reviews

Bad Mothers, Brokenness, and Second Chances Author: Vanessa Diffenbaugh Letty Espinosa has worked three dead-end jobs for fourteen years – all to avoid raising her two children. It began when she had Alex, now a teenager, and her fear of motherhood lingered, year after year, as she immersed herself in parties and meaningless encounters, her grandparents picking up the slack. The story was the same with her second child, Luna, aged six. Letty makes up for it by working hard, by supporting the family, by bringing in money. It is, after all, a sort of penance. This was hardly the bright [...]

Father Tim Goes to Ireland Author: Jan Karon In their 11th adventure, Father Tim and Cynthia are off for a much anticipated vacation. Going back to his roots in Ireland, Father Tim finally gets to share the place that has long been dear to him with his wife. Unfortunately, explorations through old castles and the mossy countryside are not in the cards as one tragedy after another leaves Father Tim and his wife stuck at their inn, unable to explore, and just where they are actually needed most. The innkeepers are a kindly couple, but the coziness of their establishment belies [...]

Leave a Pretty Corpse Author: Dot Hutchison We only know Maya under the assumed name given by her kidnapper, and when the FBI finally breaks her snide veneer, we learn that her real name, before the Garden, was also a lie. As a matter of fact, everything about Maya is a façade. The irony is – she’s the only person who can tell the truth about the Gardener, his butterflies, and all the dead bodies, so prettily posed in resin on their 21st birthdays. The Gardener is an enigmatic millionaire (maybe even billionaire) who defines debonair and creepy. In his free [...]