​I thoroughly enjoyed this dual timeline, dual POV historical fiction by Lisa Wingate. We see Augustine, Louisiana in the 1870s from the eyes of a former slave, Hannie, and see the same town in the 1980s through the eyes of Benny, a first-year teacher. What ties these two together? A book of lost friends.
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Although the novel is fiction, Wingate bases Hannie on someone who took out an ad - the Lost Friends - to help her locate her family lost to her because of slavery. This is a piece of history I had never encountered before, and Wingate did an excellent job helping me feel the pain of those who were separated from parents, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

​I really enjoyed The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. The main character, Samantha, goes from being a workaholic lawyer to a housekeeper - this despite having no idea how to cook or clean or even start a washing machine!

I picked up this book because my current Work in Progress is a contemporary humor with a side of romance written in first person. This is a big switch from historical fiction written in third person. And, I've been told that Kinsella is a master at her genre.
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I've been delighted to see well-developed characters and even life lessons, helping me see that even light-hearted books can make an impact!

If you love an intellectual spy thriller, then you are going to love The Bucharest Legacy by William Maz. This is the second in the series but, as I can attest, can stand well on its own. However, based on how much I enjoyed this read, I'll definitely be going back for the first in the series, The Bucharest Dossier.

Maz gives the reader everything they need - CIA spies, Russian spies, Romanian spies, love interests, threats, secret drops, defectors, and more! Every time you think you know the answer, Maz twists the plot again. I was hooked from paragraph #1.

I was also lucky enough to interview William Maz on Online for Authors. The Bucharest Legacy ends in a way that invites another book - and William says he's finishing that up now!

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