FAMILY DRAMA.......THE TURBULENT PAST AND PRESENT LIVES OF A SUPERSTAR AND HER FAMILY.....(*****)

 Family Drama by Rebecca Fallon (release date 02/03/26)

     Here's one to look out for at your favorite bookstore..... of which we can give you an honest review thanks to an advance copy provided to SQ by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster

     I stand in awe of any book than can so fully immerse you in its ambitious, sweeping storyline and fascinating characters, that you lose yourself in the escalating drama and heartbreak of it..........especially when its shifting timelines move you between past, present and succeeding generations.

     For me, "Family Drama" checked all the boxes for that kind of reading experience.

     It's a family saga that begins with the romantic union of two people who make the most unlikely of couples - struggling young Boston actress Susan and college professor Alcott. Susan has bigger dreams than re-enactments of the Salem witch trials, and hits that impossible stroke of luck every actor dreams of - a starring role in TV's most popular, most watched soap opera. Hollywood glamor and stardom beckon her while Alcott only wants to remain in Boston to pursue his academic publishing career and the tenure that goes with it.

     And herein lies the lifelong strife in Susan and Alcott's relationship as through the years they attempt a bicoastal .marriage. Susan's growing superstardom and celebrity lead to endless cross country plane flights as she takes on the mounting pressures of trying to achieve a have-it-all life with Alcott. A life that includes family, career.....and then motherhood. The birth of their twins Sebastian and Viola eventually forces Susan into a pivotal decision about her dual lives.......until a cruel twist of fate takes her choice away from her.

     With Susan dying young while her children were still toddlers, Sebastian and Viola have grown up trying to piece together memories of their legendary mother.. It's a quest Alcott chose not to encourage, leaving him deeply estranged from Sebastian. But Susan, as a college student in London, has taken her own path to build a memory of her mother. She's met and fallen for, of all people Susan's co-star (and rumored lover) Orson, who's aged into a worldwide famous A-List movie star..

     The book truly lives up to its title as a family drama that far eclipses any turns of plot to be found in Susan's TV famous TV show. And author Rebecca Fallon spins her decades long tale with prose that incisively goes right to the heart of her characters. While I'm by no means a regular reader of literary fiction, this book completely captivated me from start to finish........and I recommend it to everyone.

     5 stars (*****).

CROSS YOUR HEART AND HOPE HE DIES.......AN UNSTOPPABLE AMATEUR SLEUTH HUNTS A MANUSCRIPT AND A MURDERER (****).

Cross Your Heart and Hope He Dies by Jenny Elder Moke (2026) 

     Had a great laugh-out-loud time with this sharp witted romcom mystery, top loaded with rich, obnoxious characters whom you feel like you've hated forever.

     At first I included the book's unlikely sleuth, publishing exec Juliette Winters as one of the obnoxious ones. A take-no-prisoners, suffer-no-fools force to be reckoned with she's a fierce, type-A achiever whose abrasive personality was forged, for better or worse, by a toxic upbringing at the hands of her psychoanalyst parents. And now her best laid plans to save the financially failing publisher she works for have literally disappeared. She'd pinned her hopes on an explosive, tell-all manuscript just finished by a ruthless CEO shark......until he dropped dead of a heart attack while someone made off his would-be bestseller..

     Here's where the real fun begins, when it appears the CEO's heart failure may have been engineered on purpose. Juliette, well equipped with a rapier sense of humor and looks to die for, barrels her way through a host of suspects who orbited around the CEO., all of them with valid motives. In the process of collecting clues, she also collects an ally in Dr. Charlie Hawkins, whom commitment-averse Juliette had previously rejected as a dull 'Dr. Dud'. But as the plot thickens, so do romantic sparks fly hot and high between the love-'em-and-leave-'em, normally hard-hearted Juliette and the sweet, kind and undeniably hunky Charlie.

     A thoroughly delightful, funny read, with a climax between Juliette and the guilty party that manages to become both harrowing and hilarious all at the same time.....not to mention the romance that slowly, surely (and cutely) makes its way to up to incendiary status. 4 stars for sure.   (****)

THE STORM.....THE ANSWERS, MY FRIENDS, ARE BLOWIN' IN THE WIND......(****)

 The Storm by Rachel Hawkins (2026)

     Get ready for more than just one Dark Stormy Night to kick off an equally dark stormy
plot.........prepare yourself for decades of hurricanes that perpetually blow ill winds into the little Gulf Coast town of St. Medard's Bay, Alabama. One of the worst of the storms leaves plenty of violent tragedy in its wake.......at least one of the victims, Landon Fitzroy, young scion of a powerful political dynasty, didn't die from storm related injuries. But Lo Bailey, the beautiful, lower-class local girl accused of his murder was never convicted of the crime, though evidence pointed to her as a jealous, spurned girlfriend.

     Years later, Geneva Corliss struggles to make ends meet as the owner-manager of the Rosalie Inn, renowned for weathering all the previous catastrophic storms that came barreling into St. Medard's. As she tries to keep the inn solvent enough to cover the care for her Alzheimer's afflicted mother, Geneva's summer guests include writer August Fletcher. He's working on a book about Lo Bailey's scandalous affair and subsequent murder trial..... and guess who's coming with him to provide authenticity to the project as well as clear her name - Lo Bailey herself, still a dynamic provocative force to be reckoned with. Emotions still run deep in the town when it comes to Lo, including those of Geneva's loyal assistant Edie, who doesn't appear as if she's......well, particularly high on Lo. And August, fueled with dreams of crafting a bestseller, seems bound and determined to probe every detail of what really happened to young Fitzroy on that eventful, storm tossed night.

     Need I describe more? Wouldn't dream of it. Because of course there's a host of long held, well kept secrets and plot twists that commence rolling in like the tide. Also rolling in, to nobody's surprise given the the town's location - the next whopper of a Category 5 Hurricane, relentlessly on a course to smash right into St. Medard's Bay and the Rosalie. And it's entirely possible that once again, someone might not make it through the storm.......but through no fault of the storm.

     'The Storm' does take its own sweet time to get past its initial set-up and all the required exposition and past histories, but once it gets going (and the winds start blowing), it efficiently moves toward its great big whammer of a finale along with a bittersweet satisfying little conclusion. But I'm pretty sure some readers will think twice before booking a stay at a beachside Gulf Coast inn during Hurricane season.....at least not without life-jackets

     4 stars (****).

DEFINITELY MAYBE NOT A DETECTIVE......SHE'S DEFINITELY MAYBE IN MYSTERIOUS, COZY ROMCOM TROUBLE.....(****).

 Definitely Maybe Not A Detective by Sarah Fox (2026)

     No maybe about it. This is most definitely an entertaining cozy rom-com mystery that coasts along on its enormous charm, quirky characters and most of all, its hapless, unlucky-in-love-until-she-isn't but somehow still adorable would-be sleuth.

     The not-quite-a-detective I speak of is Emersyn Gray......in her late 20's, recently fired, needing work to support both her and her beloved young niece Livy, her late brother's only child. But Emersyn's savings were stolen by her rotten ex-boyfriend and her domineering mother is pressuring Emersyn to let her assume custody of Livy. In desperation, Emersyn goes along with her best friend's scheme to intimidate her villainous ex, by threatening him with 'Wyatt Investigations', a wholly fictitious company. The boyfriend sneers, until confronted by a hunky guy whom Emersyn had previously stumbled into......and whose real name happens to be.....wait for it.......Wyatt.

     This oddest, most coincidental of meet-cutes rapidly escalates when the building manager of Emersyn's apartment is found murdered and an innocent, elderly resident is wrongly suspected. Come to think of it, with the exception of Emersyn, Livy and another hunky male specimen, the building's other residents are a collection of colorful seniors right out of 'Only Murders In The Building.. To Emersyn's increasing exasperation, Wyatt takes on his make-believe detective role, and the residents, all of them potential suspects, join in to crack the case.......not to mention a resident's granddaughter Theo, an aggressively, take charge wheelchair bound teen girl who knows how to set up a murder board.

     The mystery part of this book isn't all that compelling, but the real fun comes from Emersyn doing her best to resist those inevitable romantic sparks that begin to detonate between her and Wyatt. And things don't get easier for her when she also finds also herself in the romantic crosshairs of Bodie, that equally nearby attractive guy in the building.

     I loved all the characters' interactions, Emersyn's poignant, fierce devotion to caring for Livy, and her finding herself in the midst of a romantic triangle while trying to get a job and uncover a killer. at the same time. A lot going on, but author Sarah Fox deftly juggles all the elements and delivers a diverting cozy read.

     4 stars (****).

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN......A JAMES PATTERSON LAUGH-OUT-LOUDER? REALLY? (*****)

 The Invisible Woman by James Patterson and Susan DiLallo (2026)

     I really do appreciate James Patterson picking humorist Susan DiLallo as his collaborator on this one.......cause I love a good thriller that also makes me laugh along with the suspense,, thrills 'n chills.

     So here's a Patterson page turner where you get the best of both worlds.......the brief chapters and rapid fire pacing mixed in with hearty helpings of funny moments, deadpan wit, and even some physical slapstick thrown in.
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     Right away you feel for and root for middle aged Elinor Gilbert a disgraced former FBI agent with a once bright future ahead of her, now reduced to scrounging for a living as a piano teacher. Her vile, hateful former boss, who threw her under the bus to cover his own errors, offers her an undercover job that will restore her standing and job in the Bureau. She's to disguise herself as a frumpy, matronly nanny to the family of a New York art dealer who's a possible money launderer for cartel drug traffickers.

     Elinor may think of herself as so non descript invisible, she'll blend in with the wallpaper, but she's also fearful that her woeful lack of nanny skills will blow her cover. Yet even as she weathers catastrophic diaper changes and volcanic outbursts from the hot-tempered art dealer, she comes to care for and deeply love the family's infant daughter.. Elinor even manages to bond with their other child, a moody, morose teenage girl.

     But amid all the comedy, there's real crimes and danger afoot in that household, making Elinor's FBI mission ever more complicated........since she's realized she's also evolved into a nanny fiercely protective of her young charges.

     A reader can expect the usual twists and turns you'd enjoy in a James Patterson book with that extra bonus of chuckling over our lead sleuth dealing with layers of her foam padding disguise and baby diarrhea.....all at the same time. A good fun read guaranteed.

     5 stars (*****)