Tag: Beth Brower

September 2025 Part Two:

September 30, 2025

Book #64:

The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand (Length: 433 pages).  I really enjoyed this one! Set in both Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, the two main characters are identical twin sisters: Harper and Tabitha Frost. They are estranged, due in part to Parent Trap-style machinations years ago and part due to emotional traumas. This is a very fun read, with Hilderbrand’s strong writing per usual; it is a bit cheesy in parts but the propulsive plot and writing style makes this one more memorable than most of her books. 4.5 stars from me.

Book #65:

The Carpool Detectives by Chuck Hogan (Length: 336 pages). I’m OBSESSED with this non-fiction book! I listened to this one on audio, and it’s definitely the way to go here. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, four stay at home moms investigated a cold case murder of a couple whose car had gone over the guardrail into a deep ravine outside of Santa Monica, California. Because it was COVID lockdown, everyone who was a potential witness (including the case detectives) were at home and the women just cold-called them, starting to break this complex case open. This is so well-written and reads like a murder novel. It’s propulsive and you won’t be able to stop reading or listening. The audio was excellent here, with the reading of the group chats adding extra interest. This is absolutely a five-star book. Let me know if you pick this one up!

Book #66:

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods (Length: 448 pages).   There seem to be so many fiction books with the words “Bookshop” or “Bookstore” in them and apparently, I’m on a quest to read all of them. This particular novel has a blend of magical realism and romance and is set in two time periods: the 1920s through 1950s and present day. Opaline Carlisle is a woman in Ireland who opens a bookshop in the 1920s, which was very unusual for the time period. And in present day, Martha and Henry are two young people in Ireland who are connected to and are looking for this bookshop which has mysteriously vanished. This is a sweet story with likeable characters, but it’s a bit over-dramatic in parts. I enjoyed the focus on books here, especially those written by the Bronte sisters. This is a memorable, fun read. 4 stars.

Book #67:

Is She Really Going Out With Him? by Sophie Cousens (Length: 367 pages). Romantic comedies with older protagonists are rare, and I’m so happy when I pick one up that’s actually really well written, as this one is. Anna Appleby is 38, freshly divorced with two kids, and works as a journalist for a local magazine called Bath Living, about the goings on in Bath, England. To save her job, Anna agrees to write a dating column with the premise of her kids choosing who she dates and what they are to do on the date. There is of course, a separate love interest, and the chemistry between Anna and this person is fantastic. The dialogue is witty and charming, and I thought about these characters even when I wasn’t reading this. 5 stars.

Book #68:

A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Length: 251 pages). This non-fiction account of an English couple, Maralyn and Maurice, who were lost at sea in 1973 after their boat capsized en route to New Zealand, thanks to a breaching whale. Forced to survive on an inflatable raft and small dinghy, this is partially an adventure story but it’s mostly about them as people and as a couple. This is a riveting, fast read and well-paced (although it does slow down a bit in the last third). 4 stars from me.

Book #69:

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower (Length: 208 pages). This volume is the best volume so far! Emma is trying to figure out options for her financial future, but this takes a backseat as her friendship with a trio of 3 different men continues to deepen. This quartet recognizes they have a unique chemistry together and it’s fun to see this develop. Emma, of course, gets into more hilarious adventures and her witty repartee shines even more here. These are so well-written and just so funny. I find myself smiling as I read them. 5 stars, of course.

September 2025–Part One

September 15, 2025

Book #59:

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 2 by Beth Brower (Length: 164 pages).  Clearly, I’m loving this series that seems to be everywhere on Bookstagram and various book podcasts. Here, in the second volume, Emma is getting more settled into her life at Lapis Lazuli house. The same characters that were in the first volume are here which is nice, as the focus in this volume is more on the plot. Now the plot is essentially Emma’s daily life but her antics are still on full display here. Emma doesn’t feel the need to act as a typical woman would in 1880s London; for example, she doesn’t have a chaperone, as she doesn’t feel the need for one. The writing is excellent, and the character development is where this author truly shines. Another 5 stars from me.

Book #60:

Bento Box in the Heartland by Linda Furiya (Length: 321 pages). This is a food memoir I’ve had on my bookshelf for quite a while and in the interests of clearing my shelves, I finally picked it up. The author writes about growing up in Versailles, Indiana, in the 1960s and 1970s, a town so small, she and her family were the only Japanese-Americans who lived there. Told through the various meals and foods her mother made for the family, Linda explores what it was like growing up during this time period in middle America, including the racism she and her family experienced. The writing quality here is mid-level but it’s still an interesting read. I enjoyed her food descriptions the most, and I am passing the book on to someone I know who would enjoy this account. Three stars from me.

Book #61

The Hungry Ocean by Linda Greenlaw (Length: 286 pages).   This is a non-fiction account written by the only female swordfish captain in America, the captain of the Hannah Boden. The author and her ship were referenced in Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm (an account of the tragic loss of the Andrea Gale fishing boat). Here, the author intersperses an account of a “typical” 30-day swordfish run in international fishing waters in the Atlantic Ocean with snippets of her personal history. This is very well-written and very propulsive. She gets into the nuts and bolts of what it takes to operate a fishing boat, and her perspective as a female captain is riveting. She is a phenomenal writer (taking a year to write this book, she comments that running a fishing boat is actually easier than writing a book) and I enjoyed every page here. 5 stars.

Book #62:

One’s Company by Ashley Hutson (Length: 272 pages).  I listened to this one and the narrator is great. Now, this is a bleak book with a strange premise. A young woman win’s the nation’s largest lottery in history and uses the proceeds to reconstruct the entire “world” of the TV show “Three’s Company”, down to the entire apartment building, furnished exactly as it is in the show, down to period-specific daily newspapers. There is some traumatic history here which is obviously driving this, but the pacing and writing are top-notch. Ultimately, the narrator Bonnie isn’t causing harm to anyone else by doing this and we are along for the ride. Riveting account but it’s a bit unnerving to follow along at times. 4 stars.

Book #63:

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 3 by Beth Brower (Length: 229 pages). Clearly I’m a fan of this series and it just keeps getting better. In this installment, Emma gets invited to a society ball on her own and not as a foil to help her better suited cousin find a husband. There are so many laugh out loud lines here, and Emma’s innate intelligence and her grit make her a truly well-rounded and likable heroine. There are 5 more volumes in this series so far, and I’m intending to read all of them so fair warning. 😉. Five stars, once again.