The Queens of London by Heather Webb

Publication February 6, 2024-Sourcebooks-Historical Fiction 368p

Book Summary

Maybe women can have it all, as long as they’re willing to steal it.

1925. London. When Alice Diamond, AKA “Diamond Annie,” is elected the Queen of the Forty Elephants, she’s determined to take the all-girl gang to new heights. She’s ambitious, tough as nails, and a brilliant mastermind, with a plan to create a dynasty the likes of which no one has ever seen. Alice demands absolute loyalty from her “family”—it’s how she’s always kept the cops in line. Too bad she’s now the target for one of Britain’s first female policewomen.

Officer Lilian Wyles isn’t merely one of the first female detectives at Scotland Yard, she’s one of the best detectives on the force. Even so, she’ll have to win a big score to prove herself, to break free from the “women’s work” she’s been assigned. When she hears about the large-scale heist in the works to fund Alice’s new dynasty, she realizes she has the chance she’s been looking for—and the added bonus of putting Diamond Annie out of business permanently.

A tale of dark glamour and sisterhood, Queens of London is a look at Britain’s first female crime syndicate, the ever-shifting meaning of justice, and the way women claim their power by any means necessary, from USA Today bestselling author Heather Webb.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Queens of London is based on real life Diamond Annie, her gang the Forty Elephants, and first female detective Lilian Wyles- or Inspector Wyles, as she quickly corrects. Readers get a sneak peek behind the swinging doors of pubs in the East End and posh entries into the shops of Mayfair. The suspenseful plot is advanced by four main characters.

The antics and heists of the female gang, the Forty Elephants, with Diamond Annie as the Queen, continue to be a major focus for Scotland Yard in 1925 London. The main character is based on the real-life Alice Diamond. Webb develops Annie so deeply that I changed from being dubious of her motives to being very anxious that she might get caught and be sent back to prison! Somewhere, deep down, Annie does have a heart covered by years of scars. Inspector Lily Wyles is also based on one of the first female detectives. She begins at Scotland Yard with “womanly duties” such as watching for shoplifters and orphan chasing. As the plot progresses this former nurse begins to question justice and her rigid rule following. Her tolerance for finding logic relaxes in a very satisfying turn of events.

Dorothy, a vibrant, unique, shop girl and aspiring designer, reveals her dreams of moving out from her mum’s flat to an independent lifestyle. A fictional character, filled with angst at finding a husband or following her dreams, she’s very typical of young girls of that time. The development arc is deftly drawn and will keep readers engaged and cheering for Dorothy.

The ten-year-old beautiful, brown skinned Hira Wickham is a heart stealer who reads etiquette books, deals with her wealthy, hateful uncle, and makes gut-wrenching decisions. Hira is smart, brave, and with her lovable, street-smart dog, Biscuit, tugs at all the emotional heartstrings.

Diamond Annie and the Forty Elephant’s next major heist is just the case that could change everything for the female crime syndicate and Inspector Wyles. An immensely nerve wracking but exhilarating chase!

Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of nine historical novels, including her up and coming Queens of London set to release in 2024, and her most recent novels, The Next Ship Home and Strangers in the Night. In 2015, Rodin’s Lover was a Goodread’s Top Pick, and in 2018, Last Christmas in Paris won the Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. Meet Me in Monaco, was selected as a finalist for the 2020 Goldsboro RNA award in the UK, as well as the 2019 Digital Book World’s Fiction prize. Three Words for Goodbye was a Prima Magazine’s 2022 Book of the Year. To date, Heather’s books have been translated to seventeen languages. She lives in New England with her family and a mischievous kitten. (Books in bold are books I’ve read and loved!)

The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard by Natasha Lester

Publication: January 30, 2024-Forever (Grand Central)-Historical Fiction-496pp

Book Summary

“Vogue meets Daisy Jones & the Six,” says New York Times bestseller Kate Quinn, in this bold novel of feminism and fashion set in 1970s New York City and the historic designers’ showdown in Versailles.

Everyone remembers her daringly short, silver lamé dress. It was iconic photo capturing an electric moment, where emerging American designer Astrid Bricard is young, uninhibited, and on the cusp of fashion and feminism’s changing landscape. She and fellow designer Hawk Jones are all over Vogue magazine and New York City’s disco scene. Yet she can’t escape the shadow of her mother, Mizza Bricard, infamous “muse” for Christian Dior. Astrid would give anything to take her place among the great houses of couture–on her own terms. I won’t inspire it when I can create it.

But then Astrid disappeared…

Now Astrid’s daughter, Blythe, holds what remains of her mother and grandmother’s legacies. Of all the Bricard women, she can gather the torn, painfully beautiful fabrics of three generations of heartbreak to create something that will shake the foundations of fashion. The only piece missing is the one question no one’s been able to answer: What really happened to Astrid?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Three generations of Bricard designers take to the runway in Natasha Lester’s intriguing mystery of a famous designer’s disappearance from the Palace of Versailles’s Hall of Mirrors in 1973. Leaving only a blood-stained white dress as a clue, the missing designer, Astrid Bricard, remains the central character as her mother, Mizza, muse to Christian Dior, and Blythe, Astrid’s daughter, reveal their own stories in alternating chapters. There are many questions to be answered and Lester’s plot unfurls like chiffon from its bolt. The patterns seem to be set, only to be redesigned and refit depending on the Bricard women’s level of guilt, pain, and pure stubbornness. Lester’s vivid settings of underground escape tunnels in Paris, the Viet Nam War, and the Equal Rights Amendment sink readers into the political events of the early years of WWll and the 1970’s. The rich and famous Jackie Kennedy, Princess Grace of Monaco, and the Duchess of Windsor make appearances at events and in the current magazines of the day, Vogue and Life. Lester capturesJohn Fairchild’sintolerable personality and keeps readers infuriated with his “In and Out” column. Scenes at real venues, Electric Circus and Cheetah, with ever present paparazzi trying to get a picture of Astrid in the silver lamé dress, along with pop culture icons Mick Jagger and Bianca, depict the ‘breakneck, brash’ vibe of NYC in contrast with the ‘sultry, aloof’ streets of Paris. Lester’s research into the details of the famous competition involving designers, situations, and interactions revealing their personalities is a treat for fashionistas as American designers Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, and Halston match wits and design creativity against French icons Yves St. Laurent, Christian Dior, and Givenchy. Changing the show order and screaming shout downs were part of the toxic atmosphere at Versailles! Was it a French or American designer? More importantly, what happened to Astrid Bricard?

Enter the strange and mysterious world of fashion as Natasha Lester’s designing women of three generations, each an expert at leaving, create their own “pièce de résistance.”

I always look forward to the author’s notes where the author separates fact from fiction. Natasha Lester’s note includes many interesting bits, so don’t skip it. She recommends the 2016 documentary Battle at Versailles for a real live look at the famous competition.

Do you remember wearing hotpants or kneeling on the floor to have the length of your skirt measured? The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard was written with you in mind!

Natasha Lester is the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress, The Paris Orphan and The Riviera House, and a former marketing executive for L’Oréal. Her novels have been translated into many different languages and are published all around the world.
When she’s not writing, she loves collecting vintage fashion (Dior is a favorite!), practicing the art of fashion illustration, learning about fashion history—and traveling to Paris. Natasha lives with her husband and three children in Perth, Western Australia.

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap by Teri M. Brown

Publication Jan. 23, 2024-Atmosphere Press-Historical Fiction-315pp

Book Summary

An Appalachian granny woman. A daughter on a crusade. A granddaughter caught between the two.

Maggie McCoury, a generational healer woman, relies on family traditions, folklore, and beliefs gleaned from a local Cherokee tribe. Her daughter, Carrie Ann, believes her university training holds the answers. As they clash over the use of roots, herbs, and a dash of mountain magic versus the medicine available in the town’s apothecary, Josie Mae doesn’t know whom to follow. But what happens when neither family traditions nor science can save the ones you love most?

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap weaves a compelling tale of Maggie, Carrie Ann, and Josie Mae, three generations of remarkable North Carolina women living at the turn of the twentieth century, shedding light on racism, fear of change, loss of traditions, and the intricate dynamics within a family. Author Teri M. Brown skillfully navigates the complexities of their lives, revealing that some questions are not as easy to answer as one might think.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A mother-daughter “tug of war” with a triumphant winner! Through the emotions and guilt laden struggles of single parenting, nurse Carrie Ann butts heads with her mother Maggie, a granny woman or healer, as they navigate the hills and hollers of North Carolina in the 1890’s. Maggie’s skills are backed by the folklore of previous generations and years of learning from the local Cherokee medicine man. Carrie Ann believes her higher-level education and medical training far outweigh the herb medicines from plants and roots, along with chanting of songs her mother uses. Deftly woven into the plot is the bigotry of Carrie Anne and her neighbors against the Cherokee, their traditions, and the trust Maggie has placed in their methods. Author Teri M. Brown captures the innermost feelings of guilt and self-doubt when disease spreads and deaths result as mother and daughter each defend their own approaches to healing. In the middle of this battle is Carrie Anne’s own daughter, Josie Mae, who was raised by Maggie, and has developed an interest in becoming a healer like her grandmother.

The chapters presented from each of the three women’s point of view journal the diseases, pregnancies, and even the seasons on Green Mountain from 1893-1926. Brown does an excellent job persuading readers with convincing situations and outcomes, that each approach-modern medicine or the granny woman- is the right one. When certain death is on the horizon Brown triumphantly illuminates the magical ingredient needed in the gift of healing. Along with it, readers will also find forgiveness and understanding steeped into the healing broth of Daughters of Green Mountain Gap.

Born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat, Teri M. Brown now calls the North Carolina coast home. In 2020, she and her husband, Bruce, rode a tandem bicycle across the United States from Astoria, Oregon to Washington DC, successfully raising money for Toys for Tots. Teri’s debut novel, Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, is a historical fiction set in Ukraine, her second, An Enemy Like Me, is set in WWII, and her third, Daughters of Green Mountain Gap, is a generational story about Appalachian healers.

Links to Purchase:

Author’s Website: https://www.terimbrown.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Daughters-Green-Mountain-Teri-Brown/dp/B0CM7W7JHQ/

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/book/1144304086?ean=9798891320567

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/daughters-of-the-green-mountain-gap-teri-m-brown/20744004?ean=9798891320567

Diva by Daisy Goodwin

Publication January 23, 2024-St. Martin’s Press-Historical Fiction-336 pp.

Book Summary

New York Times bestselling author Daisy Goodwin returns with a story of the scandalous love affair between the most celebrated opera singer of all time and one of the richest men in the world.

In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she was the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. But her fame was hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her golden voice, she learned early in life to protect herself from those who would use her for their own ends.

When she met the fabulously rich Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, for the first time in her life, she believed she’d found someone who saw the woman within the legendary soprano. She fell desperately in love. He introduced her to a life of unbelievable luxury, showering her with jewels and sojourns in the most fashionable international watering holes with celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

And then suddenly, it was over. The international press announced that Aristotle Onassis would marry the most famous woman in the world, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, leaving Maria to pick up the pieces.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The curtain rises in 1940’s Athens, the house spotlight on awkward 16-year-old Maria Callas. Daisy Goodwin introduces Maria’s main influencers through flashbacks to her childhood and how she felt exploited and unloved. Maria’s future successes and travels around the world are woven into her life story through memories and perspectives of Elvira de Hidalgo, her singing teacher, Franco Zeffirelli, her director and close friend, and the veteran of society, Elsa Maxwell. It was Elsa’s orchestrations that brought the two famous Greeks, Aristotle Onassis, and Maria Callas, together, as they bonded over troubled childhoods. Readers are gently introduced to Greek terms and operas like Carmen, Tosca, and Traviata through the “queen of opera’s” voice challenges and points of view of singer and director.

From the October 1968, Onassis/Kennedy wedding, across continents, islands and opera houses, this novel is filled with movie stars, royalty, famous political figures, and the performance details of JFK’s iconic 45^th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden.

Maria sometimes doubted the support of her family, her husband, and Ari, her lover, but she never doubted her own talent. Was she manipulated? Does Maria end up like the characters she portrays, dying for love in the third act or does she find her own ending?

Daisy Goodwin’s Diva, presented in operatic performance format, will have readers anticipating the encore and counting the curtain calls- Bravo!

Daisy Goodwin is a writer and television producer. In 2005 she started Silver River productions, which she sold to Sony in 2012. Alongside her tv work , Daisy has written a memoir, Silver River and two novels My Last Duchess Uk/The American Heiress US and The Fortune Hunter, which were both New York Times bestsellers. In 2014 Daisy decided to concentrate on writing full time and was commissioned to write her first screenplay, Victoria, an 8 part series about the early life of Queen Victoria for ITV and WGBH Masterpiece Theatre. She is now working on Season 2. Daisy lives in London with her three dogs, two daughters and one husband.

The Seamstress of Acadie by Laura Frantz

Publication January 9, 2024-Revel-Chistian, Historical Fiction-416pp

Book Summary

As 1754 is drawing to a close, tensions between the French and the British on Canada’s Acadian shore are reaching a fever pitch. Seamstress Sylvie Galant and her family–French-speaking Acadians wishing to remain neutral–are caught in the middle, their land positioned between two forts flying rival flags. Amid preparations for the celebration of Noël, the talk is of unrest, coming war, and William Blackburn, the British Army Ranger raising havoc across North America’s borderlands.

As summer takes hold in 1755 and British ships appear on the horizon, Sylvie encounters Blackburn, who warns her of the coming invasion. Rather than participate in the forced removal of the Acadians from their land, he resigns his commission. But that cannot save Sylvie or her kin. Relocated on a ramshackle ship to Virginia, Sylvie struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. When her path crosses once more with William’s, they must work through the complex tangle of their shared, shattered past to navigate the present and forge an enduring future.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A major theme in this accounting of the Acadians in Nova Scotia is “Where is God in the midst of suffering and tragedy?” Declaring themselves neutral between the French and English, the Acadians are forced by the British onto ships bound for Williamsburg, Virginia, or French held Louisiana. Some may remember this event from the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie, read in a literature or history class. The Great Upheaval of 1755, which forced the Acadians from their homeland, is told by Acadian seamstress, Sylvie Galant, and British Major William Blackburn, a character based on real life Robert Rogers. Each action-packed chapter opens with a quote from literary treasures such as Rousseau or Molière, and is filled with anticipation, hatred, trepidation, and relief. Frantz’s novel, fraught with significant details of military strategy and descriptions of beauty and peace, is also laced with compelling metaphors and foreshadowing that keeps readers in suspense. The turning points: the arrival of the English fleet, shipwrecks, and later smallpox and a kidnapping, propel the plot and keep the love story alive; all the while scattered with hope, love, and pink and white apple blossoms.

My ancestors are Acadians, and I am a seamstress like Sylvie. As she stitched hope into her ball gown, I truly felt the angst and determination of the Acadians as they searched for beauty, peace, and possibilities.

The Wonder of it All by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Published December 5, 2023-St. Martin’s Press-368pp

Book Summary

James Falconer–a tycoon and a self-made man–seems to have the world in the palm of his hand. But the Great War looms, and James decides to fight for king and country. The fighting is bloody and brutal, and James returns a changed man, with wounds both physical and mental. His beloved wife is dead, but a new woman returns to help nurse him back to health.

Georgiana Ward once held James in her thrall, but years have passed, and bitterness has set in. Still, the old attraction is there, and James is determined to make amends to both Georgiana and his child Leonie–now a grown woman and someone he hasn’t seen in decades. Leonie is having none of it and is embarking on a dangerous journey with a man who might very well destroy her. As James fights to return to the man he once was, he needs to find a way to heal his body, soul, and family.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Wonder of it All is the 40^th novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford and concludes the sweeping Victorian family saga her fans know as The House of Falconer trilogy. The main character, James Falconer, and all his family connections are listed immediately to refresh reader’s memories. That was an especially welcoming segment. The novel is divided into six parts; each appropriately named and indicative of coming events. The saga continues with the fate of James, injured at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, grieving his late wife, Alexis. Readers follow Major James Falconer from Kent, 1917 through his relationship struggles with his estranged daughter, Leonie, her mother Georgiana Ward, and the nasty villain Leonie has married. Another intriguing thread is anticipating how James will overcome his past in order to have a future, avoid the toll of the postwar economic downturn, and find business solutions needed to maintain the success of his diversified company in 1919.

Barbara Taylor Bradford weaves hope, family heritage, suspense and mystery while connecting emotionally with readers through rejection, acceptance, and forgiveness. As always, vivid descriptions and period detail provide a true sense of place and the development of strong male and female characters with integrity, ambition, and drive appeals to generations of readers. Worth the wait!

**Book 2 In the Lion’s Den Review:** https://gratefulreader.home.blog/2020/09/14/in-the-lions-den-by-barbara-taylor-bradford/

Barbara gets awarded OBE from Her Majesty The Queen

Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE was born and raised in England. She left school at 15 for the typing pool at the Yorkshire Evening Post. At 16 she was a reporter, and at 18 she became the paper’s first woman’s page editor. Two years later, aged 20, she moved to London and became a fashion editor and columnist on Fleet Street. Barbara started writing fiction when she was just seven-years-old and sold her first short story to a magazine for seven shillings and sixpence when she was ten. She published her first novel, A Woman of Substance, in 1979. It went from bestseller to super seller within its first year and stayed on the New York Times’ list for 43 weeks.

Barbara’s beautiful website:
https://barbarataylorbradford.com/about/

The Lost Gift to the Italian Island by Barbara Josselsohn

Publication December 4, 2023-Bookouture-Historical Fiction-

Book Summary

Italy, 1943. With tears in her eyes, Giulia listens out for the sound of bombers flying overhead and thinks of the baby growing inside of her. Through the fabric of her lace dress her fingers touch the cold bullets carefully sewn into the seams. Luca might never forgive her, but she has to do this…

New York, present day. When Tori Coleman discovers that her mother was adopted, her whole world shatters. Jeremy, her boyfriend, wants to get married, but how can Tori commit when she doesn’t know who she truly is? The only clue to the identity of her biological family is a mysterious postcard with a photograph of an ornate wedding dress her grandmother Giulia made, which she’s told was gifted to a museum on an Italian island…

Tori arrives on Parissi Island, surrounded by turquoise Mediterranean waters, with the sweet smell of orange blossom filling the air. She soon finds the museum and learns that Giulia was Jewish, and secretly lived there during World War Two. She thought her grandmother abandoned her mother, but was she forced to leave and give up her child?

Just as she’s getting closer to answers, an unexpected call from Jeremy stops Tori in her tracks. As he passionately urges her to find out the truth, suddenly Tori wishes he were in Italy by her side, ready to propose again.

But then Tori is shocked to find bullets sewn into the lining of one of Giulia’s dresses and a notebook claiming she did something terrible during World War Two. Will the secrets in her family help her follow her own heart, or send her home from Italy with it finally broken forever?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab-(Link to Review of Book 1 Below Author Bio)

The Lost Gift to the Italian Island, Book #2 in the Sisters of War, follows the plight of Giulia, as she escapes Parissi Island during the Nazi invasion and becomes entangled in the Italian Resistance. Barbara Josselsohn’s dual timeline alternates between 1943, Italy, and present-day New York City with several threads of mystery, betrayal, and secrecy. Josselsohn explores themes of following one’s passion and understanding identity through main character, Tori, a seamstress with goals of opening her own studio. A client sends Tori a postcard from a museum in Italy with a picture of the perfect wedding dress; some would believe this a coincidence, others God’s plan. As the designer and seamstress of my own wedding gown, this was the hook for me. Tori decides a trip to Italy to discover her past is manageable if she treats it as a dress pattern, one step at a time- the perfect analogy. Sensory descriptions of the castle, Parissi Island, and the Mediterranean are the ultimate setting as Tori discovers that mistakes and misunderstandings are the pieces to her past.

While life lessons like choose life-give the future a chance, and the antidote to mistrust is connection, are important, I believe the key to The Lost Gift of the Italian Island is that “love transcends everything.” Tori’s promise from her mother is one that connects us all. “Wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”

Memorable historical details of situations with uplifting outcomes. Highly recommended.

A best-selling novelist with a background in newspaper reporting, Barbara Josselsohn loves crafting stories about protagonists facing a fork in the road. She is the author of six novels and has also written hundreds of articles and essays in major and regional publications about family, home and relationships. Barbara’s stunning website: https://barbarajosselsohn.com/

https://gratefulreader.home.blog/2023/05/11/secrets-of-the-italian-island-by-barbara-josselsohn/

To Spark a Match by Jen Turano

Publication November 14-Bethany House-Historical Romance-Gilded Age, Inspirational Fiction- 368pp

**SERIES:** **THE MATCHMAKERS (BOOK 2)**

Book Summary

After five unsuccessful Seasons on the marriage mart, Miss Adelaide Duveen has resigned herself to the notion that she’s destined to remain a spinster forever–a rather dismal prospect, but one that will allow her to concentrate on her darling cats and books. However, when she inadvertently stumbles upon Mr. Gideon Abbott engaged in a clandestine activity during a dinner party, Adelaide finds herself thrust into a world of intrigue that resembles the plots in the spy novels she devours.

Former intelligence agent Gideon Abbott feels responsible for Adelaide after society threatens to banish her because of the distraction she caused to save his investigation. Hoping to return the favor, he turns to a good friend–and one of high society’s leaders–to take Adelaide in hand and turn her fashionable. When danger surrounds them and Adelaide finds herself a target of the criminals in Gideon’s case, the spark of love between them threatens to be quenched for good–along with their lives.

Grateful Reader Review

Jen Turano, known for funny, quirky historical romance, has paired Adelaide, a breath of fresh air, with Gideon, an intense detective involved in a dangerous lifestyle. Adelaide is a 23-year-old lover of spy novels with no feminine skills or fashion sense, and a collector of cats! Adelaide nor her mother is looking forward to yet another New York Season of matchmaking. Turano steers readers from velvet curtained libraries and glittering dining rooms to a dusty, old bookshop with a circular staircase. Filled with witty humor, she deftly weaves society balls and incidents worthy of Adelaide’s spy novels with Gideon’s real life detective agency.

Bainswright Books, with its scent of old leather and dust, is Adelaide’s’ favorite bookshop. Turano’s vivid descriptions of the rambling rooms crammed full of tables laden with piles of books draws readers into Gideon’s quest to uncover a criminal organization. This is a perfect match for Adelaide’s obsession with spy novels and her detective skills. Customers, Vernon and Leopold, darling widowed matchmakers, add an extra measure of spice and cunning to the story.

Society’s perception is that Adelaide needs a “reputation restoration.” Turano’s depictions of Adelaide’s hilarious antics, the Savage Swans and the Bustle Uprising, might at first bring readers to the same conclusion. But Adelaide is genuinely brilliant, not at all shallow. As she swirls across the dance floor, she quickly discerns the false intentions of suitors as Turano is extremely adept at revealing honest human nature in each of her characters. Gideon’s genius introduction of a custom saddlebag for cats will have pet lovers falling for him along with Adelaide!

As the Season unfolds, Adelaide finds no satisfaction when she realizes another unfortunate young lady will take her place among society’s unacceptable. Lessons of compassion, kindness, and understanding portrayed through Adelaide’s treatment of others shine welcome beams of light into Jen Turano’s To Spark a Match.

A Gilded Age Romance filled with delightful, humorous banter and spy novel worthy detectives!

JEN TURANO

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. Jen’s delightful website: https://jenturano.com

Purchase Links & Formats: Paperback, eBook, Audiobook

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Match-Matchmakers-Book-ebook/dp/B0BW12TFMC

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-spark-a-match-jen-turano/1142992266

Chasing Eleanor by Kerry Chaput

Published October 2023-Black Rose Writing-Historical Fiction YA-277pp

**Historical Novels Review Magazine-Editor’s Choice**

Book Summary

Newly orphaned Magnolia Parker must protect her sick little brothers, but when the authorities send the boys to an unknown orphan asylum, Magnolia calls on her unwavering grit to bring them home. She’s lost everything but still has a secret weapon-a promise from Eleanor Roosevelt, the most famous woman in America. Setting out on a cross country quest, she befriends two unlikely travelers: Hop, a migrant worker with a big heart, and Red, a young girl traumatized into silence. Hunger and dust storms aren’t the only dangers this found family faces on the rails. After an assault, they’re forced to outrun the police, all while trying to track down the First Lady. But time is running out and Magnolia’s chance to reunite her siblings depends on one thing-finding Eleanor.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

First Published in Historical Novels Review Magazine-November 2023- Editor’s Choice Award

During the Great Depression in 1935, riding the rails and standing in breadlines was part of daily life. Kerry Chaput’s main character, Magnolia Parker is consumed with hate and fear as she lives to protect her brothers, seven- year- old “cute as a bug” Johnny, and tender hearted, twelve- year- old Oscar. Magnolia’s determination not to fail her brothers is fueled by her father’s abandonment, the accidental death of two-year-old Emily, and ultimately the death of her mother.

Chaput’s prose is boiling over with Magnolia’s sense of anger, drenching her with determination. After Chaput’s eloquent foreshadowing of the family being splintered apart Magnolia gains the strength and fortitude to search for her brothers, wondering if finding them will make her worthy. Penniless, overwhelmed with disappointment, and desperate, Magnolia finds work as a maid at the Pilot Butte Inn. A life-changing conversation with Eleanor Roosevelt leaves Magnolia finally feeling seen by Eleanor’s discerning heart and later a promise to help find the boys. Readers ride the rails from Oregon to Georgia with teens Magnolia, Hop, an Italian migrant worker, and Red, a traumatized run-away. Always searching for clues to trust each other, the teens’ pact and Eleanor’s promise to help, increases their resolve to find the brothers. Chaput’s narrative is packed with harrowing, gut-wrenching adventure and encrusted with pearls of wisdom Magnolia gathers from Eleanor’s MyTime column and newspaper articles. “Meet each struggle one at a time” jump starts Magnolia’s chase to find the First Lady. Chaput emboldens her characters with optimism, emotional intelligence, and wisdom gained over a lifetime.

The core theme in Kerry Chaput’s Chasing Eleanor is learning that forgiveness is a gift to yourself. Chaput’s novel, a love letter to Eleanor Roosevelt, reflects “Learning to love is an education in itself.” Highly recommended.

KERRY CHAPUT: All my stories explore the journey of young women, found family, and first love. I blend history, adventure, and magic into my own version of historical fantasy. I believe in inclusion and exploring the broad range of experiences with young women so my readers may see how truly diverse women’s history is. Born a California girl, I now live in Bend, Oregon where I can be found hiking and enjoying the amazing trails of the Pacific Northwest. I live with my husband, two children, and two dogs, sharing the love of Oregon and finding inspiration in the world around me. I hope you enjoy my stories as much as I love writing them. https://www.kerrywrites.com/

Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by Renée Rosen

Publication April 2023-Berkley-432pp

Book Summary

It’s 1938, and a young woman selling face cream out of a New York City beauty parlor is determined to prove she can have it all. Her name is Estée Lauder, and she’s about to take the world by storm, in this dazzling new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Social Graces and Park Avenue Summer.

In New York City, you can disappear into the crowd. At least that’s what Gloria Downing desperately hopes as she tries to reinvent herself after a devastating family scandal. She’s ready for a total life makeover and a friend she can lean on—and into her path walks a young, idealistic woman named Estée. Their chance encounter will change Gloria’s life forever.

Estée dreams of success and becoming a household name like Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein, and Revlon. Before Gloria knows it, she is swept up in her new friend’s mission and while Estée rolls up her sleeves, Gloria begins to discover her own talents. After landing a job at Saks Fifth Avenue, New York’s finest luxury department store, Gloria finds her voice, which proves instrumental in opening doors for Estée’s insatiable ambitions.

But in a world unaccustomed to women with power, they’ll each have to pay the price that comes with daring to live life on their own terms and refusing to back down.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab : This review was first published in the May 2023 issue of Historical Novels Review magazine.

New York City and its fashionable department store Saks Fifth Avenue is the setting for Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl. A chance encounter at a local beauty parlor turns into a complete makeover for Estée Lauder, Gloria Downing, and the cosmetic industry of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Rosen’s novel is written from fictional friend Gloria’s perspective as she is interviewed for an unauthorized biography of lifelong friend Estée Lauder. Rosen’s unique hook in the prologue is a question of whether Gloria will tell the truth or lie. Because Gloria knows everything.

Readers are familiar with the major names in the early cosmetic industry, Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein, and Revlon. Estée’s goal is to become a household name. She mixes skin care products in her tiny kitchen and Gloria, due to a family scandal is reinventing herself and looking for a job. Estée’s natural beauty and charisma paired with Gloria’s fashion sense make for a dynamite team and over the decades an explosive relationship develops.

Rosen’s well researched anecdotes highlight how the unlikely friends complement each other’s weaknesses with support and encouragement. Rosen accurately depicts Estée’s brash, tenacious personality which adds humor to unlikely, sometimes awkward situations on the beaches of Florida or the executive offices in NYC. The choices and expectations of women during the depression are perfectly blended with each young woman’s dreams, giving readers insights into how they each become independent and self-sufficient. Gloria goes out of her way to avoid men, and Estée runs toward them, providing readers situations for personal analysis and discussion.

Estée Lauder’s pioneering spirit and ingenuity have certainly had a lasting impact on the cosmetic industry. In Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl Renée Rosen’s themes of friendship, reinvention and family relationships are explored like the layers of a fine perfume.

COMPANION READ:

A Beautiful Rival by Gil Paul – The story of Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein; household names by the time Estee Lauder was mixing creams in her kitchen! Here’s the Grateful Reader review for readers:

https://gratefulreader.home.blog/2023/09/05/a-beautiful-rival-by-gil-paul/

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