Title: ShutterAuthor: Melissa LarsenPublication: June 15, 2021Publisher: BerkleyGenre: ThrillerPages: 362 (Audiobook – 9 hours, 47 minutes) SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads) In the wake of her father’s death, Betty Roux doesn’t allow herself to mourn. Instead, she pushes away her mother, breaks up with her boyfriend, and leaves everything behind to move …

Title: Rosaline Palmer Takes the CakeAuthor: Alexis HallPublication: May 18, 2021Publisher: ForeverGenre: RomancePages: 449 SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads) Following the recipe is the key to a successful bake. Rosaline Palmer has always lived by those rules—well, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter, Amelie. Now, with …

Title: The Secrets of UsAuthor: Lucinda BerryPublication: June 1, 2021Publisher: Thomas & MercerGenre: Mystery/ThrillerPages: 271 (Audiobook: 8 hours, 45 minutes) SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads) Foster sisters Krystal and Nichole have always been there for each other, so when Nichole is committed to a psychiatric hospital after trying to kill her husband, …

In the slog of perpetual isolation in the pandemic, The Crown Season 4 premiere date of November 15 stretched on into the horizon as a beacon of hope in a sea of absent entertainment content. And so, like a child on Christmas morning, I awoke early on a Sunday to tear open …

In Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Cate Blanchett reprises her role as the Virgin Queen, but as the fully realized myth she has created by the conclusion of the previous film. Shekhar Kapur also returns to direct, along with writer Michael Hirst, and cinematographer Remi Aderfarasin, but you wouldn’t recognize that the …

Still riffing on the historical fiction film podcast by Megan and Kristin, Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth (1998) was specifically mentioned in the podcast as one of their favorites. And once again, based on anecdotal evidence from conversations with others, Elizabeth seems to be well-appreciated as a film, especially as a performance by Cate Blanchett. In …

Megan and Kristin’s recent podcast about historical fiction films reminded me of a flick that is often admired by those who have seen it, if they have at all. On a not so scientific Facebook poll, about half of respondents (my friends) said that they had seen it. Nearly everyone …

Title: VerityAuthor: Colleen HooverPublication: December 7, 2018Publisher:  Hoover Ink, Inc.Genre: Romance, SuspencePages: 333 SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads) Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete …

Title: Regretting YouAuthor: Colleen HooverPublication: December 10, 2019Publisher: MontlakeGenre: Teens, YA FictionPages: 363 SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads) Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike. Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way …

Title: The Bromance Book ClubAuthor: Lyssa Kay AdamsPublication: November 9, 2019Publisher: Penguin GroupGenre: RomancePages: 352 SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads) The first rule of book club:You don’t talk about book club. Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott’s marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea …