Is there anything Viola Davis cannot do? A brilliant actress and author. She doesn’t need James Patterson. It is easy to see that Ms. Davis wants to play the part of Judge Mary Stone in an adaption of the novel. I would gladly buy tickets. I hope there is a sequel to Judge Stone.

Like with any collection of short stories, it can end up being a mixed bag. While I recognized the concept of the tower of Babylon from the Bible, most others were new to me. What also was frustrating was there were few moments in any of the stories laying out what certain things referred to. I went by assuming it was just sci-fi futuristic technology and jargon, but one more paragraph on subjects like the calling “names”, and other things would have been better. The stories straddle sci-fi lines and often had religious undertones, for better or worse. I have never been a big fan of science fiction, but a couple of these stories were worth the read.

Tilly Nightingale learns from Alfie Lane, the owner of Book Lane, a local independent book seller, that she has a gift from her recently deceased husband waiting at the store. Of course Tilly is not ready for the news but Alfie explains to her that the gift is actually twelve books. Deceased husband, Joe, was a less than enthusiastic reader. He stipulates in his instructions that Tilly collect one book per month from the store throughout the coming year. Each book is different and the first work is Matilda by Roald Dahl. Tilly had been named after Matilda. Tilly’s parents also named Harper, their other daughter, after author, Harper Lee. Mom and Dad seeded Tilly’s love of books and reading. The story includes not only the list of books that are from a wide variety of genres but also explains how each work spurred Tilly and her sometimes cohort, Harper, to embark on a variety of new adventures. It was an inspirational and enjoyable book for me and I am happy I found it.

John Searles writes a fictionalized account of Helen Gurley Brown's rise to the top as editor-in-chief (since 1965) and creator of " Cosmopolitan" magazine as we know it. In the decades that she gained reknown, she supported and freed women's sexual independence and self-awareness out of the confinements of the 1950's, to the glittering decades of the 70's, 80's and 90's.

This book was terrible. I couldn’t stand to read one of the two narrators for almost the entire book. The story relies on the “Idiot Plot”. Meaning this story only works because all of the characters involved are morons. The level of paranoia and stupid decisions are too ridiculous even for fiction. The perpetrator doesn’t even make sense, since their motivation isn’t even legitimate since parts of the story made the justifications impossible. Avoid this book.

It's the 1930's and Manhattan's first female black prosecutor teams up with the madam of a high-class brothel in order to take down Lucky Luciano, but before they team up you learn each woman's story.

You know how with some books you are so engrossed in them that don't want to put them down -- well for me this was not one of them. I found this story, despite all the glowing reviews, just okay and a bit of a slog. Perhaps my expectations were just too high for this story of two childhood neighbors and friends and their divergent journeys through their lives.

IT WAS A TYPICAL JAMES PATTERSON BOOK. A FAST READ WITH NO CHARACTERS OF ANY SUBSTANCE. ANOTHER FLUFF BOOK

This book was fun to read with it's history and the spicy chapters. A good read.

Loved this story. Calvin, the patriarch of the Shipman family calls his daughters to a one week family reunion at their beach house in New Hampshire. Jordan, Natalie and May arrive and find out that their dad is going to sell the beach house before it will need expensive repairs. The sisters must overcome the grief from their mother’s death, the realization that they have grown apart and the recent marriage of their dad to their mom’s younger hospice nurse. Will family win in the end and will the Shipman’s end up fine? Read and find out.