With Her Baby on Her Back by Suzette D. Harrison

October 13, 2026 By Leave a Comment


With Her Baby on Her Back by Suzette D. Harrison
Publisher: Bookouture
Genre: Contemporary, Historical
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Ginger

Will she ever see freedom for her babies?

Mississippi, 1848. Enslaved midwife Zinnie is forced to walk two thousand miles behind the slavers’ wagons, her newborn strapped to her back and her two little girls clinging to her hands. Through pain, cruelty and unimaginable hardship, she holds on to one hope: keeping her children safe. And when they cross state lines, Zinnie sees a chance to fight for her family’s freedom…

Texas, present day. Like generations of women before her, Lynette is trying to build a better future for her child. Then she discovers a sapphire brooch hidden in her grandmother’s attic… As she uncovers the extraordinary story of an ancestor she never knew about, can Lynette unlock the strength she needs now more than ever?

Inspired by the remarkable true story of Biddy Mason, an African American woman and midwife, this sweeping, emotional novel celebrates the courage of a woman who fought for her family’s freedom and saved countless lives.

With Her Baby on Her Back offers a powerful dual‑timeline story rooted in the real life courage of Biddy Mason. The historical storyline following Zinnie is compelling, emotional, and often heavy, filled with hardship, pain, and moments that are uncomfortable but important to know. Her determination, resilience, and commitment to her children make her journey unforgettable, and the ending, centered on legal freedom and strength, is truly inspiring. The blend of historical fact with fiction is one of the book’s strongest elements.

However, the modern-day storyline with Lynette didn’t work as well for me. While her search for the truth about her family was interesting, her personal struggles pulled me away from the historical narrative I was most invested in. I wasn’t as drawn to keep reading during her chapters, even though I appreciated the connection between past and present.

I’m not sure whether the book ever clarified the level of education available to the enslaved characters, but some of the dialogue didn’t fully align with what felt authentic for the time period. Lines such as “A dead snake’s the only good snake. But you walloped those eggs like they were proxy for something,” or descriptions like “My youngest raced toward me, indignant,” occasionally pulled me out of the historical setting and made certain moments feel slightly inconsistent with the character as portrayed.

Still, the novel highlights strong women, motherhood, and generational resilience. I enjoy historical fiction, and although this one wasn’t quite for me, I’m glad I read about their strength and the adversities they overcame. For someone else, this style may be perfect. Just because I didn’t love it doesn’t mean you won’t.

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Love by the Book by Jessica George

October 9, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Love by the Book by Jessica George
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Ginger

Friendship is the love story you can count on.

Remy is lucky. Her debut novel, based on her three best friends, became an instant bestseller when it was released, and her agent and publisher are clamoring for a follow-up. But just as Remy’s creative inspiration seems to leave her, so too do her friends: one moves to New York, one gets pregnant, and one gets back together with her (awful) boyfriend. After an ill-advised one-night stand complicates matters further, Remy is left deeply alone—and unable to find her next book idea.

Simone is successful. A Kindergarten teacher with a passion for kids, and a well-paying side hustle that affords her all the material comforts she desires, she doesn’t have time for a robust social life. All Simone needs is her close-knit family—but after the true nature of her work is revealed, they cut her off, and she realizes for the first time just how isolated she is.

When Simone and Remy bump into each other (literally) in a bookstore, it isn’t exactly soulmates at first sight. Simone is guarded and prickly, Remy is insecure and heartbroken, and each woman is harboring a secret. And yet they might just be the missing piece the other has been searching for—if only they can let each other in.

Can Simone help Remy make one of the most important decisions of her life—and can Remy help Simone recover all that she’s lost? In Jessica George’s heartwarming, funny, and soulful second novel, she explores the restorative nature of female friendship and the life-changing power of platonic love.

Love by the Book by Jessica George is a soulful exploration of the seasons of life. The story follows Remy, a bestselling author struggling with writer’s block and the shifting dynamics of her core friend group, and Simone, a guarded teacher dealing with isolation after a family fallout. Their chance meeting sparks a unique platonic bond that helps them navigate secrets and major life transitions.

The novel’s greatest strength is its focus on platonic love. George does a beautiful job depicting how female friendships morph over time how some people drift away while others become vital anchors. The dynamic between Remy and Simone, despite being total opposites, is refreshing. They offer each other a judgment free space to process their respective secrets. While the themes of feminism and self-love are strong, the execution felt a bit uneven for me. The book felt slightly long, and there were stretches where I had to push myself to keep reading. Additionally, I found Remy’s character to be a bit overly dramatic. Her reaction to her friends moving away felt like an “end of the world” scenario, which became frustrating since they weren’t actually cutting ties. Finally, the big secrets both women were harboring, which drove much of the plot, felt glossed over at the end. After so much build-up, I wanted more detail and weight given to their final decisions rather than the brief mentions they received.

Overall, this is a good read for anyone who enjoys stories centered on the restorative power of friendship. It’s an decent book that offers insight into modern womanhood, even if the pacing and character reactions occasionally missed the mark.

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Kin by Tayari Jones

October 1, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Kin by Tayari Jones
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: Historical, Fiction
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Ginger

Vernice and Annie, two motherless daughters raised in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, have been best friends and neighbors since earliest childhood but are fated to live starkly different lives. Raised by a fierce aunt determined to give her a stable home in the wake of her mother’s death, Vernice leaves Honeysuckle at eighteen for Spelman College, where she joins a sisterhood of powerfully connected Black women and discovers a world of affluence, manners, aspiration, and inequality. Annie, abandoned by her mother as a child and fixated on the idea of finding her and filling the bottomless hole left by her absence, sets off on a journey that will take her into a world of peril and adversity, as well as love and adventure, culminating in a battle for her life.

“Kin” is a heart-wrenching exploration of what it means to find “kin” when growing up without a mother. Tayari Jones’s writing is both descriptive and soulful, particularly in how she handles the different ways Annie and Niecy deal with their shared grief. The characters, Annie and Niecy, are unforgettable. Their desperation for connection is very evident. I fell in love with these two young women as they navigated different paths toward adulthood, searching for belonging. Their bond, maintained through letters, felt incredibly authentic, and Jones’s well-crafted, lyrical writing made them come alive as real people.

The themes in the book, focusing on motherhood, surrogate mothers, and the unique experiences of being a black woman in the South, are handled with immense care. Jones’s writing style is simply gorgeous, enriching the narrative with depth and emotion. However, I found some aspects that held it back. The pacing felt uneven, and it took me a long time to finish the book. Despite the quality of the writing, my engagement wasn’t consistent, and I struggled to stay invested.

The ending felt rushed and somewhat choppy. I understood the message about how different choices lead to varied outcomes, but the conclusion needed more room to breathe to truly resonate. Overall, “Kin” is a beautiful rendering of friendship and hardship that left me with heavy thoughts to ponder. It’s a very good read, and I’m grateful for the experience.

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James by Percival Everett

August 18, 2026 By 1 Comment


James by Percival Everett
Publisher: Vintage
Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Snowdrop

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

I read Huckleberry’s name, and I was back in the 60’s reading Huck Finn in my high school. But this wasn’t Mark Twain’s book. This was someone who had written a book of the time, these times, the 21st century. This was a good story, but it had reality in it. It was full of those things we sometimes don’t like to face.

I am really not sure how Everett did this. He wrote a story I couldn’t put down, one of bad guys and good guys, troubled times, and good times. He included words that I would have put a book down immediately had I read some of the words included. Words I would definitely find offensive in today’s world. I’d be ashamed that someone had called anyone those names. Yet somehow, he portrayed the truth all mixed with reality, even humor, mixed up with a story you just can’t wait to know how it ends. How in this world he did it, I cannot tell you.

I can’t find anything to pick on except for maybe a few typos and for this story even I can forgive those. That’s saying a lot. I can say you will have lost out if you don’t read it.

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The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

July 23, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
Publisher: Hanover Press
Genre: Historical, Fiction, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Snowdrop

August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe. Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and drawn curtains that she finds on her arrival are not what she expected. And she certainly never imagined she’d wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop nestled in the heart of London.

Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies, Grace discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed—a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.

Moved my heart. This was such an enjoyable read. It has good times and bad times. It has a bookshop, a curmudgeonly but sweet old man, a lonely old woman having lived through the hells of wars, and young girls trying to make their way in the world all in the midst of World War 2. Don’t get me wrong. This book is not all set during WW2. The story begins as Grace and Viv grow up in a small town and dream of leaving their unfortunate lives and running to make or break it in London. It’s a story of dreams. One of people who know they must work hard to succeed and find they can live through more than they ever dreamed.

This could be perfect for Young Adults, and yet I enjoyed every minute of it as an adult. There might be a lot of sweetness here, but there are some very realistic parts of the British living in London during the bombings in WW2. And in today’s world, a sweet story isn’t such a bad idea.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Sworn to Collide by Maria Imbalzano

June 8, 2026 By 2 Comments


Sworn to Collide by Maria Imbalzano
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Rated: 4 stars
Review by Rose

After devoting eleven years of marriage to Ben, her high school sweetheart, and stepping off the corporate ladder to raise their three children, Denise is ready to seize the reins of the career she always dreamed of. But as soon as she commits to step back into the professional world, Ben drops a bombshell that disrupts everything. Suddenly, this once rock-solid couple finds themselves in a battle over ambition, identity, and whose turn it is to shine. As personal choices draw them further and further apart, they must confront their widening rift—a threat to the love they thought was unshakeable. Can they rediscover the passion they once shared, or will their divergent paths pull them apart for good?

This women’s fiction by Maria Imbalzano hooked me in from the first page and didn’t let go until the end. The characters were compelling, especially the two main characters, Ben and Denise. I could feel the emotions they were going through as they went through this difficult time in their marriage.

I quite literally was not at all sure how this book would end until I reached the end — it was that well put together. And I could see both sides of the issues, even though the story is told only from Denise’s point of view. I believe this is a mark of a good author. Both characters are treated fairly and neither come across as the “bad guy” in the situation. I admired that.

I also loved the Sworn Sisters – and while this is the fourth book in that series, it definitely stands alone. However, I loved the Sisters and their bond so much, I now feel the need to go back and read the other books! I’m such a sucker for books about bonded friends such as these.

Good job, Ms. Imbalzano.

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Padlocked by p.m. terrell

May 29, 2026 By 2 Comments

VBT Padlocked by p.m. terrell
Publisher: Drake Valley Press
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rated: 5 stars
Review by Rose

Padlocked is an epic historical and visionary novel that follows the lives of a group of ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary, life-altering circumstances as Nazi Germany invades Poland in 1939.

Two foreign photojournalists, an American and a Spaniard, are trapped between armies at Festungsfront Oder-Warthe-Bogen, along Poland’s western border with Germany. It is Hank’s last overseas assignment, and he’s been counting the days until he can go home to North Carolina to be with his family. Rafe fled Spain after the dictator, Francisco Franco, targeted his family. The experience changed him, and he now sees the rise of fascism in Europe as a battle between good and evil. They will find themselves embedded with the Polish, Nazi, and Soviet forces at varying times, forcing them to face moral and ethical decisions in their struggles to survive.

A young woman is separated from her sister in Warsaw as the Nazis encircle it. Agata made a vow that she would return to take Elsa to safety, but soldiers and barbed wire prevent her from entering the newly established Jewish sector. She is consumed with guilt over their separation, and when she discovers her sister was taken by train to a work camp near Krakow, she navigates her dangerous, war-torn country in search of her. Her quest will force her to confront a Hell on Earth to find her.

A young man joins the Jungdeutsche Partei, or the Young German Party. Once bullied as a child, Max’s new affiliations promote him to a position where he can dictate life or death and settle scores. In order to thrive under Nazi occupation, he makes daily choices that legitimize brutality and erode humanitarian principles and scruples.

While they don’t know one another at the start of their journeys, each will make decisions that have the power to transform them and place them on paths that ultimately converge on January 27, 1945, as the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates to Auschwitz-Birkenau for all the world to witness.

This is ultimately a story about the strength of love, courage, faith, and resilience in the face of unimaginable hatred and obsession with power, and how every decision we make places us further along specific paths.

Every once in a while you read a story so compelling you don’t want to put it down. Padlocked is that story for me. From the first page, you are drawn into a world so well drawn you feel like you are there. The characters are three dimensional and very compelling. The author’s writing puts you right in the middle of the action with the characters and it’s just like you are living through the struggles with them.

The author has done a tremendous amount of research and it shows, but never in a heavy-handed way or by infodrop. Instead she incorporates the research into the story itself, which adds to the reality for the reader. Great job!

This is not just a straight historical fiction, however. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but suffice it to say there is an additional element that layers the story with an additional depth of meaning I did not expect when I started reading the book. And, it was this element that took this book from a 4 star rating to a 5. It is quite easily one of my favorite parts of the book.

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Protecting Home by Kyle Shoop

May 28, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Protecting Home by Kyle Shoop
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

You can’t outrun home.

A game-winning hit.
A mysterious inheritance.
One journey that changes everything.

After the sudden death of his father, major-league all-star Buck Boone is forced to return to the hometown he left behind years ago. But instead of a traditional inheritance, Buck is surprised to find his father left him a final challenge: in five days—the length of a little league baseball game—he must revisit four meaningful places from his past.

Four bases.
One final trip around the diamond.
Only then can he claim what his father left behind.

Each stop uncovers a memory his father could never forget—a defining moment in their relationship, and a moment Buck believed he had outrun long ago. As the journey unfolds, the line between past and present begins to blur, revealing the love, heartbreak, and quiet sacrifices that shaped his life.

Told through an emotionally rich dual timeline, Buck’s return home forces him to confront formidable moments, old friends, a fractured relationship with his family, and the lesson his father lived by: always protect home.

Heartfelt and unforgettable, Protecting Home is a powerful novel about baseball, fathers and sons, forgiveness, and the courage it takes to come home—reminding us that the greatest victories aren’t always won on the field, but in the lives we choose to protect.

Forgiveness is for everyone.

Memories can be tricky things sometimes, so I was glad to see the dual timelines included in this book. Buck’s understanding of the world as a child and teenager were obviously not the same as how he viewed the same events many years later. It was helpful for me as a reader to see how his perspectives evolved as he began to understand his family better and branched out into the world as a professional athlete.

It would have been helpful to have stronger plot and character development. Other than his love of baseball and his close relationship with his father, I’d have trouble describing what Buck was like as a person. For example, no other hobbies or interests of his were included and I’m not sure what it would be like to meet him in person. Was he gentle, loud, thoughtful, or impulsive? I was never certain, but the same could be said of the vague descriptions of his small hometown. Was this set now or sixty years ago? Good arguments could be made for many different decades, and knowing roughly when it occurred would have helped to clear up some of my questions about why the character who was struggling with serious mental health problems didn’t seem to have any medical assistance with them.

With that being said, the descriptions of what it’s like to have a relative who is struggling with their mental health were interesting. Whether it was happening decades ago or in current times, getting help for a family in crisis can be difficult and sometimes provoke feelings of shame and guilt in both the person who is suffering as well as in their loved ones. This isn’t something that can always be easily resolved, and I liked the way the author acknowledged that aspect of the subplot along the way.

Protecting Home was a thought-provoking look at fraying family ties, mending fences, and, of course, the joy of baseball.

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OldTown: Fly, Sparrow, Fly by A. K. Frailey

May 14, 2026 By Leave a Comment


OldTown: Fly, Sparrow, Fly by A. K. Frailey
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Rhona Dewar takes her niece, Syn, into her home after a tragic accident. Together, they discover the healing powers of nature, dedicated kindness, and disarming honesty. Cultural identity, mystery, and humor bring this family drama to life.

On her sixteenth birthday, Syn’s brother, Andy, gave her a secret gift: an ancestry DNA test. As he suspected, the results proved that she was not their father’s daughter and carried not an ounce of Asian blood. Though she had her mother’s Scottish heritage, her father was a mysterious Venezuelan. Was she the child of an unrevealed love affair? Since Syn consistently outperformed him scholastically, Andy uses the discovery to punish Syn, slyly teasing her about her unusual intelligence. In a desperate desire to protect her parents’ marriage, Syn hides her feelings and the test results.

After Rhona and her husband take Syn into their home, suspecting deeper wounds than the ones caused by the accident, they learn the truth about Syn’s parentage. Rhona confronts her sister, Nia, and the forthcoming revelations astound her. Supported by her husband, the revealed talents of townspeople haunted by their own shadowed pasts, and a sense of earthy humor, Rhona navigates turbulent family and community issues. The poem, Fly, Sparrow, Fly, guides Rhona as she helps her niece fly free from the painful misconceptions that have held her bound.

Acknowledging the truth is the first step to becoming free.

Relationships between friends and various family members can be complex at times, and Ms. Frailey did a good job of exploring both the best days these characters shared with each other as well as the worst ones when they struggled to understand each other’s perspectives. There was a nice balance here of wholesome moments and more serious disagreements between certain characters depending on which scene was currently unfolding, and sometimes both happened at almost the same moment!

I struggled with the slow pacing, especially as it pertained to how much time it took for Syn receive the results of her ancestry DNA test and realize that she wasn’t actually biologically relate to her father. While I appreciated the character development that happened along the way, my interest levels did begin to wane as more chapters went by without the main conflict coming into focus. It would have been helpful in my opinion to either have Syn discover this family secret much earlier on or for additional conflicts to be introduced early on to keep the characters busy until the big reveal.

There were some interesting plot twists later on that added extra layers of meaning to earlier scenes. They fit the themes well and made a great deal of sense based on what I’d already learned about the characters. Will other readers see them coming in advance? It’s hard to say, but I liked how naturally they flowed into each other and into the storyline in general.

OldTown Fly, Sparrow, Fly was thought provoking.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Next in Line by T.W. Baker

January 23, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Next in Line by T.W. Baker
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Welcome to Mortar and Pestle RX, where prescriptions are filled, patience is tested, and absolutely nothing goes according to plan.

Meet Mic, Janice, Monika, Bronco, and Sammy—five pharmacy employees held together by caffeine, sarcasm, and the thinnest thread of professionalism. Whether they’re dodging irate customers, surviving corporate chaos, or staging passive-aggressive Post-it note wars, this band of lovable misfits is just trying to make it to closing time without strangling each other.

A sharp-witted satire of customer service culture and workplace dysfunction, Next in Line is for anyone who’s ever worked retail, waited in line too long, or wondered if the pharmacist was secretly judging them (spoiler: they were).

Sometimes irritation is a gift.

The most memorable scenes were the ones that described how the pharmacy crew bonded over their hectic and occasionally wacky workplace. Having warm and strong relationships with coworkers can make this type of often low-paid, unappreciated job so much easier on an employee’s mental health. There is nothing like an inside joke or a friendly offer to help clean up a customer’s mess to soothe the soul, so I nodded along as all of the main characters gelled together and faced the best and the worst of what they were about to experience as a close-knit team.

I struggled with the repetition, especially given the limited character development. Many chapters seemed to follow a similar pattern of introducing a new customer who had a troubling habit or personality trait and then explaining why he or she behaved that way. It would have been more meaningful for me to meet a few memorable customers and then gradually learn their difficult backstories as the pharmacy employees interacted with them over weeks or months. This is something I’m saying a reader who adored the concept of this tale and would have loved to give it a full five-star rating.

However, this captured the frustration, drudgery, and occasional joy of working in the customer service industry beautifully. People are fascinating and there is so much more to learn about humanity by observing folks when they’re impatient, in pain, frightened, bored, or otherwise not functioning as they normally might on a better day for them. This is a topic I wish was covered much more regularly in fiction as there are so many opportunities waiting for clerk and customer like to grow as individuals when characters are forced to serve a long line or to wait in one.

Next in Line has piqued my interest about what this author will write next.

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