Sharing Too Much

Bestselling, popular author Richard Paul Evans delivers a collection of inspiring essays, sharing insights and sage advice culled from his life experiences. 

Richard Paul Evans is an author, father, and husband. In Sharing Too Much, he unpacks memorable personal stories and life lessons experienced over half a century. This broad-ranging collection of entertaining, concisely short essays offers thought-provoking insights and sage advice.

Over seven sections, Evans is incredibly open in sharing details about his life. He was a "lonely little boy" and "a poor kid from a large family" who suffered "years of teasing and torment" because of Tourette's syndrome, which was only diagnosed when he was 41 years old. Because his mother endured serious depression that manifested into suicidal tendencies, the family was forced to move from Arcadia, California to a rather dilapidated, inherited house in Salt Lake City, Utah. This move only exacerbated Evan's feelings of displacement. 

Evans mines the past and the foundations that led him to become a writer. Several essays probe his immensely popular first novel, The Christmas Box—how it was conceived via real-life experiences, the ingenious back-door path it traveled to publication, and how that novel paved the way for Evans’s extraordinary success. Other sections offer inventive moral-themed remembrances and fables, stories that delve into Evans’s enduring marriage, parenthood, the unexpected teachers of life, and even otherworldly, spiritual experiences.

 

Evans (A Christmas Memory) is a remarkably relentless optimist whose moving, hopeful--easy to absorb--essays will offer great appeal and inspiration to a wide-range of readers.

Sharing Too Much: Musings from an Unlikely Life by Richard Paul Evans

Gallery Books, $22.99 hardcover, 978198177461, 272 pages

Publishing Date: February 27, 2024

 
NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (March 8, 2024), link HERE 

 

Night and Its Longings

A dark, deeply engrossing crime noir about a soul-searching, middle-aged writer determined to find out what happened to his missing ex. 

Night and Its Longings is a hauntingly atmospheric, beautifully crafted crime noir written by accomplished novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright and filmmaker, Philip Cioffari.

 

The book, set in June 1995, centers on Jake Garrett, a “less-than-famous,” hardboiled crime novelist. On the brink of age 40, Jake is “short on money and friends.” He does his best writing late at night and often keeps company via the disaffected, spiritually wounded lonely-hearts who call in to an after-midnight, radio program. Jake has been known to take walks in the shadowy wee-hours, through "abandoned city streets, past shuttered bars, darkened storefronts."

 

“I wasn’t what you’d call a fearful man, except in the way most life-long New Yorkers are fearful,” Jake tells the reader. “Never leaving my car unlocked. Always keeping tabs on my surroundings. Trusting my sixth-sense to detect danger…The fact of the matter was this: the self was the enemy I feared most, not strangers on the street.”

 

One night, just as Jake is hitting his writing stride--drawing “wisdom in dark hours”--he’s jarred by a knock on the door that opens onto the courtyard of his Village (New York City) apartment building. There, he is surprised by Norm Davison, the husband of Vera Davison, a woman with whom Jake had a passionate, one-year love affair ten years prior. After Vera went back to Norm, Vera and Jake had lost touch. However, on this dark night, the spirit of Vera is suddenly resurrected in a chilling and foreboding way.

 

Norm is beside himself, worried about Vera, who has disappeared for 11 days. Is she in danger? Alive? Dead? Did she leave by force or vanish voluntarily? Norm, Vera’s husband, is frustrated by the police investigation. While he was aware of Jake and Vera’s affair, he is now desperate to find his wife—this includes his enlisting his wife’s adulterous ex-lover to aid the search.

 

What ensues is a dark, deepening story that reveals, layer by layer, details of the love affair shared between Jake and Vera and the life Vera went on to live without Jake—as a wife, mother, and budding photographer. When Norm allows Jake access into the minutia of Vera’s life--including his poring over her journals and photographs--even more questions arise. Amidst an extensive search that winds through New York and later, South Carolina, Jake’s crime-writing detective skills are put into action. Along the way, he begins to search his own soul, realizing that Vera’s departure from his life created a “dead center” in him—an abyss of sorrow, guilt, and regret. Might Vera have experienced a similar void?

 

The introspective intrigue of Jake’s narrative voice propels a suspenseful plot where danger unspools via short, ratcheting chapters. Cioffari (If Anyone Asks, Says I Died from the Heartbreaking Blues) delivers a spellbinding--profoundly thought-provoking--literary mystery that ultimately unravels with surprising twists.  

 

Night and Its Longings by Philip Cioffari

Livingston Press, $18.99 paperback, 978-1604893748, 234 pages

Publishing Date: March 26, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

To learn more about Philip Cioffari and his extensive body of work, link HERE

The Messy Lives of Book People

A feel-good story about a cleaning lady--with writerly aspirations--secretly tasked with completing a novel by one of her literary heroes.

British author Phaedra Patrick (The Secrets of Love Story Bridge) consistently treats readers to stories with heartfelt plots and memorable, quirky characters. In her fifth novel, The Messy Lives of Book People, Patrick sticks with that winning formula, telling the story of an ordinary woman who is stretched beyond her comfort zone and is challenged to build a better, more fulfilling life.

Liv Green, middle-aged wife and mother of two adult sons, is a British cleaning lady whose postponed dreams of writing are suddenly reinvigorated when she lands a gig working for one of her literary heroes, bestselling author--and notorious recluse--Essie Starling. When Liv is caught secretly reading a work in progress--the 20th entry in Starling's popular Georgia Rory series--the standoffish, enigmatic author puts Liv on the spot, asking for her honest, writerly opinion. Nervous, Liv gives a tactful yet unabashed opinion. Later, she second-guesses being so forthright. Essie's lawyer contacts Liv soon after this: Essie has died after a surgical procedure. She left specific instructions that she wanted Liv to finish the novel in progress with the stipulation that Essie's death and Liv's ghostwriting be kept secret. This sets Liv on a confidential quest to conjure what Essie might have had in mind for her latest novel, the projected last in the series. However, it's Essie's real-life story that Liv ultimately unravels, one filled with unpredictable twists and turns that are as adventurous as the Georgia Rory novels themselves.

Patrick adds more entertaining, feel-good fiction to her growing body of work.

The Messy Lives of Book People: A Novel by Phaedra Patrick

Park Row (Original Edition), $16.99 paperback, 9780778312000, 352 pages

Publication Date: May 31, 2022

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (June 17, 2022), link HERE

 

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead

The second entry in Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan series—another bumbling comedy of errors and a hilarious, fast-paced mystery upends the life of a struggling writer and single mother.

Elle Cosimano has crafted in heroine Finlay Donovan a flawed yet enormously lovable and sympathetic character. In the first book in the series, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, the exhausted single mother of two and struggling suspense novelist was mistaken for a contract killer when she publicly discussed the plot of her work-in-progress novel over lunch at a Panera Bread café. This launched Finlay into madcap mayhem that involved the Russian mafia.

In her second misadventure, Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead, Finlay is still struggling to raise her two young children, meet writing deadlines and juggle the romantic attentions of a handsome law student and a detective in Fairfax County, Va. Her life takes another unexpected detour when, by way of an online mothers' support group, Finlay accidentally learns that someone wants her cheating ex-husband--Steven Donovan, the father of her children--dead. With the help of her reliable nanny sidekick--accounting student Veronica Ruiz, aka Vero--Finlay devises a plan to save Steven's life and flush out who has it in for him. However, Finlay's blundering scheme backfires when she uses public Wi-Fi. She and her plan are outed, embroiling her, yet again, in escalating danger.

 

Cosimano's plucky heroine continues to shine in a fast-paced, suspenseful mystery with stellar comic timing and wit. Playful snark and revealing secrets make for a roller-coaster plot with so many absurdist twists and turns that readers will be left winded from the excitement--and much laughter.

 

Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead: The Finlay Donovan Series – Book Two by Elle Cosimano

Minotaur (MacMillan Publishers), $26.99 hardcover, 9781250242181, 368 pages

Publication Date: February 2, 2022

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

The Editor

In this refreshing, imaginative novel of self-discovery, a debut author has his work--and his life--edited by the inimitable Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Steven Rowley (Lily and the Octopus) explores the complicated relationship between mothers and sons in his wise and deeply engrossing second novel, The Editor. Set in Manhattan in the early 1990s, the story centers on James Smale, an aspiring writer in his late 20s, who has worked "a never-ending string of toxic, depressing temp jobs" and is in a committed--although maybe not forever--relationship with Daniel, a loving and spirited companion who works in the theater.

The book opens with a dramatic and dynamic scene that establishes the tone of the novel: James is summoned to the high-powered offices of Doubleday--the book company has expressed interest in his novel, The Quarantine, a semi-autobiographical story about an emotionally estranged mother and son. Nerves and self-consciousness plague James as he waits in a conference room, and matters grow even more overwhelming when in walks Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis--former first lady of the United States who has become an esteemed editor in the last third of her life.

That moment marks the start of a working relationship that will later turn into friendship. Perceptive, analytical and astute Jackie becomes a literary mentor to James. She also raises questions--on the page and off--that gently nudge James to dig deeper into the emotional landscape of his fraught relationship with his mother and the rest of his family.

The resonance of Rowley's originality and sensitivity shines on every page. He has written a refreshing, superbly crafted novel of hard-won self-discovery filled with big, well-paced scenes and a pitch-perfect blend of humor and compassion that will charm and fully engage readers.

The Editor: by Steven Rowley

Putnam, $27.00 Hardcover,  9780525537960, 320 pages

Publication Date: April 2, 2019

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (April 9, 2019), link HERE

Cat Flap

A successful, British executive--a wife and mother--has her mind and soul metamorphosed into the family cat.

In his novel Cat Flap, British journalist Alan S. Cowell presents a modern fable: Dolores Tremayne--wife, mother and a successful corporate executive of African British descent--wakes one day and discovers that part of her has migrated and metamorphosed into the body of the family's "finely bred, highly pedigreed" indoor cat.

The human Dolores sets off on a Lufthansa flight bound for a high-powered business meeting with a prestigious car company in Munich, Germany. Her feline self--her mind and soul, aka "X"--stays behind and gains a surprising glimpse into the daily life of her sexy, white husband, Gerald, a former drug dealer-user and stalled novelist. His first book had been "well-received, if not well sold or marketed" and a three-book commitment looms over him, along with his daily, demanding responsibilities as a house-husband to his and Dolores's two little girls.

One day, when Gerald exits the apartment, curious X slips out and follows him. She discovers that he is a serial philanderer juggling numerous shocking exploits. Being trapped in the body of a cat shutters all of Dolores's emotional human instincts and reactions. However, through some creative ingenuity, X and human Dolores join forces as avenging spirits.

Cowell (The Terminal Spy) has never shied away from exploring dark themes in his writing--those found in newspaper journalism, politics, war, risk taking and spying. Readers will eagerly suspend their disbelief, immersing themselves in Cowell's cleverly conceived, satirical novel that probes contemporary issues of race, identity and sexuality. 

Cat Flap by Alan S. Cowell

St. Martin's Press, $24.99, Hardcover, 978125014659, 240 pages

Publication Date: July 31, 2018

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (August 3, 2018), link HERE

The Friend

A writer who lives in isolation takes in her deceased mentor's dog, and the two of them come to grips with death and loss--and each other.

Sigrid Nunez (Sempre Susan) has not graced the literary world with a novel in almost a decade--but the wait has surely been worth it. In The Friend, she takes readers on a reflective journey through a labyrinth of grief, loss and loneliness. This meditative, beautifully written novel reads as intimately as a memoir. It is narrated by a sensitive intellectual, an unnamed woman--a writer and teacher--who lives an isolated life in a tiny, barely 500-square-foot, rent-controlled New York City apartment.

The suicide of her mentor--a writer and teacher, one of the narrator's closest and oldest friends--forces her to grapple with the role he played in her life, the meaning of his life and death, as well as her own existence in the world. When she is ultimately asked to take in the deceased's dog--a 180-pound Harlequin Great Dane named Apollo--she is reluctant. The narrator lives alone and works mostly at home. Although she prefers cats, the affection and devotion her mentor had for Apollo sways her decision. Despite her building not allowing pets, she agrees to take the dog temporarily. His entrance adds a new dimension to the landscape of loss, as he mourns his master in his own way. But, as the narrator says, "You cannot explain death to a dog."

The pain of the narrator's bereavement is dealt with through remembering and writing. But the bond she forms with the dog--how they adapt to each other and a world darkened by an aching void--forges this thought-provoking, philosophical story. Ultimately, The Friend ponders the meanings of loyalty, love, friendship and a buoyant creative spirit. --

The Friend: A Novel by Sigrid Nunez

Riverhead Books/Penguin, $25.00 Hardcover,  9780735219441, 224  pages

Publication Date: February 6, 2018

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (February 2, 2018), link HERE

Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders

Stories--in real life and in fiction--take on lives of their own in Julianna Baggott's, Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders. This sensitively rendered, well-balanced novel is told via four, female points-of-view. At the heart is Harriet Wolf, a reclusive, revered author of six adventurous novels featuring two characters, Daisy and Weldon, who fall in love with each other as children and as they age, from book to book, are "separated by wars and disasters, by acts of God and calamities of the heart. When they finally reunite they suffer." Harriet died before the seventh book was published, yet enamored readers believe it would've revealed whether the entire series "was a tragedy or a love story, whether humanity is basically good or doomed."

Harriet's daughter, Eleanor—a mother with two adult daughters of her own—despises and resents her mother's success and having had to share Harriet with the world. When Eleanor suffers a mild heart attack, her own fractured nuclear family reunites. This includes Ruth—married to a Harriett Wolf scholar, but trying to lead a "normal" life while estranged from the family for 14 years—and Tilton—a sheltered, "special needs" shut-in—who shared an intimate bond with her grandmother and made a pact with her regarding the rumored seventh book. With Eleanor ailing, is it time for Tilton to finally expose the mystery surrounding Harriet's last book?

With keen insight, Baggott (Burn) offers an original, richly textured story infused with dark secrets, promises, loyalties, love stories and the psychological complexities of family dynamics across generations.

Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders by Julianna Baggott

Little, Brown and Company, $26.00 Hardcover, 9780316375108, 336 pp

Publication Date: August 18, 2015

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (9/1/15), link HERE