AMUSING CHICK-LIT FLUFF about a family whose women are cursed with romantic disaster never quite takes off.

WELL-CRAFTED REGENCY COZY mystery, complete with an Austenesque plucky, bookish spinster sleuth. Quality fun.

PREP-SCHOOL INTRIGUE, family conflict from parents’ point of view in YA star Sara Shepard’s debut for adults.

INFERTILITY, INFIDELITY, COMAS, and sisters as rivals: crisp writing can’t redeem soap-operatic UK chicklit.

1920s PARIS, VIVIDLY reimagined from the point of view of Hadley Richardson (Mrs. Ernest) Hemingway. Great beachread!

EVOCATIVE, BEAUTIFUL, VIVID writing ultimately founders on the shoals of this novel’s soap-opera plot twists.

EPIC, BOOKISH FANTASY blends witches, vampires, medieval history, romance in an engrossing ladycentric read.

LIGHTHEARTED ROMANTIC COMEDY stars a jaded heroine and the golden boy of a hilariously ridiculous Texas town.

MOTHER/DAUGHTER CONFLICTS plus the perils of minor celebrity status add up to thoughtful, edgy women’s fiction.

CLEVER MASHUP OF society novels and supernatural thrillers features a plucky heroine, a mother-in-law from Hell.