Review: The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't give this less that five stars. It was a wonderfully written account of a slave, Cora, who along with another slave, Caesar, tries to escape captivity. She is the daughter of a slave who was the only one known to escape through the swamps. Cora was challenged at every turn with everything and anything that could be thrown at her including slavecatchers that you would not want to meet up with at any time.

On the one hand it was a fantastic read, but on the other hand it was hard to read about how badly human beings have treated others and are still doing this today.

Excellent read.



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Review: Dear Mrs. Bird

Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Emme lives with her best friend Bunty in London during WWII. She wants to become a war correspondent and lands a job with a magazine named Women's Friend. Unfortunately she finds herself working for the agony aunt and this was definitely not what she was hoping for.

Just a really lovely story with characters that you can really get attached to.



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Review: Mistaken Identity

Mistaken Identity by Lisa Scottoline
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A good story that could have been told in half the pages. Much too drawn out.

An inmate is a look alike to Benny, and practically identical. She tries to push herself off as her long lost twin sister and convincing Benny to defend her in a murder charge of killing a police officer.

There were a lot of very frustrating plots, not the least of which was why on earth not get a DNA test done immediately.

I love this author and this series, but this installment was a bit too convoluted for me.



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Review: Beartown

Beartown by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wonderful writing. The character development was excellent and by the end of the book I felt that I knew each character personally. It felt like a series of smaller stories involving each person in Beartown.

Beartown is a hockey town. Without hockey they had very little to look forward to. This town breathes hockey. It is a tiny community nestled in a forest and its getting smaller all the time. Their hopes are on winning the final game in the bigger town of Hed.

Even though it seems that the main theme is hockey, its actually about the people in the town and a brilliant study of human nature.

An excellent read.



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Review: The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master and the Trial that Shocked a Nation

The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master and the Trial that Shocked a Nation by Charlotte Gray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I want to give this book five stars for several reasons:

I am a history buff and love all history books.

I was raised in Toronto and know all the places mentioned in the book, my stomping grounds when a young person.

The story was even more important IMO because it brought out the idea that a woman could defend herself from sexual harassment even though the term had not been formed as yet.

The crime took place in Toronto by a maid, Carrie Davies during WWI. We are given excellent pictures of what it was like back then, how people lived and their expectations.

An excellent read.

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Review: Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison

Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to this audio from start to finish and always looked forward to what would happen next.

Piper Kerman was a woman who had everything going for her until she made some mistakes, the worst being that she delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years ago. She is convicted and sentenced to fifteen months in a women's prison.

The book is an eyeopening look at the women's penal system in the US.

An excellent read.


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Review: The Lost Letters

The Lost Letters by Sarah Mitchell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Current time; In Canada sisters Martha and Elizabeth lose their beloved father. In tidying up his affairs they discover a file named catkins on his computer and they have a feeling that their father had an affair. He was in the midst of writing his memoirs when he passed but he had said that in order to finish his writing he was going to travel to England. He had already arranged his accommodation in England and one of his daughters, Martha, decided to take the trip and try to figure out her father's story.

We are taken back to 1940 during the war in London where our story begins with the subject of the evacuation of children to the safety of other countries and with occasional jumps to our current time.

I love stories set in London and England and this was historical fiction at its best. A wonderfully heartwarming and also heartbreaking story.

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