celebrating books & the literary lifestyle

Category: New! (Page 1 of 12)

These are the newest books I’ve recommended.

MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023

Keeping my end-of-year tradition, I’m sharing my favorite books and most popular posts!

It wasn’t my most prolific year of reading or posting – I got tied up reading the epic Shantaran for several months (which I do recommend) – and I got out of the habit of posting on my blog, but I am going to try to do better next year.

Keep reading for my favorite five books published during 2023. These would be great gifts or for when you are able to relax during the holidays (does that actually happen?).

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‘THE CUBAN HEIRESS’

Chanel Cleeton’s books tend to focus on Cuban families forced to flee the political turmoil of their homeland, and I have loved and recommended several of them.

So when I was approved by NetGalley to receive a download of her newest book, The Cuban Heiress, in exchange for an honest review, I wanted to shout out in joy! As a bookblogger, we can request early access to certain books but because I have a smaller blog, I don’t always get all the books I request.

Although this new book isn’t my favorite of her books (and I will note my favorites below), it was a solid, entertaining read, and I recommend it!

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TWO RECOMMENDATIONS

I’m bringing two book recommendations to you today – both of these are new releases off of my fall reading list.

One is a climate fiction (what happens when Florida is no longer sustainable) and the other is one of my favorite genres, WWII historical fiction, but a specific horror I had not read about before.

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‘MAD HONEY’

Last week I posted my fall reading list and I’m back to review the first book, which I had early access to thanks to NetGalley. The book is now available to all:

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Picoult was the author of a book I truly enjoyed last year – Wish You Were Here – so that’s why it first attracted my attention.

In Mad Honey, two moms are starting over; their kids fall in love. One ends up tragically dead and the other is accused of murder. What follows is a family and courtroom drama as well as a murder mystery and a love story told from two points of view (the mom of the accused and the girl who died). Without giving more plot details away, here’s why I liked the book:

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‘BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FOOLS’ – A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON GATSBY

I am a huge fan of The Great Gatsby and have read it several times. I also loved the 2013 movie (with Leonardo), and I wrote a post on that several years ago about how I will always consider this movie when thinking of the book.

The copyright on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book expired in 2021 so it is now in the public domain, making it legal for someone to write a different version of it, which Jillian Cantor has done in:

Beautiful Little Fools

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WISH YOU WERE HERE – modern historical fiction

Reading the new Jodi Picoult novel was a unique experience because it is historical fiction set in the very recent past, New York City early 2020 when COVID hit.

Wish You Were Here: A Novel

Now you may be thinking “I am not ready to read a novel about COVID” and I can understand that but I would still ask you to consider because this novel offers some perspective that most of us didn’t have, and it’s also just a really good read.

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