Good Book Fairy | Best Book Reviews by Lauren Margolin

Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Bayard

Nov 13, 2020 | Chicago, Father's Day Picks, Favorites, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Marriage, Mental Health, Midwest States, Political, Year 2020

Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Bayard – 381 pages Book Blurb: When Mary Todd meets Abraham Lincoln in Springfield in the winter of 1840, he is on no one's shortlist to be president. Rough and reticent, he’s a country lawyer lacking money and manners, living above a dry...

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman

Nov 9, 2020 | Beach Read, Chick Lit / Women's Fiction, Family, Favorites, Fiction, Italy, Marriage, Mothers/Daughters, Sisters, Year 2020

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman – 400 pages ARC from Berkley and Netgalley for an honest review. Book Blurb: Since the day Filomena Fontana cast a curse upon her sister more than two hundred years ago, not one second-born Fontana daughter...

A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom by John Boyne

Oct 30, 2020 | Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Year 2020

A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom by John Boyne - 465 pages ARC from Doubleday and Netgalley for an honest review Book Blurb: It starts with a family, a family which will mutate. For now, it is a father, mother and two sons. One with his father’s violence in his...

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

Oct 29, 2020 | Beach Read, Fantasy, Fiction, LGBTQA+, Medical, Motherhood, Mystery, Science Fiction, Suspense, Year 2020

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey – 256 pages ARC courtesy of Tor Books for an honest review Book Blurb: Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d...

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

Oct 28, 2020 | Fiction, Historical Fiction, Ireland, LGBTQA+, Medical, Motherhood, Suspense, Uncategorized, Year 2020

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue – 288 pages ARC courtesy Little, Brown and Co. for an honest review Book Blurb: In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who...

The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save Your Life by Dr. Edith Eger

Oct 21, 2020 | Essays, Favorites, Memoir, Mental Health, Non-Fiction, Self Help, Year 2020

The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save Your Life by Dr. Edith Eva Eger Book Blurb: Edith Eger’s powerful first book The Choice told the story of her survival in the concentration camps, her escape, healing, and journey to freedom. Oprah Winfrey says, “I will be forever changed...

The Forgotten Daughter by Joanna Goodman

Oct 21, 2020 | Abuse, Adoption - Surrogacy - Pregnancy, Canada, Fiction, Mothers/Daughters, Romance, Year 2020

The Forgotten Daughter by Joanna Goodman –416 pages ARC from Harper Paperbacks and Netgalley for an honest review Book Blurb: 1992: French-Canadian factions renew Quebec’s fight to gain independence, and wild, beautiful Véronique Fortin, daughter of a radical...

Crossing Lines by Melanie Weiss

Oct 19, 2020 | Chicago, Fiction, YA, Year 2020

Crossing Lines by Melanie Weiss - 162 pages ARC provided by author for an honest reviewBook Blurb: Midwestern high school seniors and swim teammates Alli and Brandon are the perfect couple, enjoying their final months of high school and making big plans for the...

Ties that Tether by Jane Igharo

Oct 15, 2020 | #ownvoices, African, African American or Black, Beach Read, Canada, Favorites, Fiction, Immigration, Mothers/Daughters, Romance, Year 2020

Ties that Tether by Jane Igharo – 336 pages ARC from Berkley and Netgalley for an honest review Book Blurb: At twelve years old, Azere promised her dying father she would marry a Nigerian man and preserve her culture even after emigrating to Canada. Her mother has...

Universe of Two by Stephen P. Kiernan

Oct 13, 2020 | Beach Read, Chicago, Favorites, Historical Fiction, Japan, Mental Health, War, WW2, Year 2020

Universe of Two by Stephen P. Kiernan – 448 pages ARC from William Morrow and Netgalley for an honest review. Book Blurb: Graduating from Harvard at the height of World War II, brilliant mathematician Charlie Fish is assigned to the Manhattan Project. Working with...