The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Strohmeyer

Overweight thirty-something Nola Devlin and her two best friends make a pact to lose weight . This difficult task is made harder for Nola by her slim, spoiled, soon-to-be-married sister and by the fact that Nola is leading a double life. She is both the overworked office girl who gets no respect and the beloved [...]

Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner

I love Jennifer Weiner’s books and this was certainly no exception. The novel focuses on a group of female friends in Philadelphia, all of whom are struggling with their own issues related to first-time motherhood and marriage: breastfeeding, baby-mom bonding, sleepless nights, infidelity, illness, going back to work – lots of happiness and misery all [...]

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

In Tiffany Baker’s first novel, she has created some unforgettable characters. Truly Plaice, the ” little giant,” is at the core of this novel, and her affliction with acromegaly underscores the novel’s unspoken question, “What is beauty?” Truly has an older sister, Serena Jane, who is considered the town’s petite and charming beauty. But [...]

A Darker Domain by Val McDermid

This new mystery set in Scotland and in Tuscany was suspenseful through the end. Locations changed from chapter to chapter as well as the story being told by Scottish Detective Karen Pirie and journalist Bel Richmond. Detective Pirie is assigned to solve cold cases. A woman comes forward to report her father missing; he has [...]

Moment of Truth by Lisa Scottoline

Young attorney Mary DiNunzio takes up the defense of Jack Newlin – a wealthy lawyer who has framed himself for the murder of his wife. Newlin has assumed that his daughter committed the murder and is lying to protect her from prison. From there, the plot takes lots of twists and turns involving the family’s estate, [...]

The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve

A complex love story, this novel moves backwards in time, focusing on star-crossed lovers Linda and Thomas at the three different points in their lives when they find themselves together – first at age 52, then age 26, and finally at age 17 when they originally meet. In this way, the author creates an element [...]

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

This novel is essentially a collection of short stories that focus on a small town in Maine and its inhabitants – one resident in particular, Olive Kitteridge, appears in every story. Sometimes she is the main character and sometimes her appearance is brief, but her quirky, larger-than-life presence links all the tales together into a [...]