What I'm Reading
The Lost Orphan
![The Lost Orphan The Lost Orphan](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/The%20Lost%20Orphan%20image_w140_h140/The%20Lost%20Orphan%20image_04210432.jpg)
The Lost Orphan (Mira) by Stacey Halls, which takes place in 1747, could just as easily been titled “A Tale of Two Mothers,” with a respectful nod to Charles Dickens’ novel set similarly in Georgian London three decades later.
Freedom Lessons
![Freedom Lessons Freedom Lessons](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/Freedom%20Lessons%20photo_w140_h140/Freedom%20Lessons%20photo_02270805.jpg)
Wife After Wife
![Wife After Wife Wife After Wife](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/WifeAfterWife%20photo_w140_h140/WifeAfterWife%20photo_02070111.png)
Wife After Wife proves history repeats itself. As I read Olivia Hayfield’s debut novel, Wife After Wife (Berkley), about a serial philanderer, I kept yelling, “Off with his…head.” As you read it, the story will seem predictable if you’re familiar with the history and legend of King Henry VIII.
The Books I Read in 2019
Flip-Flops After 50
![Flip-Flops After 50 Flip-Flops After 50](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/Flip%20flops_w140_h140/Flip%20flops_01120352.jpg)
Cindy Eastman’s memoir, Flip-Flops After 50 (She Writes Press), is a breath of fresh air!
The Girl and the Tiger
![The Girl and the Tiger The Girl and the Tiger](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/the-girl-and-the-tiger-paul-rosolie_w140_h140/the-girl-and-the-tiger-paul-rosolie_12040130.png)
Land of Last Chances
![Land of Last Chances Land of Last Chances](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/Landof-Last-Chances_Final_w140_h140/Landof-Last-Chances_Final_12050339.jpg)
Land of Last Chances (She Writes Press) by Joan Cohen may be a novel, but it’s about real-life situations. Drawing from some of her own personal and professional experiences, Ms. Cohen crafts a complex and fast-paced story that forces us to examine our own values and beliefs.
Pretty Guilty Women
![Pretty Guilty Women Pretty Guilty Women](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/Pretty-Guilty-Women-cover%20(1)_w140_h140/Pretty-Guilty-Women-cover%20(1)_12050339.jpg)
In Pretty Guilty Women, Gina LaManna invites you to join four women at a destination wedding. What happens once you arrive is anybody's clue.
Followers
![Followers Followers](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/followers-megan-angelo_w140_h140/followers-megan-angelo_12050339.jpg)
Do you know how many social media followers you have? Do you care? Even if you do, I bet you’re not as obsessed as the central characters are in Followers by Megan Angelo (Graydon House).
The Wives
![The Wives The Wives](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/THE%20WIVES_w140_h140/THE%20WIVES_12050339.jpg)
Released at the end of 2019, The Wives, by Tarryn Fisher, is a thrilling story of self-loathing, revenge, and denial. Yet, in the end, there's no denying it, The Wives should be a smashing success.
The Two Lila Bennetts
![The Two Lila Bennetts The Two Lila Bennetts](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/The%20Two%20Lila%20Bennetts%202_w140_h140/The%20Two%20Lila%20Bennetts%202_12030837.png)
Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke tell a tale of The Two Lila Bennetts. She is captured—blindfolded and restrained—as well as constrained by the ethics of her profession to defend a client who may be guilty of murder. Once the client is found not guilty, all hell breaks loose. And that’s just by page one.
Stepmother
![Stepmother Stepmother](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/Stepmom%20image_w140_h140/Stepmom%20image_05031253.jpg)
If you hesitate to read Stepmother: A Memoir by Marianne Lile because you’re not a stepmother or you don’t usually read memoirs, you could lose out on a warm and rewarding reading experience. Believe me, I fall into both camps and am glad I ventured into this wonderful story.
Bedside Manners
![Bedside Manners Bedside Manners](images/valerietaylor/cache/images/valerietaylor/proportion/Bedside%20Manners_w140_h140/Bedside%20Manners_12100344.jpg)
Though a novel, Bedside Manners by Heather Frimmer, reads like a memoir or true-life story. And for us readers, that’s a good thing because though the topic—breast cancer—is scary, Ms. Frimmer juxtaposes it with relatable life-goes-on situations.