Travel Back in Time with Tamara Dever’s ‘I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie’ [REVIEW]

October 7, 2020 by Leave a comment

Remember all your favorite classic hits with games, trivia and more in I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie. (Author photo courtesy Tamara Dever)

Great books. Danceable music. Brain-teasing trivia. What do these three items have to do with each other? Author Tamara Dever made the connection between them decades ago, before playlists replaced mixed tapes (remember cassettes?) and long before books were downloaded on tablets rather than checked out at the library. Get ready to go “Back in Time” Marty McFly style with Dever’s new music quiz book, I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie. It’s a fun retrospective of everything we loved most about growing up in the 80s!

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♦ Hope and Redemption are ‘What Blooms from Dust’ in James Markert’s New Novel [REVIEW]

July 17, 2018 by 3 Comments

A huge dust storm moves across the land during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

A prodigal son. A child for sale. Both get a second chance in the midst of the 1930s Oklahoma Dust Bowl in James Markert’s What Blooms from Dust. (Photo courtesy US Department of Agriculture, Flickr)

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I have always loved survivor stories: those tales where people beat the odds, transform their lives, and wind up with something better. So it brings me great pleasure to bring you our latest Diamond Review title, James Markert’s What Blooms from Dust. In this redemptive story set against the 1930s Dust Bowl, we are introduced to what may likely become two of modern literature’s most unforgettable characters.
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♦ Single Mom Takes a Stand in Wiley Cash’s ‘The Last Ballad’ [REVIEW]

October 13, 2017 by 2 Comments

Textile mill workers

In 1929, one woman took a stand for what is right and changed the course of American history. Discover her riveting story in Wiley Cash’s The Last Ballad. (Photo courtesy William Morrow, YouTube)

Diamond Review BannerThere have always been unsung heroes in America’s history, people seldom recognized for their significant impact on our culture and way of life, even when those changes came with great personal sacrifice. In Wiley Cash’s new novel, The Last Ballad, readers are introduced to one such woman in a book that is one of the most enthralling, authentic, and relevant novels we have read in some time. Read more of this post

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Rhys Bowen Breaks Down Social Barriers ‘In Farleigh Field’ [REVIEW]

March 20, 2017 by 1 Comment

English manor

With the onset of WWII, everything is quickly changing for Lord Westerham and his family in Rhys Bowen’s In Farleigh Field. (Photo by Marc Pether-Longman, Flickr)

Spies. British aristocracy. A dead body. A love triangle. Rhys Bowen’s new World War II thriller, In Farleigh Field, has it all in spades, making for a truly delicious stand-alone novel that will delight fans of Masterpiece Theater’s Home Fires and Downton Abbey.  Read more of this post

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Lose Yourself in Ami McKay’s Unflinching Novel, ‘The Virgin Cure’

December 31, 2012 by 1 Comment

Chrystie Street

Walking down Chrystie Street. (Photo by PamHule/Flickr)

Sometimes a novel comes along that introduces us to unforgettable characters, captures our imaginations, and makes us contemplate societal issues that are just as important now as they were over a century ago. This is the case with The Virgin Cure, our latest book club selection.  Read more of this post

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