In “Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman” Brooke candidly shares her experiences and reflections on aging as a woman with humor and humility. “The Empress of Cooke County” features Posey Jarvis and her daughter Callie Jane in 1960s Tennessee and explores family dynamics and personal growth amidst Southern charm and unexpected twists. “The God of the Woods” is a layered mystery set in a 1975 Adirondack summer camp, unraveling the disappearance of Barbara Van Laar and her brother Bear.

A Refreshing and Relatable Approach to Aging

“In Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman“ Brooke candidly shares her experiences and reflections on aging as a woman with humor and humility. She challenges societal expectations and stereotypes about aging, advocating for self-acceptance and empowerment. Shields discusses her personal journey, including her battles with postpartum depression, menopause, and societal pressures. She also highlights the importance of embracing new adventures and maintaining confidence and agency as women grow older. GET THE BOOK.

A Five-Star Read with Vivid Characters and Southern Charm

The Empress of Cooke County by Elizabeth Bass Parman is a mesmerizing novel set in the small town of Spark, Tennessee during the 1960’s.  The story is centered around Posey Jarvis, a self-proclaimed “Empress of Cooke County” and her daughter Callie Jane.

Thirty-eight-year-old Posey is a complicated woman, who fills her days following her idol and look-alike Jackie Kennedy, avoiding her husband while sneaking sips of gin.  She is also dealing with her daughter, Callie Jane who is becoming more independent every day. Her mother is not happy that she wants to make her own life decisions, she thinks she is defiant.

Eighteen-year-old Callie Jane has just become engaged to Trace.  She loves him as a friend but is not in love with him.  She cannot imagine him as her husband.  She is panicking about her impending wedding, and she has had enough of her controlling Mother.  She loves her father, but the thought of working at his emporium the rest of her life makes her so sad.  Callie Jane has a dream of living in California, leaving behind the small town and all the people she knows.   She will have a difficult decision to make about her move to California.  Posey inherits a dilapidated mansion from her Aunt Milbrey.  She cannot wait to move out of the small house she and her husband Vern share with Callie Jane.  She begins to plot how she can host her twentieth- year high school reunion and win back the love of her life, who dumped her nineteen years ago.

Parman’s writing is so beautifully done in this story, with so much Southern Charm.  The characterizations are so vivid, you will feel as though you are on the page with these characters in that small town.  This story has a twist you won’t see coming.   This novel examines the makeup of a family, the choices one makes and how being true to yourself can have life-altering consequences.  This was my first read by this author and it will not be my last.  I loved this book so much.  I highly recommend this five- star fabulous book.   Am already excited for her to write another book. GET THE BOOK.

~Francene Katzman, advocate for parents with children with addiction problems

A Beautiful Layered Mystery Novel—Enjoy the Ride

In, “The God of the Woods,” author Liz Moore paints a nostalgic picture of Camp Emerson in 1975, an elite, remote summer camp in the Adirondacks. However, the atmosphere of yearning for cabins, camp fires, and canoe trips across a cold, clear lake is disrupted when a teenage camper, Barbara Van Laar, disappears from her bunk overnight.

Despite its all-American setting, there’s a darkness underlying the camp, causing history to repeat itself – Barbara’s older brother, Bear, went missing from the property 14 years earlier, and was never seen again. They are both children of the fictional wealthy, dynastic Van Laar family who built a mansion in the wilderness in the late 1800s and founded the summer camp just down the hill from that house.

As the investigation of the missing girl gets underway, we meet a huge cast of characters including the Van Laars with the guests they are hosting at an annual house party in the mansion and the camp staff of local people who come from the working-class town nearby. The camp directors, counselors, kitchen and maintenance staffs, as well as the detectives and police officers who are brought in to find Barbara are all modestly employed in some way by the Van Laars. It soon becomes clear that everyone – from the stone-faced family to their hungover guests to the salt-of-the-earth camp directors – has secrets to hide.

Extra spice and suspicion are sprinkled into the story in the character of Bear and Barbara’s unstable mother, in the blue-collar camp counselor in charge of Barbara’s cabin who’s mired in an abusive relationship, in the sinister presence of an escaped convict who roams the woods like a living ghost story, and in the mysterious disappearance of the senior and senile Camp Director.

On the positive side, we cheer for a young female investigator who is working the case intuitively and whose character is based on the women who were among the first to be promoted to the rank of investigators in the state police of New York.

The plot twists and turns, keeping you guessing as to what has happened to Barbara and Bear. So many layers, so many POVs – Hang in there and enjoy the ride! GET THE BOOK.

~Joan Pagano is President and Owner of Joan Pagano Fitness, NYC