Tag: fiction
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The Second Mrs. de Winter, to be or not to be?
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why? As an avid reader my whole life, I have many “favorite books” and the list of the top ten continues to change and evolve over the decades and years of my reading life. The same 2 or 3 titles…
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Book Review: The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Random House (an imprint of Penguin Random House) for the ARC ebook of Elizabeth Strout’s newest book, The Things We Never Say (May 5, 2026, 224 pages). I lobbied hard for an ARC, and thankfully, the literature gods heard my cry, or at least someone at Random…
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Book Review: The Lost Language of Oysters by Alexander McCall Smith
Being Louisiana born and bred, especially in southeast Louisiana where oyster fishermen have made their living for decades on an oyster boat, when I saw the title of this new book pop up in NetGalley, I just had to request it. Seeing though, that it was book #6 in a series where I had not…
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My February 2026 Reads
Great reads this month! Only one 5-star but it was a whopper! Can’t wait for the movie! Read my review here!
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Book Review: The Shippers by Katherine Center
The Shippers (St. Martin’s Press, May, 2026) is Katherine Center’s newest novel. I was fortunate enough to be offered an ARC by NetGalley and the publisher to read on my Kindle. In Goodreads, this soon-to-be published romcom currently has almost 2,000 reviews and over 2,500 ratings, with an average rating of 4.20 stars. This is…
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Book Review: Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander McCall Smith, is a Scottish legal scholar turned prolific author of fiction. He was born in present day Zimbabwe and grew up there, starting his education at Christian Brothers College, before moving to Scotland to study law at the University of Edinburgh where he earned a LLB and a PhD. He returned to Africa…
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Book Review: The Lost Husband by Katherine Center
The Lost Husband (Ballantine Books, 2013) is my 4th book by Katherine Center, having read Hello, Stranger (5 stars) in 2023, The Rom-Commers (5 stars) in 2024, and The Love Haters (4 stars) in 2025. I’ve enjoyed all four books and I will continue to make my way through her back list. There’s a lot…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 