Welcome to Quick Lit: April 2025 Edition, where I share books I chose for my own reading enjoyment in a mini-review format. These are not books I received for review but books I’ve wanted to read or that have caught my attention. Most of them have been talked about ad nauseam or have been on my to-read list for a long time, so they don’t really need a full review. But I’d still like to give them some space here on the blog, so instead, I’m offering mini-reviews of the books that won’t get full-page space here.
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I’m currently reading GITEL’S FREEDOM and THE WORLD’S FAIR QUILT. I’m listening to THE GRIFFIN SISTERS GREATEST HITS.
I recently reviewed STICKER JIGSAW: THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, GOOD DIRT, and SIX WEEKS IN RENO for publishers.
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I’m currently watching Survivor and American Idol. Pat and I also watched KISStory on Hulu.
This month’s list includes a couple of books I didn’t finish, a couple of historical fiction novels, a celebrity memoir, and fiction that I absolutely loved.
First the DNF Books:
THE FLOAT TEST
By: Lynn Steger Strong
Published: April 8, 2025
Publisher: Mariner Books
Fiction
Format: eBook for Review
I really wanted to like this book. I love sibling stories set around a family secret or betrayal. However, this one started off confusing, and if I have to continually tap back pages to reread what I read or to clarify something (especially difficult on an eBook) I begin to get frustrated and lose interest quickly. I know that Lynn Steger Strong has been praised for her book, Flight, and it has been on my to-read list. However, this book seemed very disjointed. It is told from the perspective of Jude, one of the siblings but even when the perspective changes to a different sibling, Jude is still there using the “I” pronoun which becomes confusing. Also, one of the sisters is named Fred and a brother is named George. Again, every I read the name Fred, I thought of a man and then had to quickly remember, that she was one of the sisters. I think the author could have chosen different names for the characters. Overall, I gave this the “old college try” and got to 25% before deciding this was taking too much thought and not enough enjoyment to keep reading.
THE GIRLS OF GOOD FORTUNE
By: Kristina McMorris
Published: May 20, 2025
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Historical Fiction
Format: eBook for Review
I chose this book solely for the author. I loved SOLD ON A MONDAY and WHEN WE HAD WINGS so I assumed I would love this book too, Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this story had a main character locked in an underground tunnel and this is how the book begins. We meet the character waking up, not knowing where she is or how she got there until she begins to explore and realize she is locked in an underground tunnel. At this point, I read the synopsis and knew that I would not be able to read this book any further. I get very claustrophobic and I would definitely have nightmares if I continued to read this story. I think McMorris is an amazing writer, and I love the idea of this historical event in a story. I would read any of her other books. However, this one, unfortunately, will not be for me.
What I Read/Listened to:
LIGHTHOUSE
St. Simons Trilogy #1
By: Eugenia Price
Published: 1971
Publisher: Turner
Historical Fiction
Format: Paperback
This book and series have been on my to-read list for over 20 years. My cousin lives on St. Simons Island and it is where my husband and I went for our honeymoon 26 years ago THIS WEEK. Even though I have known about the book for a long time, I didn’t have a copy until I purchased it last year during my visit there with my mom and sister. I bought a copy at Righton Books and then chose it as my First Book of the Year. I read it slowly over the last few months with the second half of the book kicking into gear and making me want to finish it.
James Gould leaves New England to follow his dream and to get away from his fiancé who chose his brother over him. He becomes a respected builder and logger in Florida but his dream is to build a lighthouse. When word travels that St. Simon’s Island is looking for a lighthouse builder, James feels like his dream has come true, especially after having recently married and wanting to live in a safer area for his wife.
“There’s a saying that once a man gets a bit of St. Simons in his shoes, he finds a way to stay.”
I was especially heartbroken, not when one of the characters passed away, but when James had to cut down a large, beautiful old oak tree in order to make the sternpost for the Navy ship he was commissioned to build. I cried with the family over the loss of their beautiful tree. The one they imagined having picnics under and eventually laying to rest under. Price wrote with such beauty that I could see it all play out before me.
This slow-paced historical drama set in the 1700s is the first in the St. Simon’s Trilogy. It’s full of hopes and dreams being shattered and renewed and has themes of love and loss, friendship and loyalty, and a lesson on hard work and perseverance. I liked this story enough to want to continue with the series.
BROKEN COUNTRY
By: Clare Leslie Hall
Narrated by: Hattie Morahan
Published: March 4, 2025
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Libby
This. Book. Gutted. Me. I don’t recommend listening to the last hour or so while driving. I was a sobbing mess. The book begins with “The farmer is dead.” But the reader doesn’t learn which farmer died or who shot the farmer until near the end of the book. Told in alternating time periods, we meet Frank and Beth, a married couple who care for the sheep on their farm in the England countryside. They’ve known each other through high school but there appears to be some sort of history together that the reader doesn’t quite know yet.
“This is a love story with too many beginnings. I refuse to think about how it is going to end.”
When a neighbor’s dog attacks a new lamb and the dog is shot, Beth realizes the neighbor is her old high school flame, Gabriel, back to live on his family’s property with his son. As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s and his son’s lives, she struggles with staying away from Gabriel but also the desire to connect with his son, who is nearly the same age as Bobby, the son she and Frank lost in a horrific accident on the farm.
“Frank and I dance around each other’s sadness. Any couple who has lost a child will tell you the same. You see it in the other, of course you do, but it’s like you’re on a seesaw of grief, and all you want is to avoid tipping the other one down.”
This is absolutely going on my list of favorites for this year. The audiobook narration was excellent and I found myself finding things to do to keep listening. As the trial begins, you are still trying to figure out what happened, who is on trial, and who died. It’s a gripping, last-minute, heartbreaker. Don’t miss this one!
THE MAGNIFICENT LIVES OF MARJORIE POST
By: Allison Pataki
Published: February 15, 2022
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction
Format: Paperback
This was our book club read last month and incidentally, while on my trip with my mom and sister, my aunt was reading this book and told me I would love it. This is the fictionalized story of Marjorie Post, yet it reads like an autobiography. Pataki’s extensive research and putting herself in the mind of Marjorie Post had me constantly reminding myself this was fiction.
The story begins with Marjorie’s childhood with two parents consumed with their health and living in a community of Christian Scientists while her father, THE CW Post, of the eventual Post Cereals, is receiving treatment for his various ailments. It is there that he is connected to Dr. Kellogg and has the idea to create a healthy and quick breakfast, Grape Nuts cereal. The rest, as they say, is history.
Marjorie is the eventual heir to the Post Cereal company and acquires millions of dollars and a few too many husbands. Her lavish lifestyle and her care for those less fortunate made Marjorie very likable and I wanted to know more about her. She was very philanthropic building & staffing entire hospitals as well as serving meals during the Great Depression. I was completely engaged in the story of her life, her marriages, and her children. But most of all, I loved how she attempted to manage the company even at a time when women were to be seen and not heard, especially when talks of business were happening. Marjorie didn’t stand for being shunned and kept away from business matters so she made sure her voice, business ideas, and opinions were heard, recorded, and implemented.
“In those busy but meaningful days, I began to understand, truly, the fierce and formidable power of women. Though we could not enlist and take up arms, I felt that I, and the many women around me, could have a direct hand in supporting this war abroad and keeping this country free at home. Though I could not vote for the president, though I could not even sit on the board of the company that bore my family’s name, I began to hope that, by the time my girls were older, these facts might change.”
Once I finished the book, I immediately went to Google and researched photographs and more about Marjorie as well as her home, Hillwood, now a museum in DC. I wish I had known about it during one of my many trips there. I would love to visit it now.
BROOKE SHIELDS IS NOT ALLOWED TO GET OLD
Thoughts on Aging as a Woman
By: Brooke Shields
Published: January 14, 2025
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Memoir
Format: Audiobook through Libby
If you are a woman over 50 or have entered the empty nest phase, you will relate to Brooke Shield’s newest memoir. Don’t let her celebrity status fool you. She is going through the same pains the rest of us women over 50 are including missing our kids and their schedules, frequent menopause symptoms, and the reality of our symptoms not being validated by the medical profession.
“We each are the experts of our own experiences. And yet, as women, we are not always encouraged to familiarize ourselves with our own bodies.”
Shields begins with “The first time it hit me that I had reached a certain age was while strolling through the streets of downtown New York with my daughters.” As a celebrity and beautiful woman, Shields was used to being recognized and adored. But, after walking with her daughters, she realized she was no longer the one being stared at. Instead, she is shadowed by her two beautiful daughters, and she is okay with that. In this short memoir, Shields shares fascinating research and personal stories about being on the cusp of turning 60, getting used to life without her daughters in the home, and how getting older comes with a barrage of issues including a broken femur.
“These lines are here because I’ve laughed and lived.”
I felt like listening to Brooke narrate her book was like having a conversation with a friend. I found her relatable as I was nodding along to the pain of missing her daughters and the frustration with her doctors for not validating her symptoms. I remembered hearing about her fall at the gym on the news which resulted in a broken femur and couldn’t imagine the pain and frustration she was feeling. But, it went even further as I cringed while she told of the excruciating pain after surgery and being ignored only to find out the pin had come out of her leg and they had to go back in and fix it after they had been blowing her pain off.
I really didn’t know about all the Broadway shows Shields had been performing in but I enjoyed those stories and behind-the-scenes tidbits as well. I recently saw that she will be returning to TV in a murder/mystery series and I will be looking for that to come out. She also shared the ins and outs of starting a business, a new haircare company called Commence, and the tough job of finding financiers who found her business sense relevant and worthy enough to back her project/company.
Overall, I was surprised by how much I related to Brooke’s emotions and frustrations as a woman over 50. I highly recommend the audio version as it felt like a conversation with Brooke every morning. I commiserated with her as she misses her girls and being in their daily bubbles, but also laughed when she realized her life schedule has opened up so she can add in things she loves again. There are no photos in the physical copy, I checked, so if you like celebrity memoirs on audio, this is a good one.
“For every moment of sadness when I feel like I’m missing a limb, there’s a moment of joy when I remember, I can go to a dance class without checking the school schedule.”
Broken Country sounds right up my alley. The cover is gorgeous. Going on my list!