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M.J.’s Year In Books

M.J.’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at M.J.’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to M.J.’s 2025 Year in Books

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Terry Ambrose

79 books | 551 friends

Kathy Weyer

430 books | 33 friends

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174 books | 29 friends

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149 books | 1,264 friends

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80 books | 209 friends

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M.J. Roë

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

http://www.roezes.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance

Member Since

April 2012

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Mj Roë (AKA MJ Bachman) is an award-winning author and lifelong Francophile. She has worked as a business and marketing executive in France and has also taught French and creative writing.

Roë lives and writes in Southern California. Her latest novel Was it Love? Or Was it Paris? (written for the first time under pen name MJ Bachman) will be released November 19, 2022. Her previous novels make up The Seven Turns trilogy - The Seven Turns of the Snail’s Shell, The Blue Amulet, and As Darker Grow the Shadows. All three books won awards at the London Book Festival, the Paris Book Festival, and the Los Angeles Book Festival.

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Popular Answered Questions

What books are on your summer reading list this year?

M.J. Roë First off, I've just begun reading a book by Gabriella De Ferrari I picked up at a book sale at our local library. A Cloud on Sand (1990) was the auth…moreFirst off, I've just begun reading a book by Gabriella De Ferrari I picked up at a book sale at our local library. A Cloud on Sand (1990) was the author's debut novel.

Next up will be Les Parisiennes : how the women of Paris lived, loved, and died under Nazi occupation by Anne Sebba. It's getting mixed reviews, so we'll see, but I generally enjoy WWII Paris-related books.

After that, I definitely want to read Cara Black's new mystery in the Aimée Le Duc series. Murder in Saint Germain is due to be released on June 6 and I'll be in line at the bookstore for a signed copy.

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What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

M.J. Roë The greatest mystery in my own life happened in the late sixties when I was a young university student studying in Paris. That was back in the day whe…moreThe greatest mystery in my own life happened in the late sixties when I was a young university student studying in Paris. That was back in the day when there were no communications satellites, no worldwide Internet, no cell phones, not even any personal computers! Basically, the dark ages. Anyway, I started to date a French medical student. A year later, he drove me to the airport for my flight back to the United States. We said au revoir and promised to write to each other. I flew home to the US, and I didn’t hear a thing from him again. My letters went unanswered. In those days, mail wasn’t returned to senders from a foreign country. There was no way to call him. Months went by. Basically, I never knew what happened to him. The mystery haunted me for a long time. Had he been in an accident? He was draft age. The Vietnam War was raging at the time. Had he been sent to war? Killed? Or, on the other hand, had the Frenchman just decided he didn’t want anything more to do with me? That haunted me, too. I had no closure.
I went on with my life. I married, had a family, pursued two careers, and have made many, many trips to France over the years. Then, after I finally retired, I became an author. Thirty-five years later, I turned that mystery into the plot for my debut novel, a romantic suspense titled The Seven Turns of the Snail’s Shell (published 2009; awarded honorable mention Paris Book Festival 2010). Writing is a great way to resolve a life mystery!
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M.J. Roë’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 66 ratings · 9 reviews · 5 distinct works

	As Darker Grow the Shadows: A Novel of the French Résistance 4.26 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Seven Turns of the Snail's Shell: A Novel really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Blue Amulet 3.85 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Heat of the Desert wind liked it 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Was it Love? Or Was it Paris? by M.J. Bachman, M.J. Roë (Goodreads Author) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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M.J.’s Recent Updates

M.J. entered a giveaway Huguette by Cara Black (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 13, 2025 06:43AM · like · see giveaway · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Huguette by Cara Black. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Huguette by Cara Black <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Aug 21, 2025 09:50AM · like · see giveaway · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Huguette by Cara Black. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Huguette by Cara Black <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
M.J. finished reading The Women by Kristin Hannah (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 21, 2025 09:45AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Women by Kristin Hannah. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Women by Kristin Hannah <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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M.J.’s Quotes

“It is a delicious thing to write, to be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creating. Today, for instance, as man and woman, both lover and mistress, I rode in a forest on an autumn afternoon under the yellow leaves, and I was also the horses, the leaves, the wind, the words my people uttered, even the red sun that made them almost close their love-drowned eyes.”
― Gustave Flaubert

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“Love comes along--casting a spell
Will it sing you a song?
Will it say farewell?
Who can tell?
(Jacqueline Bouvier, Paris 1950)”
― M.J. Bachman, Was it Love? Or Was it Paris?

tags: eiffel-tower, historical-fiction, normandy, paris, romance, world-war-two

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