Lesa's Book Critiques

Today is release day for Alllyson Johnson’s debut historical novel, The Three Lives of Mary Sutton, perfect time for an interview. Thank you, Allyson, for taking time for answer questions.

Allyson, would you introduce yourself to the readers?

I’m a California native, but spent time in East Texas as a child, r...

I had a full afternoon and evening yesterday, a musical, a matinee, followed by weekly Sunday dinner at my sister’s, so I was happy when Kevin Tipple sent a couple reviews. Perfect timing! Thank you, Kevin!

The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2026, Editor Megan Abbott, Series Editor Steph Cha, reprints twenty of their favorite short ...

When I read the first book Dame Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea wrote together, Shakespeare: The Man Who Paid the Rent, I really only recognized O’Hea as Dench’s friend and co-author. It’s obvious in the new book, Is it Too Late to Make a Run for It? that he’s also an actor and director. In Dench’s anecdotes, she refers to...

If you’re a fan of Nora Roberts’ romances, you need to know the two stories in this book are not new, although Once Upon a Christmas Spell was just released. “All I Want for Christmas” was first published in 1994. “Charmed” is part of the Donovan Legacy, books about an Irish family of witches, with the latest generation living in California and O...

Rest in peace my friend. Most people who are regulars here will never have heard of Chantelle Aimee Osman. She was an editor, an author, and one of my best friends in Phoenix after my husband died in 2010. I have so many stories I could tell about this amazing woman. She was only 45 when she died.

I met Chantelle at the Velma Teague Library in Glendale, AZ when...