May 2026 Book Reviews!
- Christine
- 7 minutes ago
- 15 min read
Can you believe it's already the beginning of June? Most kids are done with school and you might be gearing up for a family summer vacation. If relaxation is on your vacation agenda, it's the perfect time to catch up on some reading!
For me personally, I love the long and warm summer nights that I can sit out on the lanai with a nice glass of wine and a book. I also love to spend a few hours on the weekend at the community pool catching some sun and reading a book.
Whatever your plans are this summer, be sure to check out this month's book reviews. There are a couple of really good ones this month that would make great beach reads! And to see what I'm reading real time, follow me on Goodreads or The Story Graph.
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Pay The Sandpiper: A Glenn and Glenda Oak Island Mystery (Oak Island Series Book 7) by Lance Carney
The "regulars" at the No Egrets bar each get mysterious messages summoning them for different reasons to a house out in the swamp. But when they show up, they realize that it was all a trap and someone who is out to get each of them lured them there for the wrong reasons.
The characters in this book are super quirky and I think the writing is very clever. I felt like it went on a bit though before getting to the actual story. Fun, but a little slow.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Shattered Reflections: Behind The Smile by Nova Justice
Alex has just moved to the area with her husband and three children. She's always had a hard time making friends, until she starts working at the local RV dealership and meets Andi. While the women click immediately, Alex senses that Andi is keeping a secret and not opening herself up completely. Alex also senses that there is more going on with Andi's husband, Damon, (who is also Alex's boss). When the truth finally comes out, it will change things forever and put them all in danger.
This is a really compelling story that I couldn't put down. Your heart breaks for Andi, who is stuck in an abusive marriage. On top of those emotions, there is an underlying mystery in discovering what Damon is really all about. Twists and turns to the very end.
If I had a criticism of this book, there are two things. First, there are a couple of gaps in the book that just don't transition smoothly. Most notably, the book starts out with Alex and her family moving into a shed on her brother's property temporarily while their house is being built. In the very next chapter, they apparently have moved into the house, but it's not clear how much time has gone by. This normally wouldn't be a big deal, but it felt like moving into the shed was going to be something important in the book and it wasn't, so it just seemed unnecessary. Second, there were times when the author's narrative seemed just a bit overdramatic.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
What To Make Of A Life: Cliffs, Fog, Fire and the Self-Knowledge Imperative by Jim Collins
All of us face what the author would call "cliffs" in life - losing a job, losing a spouse/partner, retiring, diagnosis of an illness, etc. "Cliffs" are major life altering events that can change the trajectory of your life. How people deal with these cliffs is the subject of the research the author did when writing this book.
For the book, the author took two famous people whose lives had a similar "cliff", and analyzed where their life went afterwards. As just one example, he looked at two NFL players who played on "The Purple People Eater" line for the Minnesota Vikings, and looked at their lives after they retired.
The premise and message of the book is that people often find a completely new purpose after these cliffs and in many cases, are more successful and feel more fulfilled after these cliffs.
For me personally as I am approaching retirement - and retiring at an early age - this book was very relevant and I really got some inspiration from reading it. Because of that, I've rated it a four. However, I can see where this book wouldn't be as applicable for other people and while it might be interesting and inspiring, not completely helpful.
If you are familiar with Jim Collins, you are probably familiar with him for his business books. This is definitely not a business book and not even a self-help book. It's written very well and clearly thoroughly researched, but more inspirational than anything else.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
This is a memoir written in a graphical novel form. Marjane Satrapi was born in Iran. Her parents were both quite liberal and encouraged her to be free thinking and to get an education. The book is divided into several parts covering her life. The first is her childhood and her growing up in a time and place where relatives were put in prison for their beliefs and her family was dealing with the war in her country.
The second part covers her teenage years, when her parents sent her to Vienna hoping she could live more freely and pursue her dreams and beliefs. Unfortunately, Satrapi struggled with her identity as an Iranian and how to deal with people who formed an opinion of her just because of her home country.
The third part covers her return to Iran as a young adult and how she continued to struggle with figuring out who she was and the depression and sense of loss she felt due to that. As she tried to assimilate back into her culture - even marrying a man in the process - she realizes that to truly become herself, she has to leave Iran and go somewhere where she can be free.
Particularly in the world today, it's important to understand the lives of real people in countries like Iran who don't believe in the current regime and just want to live their lives. Satrapi does this brilliantly.
And while I wasn't sure how to feel about reading a book that was in comic book form, I found it very easy to read and still very informative. It made it a quick read as well. Excellent book! Four out of five stars!
Through All Our Heavens by Olivia Hawker
This is a dual timeline novel that is both historical fiction and science fiction intertwined in one book.
The first timeline takes place just prior to the Civil War. Helen has inherited her parent's estate in Richmond, Virginia along with the slaves her father held. As Helen begins to open her eyes to the cruelty of slavery and decides to free them, she realizes that a civil war between the north and the south is inevitable. Despite the risks of living in Richmond, Helen determines she must right her wrongs and as war erupts, she begins to work to assist the Union soldiers.
The second timeline takes place in the near future in 2053. Derryn is a professor who is an expert on historical art. She is currently living in Cascadia, which is a section in the western part of the U.S. that has joined the rest of the world to embrace modern technology (including AI that is known as the Weave) and live in peace and unity. Unfortunately, the rest of the U.S. has followed the leadership that was elected in the mid 2020's and fully embraced war and hatred. When a collection of art is discovered in a home in Haverford that seems to be of historical importance, Derryn is asked to venture into the war torn suburb of Philadelphia and view the work at Haverford College. But when tensions become even higher, Derryn takes her chances to make an escape to the one peaceful area of the east coast - NYC.
The author does a brilliant job of interweaving the two timelines. Although the connection is pretty unrealistic and definitely leaning on the sci fi spectrum, the author uses a real event - the 1859 Carrington Event - as her connection.
I was also very impressed with the way the author so effectively wrote each of the different POV's from the two timelines. When I was reading Helen's timeline, the words truly flowed like the south during Civil War times. And when I read Derryn's timeline, I felt that the tone was correct for the near future.
If you are looking for historical fiction with some sci fi, a little romance, a great story and some great moral messages tossed in, this is the book for you!
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
The Mountains We Call Home (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Book 3) by Kim Michele Richardson
Cussy Levett has been working as the "Book Woman" in her home in the Kentucky mountains. She works to not only distribute books to those who might not normally have access to them, but to teach the people there to read and write. Cussy also has a rare disease called methemoglobinemia, which is a deficiency of oxygen in the blood stream which causes a person's skin to appear blue. In the early 1950's in Kentucky, it's a crime for a white person to marry anyone of a different color, so Cussy and her husband are arrested and sent to prison.
Once in prison, Cussy finds her calling as the prison librarian - bringing books to those imprisoned with her and teaching them to read and write as well. When she is granted a week's leave to assist a pastor's wife in a library in the "big city" in Louisville, Cussy has her eyes open to even more discrimination against people of all colors, as well as the extreme poverty in a city where so many are neglected and forgotten.
This is book three in the series. I did not read the first two and still found it easy to pick up Cussy's story and read this as a stand alone. The book is very well written. The author does a fantastic job of sharing Cussy with us and her desire to improve the lives of those around her despite her own struggles. I really enjoyed this one!
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
The Ryzhkov Vendetta (Mark Ericksen, Book 2) by Barry L. Becker
Mark Ericksen was a former military operative who is now helping to run a company in the Silicon Valley. Ryzhkov is a general in Russia who wants Ericksen and his fellow operatives dead. I'm struggling to share any more details about the plot of the book and how everyone is tied together, because I was honestly pretty confused throughout.
There are WAY too many characters in this book. It felt like the author was constantly introducing new characters - Russian, American and other nationalities - and I had a hard time keeping track of them. The author also had a habit of introducing the characters in a very formal manner by their physical description - i.e. height, color of hair, etc. - rather than weaving them into the story and helping us understand how they were related to each other.
The writing was very mechanical. I make the critique often of writers in that they sometimes get caught up in providing little details constantly that have no impact on the story. In this instance, the author's habit was to always tell us the the vineyard and vintage of the wine every time someone sat down for a meal. It started feeling like the book was an ad for certain wines.
I'll give the benefit of the doubt that maybe I had a hard time reading this one and following it because it was part of a series and I didn't read the previous books. However, I think it more likely it was just the book itself.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Two out of five stars.
America's Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, From President To Political Maverick by Bob Crawford
While titled to imply this is just an autobiography of John Quincy Adams, this is really a book about the period of time from his presidency to death that was just prior to the Civil War. If you aren't familiar with John Quincy Adams, he was the son of founding father John Adams, and was the first "son of a President" to be elected President. However, his presidency was just a small piece of his legacy as he only served one term as President, but shortly after was elected to Congress.
While he was quick to always state that he was not an abolitionist, John Quincy Adams strongly opposed slavery and fought to abolish it throughout his career. He believed, however, that it needed to be done politically and through the use of the Constitution, and not in the ways most abolitionists believed.
If you aren't familiar with Crawford outside of this book, he's also the bassist of the band The Avett Brothers and he evidently also hosts a podcast. I really enjoyed Crawford's style of writing. He uses a more relatable storytelling style rather than the more dry style author's often use when writing a biography and/or historical book. Despite the more storytelling style, it was well researched and informative. I recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about a historical figure that from the early years of our country that may not get talked about as much as some others.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
Lions Of Medina: The True Story Of The Marines Of Charlie 1/1 In Vietnam, 11-12 October 1967 by Doyle D. Glass
This is a true story of a group of Marines serving in Vietnam, and just one of the operations - Operation Medina - they were sent out on while there. The book starts out by telling us about some of those Marines - where they came from, why they decided to join the Marines, what their families were like, etc. As each of the individual Marines arrive in Vietnam and to this particular platoon, the author then tells the story of just one of many operations that these men went on. The book concludes with the aftermath, including for those who survived, how horribly they were treated when they returned home and the trauma - both mental and physical - that remained with them for their whole lives.
While the book does get a bit technical and detailed, making it a little hard to follow at times and very dense to read, it does a great job of putting you right there on the battlefield with these Marines. You feel for every single one of them. And frankly, the last couple of chapters about their lives after they returned home just made me angry for them. It's a good lesson to remember that whether or not you support a war, the men and women fighting that war and putting their lives on the line every minute of every day deserve our respect and deserve to be treated like the heroes they are.
This book is quite difficult to read. The descriptions of the injuries and death are horrifying. But it's an important piece of history and it's important that the story of these men gets told.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon, Book 6) by Dan Brown
Robert Langdon returns as the main character in the latest Dan Brown book. Langdon has accompanied Katherine Solomon to Prague, where she is speaking about the book she has just written about consciousness. But when Solomon's manuscript suddenly disappears, it becomes clear that she has inadvertently written about something some very important people don't want to be published. Langdon and Solomon find themselves caught up in figuring out who is after them and Solomon's book.
I was a big fan of Dan Brown's previous books. I found them to be hard to put down. With this one, I honestly struggled a bit. It seemed to move very slowly. There was definitely action, but the topic of this one was so complex and "out there", that it seemed to bog down the actual story. I loved that the book was set in Prague - one of my favorite cities - and it's a thriller that will definitely get your brain thinking. But just not quite up to par with his other books for me personally. Three out of five stars.
Claire And The Artist Pierre (Claire's Chaos And Crimes Book 2) by Amanda Nelson
When Claire attends an art opening with her best friend CC, the featured artist's painting turns up missing. Who stole the painting and is there more going on than just art theft?
While this is supposed to be a cozy mystery, the book seems to spend less time on the mystery itself than it does on Claire and the other characters in the book. Claire is a very quirky character, which I typically like, but the author goes a bit over the top with Claire's eccentricity. There is quite a bit about Claire and her budding romance with Dominic, who is the town's sheriff and who Claire seems to constantly be injuring with her clumsiness. Then there is Claire's relationship with CC and her family. The relationship between Claire and CC's husband, Jake, seems awkward.
The book was fine, but I'm not sure I liked Claire and the other characters enough to want to read more in the series.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Edwin Steelside: Searching Out The Devil by Bradford Bennett
This is a collection of four murder mysteries featuring private investigator, Edwin Steelside. Steelside left his job on the police force as a detective to start his own PI business. He quickly finds himself involved in four different murder mysteries that he has to solve.
I thought the mysteries themselves were pretty decent. Well thought out, although pretty easy to figure out. My biggest issue with the book was the writing itself. Once again, I find myself critiquing a book because the writing - and particularly the dialogue - is very mechanical and awkward. It slowed down the pace of each of the stories considerably and made me not as interested in them.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
It's the late 1680s and the slave trade is just beginning. Although Jacob Vaark does not like to "deal in flesh", he takes a small slave girl - Florens - as payment for a debt from a plantation owner, and brings her home with him. When the plantation owner tries to give Vaark another woman - Florens' mother - the mother refuses and insists Vaark take Florens, as she hopes she can save her from the cruelty of the plantation owner by sending her away. This book covers the story of the women in Vaark's home - Florens, Vaark's wife Rebbekah, Lina and Sorrow.
This book is a look into slavery and how it worked in the very earliest days. It follows the life of Florens and shows whether her mother's ultimate sacrifice to save her, really did.
Morrison is a beautiful writer who is so skilled at opening her reader's eyes to things too many don't want to admit happened. This book is number 47 on the New York Times list of "The Best 100 Books of the 21st Century". Four out of five stars!
Jan Morris: A Live by Sara Wheeler
Jan Morris was a travel writer, journalist and a pioneer in the trans community. Having gone through a transition from being Jim Morris to Jan Morris in the early 1970s, she wrote the book "Conundrum" to document her experience. That book is still considered a classic of trans literature today, and has had a big effect on many people.
I was not very familiar with Jan Morris before reading this book. After reading it, I still don't know that I got to know much about her as a person. There was plenty of time covering different things she did in her life and different things she wrote. But, despite the book being quite long and in-depth, it just never felt like it got to the level of knowing Morris as a person that it should have. Well written and researched, but it just didn't keep my interest level as I felt it should for someone who clearly lived such an interesting life.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Enjoy the start of summer and get cracking on that summer TBR list!
What books do you recommend I read next? Let me know! Did you check out any of these books? I'd love to hear what you think! Comment below or e-mail me at tips2livebywriter@gmail.com.
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