Barb’s Book Reviews, June 2, 2023
It’s been books aplenty, books galore at my house this month as my desk is piled high with research reading. Fortunately, in between learning about Ziegfeld girls and prohibition, I managed to squeeze in four awesome – and I mean awesome – fiction. Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner Susan Meissner might be one of the smartest historical fiction writers on the market today, and Only the Beautiful is proof. It might be as close to perfect as a book can get. The first half of the book tells the story of Roseanne, a 16-year-old unwed mother struggling to keep her unborn child, while the...
Stay Up to Date!
Don't miss Barb's news and releases. Low volume, high quality + the occasional cat picture.
Of Tenacity and Perseverance
When my son was a young teenager, he dreamed of being an elite-level gymnast. Only one thing held him back: lack of physical ability. “Some gymnasts are strong. Some gymnasts are flexible,” his coach liked to say. “You are neither.” What my son did have was tenacity....
Thinking Big Picture
My agent search isn’t going great. It’s a competitive industry, and agents are very picky about who they take on. (Fun fact: most agents request less than 1% of the manuscripts queried.) I’m not deterred. A writing career isn’t built on one manuscript. Writing...
Barb’s Book Reviews, May 5, 2023
Some terrific recommendations this month, so let's dive right in! Two Wars and a Wedding by Lauren Willig: Lauren Willig has been an auto-buy for me since she wrote the Ashford Affair. Her stories always take me to a place and time in history I didn’t know well. In...
Forgettable
"Stop Acting So Small. You are the Universe in ecstatic motion." Rumi My husband is the mayor. Rarely is there an event where he doesn’t meet a friend or the friend of a friend. If he doesn’t know anyone, then he’ll make new friends. Me? I’m Mrs. Cellophane. I’m...
Listen Linda, It’s Not a Hobby
Last week, I listened to a true crime podcast about a writer who killed her husband. Because she was an independent romance writer, I wasn’t surprised when the hosts made jokes about bodice rippers. Misogynistic, uninformed comments come with the territory. But then,...
Barb’s Book Reviews, April 7, 2023
Her Lost Words by Stephanie Marie Thornton: Based on all the four and five-star reviews, there are many readers out there who will adore this book, which recounts the lives of feminist frontrunner Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter, the author Mary Shelley....