Someday Perfect

Someday Perfect is a graphic novel about several teens who are sent by their families to a summer camp for Christians for two weeks. The main character is Meg whose father is a pastor. A few of the other characters include Danny, who Meg has a crush on, Kayla, Nicole, Tommy, Sister Elena, Sister Greta, and Hannah. Upon arrival at the Adirondacks Bible Camp the teens are separated by gender with the girls sent to the Waitress Quarters to live.

All of the girls must work as waitresses for all of the camp attendees. The boys are assigned to wash dishes. The girls were given long skirts and ugly aprons that they were required to wear every day, all day. The boys had no clothing restrictions and they wore their normal clothes. The women who supervised the girls chided them for wearing earrings and talking about boys. 

I was surprised that the kids were required to work at the camp. Is this normal? They were working hard so why is this a Bible camp? There were meetings every morning and evening where an adult would preach but there wasn't much time for recreation. The adults were hard on the girls. If a boy was interested in a girl, she was warned about enticing the boy. Also, since the girls had to serve the boys they were not allowed to eat until the boys were finished. Frequently, there wasn't enough food left over for the girls. The camp counselors would tell them that their figures would suffer if they ate. In addition, the girls were told to stay at least six inches apart from the boys. I felt terrible for them. In my opinion this was abusive treatment toward the girls. 

While all of this was ongoing, Meg becomes attracted to Danny. Along with her attraction came questions. Meg wonders how she can fulfill her role as a Christian when her heart and faith both question whether the attraction is appropriate. I was shocked that Meg felt a teen romance was not appropriate. After all, every teenager since the beginning of time experiences such an attraction. It's normal. Meg also had the pressure of needing to be seen as a perfect pastor’s kid.

The author did a great job detailing life at a summer Bible camp. I think that the Adirondacks Bible Camp is something that the author experienced herself because in her Acknowledgments she wrote that she hoped her parents were not mad at her for writing the book.  It was eye-opening to me as I have never attended a summer camp. Despite my alarm at how the girls were treated, the novel is light reading. The drawings were colored in bright colors. A few of the pages were illustrated in typical comic strip panels but the author primarily deviated from using panels.

I loved this story and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Young Will Remember

The Young Will Remember is about Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang. Chang is on board a military plane to cover a battle in the North during the Korean War. Unfortunately, her plane crashes in enemy country. Chang later is claimed by a Korean woman as being her long lost daughter. This poignant story was published on May 5, 2026. With 454 pages, it qualifies as a selection for the Big Book Summer Challenge.

The publisher's summary:

1950. It’s the coldest winter in decades, and twenty-eight-year-old Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang is on a military flight to cover a battle in the mountains of North Korea when her plane is shot down.

As she emerges from the fallen aircraft onto an icy field surrounded by the enemy, Ellie is sure it’s the end, certain she’ll never make it home to her parents...until a woman pushes her way through the crowd and claims Ellie as the lost daughter that she’s been searching for since the last war ended. Never mind that Ellie doesn’t speak a word of Korean.

Ellie is taken in by her rescuer—a woman who calls herself “Emma”—and the Paks, a pastor’s family. She knows she can’t stay and yet there’s no way she’ll survive on her own.

As the war intensifies, the sky alighting with bombs overhead, Ellie convinces Emma and the Paks to travel south towards an elusive promise of safety, and where Ellie insists they are more likely to find Emma’s real daughter, stuck on the other side of the frontlines. 

Emma's decision to claim Ellie, and Ellie’s choice to take her hand will connect their lives forever.

I LOVED this novel and could not put it down. I learned alot about the Korean war that I didn't know, even though I read about it in school. The Korean War took place between 1950 and 1953. It's known in the U.S. as the Forgotten War as it occurred between the more well known wars WWII and Vietnam. 

The story concerns the women left behind by their husbands and sons who were away from home to fight. We read about their lives in detail through the Pak family and their neighbors. In addition to Emma and Ellie, Pastor Pak's wife Imo and son Jai-Min completed the family. Neighbor Granny Cho plays a big part in the story also. These ladies endured the terror of the American bombs along with the resulting decimation of their land. Their state of mind wobbled between futile thinking and hope. The fact that they could occasionally have hope speaks to the human element. 

War stories tend to bore me but The Young Will Remember is not about the soldiers. Instead, it's about the women left behind. We learn how they were able to handle frequent moves to avoid the enemy and their bombs. With little food available the ladies hid their rations from neighbors.There was no sharing of food as each family just tried to survive. The biting cold of winter weather contributed to the loss of life. Not everyone was able to find shelter as the Pak family did.

This war story shows some gory details of death but it is slight. Whether or not a character viewed the carnage, the survival instinct quickly set in and the women moved on. I found their resolve to be amazing. With Ellie’s career as a journalist the reader learns about the war from the perspectives of the Koreans, Japanese and Americans. Ellie’s discussions over these perspectives gives the reader a better history of the war.

The Young Will Remember is a magnificent, awe-inspiring book that everyone should read. I am rating it 5  out of 5 stars. 

Can't Wait Wednesday #52

This weekly meme is hosted by the Wishful Endings blog. The meme spotlights the books that we are excited about but have yet to read. Generally, they're books that have yet to be released.

This week I want to feature Eat, Drink and Get Buried by Cleo Coyle. The book is the authors' 22nd coffeehouse mystery and it will be published on September 22, 2026. I cannot wait. The coffeehouse mysteries are my favorite cozy mystery series of all time. 

In this installment of the series the Village Blend caters a rooftop party gone wrong. During the party a woman is thrown off her balcony to her death. Clare Cosi agrees to help clear the name of the accused because it is the boyfriend of a family friend. However, Clare's investigation leads her to a deadly event that her daughter Joy and Joy's friend Ava were involved in years ago when they were teenagers.

I am looking forward to the recipes at the back of the book also. In the past I have discovered new recipes that are loved by friends, giving me a reputation as a good baker. 

If you have not yet read the series, note that it is a contemporary cozy. There is no gore or sexy scenes but sex between the characters will be mentioned.

What books are you waiting to be published?

Flash Point

I received a free copy of this spy thriller from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Club and I am so glad that I did. It's suspenseful and feels a little like sci-fi alongside a spy thriller. There is much to like about this story. It was recently published on June 16, 2026 and with 404 pages, the book qualifies for the Big Book Summer Challenge.

The publisher's summary:

The experiment succeeded. That was the problem. Former Tier 1 operator Grayson Maddox thought he'd left the battlefield behind. Now he's leading a classified physics project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Then the sabotage begins. A mysterious outage cripples his lab. An armed intruder targets his assistant. A bomb detonates outside a briefing he just left. Someone knows exactly what Maddox's team has discovered—and they're moving with lethal precision to stop it.

On the run, he turns to the only people he trusts: his former Unit teammates.

But even CIA safe houses aren't safe. Somewhere, there's a leak, and two rival factions are closing in. One wants the discovery. The other wants it buried forever—and Maddox along with it. To survive, Maddox must become the operator he thought he'd left behind. Because if RIFT falls into the wrong hands...

the next battlefield won't be a country. It will be reality itself.

This futuristic story begins on April 7, 2046. The main character, Grayson Maddox, wears a watch that self heals and the wristband has a camera, opens maps, has a holographic projector and is a virtual medic that tells him how to treat his injuries. Grayson refers to a truck built in 2046 as being old. Also, the Indo-Pacific War that took place in the early 2040s is referenced. In addition, AI controls everything from air vehicles to emergency responses. Despite these futuristic references, DARPA is still in business. Some of the science is beyond my ability to understand but this did not prevent me from understanding the plot. I will say one more thing about science. A quote from Jacques Cousteau is given before the first page of the story. I love it. Cousteau states that the root of all evil is science. Not money. With this idea now in my head I began reading.

There was plenty of action and adventure in the story. Grayson is constantly on the move. His groundbreaking physics research has been attacked by an unknown entity, forcing him and his assistant Mari to go into hiding. The story melds physics with espionage and military components. It is fast paced and extremely suspenseful. The NSA, CIA, Army and private firms all want to know more about Grayson's discovery and are competing to obtain it. The author did a great job combining all these elements into a story. I would rate his ability to compose a decent plot as well as that of Brad Thor or Dan Silva. However, the characters are pulling the story down. They are one dimensional. The reader does not know much about them other than what jobs they hold. It would be better to know something about the characters private lives as well as how they grow in each installment of this series. In addition, there are characters whose names are a number. I found it hard to follow One, Two, Three and Four. 

All in all, Flash Point was a captivating read. With time, this author is going to break out as one of the best spy thriller writers of our time. 3.5 stars out of 5 stars.

Corpse de Ballet

I love attending the ballet so when I saw this book on Kindle I had to get a copy. It is a psychological thriller in a graphic novel format. Corpse de Ballet was published about a month ago in July 7, 2026 and it is magnificent. The book is author Megan Kearney's first solo graphic novel.  

The publisher's summary: 

Arriving at Saint Anselmus in the middle of the year, Rosamund Hammond is ready to practice hard and prove she deserves to be there. But something at this boarding school doesn’t feel right. It turns out that just before Rosamund enrolled, a student disappeared without telling anyone. Was it really a leave of absence―or something more sinister? Together with her new roommate, Rosamund spirals deeper and deeper into an obsession with the truth. As the school prepares for its showcase performance of Coppélia, can she commit to her hard-earned ballet dreams while solving the mystery that’s haunting her―or will she lose herself in the process?

As I stated above this graphic novel is a psychological thriller. However, it is a light psychological thriller. There are no dramatic chapter endings but rather we see the main character Rosamund spiraling downwards throughout the story. Her roommate Eugenie tells her a tale about Eugenie's former roommate Giovanna dying at the school which is not true but Rosamund doesn't know this fact. Rosamund is led to investigate Giovanna's murder.

Each chapter begins with a ballet pose, first position, second position, etc. . . I thought this was a nice touch by the author who, incidentally, is not a dancer. All of the drawings are colored in blue and white, a color scheme I like. It reminded me of Do Admit, a biography of the Mitford sisters. The characters are multidimensional. All of them have secrets in their past they try to cover up. None of these secrets are all that important but to a teenager desiring to be a star ballerina, they are extremely important. The dancers fear anything negative in their past will prevent them from having good careers. 

Our heroine Rosamund began studying at the school just one semester from high school graduation. She feels inferior for several reasons. One, the other students whisper about her being a late scholarship award winner. In Rosamund's mind, she agrees with them. She also has to work harder in order to catch up with the level of the other students. While Rosamund is talented, she needs plenty of instruction. Her roommate, Eugenie, is a bitch who isolates Rosamund by encouraging her to stay away from the other students because, well, they are bitches. Eugenie is a fantastic villain. She has no problems with lying all day and every day. She is Rosamund's best friend until the time comes for the senior showcase performance where future careers are on the line.

Throughout the story we read about the Coppélia ballet story on and off. I thought this was a nice hook for the story. It was an engaging story that I thoroughly enjoyed. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Emperor of Seville

The Emperor of Seville is the second book in Matthew Carr's Bernardo de Mendoza Mysteries. The series features Spanish magistrate Bernardo de Mendoza as the investigator of crime in 16th century Spain. The crime in this installment of the series is the trade of Peruvian gold to Spain.

The publisher's summary:

Summer 1586. When the Genoese banker Sandro Grandoni is murdered at a trade fair in the Castilian town of Medina del Campo, the Valladolid Chancery appoints the magistrate Bernardo de Mendoza to conduct the investigation. The murder takes place at a delicate political moment. King Philip II is preparing to invade England, and the Crown is negotiating a new loan with the House of Grandoni to help finance the invasion. While the king and his ministers await the arrival of the imperial treasure fleet in Seville, one of Grandoni’s partners is murdered on the banks of the Guadalquivir. Anxious to eliminate any obstacles to the ‘enterprise of England’, Philip sends Mendoza to Seville to see if the murders are connected.

Accompanied by his restless ward Gabriel, and a charismatic poet named Miguel de Cervantes, Mendoza travels to the violent, vice-ridden imperial city that sixteenth century Spaniards called ‘the Great Babylon.’ Mendoza soon finds himself entangled a bewildering web of intrigue and corruption, that extends from the Indies to the Seville streets. In an unfamiliar city where no one can be trusted, Mendoza is forced to seek the assistance of his turbulent cousin, Luis de Ventura. Mendoza’s task is further complicated, when his lover Elena unexpectedly arrives in the city with an Italian theatre group.

Throughout the sweltering Andalusian summer, Mendoza follows the trail of deaths, as the search for justice becomes a struggle for survival, in which no one’s life is guaranteed.

The book is an excellent murder mystery. I unfortunately didn't understand the many Spanish words that the author used. Initially I looked them up in a dictionary but got tired of that after awhile. I had to re-read some pages as I kept becoming bogged down in all the titles of the characters as well as all the different locations in Spain. It was difficult to remember who was who. While I missed all the setting descriptions, there was still a good mystery that carried the novel for me. 

That said, I enjoyed reading about how banks in the 16th century conducted business. It was interesting to learn about kings being bankrupt and needing loans to conduct war against their enemies. It was odd, though, how little it took for a nation to feel aggrieved against another nation. The kings and queens mostly did not use diplomacy but went straight to war threats. 

The investigation that Mendoza conducted into the murders was spot on. Mendoza is an astute man who makes for an amazing investigator or judge as his title was in the story. He is a great sleuth for the series. 

While I selected this book for it's setting and era, I was unprepared for reading about it. Please note that I received a free copy of this book from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Club in exchange for an honest review. It was published on December 11, 2025.

3 out of 5 stars.

My Tokyo Summer

My Tokyo Summer is a sweet story that celebrates creativity, culture and friendship. Written by Abby Denson, the book is a graphic memoir of her trip to Tokyo in 1997 to meet her pen pal Yuuko. Both love comics and they decide to write and illustrate a comic of their own. The book was published last month on July 7, 2026.

The publisher's summary:

Abby lives in the United States and loves comics, zines, and punk music. Yuuko lives in Japan and loves manga, American movies, and creating art. When Yuuko visits New York City and sees a comic that Abby made, she writes a letter to Abby and they become pen pals. Later, Abby takes the opportunity to enroll in a summer university program in Japan, and the two girls get the chance to meet in person. What follows are charming and funny adventures in Tokyo as Abby and Yuuko explore the city together. Things get even more exciting when they decide to combine their talents and make a comic to sell at Comiket, one of the largest comics conventions in the world. This will be an extraordinary summer of life-changing friendship!

I loved this story. It was written for kids aged 12 and up so there are no sexy scenes, violence or foul language. Abby’s culture shock mirrored my own during a recent trip to Japan. I can honestly say that her experiences are authentic. A few examples of Abby’s cultural experience include a trip to Senkaido, the biggest stationery shop in Tokyo. The illustrations of the shop had me groaning with jealousy. She also learns how to order in a restaurant, order food from vending machines and from street vendors. Abby visits a few shrines and remarks on the excessive number of steps involved and is able to buy train tickets and board trains thanks to a Japanese language class she took back home in New York City. 

Abby and Yuuko collaborated together on a comic. The two worked well together and I'm going to attribute that to their youth. It seemed easy enough to have it copied in Tokyo. Yuuko's part included cut and pasting images she drew from gray sheets. I don't believe that this type of printing is available in the U S. I had never heard of gray sheets before. Some have the backgrounds already drawn so that the creator can fill in the characters and lettering. Others allow the artist to add gray highlights to their page.

Abby’s visit was 100% positive. This surprised me. She never got lost orhad money issues, although she had help from Yuuko on days they were together. Not much was told about the drawing class that Abby took but I guess it didn't fit in with the plot. I was also surprised by Abby’s attire. She dressed in overalls and had her hair pulled back in pigtails. This didn't seem plausible for a college student.

The story was inspired by Abby’s real life experiences in Tokyo and with Yuuko. Both characters are actual people who have kept up their friendship over the years. The language barrier and cultural differences did not prevent them from becoming lifelong friend. The drawings were done by Utomaru whom Abby has collaborated with before. They were colored with bright colors that would appeal to kids. 

I cannot recommend this memoir more highly. It's a fun and fast read. 5 out of 5 stars.

Can't Wait Wednesday #51

This weekly meme is hosted by the Wishful Endings blog. The meme spotlights the books that we are excited about but have yet to read. Generally, they're books that have yet to be released.

This week I want to feature John Grisham's upcoming book The French Illusion. In this novel Grisham departs from his usual legal thriller genre and presents a suspenseful story about a honeymoon gone wrong. 

The main characters are Paul and Chelsea Tanner. They have just celebrated their wedding but after arriving in Paris they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. The search for clues soon stretches across borders, with the FBI, CIA, and French Intelligence trying to work together to put the pieces of the puzzle together. In an effort to find answers, a young lawyer is recruited to be the bait in an elaborate CIA operation.

It sounds like this is a spy thriller given the involvement of the international agencies. I am looking forward to reading it. The book will be published on September 30, 2026. 

24 Hours to Forget

24 Hours to Forget is Filipe Silva's third novel. It has an intriguing plot premise where a woman wakes up every day with no memory of the day before. One day she finds a note in her own handwriting that states “DON'T TRUST HIM." She realizes that she is living with someone who may be manipulating her. 24 Hours to Forget is an ebook with 104 pages. It was published on April 16, 2026. 

The story opened with our main character waking up and smelling coffee made by her husband Daniel. Our main character is a lady with severe amnesia. She is not given a name by the author. Odd. She knows not to trust Daniel and isn't sure that he is really her husband. She has been reading her notebooks of memories but later realizes that he is changing them. This tells me she remembered prior days and didn't lose her memory every 24 Hours.

The premise for the book is good. It was not executed well. Each chapter tells us something new about her but there was no action in the story. It would have been nice to read that someone was on her side and fighting for her, that there was a sinister reason for her amnesia for a character to reveal. There are only two characters, not enough to build a story. It's just our lady of amnesia and her generic, no personality husband Daniel. Daniel never expresses any emotion. He is flat.

Please note that I received a free copy of this book from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Club in exchange for an honest review. 

No rating.

Matcha on Monday

Matcha on Monday is a collection of Japanese short stories. It was published in English on July 7, 2026. These snippets of Japanese life are not like American short stories where there is a mystery to solve. There is no whodunnit, howdunnit, or whydunnit in them. Rather, the process the characters go through to becoming more whole is the point. These stories are interconnected and one character will reappear in another. There is one story for each month of the year. Matcha on Monday is the second book in the Marble Café series.

The publisher summarizes the book: 

Across a bridge in a quiet neighborhood in Tokyo, a charming little matcha café – open only on Mondays – offers a beacon of light and healing to all who pass through its doors. All throughout the week, customers flock to the Marble Café that’s tucked away behind the trees – except when it’s closed on Mondays, when the Matcha Café opens in its place, offering its clientele a warm cup of matcha and restoration to start the busy week ahead. On this one day of the week, people from all walks of life frequent this cozy haven and experience the joys of human connection. Among them include: a singer who has just broken up with his lover, an unsociable young owner of a tea wholesaler, a husband who has made his wife angry, a designer and owner of a lingerie shop and a Kamishibai artist who doesn't get along with his grandmother. This heart-warming story takes place in Tokyo and Kyoto over twelve months, bringing together a community of untold unfolding lives – all starting with a cup of matcha.

The first story is Matcha on Monday where the Marble Café hosts a one time matcha event on the day they are normally closed. As a matcha lover, it is my favorite. A woman who is having a bad day is a regular customer. However, she ends up at the cafe by mistake on a Monday and is asked whether she wants her tea thin or thick. Not knowing what that means she rationalizes that thicker is better so she orders it. It was awful. She is then informed that it would go down better if she had a bite if the accompaning sweet. It tasted much better. Her bad day continues but she meets a man who will later become her husband.

Another favorite is Sparrows in Early Spring. The main character is a seamstress who opens a lingerie shop upon finishing fashion school. I thought it was unique for her to select lingerie as the focus for her shop, Peep Bird. As a seamstress myself, I learned what fabrics and thread worked best for constructing lingerie. I loved reading about her stitching the under garments. The guitarist/customer will appear in another story where she recounts shopping here.

I enjoyed the easygoing, cozy atmosphere of the stories. While the book is light reading, each story is character-driven and something profound happens to their way of thinking about themselves. They are each approximately 8 pages long. I also think the book cover is magnificent. It's the reason I picked up the book in my local bookshop. Having read similar Japanese books I knew it would be a relaxing read, which it was.

5 out of 5 stars.

Tempered For Murder

Tempered for Murder is a cozy culinary mystery. It is the first book in the new Zuvaara Chocolate Murder Mystery series. Tempered for Murder is the debut novel by Puja Satiani. It features former lawyer Salena Sharma as the amateur sleuth who traded her career as an attorney to operate a chocolate business called Zivaara. Unfortunately, she found herself investigating a murder that is connected to her new life. This delightful novel was recently published on March 13, 2026. 

The story blends the world of artisanal chocolate with a murder mystery. We read about Salena navigating her professional ambition alongside her grief over a former legal colleague who was murdered. Dominic Gray was Salena's mentor at the law firm she worked at, Sutcliffe and Chase. He was shot inside his house. Although she left the firm a year ago, Salena maintained close ties with her former colleagues. Through them Salena gathers information about Dominic that could help her discover the whodunnit and the whydunnit. Salena's best friend Tara Jacobs offers advice along the way on areas where Salena might focus her investigation. They are a practical sleuthing duo.

Additional characters include Tara's husband Paul and their kids Natalie and Sydney. Dominic's wife Amy, his neighbors Marty and Suzanne, culinary colleagues Vic and Maggie, and his nosy neighbor Edith round out the secondary characters. The business name Zivaara means "best life" in ancient South Asian languages. Salena has based her entrepreneurship on her beloved grandfather who always encouraged her to study and learn how to think. He did not want her to rely on a man or money but to focus on her mind and hands.

The setting is a Washington DC suburb called Fairview, more specifically the setting is high-powered Washington DC. I am familiar with this town which made my enjoyment of the story that much better. The pace is fast and I was hooked into the story from the first page. The first sentence grabbed my attention: "The flecks of salt on the dark chocolate caramels shimmered under the lights, each caramel looking flawless and self-assured." Other favorite sentences include this one on page 98: "She poured the chocolate into a mold with twelve square cavities, tapped the mold to help the chocolate settle, sprinkled caramelized cacao nibs over each cavity, and tapped it again." Page 100 gives us "Next on Salena’s list was milk chocolate ganache. She heated the cream and other ingredients, then poured the warm mixture over the milk chocolate pistoles. As she stirred, the ganache gradually turned smooth and shiny." My taste buds are longing for chocolate but back to the story, each chapter ended  with suspense that kept me reading. In fact, I finished reading this book in one sitting.

This first book of the series gives us well rounded characters and an interesting setting that offer a plethora of possible future stories for the series. The author is a former attorney who became a chocolatier. The premise for the series is based upon her life experiences. Please note that I received a free copy of this book from Book Sirens in exchange for an honest review.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Doctor in the Corner Clinic

The Doctor in the Corner Clinic: The Room Was Never the Mystery is the second book in the author's Corner Room mystery series. I received a free copy of this book from Book Sirens in exchange for an honest review. I can honestly say though that this is a wonderful locked room mystery. The book was published on April 22, 2026.

The publisher's summary:

Dr. Ashok Kulkarni is found dead inside his locked clinic. Gun in hand. Door bolted from the inside. An open-and-shut suicide, the police say. Inspector Praveen Kumar is not convinced.

Ashok was a celebrated cardiologist, a Padma Shri recipient, and one of Bangalore’s most trusted doctors. But as Praveen retraces the final months of his life, he uncovers a burned letter, a growing fear, and a secret powerful enough to destroy more than one life.

What begins as a locked-room death soon turns into something far more dangerous: a search through buried relationships, quiet betrayals, and truths hidden behind respectability. As the case deepens, Praveen finds himself drawn into a mystery where every answer raises a darker question, and where the cost of the truth may reach far beyond the dead. Because the room was never the only thing that was locked.

The story opened with Dr. Ashok Kulkarni receiving a visitor while he worked late at night in his office. The visitor climbed the outside wall leading to Kulkarni's office on the third floor. He then made a demand on behalf of Jaya to which Kulkarni complied but stated this was the last time. The next chapter begins with the discovery of Kulkarni's body the next morning. He had been shot.

Inspector Praveen Kumar is assigned to investigate the death. It was quickly determined to be a suicide but Praveen had a hunch that there was much more to the incident. He continued looking into the death by interviewing friends, family and a few patients of Ashok. Some of the characters did not seem to be telling the truth but Praveen did not know where to turn in the investigation. 

In addition to being an engaging locked room mystery, I would also describe the book as a psychological thriller because the deceased's life seemed to hold the keys to the suicide. Unfortunately, no one who knew him had any idea of what had upset Ashok enough for him to want to die. Ashok had a perfect life. He had a wonderful career as a cardiologist, an intelligent wife and two happy kids. Why would he want to die?

The story had a swift pace with several twists. As Praveen discovered secrets about relationships in Ashok's life he thought that each of these relationships held the key. However, they all were dead ends and Praveen had to start over from scratch several times. The plot kept me guessing through all of the layers of family and professional secrets in the Kulkarni family. 

I enjoyed reading this novel and am rating it 4 out of 5 stars.

August Armchair Travel Plans

Next month I will continue to read books about the founding of the U.S. as well as catch up on my TBR list. Keith Smith's An American Patriot is about a Revolutionary War soldier. The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr by Susan Holloway Scott concerns the obvious, American Princess is about Alice Roosevelt Longworth, 355 is about the female spies that General George Washington used, and Rachel Khong's Real Americans gives us the twenty-first-century reality of an immigrant assimilating into American society.

A few mysteries are also in my reading plan. Through Net Galley I have two books: Tempered for Murder is a culinary cozy mystery featuring chocolate and The Doctor in the Corner Clinic is a locked room murder mystery. I received a free copy of 24 Hours to Forget from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Club. It’s a short mystery with only 104 pages.

As far as traveling outside the American shores I plan on reading Eve Chung's The Young Will Remember (China), Hooked by Asako Yuzuki (Japan), The Emporer of Seville (Spain) and Tokyo Express (Japan). So far, I am planning to read 12 books. If I have time, and it's a big if, I would like to read more Japanese novels. 

So. . . . . where are you traveling to next month?

Book Cover of the Month: July

I love the image of this Asian lady on the cover of Daughters of the Sun and Moon. She is wearing old fashioned clothing which I believe is much nicer than that worn since the Communist takeover of China.

The background pink color accentuates the colors of the lady's garment. The name of the author is in a lighter pink shade and the book title is in ecru. I am always attracted to this type of color pallette.

The book cover design was created by Jaya Miceli. She is the Senior Art Director at Scribner Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. She tends to design book covers with a bright pallette. Miceli earned a BFA in Illustration at the Parsons School of Design. 

Book of the Month: July

The writing team of Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamde have produced several historical fiction accounts of women during the American Revolution War era. All of them are fantastic reads including their latest book A Founding Mother. This novel is about Abigail Adams. She was the wife of President John Adams and the mother of President John Quincy Adams. 

I have read many book about this family over the years. This particular book was based upon research into Abigail's voluminous letters to her family and friends such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. The authors were able to see the largest number of her letters to date. While I already knew alot about Abigail Adams before reading this book, there is information about her life that was new to me. I am thrilled with the book.

I believe Abigail Adams was the most influential woman of that era. The relationships between her and the Washingtons and Jeffersons was complicated because her husband was frequently at odds with others. However, I wasn't aware of how intertwined their friendships were. The political differences between them only surfaced after the end of the Revolutionary War. There were many differences in opinion on how to form a new government as well as how to govern.

The book was published on May 5, 2026, just in time for the 250th Anniversary of the birth of the United States. If you aren't familiar with this lady, I highly recommend this book. It's an enjoyable read. 

Captivating Character of the Month: July

It should be obvious who my captivating character of the month is. It's our sixteenth president Abraham Lincoln! I have been captivated by this man ever since I can remember and have read many books about him over the years. For most of the twentieth century the only biography of Lincoln that was available was written by Carl Sandburg. Everyone I know LOVED that book. Then came David Herbert Donald's biography; another fantastic book that everyone in my sphere read and discussed. In the past two years several additional books have been published. John Cribb's The Rail Splitter, Lincoln's Lady Spymaster by Gerri Willis, Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Bayard and Jon Meacham's And There Was Light. All of these books were phenomenal. Also, a biography of the Booth family, Lincoln's assassin, was published by Karen Fowler. It seems that even today we cannot get enough of Honest Abe.

This month I read The Rail Splitter, Lincoln's Lady Spymaster, Courting Mr. Lincoln and Booth. I have learned about different aspects of Lincoln's life from each of them. The Rail Splitter gives more information about his childhood. The Lincoln family moved often and after the death of his mother, the baptist church greatly influenced him. From the church he gained his abolitionist views. Courting Mr. Lincoln tells us about his attraction to Mary Todd. This book shows me how ahead of his time Lincoln was. Mary Todd was the daughter of a wealthy man and you would expect her to have many suitors. However, she was too forthcoming in giving her opinions on politics which turned off many men. Lincoln was different though. He not only enjoyed listening to her but needed her expert political strategy in order to get elected to all of the offices he held. Their marriage was a political union. In Booth we learn that most of the family liked Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth didn't and assassinated him. And There Was Light revealed the depths of depression to which he succumbed. The book tells us that there were seven events in Lincoln's life that made him suicidal. While I knew he suffered depression I had no idea that his friends and family had to watch over him to prevent Lincoln from killing himself. How odd that history records that his wife is the one who is mentally unstable.

I can never get enough of reading about this man. Having grown up in Illinois, my education about Lincoln began in kindergarten. I am probably going to re-read Sandburg and Donald's biographies fairly soon and perhaps it's time for a visit to the Lincoln Library in Springfield, IL.

And There Was Light

Jon Meacham's book And There Was Light is a biography of Abraham Lincoln and it covers his entire life from birth to death. It has received a couple of awards. The book won the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize and was longlisted for the Biographers International Plutarch Award. Both Kirkus Reviews and the Christian Science Monitor said it was one of the best books of the year for 2022. It took me awhile to get through it's 750 pages but it was well worth it. Note that this review is going to be long. There is a lot to say, yet I have left much comment out.

It is obvious that Meacham idolizes Lincoln as he describes Lincoln’s self-education, romances with women, bouts of depression, political successes and failures, and his faith. In America Lincoln tends to be seen as the greatest of American presidents. I don't disagree with this statement but in this book Meacham gives the reader a new portrait of a very human Lincoln, an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment, essential to the story of justice in America, began as he grew up in antislavery Baptist churches. What was surprising to me was the number of times in Lincoln's life that his friends had to watch over him for several weeks or months to prevent him from killing himself. After his first love Ann Rutledge died he was despondent and unable to work for months. When his son Willie died, he had to be watched over again. It is interesting that history tells us that Mary Todd Lincoln lost her mind after this loss. However, Abe was in worse shape. He was suicidal. I counted the number of times that he was suicidal to be 7 times during his life. 

Meacham addresses Lincoln’s religious faith by stating in the Prologue: 

Raised in an antislavery Baptist ethos in Kentucky and in Indiana, Lincoln was not an orthodox Christian. He never sought to declare a traditional faith. There was no in-breaking light, no thunderbolt on the road to Damascus, no conviction that, as the Epistle to the Philippians put it, “every knee should bow” and declare Jesus as Lord. There was, rather, a steadily stronger embrace of the right in a world of ambition and appetite. To Lincoln, God whispered His will through conscience, calling humankind to live in accord with the laws of love. Lincoln believed in a transcendent moral order that summoned sinful creatures, in the words of Micah, to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God—eloquent injunctions, but staggeringly difficult to follow. “In the material world, nothing is done by leaps, all by gradual advance,” the New England abolitionist Theodore Parker observed. Lincoln agreed. “I may advance slowly,” the president reputedly said, “but I don’t walk backward.” His steps were lit by political reality, by devotion to the Union, and by the importuning of conscience. 

“I have often wished that I was a more devout man than I am,” Lincoln said in his White House years. “Nevertheless, amid the greatest difficulties of my Administration, when I could not see any other resort, I would place my whole reliance on God, knowing that all would go well, and that He would decide for the right.” 

Lincoln, who knew slavery, saw it, and was likely exposed to teaching and preaching that declared it wrong. Still, there was something in the faith of his father that kept Lincoln from declaring himself a believer and joining the church in which he was raised. Perhaps he disliked following his father, a parent with whom he had a complicated relationship on the best of days. Perhaps he was uncomfortable with the Baptist expression of predestination, which held that an omnipotent God had previously determined who was to be saved and who was to be damned, a theological assertion derived from John Calvin. Perhaps he never truly felt the call to make a public assent to the claims of the frontier Baptist sect he knew. And perhaps he sensed, at some level, a discrepancy between scripture, which Lincoln was coming to know well, and religious doctrine. 

Lincoln's step-mother Sarah Bush Lincoln recalled. “He read all the books he could lay his hands on.” The psalms of the King James Version were favorites, as were the hymns of Isaac Watts. I personally believe that conflicts over his father's abusive treatment was the reason he never joined a church. Lincoln did, however, get his anti-slavery stance from his father so it was complicated. I believe Thomas Lincoln was the reason is that Abe never introduced his children to Thomas or his step-mother.  

A president who govered a divided country has a lot to teach us in the twenty-first-century given the polarization and political crisis we are currently experiencing. I was amazed at how similar our past is just like our present. There are the same calls for state's rights. In fact, until the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, the U.S. Constitution was interpreted to mean that the federal government could not force the states to do anything. This is the reason that abolitionist leaning leaders did nothing to stop slavery. Lincoln changed this interpretation which angered both pro-slavery and anti-slavery people. Lincoln also ruled by executive order. He was the first president to do this and we know from current headlines how well this goes over. Citizens called for Lincoln to be assassinated the day after his election and then continued until he was assassinated. Also, he had to come to Washington for his inaugural disguised as someone else. In addition, I was surprised to learn that the southern states began seceding a few days after his election and all but one state had seceded before his inaugural. Southerners knew that Lincoln would outlaw slavery and did not wait until he was in office to take action. There was speculation that they would take over Mexico or the Central American countries and create a new nation based on slavery. Many of the confederate leaders were U. S. Senators and willingly resigned their offices in support of the south.

And There Was Light is a fantastic account of Abraham Lincoln's life. While there is a lot of minutiae concerning his political fights, it is good that we have this record to lean back on. I am rating the book 5 out of 5 stars.

Melody of Love

Melody of Love is an Amish fiction novel written by Wanda Brunstetter. It takes place in Indiana Amish country, in Goshen near Shipshewana. Shipshewana has a fantastic fabric shop within Yoder's Country Store. It boasts 10,000 bolts of fabric and I love spending money there whenever I can get there. Melody of Love was published on June 15, 2026.

In this novel Amelia Miller is dealing with her nine year old autistic son Micah. She is a widow and is raising him on her own. Amelia finds out about a public library class that helps both autistic children and their parents cope with the disease. She signs both of them up. Micah improves under the program so Amelia feels safe to travel to Ohio for a family wedding. While in Ohio she meets widower Christian Yoder and a spark between them is lit. When Christian suddenly has the opportunity to move to Indiana near Amelia, what started as a spark grows to a flame. However, there are complications. Micah doesn’t like Christian and he often acts out in tantrums. Amelia’s love for her son is her priority and she doesn't know what to do about her relationship with Christian.

Wanda Brunstetter is known for addressing modern problems in her Amish fiction stories. This book may be the first of hers that deals with a disability; at least the first that I can remember. I learn more from Brunstetter about modern issues than from any other source and it's always gently couched inside a cozy story.

In Melody of Love we read about three characters primarily. Amelia is a quiet and sweet widow who has been dealt several adversities in life that she doesn't deserve. In the past year both of her parents passed away in a buggy accident. She also lost her husband and the financial support he provided. Her only child is autistic. Despite all of these tragedies Amelia has not become embittered. She is still the sweet woman that she always has been. Son Micah is nine years old. While he has plenty of meltdowns, Micah loves certain chores. He has become attached to the chickens and one in particular that he named Matilda. Micah also enjoys baking with his mother. It seems to me that Micah and Amelia share a sweet temperament, although you sometimes have to look for it in Micah due to his disability. Christian Yoder also seems to have this same temperament. He is kind toward Micah even though he doesn't receive it back so he is also long-suffering. Like Amelia, Christian doesn't express his thoughts too much for fear of hurting others. The siblings of both Amelia and Christian play secondary parts in the story.

Melody of Love was a lovely, pun intended, read. It’s always a plus to read about characters who behave as they should, giving the reader a respite from the world. 5 out of 5 stars.

Booth

I had high hopes for this book about the family of James Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. It started out dull and continued to be so throughout the book. The family dynamics were interesting, though, but I felt that it could have been written more exciting than it was.

The publisher's summary:

In 1822, a secret family moves into a secret cabin some thirty miles northeast of Baltimore, to farm, to hide, and to bear ten children over the course of the next sixteen years. Junius Booth—breadwinner, celebrated Shakespearean actor, and master of the house in more ways than one—is at once a mesmerizing talent and a man of terrifying instability. One by one the children arrive, as year by year, the country draws frighteningly closer to the boiling point of secession and civil war.

As the tenor of the world shifts, the Booths emerge from their hidden lives to cement their place as one of the country’s leading theatrical families. But behind the curtains of the many stages they have graced, multiple scandals, family triumphs, and criminal disasters begin to take their toll, and the solemn siblings of John Wilkes Booth are left to reckon with the truth behind the destructively specious promise of an early prophecy.

Booth is a startling portrait of a country in the throes of change and a vivid exploration of the ties that make, and break, a family.

It was interesting to read that John Wilkes Booth always had tendencies toward supporting southern causes, including slavery. He was the only member of his family to not associate with the family's black employees. All of their employees were free as the patriarch was an abolitionist. While the story was a little boring, I am glad that I read the book. It is important to know all of the factors that made John Wilkes Booth want to kill Lincoln. The author stated in an interview that she did not want to write a book about John Wilkes but rather about the family. She felt that John Wilkes craved attention and she did not want to give him the satisfaction of a book about him. Thus, his birth does not happen until page 59. When I read that he tortured animals, beat people up and loved guns from an early age, I realized that he was always going to turn out to be an assassin or serial killer. We all have read the news stories about killers and their childhoods, which predict their future. With an absent father and a mother not interested in raising her children, John Wilkes fit the recipe for becoming a dangerous person.

Booth is an enlightening book about a dysfunctional family that unfortunately changed the course of American history. 3 out of 5 stars.

Lincoln's Lady Spymaster

 

I love the history contained within the pages of Lincoln's Lady Spymaster. This story is about real life Southern belle Elizabeth Van Lew. Elizabeth was an abolitionist who lived in the best mansion in Richmond, Virginia. She supported the Union even though she lived in a Confederate state. She put everything she had at risk in order to assist the Union Army.

The publisher's summary: 

Why would Southern belle Elizabeth Van Lew risk everything in order to spy for the Union Army? The answer was simple: freedom. Right in the heart of the Confederate capital, Elizabeth played the society lady while building a secret espionage network of slaves, Unionists, and prisoners of war.

It would cost her almost everything. Flouting society’s expectations for women, Elizabeth infiltrated prisons and defied public opinion. Her story is filled with vivid personalities, including:

Assassin John Wilkes Booth

Washington socialite and Southern spy Rose Greenhow

Prison escape artist Thomas Rose

Cavalry hero Ulrich Dahlgren

Cross-dressing intelligence agent Frank Stringfellow

From grave robbery to a bold voyage across enemy lines, Elizabeth’s escapades only grew more daring. But it paid off.

By the war’s end, she had agents in both the Confederate War Department and the Richmond White House, and her couriers provided General Ulysses S. Grant with crucial, daily intelligence for his final assault.

With extensive and fresh research, Gerri Willis uncovers the Southern abolitionist heroine that the Lost Cause buried—an unbelievable tale of one woman’s courage, resistance, and liberation. Heartfelt, thrilling, and inspiring, Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster restores a forgotten hero to her rightful place as an American icon.

This is an engaging history of abolitionist Elizabeth Van Lew. Most history books are academic but Willis wrote this book in a historical fiction style. It reads fast. I enjoyed reading about this unknown American heroine. I had no idea that women could be spies. Van Lew lost all her wealth from her advocacy on behalf of slaves and Union soldiers. Her political views were more important to her than money and a position in society. She lived forty more years after the end of the Civil War in near poverty but never regretted her actions during the war.

It was eye opening that women served as soldiers if they wore men's clothing. Women also collected charitable donations for the care of Union soldiers in the amount of $400 million. Very impressive. "Phoebe Pember served as a matron at the nation’s largest military medical center at the time, Richmond’s Chimborazo Hospital. It treated 75,000 patients over the course of the war. Women physicians were rare, but Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was a surgeon who treated soldiers on the front lines."

So how did Van Lew become a spy? She learned information about troop advances from attending balls and dances. The prisoners of war that she attended to left her written messages inside borrowed books with information also. Van Lew was bold enough to visit the wife of Jefferson Davis after hearing Mrs. Davis was seeking a maid. Van Lew offered her one of her servants, which was another way to obtain information. Using servants she forwarded her information to General Ulysses S Grant.

Lincoln's Lady Spymaster is a fantastic history of women during the Civil War, or as some say the War of Northern Aggression. 5 out of 5 stars.