Sometimes, taking a risk on a new author and their first novel can work out to be a lovely surprise. Reading Fogland Point by Doug Burgess is a case in point. Little Compton, a tiny town east of pretty much everything on the North Eastern Atlantic coast of America, is steeped in history in all…
As a reviewer, I have all kinds of thoughts when I pick up a book for the first time. Sometimes I’m eager to see what an author I admire is doing next, or I’m curious about an author whose works I’ve never read. And then there are the plot descriptions that call me like catnip….
When it comes to mysteries, I’ll be the first to admit I’ve grown a little jaded. I read a lot of them, so it takes something pretty great to really wow me, and while Joanna Schaffhausen’s début, The Vanishing Season, isn’t the most original mystery I’ve ever read, the author’s ability to craft a gripping…
With the success of books like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, psychological thrillers are enjoying a rebirth of popularity. Flynn Berry’s debut novel, Under the Harrow fits nicely into this category. Though a bit rougher around the edges than some I’ve read from more accomplished authors, this novel still held my interest…
Rakes and Radishes is Susanna Ives’ début novel, and it’s one of the most unusual historical romances I’ve read. The author has very successfully turned one of the most commonly-used tropes in the genre upside-down and inside-out. The story of the hardened rake who eventually settles down with the love of his life to become…