Finding Dorothy

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts

The Wizard of Oz has delighted fans,
both young and old, since it was first
released in theaters on August 25, 1939.

This is the compelling story of
Maud Gage Baum, the feisty, Cornell-educated
wife of aspiring actor and writer,
L. Frank Baum, who penned the book
that later became the beloved movie.

It is told in two narratives; the early years
depicting Maud's life as a young girl living with
a strong-willed, suffragette mother who stoked
her daughter's fierce, independent nature, and the later years
as widow Maud, visiting the M-G-M studios, determined
to make sure that Frank's words were portrayed on the
big screen exactly as her late husband envisioned.

Frank and Maud were true partners in life. They
weathered financial woes, explored new territory
by moving to America's Western frontier, remained
loyal to family in need, and raised four rambunctious
sons with fervor and zest. Through it all, Frank never
gave up on his writing, and his devoted wife, often
frustrated but always forgiving, never gave up on him.

This fascinating, historical fiction novel will appeal
to all those who enjoy the screen adaption of this memorable
tale. It tells of Maud's unending desire to protect
a naive, extremely talented child actress, Judy Garland,
from becoming prey to the sordid side of Hollywood.
It illustrates how hard Maud fought to keep the beautiful
song about a rainbow in the final cut. And more
importantly, it tells the warm, loving story of two people,
filled with wanderlust, who understood each other's needs.

Sprinkled in many chapters are references to all the
famous characters we have come to know, like
Dorothy, The Tin Man, Lion, and Scarecrow. Each
one was based on someone in Frank's past, and only he
had the uncanny ability to make them come alive.

The painstaking research behind the writing of this
book results in an enchanting story of love, determination,
and hope. As Maud explained, "....Oz is hope, and
children can find themselves in dark places".

How lucky the public is, today, and for many
years to come, to be the recipient, of Frank's
imagination and Maud's relentless aspirations.

An Anonymous Girl

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Make-up artist, Jessica Farris, carries
her cumbersome bag of beauty supplies
to the home of yet another client looking
for the perfect transformation.

With her palette of vivid colors, Jessica
can turn a plain face into an exotic one with
the stroke of a brush. It's a tedious job
that pays the bills and satisfies her
artistic flair.

But Jessica's financial woes are mounting.
When she overhears a client's conversation
promising easy money, she takes a quick
peek at the girl's personal phone message,
and decides to impersonate her at a
psychological study that guarantees
anonymity and fast cash for her dwindling
bank account.

What harm can possibly come from a
few hours on a laptop, answering probing
questions designed to better understand the
human psyche?

Little does naive Jessica know, that renowned
psychiatrist, Dr. Lydia Shields, has finally found
the ideal participant to take part in her devious,
dangerous scheme of revenge.

As Jessica falls deeper and deeper
under the good doctor's trance, she finds
her ordinary life exploding all around her.
Fear engulfs every move she makes, and
when her unknowing family becomes an
integral part of the plot, she realizes there's
nowhere to turn, there's no one she can
trust.

Fans of Hendrick's and Pekkanen's
"The Wife Between Us," will relish this
fast-paced, addictive suspense novel
about a cunning professional who uses the
power of persuasion and deceit to destroy those
who have wronged her.

With enough twists and turns to boggle
the mind, this thriller should remain on
The New York Times Best Sellers for
weeks to come.

The Light Over London

The Light Over London by Julia Kelly

An English antiques dealer discovers a box
filled with a handful of hidden mementos,
never guessing that someone else's treasures
will solve a mystery surrounding her
beloved grandmother.

Cara Hargraves is back home, trying
to pick up the pieces of her broken life.
The first step is working once again for
the fastidious owner of a shop where
people go for help in clearing out
their estates and starting anew.

When Cara finds a faded photograph
of a pensive, young woman, along with
a locket and worn diary from the 1940's,
she sets out on a journey that will lead
her to some astonishing revelations
about the owner of these priceless
memories.

Who wrote such wrenching words of
dreams and disappointments in the
forgotten diary? Cara feels an
inexplicable need to know, and when
an unlikely suitor offers his assistance,
her own life takes an unexpected
turn.

This is a fascinating, historical fiction story
about the brave WWII "gunner girls",
that select group of gritty, smart women who
were so vital to the War effort in Britain
during those relentless years of devastation.
The author effortlessly molds the past with the
present, as she details the unbreakable
bond of friendship these strong ladies shared
in the toughest of times.

An entertaining, amazing tribute
to the unsung heroes that paved the
way for today's women.

Not For Nothing

Not For Nothing by Kathy Curto

Take a close look at the family photo
on the cover of this memoir, and you'll
clearly see the people who shaped
Kathy Curto's life.

She's the timid, little girl posing with
her stern father in his dapper new suit,
while her adoring mother smiles faintly,
not a hair out of place in her perfectly
coiffed beehive. A loving family
with a volatile past.

This captivating collection of anecdotes
details the author's life growing up with
her three siblings in a robust Italian family
in South Jersey during  the tumultuous 1970s
and 1980s. It's a story filled with her memories
as a child, and her awakening years as a teenager.

Her father was a proud man, loud and boisterous,
who owned a small chain of gas stations. Every
night he'd come home reeking of oil, with dirt
under his fingernails, ready for a home-cooked meal
and a fight if anyone dared to antagonize him.
Even with success, he never felt quite good
enough, often asking his children
"who do you think you are?" when they
dared to question his authority.

Her mother was caring, long-suffering,
capable, and loyal. When she could no longer
tolerate her husband's roving eye or angry temper
tantrums, she would leave for awhile, only
to return to try again. She loved her children
with a fierceness that sustained her through
the good and the bad times, and the ups and downs
of life with a husband who was not always easy to love.

In those days, her brother was a carefree young man,
until drugs took him deeper and deeper into
an abyss from which he couldn't escape. Kathy
watched the futile attempts to save him fail
over and over again.

This short book is both humorous ( her father's
glued on hairpiece will make you laugh out loud)
and achingly emotional. It will appeal to all
those readers who can relate to growing up
up in a large, ethnic family where food, fights,
and laughter are all part of daily life.

Honest, poignant, and thoroughly entertaining.

For Better and Worse

For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt

How easy is it to plan and commit the
perfect murder?

When Will and Natalie Clarke were
flirtatious law students, their first date
included fine dining, drinks, and stimulating
conversation about plotting to kill and
then getting away with the crime. All fictitious,
of course.  Little did they know how words
spoken in jest, would come back to haunt
them seventeen years later.

Now they are married, living in a sleepy,
little Florida seaside community where Nat
is a well-known, nose-to-the grindstone
criminal attorney, bent on defending the
helpless and downtrodden, while Will
toils away at real estate law. Eleven-year-old
son, Charlie, is the light of their lives, and
even though their marriage has grown stale,
he brings them joy in an otherwise humdrum
existence.

Life takes a dramatic turn for this family
when they learn that Charlie may be the
victim of abuse by the local school principal,
a friend they've known for years. When the
swirling gossip starts to spread throughout
the town, angry parents demand answers.
But Nat wants more than answers, she wants
justice. And Will, her weary husband who
has some juicy secrets of his own, becomes
an unwitting partner in her devious scheme.
Will soon discovers how little he knows
about his cold, cunning. and calculating
wife. Who is this woman he married?

This psychological suspense novel is
hard to put down, as each chapter enfolds
with an unexpected twist. Exactly how far
will a mother go to protect her child?

Like all good thrillers, the unpredictable
ending makes Hunt's  latest novel a must
read for 2019. Check it out.

One Day in December

One Day in December  by Josie Silver

Laurie looks aimlessly out the misty, bus window
on a cold, blustery, London day as she heads home
from another uneventful day at her tedious job.
Suddenly, she locks eyes with a shivering stranger
waiting outside at the bus stop. His penetrating
gaze makes her heart stop.

The undeniable attraction from afar is
mutual and instantaneous. Laurie debates
getting off the bus, the unknown man falters
for a second as if he's going to approach
her, but the bus moves on, and Laurie
can't shake the feeling she's missed a magical
moment in time.

Laurie is so smitten with this elusive stranger
that she spends the next year searching for him
at bus stops and cafes, assuring herself that she
will immediately recognize his piercing eyes
should they ever cross paths again.

Eventually Laurie does meet Jack in person (yes, he has
a name), at her roommate, Sarah's, Christmas party.
This is the man her friend has been gushing
about all these months, so eager for her best friend
to meet the perfect one. A crestfallen Laurie watches
her foolish hopes and dreams fade away when she
sees Sarah's radiant smile every time she looks at Jack.
Wistfully, she recollects that day of infatuation at the
bus stop, but is it possible that Jack remembers her, too?

For the next ten years these three vulnerable characters
travel down a winding road of twists and turns, secrets
and lies, and stunning betrayals as each one of them
searches for the happiness that always seems to be just
out of reach, no matter how hard they try.

This is a warm, emotional novel perfect for a cozy
evening by the fire, especially for those looking
for some holiday, happily ever after, romance.

The Lies We Told

The Lies We Told by Camilla Way

Chilling and sinister, just in time
for HALLOWEEN......

Beth and Doug desperately long for a
child, so when they are blessed with
Hannah, it's a dream come true.

By the mid-1980s, they can't ignore the
fact that their beautiful daughter is far
from normal. Her dark, brooding, alarming
behavior makes them anxious in their own home.
The repeated calls from school detailing Hannah's
cruelty towards other students, and flippant,
blatant disrespect for authority, has both of them
constantly on edge as they struggle to maintain
any sense of normalcy. No one can know what
happens behind closed doors. No one can
learn the truth.

When Hannah purposefully hurts the person
most dear to Beth and Doug's heart, they realize
what they've known all along...they are deathly
afraid of their own daughter, and what she is
capable of doing.

Thirty years later, a young woman by the name of
Clara, is frantic when her boyfriend, Luke, vanishes
without a trace, just like his sister, Emily, did years ago.
When she and Luke's best friend begin an investigation
into his disappearance, it opens Clara's eyes to the
lies and deceit she never knew about the man she loves.
Tension mounts as she feels the presence of eyes always
watching her, and a narrow escape from a burning
building intensifies the sense of danger surrounding her.

Two different scenarios, decades apart, yet these two
stories are intricately intertwined with one another
in this scary, psychological thriller that will keep you
guessing.

Expect a sleepless night after reading the eerie
conclusion.