The Book Binder’s Secret by A. D. Bell

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Publication January 13, 2026=St. Martin’s Publishing-Historical Fiction-400pp

Book Summary

Every book tells a story. This one tells a secret.
A young bookbinder begins a hunt for the truth when a confession hidden beneath the binding of a burned book reveals a story of forbidden love, lost fortune, and murder.

      Lilian (“Lily”) Delaney, apprentice to a master bookbinder in Oxford in 1901, chafes at the confines of her life. She is trapped between the oppressiveness of her father’s failing bookshop and still being an apprentice in a man’s profession. But when she’s given a burned book during a visit to a collector, she finds, hidden beneath the binding, a fifty-year-old letter speaking of love, fortune, and murder.
     Lily is pulled into the mystery of the young lovers, a story of forbidden love, and discovers there are more books and more hidden pages telling their story. Lilian becomes obsessed with the story but she is not the only one looking for the remaining books and what began as a diverting intrigue quickly becomes a very dangerous pursuit.
     Lily’s search leads her from the eccentric booksellers of London to the private libraries of unscrupulous collectors and the dusty archives of society papers, deep into the heart of the mystery. But with sinister forces closing in, willing to do anything for the books, Lilian’s world begins to fall apart and she must decide if uncovering the truth is worth the risk to her own life.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Want to know a secret? This novel pulls the reader right into the world of collecting and restoring books in Oxford,1901. Lily, who doesn’t go anywhere without a book, narrates the tale of secrets and mysteries with a story of forbidden love hidden in a series of books. Lily has always been able to focus on a project to the point of obsession-which is exactly what happens when she discovers a letter hidden under the binding of a partially burned book.

Bell’s use of foreshadowing reveals that as Lily is drawn into the search for more books in the series with possibly more letters, her own past and the future she’s been hoping for, might be slipping away. Bell keeps up a fast-paced plot with Lily’s harrowing situations, shady dealings on train platforms, and escaping down crowded alleyways. Lily’s real-life search for the books and letters is alternated with the saga of forbidden love, an unclaimed fortune, and the fate of a missing baby sewn into the bindings.

 Lily, a lady bookbinder trying to save her father’s bookstore, is frantically following all the clues, but collectors, booksellers, lovers, and authors all have secrets. Hidden pages, juicy stories and confessions make The Bookbinder’s Secret perfect for readers searching for “that particular perfume…, the aroma of imagination, of knowledge waiting.” The secrets keep the pages turning.



Anneke Jans in the New World by Sandra Freels

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Publication January 6, 2026-She Writes Press-Historical Fiction-256pp

Book Summary

It’s 1630, and Anneke Jans has just arrived in the fledgling colony of New Netherland with her husband, Roelof, and their two young daughters to create a new life for herself and her family. One of very few women in the colony, Anneke quickly realizes that she will need to make her own rules if she is to survive.

When Roelof dies, Anneke marries Everardus Bogardus, the flamboyant minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. With this marriage, Anneke joins the elites of the colony—but when the colony’s new director provokes war with the region’s American Indians and her new husband emerges as the head of the anti-war opposition, she also finds herself in the midst of political turmoil. As difficulties mount, she must rely more than ever on her quick wits to protect herself and her growing family.

Based on real events, Anneke Jans in the New World tells the story of an ordinary woman who lived an extraordinary life.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Anneke’s life story is a perfect read to celebrate the 400th birthday of New York state. Author Sandra Freels ,a descendant of Anneke Jans, sinks readers into 1630’s New Amsterdam, the dangerous, intimidating forests and rivers we now know as New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware.

Upon her arrival Anneke realized she was in a country of young men; she’d have “to make her own rules, be quick witted, and careful,” to survive.  Anneke’s life story is both amazing and inspiring. This compelling narrative of her survival is a history lesson packed with early Colonial terminology, ingenious agricultural methods, marriage laws, and Indian Wars. Details of the Mohicans, the Dutch West India Company, governing bodies, and peace treaties pepper Anneke’s life story. Two marriages, ten children and even the initial making and serving of coffee will keep readers anxious to learn of Anneke Jans in the New World.

At Morning’s Light by Lauraine Snelling

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Pub Date Dec. 2, 2025-Bethany House Publishing-Christian Historical Fiction, Frontier Romance-320pp

Book Summary

In her new homeland of Iowa, she must risk heartbreak and uncertainty for her dreams to flourish.

Maya Bredesen and her husband plan to journey from Norway to a new life at her cousin’s boardinghouse in America, but on one last fateful fishing trip, a fierce winter storm steals away her husband. With her dreams for the future crushed, Maya is left grieving on the voyage to Iowa, accompanied instead by her brother, who plans to finish his seminary degree.

Arriving at a boardinghouse spilling over with orphans and a newly married couple, Maya struggles to find her place amid the chaos. A new friendship develops between her and Eben Miller, the reserved, kind farmer next door, but just as Maya begins to recover from her wounded heart, more tragedy engulfs her. As she and Eben weather trials together, can they overcome the difficulties this new land holds when it seems so far from becoming home?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

At Morning Light is a tender look at family life on a farm in Iowa,1890. Book #2 in the Home to Green Creek Series continues the immigration story of Amelia Gunderson and fiancé, Absalom. Readers easily pick up the back story from Book #1, Land of Dreams, with richly developed characters and excellent plot pacing, with each chapter ending in hopeful suspense! The main characters share relatable struggles and hurdles; finding jobs and learning English, while readers bond easily through blossoming relationships in this growing Norwegian community.

Snelling’s detailed descriptions of the endless boarding house chores and cooking along with gardening and the ‘never ending” processing of fruits and vegetables adds a marvelous layer to the richly expressed community pride exhibited in church picnics, hayrides, home building, and neighbors helping neighbors. Snelling’s ability to express the gratitude of family members seeps right into the hearts of readers.  

Amelia leads her family with faith and trust in God to overcome fears and guilt. An uplifting, comforting reminder that God’s love is constant and new each day, At Morning’s Light.

Author Bio: Lauraine Snelling is the award-winning author of more than one hundred books, fiction and nonfiction, for adults and young adults. Her books have sold more than five million copies. She makes her home in Tehachapi, California. Learn more at LauraineSnelling.com..

Murder in Manhattan by Julie Mulhern

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Publication Dec. 9, 2025-Forever, Grand Central Publishing-Historical Mystery-352pp

Book Summary

Inspired by one of the first real-life female columnists at the New Yorker, this enticing historical mystery follows Freddie Archer as she solves crimes while reporting on the glamorous world of the rich and famous in 1920s Manhattan.

This writer just found her next scoop . . . and it’s deadly.

New York, 1925 – Freddie Archer frequents speakeasies and wild parties with her friends Dorothy Parker and Tallulah Bankhead. And the best part is that it’s all in a day’s work. Freddie loves her job writing the nightlife column for Gotham Magazine.

But Freddie’s latest piece just won her a bit more attention than she bargained for—from the police. A man mentioned in her column has been murdered. And Freddie is asked to keep an eye out for his fashionable female dinner companion. She’s told in no uncertain terms to stay out of the case herself.

So naturally, Freddie throws herself into an investigation that takes her from the elegant stores that line Fifth Avenue to the tenements south of Houston Street. Now between sipping gin rickeys with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and casting Broadway shows with Groucho Marx, she’s dodging bullets and dating a potentially dangerous bootlegger.

Freddie wanted adventure and excitement. But will she survive it?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

If you’re like Freddie Archer, seeking adventure and excitement, this is the historical mystery for you! It’s New York,1925. This riveting trek takes readers from ritzy speakeasies and chic designer boutiques to the warehouses of the Lower Eastside. Freddie pals around with the famous author, critic, Dorothy Parker; readers can count on her for witty wisdom. Tallulah Bankhead, a twenty-three-year-old actress, already living at the famous Algonquin, hotspot of the literary and artistic elite, is also a frequent flyer in Freddie’s nightly jaunts to restaurants, plays, and clubs, searching for juicy gossip for her nightlife column. I loved that Freddie could write a column in her head as she sped around Manhattan in cabs following leads. Freddie consorts with Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, and even Grouch Marx makes an appearance in an unexpected way. Freddie shows up, Chanel ensemble and chic bobbed hair, sticking her detective nose into situations she’s been told, in no uncertain terms, to stay out of. Julie Mulhern has created predicaments that are humorous, harrowing, and downright spine tingling. Grab a gin rickey or a champagne cocktail to follow the clues in Murder in Manhattan, but in the complete safety of your own living room. Did I mention bootleggers and kidnapping?

Murder at Donwell Abbey -An Emma Knightley Mystery by Vanessa Kelly

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Publication November 25, 2025-Kensington Books-Historical Fiction, Mystery-Thriller=416pp

Book Summary

This latest Regency-era mystery from USA Today bestselling author Vanessa Kelly finds Jane Austen’s clever Emma Knightley (nee Woodhouse) as an amateur sleuth, navigating shocking changes in her family—while meeting her match in a deadly adversary . . .

Emma’s spirits are elevated after she and husband George Knightley host a joyful holiday celebration at the Hartfield estate. But it’s instantly a bitter January when her father makes an unexpected announcement—he and Miss Hetty Bates have decided to marry. Not only must Emma relinquish her role as mistress of the household, but also accept the reality that the excitable Miss Bates will become her stepmother . . .

More unwanted news arrives during an extravagant betrothal ball at Donwell Abbey, the grand Knightley estate where Emma and George will soon permanently reside. Nearly every villager in Highbury revels in the dazzling affair—except Emma’s hardworking lady’s maid, Prudence Parr. To Emma’s horror, Prudence is found dead, sprawled across the stones of the library terrace . . .

The woman’s tragic fall is quickly ruled a terrible accident and whispers circulate around personal troubles leading up to her untimely demise. But Emma’s instincts tell her that something far more sinister is at play. Now, Highbury’s matchmaker-turned-sleuth vows to outwit a cunning criminal before an innocent man loses his freedom—or Donwell Abbey plunges into a darker mystery . . .

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

In this sequel to Murder in Highbury the peace and quiet that had settled after the events of the past year has ended for George and Emma Knightley. Emma’s father has announced his engagement to Miss Bates and requested a proper ball to celebrate the coming nuptials.

Vanessa Kelly has populated Murder at Donwell Abbey with a delightful cast of characters. The families of sisters Emma and Isabella, their husbands, brothers George and John Knightley, and the house staff with their many attributes are introduced as the plans for the big event proceed. Donwell Abbey and the ball are the scene for The shocking discovery that sets the cozy mystery into motion. The manners and social mores of 1816 Regency England are a fertile garden for Emma’s brilliant, bold detective inclinations to blossom, once again. Due to the investigative skills of Emma, the plot takes twists and turns down unlikely alleys and pathways. Kelly reveals the newly married relationship of George and Emma with witty banter, humorous exchanges, and even romantic suggestions, which make her discoveries even more satisfying.

Kelly’s Murder at Donwell Abbey leaves readers anxiously anticipating another invitation to tea with Emma and another mystery to solve.

A Dark and Deadly Journey- An Evelyne Redfern Mystery by Julia Kelly

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Publication September 23, 2025-St. Martin’s Press-Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers-304pp

Book Summary

Evelyne Redfern returns in A Dark and Deadly Journey, the next book in international bestselling author Julia Kelly’s captivating historical mystery series.

After being sidelined for a pesky gunshot wound, typist-turned-field agent Evelyne Redfern is ready for her next assignment with Britain’s secretive Special Investigations Unit. When a British Intelligence informant in Portugal mysteriously disappears just after hinting that he has vital information about German plans that could tip the balance of World War Two, Evelyne and her dashingly irksome partner, David Poole, are sent headed to Lisbon to find him.

Once they land, Evelyne and David aren’t even able to leave the airport, before she discovers one of their fellow aeroplane passengers murdered and uncovers a diary with a clear link between the victim and their missing informant. With their mission in jeopardy before it can truly begin, Evelyne and David fight to keep their cover intact as they descend deeper into the shadows that surround Lisbon’s glittering collection of wealthy expats and dangerous spies. This case will test Evelyne and David’s training, charm, and wit—and their growing attraction for one another.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab First Published in Historical Novels Review Magazine, Nov.1, 2025 Issue

     This newest installment in the Evelyn Redfern Mysteries presents fans of historical mystery novels with a fast-paced trek following British Special Investigation Unit agents Evelyn Redfern and partner David Poole to Portugal,1940.  Kelly’s vivid details of politically charged Lisbon, filled with wealthy expats, sparkling jewels and a throng of spies, is the perfect setting for A Dark and Deadly Journey. The disappearance of a British intelligence informant leads Evelyn and David to Princes Petrova’s soirees, the Hotel Metropol, casinos, bars, and jewelry shops as they piece together the giant jigsaw puzzle.

     Julia Kelly easily connects readers by revisiting Evelyn’s famous childhood as the “Paris Orphan” leading to the estrangement of her father, Sir Reginald. He has suddenly contacted her with a surprising request which strangely coincides with her new mission as an SIU agent. Disguised as a wine buyer and his secretary, David and Evelyn work with Phillips, head of the intelligence branch in Lisbon, tracking an informant who supposedly has knowledge that could shift Portugal’s neutrality in the war.  Sir Reginald, Phillips, Princess Petrova; and many more intriguing characters are involved in unexpected plot twists at every turn in the crowded Lisbon streets. Kelly interjects Evelyn’s smartly induced theories to keep readers analyzing the clues as the search for the missing informant progresses.

      With each new installment Kelly adds a touch of romance as Evelyn and David’s growing attraction is coyly revealed in details of private moments and memories of their previous assignments as SIU agents.  Be forewarned of an unexpected, jaw-dropping ending. Suspenseful. Highly recommended. Awaiting the next adventure in the Evelyn Redfern Mysteries with great anticipation.   

Christy Award -Historical Fiction 2025: Born of Gilded Mountains by Amanda Dykes

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Publication June 18, 2024-Bethany House-Christian-Historical Fiction-416pp

Book Summary

A lost treasure. A riddled quest. The healing power of friendship.

Legends are tucked into every fold of the Colorado mountains surrounding the quaint town of Mercy Peak, where residents are the stuff of tall tales, the peaks are taller still, and a lost treasure has etched mystery into the very terrain.

In 1948, when outsider Mercy Windsor arrives after a scandal shatters her gilded world as Hollywood’s beloved leading lady, she is determined to forge a new life in obscurity in this time-forgotten Colorado haven. She purchases Wildwood, an abandoned estate with a haunting history, and begins to restore it to its former glory.

But as she does, her every move tugs at the threads of the mountain’s lore, unearthing what became of her long-lost pen pal Rusty Bright, and the whereabouts of the infamous Galloping Goose Railcar No. 8, which vanished years ago–along with the mailbag it carried, whose contents could change the course of countless lives. Not to mention the fabled treasure that–if found–could right so many wrongs.

Among the towering mountains that stand as silent witnesses, the ghosts of the past entangle with the courage of the present to find a place where healing, friendship, and hope can abide amid a world forever changed.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab First Reviewed for Historical Novel Society-August 1, 2024

Mountain lore, a mystery, and mending of hearts are like the veins of gold in Colorado’s San Juan Mountain Range in Amanda Dyke’s dual timeline. A Blood Moon Pact between four ten-year-olds, heartfelt, girlish letters between pen-pals Rusty Bright and Marybeth Spatts in 1928, and the 1948 arrival of a fallen movie star in Mercy Peak, Colorado, sets the narrative in motion.

Like the “Galloping Geese,” hybrid train/automobiles used to climb the mountains, the pace of the novel transports readers slowly and deliberately to reach the peaks, then builds speed toward the station with a satisfying, uplifting arrival.  Dykes’ narrative, somewhat epistolary through the pen pal letters, is also layered with newspaper articles, movie scripts, and interviews which reveal personal emotions and feelings, lending a realistic, captivating element. A riveting treasure hunt with ingenious clues and patterns along with the search for the Galloping Goose #8 leads readers to a fascinating discovery.  The train’s mysterious disappearance and its missing mail bag adds suspense and personal connections to Mercy Peak’s citizens, some waiting years for life altering news. Throughout the narrative Dykes connects Mercy Peak’s residents of the present to the past through the possibilities of the mail bag’s contents. Also known for her love of symbolism, the mountains are cast as a character, representing life and the treasure they hold.

Themes of friendship, finding purpose, and hope are painted onto the canvas, Born of Gilded Mountains. The landscape, with glorious descriptions of mountain peaks and verdant valleys, is enhanced by the lure of the poignant tales and visions of those residing in the charming village of Mercy Peaks; filled with forgiveness, grace, courage and adventure. A soul-stirring, rewarding journey.  

Read more about Amanda’s books here on her website: https://amandadykes.com/mybooks/

Last Call at the Savoy by Brisa Carleton

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Publication Nov. 4, 2025-Grand Central Publishing-Historical Fiction-304pp

Book Summary

Set amongst the glittering backdrop of London’s iconic Savoy hotel, a young woman is forced to confront her troubled past as she uncovers the story of the hotel’s first female bartender who has been erased from the history books—”an exhilarating, tender read that will leave you smiling” (Fiona Jackson, bestselling author).
      Six years ago, Cinnamon Scott was a young writer on the rise in New York City. But since the sudden loss of her parents, she’s been stuck in place, retreating to a life of endless partying—made possible by the massive fortune she’s inherited. Despite their tragic loss, she and her older sister Rosemary have always had each other to lean on. But now, with Rosie living in London and about to give birth to twins, Cinnamon feels more lost than ever.
     When Rosie is put on bed rest, Cinnamon flies to her sister’s side, where she’s temporarily living at The Savoy. Immediately swept away by the beauty and history of the legendary hotel and its famed American Bar, Cinnamon finds ample opportunity to distract herself. When the late shift bartender tells her the story of Ada Coleman, the woman who crafted the cocktail recipes The Savoy popularized in its famous handbook a century ago, Cinnamon is inspired by the bartender’s vivid stories of Ada’s fearlessness and can’t understand why Ada’s name is nowhere to be found. After meeting a handsome historian researching the hotel and realizing that Ada is likely to be once again overlooked, Cinnamon must decide if she can overcome her demons and stand up for Ada’s story. And, along the way, she might just save her own story too.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A perfect book cocktail: One book filled with the story of Ada Coleman, first female bartender at the London Savoy Hotel and her cocktail recipes, add two sisters, one pregnant with twins and one stuck in a guilt ridden past, stir in a handsome historian, sprinkle with the rich and famous-Voila!

In this dual timeline Brisa Carleton blends the history of the Savoy and its residents seamlessly with an equal amount of present-day trauma and guilt carried by sisters, Cinnamon and Rosemary. I found both timelines compelling; the Ada Coleman portion was filled with the mystery of what happened to the well-known bartender and the Savoy Cocktail Book; and what would become of the sisters dealing with inheritance, guilt, and twins? I savored the stories of famous people residing or being served at the American Bar in the Savoy -Harry Selfridge, Cesar Ritz, Marconi, Gucci, told to Cinnamon by Joe the late-night bartender.  The addition of historian Christopher Clark adds a writer mentor, possible love interest for Cinnamon, as she becomes a “girl detective.”  

Which is better? Sipping a Manhattan at the American Bar while Joe tells stories-wondering why Ada Coleman has been erased from the cocktail book or delving into the history of the Savoy over afternoon tea with Christopher Clark, wondering what it would be like to be a writer? Read Last Call at the Savoy to enjoy both!

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree-A Festive Guide to Celebrating the Holidays

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Publication September 23, 2025-Harper Celebrates-176pp-Cooking, Crafts, Entertainment, Pop Culture

Book Summary

Get the most out of your Yuletide celebrations and let the Christmas spirit ring with this full-color festive handbook to all things holiday! You will rock around your Christmas tree this season with the beloved, nostalgic #1 chart-topping song as your guide to a host of holiday fun, from recipes and crafts to party games, decor ideas, and more!

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Christmas arrives when we first hear Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee! This guide is a delightful collection of ideas to “decorate, dance, bake and celebrate” the holiday season. The lyrics of the famous song form the table of contents! So ingenious and a festive start for getting into the spirit of entertaining family and friends. The book opens with the background of Brenda Lee and Johnny Marks and the history of their music. The collection is filled with recipes, tablescape ideas, and party themes. Whether given as a gift to a Brenda Lee fan or for personal enjoyment, one can always use hosting tips, a holiday couple’s quiz, or a little mistletoe magic! Happy Holidays!

The Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan

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Publication October 14, 2025-William & Morrow- Mystery, 320pp

Book Summary

A new holiday story set in the Scottish Highlands to warm booklovers’ hearts by Jenny Colgan, New York Times bestselling author of Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop.

Mirren Sutherland stumbled into a career as an antiquarian book hunter after finding a priceless antique book in her great aunt’s attic. Now, as Christmas approaches, she’s been hired by Jamie McPherson, the surprisingly young and handsome laird of a Highland clan whose ancestral holdings include a vast crumbling castle. Family lore suggests that the McPherson family’s collection includes a rare book so valuable that it could save the entire estate—if they only knew where it was. Jamie needs Mirren to help him track down this treasure, which he believes is hidden in his own home.

But on the train to the Highlands, Mirren runs into rival book hunter Theo Palliser, and instantly knows that it’s not a chance meeting. She’s all too familiar with Theo’s good looks and smooth talk, and his uncanny ability to appear whenever there’s a treasure that needs locating.

Almost as soon as Mirren and Theo arrive at the castle, a deep snow blankets the Highlands, cutting off the outside world. Stuck inside, the three of them plot their search as the wind whistles outside. Mirren knows that Jamie’s grandfather, the castle’s most recent laird, had been a book collector, a hoarder, and a great lover of treasure hunts. Now they must unpuzzle his clues, discovering the secrets of the house—forming and breaking alliances in a race against time.

A treat for booklovers and treasure hunters alike, The Secret Christmas Library serves up a delicious mystery with a hint of romance, and plenty of holiday spirit!

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A treasure hunt that starts in the British Museum in Bloomsbury, the elegant area of London devoted to libraries, books, and studies. What could be better?  Jenny Colgan incorporates the sheer cliffs of the Scottish Highlands, secret passageways in a crumbling castle, and the search for a valuable book that could save an estate into this gem of novel set in Scotland at Christmas time.  

Jenny Colgan truly lives in a castle in Scotland, so her descriptions vividly depict the views of the spacious grounds and cottages, the biting cold inside and out, and the long, dark corridors leading to the libraries and bedrooms. The main characters are well developed with realistic doubts and fears, expectations and hopes, and family concerns and secrets. All these feelings play into the quandary of how to save the castle that’s been in Jamie McKinnon’s family for over 500 years! Jamie’s grandfather had always been obsessed with books, puzzles, and crosswords, so no one was surprised when his only hint as to the whereabouts of the valuable book came in the form of a poem. Mirren and Theo, antiquarian booksellers, Bonnie, an amazing cook on staff, and the laird himself, Jamie; are snowed in along with Jamie’s sister, Esme, all hoping to sort through the mystery and find the book. The logic and analysis of the poem, following the clues, and the relationships that develop, all add to the suspense. If Mirren was looking for a change in her life, for an adventure? She got one!  

The Secret Christmas Library is a suspenseful, mysterious tale – a stocking stuffer with a bit of spicy romance, soul-searching, and splendid holiday discoveries. Cozy up in front of the fire for that shivery, excited feeling when opening the pages of the perfect Scottish tale.

Sweet & Salty-Cookbook for Young Bakers

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Publication September 30, 2025-Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers-Nonfiction-Cooking-280pp.

Book Summary

From the most trusted American baking resource comes a collection of over eighty sweet, salty, and very, very tasty recipes that will have bakers of all ages rolling up their sleeves and breaking out their rolling pins!

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Not everyone grows up learning to bake from scratch like I did-thanks, Mom. Here’s your “teacher!” This is a step-by-step book for parents and kids who want to create in the kitchen! The Table of Contents is well designed and divided into categories for quick reference, and the recipes are leveled as Easy, Medium, or Project-an adult should help on the first attempt. The introductory pages with tips and tools are informative and include plenty of photos, without detaining “anxious to start” bakers. The sidebars are presented with explanations packed with chemistry and math; knowledge of why ingredients work-chemistry; measuring hints-math, which kids learn best in practical ways. Sweet & Salty is PERFECT for a family cookbook collection. Cue the sprinkles!    

The President’s Wife by Anna Stuart

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Publication September 23, 2025-Bookouture-Historical Fiction-382pp

Book Summary

December 1941: ‘Pearl Harbor has been bombed.’ My husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s, voice shakes as he tells me the devastating news. In this heart-stopping moment, I’m determined to do whatever it takes to protect America, but will it be enough?

Eleanor Roosevelt takes a deep breath. She knew this day was coming but now that it’s here she needs every ounce of courage to face it. She’s stood by Franklin’s side through thirty years of marriage and three terms in the White House but entering the war that’s been raging across the world will be their greatest challenge yet.

Eleanor watches thousands of women as they embrace their husbands for what could be the last time before they go off to war. She knows she needs to put aside the troubles in her own relationship for the sake of the country. But will the latest threat to her marriage finally tear her and Franklin apart? 

The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. This is a moment that history will never forget, and all eyes are on them. Will Eleanor succeed in her role as the president’s wife and help to save her beloved country as well as her marriage? Or will tragedy strike before the war is won…?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A well-researched, poignant portrait of the amazing Eleanor Roosevelt; the political and private life from the First Lady’s point of view.

The novel opens as the Roosevelts move into the White House in 1933, fulfilling Franklin’s lifelong dream of becoming the President.  In this dual timeline, Eleanor’s reflections take the reader from meeting Franklin at a party in 1902 to visiting his gravesite in 1948. Stuart covers America’s political climate from before the bombing of Pearl Harbor through the end of World War II. That’s a lot of campaigning, train trips, and elections! Franklin and Eleanor’s political views and news is kept front and center: fireside chats, Eleanor’s daily news column, speaking engagements, and myriad women’s groups. Eleanor’s heart for freedom and justice for all Americans is revealed repeatedly as she makes unbelievable personal sacrifices for the good of Franklin’s career and the country.

Told from Eleanor’s perspective Stuart portrays the couple’s great respect and love for each other with compassion and candor.  Eleanor’s discovery of a bundle of violet scented letters creates a great divide in the Roosevelt marriage. Stuart shows discernment and sympathy for Eleanor’s true heart in her bold demand of two marriage conditions rather than divorce, while highlighting family relationships, the separate residences, and Eleanor’s own friends she called ‘intimates’.

Known as First Lady, but also as a writer, broadcaster, campaigner, and friend. This novel celebrates Eleanor’s cerebral bond with Franklin, her uncanny gift of being a great listener and her lifelong stand against prejudice.

The President’s Wife is a stunning jewel in Anna Stuart’s author crown.

The Last Assignment by Erika Robuck

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Publication August 19, 2025-Source Books-Historical Fiction-448pp

Book Summary

From bestselling author Erika Robuck comes the perilous and awe-inspiring true story
of award-winning photojournalist Dickey Chapelle as she risks everything to show the
American people the price of war through the lens of her camera.
Manhattan, 1956.
Since her arrest for disobeying orders and going ashore at Iwo Jima almost a decade earlier,
combat correspondent Georgette “Dickey” Chapelle has been unmoored. Her military
accreditation revoked, her marriage failing, and her savings dwindling, Dickey jumps at an
opportunity to work with an international refugee association—one with intelligence ties.
the aftermath of a refugee rescue that goes wrong, a flame is lit deep inside Dickey— to
survive in order to be the world’s witness to war from the front lines.
Never content to report on battles unless her own boots are on the ground, Dickey and her
camera journey with American and international soldiers from frozen wastelands, to raging
seas, to luscious jungles, covering the plight of those suffering from humanity’s endless
cycle of violence. Told in an alternating prose and epistolary format, The Last
Assignment takes readers along on Dickey’s missions to the Hungarian Revolution, the
Cuban Revolution, and the earliest days of the war in Vietnam, revealing one woman’s
extraordinary courage and tenacity in the face of discrimination and danger.
And it’s along the way, in Dickey’s desire to save the world, she realizes she might also be saving herself.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

This is the story of female paratrooper and photojournalist, Dickey Chapelle. Erika
Robuck’s extensive research is evident as the narrative of Dickey’s life story plays out on
four different continents. Robuck laces her novel with letters, diary entries, telegrams, and
radio broadcasts based on real life accounts. These add authenticity and suspense to the
novel, which is divided into three main parts, spanning 1954, New York City-to 1965, Viet
Nam. A war correspondent grieving the loss of her parents and her marriage, Dickey
Chapelle’s life story exemplifies her courage, determination and commitment to her life
goal, “making the picture to end all wars.” This is a compelling account which leaves
images etched in one’s memory of scenes written with indelible detail and vivid accuracy.
Filled with tension from prison cell to battlefields, Erika Robuck’s Last Assignment bestows
an honorable tribute worthy of the highest award and a Marine salute: To the life and
accomplishments of Dickey Chapelle. Semper Fi.

The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel

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Publication June 17, 2025-Gallery Books-Historical Fiction-384pp

Book Summary

Kristin Harmel, returns with an electrifying new novel about two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet that disappears in 1940s Paris, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder.
Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, Annabel: take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance.

But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an exquisite diamond bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown for safekeeping. Soon after, Annabel was executed, and Liliane’s body was found floating in the Seine—but the bracelet was nowhere to be found.

Seventy years later, Colette—who has “redistributed” $30 million in jewels over the decades to fund many worthy organizations—has done her best to put her tragic past behind her, but her life begins to unravel when the long-missing bracelet suddenly turns up in a museum exhibit in Boston. If Colette can discover where it has been all this time—and who owns it now—she may finally learn the truth about what happened to her sister. But she isn’t the only one for whom the bracelet holds answers, and when someone from her childhood lays claim to the diamonds, she’s forced to confront the ghosts of her past as never before. Against all odds, there may still be a chance to bring a murderer to justice—but first, Colette will have to summon the courage to open her own battered heart.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Kristin Harmel adds another World War II novel to her growing collection. The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau centers on the definition of right and wrong and the gray areas that are personal to each reader. The Marceau family legacy of stealing jewelry to rebalance justice is based on the legend of Robin Hood. This moral deliberation is embedded in every jewelry heist and the lives of Annabelle and Colette are the resulting outcomes of very debatable decisions and choices. This theme of morality, combined with survival guilt, self-discovery, and the power of ordinary people makes this novel a treasure trove of discussions for book clubs.

The timeline alternates between the war in Paris, 1942 and Boston, 2018. Kristin Harmel’s mystery puzzle is framed by four corners: Annabel’s family heritage of stealing, Colette’s later life including the Tristan love story, the twin bracelets’ provenance, and the murder of Colette’s little sister, Liliane. The puzzle pieces slowly fall into place, leaving readers in great emotional suspense and anticipation as the complete picture comes into view. We know “diamonds are forever” and Kristin Harmel proves this beautiful sentiment once more in The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau.

Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling, USA Today bestselling, and #1 international bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Winemaker’s Wife, and a dozen other novels that have been translated into more than 30 languages and are sold all over the world. Many of her novels have been optioned for film and television. The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau is coming this June.

Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding by Lian Dolan

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Publication May 20, 2025-William Morrow-Romance-Women’s Fiction-352pp

Book Summary

Everyone loves—and hates—a big fancy wedding! From the author of Lost and Found in Paris and The Marriage Sabbatical comes a champagne-sparkling summer read about two very different women planning their children’s wedding in glamorous Montecito, California. You’re invited…to a delightful modern comedy of manners about two moms, the best-laid plans, and one very memorable wedding.

Penelope and Chase make a lovely couple. She’s a bubbly Southern California girl with killer work ethic. Chase is smart and charming and has political aspirations. They’re planning a spectacular California wedding, wrapped in peonies and thousands of little white lights, soaked in custom cocktails and romantic hashtags. Everyone’s excited about Penny and Chase’s wedding­­­­­­—except their mothers.

The Mother of the Bride, suave Greek-born Alexa Diamandis, doesn’t understand why any woman would get married. Ever! Raised in Athens and now perfectly situated in sun-splashed Montecito, California, she raised Penny as single mother by choice, supported by Lord Simon Fox, her old college friend who just happens to be an English aristocrat, and a wealthy circle of lady friends who call themselves the Merry Widows.

The Mother of the Groom, Abigail Blakeman, is a garden club stalwart firmly planted in coastal Connecticut. She thinks the whole enterprise would be so much easier if the wedding was at their golf club. Especially because the Blakeman’s fortunes have taken a turn for the worse—not that you would ever know it by looking at Abigail. Keeping up appearances is exhausting, but it is everything.  

But when a sudden twist of fate calls them into action, these two very different women are forced to take over the wedding planning. Despite their differences, Alexa and Abigail charge in to save the day. How far will two moms go to make their children’s dream wedding a reality?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Just in time for wedding season! Jump aboard with the MOB, MOG, and the happy couple to check all the boxes for a perfect “near New Year’s Eve” wedding. The countdown to the blissful wedding day of Chase and Penny is told from the point of view of the two mothers instead of the happy couple.

 Alexa, MOB, is from a Greek family, runs her own business-Odyssey Vacations, and is a single mother by choice. She adds a whole new dynamic to the wedding party planning since there is no official FOB. She is surrounded by her wealthy friends in beautiful Montecito, California, who each lend their own opinions, wisdom and skill sets to the “big day.” These “Merry Widows” add a hilarious but heartfelt layer to the friend circle supporting Penny.

Abigail, MOG, clutching her DAR heritage while “keeping up appearances, lives with her husband George in a quietly crumbling Connecticut home with a three-million-dollar view! Her gardens are filled with hydrangeas, my favorite, and through all her self-talk and self-doubt, I was rooting for a Connecticut venue for the wedding.   Lian Dolan keeps readers on the wedding roller coaster known as Operation Butterfly, with chapter titles that give pace to the wedding timeline. “The Call, The Dress, The Engagement Party, Venue Hunting.”” Readers will sense the wedding frenzy as the participants travel from coast to coast!

There are plenty of wedding party guests to raise eyebrows. The mayor of New York City, a Lord with a seat in Parliament, and the groom’s best friend and scientist, Lloyd, each have a surprising part in the wedding story. Then there’s Sarah, the groom’s sister who plays college field hockey and is a perfect contrast in age & personality to the Merry Widows. A wedding gift to readers is Aunt B, Abigail’s friend and social columnist. Her letters, signed Big Kiss & Wedding Bliss, are filled with relationship advice and sprinkled throughout the narrative like bridal confetti.  Who doesn’t like advice and letters???

Lian Dolan’s Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding is the perfect way to experience a wedding while sitting on your own patio with your own cocktail! The Merry Widows would be pleased. Dress for a cool, beach vibe, preferably in blue.

Lian Dolan is a writer and talker. She’s the USA Today Bestselling author of The Marriage Sabbatical, a People Magazine Best Book of the Week, published by  William Morrow in April 2024.  Her other books are Lost and Found in Paris, The Sweeney Sisters, Helen of Pasadena and Elizabeth the First Wife- all LA Times bestsellers. https://www.liandolan.com/about/

The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club by Martha Hall Kelly

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Publication May 27, 2025-Random House Publishing-Ballantine-Women’s Fiction, Historical Fiction-336pp

Book Summary

Two sisters living on Martha’s Vineyard during World War II find hope in the power of storytelling when they start a wartime book club for women in this spectacular novel inspired by true events, from the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls.

2016: Thirty-four-year-old Mari Starwood is still grieving after her mother’s death as she travels to the storied island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. She’s come all the way from California with nothing but a name on a piece of paper: Elizabeth Devereaux, the famous but reclusive Vineyard painter. When Mari makes it to Mrs. Devereaux’s stunning waterfront farm under the guise of taking a painting class with her, Mrs. Devereaux begins to tell her the story of the Smith sisters, who once lived there. As the tale unfolds, Mari is shocked to learn that her relationship to this island runs deeper than she ever thought possible.

1942: The Smith girls—nineteen-year-old aspiring writer Cadence and sixteen-year-old war-obsessed Briar—are faced with the impossible task of holding their failing family farm together during World War II as the U.S. Army arrives on Martha’s Vineyard. When Briar spots German U-boats lurking off the island’s shores, and Cadence falls into an unlikely romance with a sworn enemy, their quiet lives are officially upended. In an attempt at normalcy, Cadence and her best friend, Bess, start a book club, which grows both in members and influence as they connect with a fabulous New York publisher who could make all of Cadence’s dreams come true. But all that is put at risk by a mysterious man who washes ashore—and whispers of a spy in their midst. Who in their tight-knit island community can they trust? Could this little book club change the course of the war . . . before it’s too late?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club is inspired by the author’s family history and summers spent on the island off the coast of Massachusetts. Martha Hall Kelly blends the two timelines into a puzzling mystery sketched out for Mari Starwood by the local artist Mrs. Devereaux. The story of sisters Cadence and Briar Smith during 1942 is filled with historical details but the main spotlight is on those left behind on Martha’s Vineyard. The visual, aromatic descriptions of the community of Vineyard Haven, the honeysuckle hedges, and the local lore depict Martha’s special love for the island.  Kelly pays tribute to the bonds of sisterhood, familial relationships, and the profound impacts of war. These impacts are shown through the conflict involving Cadence and Briar, the plight of Tom and Bess, and the life-changing discovery on the North Shore.  

My favorite character is Cadence, whose side hustle is writing summaries and reviews. The wealthy women involved in publishing who visit the island, support Cadence and add an unexpected suspenseful layer to her dreams of working in New York City; it’s an exhilarating but exasperating thread in the novel. Briar, the quirky, independent, brilliant 16-year-old sister is a font of war information for her family and the reader! I enjoyed the precocious banter between “Briar the Liar” and the FBI agent, McManus.

There are several characters who add uncertainty and excitement to the plot. The suspicious activities of Tyson and Sandra, along with the encouraging, pie-baking Gram, and mostly irritating, unlikeable Margaret-a Jane Austen fan, so she earns points there- all have parts in the story being told by Mrs. Devereaux.  MHK has an uncanny sense of ending chapters at a point where one simply must keep reading.

As the title suggests, Martha’s Vineyard Beach & Book Club is at the heart of the book. Like most book clubs, the reading selection and discussion are important, but so is connecting daily lives! I love how Cadence calls impromptu meetings and announces the book choice in her weekly column! It turns out the Putnam yacht, Never Moor, plays a delightful role, a treat for the book club and for readers. Yes, the Putnam that published Edgar Allen Poe-you’ll learn so much and enjoy the club’s fabulous classic book selections!

Classics Mentioned in The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club

Sense and Sensibility- Last of the Mohicans- The Great Gatsby-Ben-Hur -The Song of Bernadette- Great Expectations- Rebecca- Brideshead Revisited

Austen at Sea by Natalie Jenner

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Publication May 6, 2025-St. Martin’s Press-Historical Fiction-320pp

Book Summary

Two pairs of siblings, devotees of Jane Austen, find their lives transformed by a visit to England and Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother and keeper of a long-suppressed, secret legacy.

In Boston, 1865, Charlotte and Henrietta Stevenson, daughters of a Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice, have accomplished as much as women are allowed in those days. Chafing against those restrictions and inspired by the works of Jane Austen, they start a secret correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother, now in his nineties. He sends them an original letter from his sister and invites them to come visit him in England.

In Philadelphia, Nicholas & Haslett Nelson—bachelor brothers, veterans of the recent Civil War, and rare book dealers—are also in correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, who lures them, too, to England, with the promise of a never-before-seen, rare Austen artifact to be evaluated.

The Stevenson sisters sneak away without a chaperone to sail to England. On their ship are the Nelson brothers, writer Louisa May Alcott, Sara-Beth Gleason—wealthy daughter of a Pennsylvania state senator with her eye on the Nelsons—and, a would-be last-minute chaperone to the Stevenson sisters, Justice Thomas Nash.

It’s a voyage and trip that will dramatically change each of their lives in ways that are unforeseen, with the transformative spirit of the love of literature and that of Jane Austen herself.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

In a nod to Jane Austen’s use of alliteration: Lovers of literature lend me your ear! Austen at Sea is a sublime celebration of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday. Like classic Victorian novels, Natalie Jenner divides the novel into four books. Set in Boston and London,1865, Jenner’s novel packs a political punch for women. She craftily lends an eavesdropping feel as seven justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Court discuss Jane Austen’s five novels during summer recess.  Current male viewpoints on women’s right to vote, owning property, and divorce laws, the backbone of Jenner’s novel, are juxtaposed to the main female characters’ refusal to settle for the low expectations of society, including most of the males around them. Jenner’s law degree shines an infuriating light on history and precedent providing ample fodder for discussion groups, possibly necessitating another conversation and another bottle of wine!  

Natalie Jenner creates characters readers would want to spend time with long after the novel ends. Charlotte’s gift for the stage and Henrietta’s quest for research takes readers within a lecture hall and the library of Gore Hall at Harvard. A fabulous scene but also maddening since women weren’t allowed to register nor were they invited to the discussion group after auditing lectures.  The sisters’ determination and endurance in overcoming obstacles continues to develop as their journey extends across the Atlantic. Sara-Beth, vivacious and socially ambitious, sly, independent Constance, and lonely, Louisa May Alcott add different age & class dimension to the plot. Readers get a giant dose of “paternal protection” as Justice William Stevenson agonizes over his daughters’ trip across the Atlantic-without a chaperone! Tension and the male point of view is deftly created through the Nelson brothers, Justice Nash, and of course, the reason for the transatlantic crossing, Sir Francis Austen.

The narrative is rife with references to Jane Austen’s characters. Sir Francis Austen, the last living sibling of Jane, takes on the role of Emma Woodhouse, becoming an adorable, giddy, 90-year-old matchmaker, but also keeper of secrets.  Actions of Jane’s sister Cassandra and the admiral’s youngest daughter and live-in caretaker, Fanny, add an unsettling thread to a plot already laden with relationship angst and courtroom drama. In true Austen fashion Jenner transports readers from the wharves of Boston, on to the decks of the SS China, and through the streets of London. Travels include the grounds of Sir Austen’s Portsdown Lodge with views of his “beloved sea”, and even to the Austen family home and graveyard in Chawton.

Do you fancy letters, manuscripts, antiquarian bookshops, first editions, libraries? Then you know books are a gift. Austen at Sea is a stunning gift for Jane Austen fans from years past and for newfound readers. Thank you, Natalie Jenner, for inspiring another generation of readers through the world’s beloved Jane Austen. Happy 250th Birthday!

Natalie Jenner is the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, Bloomsbury Girls, Every Time We Say Goodbye and Austen at Sea, which have been published in over twenty languages worldwide. https://www.nataliejenner.com/

The Seven O’Clock Club by Amelia Ireland

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Publication April- 2025-Penguin Random House-Women’s Fiction

Book Summary

Four strangers are brought together to participate in an experimental treatment designed to heal broken hearts in this surprising and heartfelt debut novel from author Amelia Ireland.

A PEOPLE MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE WEEK ∙ A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ∙ A ZIBBY OWENS MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2025


Freya, Callum, Mischa, and Victoria have nothing in common–well, except for one thing: they’ve each experienced a deep personal loss that has led them to an unconventional group meeting, every Tuesday night at seven. A meeting they’ve been particularly selected for that will help them finally move on. At least, that’s the claim.

As they warily eye one another and their unnervingly observant group leader, one question hangs over them: why were they chosen? To get the answer, they are going to have to share a whole lot of themselves first. Getting Freya, Callum, Mischa, and Victoria to trust each other is vital–because the real reason they’re connected will shift the ground beneath their feet.

Riveting and wise, The Seven O’Clock Club shows us the courage needed to face your past and the joy that can be found in stepping into your future.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab- First reviewed for BookBrowse-First Impressions- 11/24

Good Grief!

Four strangers, each grieving a loss, are brought together for an experiment conducted by an aspiring young therapist. Each Tuesday at seven o’clock the proverbial onion layers are peeled back to reveal the situations that brought the four together. The therapist begins by asking each wary client to hearken back to a happy childhood memory. Through weekly conversations and outside interactions, bonds are slowly built, showing the power of sharing, trust, and speaking the truth aloud. The revelations are spellbinding, heart wrenching, and believable, making for anxious reader moments awaiting the next meeting. Startling discoveries lead to an unsettling, thought-provoking ending.

The Seven O’ Clock Club is a scientific rather than spiritual approach to grief. Unpacking feelings of guilt, learning to trust, seeking forgiveness, and finding truth, are themes in this soul-searching journey through grief.

The Wandering Season by Aimie K. Runyan

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Publication April 1, 2025-Harper Muse- Romance-Women’s Fiction-368pp.

Book Summary

Unraveling the tangled roots of her family takes her places she never expected. Veronica Stratton, a specialty food broker with a business on the cusp of brilliant success that would change the trajectory of her life, visits her parents in idyllic Estes Park for Christmas. She’s fresh from a breakup with her longtime boyfriend, so she’s eager to reconnect with her beloved family in the mountains and forget about her troubles for a few days. But with the holiday comes a DNA test from her younger sister that confirms her secret suspicions: she’s adopted. Having the truth out in the open leaves her feeling unmoored in ways she didn’t anticipate. With so much of her life in upheaval, Veronica is looking for an escape. Inspired by her best friend, she plans to go to Europe to see four of the places listed on her DNA ancestry report. She treks to County Mayo in Ireland; the Dordogne region of France; the countryside of Lombardy in Italy, and Copenhagen, Denmark. She hopes to learn about where her family lived while also making connections for her rapidly expanding business, but she finds that each stop brings her visions of her ancestors that raise more questions than they answer. And among those pressing questions is how charming Irish castle keeper Niall Callahan will fit into her visions for the future.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Wandering Season is to an avid reader what fine dining is to a foodie-perfection on every level! This culinary experience begins with an introduction to Veronica’s situation and family dynamics on Christmas Eve in snow covered Estes Park, Colorado. The wait staff is comprised of fabulous characters: Veronica’s darling, bubbly fashionista sister, Avery, her best friend Stephanie, and the loving, always supportive parents.

The main course or plot is driven by the findings of the DNA test kits given as presents from Avery. Veronica embarks on a journey planned by Avery, through four countries that correlate with her ancestors. Thank goodness for dad’s American Express and Avery’s two steps ahead planning savvy! Food sourcing vendors and new products was Veronica’s mission but visions of generations before helped guide and reveal her family background and history. Runyan’s transitions between reality and dreams fade in and out seamlessly like an adroit waiter anticipating your dining needs at every turn.

Every menu is capped with a fine dessert and so it is in The Wandering Season. Thoughts of the romantic possibility of an alluring Irish castle and its keeper will linger as Veronica explores her roots and finally realizes her own self-worth. The “close your eyes and savor” moment comes when Veronica reveals her new life plan- and the pièce de résistance- her favorite recipes from each country visited!

Aimie K. Runyan’s The Wandering Season is a delicious literary and culinary experience worthy of five Michelin stars.  

Aimie writes fiction, both historical and contemporary, that celebrates the spirit of strong women. In addition to her writing, she is active as a speaker and educator in the writing community. She lives in Colorado with her amazing husband, kids, cats, and pet dragon.

The Secret History of Audrey James by Heather Marshall

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Publication February 25, 2025-Ballantine Books-Historical Fiction -464pp

Book Summary

An astonishing historical novel of one woman’s dangerous journey through World War II Germany and her life-changing friendship with a young woman decades later—from the #1 international bestselling author of Looking for Jane


Northern England, 2010. After a tragic accident upends her life, Kate Mercer leaves London to work at an old guest house near the Scottish border, where she hopes to find a fresh start and heal from her loss. When she arrives, she begins to unravel the truth about her past, but discovers that the mysterious elderly proprietor is harboring secrets of her own.

Berlin, 1938. Audrey James is weeks away from graduating from a prestigious music school in Berlin, where she’s been living with her best friend, Ilse Kaplan. As war looms, Ilse’s family disappears and high-ranking Nazi officers confiscate the house. In desperation, Audrey becomes their housekeeper while Ilse is forced into hiding in the attic. When a shocking turn of events embroils Audrey in the anti-Hitler movement, she must decide what matters most: protecting those she loves, or sacrificing everything for the greater good.

Inspired by true stories of courageous women and the German resistance during World War II, The Secret History of Audrey James is a captivating novel about the unbreakable bonds of friendship, the sacrifices we make for those we love, and the healing that comes from human connection.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

In alternating timelines between London 2010, and Berlin, 1938, Heather Marshall weaves the trauma in the lives of Kate and Audrey with the guilt of survival and complicated relationships.
Audrey, who is at the end of her life, shares her history with Kate, who is looking for a new start. Losses forge a quick bridge as Marshall’s emotionally drawn characters understand terror, guilt, and forgiveness by sharing their stories. Crossing the bridge that connects Audrey and Kate involves Kristallnacht, Resistance cells in Berlin, new identities, lifelong loves, escape plans and assassination attempts. Was Audrey a pianist, an assassin, or a spy? These threads of history intertwine!
This novel takes readers from the rubble of streets in Berlin to the rambling paths and gardens of Oakwood Inn on the Scottish border. The Secret History of Audrey James is an emotional, rewarding journey filled with secrets and survival.

About

Heather Marshall lives near Toronto with her family and their giant golden retriever. She worked in politics and communications before finally turning her attention to her true passion: storytelling.

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn

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Publication Feb. 25, 2025-Random House Publishing-Historical Fiction-384pp

Book Summary

An immersive historical drama about a young mother who starts a new life with her son in New York after faking their deaths on the Titanic—the U.S. debut of an acclaimed British novelist.
Sometimes it takes a disaster to change your life.
     Marrying above your social class can come with unexpected consequences, as Elinor Coombes discovers when she is swept into a fairy-tale marriage with the son of an aristocratic English family. She soon realizes that it was the appeal of her father’s hard-earned wealth rather than her pretty face that attracted her new husband and his family. Curtailed by rigid social rules that include being allowed to see her nanny-raised infant son for only moments each day, Elinor faces a lonely future. So a present from her father—tickets for the maiden voyage of a luxurious new ship called the Titanic—offers a welcome escape from the cold, controlling atmosphere of her husband’s ancestral home, and some precious time with her little son, Teddy.
       When the ship goes down, Elinor grasps the opportunity to take Teddy and start a new life—if they can disappear completely, listed among the dead. Penniless and using another woman’s name, she must put that terrible night behind her and learn to survive in New York City. But even in a brash new world that couldn’t be more different from her own, secrets have a way of floating to the surface. . . .
      An absorbing historical drama set between the old world of the oppressive English aristocracy and the new world of opportunity and freedom, The Lost Passenger is a grippingly dramatic story about starting over in a brand-new world, triumphing over adversity, and finding hope in the face of great loss.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

This is my first introduction to Frances Quinn’s writing and will definitely not be my last. Though she is well known in the UK, The Lost Passenger is her debut novel here in America and is a Titanic story like no other I’ve read. Main character, Elinor, is manipulated by the charming Frederick into a quick fairy tale wedding with a foreboding mother-in-law. The restrictions of society and the accepted practices of parenting are especially saddening as Elinor is only allowed a few minutes a day with her son, Teddy.  Extremely unhappy and suspicious of Frederick’s attentions, the stage for escape is set when Elinor receives tickets from her wealthy father for the maiden voyage of the Titanic.

The saga that unfolds is filled with astonishing descriptions and entrepreneurial spirit. The character development and pacing of the narrative kept me engaged, hopeful, anxious, and at times panicked! The element of historical fiction that I always appreciate is when the author sinks the reader into the scenes through sensory details. Readers will definitely get the sense of extreme differences between the divinely exorbitant amenities on the Titanic and the deplorable living conditions in the tenements of the Lower East Side of NYC.

Emotional attachments grow to overwhelming proportions as the novel progresses.  A much-disliked mistress from London’s high society crosses the Atlantic and my favorite character Tommy Jenkins from the sinking ship, makes a remarkably emotional plea. The immigrant family squished into the tiny apartment shows fortitude, ingenuity, and Quinn’s pure unbridled handling of their feelings is realistic and truthful.

Can Elinor steal a life by keeping secrets and taking risks? Becoming aware of more than one kind of happy ending is a spellbinding treat for readers of The Lost Passenger.  

Frances Quinn grew up in London and studied English at King’s College, Cambridge. She became a journalist, writing for magazines including Prima, Good Housekeeping, She, Woman’s Weekly, and Ideal Home, and later branched out into copywriting. Upon winning a place on the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course, she started work on her first novel, The Smallest Man. Her second novel is That Bonesetter Woman and The Lost Passenger is her third. She lives in Brighton, England, with her husband and three Tonkinese cats.

The Dressmakers of London by Julia Kelly

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Publication Feb.18, 2025-Gallery Books-Historical Fiction-384pp

Book Summary

The author of the “enthralling” (Woman’s World) The Lost English Girl returns with a heartfelt new novel about estranged sisters who inherit their late mother’s dress shop in World War II London.
     Isabelle Shelton has always found comfort in the predictable world of her mother’s dressmaking shop, Mrs. Shelton’s Fashions, while her sister Sylvia turned her back on the family years ago to marry a wealthy doctor whom Izzie detests. When their mother dies unexpectedly, the sisters are stunned to find they’ve jointly inherited the family business. Izzie is determined to buy Sylvia out, but when she’s conscripted into the WAAF, she’s forced to seek Sylvia’s help to keep the shop open. Realizing this could be her one chance at reconciliation with her sister, Sylvia is determined to save Mrs. Shelton’s Fashions from closure—and financial ruin.
     Through letters, the sisters begin to confront old wounds, new loves, and the weight of family legacy in order to forge new beginnings in this lyrically moving novel perfect for fans of Genevieve Graham and Lucinda Riley.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Dressmakers of London is cut from a perfect pattern, fitting pieces of reconciliation and family history right alongside personal reinvention to create an elegant, delightful outcome. Julia Kelly tailors this World War II novel of two sisters, Sylvia and Izzie learning to trust each other again, with Izzie’s intriguing assignment in a barrage balloon unit in the WAAF-Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.

Food rationing and coupons are standard in WWII novels, but Julia Kelly includes fascinating details of cloth rationing that started in 1941 and lasted until four years after the war ended. The Cloth Utility Scheme regulated pleats, hemlines, buttons, and cuffs on trousers. This regulation had a huge impact on Mrs. Shelton’s Fashions and Izzie’s design dreams, which Kelly stitches seamlessly into the suspense of the shop’s survival.

The characters reveal true feelings through letters that move the plot while adding anticipation and hope. Readers learn of war details and the budding relationship from letters between young Izzie and American Staff Sergeant Jack Perry from Iowa. On the “sister front” rebuilding trust occurs slowly as Sylvia and Izzie share personal and quite different memories of their mother after their father died. Sylvia’s marriage to Horrible Hugo is another thread in the unraveled fabric of Izzie’s life; coming of age, sketching her own designs, and running the dress shop. There are some especially poignant revelations in situations between Sylvia’s socialite friends and the wise Lady Winman that knit life lessons into the narrative.

The Dressmakers of London tells of a mother’s bequest that leads to emotional, surprising results and happenings-a deep feeling for legacy and family heritage. Sylvia and Izzie would agree that their story is “an honest to goodness proper triumph!”

Julia Kelly is the international bestselling author of emotional historical fiction about extraordinary women and intriguing historical whodunnit mystery novels. Her books have been translated into 13 languages. In addition to writing, she’s been an Emmy-nominated producer, journalist, marketing professional, and (for one summer) a tea waitress. Julia called Los Angeles, Iowa, and New York City home before settling in London with her husband. Read about all of Julia’s books here: https://www.juliakellywrites.com/

Come Fly With Me by Camille Di Maio

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Publication Feb. 18. 2025-Lake Union Publishing-Women’s Fiction-347pp

Book Summary

It’s 1962, the dawn of the jet-set era. Hope takes flight for two Pan Am stewardesses navigating an adventurous new life in a novel about love, friendship, and escape by the bestselling author of The Memory of Us and Until We Meet.

Welcome to a glamorous gateway to the jet age.

Judy Goodman and Beverly Caldwell have different reasons for putting continents and oceans between themselves and their disparate pasts, but they have the same desire—to earn a coveted position on an elite team of stewardesses for Pan American Airlines. For Judy, running away from an oppressive marriage in small-town Pennsylvania is a risk she must take. And for Beverly, leaving behind the gilded cage of New York society will allow her to pursue a future of her own making.

Embracing the culture, etiquette, and strict rules of a thrilling and unpredictable new world above the clouds, Judy and Beverly are bound for faraway destinations and opportunities that other women dare only to dream about. But as they build a deep friendship, encounter love and danger, and discover what’s truly important, Judy and Beverly must also confront the secrets that could change their lives all over again—and forever.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Frank Sinatra’s beloved song plays an important role in the plot of Come Fly with Me. The locations named in the lyrics are connected to the goals of main characters, Judy and Beverly, as they become stewardesses for the international airline known as Pan Am.  The details of training and testing add to the suspenseful individual quests of each young girl to escape from current life. Success at Pan Am will secure Judy’s escape from her husband and Beverly’s yearning to find out who she is on her own, without her wealthy father in control. Di Maio garners readers’ empathy for Judy’s desperation through her backstory told to new friend, Beverly. Likewise, Beverly reveals an interesting, mysterious relationship with her mother’s hairdresser. Each an “only child,” but with opposite father figures leaves plenty for readers to discuss. There is comfort in the girls’ developing romantic relationships, even one with Texas ties. There’s always the sinking feeling that plot twists are coming, keeping suspense and anticipation, even a worrisome feeling, hard to tamp down.

In Come Fly with Me, The Golden Years of Air Travel, is itself a character. Remember when people treated flying with sophistication and appreciation? Known as the Jet Set Age, readers are whisked between Miami, San Francisco, Honolulu, and even French Polynesia, while served in first class- along with the Beatles? The stories of flight are filled with ample themes for readers to explore-women friendships, career or lifestyle expectations, roles of mothers, and influence of fathers.

Soar the skies in Camille Di Maio’s long awaited Come Fly With Me. Prepare for takeoff during the early years of international air travel with Pan Am and the blue globe logo lovingly known as The Blue Meatball. Keep you seat belt buckled…

Frank Sinatra lists these places in the song: Hawaii, New York, Paris, Capri, London, Vermont, Mandalay, and Chicago!

Camille’s beautiful website: https://www.camilledimaioauthor.com/

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict

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Publication Feb. 11, 2025-St. Martin’s Press-Mystery-304pp.

Book Summary

London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment.

May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous: how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing? If, as the police believe, the cause of death is manual strangulation, why is there is an extraordinary amount of blood at the crime scene? What is the meaning of a heartbreaking secret letter seeming to implicate an unnamed paramour? Determined to solve the highly publicized murder, the Queens of Crime embark on their own investigation, discovering they’re stronger together. But soon the killer targets Dorothy Sayers herself, threatening to expose a dark secret in her past that she would do anything to keep hidden.

Inspired by a true story in Sayers’ own life, New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict brings to life the lengths to which five talented women writers will go to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of letters as they unpuzzle a mystery torn from the pages of their own novels.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Five female writers united by the love of mystery writing overcome barriers of age, class, culture, and education to form the Queens of Crime in hopes of joining the male dominated Detection Club. Dorothy Sayers convinces Agatha Christie, Baroness Emma Orczy, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham to travel from London to France to piece together the unsolved murder of nurse, May Daniels, in order to become heroes and thus prove their worth.

Keeping in mind that May Daniels was a real person, not a character in one of their novels, the Queens of Crime band together to reconstruct the timeline leading to May’s disappearance. Marie Benedict develops the Queens so accurately through dialogue, attitude, and fashion sense, they each become recognizable and even predictable for readers. Pairing the Queens in different situations according to their individual skill sets as they “leave no stone unturned” along the Rue de Lille sinks the reader into the world of sleuthing in the 1930’s. Benedict reveals the assumptions and expectations of the male detectives and shop keepers of that era, leading them to false conclusions regarding May’s murder.  Leave it to the female mystery writers to connect theater tickets, silk dresses, letters and luggage. All these elements, character, setting, themes, and plot, come together to represent the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Marie Benedict’s Queens of Crime-a truly golden “locked door murder mystery.”  

Marie Benedict is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Mitford Affair, Her Hidden Genius, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, The Only Woman in the Room, Lady Clementine, Carnegie’s Maid, The Other Einstein, and the novella, Agent 355. With Victoria Christopher Murray, she co-wrote the Good Morning America Book Club pick The Personal Librarian and the Target Book of the Year The First Ladies. 
Her books have been translated into thirty languages, and selected for the Barnes & Noble Book Club, Target Book Club, Costco Book Club, Indie Next List, and LibraryReads List. 

The Indigo Heiress by Laura Frantz

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Publication January 21, 2025-Revell Christian-Historical Fiction-Romance-416pp

Book Summary

In 1774, Juliet Catesby lives with her father and sister at Royal Vale, the James River plantation founded by her Virginia family over a century before. Indigo cultivation is her foremost concern, though its export tethers her family to the powerful Buchanan clan of Glasgow, Scotland. When the heir of the Buchanan firm arrives on their shores, Juliet discovers that her father has secretly arranged for one of his daughters to marry the Scot as a means of canceling the family’s debt. Confident it will be her younger, lovelier sister, Juliet is appalled when Leith Buchanan selects her instead.

Despite her initial refusal of him, an ensuing altercation forces Juliet to flee Virginia. Agreeing to marry, she sails with Leith to Scotland, hopeful of a better match for her sister, who accompanies her. But once in Glasgow and faced with the contentious, powerful Buchanan clan, she realizes that the man who saved her from financial ruin and scandal is the very one she must now save in return.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

My family heritage connecting to Scotland, along with award winning author, Laura Franz, made The Indigo Heiress a highly anticipated novel for this new year. The rumblings of pre-revolutionaries and plantation owners in 1774 Virginia and family intrigue on estates owned by tobacco lords in Scotland add to the dramatic unfolding of the life of Juliet Catesby, the indigo heiress.

Franz includes plenty of descriptions and details of indigo plantings and the processes involved in the harvesting and making of the precious blue dye. The arrival of Lord Leith Buchanan, the handsome Scottish risk taker and tobacco lord adds to the plot twists involving matchmaking, board meetings, and family betrayal. All entertaining elements.

Juliet is rooted to the family’s land in Virginia, making her journey to Scotland even more difficult. Franz eloquently captures Juliet’s emotions through dialogue with her sister, Loveday, private thoughts, and her unselfish matchmaking. Following in their mother’s footsteps, the sisters shun slave labor, concealing and assisting in the freeing of slaves.  These courageous activities are greatly inspiring.

Juliet’s travels take her from Royal Vale, Virginia to Ardraigh Hall in Scotland. Along the way Juliet and Loveday are encouraged to see a change in fortune as a gift, trusting God to make a way forward. The Indigo Heiress is a reminder that “what we once loved can never be lost to us-it is forever.” Laura Franz’s mission of reaching the heart through friendship, romance, and suspense is encouraging and accomplished.  

https://dumfries-house.org.uk/about/history The author chose the restored Dumfries House, near Glasgow , Scotland, now a site for lodging and events, as the basis for Leith Buchanan’s estate named Ardraigh Hall.

Award-winning, bestselling author Laura Frantz is passionate about all things historical, particularly the 18th-century, and writes her manuscripts in longhand first. Her stories often incorporate Scottish themes that reflect her family heritage. She is a direct descendant of George Hume, Wedderburn Castle, Berwickshire, Scotland, who was exiled to the American colonies for his role in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, settled in Virginia, and is credited with teaching George Washington surveying. Proud of her heritage, she is also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Let’s Call Her Barbie by Renée Rosen

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Publication January 21, 2025-Berkley-Historical Fiction-432pp

Book Summary

She was only eleven-and-a-half inches tall, but she would change the world. Barbie is born in this bold new novel by USA Today bestselling author Renée Rosen.

When Ruth Handler walks into the boardroom of the toy company she co-founded and pitches her idea for a doll unlike any other, she knows what she’s setting in motion. It might just take the world a moment to catch up.

In 1956, the only dolls on the market for little girls let them pretend to be mothers. Ruth’s vision for a doll shaped like a grown woman and outfitted in an enviable wardrobe will let them dream they can be anything.

As Ruth assembles her team of creative rebels—head engineer Jack Ryan who hides his deepest secrets behind his genius and designers Charlotte Johnson and Stevie Klein, whose hopes and dreams rest on the success of Barbie’s fashion—she knows they’re working against a ticking clock to get this wild idea off the ground.

In the decades to come—through soaring heights and devastating personal lows, public scandals and private tensions— each of them will have to decide how tightly to hold on to their creation. Because Barbie has never been just a doll—she’s a legacy.

Includes a Readers Guide and Exclusive Vintage Barbie Photos!

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Rene Rosen’s Let’s Call Her Barbie is an enthralling look at Mattel businesswoman Ruth Handler’s mission to create a doll for young girls that would represent what it meant to be a modern, independent woman in the 1950’s. The novel opens in 1956 as Ruth returns from a vacation fired up to create an American version of a German doll. Ruth and her business partner/husband, Elliot, known as the diplomatic one, are at a Mattel company meeting surrounded by Ivy League engineers. Let the “battle for Barbie” begin!

 Rene Rosen has recreated the “World of Barbie” for many who fondly remember the remarkable doll shaped like a woman, her designer clothes collection, and her dreamhouse. Rosen’s real life Raytheon engineer, Jack Ryan and his energy jump off the page as he strives to create while battling “word blindness.” The development of the doll’s design and movement is credited to Ryan’s engineering genius. The trials and tribulations of her engineering, combined with myriad failures in designing molds and finding the right plastics, brings a whole new level of appreciation for the development of Barbie.

Ruth Handler believed the real money for Mattel would be in Barbie’s designer clothes. Designer Charlotte Johnson accepts the challenge of creating clothes on a 1/6 scale including zippers that zip and purses with silk linings that open and close! Rosen’s research includes the intricate patterns and fabric experimentation needed to design the aptly named collections that hit toy store shelves like they were designer runways.

The details of doll engineering, a bold Living Laboratory to interview moms and daughters, and a risky TV commercial aired during the popular Mickey Mouse Club show, combine to unveil the #1 ponytail Barbie in her black & white zebra striped swimsuit!  The mother/daughter interviews reveal vastly differing expectations, and the TV commercial reflects the outcome. A perfect example of Rosen’s attention to the ideals to which mothers were clinging.

The ups and downs of the toy business, family dynamics in the background and Ruth’s health struggles take Barbie fans from the 1959 offices of Mattel to Nieman Marcus in Dallas, 1976. Let’s Call Her Barbie. As the company slogan says,

“You Can Tell It’s Mattel, It’s Swell!”

This site tells the overall history of Barbie’s creator Ruth Handler: https://allthatsinteresting.com/ruth-handler

Ace, Marvel, Spy by Jenni L. Walsh

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Publication January 14, 2025-Harper Muse-Historical Fiction-368pp

Book Summary

Based on the life of a very real, very incredible American icon. Alice Marble strives to have it all.

Alice tirelessly works her way up to be a #1 tennis champion, all while maintaining a growing career trajectory editing the Wonder Women comic. She enjoys her hard-earned success with her loving husband, her steadfast coach, and her dear friends—many of whom are famous and well-connected.

But then her world falls apart. Alice’s life begins to unravel when she receives a telegram informing her that her husband has been killed in action in the war in Germany. Heartbroken, she feels like she can only watch as the war wreaks havoc in every area of her life. Until an unexpected invitation arrives.

Alice is prompted to action when the US Army sends her a request: Under the guise of playing in tennis exhibition games in Switzerland, she would be a spy for them. And Alice aches for nothing more than to avenge her husband’s death. What awaits her might be her greatest challenge yet.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Ace, Marvel, Spy – based on real life tennis star, Alice Marble, takes readers match by match to center court at Wimbledon. Alice Marble’s quest for tennis accolades is the backdrop for self-discovery and finding independence on the world stage before and during World War II. Walsh has based her novel on extensive research and Alice Marble’s own memoir.

Alice’s controlling coach, Teach, is also a central character. I admire Teach for her unwavering support and confidence in Alice, but found her overbearing nature difficult to accept, and so does Alice! Settings include Hearst Castle with Hollywood star Marion Davies and William Hearst as hosts to support Alice, along with Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, and Charlie Chaplin. Alice’s tennis quests, injuries, illnesses, and comebacks take readers to Wimbledon, the All-American Comics offices of Max Gaines, where she becomes the associate editor of the Wonder Women of History series, and later to Chamonix, Switzerland as a spy for the U.S. government. Readers get to know Alice, the wife, tennis pro, and comic writer, as newspaper headlines pepper the non-linear timeline with Alice’s successes and failures.

This novel is for fans of tennis and amazingly determined women blazing a trail in American history. Alice is fighting for something bigger than herself. Ace, Marvel, Spy-Which is Alice Marble’s greatest achievement?

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Marble

Jenni L. Walsh is a USA Today bestselling author of over twelve books. Her passion lies in transporting readers to another world, be it in historical or contemporary settings. She is a proud member of the Tall Poppy writers, a graduate of Villanova University, and lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband, daughter, son, and various pets.

For adults, Jenni has written historical novels Becoming Bonnie, Side by Side, A Betting Woman, The Call of the Wrens, Unsinkable, and the forthcoming Ace, Marvel, Spy. She also writes books for children, including the nonfiction She Dared series and novels Hettie and the London Blitz, I Am Defiance, By the Light of Fireflies, Over and Out, Operation: Happy, and The Bug Bandits. To learn more about Jenni and her books, please visit jennilwalsh.com or @jennilwalsh on social media.
​

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

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Publication January 7, 2025- Penguin Group, Dutton-Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers-

Book Summary

The Stolen Queen will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.
      Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. That is until an unbearable tragedy strikes.
     New York City, 1978: Nineteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.”
      Meanwhile, Charlotte is now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art. She’s consumed by her research on Hathorkare—a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.
     The night of the gala: One of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing, and there are signs Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening. Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, and a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past—which may mean leading them both directly into danger.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art while on a trip to New York City last December in anticipation of The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis. I knew that part of the novel was set at the Met leading up to and during the “party of the year” known as the Met Gala.  I also knew that part of the novel was set at an archaeological dig in Egypt.  What I didn’t know was that this novel would awaken a profound appreciation of Egyptology, Jackie Kennedy, and how the Temple of Dendur came to be at the Met.

 Presented in dual timeline, the novel alternates between Annie, a plucky assistant to the Met’s Diana Vreeland for the gala in 1978, and a tragic event in 1936 that has a lasting effect on associate curator Charlotte Cross. Fiona Davis weaves a thrilling plot involving missing research files, the stolen Cerulean Queen, Egyptian antiquities, and a legendary curse!  Smooth transitions between timelines, plenty of historical background, and helpful archaeological terminology sink the reader into the world of hieroglyphics, pharaohs, and digs in the Valley of the Kings. I appreciated the partnership between Annie and Charlotte which slowly develops into mutual respect despite the age and experience differences, as they learn from each other. Davis creates great anticipation leading up to the Met Gala as Annie stomps after Diana Vreeland into various areas of the Met. Details for the flow of hundreds of guests at the “party of the year” are mapped to the restaurant behind the Greek and Roman wing for the dinner, through the King Tut exhibition and finally to the dancing in front of the Temple of Dendur. Everyone’s nerves are tingling!

A missing child and a stolen queen take center stage in this mysterious trek into Egypt’s Valley of the Kings and one magnificent night at the Met. Mystery. Thriller. Five Stars.

Jackie Kennedy in Egypt

I found a wonderful blog, Albertis Window: https://albertis-window.com/2016/04/abu-simbel-and-jackie-kennedy/ which explains the history of the area in Egypt, the reasons for the removal of the temples and Jackie Kennedy’s impact on the relocation of the Temple of Dendur to the United States.

Temple of Dendur at the MET
From inside the Sackler Wing where the Temple is housed-to Jackie Kennedy’s Penthouse
Visitors can see Central Park from the Sackler Wing

F  I  O  N  A D A V I S is the New York Times bestselling author of seven historical fiction novels set in iconic New York City buildings, including The Spectacular, The Magnolia Palace, The Address, and The Lions of Fifth Avenue, which was a Good Morning America book club pick. Her articles have appeared in publications like The Wall Street Journal and the Oprah magazine. She first came to New York as an actress, but fell in love with writing after getting a master’s degree at Columbia Journalism School. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages and she’s based in New York City.

Cloaked in Beauty by Karen Witemeyer

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Publication Dec. 17, 2024-Bethany House-Christian- Historical Fiction -Romance-384pp

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Trust no one in the shadows of the piney woods . . .

Letty Hood has spent the last fifteen years of her life hidden away with her grandmother in the backwoods of east Texas to escape the deadly schemes of an uncle who wants her dead. Now, with her twenty-first birthday on the horizon, she is forced to accept the escort of a stranger and return to Houston in secret so she can claim a birthright that will make her one of the wealthiest women in Texas. If she lives long enough to inherit.

Pinkerton agent Philip Carmichael has one duty: get the Radcliffe heiress home alive. Expecting a spoiled girl, Philip is surprised to encounter a woman of rare strength with a kind soul and keen wit. As they journey together, Letty’s resilience wins his admiration, breaking through his hardened cynicism. Yet the threat to her survival grows more menacing with every mile, and Philip fears that keeping Letty out of harm’s way may be just as impossible as keeping her out of his heart.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Book #3 Texas Ever After Series

Cloaked in Beauty, a historical romance, is set in the Piney Woods of East Texas. Witemeyer’s knack for “history, humor, and heart” conjured Letty Hood, a resourceful, dedicated, take control kind of gal, as the main character in this nod to Little Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty. No damsels in distress here! I enjoyed all the references and analogies to the fairy tales; the red cloak, a prince like detective to protect Letty, a feisty grandmother, and a red wolf named Rusty! Of course, no fairy tale is complete without a villain so Drake Radcliff and his determination to “do away with” Letty before her twenty-first birthday fills that role perfectly. Letty has been hiding in the Piney Woods with her grandmother for 15 years and now must return to Houston to claim her inheritance.

Cloaked in Beauty is laced with romantic tension, plot twists with action, and clues to create suspense.  Witemeyer fills Letty’s treacherous journey to Houston with vivid descriptions of East Texas terrain, rivers to cross, and towns to skirt. Throughout the trek Philip and Letty rely on God for provision and protection. Cloaked in Beauty, Christian fiction with a “Texas Ever After” ending, carries a strong theme of protecting and stewarding the family legacy.   

AUTHOR BIO

Voted #1 Reader’s Favorite Christian Historical Author of 2023 by Family Fiction magazine, bestselling and Carol and Christy Award-winning author Karen Witemeyer offers warmhearted historical romance with a flair for humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes. She and her husband make their home in Abilene, Texas. Learn more about Karen and her books at KarenWitemeyer.com.

Murder In Season-A Lady of Letters Mystery-Book #3 by Mary Winters

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Publication December 3, 2024-Severn House Publishing-Historical Fiction, Mystery-240pp

Book #3

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Murder in Season is book #3 in The Lady of Letters Mystery Series by Mary Winters. This blend of cozy mystery and romance is set in London, 1860. Lady Amelia Amesbury, countess and advice columnist, is still in mourning when her sister Margaret arriving under duress, asks to remain for the Season. As fans of Bridgerton and the ton know, the Season, a time for young people to find a spouse, is from May to August.  Lady Amesbury hosts a ball to introduce Margaret, but the plan backfires when a guest is poisoned. Margaret becomes the main suspect, and Lady Amesbury feels called to prove Margaret’s innocence.  Winters whisks readers from balls and concerts in manor houses in Mayfair across to markets in the East End’s Petticoat Lane, and to the exhibition by the Royal Botanic Society at Regent’s Park.

Margaret, or Madge, is known to be bullheaded, brave, and smart. Winters uses an impromptu performance at a concert to develop the sisters’ character by revealing their competitive spirits and musical talents, adding another intriguing layer to their personalities.  Their adventurous spirit surfaces as the sisters travel in disguise to Petticoat Lane to track a jewel thief! The action, dialogue and sensory descriptions of the market wares and stalls sink the reader into London’s East End.

Each chapter opens with a letter from a devoted reader to Lady Agony. The writer’s situation often hints at the impending conflict in the plot. Amelia’s slow burn romance with Simon, jewelry thefts, and a poisoning death keep readers following rumors and clues to the mystery.  Lady Agony’s readers will discover a surprising, satisfying close to the Lady of Letters Mystery Series. “Yours in Secret.” The Grateful Reader.     

Book #1
Book #2

Mary Winters is the author of the Lady Agony mystery series. A longtime reader of historical fiction and an author of two other mystery series, Mary set her latest work in Victorian England after being inspired by a trip to London. Since then, she’s been busily planning her next mystery—and another trip!

My Friend John by Arleen McCarthy

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Publication November 8, 2024-Austin Macauley Publishers-Children

An uplifting children’s book about the power of kindness, friendship, and understanding and embracing neurodiversity.

Book Overview

Meet John, a remarkable new student at The Huckleberry School. John’s life takes a heartwarming turn when he befriends a sweet little girl named Bella. Everything seems to be going smoothly for John, until a challenging situation resurfaces, shaking the foundations of his world.

In My Friend John, we are invited to witness a touching journey that explores not only the essence of friendship but also the profound qualities of kindness and leadership. This poignant tale serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience within us all and the transformative power of genuine connection.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

My Friend John shows children how to treat a classmate with special needs at school and guidance for parents at home. Arleen McCarthy’s main character, John, has Tourette Syndrome.  Bella, a kind, compassionate classmate, befriends new student John at lunch on his first day. Students of all levels have been in a similar situation. The emotional anxiety of being accepted or the wonderment of how to respond are evident in Bella’s touching account. Bella’s mom also sets a good example when she offers to research Tourette Syndrome. A win for students and parents, alike!

Bella shows how kindness, the power of a simple touch, and connecting through commonalities leads to understanding. Bella reveals leadership skills in her determination to explain TS to the class; showing that with simple information students respond appropriately. Bella wanted her classmates to understand John and to see him like any other classmate.

This children’s book conjures a special memory for me. One of my son’s high school teachers had twin boys; one had TS and the boys were on the basketball team together. Coaches, parents, and players all came to understand Tourette Syndrome. The teacher/father later related what a tremendous impact my son’s example of understanding and acceptance had on his sons and the team.

My third-grade granddaughter recently read My Friend John aloud for me. She admitted, “I felt sad sometimes but happy at the end!” She also commented on the artist’s full-page illustrations and how the eyes of the characters were so expressive. She was not aware of Tourette Syndrome but is now informed! She is quite a little scientist, and a researcher so was very impressed that the mom suggested reading more about Tourette Syndrome.  

An enlightening read for all ages.

Christmas with the Queen by Heather Webb, Hazel Gaynor

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Publication Nov. 19, 2024-William Morrow-Historical Fiction-384pp

Book Summary

’Tis the season! The Crown meets When Harry Met Sally in the latest heartwarming historical novel from Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, bestselling authors of Last Christmas in Paris, Meet Me in Monaco, and Three Words for Goodbye.

December 1952. While the young Queen Elizabeth II finds her feet as the new monarch, she must also find the right words to continue the tradition of her late father’s Christmas Day radio broadcast. But even traditions must evolve with the times, and the queen faces a postwar Britain hungry for change. 

As preparations begin for the royal Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk, old friends—Jack Devereux and Olive Carter—are unexpectedly reunited by the occasion. Olive, a single mother and aspiring reporter at the BBC, leaps at the opportunity to cover the holiday celebration, but even a chance encounter with the queen doesn’t go as planned and Olive wonders if she will ever be taken seriously. 

Jack, a recently widowed chef, reluctantly takes up a new role in the royal kitchens at Sandringham. Lacking in purpose and direction, Jack has abandoned his dream to have his own restaurant, but his talents are soon noticed and while he might not believe in himself, others do, and a chance encounter with an old friend helps to reignite the spark of his passion and ambition. 

As Jack and Olive’s paths continue to cross over the following five Christmases, they grow ever closer. Yet Olive carries the burden of a heavy secret that threatens to destroy everything. 

Christmas Day, December 1957. As the nation eagerly awaits the Queen’s first televised Christmas speech, there is one final gift for the Christmas season to deliver… 

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

I have been a royal follower since I lived in Scotland and London in the mid 1970’s. I have watched “The Crown” over and over, and have many favorite novels based on the royal family, “Crawfie”-the nanny, Queen Elizabeth’s “gown,” and the Coronation. Now, I can add Christmas with the Queen to my shelf of royal reads. Last Christmas in Paris, a World War I epistolary novel, was the first novel from writing partners Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. Pour a cup of tea; black, no lemon, like the Queen, and settle in for a royal Christmas treat.

Christmas with the Queen is written in alternate timelines and from three points of view. According to the authors, they wanted to explore how two ordinary people might become entangled with the royal traditions through their own jobs. This was accomplished with the intertwining of Olive Carter, an enthusiastic, endearing BBC reporter, Jack Devereaux, an orderly, predictable chef from New Orleans, and Queen Elizabeth’s Christmas messages from Sandringham. Readers get a keen sense of the euphoria of VE Day as the 1945 timeline alternates with the early years of Elizabeth’s reign in 1952, and the personal postwar struggles of Olive and Jack. The incorporation of Cajun dishes like jambalaya and shrimp and grits onto the royal menu was “lagniappe”-an added treat for this south Louisiana gal!

Chapters laced with fascinating details of estate staff cottages, the Corgis, Susan and Sugar, and references to Margaret’s headlines make the Christmases fly by! Easily imagined from years of magazine coverage and the vivid depictions in The Crown I devoured the insights into the royal couple’s tour to the South Pacific from the BBC perspective and Prince Phillip’s tour to Antarctica through the eyes of a royal chef. Simply delicious!

From the kitchens of Buckingham Palace to the country lanes leading to Sandringham and the Queen’s first televised message, this ‘will they-won’t they’ romance is a delightful Christmas adventure.   

Sandringham
Sandringham at Christmas

The Queen’s 1957 Christmas Broadcast was an historic event, as it was the first to be televised. It was also the 25th anniversary of the first Christmas Broadcast on the radio. The broadcast was made live from the Long Library at Sandringham, Norfolk. https://www.royal.uk/christmas-broadcast-1957

The Forgotten Italian Restaurant by Barbara Josselsohn

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Publication August 21, 2024-Bookouture-WWII Historical Romance-Sisters of War Book #3-268pp

Book Summary

Italy, 1943. The girl rushes down the winding streets, tucking the handwritten menu into the wicker basket and thinking only of the code hidden on the delicate paper. Will anyone forgive her for what she’s about to do to save the man she loves? 

Present day. Arriving in sun-drenched Caccipulia, Callie grips the faded restaurant menu in trembling hands. Found hidden in her family home, she is certain it will lead her to the truth about her grandmother’s life in Italy during World War Two. Why did her Nonna run away from this beautiful small town, never to return? Lost and alone in the world, could it help Callie understand who she is?

Local café owner Oliver’s dark brown eyes light up when he sees the menu. During the war, one brave family secretly fed desperate Jewish families hidden in safe houses through the village. Callie’s heart soars at the thought that her own dear grandmother was involved.

Diving into the town’s history during long walks down cobbled streets, Callie begins to feel at home under Oliver’s soft gaze. She wonders if she could build a life here with him. Until they push aside magenta flowers on a monument at the heart of the village, and uncover a secret that changes everything…

A grave mistake was made one dark night as the Nazis stalked the village, putting the whole town in terrible danger. When Callie finds out what her grandmother did, will it change the way Oliver feels about her? Will she stay and right the wrongs of the past, or be forced to leave Italy too, just like her Nonna?

A heartbreaking love story that will sweep you away to sun-drenched Italian vineyards to watch hope and bravery prevail in the darkest days of war. For fans of Kristin Hannah, Victoria Hislop and Fiona Valpy.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab First Reviewed for Historical Novel Magazine November 2024 for Historical Novel Society

Barbara Josselsohn’s Sisters of War series features Emilia as the plucky heroine in book #3, The Forgotten Italian Restaurant. As the Nazi threat intensifies, fifteen-year-old Emilia returns from a castle on the Mediterranean Isle of Parissi to her hometown of Caccipulia, Italy.

            Mysteries and secrets throughout the series lead to a stunning revelation in this conclusion told in dual timeline. The timelines intersect through Callie in present day Connecticut and Emilia in 1943, Italy. Callie is traveling to the village of Caccipulia in response to newly discovered clues to her grandmother’s connection to Italy. The relationship between Callie and her older sister Pam emerges in Callie’s memories and self-talk presenting themes of sibling rivalry, guilt, and discovering home. Emilia’s timeline highlights the Nazi invasion and the family’s involvement in the Resistance. This history focuses on themes of betrayal, strength of the human spirit, and resilience. Well-developed, endearing characters Signora Jorelini, restaurant owner, and daughter, Corinna, become Emilia’s protectors, teaching her the meaning of loyalty and love. The fate of the castle and Emilia’s older sisters, Annalisa, and Giulia, becomes apparent through emotional, suspenseful, mother-daughter conversations, also enlightening Emelia to the frightening treatment of Jews during the time she was away on the island.

Josselsohn’s impeccable research and descriptions create a physical sense of the stunning architecture in the rebuilt village of Caccipulia, the aromas and tastes of luscious meals prepared by Signor Jorelini for Jewish families in hiding, and a vision of the rolling Italian countryside. An Italian feast for the senses.

A restaurant menu card with a hidden code, a train schedule, and two passports are the ingredients in this World War II mystery. The Forgotten Italian Restaurant, a portrayal of loss, dangerous relationships, and intrigue, with love for family victorious. Gratifying series finale.

The Path Beneath Her Feet by Janis R. Daly

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Publication September 5, 2024-Black Rose Writing-Historical Fiction-Medical Fiction-372pp

Book Summary

THE PATH BENEATH HER FEET continues the story of Dr. Eliza Edwards’ commitment to limit suffering and save lives amid the tumultuous landscapes of 1930s and 1940s America.

In 1936, as the Depression ravages careers, Eliza re-defines her abilities. When a position calls her to Warm Springs, Georgia, to tend to a polio patient, Eliza faces the harsh realities of a society plagued by prejudice. Mirroring the pack-horse librarians’ mission to bring books to the illiterate communities of Appalachia, the American Women’s Hospitals delivers essential medical care. Eliza joins the AWH, reclaiming her purpose and rediscovering her ambitions against the backdrop of the Tennessee mountains. As family responsibilities call her home to Boston, the heartbreak of losing those dearest to her amplifies with the eruption of World War II, bringing chaos to the world and sending her sons into battle.

In this emotionally charged sequel to THE UNLOCKED PATH, Dr. Eliza Edwards marks her journey through sacrifice, love, and an unyielding pursuit of justice in an era marked by adversity. The ingénue student becomes the mature mentor, steadfast in her calling to effect social change by addressing women’s health issues and guiding others to realize their dreams.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab First Published in Historical Novel Review Magazine- November 2024 Issue for Historical Novel Society

Dr. Eliza Edwards continues to “care for the defenseless and the powerless” in The Path Beneath Her Feet, the sequel to The Unlocked Path. After the closing of her practice during the Depression, Eliza dutifully follows “the path beneath her feet” to a treatment center for polio victims in Warm Springs, Georgia, and the need for medical care in the hills of Appalachia.

Eliza faces decisions regarding her family, career, and duty to her country. The worries and complexities of women as mothers and doctors of the 1930’s and 1940’s are authentically portrayed as Eliza takes on the challenge of becoming a therapist for a pregnant Black polio patient. Robinson deftly reveals prejudice at the treatment center in Warm Springs, Georgia, through actions and dialogue typical of the times. Eliza’s determination and belief in her convictions are conveyed through Robinson’s handling of these tenuous social and personal situations. Eliza’s career path leads her to Tennessee where discerning character development and dialogue demonstrate tenacity and wisdom through Eliza’s quiet advice to gain desperately needed trust from the community. Robinson highlights the amazing work of women doctors of the American Women’s Hospitals and the building of maternity shelters in Appalachia, with an impact much like the pack horse librarians. Eliza decides whether to place responsibilities over personal satisfaction reflecting the theme of family priorities. The plot is filled with suspense and Eliza’s maternal anxiety as war looms and her sons are in harm’s way.

Follow Eliza’s path through the 1940’s: Roosevelt in the Oval Office, the First Lady and Glen Miller on the radio, LIFE magazine on the coffee table, and Jimmy Stewart on the big screen. The Path Beneath Her Feet, packed with emotion and history, brings the challenges and adversities of women in medicine clearly into focus.

Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/science-medicine/roosevelt-warm-springs-institute-for-rehabilitation/

American Women’s Hospitals Appalachia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-PugIBa6gw

An American Women’s Hospital doctor (in hat and “AWH” armband) administers a shot to a local woman in Jellico, Tennessee. The AWH had a mobile health clinic that included vaccinations and inoculations as part of their service to the rural Appalachian region of the United States. The AWH car is visible in the background behind a young woman.)

Echoes of Us by Joy Jordan-Lake

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Publication Oct. 8, 2024-Lake Union Publishing-Historical Fiction-461pp

Book Summary

In the midst of World War II, a Tennessee farm boy, a Jewish Cambridge student, and a German POW forge a connection that endures—against all odds. But now everything that Will Dobbins, Dov Silverberg, and Hans Hessler fought for is at risk as their descendants clash for control of the corporation they founded together. In an attempt to remake its tattered corporate image, the firm hires event planner Hadley Jacks and her sister Kitzie to organize a reunion for the families on St. Simons Island, Georgia, the place that changed all three men’s lives forever. As Hadley and her sister delve into the friends’ past, they uncover the life of the courageous young woman who links them all together…and the old wounds that could tear everything apart. Told in dual timelines spanning World War II and the present, Echoes of Us follows the ripple effects of war, the bonds that outlast it, and the hope that ultimately carries us forward.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A photo of three soldiers and a beautiful young girl– torn apart, TRAITOR scratched across the back. Who is the TRAITOR in the ripped-up photo? In the present-day timeline, many questions need to be answered as Hadley and sister, Kitzie, take over organizing a reunion for descendants of the four young people in the photo. With the backdrop of Georgia’s Golden Isles and World War II, the author immerses readers in American history seldom included in textbooks. History involving catastrophic U-boat attacks off the Eastern and Southern coasts, the WASP-Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, POWs in the U.S., and the 761st Tank Battalion.  This novel is a treasure trove of facts and background supporting the men and women who defended America and the Georgia coast and eventually became pilots in WWII. The four main characters “echo” family devotion, friendship, and romantic connections throughout the war timeline.  The author’s pacing of the war timeline pairs perfectly with the urgency of the characters’ life changing decisions. In the present day timeline, surprising revelations leave readers either sympathetic or heartbroken as Hadley and Kitzie slowly put the pieces of the puzzle together at the reunion. Justification for war is a theme examined through the bonds of twins, Joannie and Sam, while betrayal is explored in pacts between Hadley and Kitzie, and in Joannie’s romantic relationships.  St. Simons’ King and Prince resort is the dramatic setting for the reunion as generational interlocking pieces fall into place. A heartfelt ending filled with boundless love and kindness.  

Christ Church Frederica -St. Simons Island
Lighthouse & Museum
King and Prince Resort-Reunion Location
https://www.coastalgeorgiahistory.org/visit/world-war-ii-museum/

https://www.joyjordanlake.com/about

Christmas in Chestnut Ridge by Nancy Naigle

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Publication Oct. 8, 2024-St. Martin’s Griffin-General Fiction, Romance-352pp.

Book Summary

In the enchanting mountain town of Chestnut Ridge, where tree farms blanket the hillsides and the promise of a white Christmas is ever-present, a heartwarming holiday romance is about to blossom. When Sheila’s best friend convinces her to help decorate a tree in the annual Christmas Tree Stroll fundraiser, she embarks on an unexpected journey of self-discovery, all wrapped in the cozy embrace of a tight-knit community. As she immerses herself in the joy of twinkling lights, hot cocoa, and the camaraderie of the townsfolk, Sheila’s world begins to transform, and she finds the sense of belonging she never knew she needed.

Meanwhile, Tucker, the town’s reliable fire captain, is gathering volunteers to help a family with four young children who have just lost their home to a devastating fire weeks before Christmas. Sheila offers her helping hand, and as the town rallies to support the family in their time of need, sparks of love begin to flicker between her and Tucker.

In this charming town where dreams come true, and Christmas magic is everywhere, come along for a tale of love, community, and the true spirit of the season.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains is the setting for this heartwarming tale of second chances, discovering new purpose, and experiencing how a community pulls together. Shiela’s realizations about life in a rural area in contrast to city life add complexity to her preconceived notions about her best friend moving away. It’s never easy being the one left behind, but Nancy Naigle’s thoughtful dialogue and Shiela’s analysis of her own selfish feelings, along with being drawn into experiencing how Chestnut Ridge rallies around a needy family, give her a lot to think about. The excitement and busyness of a tree decorating festival and a blossoming friendship with confident but humble Fire Chief Tucker, are the ingredients in this perfect recipe for holiday reading. Mix chasing career goals with life’s puzzle pieces and fold in the Christmas spirit; add a side of hot chocolate and you have the perfect “good-night wink.”

USA Today bestselling author Nancy Naigle whips up small-town love stories with a whole lot of heart. She began writing while juggling a successful career in finance and life on a seventy-six-acre farm. Now happily retired from a career in the financial industry, this Virginia girl devotes her time to writing, antiquing, and spa days with friends.

Several of Nancy’s novels have been adapted for television. You can find the complete list of movies and a free downloadable checklist of all of Nancy’s books in series order on her website.

The Fabled Earth by Kimberly Brock

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Publication October 1, 2024-Harper Muse-Historical Fiction-384pp

Book Summary

Inspired by the little-known history of Cumberland Island, The Fabled Earth is a sweeping story of family lore and the power of finding your own voice as Southern mythology and personal reckoning collide with a changing world.

1932. Cumberland Island off the coast of Southern Georgia is a strange place to encounter the opulence of the Gilded Age, but the last vestiges of the famed philanthropic Carnegie family still take up brief seasonal residence in their grand mansions there. This year’s party at Plum Orchard is a lively group: young men from some of America’s finest families come to experience the area’s hunting beside a local guide; a beautiful debutante expecting to be engaged by the week’s end, and a promising female artist who believes she has meaningful ties to her wealthy hosts. But when temptations arise and passions flare, an evening of revelry and storytelling goes horribly awry. Lives are both lost and ruined.

1959. Reclusive painter Cleo Woodbine has lived alone for decades on Kingdom Come, a tiny strip of land once occupied by the servants for the great houses on nearby Cumberland. When she is visited by the man who saved her life nearly thirty years earlier, a tempest is unleashed as the stories of the past gather and begin to regain their strength. Frances Flood is a folklorist come to Cumberland Island seeking the source of a legend – and also information about her mother, who was among the guests at a long-ago hunting party. Audrey Howell, briefly a newlywed and now newly widowed, is running a local inn. When she develops an eerie double exposure photograph, some believe she’s raised a ghost–someone who hasn’t been seen since that fateful night in 1932.

As a once-in-a-century storm threatens the natural landscape and shifting tides reveal what Cumberland Island has hidden all along, two timelines and perspectives of three women intersect to illuminate the life-changing power of finding truth in a folktale.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

An impending storm, salty breezes, and a ramshackle cottage in the briny marsh of Cumberland Island is the backdrop for a family saga laced with folklore. Cumberland Island, off the coast of Georgia, is Kimberly Brock’s setting for this mysteriously tragic tale of an annual bonfire party gone awry. The novel unfolds from the perspective of three main characters. Cleo Woodbine’s account of the fateful night, aptly named Fable, set in 1932, alternates with her current life story told in the 1959 timeline. Readers are transported to the southern coastline in 1959 through two other main characters; Frances, connected by her mother to the bonfire tragedy and Audrey, a young, widowed photographer searching for purpose.

Brock’s pacing of the plot and smooth transitions through the two timelines adds palpable urgency. The Fable timeline, with cringeworthy details of Cleo’s experiences with the entitled young people, increases the suspense. Through Cleo’s moment by moment account Brock accurately captures the fears and emotions leading to turning points in the rowdy, roller coaster of events during the weekend of revelry near the river. The German folktale known as Lorelei is woven into the anxiousness and the tragic outcome surrounding the storytelling competition at the bonfire. Like the tale of Lorelei, the Fable timeline plunges readers into the murky waters to follow the siren, only to surface, gasping for air, as Cleo gets closer and closer to the truth.   

Kimberly Brock’s search for truth in family stories wrapped in a sailor’s folktale makes The Fabled Earth a suspenseful mystery with a breathtaking view of new-found life on the rocky shore.

The Siren Song of the Lorelei

Not far from St. Goarshausen, a grey cliff towers 433 feet above the River Rhine. Atop the cliff sits a woman—or is it a trick of the light?—combing her long hair and singing. Read more about the legend here: https://www.deutschland.de/en/the-siren-song-of-the-lorelei

Links to read more about Cumberland Island Mansions- Plum Orchard and Dungeness from The Fabled Earth:

Plum Orchard: https://www.nps.gov/places/plum-orchard.htm

Cumberland Island : https://www.nps.gov/articles/975727.htm?utm_source=article&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=experience_more&utm_content=small#4/31.80/-78.13

Kimberly Brock is the bestselling author of The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Townsend Prize for Fiction, and The River Witch, recipient of the Georgia Author of the Year Award. She is the founder of Tinderbox Writers Workshop and has served as a guest lecturer for many regional and national writing workshops including at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. A native of North Georgia, she now lives near Atlanta. Her latest novel, The Fabled Earth, releases October 1, 2024 via Harper Muse. Photo cred: Claire Brock Photography

Betrayal at Blackthorn Park by Julia Kelly

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Publication October 1, 2024-St. Martin’s Press-Historical Fiction-Mystery-320pp.

Book Summary

With mystery, intrigue, and the hints of romance international bestselling author Julia Kelly is known for, Evelyne Redfern returns in Betrayal at Blackthorn Park.

Freshly graduated from a rigorous training program in all things spy craft, former typist Evelyne Redfern is eager for her first assignment as a field agent helping Britain win the war. However, when she learns her first task is performing a simple security test at Blackthorn Park, a requisitioned manor house in the sleepy Sussex countryside, she can’t help her initial disappointment. Making matters worse, her handler is to be David Poole, a fellow agent who manages to be both strait-laced and dashing in annoyingly equal measure. However, Evelyne soon realizes that Blackthorn Park is more than meets the eye, and an upcoming visit from Winston Churchill means that security at the secret weapons research and development facility is of the utmost importance.

When Evelyne discovers Blackthorn Park’s chief engineer dead in his office, her simple assignment becomes more complicated. Evelyne must use all of her—and David’s—detection skills to root out who is responsible and uncover layers of deception that could change the course of the war.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Betrayal at Blackthorn Park, the second in a series, features avid reader of detective mysteries, Evelyn Redfern. (Her reading list is linked below in the author bio!) Plucked from the typing pool, Evelyn is a newly trained spy for the Special Investigations Unit in London 1940. Her first mission is a security check at a country manor in Sussex, known as Blackthorn Park. Now a weapons research facility with a staff of engineers, administrators, and workers, it is the perfect setting for a mystery.

The focus of Evelyn’s mission changes from a security check for missing supplies to a murder investigation. Author Julia Kelly’s lifelong love for mysteries and detective stories lends credence to interviews of suspects, tricks of the detective trade, and summaries of clues before heading the search off in another direction.

Julia Kelly’s characters move with ease from Whitehall to Blackthorn Park. To Evelyn’s dismay her partner at Whitehall, David Poole, has been promoted to ‘handler’ in the SIU and follows her to Blackthorn. Kelly’s development of Evelyn’s view of David Poole evolves from mostly annoying to sometimes endearing, giving readers hope for a closer connection in the future. She uses clever pairings such as Mr. and Mrs. Sherman, stationmaster at Benstead and housekeeper at the manor, to make connections and confirm clues. To relax the frantic pace and drama of the mission Kelly isolates the interviews of suspects into chapters and switches to Evelyn’s London life with occasional telephone calls to best friend Moira.  

Betrayal at Blackthorn takes place in one hectic week, with a day-by-day countdown to Winston Churchill’s visit for a weapons demonstration. Interviews, journal checks, letters and a secret hiding place keep readers piecing clues together until the last explosion at Blackthorn Park.

Julia Kelly is the international bestselling author of emotional historical fiction about extraordinary women and thrilling historical whodunnit mystery novels. Her books have been translated into 13 languages. In addition to writing, she’s been an Emmy-nominated producer, journalist, marketing professional, and (for one summer) a tea waitress. Julia called Los Angeles, Iowa, and New York City home before settling in London with her husband. EVELYN REDFERNS READING LIST FROM BOOK #1 1AND #2 https://www.juliakellywrites.com/evelyne-redferns-reading-list

The Pink Dress by Jane Little Botkin

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Publication September 10, 2024-She Writes Press-Memoir-306pp

Book Summary

Growing up in West Texas, Jane Little Botkin didn’t have designs on becoming a beauty queen. But not long after joining a pageant on a whim in college, she became the first protégé of El Paso’s Richard Guy and Rex Holt, known as the “Kings of Beauty”—just as the 1970’s counterculture movement began to take off.A pink, rose-covered gown—a Guyrex creation—symbolizes the fairy tale life that young women in Jane’s time imagined beauty queens had. Its near destruction exposes reality: the author’s failed relationship with her mother, and her parents’ failed relationship with one another. Weaving these narrative threads together is the Wild West notion that
anything is possible, especially do-overs.

The Pink Dress awakens nostalgia for the 1960s and 1970s, the era’s conflicts and growth pains. A common expectation that women went to college to get “MRS” degrees—to find a husband and become a stay-at-home wife and mother—often prevailed. How does one swim upstream against this notion among feminist voices that protest “If You Want Meat,
Go to a Butcher!” at beauty pageants, two flamboyant showmen, and a developing awareness of self? Torn between women’s traditional roles and what women could be, Guyrex Girls evolved, as did the author.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Janey’s “Pink Dress” fairy tale contains the element of three: a controlling mother, the family’s faltering financial situation, and marital stress due to affairs and addiction. The West Texas setting of El Paso lends a dry, dusty haze through which to view magical transformations and seedy manipulations involved in beauty pageants in the 1960s and 1970s. Janey reveals herself as an exhausted, starving competitor as a final encounter with El Paso, the roller coaster ride of a Guyrex Girl, and a mature understanding of her mother comes into clear view. This is an eye-opening memoir where pageant skepticisms and misgivings are confirmed in eyebrow raising revelations through the recollections of “a reluctant beauty queen,” Janey Little Botkin.

National award-winning author Jane Little Botkin melds personal narratives of American families with compelling stories of western women. Her books have won numerous awards in biography, western historical nonfiction, and women’s studies. Recently completed, The Pink Dress, Memoir of a Reluctant Beauty Queen will release September 10, 2024 (She Writes Press). She is currently working on The Breath of a Buffalo, a biography of Mary Ann (Molly) Goodnight, tentatively scheduled for release in 2026.

Katharine, the Wright Sister by Tracey Enerson Wood

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Publication September 10, 2024-Source Books-Historical Fiction -448pp

Book Summary

She helped her brothers soar… but was the flight worth the fall?

 It all started with two boys and a bicycle shop. Wilbur and Orville Wright, both unsuited to college and disinclined to leave home, jumped on the popular new fad of bicycle riding and opened a shop in Dayton, Ohio. Repairing and selling soon led to tinkering and building as the brothers offered improved models to their eager customers. Amid their success, a new dream began to take shape. Engineers across the world were puzzling over how to build a powered flying machine—and Wilbur and Orville wanted in on the challenge. But their younger sister, Katharine, knew they couldn’t do it without her. The three siblings made a pact: the three of them would solve the problem of human flight.

 As her brothers obsessed over blueprints and risked life and limb testing new models on the sand beaches of North Carolina, Katharine became the mastermind behind the scenes of their inventions. She sourced materials, managed communications, and kept Wilbur and Orville focused on their goal—even when it seemed hopeless. And in 1903, the Wright brothers made the first controlled, sustained flight of humankind.

What followed was the kind of fame and fortune the Wrights had never imagined. The siblings traveled the world to demonstrate their invention, trained other pilots, and built new machines that could fly higher and farther. But at the height of their success, tragedy wrenched the Wright family apart… and forced Katharine to make an impossible choice that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

 From internationally bestselling author Tracey Enerson Wood, Katharine, the Wright Sister is an unforgettable novel that shines a spotlight on one of the most important and overlooked women in history, and the sacrifices she made so that others might fly.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Wilbur, Orville, and Katharine Wright’s promise to one another required a lifetime of sacrifice to change the course of history. Travel with the Wright brothers from the bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, to the sandy beaches of North Carolina and to fame across Europe.  Woods’ detailed descriptions of sketching and journaling birds in flight, family dinner discussions on design changes, including a myriad of flight terms, adds immensely to understanding how trial and error, years of experimentation and Katharine’s personal sacrifice led to the brothers’ success.

The theme of family complexities and how good intentions can hurt loved ones is portrayed through thoughts and dreams as siblings share in alternating chapters. Wilbur, an all-around student & athlete, with a great knowledge of physics and math, feels pressure to succeed.  Orville, blessed with mechanical abilities and resourcefulness, becomes selfish and quite maddening in his demands of Katharine. Due to their mother’s illness and early death, Katharine, becomes head of household and runs the bicycle shop. Described by Wilbur as bossy and hard driving, she is the visionary; decisive, confident, bold. Katharine’s ongoing desire to be part of the team and her inability to stand up to Orville contradicts her fear of becoming a spinster as she sacrifices her private life. This heart wrenching conundrum is frustrating as she wavers between devotion and resignation.  

Experience the history of transportation from the horse & carriage, automobiles and finally in 1903, successful human flight and eventually flying machines.  Competition and ‘red tape’ creates suspense and great anticipation as the Wrights endure  meetings with patent attorneys, demands for data, and denials by the government. Thank your lucky stars for Orville and Wilbur’s determination and Katharine’s sacrifice in the field of aviation. Dive with failures, soar with success!

Sit back and enjoy the flight with Tracey Enerson Wood’s Katharine, the Wright Sister.

Favorite Things? Happy Pub Day Maria: The Story of Maria Von Trapp by Michelle Moran

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Publication July 30, 2024-Random House-Ballentine-Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction-336pp

Book Summary

In the 1950s, Oscar Hammerstein is asked to write the lyrics to a musical based on the life of a woman named Maria von Trapp. He’s intrigued to learn that she was once a novice who hoped to live quietly as an Austrian nun before her abbey sent her away to teach a widowed baron’s sickly child. What should have been a ten-month assignment, however, unexpectedly turned into a marriage proposal. And when the family was forced to flee their home to escape the Nazis, it was Maria who instructed them on how to survive using nothing but the power of their voices.

It’s an inspirational story, to be sure, and as half of the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein duo, Hammerstein knows it has big Broadway potential. Yet much of Maria’s life will have to be reinvented for the stage, and with the horrors of war still fresh in people’s minds, Hammerstein can’t let audiences see just how close the von Trapps came to losing their lives.

But when Maria sees the script that is supposedly based on her life, she becomes so incensed that she sets off to confront Hammerstein in person. Told that he’s busy, she is asked to express her concerns to his secretary, Fran, instead. The pair strike up an unlikely friendship as Maria tells Fran about her life, contradicting much of what will eventually appear in The Sound of Music.


Reflections on Musicals and Maria Von Trapp

My mother, Leona, instilled my love for Broadway productions by taking me to concerts, plays, musicals, and operas. As a child and teenager I listened to recordings on the stereo, over and over, so lyrics are ingrained in my memory. Now 99 years-old, Leona remembers seeing a live performance of the Von Trapp Family Singers in 1942, as a freshman in college at University of Southwestern Louisiana. She recalls the performance quite vividly and says, “I was struck by the family’s determination and bravery it took to escape Austria under German control.” Sixty-eight years after that live concert, in 2010, we visited Stowe, Vermont, and stayed at the Trapp Family Lodge. Leona, then 75, had a memorable conversation with third daughter, Mitzi (86yo), while on a walking tour of the gardens. Mitzi, who had survived Scarlet Fever as a child, died in 2014, at the age of 100! Later that day one of Maria’s granddaughters gave a presentation to a large crowd of visitors. Leona proudly stood to share her memory of seeing and hearing the family while in college. She was the only person in the audience who had heard the Von Trapp Family in concert. These memories make it a great privilege and honor for me to read and review Maria, A Novel of Maria Von Trapp. Below the review is a link to the Von Trapp website.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Many of the iconic songs of Oscar Hammerstein’s award-winning Broadway play and movie are ingrained in our musical memory; “Do-Re-Mi,” “My Favorite Things,” “Climb Every Mountain.” When The Sound of Music is mentioned images flash of Julie Andrews twirling amidst the Alps and the Captain realizing those are his children hanging from tree branches- in new play clothes made from curtains! Why is the movie SO different from Maria’s real story?  In 1959, with World War II fresh in viewers’ memories Rogers and Hammerstein decided to adapt Maria’s harrowing true story to a more palatable version for audiences.

Moran’s novel is based on the autobiography of Maria Von Trapp and the vehicle for moving from the Broadway script to Maria’s account is through Hammerstein’s secretary, Fran. When asked to read and give her opinion of the script Fran replies, “It’s simple and sweet and impossible not to like. Makes you wonder how much of it is actually true. A woman who finds herself married to a Baron after almost marrying herself to God?” That’s Moran’s perfect segue!

Fran’s assignment is to assuage Maria’s anger over the shocking differences between the script and her real story. Fran and Maria’s trusting friendship is Moran’s endearing element that leads to their meetings on park benches near St. Patrick’s Cathedral. These eye-opening conversations and Moran’s descriptions of New Yorkers, famous streets and buildings add to the atmospheric setting of NYC in the late 1950’s.

Discovering Maria Von Trapp’s true story as compared to the movie plot is what makes every page of this novel so compelling. Moran’s deep research reveals Maria’s childhood traumas, her education, and later her devotion to the Von Trapp children. Maria’s trust in God and her family bolstered her courage to leave the country she loved for an uncertain future in America.

After the Broadway opening Maria reminds Hammerstein that it’s not the agents, critics or managers that buy tickets; only the people do. Get your “ticket” to Maria by Michelle Moran to know the real Maria Von Trapp and the story behind The Sound of Music.

A few questions that Fran’s interview with Maria will answer through the novel and the Author’s Note.

Was Maria in love with the Captain when they married and who was the disciplinarian? How did Maria know so many folksongs? Did she really make play clothes from curtains? What’s the special meaning of the song, “So Long, Farewell?” What happened in the churchyard? Were the Nazis at the Salzburg Festival? Was Maria invited to the movie premiere in NYC? How much money did she make? And SO many more!

1947 Vermont-The engaging website for the Von Trapp Family: https://www.vontrapp.org/

Michelle Moran is the internationally bestselling author of eight historical novels. A native of southern California, she attended Pomona College, then earned a Masters Degree from the Claremont Graduate University. During her six years as a public high school teacher, she used her summers to travel around the world, and it was her experiences as a volunteer on archaeological digs that inspired her to write historical fiction. Her novels, translated into more than twenty languages, include Nefertiti, The Heretic Queen, Cleopatra’s Daughter, Madame Tussaud, The Second Empress, Rebel Queen, Mata Hari, and Maria. A frequent traveler, she currently lives with her family in England, where she is researching her ninth book.

Meeting Her Match by Jen Turano

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Publication July 16, 2024-Bethany House-Christian-Historical Fiction-Romance-384pp

Book Summary

Miss Camilla Pierpont, a renowned matchmaker and influential member of the New York Four Hundred, has vowed never to marry after suffering a devastating heartbreak during her debut years ago. However, when she is nearly abducted along the Hudson River, she finds herself rescued by an annoyingly outspoken, albeit fascinating, gentleman who challenges her in a manner she wasn’t expecting.

After learning that Camilla Pierpont has enjoyed success with taking wayward young ladies in hand, Mr. Owen Chesterfield travels to the Hudson River Valley determined to convince Camilla to sponsor his sister, who is in desperate need of social rehabilitation.

Knowing her life is in danger, Camilla agrees to Owen’s proposition and travels with him to West Virginia, finding herself charmed by the less-than-formal attitude of his small hometown, as well as by Owen himself. But danger waits in the shadows, disrupting what she knows would be the most spectacular match she’s ever made–her own.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

This rollicking, Gilded Age romance whisks readers from New York City to Wheeling, West Virginia, at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains.  Jen Turano, known for her quirky, historical romances fills Meeting Her Match with hilarious verbal skirmishes between Camilla, a spinster and matchmaker of New York society and Owen Chesterfield, a wealthy Wheeling businessman, creating tension and turmoil.  Camilla agrees to sponsor Owen’s unconventional sister Luella, who loves to fish, has a philanthropical bent, abhors frocks with bows, and has been shunned by the local society. 

Camilla and her entourage arrive in Wheeling: Bernadette, her lady’s maid, Lottie, her paid companion, and Mr. Timkin, the butler. Fans of Downton Abbey’s Mr. Carson will appreciate the “butler brotherhood rule of proper behavior,” that Mr. Timkin often invokes. Camilla’s matchmaking days are revived as she becomes enamored with Owen’s family and their busy-body ways. West Virginia traditions and suspicions, not to be dismissed, play a real, but comical role in Owen’s Grandma Beulah’s plans. Hoping to prove worthy, Camilla’s competitive spirit shines as Beulah assigns daily challenges; chores like whitewashing fences and chicken coop shenanigans, all to sneak an apple pie recipe into Camilla’s possession. It’s apparently quite a powerful recipe!  Local fare, river trout, potato pancakes and rhubarb pie are woven into the locals’ jargon as they relate sentiments and entertaining stories. Terms like “prickly, beyond the pale, and fit as a fiddle” lace this charming tale of Camilla, the spinster. While in the heavenly countryside of West Virginia refining Luella, learning parlor games such as Key of the King’s Garden and teaching the Star Quadrille, Camila’s “ennui” is kept at bay. Discover the charms of Owen, Camilla, and West Virginia in Jen Turano’s Meeting Her Match; brimming with themes of family, kinship, and camaraderie.

Named one of the funniest voices in inspirational romance by Booklist, Jen Turano is a USA Today bestselling author known for penning quirky historical romances set in the Gilded Age. Her books have earned Publishers Weekly and Booklist starred reviews, top picks from RT Book Reviews, and praise from Library Journal. She’s been a finalist twice for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards and had two of her books listed in the top 100 romances of the past decade from Booklist. She and her family live outside of Denver, Colorado. Readers can find her on Facebook, Instagram, and X, and at JenTurano.com.

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The ROM-COMMERS by Katherine Center

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Publication June 11, 2024-St. Martin’s Press-Women’s Fiction-336pp

Book Summary

She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?

Charlie Yates is a great writer. He wrote the epic screenplay that made Jack Stapleton a household name—and became a household name himself. But now he’s written a romantic comedy . . . and it’s terrible.

Emma Wheeler could have been a great writer—but her life didn’t quite go like she planned. Now, when she gets the chance to rewrite Charlie’s apocalyptically bad screenplay—uncredited, of course—she jumps.

But Charlie doesn’t want anyone to rewrite his work—least of all a “failed nobody screenwriter”—and Emma can’t support a guy who doesn’t like rom-coms adding another terrible rom-com to the world.

So what choice do they have, really . . . but to fall stupidly, crazily, heart-poundingly in love?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Rom-Commers, an emotional tug-of-war, pairs perfectly with the classic 1934 romantic-comedy, “It Happened One Night.” The movie, known for humor, sexiness, and wisdom, is a mirror for Charlie’s screenplay.  Emma deems the screenplay’s script terrible and explains, “The job of a rom-com is to give you a simulated feeling of falling in love, and that stories exist for the emotions they create.”  Charlie’s script did neither, so Emma is hired to fix the screenplay.

Katherine Center believes we, like her characters, gain wisdom through struggles. Through thought provoking dialogue with Charlie, Emma reveals her struggles and true feelings realizing she is the supporting character in her own story. Themes of unfulfilled dreams, sacrifice and guilt immerge in the kitchen, poolside, and at the worktable as Emma and Charlie spend time together. The emotional tug-of-war is filled with rom-com snooty disrespect, admiration mixed with some flirty banter, and even a distrusting, quitter attitude! How will this end? That’s what Katherine Center’s readers look forward to!

Wise beyond her years, Emma describes love as “feeling hopeful, and kind, sunshiny and soothing…like your heart is glowing.”

To experience humor, sexiness, and wisdom like Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert’s “It Happened One Night,” read The Rom-Commers. Your heart will glow.

BookPage calls Katherine Center “the reigning queen of comfort reads.” She’s the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including How to Walk Away, Things You Save in a Fire, and her newest, Hello Stranger. Her summer 2024 book is The Rom-Commers—a connected story to her blockbuster hit, The Bodyguard. Katherine writes laugh-and-cry books: deep romantic comedies about how life knocks us down—and how we get back up. She’s been compared to both Jane Austen and Nora Ephron, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” The Netflix movie adaptation of her novel Happiness for Beginners—starring Ellie Kemper and Luke Grimes—just hit the Global Top Ten in 81 countries, and the movie of her novel The Lost Husband was a surprise Netflix sensation in 2020, hitting number one and landing in their top 25 movies for the year. Her books have made countless Best-Of lists—at Audible, BookBub, and Book of the Month, as well as Goodreads’ Best Books of the Year, and Amazon’s yearly Top 100 books. Emily Henry calls The Bodyguard “my perfect 10 of a book,” and Jodi Picoult says of Things You Save in a Fire, “Just read it, and thank me later.” Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband, two almost-grown teenagers, and their fluffy-but-fierce dog.

The Hudson Collection by Jocelyn Green

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Publication June 4, 2024-Bethany House-Christian-Historical Fiction-368pp

Jocelyn Green (JocelynGreen.com) inspires faith and courage as the bestselling author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, including the Christy Award-winning The Mark of the King and Drawn by the Current and her On Central Park series.

Book Summary

Step into the beguiling world of 1926 New York and discover the power of resilience, friendship, and love from award-winning author Jocelyn Green.

Elsa Reisner’s lifelong dream of working as an ornithologist at the American Museum of Natural History is fading as the job begins to drain her passion. But fate takes an unexpected turn when she is assigned to catalog the bequest of a recently deceased patron whose Gothic country mansion holds secrets and treasures waiting to be discovered.

As Elsa delves into her task, she forms an unlikely bond with the estate’s delightful gardener and her daughter, as well as an architectural salvage dealer who still bears scars from the Great War. Together, they embark on a thrilling treasure hunt for a missing relic intended to safeguard the servants’ futures before the estate is sold. At the same time, Elsa’s body seems to betray her with new symptoms from a childhood disease that isn’t through with her yet.

With the brooding veteran and her handsome colleague joining the search, Elsa must navigate the tangled web of secrets and hidden motives along with the changing state of her health. As her deadline looms ever closer, will she be able to secure a new life for her friends before the estate slips from their grasp?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

New York City’s Central Park and Elmhurst, a country mansion on the Hudson River, set the scene for Jocelyn Green’s The Hudson Collection.  Green’s main character, Elsa, is sent to Elmhurst from the American Museum of Natural History to catalog the vast collection of birds, recently bequeathed to the museum. She’s just in time to join the manic search of the mansion for a valuable medieval manuscript filled with illuminated bird illustrations.

This treasure hunt takes place in the fall of 1926. Green’s narrative is filled with lush descriptions of birds, garden paths at Elmhurst, and iconic Central Park. These details add extra depth to the development and growth of the relationships between Elsa, Luke Dupont, and the gardener’s daughter, young Danielle. Mother-daughter relationships, fear of limitations, and family expectations are themes explored as tension builds and Green weaves clues to the manuscript’s hiding place with obstacles and twists.

Well known NYC historical sites like Central Park, Coney Island, Nathan’s Famous, the Plaza, and the Beresford Hotel enhance the early twentieth century feel of the novel.  In contrast to the hurried Manhattan setting is the peaceful Hudson River Valley and its sprawling, fictional Elmhurst Mansion, based on the Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York. (pictured below)

Green presents valuable lessons as she parallels how to handle life’s challenges with Luke’s crumbling mansions and architectural salvage business. Elsa’s important personal discovery, “doing less to make room for what really matters,” is a gem.  Jocelyn Green’s readers will be inspired by The Hudson Collection; an insightful, faith-based approach to dealing with how life’s choices and personal perspectives change through experiences and relationships.   

Beresford Hotel – Elsa’s home in NYC
Central Park in fall
Central Park Zoo
Plaza Hotel
Lyndhurst Mansion- Elmhurst in The novel

Fun Fact: The Eurasian Eagle-Owl that escapes from the Central Park Zoo in 1926 is based on Flaco, an eagle-owl that escaped from the zoo in 2023 as Jocelyn Green was in NYC for research!   

Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate

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Publication June 4, 2024-Random House-Ballentine-Historical Fiction, 368pp.

Book Summary

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a sweeping novel inspired by the untold history of women pioneers who fought to protect children caught in the storm of land barons hungry for power and oil wealth.

Oklahoma, 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Augusta Radley knows that her stepfather doesn’t have good intentions toward the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees to the woods, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the remote Winding Stair Mountains, the notorious territory of outlaws, treasure hunters, and desperate men. Along the way, Ollie and Nessa form an unlikely band with others like themselves, struggling to stay one step ahead of those who seek to exploit them . . . or worse.

Oklahoma, 1990. Law enforcement ranger Valerie Boren-Odell arrives at newly minted Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to balance a career and single parenthood. But no sooner has Valerie reported for duty than she’s faced with local controversy over the park’s opening, a teenage hiker gone missing from one of the trails, and the long-hidden burial site of three children unearthed in a cave. Val’s quest for the truth wins an ally among the neighboring Choctaw Tribal Police but soon collides with old secrets and the tragic and deadly history of the land itself.

In this emotional and enveloping novel, Lisa Wingate traces the story of children abandoned by the law and the battle to see justice done. Amid times of deep conflict over who owns the land and its riches, Ollie and Val traverse the rugged and beautiful terrain, each leaving behind one life in search of another.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Shelterwood is a forestry term for older, larger trees that protect the smaller, younger growth beneath. Lisa Wingate’s Shelterwood slashes through that canopy shining a blinding light on the history of “rampant graft and mindboggling land grabs during the Oklahoma statehood era.”  

Wingate artfully weaves this little-known history in alternating timelines as she illuminates a mystery uncovered by a female park ranger involving the bones of “elf children.” Readers are immersed in the 1909 world of starving, indigenous “elf children” through Ollie and Nessa’s harrowing escape from harmful, greedy guardians and the community they struggle to create in the southeastern portion of Oklahoma known as the Winding Stairs. In 1990 Park Ranger, Val attempts to sort out the story of skeletal bones in a cave and the disappearance of three members of the same family.  Wingate’s narrative takes readers on trails though the woods of southeastern Oklahoma peppered with crisp descriptions as she lines steep grades through Horsethief Trail National Park with obstacles to the mystery by adding suspense step by step; an abandoned car, a missing teenager, a body found in the woods. Wingate’s orphans are wily, witty, and so loveable, readers will easily forgive their crimes and even cheer for their ingenious successes. Through experiences of the “elf children” readers will gain a new understanding of survival. Readers will also appreciate Officer Curtis’ relationship with Val and Charlie, a male character with high emotional intelligence.

This adventurous mystery through the woods of Oklahoma is really about the history of the tribal lands of the Cherokee, Creek, and Choctaw Nations, their legacy, and the oil found on the land allotments.  Another historical thread is the untold impact of Kate Barnard’s fight for child labor laws and compulsory education. Shelterwood, Lisa Wingate’s soulful, heartfelt tale, ties the past to the present through the history of indigenous children and the horrendous lives of our nations’ youngest before child labor laws.

Eye-opening. Redemptive.

Lisa Wingate is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Before We Were Yours, which has sold more than three million copies and been translated into over forty languages worldwide. The co-author, with Judy Christie, of the nonfiction book Before and After, Wingate is an Oklahoma Book Award finalist, a Goodreads Choice Award winner, and a Southern Book Prize winner. She was named a 2023 Distinguished Alumni of Oklahoma State University. She lives with her husband in Texas and Colorado. https://lisawingate.com/

From Lisa’s wonderful website: You will want to read more!

The most shocking stories hide in places we think we know. Despite countless field trips, museum tours, and history classes growing up in Oklahoma, I heard not a mention that the most powerful politician of the state’s fledgling years was—a woman? In an era when women couldn’t even vote? The true story of Kate Barnard, her 1909 investigation of bizarre reports of “elf children living in a hollow tree,” and her eventual discovery of the children’s true identity inspired the events in Shelterwood. Told through the eyes of two girls who flee a home filled with dangers to seek safety in the wilderness, Shelterwood follows a perilous journey to Oklahoma’s remote Winding Stair Mountains, where the girls soon discover they are not alone. I hope you will enjoy meeting Ollie and Nessa along with all the characters of Shelterwood, both real and imagined. To learn more, click here for a behind-the-scenes tour including historical photos, location photos, and materials for book clubs.

The Goddess of Warsaw by Lisa Barr

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Publication May 28, 2024-Harper Perennial and Paperbacks-Mystery-Women’s Fiction-368pp

Book Summary

The Goddess Of Warsaw is an enthralling tale of a legendary Hollywood screen goddess with a dark secret about her life in the Warsaw Ghetto. When the famous actress is threatened by someone from her past, she must put her skills into play to protect herself, her illustrious career, and those she loves, then and now.  

Los Angeles, 2005. Sienna Hayes, Hollywood’s latest It Girl, has ambitions to work behind the camera. When she meets Lena Browning, the enormously mysterious and famous Golden Age movie star, Sienna sees her big break. She wants to direct a picture about Lena’s life—but the legendary actor’s murky past turns out to be even darker than Sienna dreamed. Before she was a Living Legend, Lena Browning was Bina Blonski, a Polish Jew whose life and family were destroyed by the Nazis.

Warsaw, 1943. A member of the city’s Jewish elite, Bina Blonski and her husband, Jakub, are imprisoned in the ghastly, cramped ghetto along with the rest of Warsaw’s surviving Jews. Determined to fight back against the brutal Nazis, the beautiful, blonde Aryan-looking Bina becomes a spy, gaining information and stealing weapons outside the ghetto to protect her fellow Jews. But her dangerous circumstances grow complicated when she falls in love with Aleksander, an ally in resistance—and Jakub’s brother. While Lena accomplishes amazing feats of bravery, she sacrifices much in the process.

Over a decade after escaping the horrors of the ghetto, Bina, now known as Lena, rises to fame in Hollywood. Yet she cannot help but be reminded of her old life and hungers for revenge against the Nazis who escaped justice after the war. Her power and fame as a movie star offer Lena the chance to right the past’s wrongs . . . and perhaps even find the happy ending she never had.

A gripping page-turner of one of history’s most heroic uprisings and an actress whose personal war never ends, The Goddess Of Warsaw is filled with secrets, lies, twists and turns, and a burning pursuit of justice no matter the cost.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Forbidden love. Polish Resistance and Treblinka 1942. Survival and a Stradivarius. These elements are packed into Lisa Barr’s saga of the Warsaw Ghetto and the world of Hollywood in 2005. Lena Browning, an 85-year-old Hollywood star telling her life story to aspiring director, Sienna Hayes, lets the reader know, “There will be betrayal, deception, death, blood, and revenge.”

Lena’s past life as the Jewish blond, Bina Blonski, is revealed in Book 1, as Sienna records the gripping horrors of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. This part of Bina’s life is intense and gut-wrenching, evoking primal survival instincts of fear, anger, resentment, and revenge. Readers get a feeling of short relief when Bina emerges in Hollywood, USA, becoming Lena Browning in Book 2, but then are immersed in the political world of Hollywood as Sienna and Lena make preparations for the “final scene” in Book 3. Lena’s life is filled with truth, lies, and forbidden, but true love. Revenge and Love. Which one wins in the end?

Powerfully captivating, forcibly convicting.

Her new historical thriller THE GODDESS OF WARSAW makes its debut on May 28th, 2024.  She has appeared on Good Morning America and TODAY for her work as an author, journalist, and blogger. In exciting book news: Actress Sharon Stone has optioned the movie rights adaptation of WOMAN ON FIRE. https://lisabarr.com/

Summers at THE SAINT by Mary Kay Andrews

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Publication May 7, 2024- St. Martin’s Press-448pp-Women’s Fiction, Romance

Book Summary

Welcome to the St. Cecelia, a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia, where traditions run deep and scandals run even deeper. . . .

Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as “the Saint.” If you grew up coming here, you were “a Saint.” If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were “an Ain’t.” Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn’t rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss’s son. Now, she’s the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help—including the daughter of her estranged best friend—Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair.

Traci Eddings has her back against the pink-painted wall of this beloved institution. And it will take all the wits and guts she has to see wrongs put to right, to see guilty parties put in their place, and maybe even to find a new romance along the way. Told with Mary Kay Andrew’s warmth, humor, knack for twists, and eye for delicious detail about human nature, Summers at the Saint is a beach read with depth and heart.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Reward yourself with Mary Kay Andrew’s novel-a satisfying, uplifting summer treat. This double mystery set at “The Saint,” the stunning St. Cecelia Resort off the coast of Georgia, is perfect for your summer tote. This is a restorative tale packed with spoiled relationships between friends and family spanning decades.  MKA has staffed The Saint with suspicious summer help, ungrateful, outrageous guests, and plenty of “over-the-top” events-from entertaining beach bashes to calamitous explosions-real and between friends! The unspooling mysteries will prolong and illuminate your summer reading days well into the night. Perfect with a glass of wine at sunset.

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, she earned a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia. After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including The Savannah Morning News, The Marietta Journal, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she spent the final ten years of her career, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction.

She and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where they cook up new recipes in three restored beach homes, The Breeze Inn, Ebbtide, and Coquina Cottage—all named after fictional places in Mary Kay’s novels, and all available to rent through Tybee Vacation Rentals. In between cooking, spoiling her grandkids, and plotting her next novel, Mary Kay is an intrepid treasure hunter whose favorite pastime is junking and fixing up old houses.

Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner

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Publication May 14, 2024-St. Martin’s Press-Historical Fiction-336pp

Book Summary

The bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls returns with a brilliant novel of love and art, of grief and memory, of confronting the past and facing the future.

In 1955, Vivien Lowry is facing the greatest challenge of her life. Her latest play, the only female-authored play on the London stage that season, has opened in the West End to rapturous applause from the audience. The reviewers, however, are not as impressed as the playgoers and their savage notices not only shut down the play but ruin Lowry’s last chance for a dramatic career. With her future in London not looking bright, at the suggestion of her friend, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien takes a job in as a script doctor on a major film shooting in Rome’s Cinecitta Studios. There she finds a vibrant movie making scene filled with rising stars, acclaimed directors, and famous actors in a country that is torn between its past and its potentially bright future, between the liberation of the post-war cinema and the restrictions of the Catholic Church that permeates the very soul of Italy.

As Vivien tries to forge a new future for herself, she also must face the long-buried truth of the recent World War and the mystery of what really happened to her deceased fiancé. Every Time We Say Goodbye is a brilliant exploration of trauma and tragedy, hope and renewal, filled with dazzling characters both real and imaginary, from the incomparable author who charmed the world with her novels The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City casts a golden glow over Rome and its many visitors. Vivien Lowry may sense her script writing is more in its shadow than its glow.  Natalie Jenner sinks readers into the complexities of Italian political, economic, and cultural life in the 1940s and 1950s.  Her dual timeline alternates between La Scolaretta, the resistance fighter in 1943 and Vivien, the London playwright in 1954-1956.

Jenner’s novel is a standalone, laced with characters her readers will recognize from The Bloomsbury Girls, though Jenner provides excellent background and details to support them in the plot. How we atone or make reparations is a theme rooted in Vivien’s realization that she has been operating out of fear and anger.  Through Vivien’s new relationships Jenner also explores mother-child dynamics. The characters, motivated by many different circumstances, experience surprising twists which provide ample topics for discussion.

Every Time We Say Goodbye shines a light on the absolute power and prevailing influence of the Vatican on the movie industry in the mid-20th century. Through Cardinal Marchetti and Vivien’s script writing experience the tangled threads of the Church, the police, the state, and movie studios are unraveled. Jenner also highlights the power of cinema to eventually create a new reality.

Discovering the true nature of friends and family, which may be heartbreaking or uplifting, is another theme. Jenner’s characters represent the invisible damages of war- using acts of goodness as a shield or as an emotional cocoon. My favorite, Sir Alfred Knox, the British industrialist, and philanthropist, is a wonderful homage to all those who risked their own lives to save others, helping hundreds of Jewish children escape.

Risk, relationships, renewal-wrapped in an Italian love story.

NATALIE JENNER is the author of the instant international bestseller The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls. A Goodreads Choice Award runner-up for historical fiction and finalist for best debut novel, The Jane Austen Society was a USA Today and #1 national bestseller and has been sold for translation in twenty countries. Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie has been a corporate lawyer, career coach and, most recently, an independent bookstore owner in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs. https://www.nataliejenner.com/

Tomorrow is for the Brave by Kelly Bowen

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Publication May 14, 2024-Forever, Grand Central Publishing-Historical Fiction-384pp

Book Summary

Based on true events, Tomorrow Is for the Brave is a gripping World War II page‑turner about a courageous woman who risks it all for what is right—perfect for fans of Natasha Lester and Kristen Harmel.

1939, France: Lavish parties, fast cars, and a closet full of the latest fashion—to the average eye, socialite Violet St. Croix seemingly has it all. But what she truly wants is a life full of meaning and purpose. So when France falls to Germany, Violet defies her parents’ wishes and joins the war effort.  With her impeccable skill for driving under pressure, she is soon sent to North Africa to shepherd French Foreign Legion officers carrying valuable intelligence through dangerous territory.

But as the Allies encounter one mishap after another, Violet becomes convinced there is a spy in their ranks. And when her commanding officer is murdered, Violet realizes she might be the only one who can uncover the traitor and save the lives of countless soldiers on the front lines. Convincing others to believe her is difficult enough. Finding someone she can trust just might be impossible.
 

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Kelly Bowen tactfully embeds Violet St. Croix, a protected socialite, a terrible nurse, but fantastic mechanic and driver in the desert sands of North Africa, in World War II. Bowen’s character portrayal is true to the time with the expectations of young women in the 1930’s. Violet’s basic desire is to choose her own dreams and make her own choices, not easily accomplished with her controlling father and condescending fiancé.

Violet is inspired by the life experiences of Susan Travers, the only woman to officially become a member of the French Foreign Legion. Violet’s service leads her from Nice, France, 1932 through Syria, Libya, Egypt, Italy and back to France in 1945.  Motivated initially by anger, disappointment, and resentment, Violet evolves before readers eyes. Taunting voices of doubt, “You won’t last a day!” urge her on as she volunteers as a nurse against her father’s wishes and is eventually pressed into service as an ambulance driver. The transformation of Violet is exciting to follow as she escapes her domineering father, using her keen observation skills and intellect to become a trusted, confident driver requested by generals. Lovingly known as La Fleur or “flower of the desert” due to her devotion and inspiration to her patients, the bravery and courage of Violet blossoms as generals, soldiers, and medical staff in the French Foreign Legion become dependent on her skills.

Kelly Bowen’s Tomorrow is for the Brave, set against the exhilarating, expansive backdrop of  the North African campaign of World War II, is filled with espionage, intrigue, finding friendship, and freedom. Super suspenseful

North Africa Campaign https://www.britannica.com/event/North-Africa-campaigns

Kelly’s Website: https://kellybowen.net/tomorrow-is-for-the-brave

Award-winning author Kelly Bowen grew up in Manitoba,  Canada, and attended the University of Manitoba, where she earned  Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in veterinary studies.  She worked as a research scientist before realizing her dream to be a  writer of historical fiction. Currently, Kelly lives in Winnipeg with  her husband and two sons.  

A Carol for Mrs. Dickens By Rebecca Connolly

Publication September 23,2025-Shadow Mountain Publishing-Christian-Women’s Fiction-176pp

Book Summary

Catherine Dickens, wife of Charles Dickens, experiences her own Christmas Eve transformation as she magically travels through her cherished memories to rediscover her lost love of Christmas.
By 1851, all of London has fallen in love with A Christmas Carol, heralding Charles Dickens as “the man who invented Christmas.” But for his wife, Catherine, Christmas is less of a reason for celebration and more of a burden. Between hosting lavish parties decorating her home, and caring for her eight children—with one more on the way—she feels more like Scrooge than herself this year.
But everything changes after a chance encounter with a kitchen cook, who reminds her that Christmas can be a time of miracles and magic, if she is willing to open her heart. Armed with a magical sprig of holly, Kate embarks on three transformative journeys into her past, hoping to reconnect with the love she once felt for the holiday—and with herself.
But can these memories be enough to reignite her Christmas spirit? Or are such miraculous transformations only meant for the characters in her husband’s beloved tales?
Inspired by real individuals, A Carol for Mrs. Dickens reminds us that the true spirit of the holiday lies in love, faith, and the joy of giving.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

What’s at the heart of Christmas? Catherine Dickens has lost the excitement and joy of past Christmases as she strives to continue her role as a seasoned hostess at grand parties orchestrated by Charles, a party enthusiast focused on appearances. The present-day retail stocking of decorations, blinking lights and artificial trees in the middle of summer clouds our minds and hearts, leaving us grumbling and exasperated instead of filling us with anticipation and joy. Catherine’s feelings exactly! She feels decorations are so much work and bother, but do they soothe the soul? Through three magical memory visits to her younger self, readers are wrapped in the powerful perspective of simplicity, kindness and love. Beauty and truth were buried deep in Catherine’s heart, but the Christmas spirit is renewed as she shares its magic with others.

A Carol for Mrs. Dickens, includes a history of Victorian Christmas traditions and a Christmastide Calendar. This is the perfect book to refocus on the heart of Christmas.