* The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

No star deflation here: I hated this book. The Weird Sisters could be a delightfully offbeat story about delightfully offbeat characters but instead it’s a stodgy tale of how screwed-up, ridiculously caricatured women (a martyr oldest sister who can’t allow herself to enjoy anything, a boozing thief and nymphomaniac, and a oops-I’m-pregnant drifter) can all come together, reform, and live happily ever after once they settle down, get married, and concentrate on keeping house.

What century are we living in? No amount of Shakespeare quotes (a propos everything, the man wrote a lot!) and no amount of this weird first person plural narrative can save a story as worn out as this one.