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...
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Book Review: Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum, #25) by Janet Evanovich

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book review look alive twenty five janet evanovich

Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum, #25) by Janet Evanovich opens with Stephanie Plum and
Lula being assigned as the manager and assistant manager at the Red River Deli in Trenton, NJ because the managers keep disappearing. The only clue is that they leave one show behind. Police have no leads, and Lula thinks it alien abduction.

One of the things I love about the Stephanie Plum book series is that it follows the same formula each time and that it doesn't have any cliffhangers. I know this is a big complaint of many long time readers, but it doesn't really bother me too much because sometimes I just need to read something that I don't have to think about too hard. This particular book made me laugh out loud in several places, and I didn't try to figure out the culprit or motive behind the disappearances, so I didn't really see the ending coming. However, it did reuse the reality television show angle again that we saw in a previous book so that was a bit disappointing.

Ranger and Morelli both are featured quite heavily and actually work together well in an effort to keep Stephanie safe, which was a nice thing to see.  Typically, one or the other character is featured, but I am getting a bit leery of the love triangle. I just want to see her end up with one of them, but I don't see that happening any time in the near future. I was glad to see that Grandma Mazur barely made an appearance this time as I needed a break from this particular character. It was nice to see mention of Stephanie's sister and family because she doesn't get mentioned too often. Something that was a good change of pace is that Stephanie's car doesn't get blown up, stolen, wrecked, etcetera, and her apartment isn't damaged either. It was also great to see that none of the scenes included the funeral home. These situations are a bit overused in my opinion. With all this being said, it doesn't bother me too much any more because as I mentioned previously, it's nice to know what you're going to get with this series.

I gave Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum, #25) by Janet Evanovich five out of five stars, and I will continue to read the rest of the series. If you like this book series, I recommend the High Heel Mysteries by Gemma Halliday.

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