CANDID AND HEARTFELT memoir of a difficult marriage, sudden widowhood tries a bit too hard for simple answers.

THOUGHTFUL, POETIC MEMOIR of an evangelical girlhood by a writer who came to find the divine in nature.

LYRICAL NOVEL brackets motherhood, daughterhood, women’s friendship with the spectre of Wichita’s BTK killer.

BRAD MELTZER’S UMPTEENTH Washington thriller is good fun despite its unlikely archivist hero, confusing plot.

EROTIC REGENCY gets an A for playful, sexy fun and complex characters, but draws a D for historical accuracy.

IDEALS OF UTOPIA explored in the context of today’s planned environments; reportage adds fun to philosophizing.

FUNNY DUDEBRO TWIST on the “immortal being falls in love with human” trope; New York setting adds grit.

COMPLEX NOVEL portrays a troubled young woman–a US expatriate in Berlin–literally haunted by Nazi history.

SECOND MYSTERY in the “Ski Diva” series has lots of local Vermont color, slightly rambling plot.

BREEZY ESSAYS on evolutionary biology and psychology: some intriguing insights, some flimsy generalizations.