REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY
Coming to terms with your womanhood is a process neither easy nor straightforward, as Trudy, Jade, Shanelle and Roberta
each learn in Barbara Samuel's sublime Goddesses of Kitchen Avenue. The
four friends have defined their lives through one facet: the men they love. For Trudy, that love is shattered when she
earns her husband has been having an affair. Roberta's husband dies after a 62-year marriage. Jade's ex-husband,
Dante—the conman with too much con in him—still haunts her. Even Shanelle is tormented by the conflict
between her love for writing and her husband Tony's expectations.
Barbara Samuel's writing is, quite simply, splendid. And there's nothing simple about it. As she peels away the layers of relationships, Samuel creates a nuanced story as finely wrought as a beautifully woven tapestry. Each of these women-in-transition finds that her truest identity is the one she makes for herself. Whether literally fighting for her sense of self, like Jade, or rediscovering true fulfillment in her earliest dreams, as Trudy finally does, these women are as familiar as your next-door neighbor and as exotic as the goddesses who archetype their lives. Samuel soars with genius in the humanity of her storytelling.
|
Daddy's little girl
Lady Roz's last act of selfishness—revealing her daughter's true parentage—sets off Jasmine Cresswell's
fast-paced, intelligent puzzle of a political thriller, Decoy. On the
brink of opening her own art gallery, Melody Beecham's world is ripped apart by the mysterious death of her mother
and the abrupt change of the man she knew as her father, Wallis Beecham, into her deadly adversary. When she is
recruited into the clandestine Unit One, Melody sees the chance to avenge her mother and gain revenge against
Beecham by exposing his secret Bonita project. Well-schooled in poise by her earlier life as a glamorous model
and the granddaughter of British aristocrats, Melody teams with the enigmatic Nikolai Anwar to expose the corrupt
villainy behind Beecham's hillbilly façade. As riveting as contemporary headlines, Cresswell's story is
a page-turner you'll want to devour in one breathtaking ride.
|
Amazing, Grace
From childhood, Grace Bagshaw has fiercely looked out for Harp Vance. Even as a widow, she's determined to
protect the integrity of his reputation from the likes of Stone Senterra, the action hero movie star who comes
to Georgia to film Harp's heroic story in Deborah Smith's
Charming Grace. Like the ethereal glen of lady slippers
that continues to bloom throughout Grace's life, Deborah Smith's Southern novel is more than just a beguiling
bed of delicate flowers. Stone Senterra is determined to shed his beefcake image and become a serious actor.
His baby sister Diamond intends to see he gets his way, and she expects Boone Noleene, Senterra's bodyguard,
to deal with recalcitrant, shotgun-toting Grace. But Boone is captivated by the slightly cracked Southern belle.
Charming Grace is a delightful story peopled with colorful characters and deft warm touches as magical as a hidden
valley swathed in sunshine light.
|
Clash of the tartans
In the misty reaches of a Scottish castle, swords clang with terrible purpose
in Sasha Lord's Under a Wild Sky. His family brutally murdered by
the covetous Lothian and his Serpent mercenaries, Ronin McTaver secretly rescues a priceless tapestry that will
guide him to Scottish gold. He seeks refuge in the mythical Loch Nidean forest, only to confront its princess
and guardian, Kaliel, who steals Ronin's horse and then his heart in this evocative historical fantasy that rings
with magic and erotic power. It's a delectable escape into the realm of legend.
|
Sandy Huseby writes and reviews from her homes in Fargo, North Dakota, and lakeside in northern Minnesota.
Support your