Carmen is Bubbly Bibbly’s official book reviewer. She will offer summaries of books of note.
Carmen’s recommendations are awesome and insightful.
Carmen’s reviews are less like prose and more like having a conversation with her. She always has a brilliant take on story lines and characters. Her reviews are consistently on point. Carmen’s reviews will make you smile, especially when she has a bone to pick.
Carmen’s Rating System
1 Look – I wish I hadn’t looked.
2 Looks – I looked and didn’t like what I saw
3 Looks – I looked and I liked it. As a matter of fact, I probably looked again.
4 Looks – An ogle. I looked and turned my head to see it from the back.
5 Looks – What’s your name and number, baby?
The Christmas Train by David Baldacci
Summary: Disillusioned journalist Tom Langdon must get from Washington to L.A. in time for Christmas. Forced to take the train across the country because of a slight "misunderstanding" at airport security, he begins a journey of self-discovery and rude awakenings,...
The Cure by Athol Dickson
Summary: There's a small town in Maine where miracles are happening. In a last bid for survival, Riley sets out and soon finds himself in Dublin, Maine, a coastal village. This once-proud birthplace of mighty wooden ships, then is now suffocating underneath an...
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick
Summary: In this poignant and sparkling debut, a lovable widower embarks on a life-changing adventureSixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the...
The Dark Glamour by Gabriella Pierce
Summary: Jane Boyle married her prince charming and moved into his upper east side castle--but she didn't get her fairy-tale ending It's hard to live happily ever after when you discover your demanding and controlling mother-in-law is literally a witch, determined to...
The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman
Summary: Juno McKay intended to avoid the nearby campus of her alma mater during her fifteenth reunion weekend, but she just can’t turn down the chance to see her longtime friend, Christine Webb, speak at the Penrose College library. Though Juno cringes at the...
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Summary: At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate...
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Summary: Some stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived...
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Summary: Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is eighteen-year-old Daniel...
The Girl Before by J. P. Delaney
Summary: An enthralling psychological thriller that spins one woman's seemingly good fortune and another woman's mysterious fate through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death, and deception.Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life.The...
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland (Translator)
Summary: Lisbeth Salander - the heart of Larsson's two previous novels - lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She's fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she'll...