★★★☆☆ The Last Carolina Girl is Megan Church’s debut novel. Set in 1935, Leah Payne is living a happy, simple life in Holden Beach when tragedy strikes, making her an orphan. She is forced to leave the people and town that she loves to live with a foster family in Matthews, N.C.
Category: Book Club Picks
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
★★★★☆ Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors. The Poisonwood Bible makes my list of top ten favorite books of all time, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and Flight Behavior both stand out among the hundreds of books I’ve read in my lifetime. I was thrilled when I heard she had a new book coming out.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
★★★☆☆ In Madeline Miller’s retelling of the Iliad, we see the story of the great Greek warrior, Achilles through the eyes of his friend Patroclus. After being exiled from his homeland, a young Patroclus meets Achilles. We follow Patroclus and Achilles as they grow up, train together, and ultimately, join the quest to capture Troy in honor of the kidnapped Helen of Sparta.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
★★★★★ Elizabeth Zott is a chemist in the early 1960s, a time when it was unheard of for a woman to be in a lab. She receives so little support from the all-male research team at Hastings Institute that she has to resort to stealing beakers to keep her research going. Calvin Evans, the Nobel prize-nominated scientist whose lab Elizabeth pilfers, ends up becoming her romantic partner.
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
4 stars The Christie Affair I picked up The Christie Affair because it is my book club’s pick this month. A historical fiction work, the novel imagines what happened during Agatha Christie’s brief, unexplained disappearance. Told from the point of view of Nan O’Dea, Archie Christie’s mistress, the story opens with a glimpse into O’Dea’s … Continue reading The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
Malibu Rising by Tara Jenkins Reid
4 out of 5 stars photo by Flash Mama Photography My book feeds have been filled with gushing comments and reviews about Tara Jenkins Reid, so I was pretty jazzed when my book club picked Malibu Rising as our pick this month. Malibu Rising is my first TJR book. Set in Malibu in 1983, I … Continue reading Malibu Rising by Tara Jenkins Reid
Verity by Colleen Hoover
4 out of 5 stars Verity was my book club’s most recent pick. All I can say is “Wow, wow, wow!” It pulled me in from the very first page and didn’t let go. The book opens with relatively unknown author Lowen Ashleigh witnessing a gruesome accident on her way to meet with a potential … Continue reading Verity by Colleen Hoover