Parents
/Home & Leisure

Romance novel captures the magic of second chances and new beginnings
Joanne Henning’s "Deceptive Images" is a beautifully crafted novel that blends romance, self-discovery and artistic passion into a compelling narrative. Set against the backdrop of the dance world, the story follows Rosa, a determined and talented woman navigating the complexities of her career, relationships and personal growth.
Henning’s ...Read more

The dead don’t stay buried in Lindy Ryan’s Southern horror series
With "Another Fine Mess" upon us, now is the perfect time to revisit Lindy Ryan’s chilling Southern horror series. If you haven’t yet stepped into the eerie world of the Evans family, you’re in for a fun, unputdownable experience. These novels are more than ghost stories — they’re a reckoning with history, grief and the ties that ...Read more

A heart artery tore weeks before her due date, putting the lives of mom and baby at risk
Nearly nine months pregnant, Nefertari Nelson-Williams sunk into her sofa after a long Sunday caring for her four kids. She clicked on the TV and flipped to her favorite show of late, TLC's "A Baby Story."
Although she was an experienced mom, watching episodes of pregnancy complications was a good reminder that every birth and baby are ...Read more

Lori Borgman: Mother's Day celebrates the art of nurture
A real estate broker, an auctioneer and a columnist walk into a bar. Not really, but the setup is similar. I was standing with two friends, a man who sells real estate and a woman who appraises art and manages auctions. The three of us have known one another and one another’s families for years.
The man immigrated to the U.S. from Central ...Read more

An elegy for the duke: Are reports of the demise of historical romance exaggerated?
Who killed the duke? Long the most popular hottie in the ballrooms of English historical romance, there’s a rumor running through Romancelandia that his demise is imminent.
For decades, historical romance has been the backbone of the romance genre. Whether you mark historical romance as beginning with the social comedies of Jane Austen (...Read more

An 8-minute limit at cardiac rehab propelled heart attack survivor to push for more
Sheron Lee insisted she couldn't fit any sort of exercise into her busy day.
A systems accountant for the federal government, she often put work above everything, sometimes even skipping family vacations. Even getting to work took commitment; she commuted an hour each way between her home in Hammond, Louisiana, and her office in New Orleans.
...Read more

Centuries later, Michelangelo’s secret is finally unearthed …
D. Allen Henry has a passion for genius, the kind that stands the test of time. He also has a passion for inventing fiction that not only brings geniuses to life but also their legacies to bear in the modern-day era. Adding to his existing set of mysteries surrounding luminaries such as Galileo, Da Vinci and Dante comes his new novel, "And the ...Read more

Lori Borgman: The willow is gone but we're not weeping
When the kids were growing up, we had a giant weeping willow tree in the backyard. It was a magnificent specimen with long, graceful branches that swayed in the breeze.
It was also a magnificent mess. Not only did it dance in the wind, it seemed the tree shed constantly-every day, every week, every month of the year. To add insult to injury, ...Read more

Still trapped in Gilead? 7 books on the fight for female autonomy
With the final season of "The Handmaid’s Tale" upon us, Gilead’s chilling grip on our imagination feels more relevant than ever. As real-world threats to bodily rights, privacy, and personal freedoms intensify, these novels delve into the struggle for self-determination against oppressive forces — whether political, technological, or ...Read more

Husband finds wife face down in the bathroom. Her heart had stopped
Brooke Jones went through two years of infertility before finally becoming pregnant at 34.
Always an anxious person, her worries rose "to another level" as she went through her pregnancy, delivery and early parenthood during the COVID-19 pandemic.
If someone so much as coughed near Jones, it could send her into an emotional tailspin. And that ...Read more

Unravel family secrets through art and legacy in transformative tale
Suze Leonie’s "Yonah and Devorah’s Traveling Music Theater" takes readers on a haunting journey through grief, family secrets and creative reinvention. At the heart of this deeply introspective novel is Eli Schmidt, a young man who, after his grandmother’s death, finds himself grappling not only with her passing but with a family legacy ...Read more