Book Review: The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

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The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray is a historical fiction novel that spans many years and tells of the friendship between former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune. I don't know if I would have picked up this book if it hadn't been the August selection for one of the book clubs I belong to in my area because I don't read a lot of historical fiction. However, I am so glad that I read it and was able to learn many things I hadn't learned about in any of my history classes.  I don't recall learning anything about Mary McLeod Bethune, and she is an important part of American history. The things she helped spearhead to provide African American people equal rights is quite impressive. One of the things I was horrified to learn about is Franklin D. Roosevelt's resistance to stop lynchings because he was afraid of losing the Southern Democrats backing for his New Deal Bill. Another thing that I fo...

Book Review: The Last Word (The Spellmans, #6) by Lisa Lutz

book review the last word lisa lutz

In the last installment of The Spellman Files, Isabel "Izzy" Spellman finds her parents have gone on strike since she did a hostile takeover of the family business. And, Rae has come back into the company with her own special division of it doing who knows what. To top things off, Izzy has know idea how to take care of the company finances, and when she's accused of embezzling money from a client with Alzheimer's, Izzy knows she could lose everything for her family.

Even though The Last Word (The Spellmans, #6) is the last book in this particular series by Lisa Lutz, I have hoped for years that she would change her mind and come out with another one, especially since she had a slight twist at the end that could lead it to be told from another character's perspective. However, I have come to terms that this will never happen, so rereading the entire series every so often will have to suffice. Who else becomes sad when one of their favorite series comes to an end?

This is one of those series that you must read the previous books in order before reading this one. Unlike other authors and series, Lisa Lutz writes in a way that the characters grow, mature, and age throughout the books and doesn't really take the time to recap much of what has happened in previous documents as the author likes to call them.

The Last Word (The Spellmans, #6) was my least favorite book of the series for various reasons, but I think the main reason for it being my least favorite is because there are a couple of characters who are going through some very serious medical situations . . . one character has Alzheimer's and another one ends up with cancer, so if either of these things are triggers for you, this will be a difficult read for you. Another reason it is wasn't my favorite is because the tone of the book was a bit different than the rest of the books in the series. You could almost tell that she was wrapping the series up with this book.

Three out of five stars is what I gave The Last Word (The Spellmans, #6) by Lisa Lutz the first time I read the book, and after rereading it, my rating of this book still stands. I haven't read any other books quite like this one, so it's hard for me to make a recommendation for another book if you loved this one.



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