READ: The Queen’s Dollmaker

The Queen’s Dollmaker, Christine Trent’s historical novel, set in the final years of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s reign, spins a story of hard work, perseverance and hope. All at the hands of a young orphan girl. Claudette loses everything when fire destroys the neighborhood where she has grown up. Her father, a well-loved dealmaker, and her…

Book/author love in Boonsboro

I got up early on Saturday to drive the 60 miles to Boonsboro for a book signing at Turn the Pages Bookstore featuring Nora Roberts, along with bestselling authors Mary Kay Andrews and Christine Trent and local authors Ed Maliskas and Steve Heske. I had heard these were major events with long lines and lots of…

READ: Frontline Angel

I almost didn’t read Frontline Angel by Genevieve Jordayne. I’ve been living with a Civil War nurse for more than a year — she’s the main character of my upcoming novel. But in the end, I couldn’t resist. And I couldn’t resist from the moment I opened the first pages where she’s trying to figure out…

READ: Between the Lines

If you ask a writer about her characters, she just may speak about them as if she could call them on the phone and discuss weekend plans, or the next twist in the plot. They’re as real as Facebook friends, blog followers and long-lost relatives who connect every Christmas. Maybe more so. What if a character…

READ: Mrs. Poe

When I saw Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen, I couldn’t resist. I volunteer at the Edgar Allan Poe House in Baltimore every now and again. One of the things I usually have to explain is how this is the house where he fell in love with the teenager who later became his wife. Virginia, his younger…

READ: The Einstein Prophecy

You know it’s a good story when you’ll find some more ironing to do just to keep the story going. Robert Masello‘s thriller is part Indiana Jones, part Monuments Men with a dash of The DaVinci Code and even demon stories thrown in. I listened to The Einstein Prophecy (on Kindle Unlimited) because I had so much…

READ: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Sherman Alexie has written a funny, sad, unforgettable tale of a boy who leaves the rez (reservation) every day to go to the high school in town. He walks, hitch hikes, and finds all kinds of ways to get there. And it’s a place that really doesn’t want him. At least not at first. And going…