The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

A special thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. The taverna is the only place that Kostas and Defne can meet in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic and chilli peppers, creeping honeysuckle, and in the centre, growing through a cavity in the roof, a fig tree. The fig tree witnesses their hushed, happy meetings; their silent, surreptitious departures. The fig tree is there, too, when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns - a botanist, looking for native species - looking, really, for Defne. The two lovers return to the taverna to take a clipping from the fig tree and smuggle it into their suitcase, bound for London. Years later, the fig tree in the garden is their daughter Ada's only knowledge of a home she has never visited, as she seeks to untangle years of secrets and silence, and find her place in the world.

Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees moves back and forth in both time and place, and is split into three narratives: 2010s London, 1974s Cyprus, and the fig tree. The use of a tree will polarize readers—some will love its beautiful passages and others will be detached. But one thing is for certain, the writing is transcendent and stunning. Shafak's passages are vivid with detail and sweeping prose.  

The characters are complex and rich with detail and the supporting cast is just as strong—especially Aunt Meryem. With a story that is permeated with pathos, she is dynamic and refreshing. And although they are decades apart, Aunt Meryem mirrors teenage Ada and their relationship blossoms much to Ada's chagrin. 

The Island of Missing Trees is beautifully written and mesmerizing. With branches of grief, love, faith, nature, and home, it’s only fitting that one of its narrators is a fig tree. 

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ELIF SHAFAK is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist. She has published 19 books, 12 of which are novels, including her latest The Island of Missing Trees. She is a bestselling author in many countries around the world and her work has been translated into 55 languages. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize; and was Blackwell’s Book of the Year. The Forty Rules of Love was chosen by BBC among the 100 Novels that Shaped Our World. The Architect's Apprentice was chosen for the Duchess of Cornwall's inaugural book club, The Reading Room. 

Shafak holds a PhD in political science and she has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She also holds a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College.

An advocate for women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of expression, Shafak is an inspiring public speaker and twice TED Global speaker. 

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

A special thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Edelweiss for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work.

A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love.

Master storyteller Alice Hoffman revisits the Owens family in her spellbinding conclusion to the Practical Magic series. Hoffman's writing is bewitching and unforgettable, as are her characters—they are vivid, incredibly crafted, and fully fleshed out. 

Magical. Beautiful. Mesmerizing. Steeped in the history of witchcraft, The Book of Magic is a stunning celebration of mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, and anyone who has ever been in love. 

Complete with magical recipes, conflict, and witchcraft, this gift of a novel can be read as a standalone, but you will want to devour all of the books in the series. Hoffman is at her finest and you will be under her spell. 

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ALICE HOFFMAN has a BA from Adelphi University and an MA in creative writing from Stanford University.

Hoffman's first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.

Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Practical Magic was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, At Risk, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.

Hoffman has written a number of novels for young adults, including Aquamarine, Green Angel, and the New York Times bestseller The Ice Queen. In 2007 Little Brown published the teen novel Incantation, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year.

Her works have been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Hoffman's novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest. Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a film starring Emma Roberts. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.

She currently lives in Boston and New York. 

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

A special thank you to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Owens family bloodline begins with Maria in the 1600s. Abandoned as a baby in a snowy field in rural England, Maria is discovered by Hannah Owens who was an orphan herself. Hannah is known not only for her kindness and herbal knowledge, but also for the fact that she could read and write—a rare skill for a working woman from the country. She recognizes that Maria has a gift and teaches the girl all about the "Unnamed Arts." The first lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.

When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. It is here where she invokes the curse that will haunt her family for centuries to come and where she learns the rules of magic. These are the lessons that Maria will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters.

Magic Lessons (the pre-prequel to Practical Magic and the prequel to The Rules of Magic) takes place in 17th-century and centres around the Owens matriarch, Maria. Readers follow her journey from England, to the Caribbean, and Salem, Massachusetts. Maria learns how to unlock the power of magic, including the infamous Owens family curse—any man who loves an Owens woman is doomed.

What I love most about these characters is that they are all strong and powerful women—women that are feared by a world that is not ready for them. Hoffman excels when she is writing about sisterhood and the bond between women. At the heart of this series is love and these are exactly the types of stories that we need more of. 

There is going to be a fourth and final novel in the Practical Magic series that will primarily be about Sally's daughters as grown ups, and breaking the curse that was called down. I literally can't wait!

Magical. Beautiful.  Mesmerizing. Steeped in the history of witchcraft, Magic Lessons is Hoffman at her finest. 

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ALICE HOFFMAN has a BA from Adelphi University and an MA in creative writing from Stanford University.

Hoffman's first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.

Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Practical Magic was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, At Risk, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.

Hoffman has written a number of novels for young adults, including Aquamarine, Green Angel, and the New York Times bestseller The Ice Queen. In 2007 Little Brown published the teen novel Incantation, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year.

Her works have been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Hoffman's novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest. Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a film starring Emma Roberts. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.

She currently lives in Boston and New York. 

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

A special thank you to Libro.fm Audiobooks and Macmillan Audio for an audiobook listening copy.

It's New Year's Eve 1992. Oona Lockhart will turn 19 at midnight and the year ahead holds many opportunities: she could tour with her band and be with her boyfriend, Dale, or continue her studies in London, England.

When the countdown to midnight begins, Oona faints and wakes up decades later as a fifty-one-year-old. Oona learns that every year on her birthday, she will wake up and be another age completely at random. And so it begins, Oona is out of order.

Margarita Montimore that was incredible! I loved decade hopping and bonus points for mentioning Depeche Mode, my favourite band ever!

Having Oona as a young adult who is trapped in bodies that don't match her age, or her life experience, was a unique take on the unreliable narrator. We experience everything at the same time that she does. This also means that the reader never gets to spend very much time with any of the Oonas with the exception of the spirit of nineteen-year-old Oona.

As humans, we measure things in life chronologically, but this book forces the main character to focus on the present moment and just be. We never find out why Oona time travels, and also how it works—why is this happening to her? But I did like how it made the book unpredictable and unexpected.

Montimore uses her full cast of well-written characters. They help guide Oona in all aspects of her life and don't give too much away. Although Oona has a few stumbles, her mother, Kenzie, and Madeleine allow her to exist, grow, and be present in the moment that she happens to be experiencing.

A fantastic concept that was flawlessly executed. How Montimore kept everything straight in this high-concept novel was impressive. Oona Out of Order was mesmerizing, nostalgic, and fresh.

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MARGARITA MONTIMORE has a BFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. She worked for over a decade in publishing and social media before deciding to focus on her dream of being a full-time writer.

Montimore lives in New Jersey with her husband and dog.

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

A special thank you to Edelweiss, NetGalley, and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hoffman's latest work transports us to Berlin in 1941. It is during this time, one of the darkest in humanity, that three women must rely on their courage in order to survive.

In order to keep her twelve-year-old daughter away from the Nazi regime, Hanni Kohn sends her away to stay with some distant cousins. She visits an illustrious rabbi to seek his help. While pleading her case to the Rabbi's wife, their daughter, Ettie, overhears and secretly offers help. Ettie creates a golem—a mystical Jewish creature—to protect Lea at all costs. When Ava, the golem, is brought to life, she is forever connected to Ettie her maker, and Lea, the girl she is created to keep safe.

With evil lurking everywhere, the girls face unsurmountable loss, and sacrifice so much for love.

We meet some extraordinary characters that take us on an astonishing journey of love and loss, while demonstrating incredible courage and resilience. Paramount is a mother's love for her daughter and the lengths a mother will go to protect her child. All of this is sprinkled with Hoffman's signature magical realism.

This is a fresh take on the Holocaust and there are elements that Hoffman shines a light on, like the border crossings of many children, that many are not aware of. She educates and elevates her readers. Hoffman's writing transcends. It is elegant and haunting, and quite simply, stunning.

In this book, all roads lead past the Angel of Death and love is forever.

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ALICE HOFFMAN has a BA from Adelphi University and an MA in creative writing from Stanford University.

Hoffman's first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.

Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Practical Magic was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, At Risk, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.

Hoffman has written a number of novels for young adults, including Aquamarine, Green Angel, and the New York Times bestseller The Ice Queen. In 2007 Little Brown published the teen novel Incantation, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year.

Her works have been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Hoffman's novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest. Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a film starring Emma Roberts. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.

She currently lives in Boston and New York. 

Books and Brunch with Lauren B.Davis and Thea Lim

Author photo sources: Penguin Random House Canada. Other photos by Girl Well Read—do not use without written permission.

Blue Heron Books hosted "Books & Brunch" featuring Giller Prize nominee, Thea Lim, and Lauren B. Davis. The ladies gave a reading and were asked about their inspirations and themes of their latest works. A question and answer period, as well as a book signing, followed.

Lim's work, An Ocean of Minutes is a dystopian time-travel story about migration and displacement. A fatal virus has infected a number of Americans and there is a cure that has been invented in the future. If loved ones agree to time travel (forward), the state will fund the treatment for those left behind. She says that as humans, we are time bound. In this novel, time travel is forward only, yet so much of the book is about recouping the past. Lim based her visa system on the US visa system, more specifically the O-1visa.

Polly makes a plan to meet up with Frank, her love, at an agreed upon spot at a specific time in the future. Photos won't survive time travel, so Polly takes Frank's baseball cards—they appear to be practical in that they hold some value, but to Polly, they are more personally valuable.

How did she decide which pop culture references to include? 

Everything resets after 1981. Lim liked the Dionne Warwick lyrics "A fool will lose tomorrow reaching back for yesterday." Also, Mel Gibson was on the rise in the 80s. There is a sense of collective nostalgia with pop culture.

The cost of love, nostalgia, what is the right way to let go?

Lim says that the reader decides.

An Ocean of Minutes

America is in the grip of a deadly flu pandemic. When Frank catches the virus, his girlfriend Polly will do whatever it takes to save him, even if it means risking everything. She agrees to a radical plan—time travel has been invented in the future to thwart the virus. If she signs up for a one-way-trip into the future to work as a bonded labourer, the company will pay for the life-saving treatment Frank needs. Polly promises to meet Frank again in Galveston, Texas, where she will arrive in twelve years.

But when Polly is re-routed an extra five years into the future, Frank is nowhere to be found. Alone in a changed and divided America, with no status and no money, Polly must navigate a new life and find a way to locate Frank, to discover if he is alive, and if their love has endured.

THEA LIM has received multiple awards and fellowships for her work, including artists' grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. She holds an MFA from the University of Houston and she previously served as nonfiction editor at Gulf Coast.

She grew up in Singapore and lives in Toronto, where she is a professor of creative writing.

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Lauren B. Davis' The Grimoire of Kensington Market is a story about addiction and family. It is linked to grammar in that it becomes both a book and a place.

Davis was inspired by The Snow Queen, a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Set in Toronto, there is an opioid crisis—the city is being ravaged by a drug called Elysium which induces a dream-like state. She uses the fairy tale as a way to bring the audience in. Davis is also no stranger to addiction and was very candid about her own struggles with alcohol. Lauren revealed that she lost two brothers to suicide—both had struggled with alcohol and drug addiction.

Davis incorporates lots of animals in her books. Her tagline for the book is, “The dog doesn’t die!” She is appalled at how many writers kill off dogs.

When did you want to be a writer?

Lauren, without hesitation, said she always wanted to be a writer.

The Grimoire of Kensington Market

The downtown core of Toronto is being consumed by Elysium, a drug that allows its users to slip through the permeable edges of this world and then consumes them utterly. Peddled by the icy Srebrenka, few have managed to escape the drug and its dealer. But Maggie has.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," The Grimoire of Kensington Market is the story of Maggie, guardian of The Grimoire bookstore, which expands and contracts as stories are born . . . or die. Only those who are destined to find The Grimoire enter through its front door. But one day a messenger arrives with a mysterious note that reads, "follow me." The next day, another note arrives and then another. The messages, Maggie realizes, are from her brother, Kyle, who has fallen under the influence of the Elysium. Kyle has gone too far into the Silver World and needs his sister, a recovering addict herself, to rescue him.

Driven by guilt and love in equal measure, Maggie sets off on a quest where bands of robbers stalk the woods, tavern keepers weave clouds to hide mountains and caribou fly on the Northern Lights. A journey where dreams and the dead both come to life.

LAUREN B. DAVIS is a Canadian author. She is best known for her novels Our Daily Bread, which was named one of the best books of 2011 by The Globe and Mail and The Boston Globe and The Empty Room, a semi-autobiographical novel about alcoholism.

She currently lives in Princeton, New Jersey with her husband and their dog.

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

A special thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hoffman revisits the Owens family in this prequel to Practical Magic.  For hundreds of years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town.  It all started in 1620 when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for falling in love with the wrong man.  Hundreds of years later in New York City, Susanna Owens knows all too well the dangers of falling in love, and tries to spare her three children from the curse.  This means no walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no books about magic, and most importantly, no falling in love!  Franny, her most difficult child, has hair the colour of blood, and skin as white as milk; Jet is a dark-haired shy beauty who can read other people's thoughts; and Vincent, irresistible to women, is full of trouble.

The Owens children visit their Aunt Isabelle at her home in Massachusetts where they uncover family secrets, and the truth of who they really are.  Feared and revered, it is made clear that this next generation of Owens will not be exempt from the scorn of the townspeople, that is until they want something that only magic can cure.
Back in New York City, each of the Owens children begins on their own journey of discovery while trying to avoid the family curse by not falling in love.  They cannot escape the magic, just as they cannot escape love and the bonds they share.

Thrilling and magical, this beautiful work sets the table—the sisters grow up to be the aunts from Practical Magic, while Vincent leaves behind the legacy that will define the Owens women.  Rich with imagery and prose, Hoffman sprinkles pop-culture and history in this beautiful story of love, loss, and magic, and I simply did not want it to end.

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ALICE HOFFMAN has a BA from Adelphi University and an MA in creative writing from Stanford University.

Hoffman's first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.

Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Practical Magic was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, At Risk, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.

Hoffman has written a number of novels for young adults, including Aquamarine, Green Angel, and the New York Times bestseller The Ice Queen. In 2007 Little Brown published the teen novel Incantation, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year.

Her works have been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Hoffman's novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest. Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a film starring Emma Roberts. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.

She currently lives in Boston and New York. 

White Horses by Alice Hoffman

A special thank you to NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For those of you who read my reviews, you know how much I love Alice Hoffman's words. Hoffman could teach a master class. You know those online seminars that you see advertised on social media sites? Well, Alice Hoffman should lead one.

Teresa's mother, Dina, fills her head with bedtime stories of an Aria—a dark-eyed fearless hero on a white horse who would come and rescue her. Aria's are rule breakers and so is her brother, Silver, who Teresa comes to believe is one of these fabled men. Instead of a fairytale, Teresa and Silver's relationship is dark and dysfunctional, not unlike her mother's relationship with her father, King Connors. The women in this story are swayed by myth and folklore instead of realizing that they can rescue themselves and be their own hero. It doesn't help that women can't seem to resist Silver, this only fuels Teresa's belief of him being an Aria.

This story may not sit well with all readers due to the incestuous relationship that is the underlying current of the novel. There is so much more going on here, Hoffman explores when when fantasy collides with reality and its repercussions. Teresa must change who she loves and rewrite her story into something real and not forbidden and taboo before she loses herself in myth and fantasy.

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ALICE HOFFMAN has a BA from Adelphi University and an MA in creative writing from Stanford University.

Hoffman's first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.

Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Practical Magic was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, At Risk, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.

Hoffman has written a number of novels for young adults, including Aquamarine, Green Angel, and the New York Times bestseller The Ice Queen. In 2007 Little Brown published the teen novel Incantation, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year.

Her works have been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Hoffman's novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest. Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a film starring Emma Roberts. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.

She currently lives in Boston and New York. 

Property Of, The Drowning Season, Fortune's Daughter, and At Risk: Four Novels in One Collection by Alice Hoffman

A special thank you to NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Those of you that actually read this blog, my online reviews, or follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Pintrest would know that Alice Hoffman is my favourite author, so to be asked to review this collection was an absolute pleasure.

This eBook features four of Hoffman's early works: her first two novels (Property Of and The Drowning Season) as well as two from almost a decade later (Fortune's Daughter, and At Risk). It is a wonderful compilation of her stunning writing.

I would give this four-in-one collection a 5/5.  It is a must-read for any fan, and would be a brilliant introduction to Alice Hoffman for those who haven't yet lost themselves in the pages of one of her literary masterpieces.

ALICE HOFFMAN has a BA from Adelphi University and an MA in creative writing from Stanford University.

Hoffman's first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.

Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Practical Magic was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, At Risk, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.

Hoffman has written a number of novels for young adults, including Aquamarine, Green Angel, and the New York Times bestseller The Ice Queen. In 2007 Little Brown published the teen novel Incantation, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year.

Her works have been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Hoffman's novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest. Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a film starring Emma Roberts. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.

She currently lives in Boston and New York. 

Valley of the Moon by Melanie Gideon

A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is told from the perspective of two narrators who are separated by nearly a century.  It is 1975, and we meet single mother Lux Lysander, who lives paycheque to paycheque on one floor of a a three-story house with her son, Benno, and roommate Rhonda. Lux goes on a solo camping trip to Sonoma, also know as the Valley of the Moon and is transported through time during a full moon to 1906 by way of a dense fog. She ends up in a small, well-run farming community led by our second narrator, Joseph Bell. Bell is a Londoner that values men and women alike and has deemed all jobs as equal. He founded "Greengage Farm" in honour of his late mother who committed suicide after his father has her committed the second time. This community is stuck in time after an earthquake hits and leaves it behind a dense fog that you cannot pass through.  Lux seems to be the only one who can pass through the fog and time and does so whenever there is a full moon.             

Sounds kind of hokey, right? Well it is... Some of the narrative really grabbed me. There was some great writing—I loved the backstory of Lux and her father and wished that that was a standalone book. But there were many unanswered questions and you must suspend your disbelief.   

Faithful by Alice Hoffman

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Alice Hoffman is my favourite author. I can't even wait to get my hands on her books the second they come out! To be given the opportunity to read and review this book was truly thrilling for me.

Hoffman's writing is a living thing. Her stories breathe and grow and as the reader, you transcend. Her characters are layered and complex, her writing is rich and incredibly moving, it is fluid.

That being said, I missed the magical realism associated with Hoffman because I don't think that this novel had enough of it, or rather didn't seem to have any other than the reference of an angel which unfortunately for this book, becomes a character—this is not classic Hoffman.

While this story was not one of my favourites that she has written, it was indeed a page-turner and I'm so glad I got to read it because everything she writes is gold.

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ALICE HOFFMAN has a BA from Adelphi University and an MA in creative writing from Stanford University.

Hoffman's first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.

Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Practical Magic was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, At Risk, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.

Hoffman has written a number of novels for young adults, including Aquamarine, Green Angel, and the New York Times bestseller The Ice Queen. In 2007 Little Brown published the teen novel Incantation, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year.

Her works have been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Hoffman's novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest. Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a film starring Emma Roberts. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.

She currently lives in Boston and New York. 

The Mermaid Girl by Erika Swyler

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A short, but mesmerizing story that is actually a prequel to The Book of Speculation.  I was absolutely hooked from the first sentence.

The story is a love story between Daniel and Paulina, the parents of the narrator of The Book of Speculation.  He fell in love with the mermaid from a travelling circus and fears she will leave.  "The problem with marrying the mermaid girl from the carnival was knowing that one day she'd swim away."

There is an inherent doomed aspect to the relationship.  Even though she was a circus mermaid and not a real one, it is as though she is just as restless as if she was once a real mermaid and is being called back to the ocean.

The love story between the two is so sad, he yearns for her, and she yearns for something else.  Freedom? Her past life?  Swyler brilliantly pens the fragile nature of their relationship and leaves the reader breathless and yearning for more.

ERIKA SWYLER is a graduate of New York University. She is a writer and playwright whose work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies. Born and raised on Long Island's north shore, Erika is also a baker, photographer and blogger.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adore Rainbow Rowell.  Like I really adore her writing!  But...this wasn't my favourite book of hers.  I wanted so badly to love it, and parts of it I did, but parts of it, I didn't.

The reviews online were positive, but many are making the same parallel that I did.  This screams of Harry Potter fan fiction.  Was that the point?  I had such high hopes for Simon and Baz after learning they would be appearing in their own novel apart from Fangirl.  Anything I've read from Rowell claims that this is her take on "the Chosen One" type of story, but I disagree and couldn't help drawing many parallels to Harry Potter, too many to be a coincidence.   

Like Rowell's other books, this too is adorable and heartwarming.  If you love Simon Snow, this book is your bag.  

The Glass Kitchen: A Novel of Sisters by Linda Francis Lee

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Portia Cuthcart never intended to leave Texas. Her dream was to run the Glass Kitchen restaurant her grandmother built decades ago. But after a string of betrayals and the loss of her legacy, Portia is determined to start a new life with her sisters in Manhattan... and never cook again. 

But when she moves into a dilapidated brownstone on the Upper West Side, she meets twelve-year-old Ariel and her widowed father Gabriel, a man with his hands full trying to raise two daughters on his own. Soon, a promise made to her sisters forces Portia back into a world of magical food and swirling emotions, where she must confront everything she has been running from. What seems so simple on the surface is anything but when long-held secrets are revealed, rivalries exposed, and the promise of new love stirs to life like chocolate mixing with cream. 

The Glass Kitchen is a delicious novel, a tempestuous story of a woman washed up on the shores of Manhattan who discovers that a kitchen—like an island—can be a refuge, if only she has the courage to give in to the pull of love, the power of forgiveness, and accept the complications of what it means to be family.

Charming! This story was as delightful as the recipe, a very fun read. I adored the sisters, their names, and their personalities. I loved how New York City became almost another character, the setting really worked for me however, I didn't care for the repetitive mention that the sisters were from Texas...

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LINDA FRANCIS LEE began her writing career in college where she published her first article. She has since written more than twenty books that are published in sixteen countries.

Lee is a native Texan now living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her husband.