The Vintage Shop

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The Vintage Shop by Libby Page

Have you ever gone into a vintage clothing store and found a fabulous dress or belt, or a blue sweater with wood buttons that reminds you of one your mom used to wear? No? Me, neither. But if we had, it would be just like Lou’s new shop on a cobblestone street in Frome, Somerset. Lou soon finds a connection in America, thanks to the yellow dress embroidered with flowers displayed in the shop window.

Donna, 60, has just found out she was adopted, and is looking for her birth mother. They both meet Maggy, who is rather lonely when not caring for her three grandchildren after school. This is a lovely story of love, loss, grief, friendship, and starting over. Sometimes starting over yet again, plus a little romance. There are tears, but also smiles. This book was published in Great Britain in 2023, and perhaps will be released in the U.S. in the near future, like her books This Made Me Think of You (which I really enjoyed) and The Lido (which I haven’t read). Little Bear kitty might be willing to lend out his copy.

Brenda

Theo of Golden

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Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Originally self-published, this bestselling contemporary novel is a doozy. I can see why it’s popular with book groups, but perhaps it should come with some content warnings. I found it to be deliberately bittersweet in tone, and this is definitely not a gentle read.

This novel is about the impact one 86-year-old man has on the town of Golden, Georgia. Theo is fascinated by portraits displayed in a coffee shop, all featuring local residents, and he is very admiring of the local artist, Asher Glissen. Theo decides to buy some of them, and give the portraits to their subjects. He writes each a letter, and invites them to meet him by a fountain. Many do meet him by the fountain, and share some of their life stories, which are often sad, even heart wrenching. Theo’s kindness does make life in Golden sweeter for many.

Theo is also generous and helps a number of Golden residents, usually anonymously, including a little girl and a gifted musician. Theo, who never shared his full name, doesn’t talk much about himself. He does speak of growing up near vineyards in Portugal, and tells a few of a long-ago tragedy. Theo clearly loves music, literature, art, coffee, and conversation. His daily ritual is to watch the sunset by a river. The ending is quite abrupt, and secrets are revealed.  

Brenda

The Tainted Cup

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The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

High-ranking Investigator Ana Dolabra needs a new assistant, and is matched with Apprentice Engraver Dinios Koll. Din has a big secret; he’s dyslexic and has trouble writing as well as reading. He’s been magically altered to capture memories of scenes and conversations, triggering his recordings with vials of various scents. Other talents become apparent later, including lockpicking. A death from dappleglass is his first crime scene to inspect and record. Ana prefers to stay in her apartment, often wearing a blindfold to reduce visual stimuli. She has learned to read a sort of Braille. The pair are later sent to Talagray, near the seawall, which is dangerous territory during the wet season when immense leviathans try to breach the seawall. I thought of whales, but leviathans are much, much bigger and quite dangerous. Several civil engineers who maintain the seawall have recently died in a similar manner. Wealthy or well-connected people live further from the sea, protected by other ring walls, and Din sends money home to his family in hopes that they can relocate.

Dangerously modified plants, poison, and fire are other elements in a very clever fantasy mystery. Ana and her young sidekick Din were inspired by fictional detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, created in the 1930s by Rex Stout. The Tainted Cup won the Hugo Award in 2025, and sequels in the Ana & Din series include A Drop of Corruption, and A Trade of Blood, coming out this August. The series, confusingly, is also known as The Shadow of the Leviathan. A little dark, but very compelling reading, and Din is an appealing main character. I read this for my book group, and probably wouldn’t have read it otherwise, but found it quite a pageturner.

Brenda

Magic & Mischief at the Wayside Hotel

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Magic & Mischief at the Wayside Hotel by Elizabeth Everett

Josie LaChiusa is a single mom who works in the financial aid department at a college. Her boss likes to have lots of meetings, and even pre-meetings. Josie’s son Amos is 4 and has had significant health issues in the past. Spoiler: no health issues for Amos in this story! His grandmother Gloria is critical of Josie’s parenting while Grandpa Al is quiet. They both love Amos and miss their son Dan. Josie doesn’t have any other family since her grandmother died.

An apartment opens up near her job, and it’s partly furnished. Building superintendent Pax Nomen interviews Josie after rejecting another prospective resident. The other building employee is Maddy, who loves to make rules for the residents. She always wears a turban, because she’s secretly a Medusan. There are gargoyles, fairy cheerleaders, a grumpy gnome, a handsome vampire and other interesting residents, but they must all pretend to be human for Josie and Amos. The building is Wayside Hotel #5 and it’s been stuck on Earth with an empty fuel tank. The lack of magic on Earth seems to be part of the problem, and the Hotel seems to like Josie and Amos.

The apartment is great, and the other residents study up at the public library to learn about children’s books and Spider-Man, while the fairies love Taylor Swift’s music. Pax and Josie have awkward yet charming encounters, and the residents are peaceful, at least for a while. Maddy over organizes a garden committee after it’s decided that Amos needs somewhere to play. A snowball fight is cute, a magical accident nearby is colorful, and Josie and even Pax become a little worried for Amos’s safety, and also begin a sweet romance. Amos is always happy at the Wayside Hotel and feels safe, even though this cozy fantasy can be a little bit scary. The cozy vibe, cute kid, outspoken residents and found family theme remind me of The House in the Cerulean Sea, even though the residents and plot are not that similar.

Brenda

More Than Enough

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More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen

This was a compelling read; hard to put down, which is rare in a contemporary novel that isn’t a thriller or a mystery. It left me smiling, if a bit wistful. That said, this book isn’t for everyone. Content includes dementia, infertility, family secrets, and cancer.

Why was this a good read for me, with all those topics covered? This novel also has memorable characters that I cared about, humor, a happy marriage, friendship, good scenery, and alpacas. Alpacas are pretty charming!

Polly teaches high school English in a private school for girls in New York City. After a short and unhappy first marriage, Polly is happily married to Mark. Mark is kind, supportive, and is a zoo veterinarian. Polly meets three friends 9 or 10 times a year for an unusual book club. The four women agree to buy the buy, but not to read it. No, I don’t get it, but money does not appear to be an issue for any of these women. Her friend Sarah has a city apartment and a house in Connecticut with gorgeous gardens. Sarah becomes friends with Mark’s mother Lou when their house needs renovation.

Polly’s dad has dementia and has moved to a posh memory care facility, and her mother is a judge. Polly is her father’s favorite child, but her brother doesn’t hold it against her. Some of Polly’s students and former students are featured, along with another teen. There are brief poetry quotations, and references to famous women novelists.

Brenda

Berries & Cream Pavlova

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To celebrate summer and the return of good strawberries, I made this Berries & Cream Pavlova dessert. It’s two layers of baked meringue, topped with sweetened whipped cream and lightly sweetened berries. The top layer is garnished with white chocolate curls and mint leaves, though I removed the mint leaves before serving. I had egg whites in the freezer I wanted to use up; this recipe used 6 of them. The recipe is from the 2025 cookbook Sally’s Baking 101: Foolproof Recipes from Easy to Advanced by Sally McKenney. A very similar recipes is available on Sally’s website here: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pavlova/.

Happy summer baking!

Brenda

Daughter of Egypt

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Daughter of Egypt by Marie Benedict

The daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh and the daughter of an English earl are the narrators of this dual timeline historical novel. I have read quite a few dual timeline novels, and I usually prefer the earlier timeline. In this case, I found the 1920s story of Eve, Lady Evelyn Herbert, more enthralling. It’s clear that author Marie Benedict has long been fascinated by ancient Egypt, and specifically Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut, a regent and co-pharaoh whose tomb was well hidden, had her name erased from many places in Egypt. Eve, the daughter of Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle, loves spending time at excavations in the Valley of the Kings with her father and Howard Carter in the early 1920s, though her mother just wants her to find a suitable Englishman and get married.

Hatshepsut’s life in the 15th century B.C., is full of ritual and ceremony, as she must praise the rising sun each day. Unexpectedly, she becomes the eldest living child of her father, Pharaoh Thutmose, and he prepares her to help lead Egypt after him, as regent for a young pharaoh. The Egyptian settings are vividly drawn in both time periods, and both young women have considerable challenges, expectations, and limitations. Carter makes an amazing discovery, and Eve and her father are there to enter what will become a world-famous tomb. The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis is a readalike, and The Collector’s Daughter by Gill Paul also tells Eve’s story. The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters may also appeal, along with Murder Among the Pyramids by Sara Rosett.  

Brenda

The Faraway Inn

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The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst

Sometimes you just need a quiet place to get away and relax. How about a cozy inn in Vermont with mountain views? In this teen cozy fantasy, the inn is a little shabby, with a cranky older innkeeper, but who has everything you need. There are pancakes for breakfast, room service, cake and tea every afternoon. A garden is being cleared, and a path to a stream next to a wood. And the guests are indeed from far away.

This is a portal fantasy in which closet doors may or may not open to distant lands. Calisa, 16, needs to get away from Brooklyn, where she shares an apartment with her two moms, Kate and Elise. Ethan, who broke her heart, has a summer job in the bodega on the ground floor of their building. Mom-Kate is the niece of innkeeper Zee. Zee doesn’t want Calisa to stay, but really needs some help. The inn’s handyman has been gone for some time, and his teenage son Jack is overworked. The guests are delightfully unique and Calisa acquires a most unusual pet who can fly and maybe make a flame. No, it’s not a cat. A statue in the garden gets moved around mysteriously. Calisa has amazing hot chocolate with a guest, gets to make pancakes and bake cakes, but is told not to ask questions and never to open any new doors. Calisa and Jack use a portal to visit the Night Market and end up with even more unanswered questions.

The beautiful sprayed book edges make this look a bit like romantasy, but it’s really cottage core, or very cozy fantasy. There is a cat, friendship, and annoyingly nice moms. But no internet, so no social media for Calisa. There might be a little romance. The author has two other cozy fantasy novels for adults, The Spellshop and the Enchanted Greenhouse, and this book will have definite appeal for her many fans. Also, The Sea of Charms will be published in two months.

Brenda

American Fantasy

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American Fantasy by Emma Straub

A beach read, definitely, but so much more, though not a happy ever after one. American Fantasy is a cruise ship on a four-day cruise from Miami to a private island in the Bahamas and then back to Miami. Boy Talk was a famous (fictional) boy band in the 1990s which still has a large and mostly female fan base known as the Talkers. The four guys are Shawn, Scotty who is gay and now out, Terrence, Shawn’s younger brother Keith, and Corey, the youngest. Shawn is in charge, Terrence is weird, Corey is trouble, and only Corey and Keith can really sing well. None of them are song writers. Bobby is their manager and Sarah is the event manager on the cruise.

Annie is 50 and very recently divorced. She has one grown daughter and works in marketing for an opera magazine. She was planning to go on the cruise with her younger sister Katharine, who’s home with a broken leg. Annie liked Boy Talk, but Katherine was a much bigger fan. Too late to cancel the cruise, Annie is sharing a cabin with a stranger named Maira. Okay, I can see Annie going on the cruise solo, but rooming with a stranger? Not so much. But Maira has been on multiple Boy Talk themed cruises and know where to sit to see the guys up close and what the best drinks are. There is way too much drinking, not enough sleep, weird costumes, random encounters, and lots of screaming women.

Keith and Annie are both fish out of water, definitely out of their element. Keith loves singing and likes the applause, but really only likes Scotty, and especially doesn’t like his brother. Annie learns she may be losing her job to an intern, and is searching for what’s next. She does enjoy being around so many other women close in age, and also perimenopausal. Neither Annie or Keith are happy, but they are very interesting characters to read about. I wasn’t a fan of a boy band, but Straub paints a vivid picture of an imaginary cruise where almost anything goes.

Brenda

The Book Witch

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The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer

This portal fantasy was a bit of a slow start for me, partly because I was reminded of other similar books, like the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde and The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. But soon enough I was hooked by the story, possibly by a black umbrella, which is the tool Rainy March uses to move in and out of stories. And yes, Rainy knows what a cliché her name is. Her cat Koshka travels with her and does a little investigating, but does not speak. Rainy’s grandfather is a book witch, as was her late mother, Ellery.

Rainy takes a big risk when she falls in love with the Duke of Chicago, a fictional private eye.  While the Duke is Shaffer’s creation, other familiar characters are also present, including Nancy Drew, Elizabeth Bennett, and Alice from Wonderland. Bookstores, libraries, readers and authors are also featured. There is adventure, romance, magic, mystery, and even a bit of horror in a fantasy designed to tug on your heartstrings. A good, memorable read. In readalike news, the 8th Thursday Next novel, Dark Reading Matter, will be published this October. The first Thursday Next story was The Eyre Affair. Shaffer’s first book was The Wishing Game, which I thought was terrific, followed by The Lost Story, which was pretty good.

Brenda