BookBrowse Editorial Review
Meet Me at the Crossroads: A Novel
by Megan Giddings
(6/18/2025)
When the parents of twin sisters Ayanna and Olivia divorce, each takes primary custody of one daughter. Though both girls are growing up Black in the Midwest, their upbringings could not be more different. Years before the twins' birth, mysterious doors sprang up around the world, each offering a glimpse into a different spiritual realm. They reveal stunning, surreal landscapes and what appear to be spirits. This is not a straightforward fantasy adventure novel. It's both deeper and quieter than
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The True Happiness Company: A Memoir
by Veena Dinavahi
(5/21/2025)
It can be easy to wonder where Veena's parents are in the midst of this. What kind of loving parents let their teenager get sucked into a cult? It's important to note that Veena's parents watched helplessly as their teenager repeatedly attempted suicide, and Bob's teachings do seem to help Veena heal, at least at first. Bob also discourages Veena's mother from insisting she call regularly, telling her too much contact will damage the parent-child relationship. On the outside,
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Hot Air: A Novel
by Marcy Dermansky
(4/23/2025)
Single mother Joannie is finally putting herself out there. She's on her first date since her divorce several years earlier, eating dinner with fellow single parent Johnny in his backyard, when a hot air balloon with a man and woman aboard crash lands into his pool. Joannie jumps into action, diving into the water to rescue the man, only to discover that he's a famous tech tycoon—who also happens to be the first boy she ever kissed. The two couples start talking, and what started a
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Stop Me If You've Heard This One: A Novel
by Kristen Arnett
(3/26/2025)
In her third novel, Arnett skillfully weaves a story that is both hilarious and touching. Thanks to Cherry's chosen career, readers get plenty of madcap antics and physical comedy. But at its core, this is a novel about reckoning with grief. Readers will enjoy seeing Cherry come into her own, and her story is likely to resonate with anyone who's felt lost or unsettled. Arnett's novel is both accessible and enjoyable, yet its messages and memorable characters are likely to linger much lon
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Soft Core: A Novel
by Brittany Newell
(2/12/2025)
It turns out employers aren't exactly clamoring to hire humanities grads with little professional experience. So after finishing her master's degree, Ruth pivots to a career in a decidedly less academic field: stripping. This book casts sex work in a refreshingly realistic and humanizing light. It's not a morality tale. Ruth and her coworkers are not victims in need of rescue, but that doesn't mean they entirely love their jobs. Sex work is depicted as a job like any other, and s
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Before the Mango Ripens by Afabwaje Kurian
(11/20/2024)
The story of how Zanya and Jim first met is symbolic of their relationship throughout much of the book. As a new missionary in Nigeria, Jim's car broke down, and a group of bandits robbed and beat him. Zanya came across the heavily wounded pastor and carried him on his back to the home of a healer. As Zanya's story draws crowds to the church while he takes on the jobs no one else wants, it seems he is still carrying the pastor on his back. Jim wants to see himself as a leader of the Nigerian peo
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Blood Test: A Comedy
by Charles Baxter
(10/16/2024)
The best part of this book is its irreverent tone, which sometimes stretches into absurdity. Some characters, like Brock's immensely practical girlfriend, seem very rooted in reality, while others are more overtly comedic. For instance, his ex and her new partner are diehard members of a ridiculous-sounding self-improvement cult. The interactions between such vastly different characters result in some laugh-out-loud dialogue. But the sharpest examples of the story's biting wit come in its treatm
BookBrowse Editorial Review
A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy
by Tia Levings
(9/18/2024)
The idea that it's a woman's job to fix her marriage, while men have no apparent responsibility in this task, is a recurring theme in Levings' fundamentalist circles. Men are told to lead their households, but it's women who bear the brunt of the emotional and physical labor. Levings is exhausted running after four children, single-handedly maintaining a tidy home and nice garden, cooking every meal, and following each of her mercurial husband's whims. This story feels particularly resonant in a
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Age 16 by Rosena Fung
(7/31/2024)
We see similar themes of self-discovery and resilience play out across the characters' stories. Mei Laan bravely travels to Hong Kong on her own as a teenager, and when her husband turns out to be abusive, she leaves and works to lift herself and her baby daughter out of poverty. Lydia makes plans for a life overseas, in a country she's never even visited, despite knowing that it will anger her mother. And Rosalind decides to live fully as herself and embrace her own quirky, artistic hobbies, ev
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Mood Swings: A Novel
by Frankie Barnet
(6/19/2024)
When a chance encounter outside a Montreal hotel leads to a casual sexual relationship between Jenlena and Roderick, we see each character from the other's perspective. Roderick, who's been linked to a string of supermodels, loves that Jenlena is, from his point of view, a normal girl. To him, the average-looking younger woman who lives in a basement apartment seems simple and unpretentious. Jenlena is not overly attracted to middle-aged Roderick, and is at first somewhat cynical about their rel
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Witches of Bellinas: A Novel
by J. Nicole Jones
(5/15/2024)
One of this book's most compelling themes is its exploration of power and gender. The women of Bellinas perform femininity in that sort of Instagram influencer way that is artfully designed to look effortless, and they are determined to mold Tansy in their image. In one memorable early scene, they surround her and literally strip her of her hiking clothes in the middle of a party to clothe her in one of their bohemian dresses. And while they are outwardly deferential to their husbands, Tansy lea
BookBrowse Editorial Review
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
(3/20/2024)
When a wealthy widow Ricki meets at work offers her the chance to start her own flower shop in the ground floor space of a Harlem brownstone, she leaps at the offer. But a new career isn't the only thing Ricki finds in Harlem. She also meets a mysterious, devastatingly handsome stranger with a secret that will change her life. This is a dual timeline book that tells Ricki's story alongside flashbacks to the Harlem Renaissance a century ago, where a musician is trying to make a name for himself.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Ways and Means: A Novel
by Daniel Lefferts
(2/7/2024)
The push and pull between Mark, Elijah and Alistair is part of what makes this book so fascinating. Free spirit Elijah, with a penchant for pushing back against his and Mark's bourgeois lifestyle, is the one who initially suggests inviting a third person into their bed. But it is straight-laced Mark who falls the hardest for Alistair, feeling that in their desire for respectability they are on some level kindred spirits. Elijah can sense Mark's passion for their new lover, which only drives the
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Hot Springs Drive by Lindsay Hunter
(1/10/2024)
This is not a murder mystery. We know Theresa will die from the beginning of the novel, and the author leaves easy-to-interpret clues about who the murderer is. Rather, this is a literary exploration of the fractures that can occur between friends and family members, and within an individual's mind, and how their accumulation can lead to tragedy. The whole collection of complex characters makes this book a treat. None of them are entirely likeable, but they feel so real. The teenage daughter who
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Privilege of the Happy Ending: Small, Medium, and Large Stories
by Kij Johnson
(11/1/2023)
The surreal horror story "The Ghastly Spectre of Toad Hall" features a Wind in the Willows-inspired cast of anthropomorphized creatures who live in homes, wear clothes and exchange Christmas gifts. The core characters of "Coyote Invents the Land of the Dead" are simultaneously women, animals and goddesses. "Noah's Raven" follows the story of Noah's ark from the perspective of a raven on board who takes a rather dim view of the Old Testament prophet. How would a raven feel about being trap
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Bright Young Women: A Novel
by Jessica Knoll
(10/4/2023)
This book is not an edge-of-your-seat slasher story. Those looking for a thriller to read with popcorn in hand will be disappointed. The crimes are viewed from the perspective of the victims and those close to them. Knoll never for a second lets us see them as anything less than dearly loved and fully human. The murders are not gripping. They are devastating.
Pamela is present in the sorority house when her friend is killed, and witnesses the murderer running out the door. Her reactions are not
BookBrowse Editorial Review
My Husband: A Novel
by Maud Ventura
(8/23/2023)
Ventura creates a character who's not necessarily sympathetic, but who compels us to keep turning the page. Our lack of insight into what the husband is thinking leaves us, like the narrator, trying to peer into his mind by observing his actions. Something interesting about this book is how universal the themes are. At their core, the narrator's anxieties about class, her appearance and her marriage, as well as her tendency to compare herself to those around her, are relatable to those of us liv