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Brenda Janowitz’s ‘The Liz Taylor Ring’
This review was commissioned by Harper Collins. We meet the Schneider siblings- Addy, Nathan, and Courtney- at a season in their lives where they are navigating the problems of middle-aged people; the detritus of two parents who have passed away, teenaged children and their antics, rocky marriages, and established (and crippling) behavior patterns and addictions.…
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Helen Cullen’s ‘The Dazzling Truth’
This review was commissioned by Harper Collins. I love books that focus on family drama; I love them way more than I love being embroiled in it in reality, that’s for sure. We meet Maeve and Murtagh way into their relationship and go backward to the beginning; we learn about their beginnings, their peccadilloes, Maeve’s…
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Brianna Wolfson’s ‘That Summer in Maine’
This review was commissioned by Harper Collins. From the moment we meet Hazel and her mother, Jane, and the rest of their family, it is evident that there is a lot of tension and misunderstanding in their blended familial dynamic. We see how Jane’s remarriage to a perfectly fine man named Cam and the birth…
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Molly Fader’s ‘The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season’
This review was commissioned by Harper Collins. Every family has secrets; some dark, some upsetting, some that are so silly it’s not clear when they come to light why they’re even a secret in the first place. From the moment we meet Hope, Peg, and Tink it’s obvious that everyone, even Tink at 10 years…