – #BookReview #AdventureThriller #TuesdayBookBlog

A Mateus de Silva Adventure Book 2

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

The prison is sealed. The vault is wired. But history always collects.

On the scorched battlefields of 1980s Angola, Colonel Juan Mateus de Silva survives a brutal ambush that costs him everything. His men. His command. His closest friend. When his general abandons them to die, de Silva answers in blood. Marked for execution, he flees across the border into Namibia. He is not running from justice. He is hunting it.

With a South African deserter at his side, he disappears into the shadows of Cape Town. But betrayal follows.

Decades later in California, his grandson uncovers an impossible truth. The colonel is still alive, buried deep inside an illegal gold mine in South Africa. Getting him out will take a crew, a flawless plan, and absolute precision under fire. The trail leads back to Cape Town, where a fortified casino holds the key to finishing what was started years ago.

The Colonel’s Revenge is a high-stakes thriller of war, betrayal, and a heist built on debts that refuse to die.

His Review:

The Colonel had been a star in Castro’s Cuba. However, Castro sends him all over the world to influence third-world countries. He began to live an expansive life style with a woman in every country he operated in. Meanwhile, his wife back in Cuba was raising a son and daughter by herself and the Colonel was no longer welcome in his birth country.

South Africa is a very dangerous country. People from all over Africa and Europe go there for the gambling. There is no table limit, and Juan Mateus de Silva quickly learns that this is better than robbing banks. He and his companions began to develop strategies to relieve the gambling houses of their earnings. He is targeted for elimination. Instead of killing him, however, he spends nearly 40 years as a prisoner working in the gold mines. Any attempt to escape earns 40 lashes and Juan’s back is a scarred testimony to this result.

As time goes by, the son has a son who discovers his grandfather is not dead. And he begins a plan.

The fast-pacing of the storyline as well as the setting keeps the interest throughout. The characters consist of some scoundrels; the main character being well developed.

This story can be brutal in its descriptions and the cruelties that exist in South Africa. Once in the system, there is no escape. Gold and diamonds are not worth the reward meted out by the mine owners and controllers of the economy. 5 stars – CE Williams

This is Book 2 of the Mateus de Silva series but can be read as a standalone. Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this ebook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Book Details:

Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Koehler Books
Publication Date: July 31, 2026
Source: Author request

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Jeffrey K Schmoll is the award-winning author of The Treasure of Tundavala Gap. He grew up among the tumbleweeds of Bakersfield, California, then spent years living and working on four continents and in seventeen homes with his wife and two children. From the rugged landscapes of Scotland to the vibrant cultures of Australia, Texas, and Louisiana, each place shaped him. None more than Angola, where his love for its people and landscape was born. Today he balances a deep faith, community service, competitive tennis, jewelry making, and epic adventure hikes that include summiting Mount Whitney and Half Dome each in a single day.

Man reading on his cell phone — Photo generated by Gemini

Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris #AudiobookReview #SouthernUnitedStatesLiterature

Book Blurb:

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY Goodreads, Essence, Sunset Magazine, SheReads, BookBub, and more!

From acclaimed author Terah Shelton Harris comes a poignant story of survival and redemption that questions what it means to stop existing and start living.

Leigh is the last of the Wildes. She knows this because she watched them all die.

Grief never truly fades and even as the tragedy haunts her, Leigh carries on, because survival is in her blood. So, when the transport bus taking her to prison careens off the road, killing everyone onboard except her, she does what’s in her nature. She survives.

While searching for a place to hide, Leigh stumbles upon an unexpected sanctuary: a flower farm in rural Alabama tucked away from the world. What Leigh doesn’t expect is the found family there who have built something from the wreckage of their own lives. Especially Jackson, the farm’s owner, who sees through Leigh’s defenses, offers her small moments of tenderness, encourages her to face her own tragedies. Slowly, Leigh finds peace with the hard pace and soft nature of the farm, taking comfort in the life blooming around her. Maybe she’s not beyond redemption, not too broken for something good. And maybe, just maybe, Leigh starts to heal.

But the past isn’t so easily buried.

No matter how far she runs, the truth of who she is and the ghosts of the Wildes follow. And when those secrets catch up to her, threatening everything she’s come to love, Leigh will have to truly face what she can survive.

My Review:

My first book with this author had me hanging breathless on every word when Leandra struggles to evacuate the prison bus that crashes into water. Not the first time she has witnessed death, not the first time she is unable to save the one person on the bus that she tried to repay the compassion shown her. She knows the crushing feeling of survivor’s guilt.

But that’s the point, isn’t it? She is now, has always been, the survivor.

So I was pretty well hooked by the time Leandra found the wildflower farm and became Leigh. For some time, she is skiddish as a wild horse and almost as onery. But the men, from a wild divergence of life experience and ages, take her in and show her nothing but kindness and patience.

There are some lengthy flashbacks to Leigh’s life, her family, her father, and the sister she was unable to save, but the full story of how she ends up in prison is dribbled out in tantalizing tidbit by tidbit.

When the book goes from suspense, thriller, literature, to romance, the reader is already hooked and hungry for how this will all play out. As a reader, it’s difficult to walk in those shoes unless your experience mirrors the main character. The mental and emotional toll on the MC is almost unfathomable and the writing is sensitive enough to convey the weight of it. It weighs on the reader as well.

It’s assumed that even as you are pretty sure you know where this is going, you might still be surprised. Would she stay long enough to get the money to move on? Or risk staying and eventually be found.

Jackson on audiobook remains steadfastly quietly spoken, philosophical, and patient throughout. His audiobook voice is lovely, soothing. Would it quell the savage beast that Leigh assumed she must be to survive, or is the land, the men, the work and philosophy enough to turn that person around? And it espouses lots of philosophy, beautifully written prose, and Jackson, smart as he is, can’t always know what’s in her heart. She has secrets.

Themes of abuse (mental and physical), poverty, family drama and dark relationships, racial prejudice.

I wasn’t a fan of the book flipping between the story I thought we started and the romance that ends it. Not a fan of romance in general, so I was disappointed when it seemed to resort to a default genre. Leigh amazes me with her decision at the end of the book, and it was a testament to how much she’d grown, the only real answer. Happy doesn’t always come ever after and this time not for a long time.

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: Southern United States Literature, Southern Fiction, Black & African American Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Narrator: Tracie Thoms, Diontae Black, Terah Shelton Harris
Release Date: February 17, 2026

Title Links:

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

The Author: TERAH SHELTON HARRIS is an author and former librarian, who now writes upmarket fiction with bittersweet endings. She is the author of One Summer in Savannah and Long After We Are Gone. Her books have been chosen as a Target Book Club pick, LibraryReads pick, Kobo Best Book, Together We Read pick, Publisher’s Marketplace Buzz Book, and a Goodreads Choice Awards nominee for Best Debut. Terah was also named Target’s first Author of the Year. Her third book, Where the Wildflowers Grow, will be published in October 2025.

Enjoy Your Sunday

Rosepoint Reviews – April Recap – May Flowers and Water Gardens

Still continuing with wet and wild weather, currently in a cool to cold pattern. We always get this setback going into Spring, but it’s annoying when you want to start the gardens. As if I didn’t already have enough, I’ve started a small water garden—really just a 26” bowl—should be deeper but couldn’t find one. At 26” though, I should be able to have a couple water lilies and an iris or two along with the free floaters. Preparing the water takes more time than expected. Once again, a big learning curve! I mentioned last month we were taking down the old tree in front of the kitchen window. This will fill in that void. (Too cold for the plants.)

water bowl with a couple baby plants

Still going to our YMCA three times a week for exercise and to mark our insurance calendar. The Y continues to invent activities for us seniors—gotta keep us busy, I guess, but the cooking class was fun and now supplies me with fresh veggies once a month for several months, Bingo, a painting class for the CE, and my book club, of course. Hard to get our reading done, though, there are many opportunities for listening!

The CE and I read or listened to a total of fourteen books in April. As always, the major source of our books is the library (audiobooks and ebooks). (We still obtain ARCs from NetGalley (though not as often) and author and publisher requests.) The links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.

Iron Curtain by Russ Stone (CE review)
Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood
Brimstone Hollow by Archer Sullivan
Fool by Mary Lawrence (5*)
Midnight Patriots by Paul Levine (CE review-NG-5*)
And Now, Back to You by B K Borison

Audiobooks

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Her Last Breath by Taylor Adams
The Last Word by Taylor Adams
Free Ride by Noraly Schoemaker
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

Favorite Book of the Month

Both the CE and I each had one five-star read in April, but I happen to know he felt a bit of slowing in the middle of his book. Therefore, the favorite book for April and my only five-star review is:

Favorite for April – Fool by Mary Lawrence

My Reading Challenges page…I keep hoping to catch up. My Goodreads count is still off, and the landing page shows 53 of a challenge of 175 with one book owing a review from April and four books behind schedule. Oops.

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 yours soon.

overloaded desk

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:

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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.