Tag Archives: Linda MacKillop

Top 10 Tuesday — Debuts!

23 Jul

Happy Tuesday! Today’s TTT topic is Debut Novels. The books on my list really hit it out of the park! No way could they be first offerings by the authors, but they were. And the good news is that many of the authors on the list have other books to read when you finish their first. Hope you find one to love!

For more fabulous debuts, check out That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Debut Novels

Abounding Hope by Cindy Kay Stewart

After She Falls by Carmen Shober

All That Is Secret by Patricia Raybon

The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox

The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon by Linda MacKillop

A Lady’s Guide to Marvels And Misadventure by Angela Bell

Roots of Wood And Stone by Amanda Wen

Shadows in The Mind’s Eye by Janyre Tromp

Things We Didn’t Say by Amy Lynn Green

Up From The Dust by Heather Kaufman

Mini-Review — The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon

15 Jan

The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon is Linda MacKillop‘s debut novel. You would never know that it was her first. A 2023 Christy Award winner for First Novel, it is a look into the regrets of the past and a hope for the future. Eva Gordon, a cantankerous character if ever there was one, is suffering from dementia. She knows it and her friends and family know it. She is haunted by mistakes and some very poor choices in her past, and seeks to find a way to find redemption. While she is the main character, the supporting characters — her granddaughter and her neighbor — play large roles in Eva’s life and in the direction of the book. When you just can’t take another minute of Eva’s selfishness, secondary characters enter in and your perspective changes. There’s a good bit of humor inserted into the novel — it is much needed as Eva’s dementia worsens. And the hope for a future, however short the days may be, points to healing and redemption.

I found The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon to be an outstanding book. Well-written, with interesting and relatable characters, and a tough topic handled gracefully and with humor, this novel is a must-read. It would be an excellent choice for your book club.

Recommended.

Great for Book Clubs.

Audience: Adults

(Thanks to the publisher for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)

Eva wants to run away from her life–if only she could remember how.

Failing memory has forced Eva Gordon to move in with her granddaughter, Breezy. But Eva hates the bustle of Boston. All she wants to do is move back to her quiet, cozy Cape Cod home and be left alone.

Then Breezy announces she’s getting married, and they’ll be moving to her new husband’s rundown family farm, where he lives with an elderly uncle. They’ll be one big family–but only Breezy and Brent think it’ll be a happy one.

It’s all too much for Eva. Too much change, too much togetherness, too much of an over-crowded life she never wanted. But as her desire for privacy collides with her worsening memory, Eva may find herself in a pickle she can’t get out of. Can an unlikely cast of misfit characters step in to woo Eva from her self-imposed isolation?

Fans of A Man Called Ove will appreciate Eva’s predicament, and enjoy the poignant, hilarious, and intergenerational rescue effort to save her from herself.

Linda MacKillop writes fiction for both adults and young people, and creative nonfiction. Her articles and essays have appeared in books, magazines, and literary journals such as Under the Sun and Relief Journal. The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon is her first novel. She earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the Rainier Writing Workshop in Tacoma, Washington. As the mother of four adult sons, she and her husband live in an emptynest outside of Chicago. Visit her website at lindamackillop.com.

Top 10 Tuesday — Headlines!

7 Nov

Happy Tuesday! Today’s TTT topic is titles that would make good newspaper headlines. I chose to turn the books featured today into titles of magazine articles also. Profuse apologies to the authors for this — you’ll see. 😉

For more headline worthy books, check out That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Titles As Headlines

Obituary Headlines

The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon by Linda MacKillop

The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray

Travel & Leisure

Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

Crime Magazine

The Unhiding of Elijah Campbell by Kelly Flanagan

The Vanishing at Castle Moreau by Jaime Jo Wright

Military History

Facing The Enemy by DiAnn Mills

Rolling Stone

The Songs That Could Have Been by Amanda Wen

Backpacker

The Long March Home by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee

Top 10 Tuesday — Authors I NEED To Read

12 Apr

I am so behind on my reading! So far behind that today’s TTT topic was easy for me. I have been in a reading slow-down recently and it is taking me ages to get through a book. It’s not that I haven’t been reading great book. I have! But I have been very distracted of late, that it’s even hard to lose myself in a good book. My list today features authors whose books are on my shelves and those I have just heard about.

What about you? Who are some authors you are dying to read?

For more great authors and their books, check out That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Authors I Need to Read!

Kate Angelo — Driving Force

Sara Brunsvold — The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip

Sean Dietrich — Stars of Alabama

Amanda Dykes — Whose Waves These Are

Amy Lynn Green — Things We Didn’t Say

Kara Isaac — Then There Was You

Linda MacKillop — The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon

Katie Powner — The Sowing Season

Michelle Shocklee — Under The Tulip Tree

Amanda Wen — Roots of Wood And Stone