Elyssa Friedland’s The Most Likely Club (Berkley 2022) is a fun little romp about a group of childhood friends in their early forties who’ve realized life didn’t quite turn out as they imagined when they were on the cusp of adulthood. The novel alternates between the four friends, Melissa, Tara, Priya, and Suki – aContinue reading “THE MOST LIKELY CLUB – Elyssa Friedland”
Author Archives: Tommi Powell
QUEEN OF THIEVES – Beezy Marsh
“After all, gangland was a man’s world.That’s what they thought.But us women, well, we knew different.This is our story.” Oh, what promise the prologue to Beezy Marsh’s Queen of Thieves (William Morrow 2022 – Originally published in Britain by Orion Dash 2021) held. Oh, what a roaring disappointment. The premise is great. Inspired by aContinue reading “QUEEN OF THIEVES – Beezy Marsh”
DEMON COPPERHEAD – Barbara Kingsolver
“She liked to tease me that if we lived to a hundred, she would still be the one to get there first. Which was true. No credit given for all the extra miles that take you nowhere.” Charles Dickens and his beloved David Copperfield inspired the phenomenal Barbara Kingsolver (I mean, have you read AnimalContinue reading “DEMON COPPERHEAD – Barbara Kingsolver”
THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER – Andrea Stewart
Orbit Books recently sent me Andrea Stewart’s The Drowning Empire trilogy in anticipation of the release of book three in April. (A huge thanks for the gifted books!) The first of the trilogy, The Bone Shard Daughter was released in 2020 and is Stewart’s debut. Holy smokes, what a debut. The Bone Shard Daughter isContinue reading “THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER – Andrea Stewart”
THE HOUSE OF EVE – Sadeqa Johnson
Some of y’all may remember that Sadeqa Johnson’s Yellow Wife was one of my top reads of 2021. (If you haven’t read it yet, you really should.) Johnson’s follow-up novel, The House of Eve (Simon & Schuster 2023) is just as poignant. The novel will be out 7 Feb 2023, and I highly recommend youContinue reading “THE HOUSE OF EVE – Sadeqa Johnson”
SPARE – Prince Harry
When I was a sophomore in high school, I watched two young boys walk behind their mother’s coffin. Theirs was a posh world of opulence, royalty and history. These were young princes, the heir and the spare, to the Crown that had dominated the world, but in that moment, they were two brothers struggling withContinue reading “SPARE – Prince Harry”
BOMB SHELTER – Mary Laura Philpott
I purchased this for the cover. I know it. I could say otherwise, but the cover of Mary Laura Philpott’s Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives (Atria 2022) had me hit “select” without further consideration. I knew it was a collection of nonfiction, slice of life essays and that Philpott was known for herContinue reading “BOMB SHELTER – Mary Laura Philpott”
BABEL – R.F. Kuang
My first read of 2023 was Babel by R. F. Kuang (Harper Collins 2022). Before I get into the review, I must mention the Harper Collins strike. Employees with the company have been on a strike since November, and they are striking for fair wages, stronger diversity commitments, and union rights. To read more aboutContinue reading “BABEL – R.F. Kuang”
AFTERLIFE – Julia Alvarez
“It tells a story. That it has been broken.” My last read of 2022 was by an author that fits in a special place in my booklover’s heart. I haven’t read Julia Alvarez in years, but you don’t forget How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents or In the Time of the Butterflies that easily. Continue reading “AFTERLIFE – Julia Alvarez”
BETTY – Tiffany McDaniel
“Then I buried the story alive, making sure it was deep enough, a wolf wouldn’t smell blood on it and dig it up.” I don’t really know what to say about this book, and I keep oscillating between a poor rating and a middle range rating. Part of the flipflopping is because I know thisContinue reading “BETTY – Tiffany McDaniel”
A Girl Named Tommi 