#recommendedreading – Page 14 – Rosepoint Publishing

This American Woman by Zarna Garg #BookReview #BiographiesofComedians

A One-In-A-Billion Memoir

“Giving to charity swells your heart with pride and joy; receiving charity crushes your soul with shame and embarrassment.”

When I got the invitation from Amy Jackson at Random House Publishing through NetGalley regarding this book and read the blurb, I thought this sounded too good to keep to myself and in turn invited the CE to read it as well. (Also, that book cover is pretty eye-catching!) Of course, I was in the middle of another book and he’d just finished his, so he jumped into this one and stayed. There were a number of LOLs and we did a buddy read. No doubt you can guess his thoughts on the novel—see below.

Book Blurb:

Award-winning comedian Zarna Garg turns her astonishing life story into a hilarious memoir, spilling all the chai on her wild ride from escaping an arranged marriage and homelessness in India to carving her own path in America and launching a dazzling second act in midlife.

Throughout Zarna’s whole childhood in India, everyone called her “so American” just for reading the newspaper, having deep thoughts, and talking back to anyone over the age of thirty. When Zarna’s dad tried to marry her off at age fourteen, Zarna fled—first to the streets of Mumbai and ultimately to the glittering paradise of Akron, Ohio, where she got to become American for real.

On Zarna’s very American quest to find herself and her calling, she threw herself wholeheartedly into roles like dog-bite lawyer, crazy perfectionist stay-at-home mom, Indian matchmaker, prizewinning screenwriter, and more. It wasn’t until a dare led her to a stand-up comedy open mic that Zarna finally found her spiritual home: getting paid cold hard cash for her big fat mouth.

And as Zarna discovered, after surviving the brutal streets of Mumbai, the cutthroat world of stand-up comedy is nothing.

This American Woman is an exuberant story of fighting for your right to determine your own destiny and triumphing beyond what you ever dreamed was possible. Zarna’s mantra becomes a call to action: It’s never too late. If Zarna can do it, you can, too.

My Review:

Absolutely no doubt this woman has a wild and wicked, often profane sense of humor. Given her history, it may be the only thing keeping her sane as she grappled with an insane drive she could not fulfill. That and the most loving and supportive brother she could have prayed for.

I loved the story of her early childhood, her place in the fairly well-to-do family, and the description of life as a privileged youngster up until the day her birth mother died.

“When you lose a parent, you lose your childhood.”

When her dad married again, rather quickly, he wanted his freedom. Zarna was shocked to discover just how serious he was. (Well, it’s interesting to see men really aren’t very different from country to country.)

At fourteen, and with all the guile of a young teen, she knew marriage to someone, kids, the end of an education, and a life of servitude was not what she had in mind. So split she did. Of course, that didn’t turn out as she’d expected. Returning home, her father began the process of finding her a husband, even going through the process of meeting the groom and his family. Marriage plans were being made, a wedding that would last for days.

When she was finally granted the Visa and quietly worked out the airfare to America to join her sister and her American husband, she fled. It wasn’t easy, but amazing how hard she worked at everything, tried everything, including her newly discovered stand-up ability. None of this happened overnight or easily.

Yes, she does find a husband and they have three children. Throughout the story, there are observations relayed by her keen sense of humor and delivered with a quick wit and sharp mouth.

“My family is Gujarati, observant vegetarians, while Shalabh’s family is from Uttar Pradesh, the Alabama of India.”

“Any woman anywhere can wear the bindi. But married women tend to wear it more because when they wake up the day after the marriage they should know where to aim the gun.”

The story is engaging, hard to put down, filled with anecdotes from funny to hilarious. Comments about life in India, comments about life in America, comparisons of the two, along with some hardcore facts. Yes, there are more than a few barbs, bound to be, I suppose. But let’s face it, she is one in a billion.

India population as of January 2024 is estimated at 1.44 billion. (AI overview) (Population density approx. 488 people per square kilometer.)

USA population as of July 1, 2024 – 340,110.988. (AI overview)(Population density in 2022 approx. 36.43 people per square kilometer.)

This book releases the end of April. Needing a little comedy? This one will brighten your day and leave you with a smile on your face.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

His Review:

A domineering father who has decided that at age 14, Zarna should be married and launches on the quest to find her a husband. Zarna decides there is no way she will marry against her will and leaves her well-to-do home. Zarna begins by trying to stay with her many friends from school.

The problem is that she finds out that her welcome is overstayed very quickly and she is out on the streets again. There she learns what life is like for the many destitute people in India. The streets of Mumbai teach her many ways to get by but without money, she is trapped in poverty.

One of her best traits and biggest downfalls is her smart mouth. She refuses to cave to the continued attempted control of her father. Finally, she must return home or possibly die on the streets. Her father never capitulates and the end result is two hard heads unwilling to yield. She goes back with her tail between her legs and submits to husband interviews. Starving is simply not an option.

She has a married sister in America willing to sponsor her and help get her a Visa. Fortunately, this finally comes through just in time and she flees to the states.

She perfects her sense of humor and sets out to be a comic at local venues. At first, she begs to have people come to see her show. Many nights the theater is empty. If there are only a few persons in her audience, she goes through her act. Soon people begin to talk about this funny comedian from the streets and theaters begin to fill. She continues to write her dialogues spending many hours per day perfecting her act between shows. This book has many good belly laughs as you read about her trials and tribulations. Enjoy! 5 stars – CE Williams

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Biographies of Comedians, Biographies & Memoirs of Women, Humor
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN-10: ‎ 0593975022
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0593975022
ASIN: B0DM6Z1SYQ
Print Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: April 29, 2025
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

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

The Author: Zarna Garg is a force of nature with a mic. America’s first Indian immigrant mom comedian burst onto the scene in 2023 with her first special, ‘One in a Billion’. Her follow-up special,’Practical People Win’, hits Hulu in 2025. Zarna cut her teeth opening for icons Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Her acting debut in the indie hit ‘A Nice Indian Boy’ earned rave reviews, while her hugely popular ‘Zarna Garg Family Podcast’ explores modern family life with her husband and kids. With millions of social media followers and billions of views, Zarna just can’t stop laughing her way to the top.

The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir by Griffin Dunne #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Best Books of the Year 2024

Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Memoir (2024)

Book Blurb:

Griffin Dunne’s memoir of growing up among larger-than-life characters in Hollywood and Manhattan finds wicked humor and glimmers of light in even the most painful of circumstances

At eight, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good. In his early twenties, he shared an apartment in Manhattan’s Hotel Des Artistes with his best friend and soulmate Carrie Fisher while she was filming some sci-fi movie called Star Wars and he was a struggling actor working as a popcorn concessionaire at Radio City Music Hall. A few years later, he produced and starred in the now-iconic film After Hours, directed by Martin Scorsese. In the midst of it all, Griffin’s twenty-two-year-old sister, Dominique, a rising star in Hollywood, was brutally strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend, leading to one of the most infamous public trials of the 1980s. The outcome was a travesty of justice that marked the beginning of their father Dominick Dunne’s career as a crime reporter for Vanity Fair and a victims’ rights activist.

And yet, for all its boldface cast of characters and jaw-dropping scenes, The Friday Afternoon Club is no mere celebrity memoir. It is, down to its bones, a family story that embraces the poignant absurdities and best and worst efforts of its loveable, infuriating, funny, and moving characters—its author most of all.

My Review:

Has the drama and trauma experienced by Griffin Dunne in his life been fully exposed in his memoir?

I’m torn.

Is this memoir truly a tell all, name-dropping exposé of his life, or a bid to one up his dad? I’m not sure. Griffin details a childhood full of the growth of his father’s career that led to their Hollywood experience and the introduction to a myriad list of well-known celebrities. Most of the time it felt like he was actively grabbing the coattails of one or the other of his family or his latest squeeze using everyone as a stepping stone to something bigger and better.

He discusses his aunt, author Joan Didion, and his “soulmate” Carrie Fisher (I wondered if she knew she was his soulmate and, of course, is no longer around to dispute that. I read her memoir as well and just don’t remember mention of him). Carrie did an amazing job, not just with her writing style, wit, and often sarcastic delivery, but the overall story she had to tell.

Griffin exhibits a sense of humor, but not the delivery, and his focus is different, remembering anecdotes of the many celebrities who passed through his life. He decries his father using the violent death of his sister, Dominique, as a springboard for his newly discovered writing career, but then devotes a large portion of his own book to reviewing the sensational trial of the ex-boyfriend who murdered her and the accompanying appalling loss of justice.

Dunne writes of his sexual exploits, detailing a few, while exposing his newly clean and sober closeted father. The reason for the name of the book is touched upon only briefly well into the book and I’m not sure is relevant–to the reader anyway.

I both enjoyed and found parts of his novel disturbing and I don’t think you’ll find a lot here that would be a surprise. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Biographies of Authors, Author Biographies, Biographies of Celebrities & Entertainment Professionals
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B0CQKJBPXQ
Listening Length: 12 hrs 19 mins
Narrator: Griffin Dunne
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Links:

The Friday Afternoon Club – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Griffin Dunne has been an actor, producer, and director since the late 1970s. Among his work, he produced and acted in After Hours; he directed Practical Magic and the documentary The Center Will Not Hold about his aunt, Joan Didion. Griffin and his dog, Mary, live in the East Village of Manhattan.

Pom AI graphic generated by Google Gemini 1.5 Flash

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!

A Dead Draw by Robert Dugoni #BookReview #policeprocedurals

Tracy Crosswhite Book 11

Book Blurb:

An Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling series.

A killer fueled by revenge. A detective haunted by the past. They are headed for a high-stakes showdown in this bone-chilling new Tracy Crosswhite novel by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Detective Tracy Crosswhite isn’t one to lose her cool. Until her interrogation of the taunting and malicious Erik Schmidt, a suspect in two cold case killings. Schmidt also has unnerving ties to the monster who murdered Tracy’s sister, stirring memories of the crime that shaped Tracy’s life. After a critical mistake during a shooting exercise, Tracy breaks.

Haunted by nightmares and flashbacks, Tracy heads to her hometown of Cedar Grove to refocus. Just a peaceful getaway with her husband, her daughter, and their nanny at their weekend house. But Tracy’s sleepless nights are only beginning. A legal glitch has allowed Schmidt to go free. And Tracy has every reason to fear that he’s followed her.

Forced into a twisted game of cat and mouse, Tracy must draw on all her training, wits, and strength to defeat a master criminal before he takes away everyone Tracy loves.

His Review:

A detective can never be certain that someone he/she tracks down and arrests will not seek revenge. This is the umbrella that Tracy Crosswhite lives under every day. She had been relentless in hunting for her sister’s killer and making sure that he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

A really good defense attorney will work to free his/her clients no matter what egregious crimes they have committed. Erick Schmidt had killed her sister as well as a number of young women. The killings were cruel and messy and he made sure that they suffered the maximum amount before they expired. Meanwhile, he languished in jail as appeal after appeal was filed on his behalf. The process is exacerbated by a judge who feels that every convict is harassed by the officers who hope to get them off the streets and put away.

Tracy’s twin sister had been one of Erik’s playthings. Her body was mutilated and buried in a shallow grave. He had hoped to put Tracy in a similar grave but was caught instead. This story exemplifies the problems faced by the police and the judicial system and the horrors that result. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

[The author is nothing if not prolific. Together we’ve read five of his novels since 2022 and probably missed a few including Book 10 of the Tracy White series. The last few were intros to new series or standalones such as my last two reads, The Cyanide Canary in June last year, and Beyond Reasonable Doubt in July. Regardless the genre, series, or standalone, you can always count on his books to deliver. VW]

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedurals, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ASIN: B0D7NPY2ST
Print Length: 395 pages
Publication Date: May 27, 2025
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 10 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, the Keera Duggan legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including the literary novel, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – One of Newsweek Magazines Best Books of All Time and Suspense Magazine’s Book of the Year. Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award. He has also written critically acclaimed historical novels based on true events: The World Played Chess a coming of age story and the Vietnam War; Hold Strong an untold story of WWII; and A Killing on the Hill, about a 1933 killing and trial in Seattle. HIs nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. His novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and multiple awards for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.

Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than forty countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Visit his website and follow him on Amazon, Goodreads, twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok and other social media sites.

#tobereleased in May, #ADeadDraw by #RobertDugoni

AI Graphic courtesy Canva.com

Wrapping Up 2024 – #Favoritebook #Challenges #Goodreads #eBooks #audiobooks

Once again I tried to streamline the process of picking out a favorite book from the previous year, by posting my monthly favorites.

More selective with Indie authors, we read and listened to more library books in 2024 than previous years and the books again include a wide range of genres from #cozyanimalmysteries to #historicalfiction. The big surprise when all tallied it out was that I failed both my #historicalfiction challenge as well as the #audiobook challenge which I had been confident in winning.
Links on titles are to my review which will include source and purchase information…

Jan –The Frozen River
Feb – The Wager
Mar –The Wrong Side of Goodbye
Apr –The Debt Collector
May – Your Forgotten Sons
Jun –Prevailing Wind
Jul – 12 Coffins and Lilac Ink (a tie-both 5 stars)
Aug –The Broken Truth
Sept – Darling Girls
Oct – The Johnstown Flood
Nov – Summit’s Edge
Dec – The Phoenix Crown

Not all these monthly favorites garnered five-star reviews from us. There is a good mix of genres among which are non-fiction, family drama, historical fiction, literary fiction, and and even a YA! Once again, it would appear that historical fiction is a strong favorite, so surely I’ve miscounted the category in the Challenges.

Of my favorites in 2024, I loved both Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth and The Wager by David Grann, both in audiobook format. Did you listen to either? The latter is breathtaking in description, brilliantly tension-building, emotional, and filled with the astonishing story of the shipwreck and survivors. So…

Favorite novel of 2024 – The Wager by David Grann, narrated by himself and Dion Graham

Let’s Start Over!

January finds me wrestling with the conversion of 2024 to 2025, new categories and an updated Challenge page. Out of the four main challenges I do every year, only two goals were successfully met. When I got everything caught up, disappointed to discover I was one short of meeting the Netgalley Challenge and experienced an epic fail with the Historical Fiction Challenge. I’ve signed up for those challenges again, posted the new logos with their links, and reset my challenges for 2025. Check out my Challenges page!

My (Goodreads) Year in Books

At about the same time, the release of all those great Goodreads stats is impossible to miss when they insist on sending them to you. I hope you got yours. I took note of the info; it was most interesting. Yes, there was a problem or two with the shortest book, as they show Battle Annie at 34 pages, also noted for the fewest shelved. Nope. (The most shelved was All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, also on my favorites list and winner of the Pulitzer as well as a four-part mini-series on Netflix.) My longest, a David Baldacci book, The 6:20 Man at 593 pages. Our average book length was approximately 334 pages with an average rating of 4.1 stars.

The first of the year is always rather daunting for me, a struggle, especially wresting with the classic editor in WP that is still trying to force the block editor on me.

Have you looked over your Goodreads stats, set your new challenges? Ran a critical eye over what went wrong or right?

Do any of the above grab your interest? Read it already? How’s your #TBR?

Disagree with our reviews? I’d love to know and always welcome your comments!

Graphic courtesy Freepik.com

Half Moon Bay: A Novel by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Clay Edison #3

Book Blurb:

Clay Edison has his hands full. He’s got a new baby who won’t sleep. He’s working the graveyard shift. And he’s trying, for once, to mind his own business. Then comes the first call. Workers demolishing a local park have made a haunting discovery: the decades-old skeleton of a child. But whose? And how did it get there?

No sooner has Clay begun to investigate than he receives a second call – this one from a local businessman, wondering if the body could belong to his sister. She went missing 50 years ago, the man says. Or at least I think she did. It’s a little complicated.

And things only get stranger from there. Clay’s relentless search for answers will unearth a history of violence and secrets, revolution and betrayal. Because in this town, the past isn’t dead. It’s very much alive. And it can be murderous.

My Review:

I really like the way the authors suffuse the professional with the personal. So many times, we see a technician going about their business and wonder what their home life looks like: six kids, a spouse equally harried, and a mortgage whose interest rates keep climbing?

In this case, Clay Edison is a new papa. The baby, as most, doesn’t sleep. Clay is working the graveyard shift so his wife can be home and she works days. It should work—doesn’t always.

Unfortunately, his call out is to the discovery of a very old skeleton—that of a small child. Whose? And how did it come to be buried in a park?

Clay might be the personification of a new dad, his baby girl Charlotte has a lot to teach him. The stark difference between his anxious self and his professional self is often laid bare by his self-talk, his first person POV.

The development of the characters in this series has been fun, and each new installment has brought growth and get-to-know-you sessions. I like Clay. He’s smart, dominating, and a strong personage around his peers, though he can be soft and sympathetic with the loved ones he must deal with in his professional capacity.

It doesn’t help that the park and the site of the skeleton is located in Berkeley, always a hotbed of political turmoil and protests. He may have a major development in the phone call from a man claiming that it may be his sister…but he can only supply a minimal amount of background to interest Clay further into the investigation.

The storyline wavers a bit with a couple of small branches off the main plot, but then I wouldn’t expect this would be Clay’s only case. It might create a slight lull in the pacing of the main plot, but there is always another tiny clue.

I’m not sure it would be classified as a slow-burn story as there is usually a lot going on and the characters, including Clay’s wife, Amy, supply a lot of lively dialogue. (I still haven’t warmed up to Amy though.) Of course, the flashbacks to the 60’s and 70’s drew me in. There are twists, divulged secrets, and evil doers as these things are never just simple straight forward…who is the skeleton.

Personally, I really enjoyed the novel and this series, one to go (Book 2), and just got it. I’ll recommend again. If you haven’t checked out this series yet and you found Alex Delaware a bit stodgy at times, you might find the collaboration between this father and son might be just what you were looking for.

I received a copy of this audiobook from my local library that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Crime Thrillers, Suspense, Mysteries
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrator: Dennis Boutsikaris
ASIN: B0863359SD
Listening Length: 9 hrs 35 mins
Publication Date: July 21, 2020
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | 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.

Graphic by Canva.com

All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Book Blurb:

When Mattie Taylor’s twin brother was killed in Vietnam, she lost her best friend and the only person who really understood her. Now, news that her mother is dying sends Mattie back home, despite blaming her father for Mark’s death. Mama’s last wish is that Mattie would read some old letters stored in a trunk, from people Mattie doesn’t even know. Mama insists they hold the answers Mattie is looking for.

1942. Ava Delaney is picking up the pieces of her life following her husband’s death at Pearl Harbor. Living with her mother-in-law on a secluded farm in Tennessee is far different than the life Ava imagined when she married only a few short months ago. Desperate to get out of the house, Ava seeks work at a nearby military base, where she soon discovers the American government is housing Germans who they have classified as enemy aliens. As Ava works to process legal documents for the military, she crosses paths with Gunther Schneider, a German who is helping care for wounded soldiers. Ava questions why a man as gentle and kind as Gunther should be forced to live in the internment camp, and as they become friends, her sense of the injustice grows . . . as do her feelings for him. Faced with the possibility of losing Gunther, Ava must choose whether loving someone deemed the enemy is a risk worth taking, even if it means being ostracized by all those around her.

In the midst of pain and loss two women must come face-to-face with their own assumptions about what they thought they knew about themselves and others. What they discover will lead to a far greater appreciation of their own legacies and the love of those dearest to them.

My Review:

It hasn’t been that long since I read and reviewed Appalchian Song in August 2024, my first from this author. She used a dual timeline then, as in this novel as well, dividing two main POVs between WWII and Vietnam. Seems I always gravitate more to one timeline and character than the other, and in the case, it was the 40s with Ava Delaney.

Guard Tower at Camp Forrest courtesy US Air Force and Densho Encyclopedia

Ava Delaney is the more liberal, befriending a German classified as an enemy alien during WWII. She secured a job at Camp Forrest in Tullahoma following her husband’s death at Pearl and finds herself attracted to Gunther (who for a short time has his own POV), a medical student prior to his delivery to the internment camp that was part of the massive base in Tennessee. Granted, she didn’t really know her husband and honest in her reason for the marriage, was more for security than love.

Mattie Taylor loses her twin brother to the war in Vietnam a little more than a generation later. She left her parents’ home shortly after the funeral, furious with their lack of opposition to his joining the Marines with his best friend through childhood. Her brother doesn’t come home, his best friend does but with the loss of an arm.

She has returned home following time on the West Coast where she had turned on, tuned out, and dropped out as so many did during the 60s in protest to the war most thought we had no business being in. More than bitter, she seethes fury at anyone backing the government’s involvement that led to her brother’s death and except that she returned to say goodbye to her now terminal mother, would otherwise have continued the life of a “hippie” in a San Francisco commune.

She is developed as petulant, spoiled, ignorant, selfish, and lacking the ability to support anyone other than those who agree with her ideology, which she repeats—more than once.

(This one hits hard since I lost a brother and both he and my husband were conscripted at the same time. Not like they had a choice back then. Whether or not we agreed with the US position (and we didn’t), we tried hard to support our boys, which was made difficult by those who didn’t.)

So, yeah, I did get very weary of Mattie’s position; the loss is devastating no question. But she got very tiresome.

What I did enjoy was the slow discovery of Amy’s story. Again, not sure I could put myself in those shoes, but the measured delivery of how it all came together became obvious.

The writing style is gripping. There are a few twists. There are themes of the futility of war, the physiological and psychological damage to those involved and the resulting damage to the family unit as well as the community, terminal illness, and hope.

Does Mattie ever relax that resentment, begin to see others first, discover ways she can make a difference in their lives as well as her own? You’ll have to read the book and determine for yourself. It just might be the binge-reader you’ve been looking for!

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Southern United States Fiction, Southern Fiction, Christian Historical Fiction
Publisher: Tyndale Fiction
ISBN: 1496484177
ASIN: B0CW1M4P8D
Print Length: 359 pages
Publication Date: October 1, 2024
Source: Library

Title Link(s):

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

The Author: Michelle Shocklee is the author of several historical novels, including COUNT THE NIGHTS BY STARS, winner of the 2023 Christianity Today Book Award in Fiction, and UNDER THE TULIP TREE, a Christy Award and Selah Award finalist. As a woman of mixed heritage–her father’s family is Hispanic and her mother’s roots go back to Germany–she has always celebrated diversity and feels it’s important to see the world through the eyes of one another. Learning from the past and changing the future is why she writes historical fiction.

With both her sons grown, Michelle and her husband make their home in Tennessee, not far from the historical sites she writes about.

Michelle loves hearing from readers! Connect with her at http://www.MichelleShocklee.com

Graphic courtesy Canva.com

To Catch a Thief by David Dodge #BookReview #HeistThrillers

Book Blurb:

The classic mystery that inspired the Academy Award-winning film by Alfred Hitchcock.

“Le Chat” is a legend. He is a mystery. He is a jewel thief, famous and elusive for being able to swipe anything and get away clean. He is John Robie, retired and living a quiet life, tending his rose garden in the South of France.

But his retirement plans are thrown for a loop when a series of robberies too closely resemble the work of “Le Chat,” and the police start digging into Robie’s past. To keep himself free, and with the help of an equally mysterious young woman, John Robie will have to catch the true thief, before the police catch him.

His Review:

The French Riviera is a popular place for the rich and famous, and also for those who prey upon their fortunes. John Robie is one of those who go to the Riviera to attempt to relieve the wealthy of some of their possessions. Of particular interest are diamonds and pearls, for they can be disposed of through many outlets. Many are trying to capture him; nickname “Le Chat”.

The most likely targets are wealthy ladies who flaunt their jewels and then keep them in the lockboxes or safes supplied by the hotels. The French police and insurance companies know of their expensive baubles and have undercover gendarmes who monitor the ladies and also the comings and goings of known criminals. Disrupting the peace of the rich and famous is not tolerated by the French Ministry of Police.

This book is well written and illuminates the underbelly of life in the South of France. A thief must be very smart, agile, and extremely athletic to pull off some of the burglaries that ensue. C E Williams The particular setting for these crimes is an old multi-storied hotel with a slate roof and great lighting! I found it a good primer for anyone who wishes to become a cat burglar. Enjoy the story and the experience. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Heist Thrillers, International Mystery & Crime, Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Diversion Books
ASIN: B087WN817G
Print Length: 304 pages
Publication Date: February 1, 2015
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

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

The Author: David Francis Dodge (August 18, 1910 – August 1974) was an author of mystery/thriller novels and humorous travel books. His first book was published in 1941. His fiction is characterized by tight plotting, brisk dialogue, memorable and well-defined characters, and (often) exotic locations. His travel writing documented the (mis)adventures of the Dodge family (David, his wife Elva, and daughter Kendal) as they roamed around the world. Practical advice and information for the traveler on a budget are sprinkled liberally throughout the books.

David Dodge was born in Berkeley, California, the youngest child of George Andrew Dodge, a San Francisco architect, and Maude Ellingwood Bennett Dodge. Following George’s death in an automobile accident, Maude “Monnie” Dodge moved the family (David and his three older sisters, Kathryn, Frances, and Marian) to Southern California, where David attended Lincoln High School in Los Angeles but did not graduate.

After leaving school, he worked as a bank messenger, a marine fireman, a stevedore, and a night watchman. In 1934, he went to work for the San Francisco accounting firm of McLaren, Goode & Company, becoming a Certified Public Accountant in 1937. On July 17, 1936, he was married to Elva Keith, a former Macmillan Company editorial representative, and their only daughter, Kendal, was born in 1940. After the attack on Pearl Harbor he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve, emerging three years later with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

[Truncated—see bio listed in Goodreads.]

Graphic courtesy Freepik.com