Jill Hedgecock

Fiction Writer

Jill

Book Review: Those Girls by Chevy Stevens


Review by Jill Hedgecock

Those Girls (St. Martins Griffin, 2016, paperback, 400 pages, $17.10) by Chevy Stevens is a novel about three teen Canadian sisters, Jess, Dani, and Courtney, who make a life-altering mistake that leaves them fleeing from the law. The three orphaned sisters head for the Vancouver but run into trouble when their truck breaks down in a rural town named Cash Creek. With no money and on the run, they make the unfortunate decision to put their trust in two boys who promise to help them. The girls become imprisoned in an abandoned building.

Told initially from the perspective of the youngest girl, Jess, some passages are hard to take. The suspense is sometimes almost unbearable, but what carries the book is the bond between the sisters.

The girls eventually escape their imprisonment, and with the assistance of a caring bystander, they change their names and start a new life. However, Courtney (now going by the name of Crystal), who suffered the most egregious abuse from the boys, never fully recovers. Jess winds up pregnant and decides to keep the child, which sets up the second half of the book, which takes place eighteen years later and is told from the perspective of Jess’ teen daughter, Skylar. Skylar doesn’t know the truth about her father or the abuse her mother and two aunts endured as teens. Skylar is aware of Crystal’s self-destructive behavior but is very fond of her aunt. When Crystal decides to return to Cash Creek and take revenge, Skylar follows her into a dangerous situation, leaving the reader wondering if history will repeat itself.

This book is not for everyone. The abuse scenes are often written in graphic detail. But those who love a gripping, page-turning thriller will not be disappointed. I found myself drawn into the plight of these girls and charmed by their commitment to each other, even into adulthood. Theirs is a story of survival and the strength. Fans of Frieda McFadden, Lisa Jewell and Karin Slaughter will likely enjoy Chevy Steven’s latest edge-of-your-seat novel.

Chevy Stevens is the New York Times Bestselling Author of That Night. Still Missing also won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel. Her books, including Those Girls, which Stephen King called “incredibly scary,” have been published in more than thirty countries and optioned for film. Her seventh novel, Dark Roads, was released in 2021. Her new release, The Hitchhikers, is scheduled to be released in October 2025. She lives on Vancouver Island with her husband, daughter, and two dogs. Learn more through her website at chevystevens.com.

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Book Review: Lessons in Chemistry by Betty Garmus

Review by Jill Hedgecock

Lessons in Chemistry (Vintage, April 2025, paperback, 400 pages, $14.24) by Bonnie Garmus is as much as a humorous character study as it is a statement of society’s views of women in the 1960s. But it’s more than that. Somehow mixed into this quirky tale of a woman chemist turned TV cooking show celebrity is how to make science entertaining.

Our primary protagonist, Elizabeth Zott, believes in the sciences and it is her sole mission in life to study abiogenesis—the theory that life arose from nonliving matter. The problem is that she’s a woman before her time. Convention in the 1960s was that women should aspire to snag a husband and raise babies. Much to the chagrin of her male colleagues at Hastings Research Institute, Zott is anything but conventional. Elizabeth Zott won’t let anything stop her in her quest to further her research, so when she doesn’t have the proper equipment, she decides to collect a few beakers from her colleague, Calvin Evan, under false pretenses. Evans is a brilliant chemist, who has been nominated for a Noble prize multiple times. But he is also known for holding a grudge. But instead of being angered by Zott’s ruse, Evans falls hard for her, and the two socially challenged misfits soon become participants in a different type of chemical reaction.

Zott’s life takes many dramatic turns because of her love for Evans. She becomes a rower, which was a passion of Evans. The two lovebirds also adopt a former bomb detection dog named Six Thirty. Six Thirty, it turns out, is exceptionally smart like his two owners. Zott teaches the dog words, and his vocabulary nears a thousand words by the end of the novel. Six Thirty, who becomes an integral part of the story, even narrates a few scenes in the book.

Elisabeth Zott’s misfortunes include being fired after becoming accidentally pregnant. Her financial situation forces her to take a job as a television personality on a cooking show called “Super at Six.” The problem is Elizabeth has her own ideas on how to create a meal, which she views as another form of chemistry. The results are often hilarious, but also sometimes life changing for her women viewers.

In Lessons in Chemistry, Zott helps us explore questions such as what makes a family and what might be possible if women are given equal opportunities. The book also offers a fascinating exploration into the science of food preparation all told with a dash of humor and a pinch of sarcasm. In an era of the “Me Too” movement, “Lessons in Chemistry” reminds us how far opportunities for women have progressed since the 1960s.

Lessons in Chemistry is a New York Times Bestseller, a GMA Book Club Pick, and was considered a best debut by Goodreads in 2022. In 2022, it achieved Best Book of the Year by Barnes and Noble, The Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Entertainment Weekly, and Newsweek. The novel has been translated into 40 languages. It was as an Apple TV+ series, starring Brie Larson, Lewis Pullman, and Beau Bridges. Fans of Anxious People by Fredrik Bachman, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevinand, and The Maid by Nita Prose will not be disappointed in this novel.


Lessons in Chemistry is Bonnie Garmus’ debut novel. Like Elisabeth Zott, she’s a rower. But unlike Zott (who can’t swim), Garmus is also an open water swimmer. She is a copywriter and creative director. Garmus has raised two daughters and currently lives in London with her husband and her dog, 99.

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Book Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures

Review by Jill Hedgecock

Remarkably Bright Creatures (Ecco/Harper Collins, May 2022, hardcover, 368 pages, $13.79) by Shelby Van Pelt is a feel-good story about Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at Sowell Bay Aquarium in Washington State, Tova, the aquarium’s custodian, and Cameron, a 30-year-old man who can’t seem to hold down a job. The three main character’s lives all intersect at the aquarium and each holds a clue as to how Tova’s son, Erik, died over 30 years ago.

Marcellus, who provides his own narrative in the novel, counts down his passing days based on his time living in captivity. He is painfully aware he’s reached the end of his life span. The octopus has taken a special interest in Tova and plots a way to help the older woman understand something important about her son’s death before he passes. Marcellus is incredibly intuitive and smart, is a crafty escape artist, and often provides comedic relief.

Tova, a seventy-something widow, is only making the motions of living. She has never recovered from the unsolved mystery surrounding her only child’s death. She “found something to do” as a night shift cleaning lady at the aquarium after her husband passed. When she’s not working, Tova spends time with the “Knit-Wits, her long-term woman’s group, but she feels left out as the women discuss their children and grandchildren. She has a special platonic friendship with the local grocer, Ethan, who is definitely interested in pursuing her.

Cameron is struggling to find his way. His deadbeat mother pawned him off on her sister and he has never known his father’s name. When he discovers an old photo of his mother with a real estate mogul living in Washington State, he jumps to the conclusion that the man is his father. His money woes lead him to travel across the country as he concocts a plan to extract back child support. Things don’t quite pan out and Cameron must get a job to pay back a loan from his aunt. When he lands a job at the aquarium, he sets a new trajectory for his life that he couldn’t possibly have predicted.

Remarkably Bright Creatures is part mystery, part love story, and one-hundred percent enjoyable. It instantly became one of my favorite reads of 2023. Fans of A Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman and The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein should put this novel on their “must read” pile.

Remarkably Bright Creatures was an instant New York Times bestseller, a Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick, and an Amazon Best Book of 2022. It was named a Best Book of the 2022 Summer by the “Chicago Tribune” and “USA Today.”


When Shelby Van Pelt isn’t indulging in her flash-fiction addiction, she’s wrangling her cats and children. Remarkably Bright Creatures is her debut novel. She was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, but now calls the suburbs of Chicago home. Find out more at www.shelbyvanpelt.com

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Book Review: The Midnight Library

Review by Jill Hedgecock

Midnight Library (Viking, 2020, paperback, 304 pages, $) by Matt Haig is a book that sticks with you for a long time after the final page is turned. Midnight Library is more than the tale of Nora Seed’s unusual near-death experience, it also delivers a hopeful message about the infinite possibilities that life holds.

On the day Nora’s cat dies and she loses her job, Nora takes pills with the intent of ending her life. Instead of dying, she finds herself inside an unusual library where one book, The Book of Regrets chronicles life choices she wishes she could now change. The remaining books on the shelves offer glimpses of what Nora’s life would look like if she made different decisions. Each book selection offers Nora the opportunity to step into a different life than the one she has been living.

Nora’s former school librarian, Mrs. Elm, the only other occupant of the library, explains that Nora has been given an opportunity to choose her perfect life. Mrs. Elm guides Nora to select specific books that will take her on a journey that resolves one of her regrets and a life that she can adopt permanently. Nora accepts the challenge and explores different scenarios that take her in widely different directions. From a life where her cat is no longer dead, to an alternate existence where she marries a man that she rejected, to becoming an Olympic champion swimmer, to stepping into a life as a glaciologist studying arctic ice melt, to melding into a lead singer in an internationally acclaimed band, Nora begins to see each of her regrets dissolve. But with each new experience comes unexpected negative consequences, and she continues to search for her perfect life.

One of the challenges that Nora must face during each new life is that when she takes over this alternative Nora, there are things she cannot know, like the original songs that the band usually sings to close a show, or what the famed Olympian Nora would say to an audience when giving a motivational speech. Somehow, ordinary Nora muddles along, trying on new lives like clothes. Not only is this an entertaining read, but this book inspired me to self-reflect on my own life choices, and to consider ways to reinvent myself.

Those who love the movies It’s a Wonderful Life and who are fans of author Mitch Albom will likely enjoy Haig’s latest deeply moving novel. Chances are high that the time you spend reading the book won’t end up in your “Book of Regrets”.

Midnight Library was an instant New York Times bestseller, Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction, A Good Morning America Book Club Pick! And one of the LibraryReads 2020 Voter Favorites. The Midnight Library has sold over 9 million copies worldwide across 54 international territories.

Over 20 years ago, Haig nearly died by suicide, thinking he would never be happy again. Fortunately for readers, he found his life’s calling as an author. In addition to The Midnight Library, Matt Haig is the internationally bestselling author of How to Stop Time, The Humans, The Radleys, A Boy Called Christmas, and his memoir Reasons to Stay Alive” His latest release is The Life Impossible. His work has been translated into over fifty languages. Learn more through his website at www.matthaig.com.

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Book Review: The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild



Review by Jill Hedgecock

The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence (2012, St. Martin’s Griffin, paperback, 384 pages, $10.63) is the fascinating true account of Lawrence Anthony’s experiences after introducing a small herd of rogue elephants into his Thula Thula game reserve, an area of approximately 5,000 acres of pristine bush in South Africa. The adventure does not start well when the elephants break out of their enclosure. Anthony gets in a helicopter to track them down while his wife takes to the road. As Anthony’s wife, Francois, desperately questions the locals on whether they’ve seen these giant animals, the tribes people have no idea what she’s asking. Elephants had been extirpated from this area before they were born. The runaways are rounded up, but are in imminent danger of being killed if they break out again, so Anthony, whose original intention was to discourage human-elephant interaction, is forced to befriend the herd.

In addition to heart-rending and occasionally terrifying accounts of Lawrence’s encounters with these three-ton beasts, the book explores the politics of running a game reserve, the delightful as well as idiosyncrasies of Zulu culture, the darkest consequences of trophy hunting and poaching practices, and the mysterious beliefs surrounding native witchcraft. Along the way, readers experience the hazards of South African weather, snakes and crocodiles.

Throughout the narrative, Anthony’s absolute respect and love for the animals of Thula Thula, both wild and domestic, shines through the pages. But it is the elephants that captivate. From this book I learned the extent of how sensitive and tactile these creatures are. How intention and the sound of a human voice can transform these intelligent giant animals from an emotional state of malevolence and distrust to a condition of utter gentleness.

At the end of this book, I was left with the absolute conviction that to be a true advocate for the wildlife in Africa is to commit acts of heroism again and again and again. In 2003, Anthony founded The Earth Organization, a non-profit group with a mission to reverse the dwindling spiral of plant and animal kingdoms through education and action. To learn more and to see a video of Anthony interacting with an elephant, visit www.earthorganization.org. Lawrence’s other books include Babylon’s Ark : The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo (2007) recounting his efforts to help the zoo animals during the Iraq war. He received the UN’s Earth Day award for this work in Baghdad. His last novel, The Last Rhinos: My Battle to Save One of the World’s Greatest Creatures (2013), was published after his untimely death from heart failure on March 2, 2012. Fortunately, his voice will live on through the books he left behind and his nonprofit organization. The Elephant Whisperer is one of those books that takes ahold of you and leaves behind lasting vivid memories. The audio version of this book, which was how I read it, was an Audie Award Winner in the Biography/Memoir category in 2014.

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