Sunny's bookshelf
Sunny's bookshelf photo by Judy Solomon

Online book reviews since 2011, the very best in reviewing – connecting good readers with equally good writers

Fiction

The Peacock Emporium
British Authors
Ann Ronald

The Peacock Emporium

The Peacock Emporium Jojo Moyes gives light bending depth to her characters. Sometimes, when reading a novel, I try to envision a single word that

Read More »
All the Light We Cannot See
Fiction
Ann Ronald

All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See, the 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winner Four years ago I reviewed Anthony Doerr’s Four Seasons in Rome for “Bookin’ with

Read More »
The Forgotten Room
Fiction
Ann Ronald

The Forgotten Room

The Forgotten Room as remembered by three romance novelists. When three gifted romance writers decide to write a single novel, The Forgotten Room, together, the

Read More »
The Missing American
African American Writers
Ann Ronald

The Missing American

Missing American, African mystery untangled by Ghanian private detective Emma Djan If I were to summarize The Missing American in a single couplet, I would

Read More »
Courting Mr. Lincoln
Fiction
Ann Ronald

Courting Mr. Lincoln

Courting Mr. Lincoln, two points of view. The double entendre of Louis Bayard’s title, Courting Mr. Lincoln, immediately alerts the reader to the duality of

Read More »
Fates and Furies
Fiction
Ann Ronald

Fates and Furies

FATES AND FURIES In Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff proposes a unique way of looking at a relationship. The first half of Fates and Furies, titled

Read More »
The Magpie Murders
British Authors
Ann Ronald

Magpie Murders

MAGPIE MURDERS The Magpie Murders is Deliciously British! Anthony Horowitz’s mystery is set in a circumscribed Somerset village populated by a quarrelsome set of eccentric

Read More »
Beautiful Bad
Fiction
Ann Ronald

Beautiful Bad

BEAUTIFUL BAD Beautiful Bad, the oxymoronic title of Annie Ward’s savagely violent novel, sums up the action precisely. Beautiful people doing bad things, beautiful prose

Read More »
Pax
Animal stories
Sunny Solomon

Pax

PAX What? Another kids’ book? Well, yes, and no. Two things compel me to pick Sara Pennypacker’s Pax for my next review. First of all,

Read More »
A Baby's Bones
Fiction
Ann Ronald

A Baby’s Bones

A BABY’S BONES The plot of Rebecca Alexander’s novel, A Baby’s Bones, may sound familiar. An archaeological excavation on the Isle of Wight has uncovered

Read More »
Bel Canto
Crime
Ann Ronald

Bel Canto

BEL CANTO Ann Patchett’s highly-regarded 2001 novel, Bel Canto, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, won the Orange Prize, and won

Read More »
Will You Be My Friend
Children’s early and middle readers
Sunny Solomon

Will You Be My Friend

WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND Back in 1994, Irish writer Sam McBratney, and British illustrator Anita Jeram, published the picture book, Guess How Much I

Read More »
What She Left Behind
Fiction
Ann Ronald

What She Left Behind

WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND Ellen Marie Wiseman cites the Willard Suitcase Exhibit and a nonfiction book by Darby Penney and Peter Stastny, The Lives They

Read More »
Tahoe Hit
Fiction
Sunny Solomon

Tahoe Hit

TAHOE HIT, AN OWEN MCKENNA MYSTERY Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, time seems to move at a pace determined to mess with our internal calendars.

Read More »