Review: The Family Recipe

The Family Recipe by Carolyn Huynh
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is supposed to be a family saga about an eccentric Vietnamese family. Unfortunately, I did not find this family endearing, the story enlightening, or the premise intriguing. The story really does not follow the synopsis since it is more than brothers and sisters battling for an inheritance. It seems to me to be more about insanity running in a family.

The story is overly drawn out and filled with hints, mystery, and neurosis galore.

Tons of others have loved this book, but I did not. I did not hate it, so that is why it got 2 stars instead of 1 star. I will say that I lost interest at about the 65% mark and have not bothered to finish it. Maybe someday I will just to find out what all the secretiveness was about. I can imagine, but...

*ARC Supplied by the publisher Atria Books, the author, and ATTL/Edelweiss.

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SYNOPSIS: "A whip-smart family dramedy about estranged siblings competing to inherit their father’s Vietnamese sandwich franchise and unravel family mysteries.

Duc Tran, the eccentric founder of the national Vietnamese sandwich chain Duc’s Sandwiches, has decided to retire. With the help of the shady family lawyer, he informs his five estranged adult children that to get their inheritance, they must revitalize run-down shops in undesirable, old-school Little Saigon locations across Houston, San Jose, New Orleans, and Philadelphia—within a year. The only one without a shop is the bachelor son, but if he gets married before the year’s up, the inheritance goes to him.

Each daughter is stuck in a new city they don’t want to be in, battling gentrification, declining ethnic enclaves, messy love lives, and struggling to modernize their father’s American dream. The son wonders if he wants to marry for love or for money. As Duc’s children continue to work, family mysteries begin to unravel along the way as they learn the real intention behind the inheritance scheme.

The Family Recipe is about rediscovering one’s roots, different types of fatherly love, familial legacy, and finding one’s place in a divided country where the only commonality among your neighbors is the universal love of sandwiches."

Review: Didn't You Use to Be Queenie B?

Didn't You Use to Be Queenie B? by Terri-Lynne DeFino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! I don't know if this is the best book I will read this year, but it is sure the best book I've read so far...at least in this genre! Women's Fiction.

This book had me salivating, learning, thinking about going to downtown New Haven, which I haven't been to in years (I'm from CT!), and really getting into the characters.

As you can see from the excerpt, this book is about Queenie B and her notorious downfall from the top of the Chef's heap. But although Queenie B is supposed to be the main character, this book adds another main character named Gale. He, too, has had a magnificent fall from grace; he's just not famous...yet!

A poignant, sometimes heartbreaking story with a happy ending in more ways than one. This book teaches us that all of us can overcome nearly anything with determination, will, and the love of cooking and eating a great Italian meal.

*ARC supplied by the publisher, William Morrow, and the author, as well as NetGalley and ATTL/Edelweiss.


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SYNOPSIS - "For everyone who loved The Bear! An utterly winning, crowd-pleaser of a novel about a disgraced celebrity chef, her striving protégé, and their path through the kitchen to redemption.

Regina Benuzzi is Queenie B—a culinary goddess with Michelin Star restaurants, a bestselling cookbook empire, and multimillion-dollar TV deals. It doesn’t hurt that she’s gorgeous and curvaceous, with cascading black hair and signature red lips.

She had it all. Until she didn’t.

After an epic fall from grace, Queenie B vanishes from the public eye, giving up her husband, her son, and the fame that she’d fought to achieve. Her shows are in rerun, her restaurants still popular, but her disappearance remains a mystery to her legions of fans.

Local line cook Gale Carmichael also knows a thing or two about disaster. Newly sober and struggling, Gale’s future dreams don’t hold space for culinary stardom; only earning enough to get by. Broke at the end of the week, he finds himself at a local soup kitchen in one of the roughest parts of New Haven, Connecticut. But Gale quickly realizes that the food coming out of the kitchen is not your standard free meal—it is delicious and prepared with gourmet flair.

Gale doesn’t recognize Regina, the soup kitchen’s cranky proprietor, whose famous black mane is now streaked with gray. It’s been more than ten years since Queenie B vanished into her careful new existence. But she sees Gale’s talent and recognizes a brokenness in him that she knows all too well. The culinary genius in hiding takes him under her wing.

Teaching Gale, Regina’s passion to create is reignited, and they both glimpse a shot at the redemption that had always seemed out of reach. When Gale is chosen to compete on the hit cooking show, Cut!, it’s a turning point for them both.

It’s Gale’s time to shine. And that means Queenie B might just have to come out of hiding…"

Review: Fifty-Fifty

Fifty-Fifty by Steve Cavanagh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, Mr. Cavanagh sure can keep you at the edge of your seat feverishly reading until the very end. I had never read such twisty books until I hooked up with this author.

This book deals with sisters who hated their father. One day, the father turns up murdered horribly, and both sisters happen to be on the property calling 911 about it at the same time. Now, which sister committed the murder?

This author is so good that I never suspected anything like how this book ended.

This whole series is not yet out in re-print for the US, but little by little, it is being republished with at least one book free to borrow on Kindle Unlimited. You will have no problems  (at least not too many) by reading these out of order. That's what happened to me. I read the last published first and then turned around and started at the beginning with what I could get.

This is a perfect book for book clubs that want to investigate the darker side of the law and lawyers.

*The ARC was supplied by the publisher Atria Books, the author, and NetGalley. This book should be hitting the stores on June 03, 2025, with the next book, "The Devil's Advocate," coming out on August 05, 2025.

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SYNOPSIS: "Two sisters on trial for murder. They accuse each other. Who do you believe? From Steve Cavanagh, the “wickedly clever” (The New York Times) master of twisty psychological thrillers.

“911 what’s your emergency?”

“My dad’s dead. My sister Sofia killed him. She’s still in the house. Please send help.”

“My dad’s dead. My sister Alexandra killed him. She’s still in the house. Please send help.”

One of them is a liar and a killer.

But which one?"

Review: The Library Game: A Secret Staircase Novel

The Library Game: A Secret Staircase Novel by Gigi Pandian
My rating: 1 of 5 stars









Under other circumstances, I might have loved a locked-door mystery. Unfortunately, this is one book that you most like SHOULD read the ones precious to this so you can understand what the heck is happening in this one and why. I couldn't make heads or tails out of this farce. I don't know; perhaps it's the cold meds I'm taking, but I don't really think so.

Maybe I'll try this again later, but the idea of magicians and hidden rooms, staircases, etc., as well as murder, just gives me an upset stomach.

However, please don't go by my review alone; please read some of the reviews written by the people who loved this book. Maybe you'll glean more insight from them.








*ARC Was supplied by the publisher Minotaur Books, the author, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS: "In The Library Game, Tempest Raj and Secret Staircase Construction are renovating a classic detective fiction library that just got its first real-life mystery.

Tempest Raj couldn’t be happier that the family business, Secret Staircase Construction, is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Known for enchanting architectural features like sliding bookshelves and secret passageways, the company is now taking on a dream project: transforming a home into a public library that celebrates history's greatest fictional detectives.

Though the work is far from done, Gray House Library’s new owner is eager to host a murder mystery dinner and literary themed escape room. But when a rehearsal ends with an actor murdered and the body vanishes, Tempest is witness to a seemingly impossible crime. Fueled by her grandfather’s Scottish and Indian meals, Tempest and the rest of the crew must figure out who is making beloved classic mystery plots come to life in a deadly game.

Multiple award winning author Gigi Pandian masterfully weaves wit and warmth in the Secret Staircase Mysteries. Readers will delight in the surprises Secret Staircase Construction uncovers behind the next locked door."

Review: The Saint Laurent Muse

The Saint Laurent Muse by C.W. Gortner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars

Sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll -but with a LOT more sex and drugs---I mean tons! However, the sex doesn't really get explicit until near the end of the book.

At any rate, that was my warning. Now, on to the meat of the review.

This book would have been my cup of tea had the drug use and sex not been so explicit. I know the '70s were a lot different, with different types of drugs being favored and AIDS just coming into play. I also understand that these arty types had a different life to lead than I did. (Yes, I admit I was a teen in the '70s!) I hadn't even seen cocaine until I was nearly 30! These explicit scenes needed to be part of the story if we are to believe that this was a historical/ biographical writing about Yves Saint Laurent and Loulou de la Falaise. It must be true.

I learned a lot about the "dawning of the age of Aquarius" that I had never seen before, and, of course, about the life of a haute couture designer who goes to ready-to-wear.

An interesting, thought-provoking read that just didn't do it for me. Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would becuase just because it wasn't for me, I can see that there are going to be many out there (especially those in my age bracket) that are going to love this gossipy inside scoop to the elite of the haute couture world.

A lot of good gossip (or fiction) about Karl Lagerfeld and others of his ilk.

Depressing, well just a bit; backstabby and vicious---oh my yes!

*ARC provided by the publisher William Morrow and Company, the author, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS: "The Paris runways of the 70s come to wild and splashy life in this novel of fashion's "It Girl" Loulou de la Falaise and her life partying and designing with Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, and Halston. Nightlife! Gowns! Cocaine! Glamour!

 
It's the 1970s, and from hippie London to Warhol's Factory in New York, reluctant aristocrat Loulou de la Falaise is desperately seeking adventure. Having escaped an early, unhappy marriage, she arrives on a whim in Paris—the champagne-soaked heart of the fashion world, where the rigid old world of haute couture and the fast-paced new world of ready-to-wear are vying for supremacy. Glamour, sex, and cocaine nights fuel the Paris fashion scene. Its crown prince is the soulful and intensely gifted Yves Saint Laurent, whose sexy tuxedos for women and chic Rive Gauche boutiques reflect women's desire for seductive independence, a desire Loulou knows all too well.
 
Loulou's bohemian flair immediately captures Saint Laurent's attention, and they embark on a glorious intimate friendship as artist and muse. Together they revel in the excesses of high society, decadent parties, and the hedonistic underworld of gay nightclubs, where the young and beautiful become prey, and dangerous rivalries start to emerge. Their course collides with eccentric designer Karl Lagerfeld, intent on his own conquest. Lagerfeld's bitter professional rivalry with Yves divides Paris even in an era when anything goes. As Yves plunges into a dangerous, secret affair with Karl's enigmatic young companion, and Loulou finds herself falling in love with a colleague's handsome boyfriend, evanescent illusion and savage deception will bring them to the brink of ruin.
 
Intoxicating and unforgettable, The Saint Laurent Muse is the dramatic story of a lifelong friendship between two kindred spirits, and of a tumultuous time and place in fashion history that will never be seen again."

Review: Witness 8

Witness 8 by Steve Cavanagh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Although this is book 8 in this series, I had no problem following it. There is just enough backstory so you can fully understand what is going on. There is no talking about past books either—at least, not that I could tell. I have never read the author or heard of Eddie Flynn, and I would most likely have passed this one up had it not been for my curiosity about a con-man turned lawyer.

As I said, Eddie Flynn was a con man; now he's a defense lawyer, and he has his fingers in just about every pie in New York. In this book, he takes on the case of a noted brain surgeon who is accused of murder.

This story is so twisty that it was a pure joy to read. Eddie and crew (yes, he has a crew!) seem to operate just outside of the law. Oh, and did I tell you that there is a hit out on Eddie? Somehow, the author does an excellent job of intertwining both plots into one seamless story. And the ending will blow you away.

Now, I want to know more about Eddie and his crew, so I've already gone and bought the first book in the series.

I must mention that this series has already been originally published in the UK, so it is not really a 'new' series. Found on Google - "Eddie Flynn books were published by Orion Books in the UK and the publisher Flatiron Books (Atria?) appears to be releasing the Eddie Flynn books in the US." But I hope he keeps writing about Eddie and the crew. It seems that a new book is slated to be published this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

*ARC supplied by the publisher Atria/Simon & Schuster, the author, and ATTL/Edelweiss.

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SYNOPSIS: "This riveting psychological thriller from master of twists Steve Cavanagh, author of the “unguessable and unputdownable” (Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author) Kill For Me, Kill for You, asks: What if the witness was more twisted than the killer?

Something is wrong with Ruby Johnson.

A former resident of the ultra-elite Manhattan upper class, Ruby now works as a maid in the type of houses she used to live in. Unassuming, she sees everyone’s dirty secrets from the inside of their beautiful, renovated brownstones. But when Ruby witnesses a murder, she has wicked plans in mind that don’t involve telling the authorities the truth.

Eddie Flynn, streetwise ex con-artist-turned-defense attorney, is the only lawyer in New York City willing to take on hopeless cases. And none is more hopeless than John Jackson’s—the gun that killed his neighbor found, with Jackson’s DNA, in his own home. Flynn and his unconventional team will need to use every trick they know to keep an innocent man from being locked up. But to save his client’s life, Eddie must first protect his own, as the scariest organized criminals in the city are out for his head.

Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Megan Miranda, Witness 8 is a fresh knockout page-turner from an author who is “the real deal” (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

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Review: All the Other Mothers Hate Me

All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars.

Although I thought that the main character of Florence was a selfish, horrible mother with a drinking habit, drug habit, and sex addiction, she comes through in the end.

The storyline was interesting. A boy goes missing while on a school trip, and Florence thinks her son might either have something to do with it or know something about it. So she goes off on her own to cover up what she believes her son might have done and to find out what really happened.

She makes friends with Jenny, who is also an American now living in England like Florence, and together, they do some sleuthing.

It was a clever plot with primarily unlikeable characters, a lot of lies, and a twist in the end that I never saw coming.

*ARC was supplied by the publisher G.P. 

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SYNOPSIS: ""The missing boy is 10-year-old Alfie Risby, and to be perfectly honest with you, he's a little shit."

Florence Grimes is a thirty-one-year-old party girl who always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her girl band career, she has only one reason to get out of bed each day: her ten-year-old son Dylan. But then Alfie Risby, her son’s bully and the heir to a vast frozen food empire, mysteriously vanishes during a class trip, and Dylan becomes the prime suspect. Florence, for once, is faced with a task she can’t quit: She’s got to find Alfie and clear her son’s name, or risk losing Dylan forever.

The only problem? Florence has no useful skills, let alone investigative ones, and all the other school moms hate her. Oh, and Florence has a reason to suspect Dylan might not be as innocent as she’d like to believe…

Hilarious and twisted, propulsive and furious, All the Other Mothers Hate Me is the must-read book of 2025."

Review: Broken Country

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lies, secrets, and more lies. This is what this book is all about.

Set in the late '60s, this is a book about a poor girl falling in love with a rich boy. They are both out of their element, but it works...for a while.

I don't particularly like books that promote cheating on one's spouse, but there was a tiny bit of something that told me I should read this until the end. With that said, there are huge twists and turns in the final few chapters that sort of make the cheating make sense.

This was quite the emotional novel that deals with cheating, the death of a child, and another unexpected death.

*ARC was supplied by the publisher Simon & Schuster, the author, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS: "“The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.”

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love."

Review: The Dream Hotel

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, what a powerful book.

  I highly recommend this book to all lovers of futuristic, horror, and women's fiction. 

This is a look at what can happen when we let our lives become too entangled with Smart products, allow cookies into our lives, and allow any company that mines for data to get ahold of us. It's too late for most of us, but had I read this novel decades ago, I would never have let a computer or smart phone into my life.

 Of course, this is just fiction, right? Or is it? The ideas in this novel may very well become a true thing of the not-so-distant future. We have no privacy anymore, so why not take away the one last thing that is private...our dreams that we have while sleeping.

sband are having a terrible problem with sleep issues. They have just had twins and can't seem to get any rest, and it's affecting their lives. Sometimes to dangerous levels. So they get this dream implant that will help them sleep better and become refreshed in less than 8 hours. Nobody let them know of what else this handy sleep help could do to them. Naturally, Sara and her husband had failed to read all of the fine print - all 15 or so pages. Now, we can be monitored for committing crimes in the future, crimes that we would never consider or carry out outside of our daydreaming and night dreams.

As the synopsis/recap states, Sara is detained on her way home from a trip; she must now be detained for her own good. Due to this implant/machine, we have a score, and each infraction increases our score. Believe me, that is not a good thing.

I can't discuss much more of this book without giving a lot of it away. This is the perfect horror novel (well, to me, it was a horror novel) because it uses a lot of truth while creating its fiction.

*ARC supplied by the publisher Pantheon Press/ Penguin Random House, the author, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS: "From Laila Lalami—the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a “maestra of literary fiction” (NPR)—comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman’s fight for freedom, set in a near future where even dreams are under surveillance.

Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most: her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days.

The agents transfer Sara to a retention center, where she is held with other dreamers, all of them women trying to prove their innocence from different crimes. With every deviation from the strict and ever-shifting rules of the facility, their stay is extended. Months pass and Sara seems no closer to release. Then one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and leading Sara on a collision course with the very companies that have deprived her of her freedom.

Eerie, urgent, and ceaselessly clear-eyed, The Dream Hotel artfully explores the seductive nature of technology, which puts us in shackles even as it makes our lives easier. Lalami asks how much of ourselves must remain private if we are to remain free, and whether even the most invasive forms of surveillance can ever capture who we really are. ."

Review: The Usual Family Mayhem

The Usual Family Mayhem by HelenKay Dimon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I nearly stopped reading this book a couple of chapters in because of the annoyance I felt with the main character, Kasey. However, I'm delighted I stuck with it becuase this turned out to be a fun read with fantastic supporting characters.

This book combines several tropes. The older ladies are portrayed as wise and nosey but deadly. The romantic interest was shown as being a stick up the butt lawyer, with an impossible father. Kasey's bosses, well, I can't even describe them, but you will love seeing how things work out with them.

This will be a great summer beach read, one that will take you out of your problems and entertain you.

*ARC supplied by the publisher Avon/HarperCollins, the author, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS: "Revenge is a dish best served cold—especially when it comes in the form of one of Grandma’s “special” pies. Get the best of family hijinks, girl power, and hilariously justifiable crime in the latest novel from award-winning author HelenKay Dimon.

Kasey Nottingham needs a splashy idea at her company where they find and develop the next big thing for investors—her job depends on it. Impulsively, she pitches Mags’ Desserts, a beloved small-town business run by her grandma Mags and live-in “best friend” Celia, two women who overcame deadbeat husbands and financial ruin to build a word-of-mouth clientele. Kasey expects her boss to say no. Instead, he sends her home to North Carolina to land the deal…and now she has a problem.

Mags and Celia aren’t interested, which isn’t a surprise, but something else is going on in their kitchen. Locked cabinets. Cryptic conversations. Unexpected notations on business records. The ladies have secrets and whatever they’re hiding is big. As reports of mysterious deaths of abusive men in the area surface—all in households that recently received a delivery from Mags’ Desserts—Kasey worries Gram and Celia have gone into the poison pie business.

As investors start circling, Kasey enlists Jackson Quaid, Celia’s nephew and Kasey’s long-time crush, as her reluctant investigation assistant. Jackson is practical. Kasey has a wild imagination. Together, they dodge Kasey’s boss and gather intel. And kiss. Lots of kissing, though probably not the best idea to start an unexpected romance. Doing it while keeping two feisty ladies from going to jail for knocking off bad husbands—even if those husbands deserve it—might be impossible…but Kasey never shied away from a challenge.