Nancy Christie's Blog - Posts Tagged "book-review"

This was a red-letter week for me as an author!

Not only did my book, Peripheral Visions and Other Stories, get two fabulous reviews, but it was also named a Bronze award winner in the Foreword INDIES competition!

I have to tell you--good news like this is often in short supply for authors. Mostly, we write, then publish, then hope someone buys our book and reads it and likes it and maybe writes something on social media about it.

So when major things happen like a fab editorial review or a book award, we almost have to pinch ourselves to make sure it's true!

And in this case, it is!

I Thought You Said This Would Work by Ann Wertz Garvin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[This is an edited excerpt from my review on Focus on Fiction]

Perhaps because of the isolation posed by the pandemic, I have been reading a lot of books centered around friendships.

New friendships and old ones. Friendships with people just like us and those that bring new types of individuals into our lives.

Friendships that have withstood the test of time and those that have disintegrated, in some cases, beyond repair. Friendships with people and friendships with pets. (And yes, you can have a friendship of sorts with an animal!) Friendships that are born out of tragedy and those that, in some way, survive even the final loss.

Ann Garvin’s latest novel, I Thought You Said This Would Work, covers all those types of friendships. In turn serious and humorous, the story follows two women, Samantha and Holly, who have been estranged since college, reuniting to perform one final task for their mutual third friend, Katie whose cancer has returned.

And no small task it is. It involves a Great Pyrenees dog once owned by Katie that they need to transport from California back to Wisconsin to give their friend a morale boost and what they hope will be a dose of much-needed animal affection.

Along the way, they acquire a fourth member, the eccentric D-List celebrity Maggie, who becomes the catalyst for changes in how each woman views herself and her relationships. So yes, this is indisputably a women’s friendship novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book in the way you enjoy sitting with people you have known for a long time but haven’t seen because of COVID-19 and are now catching up with. And people that, under other circumstances, you might not have chosen as friends but now, because of circumstances resulting from the virus, you can’t imagine not having in your life.

If you have friends, read I Thought You Said This Would Work to remind yourself how lucky you are.

If you have lost friends due to a falling-out, read the book to make you think if the rupture can be repaired.

And if you’re wondering how good of a friend you have been, or should be, read the book and then reach out to those you care about and ask those questions.

True friendships are lifelines that we hold onto when the waves threaten to submerge us. I Thought You Said This Would Work reminds us of that, and also how invaluable and precious friends are.

View all my reviews

This review originally appeared on Focus on Fiction.

Among the many quotes I have saved on short stories, this one by Will Self stays in my mind: “A short story is a shard, a sliver, a vignette…”

It's a description of this literary form that also perfectly describes the stories in Whatever Happens, Probably Will by John W. MacIlroy.

Start with the first story in the collection: “The Painting.” Just a story about a man following his wife’s directions on how to hang a painting and yet…

Each story, whether it’s set in a New England factory town, a cemetery or a courtroom, drops the reader into the setting just long enough to eavesdrop on what’s being said—or sometimes, not being said.

There is the element of the unexpected, which is what life is like. We think we know what’s going to happen, but then something shifts, something changes. Or maybe it isn’t so much that it changes as we become more aware of what the story is behind the words and actions.

MacIlroy’s collection runs the emotional gamut from lighthearted to tender to heartbreaking. Each story is beautifully written with no extraneous words, no unnecessary details—just enough to make you feel like you have been there, witnessing what transpired. And when you get to the end of each, you are left with the sense that a door has closed, but only just barely, that if you push on it, you can re-enter that particular world and find out more about what the characters are doing or saying or feeling.

But only if they let you.

The School of Essential Ingredients


Erica Bauermeister’s novel, The School of Essential Ingredients, is a wonderful, captivating and delicious exploration of what takes place during the Monday night cooking classes at Lillian’s restaurant.

Bauermeister skillfully develops the story, moving from the present to the past and then back again, giving the reader a soupçon of this character’s backstory, a morsel from that character’s past before moving back to the main course.

As the participants spend their time slicing and chopping, mixing and pureeing, they learn about each other, but more importantly about themselves: who they were, who they are, who they can be.

And with her distinctive creative skill, Bauermeister brings all those individual components together for a wholly satisfying conclusion.

You can read my full review at Focus on Fiction (https://www.nancychristie.com/focuson...)

Or better yet, buy the book and write your own review!