Michelle

I ugly cried. What felt like a never-ending stream of tears, and just when I thought I was done, I cried some more. Woke up with a sinus headache from all the crying.

Seriously, a beautiful, touching read about books, family, first love, friendship, humanity, empathy, promises, and the nature of evil – the power of words to grow seeds of good or evil.

I am about the same age as the author, and so her cultural references and examples really resonated.

Rafe thinks it will be no big deal to keep the fact that he is gay a secret. He doesn't want his sexuality to be the only thing people see about him. He sees boarding school as a chance for others to know him in other ways. What he discovers is that you can't lie about or avoid a big chunk of how you experience the world, then think you can build a true relationship.

I once told a small lie to protect someone, but the lie grew, and lasted more years than I want to say. The initial lie was manageable, but the continuous lies to keep up the first one were what became hurtful. I had to confess to the person I'd lied to, and no matter how I tried to explain I'd no intention of hurting anyone, the person I'd deceived never quite forgave me. Several months ago, someone else tried to persuade me to tell another small lie which, older and wiser, I knew would end up too big to handle again. I apologized, and said no. Rafe got the lesson a lot quicker.

Rafe is very likable. Even when he is lying or making mistakes, it's easy to be in his corner. I find myself hoping the author will allow us to catch up with him in the future. I'll be the first person in line to buy a copy. (Okay, okay, I meant to say I'll happily preorder it for my Kindle!)

Lastly, the ending was honest, and fair. Which isn't to say it ended exactly how all readers would like, but it felt authentic.

Nice read. I see a lot of people were unhappy that the book ended where it did, but the point of the book was to talk about how these characters reacted to the list, and the culmination was homecoming.

Margo realized the homecoming crown was cheap plastic, that this thing that seemed important and that Jennifer and Margo wanted so much was shoddy, as the principal tried to tell Jennifer. We find out just how damaged Jennifer is, and how she took her pain and inflicted pain on others. Bridget cannot see herself as beautiful, because she is in the grip of her disease. Sarah learns that she really is loved, and hopefully puts aside her need for self-destruction. Abby moves closer to appreciating her sister and got to see through Fern how painful the list could be. Danielle valued herself not to stay with a boy who was not ready to stand by her side, and began to see her strength was beautiful and sexy. Lauren made steps to try to separate herself from her over-possessive mother, but struggles with a desperation to be liked. Candace became kinder, because she realized she'd alienated her friends and saw that Lauren's kindness was a lot of what made her pretty.We also get to see that the list was largely arbitrary -- one person's prejudiced opinion treated like truth.

“Suicide isn't the only way you can lose someone to depression.”

I really liked “Darius,” and the way the author explored depression, family, friendship, and self-esteem. I know what it's like to be “inexplicably” sad in a way that just seems ridiculous and spoiled to people who haven't been there. I know what it's like to say the worst, meanest things to people I care about. I know what it's like to see every human interaction in the darkest, most suspicious light. I know what it's like to feel I've disappointed a parent by just being me.

Anyhow, the Iranian setting was also amazing! I loved how Darius became more himself by meeting this portion of his family, and realizing he belonged to something bigger than himself, when he stopped worrying about being Persian enough.

I thought it was terrific how the reader could see that one of the kids Darius went to school with (in America) wanted to be friends, but Darius wasn't in a place where he could see it, not until he returned home.

Darius's friendship with Sohrab was great, but what made the book for me was the exploration of Darius's relationship with his father, and now what can seem like rejection is really based on that person's pain, their feelings of failure and inadequacy. They're not rejecting you so much as dealing with their own issues.

I have no idea how to pull my thoughts together and review this coherently. My brain was still trying to puzzle it out while I fell asleep, in my dreams, and upon waking. Also, right now. 

The information I can give is this is sad, and maaaaaybe a little hopeful. There are a ton of POV characters and secondary characters to keep track of, and they're largely not interacting with one another, at least not until the end. However best you remember characters and keep them straight is that I'm advising here. 

There, There's ending leaves a lot of questions unanswered and so be prepared for it not to be wrapped up in a neat bow. 

The writing was so good! Sad and poetic, a little funny, a little foreboding. 

(Review originally appeared at Red Adept Reviews.)

Overall: 3 ?? stars

Plot/Storyline: 3 ?? stars.

Simple Jess is more than a simple, no pun intended, love story. The book is just as much about the community of Marrying Stone, in the Ozarks, as it is a story about the growing love between Althea and Jess. I appreciated that, because unless you believed in this community, it would be difficult to understand how a woman could be forced to pick a husband by Christmas.

I think romance novels can be divided into two kinds. First, you have the kind that has beautiful people occupying beautiful spaces, or at least living on the periphery and lamenting their relative poverty. In these books, the reader is supposed to live vicariously, and find the hero every bit as swoon-worthy as does the heroine. The intimate scenes are supposed to titillate.

The second sort of romance is based on respect for common decency and the dignity of the working man and woman. We aren't meant to so much live vicariously through them, their lives might already mirror ours, as we are supposed to root for them to find happiness. Whether or not we'd pick the hero for our own, or whether or not we find the intimate moments to be sexy, our own sense of decency says that this couple should be together. They don't have to be perfect, or perfect for us - they only need to be perfect for each other.

Do I need to point out that this book is in the latter category?

In some ways, Simple Jess reminded me of a much-loved Lavyrle Spencer book called Morning Glory. Both books feature heroes who are underdogs, widowed heroines with children, and a community that can either be a resource or a detriment. Make no mistake: Morning Glory is the superior book, but “Jess” does share in common with it some key virtues.

Overall, I enjoyed the storyline and Althea's slow realization that Jess was a man and not an oversized child, that he was a good dad to her child - the truly annoyingly named Baby-Paisley - and that he was the right groom for her.

Two other storylines focused on her other perspective husbands. I think these enriched the story, even though I had mixed-feelings about one of these men.

While I have few issues here, my mixed feelings toward the one character, as well as a sense that there could be a scene or two more in the “B” storylines, took something away from my enjoyment. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure other readers would prefer the opposite - a tighter focus on Jess and Althea.

The story clearly implies that what happens involved a little heavenly intervention, but it's not a big focus.

Characters: 3 1/2 stars.

While I liked Jess and Althea - more so Jess - and found myself moved by the scenes in his point of view, I didn't enjoy all the secondary characters. There's a secondary hero named Eben. He is set up to be a suitor to Althea, but it's clear that he is meant for the shop-keeper's daughter. As is not unusual for romance novels, he's a bit of a jerk. Of course, also in the tradition of romance novels, he repents. I still don't like him. Perhaps this is because of the lack of time with him, but he just seems to be schizophrenic. This means that I feel I spent both too much and too little time with him.

Morsi did a terrific job with Jess, showing how his thought processes were slower, but making it clear that he was capable of making his own decisions. I was touched by the greater care her took to not only do things right, but also to do the right thing.

In the words of Baby-Paisley, in a baby-talk free moment, “He's right bout lots of stuff. Just cause he ain't smart, doan mean that he's dumb.”

Writing Style: 3 ?? stars.

I debated whether or not to put the next issue under character or writing style. I'm going with writing style. Althea has a toddler son named Baby-Paisley. I don't actually, when I think of his actions, dislike the character, not even in his brattiest moments. What drives me bonkers is his phonetically rendered baby talk. B-P says “pwease” a lot. A whole lot. He laments not being allowed to dwink coffee. And then he joins with Jess to get his mother a Cwissmas pwesent. (Well, once in a while he slips - or Morsi does - and he actually says present.)

I have absolutely no choice but to reference Dorothy Parker's classic review of The House at Pooh Corner. (Parker referred to herself in reviews as Constant Reader.)

And it is that word `hummy,' my darlings, that marks the first place in The House at Pooh Corner at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up.

I also found the language to be repetitive on occasion. If a character called a woman “sugartail” once per scene, he seemingly called her it half a dozen times. I wanted the woman in question to bop him on the back of his head to unstick the needle on his phonograph. (See, kids, in the olden days before MP3s...)

However, the author also brought to life a community and a way of life, and that takes genuine and undeniable skill. I felt like I witnessed many of the hardships and charms of living in Marrying Stone.

Formatting: 2 1/4 stars.

This was a disaster, particularly when you see that a traditional publisher - Jove Books - was responsible for this. Simple Jess was originally published in the 1990s, before ebooks were “a thing.” Jove either got a lot of requests for this book to be available in that format, or wanted to make it available because the author's name is well-known. Older books take more care in conversion - and this was pretty much a mess, with weird paragraph breaks, spaces and divisions in words, and wonky alignment. I consider this inexcusable. I think the only reason why I'm rating it so high is that it's a shame that this has to bring down the overall rating for Ms. Morsi's book.

I'll acknowledge that, over the course of the book, I learned to auto-correct the issues and block most of them out on a conscious level, but that should be unnecessary.

There's another Morsi book I was looking to get when it came to Kindle. I see it's now available, but at 11.99 and with this as an example of the lack of care, I'll have to see - and certainly sample.

Yes, offensive at times, but also laugh-out-loud funny.

I started this at some point last year. I was in a hotel room. I can't narrow it down further. I then forgot about it. But the portion I'd read was pleasant.

I stumbled across it again during a sorting out of books. I had to start it again.

Anyhow, I related to Nina's social anxiety. I, and a lot of other people, need this to be better understood. I related to those moments the most.

I appreciated the unabashed celebration of geekiness, books, and trivia. These people are my people!

For me, there were too many characters and plot lines for the author to give them the time and justice needed. She wanted Nina to be thrust into a family with tons of members, but because there was no time to deal with all these people, they were just there, taking up a bit of space. Described, even placed on a family tree, with the family tree discussed, but that was all.

One of the plots had this really predictable solution, that the characters even acknowledged as the predictable trajectory. And then that was exactly what happened. So, that felt anti-climatic.

I did not like the romantic relationship. I related so strongly to Nina's anxiety that the “hero” consistently doing things that would have made my anxiety worse, not seeking to understand her struggle, taking really personally her need for alone time, when there is nothing personal about that, made me unable to be optimistic for them as a couple.

The book seemed to portray Nina as being in the wrong for her struggles, expecting her to prove her love by risking public humiliation at the hands of the man who was ghosting her, as a penance. I mean, a guy who ghosts someone with anxiety is not exactly the pick of the litter.

To be clear, this is a pretty lighthearted read, perhaps too lighthearted when combined with all the under-explored plots, and so maybe I shouldn't take the romance seriously. However, I can't help but think people who struggle with anxiety, who already might feel they're at fault, don't need that reinforced by suggesting that the path to love involves a man who cannot allow for respecting his partner's needs.

Okay, she has a firm book night. He gets offended she will not go on a date with him that night. He is literally like the guy on the bus who won't shut up when you're reading because in his mind he isn't interrupting anything. Ending up with this guy is not a happy ending. Sorry.

A panty dropper for me would be him sending over some hot chocolate, a book mark, and a throw, with a note that he can't wait for their future date.

Marry HIM, reader ... Marry him!

Truly one of my better recent reads and perhaps one of my top romance reads ever which is almost completely due to the heroine.

Louise/Low Down hasn't had an easy life or any practical knowledge of how to be a lady. Our hero marries her, because he does the equivalent of draw the short straw. A group of men in a mining camp owe Low Down their lives and tell her she can have whatever she wants. She finally and reluctantly tells them that she wants a baby. She didn't technically ask for a husband, but it was part and parcel of the time.

The majority of the book deals with Low Down meeting her new Max's family and building a life with him. Max also had some explaining to do to the fiance he'd left behind, and there are interesting complications on that front.

It's easy to root for Low Down and believe she deserves happiness and there were a number of times when her vulnerability brought tears to my eyes. That's the kind of book, the kind of romance I want to read, rather than a generic kewpie doll heroine who is blandly nice or randomly “spit fiery.”

Good read, will remember it fondly.

Eleanor Oliphant, the heroine of Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine, won by heart by stating, “You can???t have too much dog in a book.”

You really can't have too much dog in a book.

This is the second time in a short period of time when i fell utterly under the spell of a story about a woman/goddess/heroine dealing with the trauma of a cruel childhood with by seeking solitude with the exception of a fierce and loving animal companion by her side. The first book was Circe, by Madeline Miller.

These books are wringing me out emotionally, Eleanor Oliphant included, though I read that last year.

I don't think Deerskin is the right read for everyone, but what I loved about it, and loved about Circe – well, I loved a lot of things about both – is the author takes her time with the story, and her main character. This could have been a much faster paced novel, and that would have contained its own advantages.

Instead, we stay with Lissar in her deep pain and sorrow, and we stay with her during a brief period of peace, and we stay with her when she finds her strength once again. The result is ... whew ... a deeply moving experience. Other people might just find it plodding.

But not everyone wants that, or always wants that. I am the queen of gauging my mood to decide what to read. There are times when a book like this, or Deerskin/Lissar, or Eleanor Oliphant, would have been too much for me.

Certainly, a reader should be advised that the book takes very seriously sexual abuse and the trauma done by a horrible parent. I read a 1 star that disagreed, and I can't comprehend that since Robin McKinley, in my opinion, gives her all to saying some pains are deep, persistent, and crippling.

But, my dear, my poor child, don???t you understand yet that healing carries its own responsibilities? Your battle was from death to life no less than Ash???s is now; would you deny it? But you have not accepted your own gift to yourself, your gift of your own life. Ash is looking forward to running through meadows again; can you not give yourself leave to run through meadows too.

But to return to the no such thing as too much dog, the relationship between Lissar and her dog Ash is at the heart of this book – their love, connection, willingness to live and die for one another. So amazing!

It is a much more straightforward thing to be a dog, and a dog???s love, once given, is not reconsidered; it just is, like sunlight or mountains. It is for human beings to see the shadows behind the light, and the light behind the shadows. It is, perhaps, why dogs have people, and people have dogs.

There is a romance here as well, built on shared connection, built over time, built on kindness. It's better than all the stories of love at first sight combined, because it's about a love that heals and endures.

I do not have to understand, he said. I have seen the scars you carry, and I love you. If you and Ash cannot run quite so far as you used to because of old wounds, then we will run less far together. ???I was never a runner anyway,??? he murmured aloud, and Lissar stirred but made no answer.

If I have to complain, although the book is chock full of love of dogs, much disdain is given to lap dogs, and at least one comment involved the hero worrying a lesser dog might be bred to a purebred. Mutts and little dogs are amazing too!

Anyhow, I think I need to read something super light now, super silly. I'm exhausted from too many emotions.

TW: non-explicit sexual abuse of minors.

I was suggested this book by my bibliologist at MyTBR – in this case TBR stands for tailored book recommendations. I thought it would be fun to tell someone all about my book preferences and see what they would recommend ... and it totally was.

One of the things I wanted was books with strong female characters, thrillers and mysteries, historical stuff.

This Sherlock Holmes retelling for me. I loved the Victorian setting. I've read histories of the time, biographies of Queen Victoria, and recently read The Five about the women murdered by Jack the Ripper. The Five revealed in depth the overwhelmingly odds stacked against a woman in that time if she didn't have the protection of a man or respectability.

This is clearly the place and time where A Study is set, and Charlotte definitely deals with that reality. The tone is fairly light, and I of course didn't worry that Charlotte would come to real harm, but I enjoyed how it echoed the truth of the time.

The mystery was pretty good. I don't think it was the main reason I enjoyed the story, which for me would be the characters and setting. Without spoiling anything, I appreciated how it dealt with sensitive matters of import as opposed to having the motive be frivolous and unrelatable. What would you kill for is always an interesting question. What I'm saying is I liked the resolution, but the journey was more fine than fascinating.

One of the main characters is an Inspector Treadles. I am very interested in where his story goes, and how he evolves. He is a great blend of progressive and a man of his time, with limiting beliefs about women, and their agency. I want to know how continued contact with an intelligent, independent woman shapes him – and his marriage – going forward.

I also love Charlotte's sister, Livy, and her confidante Mrs. Watson. Livy is every bit as interesting as Charlotte, and more trapped in her life than Charlotte, which I don't imagine will continue for too long. I want to see what her future holds.

I like what Mrs. Watson brings to the table, and the tools and insights she offers.

Charlotte herself is of course perceptive, but not without blind spots of flaws. She is cool-headed, but also capable of love, and capable of compassion that can lead her into making mistakes. I love that she loves fashion, and how that and her angelic appearance allows for people to underestimate her. I think she wears the clothes she does for her own enjoyment, and I think her efforts to keep it at 1 and 1/2 chins, or whatever, is based on what she and she alone likes to see in the mirror. I am a fan of stories that don't claim that the only women who can be heroes are ones that fully emulate traditionally masculine ideals.

It was a little challenging keeping the characters straight, since I feel I should come up with a criticism. That is the thing that bothered me the most.

I was really into this retelling of Arabian Nights and found Shazi to be a really strong, appealing character. I'm actually waiting to read the next book, which is what I do when I want to look forward to something.

I've seen the HBO thing, but still really enjoyed reading this. Very moving ending, and even surprisingly thought provoking.

(Review originally published at Red Adept Reviews.)

Very Bad Men, by Harry Dolan was my inaugural “borrow” from my local library through my Kindle. I ended up buying the book so that my husband could read it at some point. This worked out very well for the author, my husband, and Amazon. Okay, to be honest, I wasn't actually finished reading it by the end of the lending period. It's the curse of switching off between multiple books.

Overall: 4 ?? stars.

Plot/Storyline: 4 1/2 stars

I selected this book because, well, it was one of the ones actually available from the library, and because Ann Arbor caught my attention. While I'm a Minnesotan these days, I'm from Michigan originally. I like reading about places I know, don't you?

And, I enjoyed this novel quite a bit, particularly the character of David Loogan. He gets less time than you might imagine from the description, being only one point of view character. Although, his portions are the only ones told in first person. His voice was consistently amusing.

I've never felt a need to figure out the whole mystery, I want to be surprised. I think that even if I tried to figure out what was what, I wouldn't have seen a few things coming. The author did made me say, “No WAY!” in the best sense possible more than once. And, a few times I said it because a plot twist of point strained credibility, but I forgave since I had a good time, and since the author really did tie up his loose ends.

As you can tell from the description, this is not the first book in the series, but this seemed to stand alone. I imagine I'll read the first one at some point, and the next one as well.

I even enjoyed the title. The people you might assume to be the bad men changes after a while.

Characters: 4 3/4 stars

As mentioned, I enjoyed David Loogan. I also enjoyed Sarah, his girlfriend's daughter, who can probably continue the series when Loogan is old and doddering. Come to think of it, I think the author excelled at characterization. Mysteries tend to be a little more plot-driven, and that's the case here, with some characters being perhaps a little stock. However, even in those cases there were moments of surprise or entertainment.

We know from the beginning that the man killing people is Andrew Lark, but he's not pure villain, and Mr. Dolan reveals his story slowly and imbues him with a strange decency. I doubt the reader will walk away thinking he is the biggest villain of this piece.

There is a female character who I didn't find nearly as charming as did David Loogan, but he might have come around to my side by the end.

Writing Style: 4 3/4 stars

Intelligent, but uncomplicated style. Mr. Dolan comes across as a natural storyteller.

Editing: (No score)

I have to nit-pick. A woman in this book had a missing cat. She described him, a male, as a faded calico. Calicos, as well as Tortoiseshells - dilute would be the term for the faded - are almost always female. The only way a male can have these colors is if he has XXY chromosomes instead of XY and then Roscoe - the kitty in question - would probably be, um, “shooting blanks.” But, I can't quite call it a mistake. And I just put Roscoe's business out on the internet... Of course, if you're reading this and are a female cat, you could have a great night on the town with Roscoe with little worry about “repercussions.”

This was an overall enjoyable, laugh-out-loud funny read. I don't think it was consistent all the way through. The early, “unknown” years in the life of Jesus came across more interesting than when the author put his own spin on the story we all know.

It's interesting how in recent years writers and filmmakers have shifted to making Jesus a more human and understandable character, stressing the humanity rather than the divinity. This book fits really well in that tradition.

For some reason, I spent the whole book picturing Biff as played by Jeff Anderson from the Kevin Smith movies – something about the know-it-all outrageous quippery.

As much as you can only take this book so seriously, there are touching moments that make you really hope that Joshua did have a good (smart-alecy) friend to help teach him patience.

My first book of 2023! There are authors I know I can count on, and Beverly Jenkins is one of them. I love her characters and her stories and how each is written with the compassion – that you help people when you can. 

Our couple is Sable and Raimond. They meet at a Union camp in the waning days of the war – she's fleeing slavery, and he runs the camp. Eventually there's a misunderstanding where he thinks she's a Rebel spy. The story then moves to New Orleans, and Raimond's family. 

Her characters go through adversity, or have gone through it. After all, her heroines and heroes are Black, living often in the South during or after the Civil War. But Beverly Jenkins also shows her characters persevering, finding joy, finding power, and triumphing against those who wish them harm.

The author never goes to ridiculous lengths to come up with a misunderstanding to keep our couple apart, or takes a desire for revenge for a broken heart too far. The books have these things, but the main conflict is usually the couple against the world, not the couple against each other. 

I've read another book in the Le Veq family series, Rebel, as well as other books that also tie into this world, like Forbidden. I'm not sure there's a bad place to start with this author. You can even do a contemporary, like Rare Danger!

What a great cover, too. 

It took me a stupid amount of time to get around to reading this. Spicy, fun, beauty and the beast story.

???Symbolism gives folks hope. But I???ve come to learn that symbolism is a threat to actual change???it???s a chance for those in power to say, ???Look how far you have come??? rather than admitting, ???Look how long we???ve stopped you from getting here.???

Beautiful cover. Beautiful truthful story told in a heartfelt way. The audiobook is read by the author. I loved hearing about George's supportive family.

I couldn't get beyond the plot being constrained by a basic, easily fixed, misunderstanding. Heroine, in a moment of weakness, deceives hero. Hero finds out in about 5 minutes, but doesn't tell heroine he knows. Valuable time spent with her trying to find the courage and him trying to angle her into confessing. Then, when she goes to tell him, he stops her, milking the situation more. I think I could enjoy this writer, but I'd have to try another book.

This is everything I love most in a novel, particularly a YA novel – important issues, strong female characters, girls looking out for other girls, and strong friendships.

Every time someone steps forward to report they've been sexually assaulted, my heart goes out to them, and I admire their bravery. I hope they find justice and healing, and I hope they're believed. But I also wonder what it would be like to be put in Mara's situation – where you love both the accuser or the accused, or even just the latter.

How difficult it must be to love someone, to have had a healthy relationship with someone, to have that someone be someone you trust and who has been a force of good in your life, and to be confronted with the possibility that they've harmed someone so profoundly.

As much as I advocate believing the victim, I understand that it might be near impossible to do in this one instance, as illustrated in the character of Mara's mother, who is feminist and who has taught Mara to be feminist, but who cannot conceive of her son being guilty. Mara is able to come to perhaps a different conclusion than many might due to knowing her brother so well and because she has her own experiences related to the core issue.

Without giving too much away, I appreciated how Mara kept hearing in her head a derogatory phrase used toward her, and it was in realizing another girl was none of those things and still vulnerable to sexual assault, she was able to realize that she wasn't those things either.

Mara also grapples with still being in love with her ex, and a growing attraction to someone she'd never considered before, and this was also well written. The reasons for her break-up, the reasons she quickly grew close to someone else, and why the story line resolved the way it did.

I highly recommend Girl Made of Stars!

I have a few small nitpicks.

I found the occasional word choices odd and slightly incorrect. At one point, Mara avoided eye contact with a lake, which goes against my understanding of the term. :)

Mara and Charlie start a group called Empower for people interested in feminism and LGBTQ issues, and yet non-binary is treated like a new term, even though I think it should have been on Mara's radar for ... reasons.

Not a bad book, but certainly a reminder or how times change. Nora Ephron's preferred word for lesbian is dyke, for instance, and she uses it a lot, as if the word is inherently funny. Gay men, referred to as homosexuals, are treated as inherently promiscuous. A black woman is called high yellow, and said to resemble a poppy seed cookie. A Latina therapist is referred to as food a lot – one being a refried taco.

I don't know. It seems to me that these slightly backward moments due to time marching on shouldn't be what I take away, and yet... I have no feelings toward this book beyond this either than mild amusement.

Touching story that reminds us that, unfortunately, there's still a lot of anger and prejudice out there. While things have changed since Jim Crow, we still have work to do.

This is a brutal read, a story that fills me with anger, outrage, and despair.

I am 51 years old. While I was not alive for these events, I've lived long enough to understand the truth of how our perceptions of abuse, and who is capable of being an abuser, has evolved. Equal for me to the facts of the case was the material about the invention and evolution of policies, procedures, and professions put in place to protect children.

Lord knows children are still so vulnerable and at risk, but there was a time within memory of many when children had no safety net at all. Today, this story would be an epic failure of the system ... back then there was hardly a system at all.

Before I criticize the book, I want to say I felt like Sherlock Holmes when I read the name and location of a relative of the murderer, and realized this woman (June Bol) was the mother of the guy who invented Little Free Libraries, Todd Bol. She was one of the few people in this book who tried to protect children, and she raised a son who – as an homage to her – started a program that's enriching communities and changing lives. Her legacy stands in sharp contrast to that of Lois Jurgens, the murderer of Dennis, the abuser of other vulnerable children.

Okay, the central story was fascinating, as was the aforementioned history of the treatment and handling of child abuse. The rest was so dull, so dry, so unnecessary. The founders of White Bear Lake probably didn't care this much about the minutiae of the founding and running of White Bear Lake. Locals were mentioned for pretty much no purpose, but we know the author did his research. There could have been an interesting thread there about the rise and fall of the optimism and prospects for this town, but instead of it being merely a thread or a ribbon, it was an – I don't know – absurdly large handkerchief.

This will go down as one of my favorite books ever. I have cried so ridiculously hard and felt so much. It's weird to say I feel like kindred spirits with a goddess, I get it, but the pull between her need for solitude and company, her closeness to animals, her search for connection, her sadness at the cruelties of others, her fear and devastation at loss, only to discover that's part of living ... I am just overwhelmed with love for this book, even though it's left me vulnerable to emotions I've suppressed.

I cannot recommend this story enough, but if you're like me you'll need a tissue or ten!