Author: helenandhollyhitthebooks

book review blog

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell

by: Robert Dugoni Goodreads description: Sam Hill always saw the world through different eyes. Born with red pupils, he was called “Devil Boy” or Sam “Hell” by his classmates; “God’s will” is what his mother called his ocular albinism. Her words were of little comfort, but Sam persevered, buoyed by his mother’s devout faith, his […]

Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos

By: Nash Jenkins Goodreads description: Prep meets The Secret History in this sprawling debut novel about a tragic scandal at an American prep school, told in the form of a literary investigation through a distinctly millennial lens When Foster Dade arrives at Kennedy, an elite boarding school in New Jersey, the year is 2008. Barack […]

Hang the Moon

By: Jeannette Walls Goodreads description: A riveting new novel about an indomitable young woman in Virginia during Prohibition. Most folk thought Sallie Kincaid was a nobody who’d amount to nothing. Sallie had other plans. Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn […]

The Housemaid

By: Freida McFadden Goodreads description: “Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more […]

Yellowface

By: R.F. Kuang Goodreads description: Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s […]

June 2023 Tidbit

Happy Independence Day! We are feeling rather patriotic and want to share what we are up to this holiday. Helen says: Have you ever watched the show Nailed It on Netflix? It’s a hilarious baking show where people off the street get a set amount of time to recreate professionally made cake masterpieces. Maybe I […]

May 2023 Tidbit

We had a hard time coming up with an original tidbit this month. Over this rainy Memorial Day weekend, we had to use our imagination on things to do in the Port City that may be a little off the radar. Here are a few of our favorite things to do and see and hear […]

Fifty Words for Rain

by: Asha Lemmie Goodreads description: From debut author Asha Lemmie, a sweeping, heartrending coming-of-age novel about a young woman’s quest for acceptance in post–World War II Japan. Kyoto, Japan, 1948. “If a woman knows nothing else, she should know how to be silent. . . . Do not question. Do not fight. Do not resist.” […]

Hello Beautiful

by: Ann Napolitano Goodreads description: From the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward comes an emotionally layered and engrossing story of a family that asks: Can love make a broken person whole? William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much […]