Entries by Jeana Gockley

A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko

Each year, over six million people visit Grand Canyon National Park, but most people’s visits are brief and they only see a small part of this national wonder, mostly from the vantage point of one of the rims. There is a small group of individuals who hike more in depth parts of the canyon, but […]

Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

This multi-generational, sweeping tale begins with the arranged marriage of a young girl. Her wedding day commences with a long journey by river, with her mother, and ends in the village of Kerala. The girl is quickly joined by marriage to the Parambila family, a Malayali family living in southwest India. The groom, who she […]

Favorite Reads of 2024

Happy New Year and welcome to 2025! As with past years, I like to kick off the new year by reflecting on what I read during the previous year. And 2024 was a good one, reading-wise for me. I love writing each title down and keeping track of the total I read; with this year’s […]

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

Emma Wheeler has been the full-time caretaker for her father, who suffers from a traumatic brain injury, for a decade, while her younger sister Sylvia finished high school and college. On the day her sister is due to arrive home, after graduating from college, Emma gets an unexpected call from her manager Logan. Typically Logan […]

Family Family by Laurie Frankel

India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actor. She was hooked from the age of ten when she saw the play Guys and Dolls with her mother. Her whole life was about making this dream come true.  She had to make a lot of tough choices along the way, but finally, decades later, her […]

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

For twenty years, each time Daphne Bell meets a new man the universe sends her a sign for how long their relationship is destined to last – Noah, five weeks; Hugo, three months; Tae, two years and two months – but this time, as she heads out for a blind date with Jake, it’s different. […]

Funny Story by Emily Henry

’Tis the season … oh, no, not that season … the season for the release of bestselling author Emily Henry’s latest book. It definitely feels like a celebratory season to anyone who has counted down since the last one came out in spring 2023. And it would seem that I am not alone in my […]

The Five Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

Hopefully the idea of summer reading brings to mind getting outside, perhaps on the beach, and taking time to get lost in a good book or two.  In Libraryland this type of book is usually called a beach read, even if you’re not at the beach. They usually end up being some of my favorites […]

ROMANTIC COMEDY by Curtis Sittenfeld

In ROMANTIC COMEDY by Curtis Sittenfeld, Sally Milz is a sketch writer who works for a late-night live comedy show called The Night Owls. She has been unlucky in love on several occasions, most notable a divorce right after finishing college. So unlucky that she has sworn off dating anyone at work, and while she […]

JEANA’S FAVORITE READS OF 2023

Happy New Year and welcome to 2024! As with past years I like to kick off the new year by reflecting on what I read during the previous year. And 2023 was a strange one, reading-wise for me. I kept starting books and not being able to get into them, so I would not finish […]