REVIEW: The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

REVIEW:

After reading The Stolen Queen, you better believe I will be reading Fiona Davis's backlist. I found the story to be well researched and engaging as it flips between the stories of Annie and Charlotte, two women who find themselves with a common end goal. 

The Stolen Queen starts with the story of Charlotte as she reflects on her life as a young woman in Egypt, trying to make a career as an anthropologist. We learn about her experiences there, interspersed with her current day life, working at the Met. As we get to know her and understand how and why she's where she is, we also get to know Annie. Annie is a young woman, struggling to make ends meet and to find her place in the world. Just when it seems like she's found something that might be a good fit, her entire world gets flipped upside down because of a heist at the Met. Through a series of related events, she and Charlotte work together to try to find the stolen work and get answers to  how it all went down. 

The stories of Charlotte and Annie were interesting and hard to put down. This isn't my normal read, and I'm so glad I picked it up. If you like historical fiction, pick this one up. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/4htjb0M

SYNOPSIS:

From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that 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. But after an unbearable tragedy strikes, Charlotte knows her future will never be the same.

New York City, 1978: Eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for iconic 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.” Though Annie soon realizes she’ll have her work cut out for her, scrambling to meet Diana’s capricious demands and exacting standards.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art, wants little to do with the upcoming gala. She’s consumed with her research on Hathorkare—a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.

That is, until the night of the gala. When one of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing . . . and there are signs Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening.

As Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they’re to 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.

 

REVIEW: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

REVIEW

If you are following along, it's evident that I went on a Kristin Hannah kick; I was so curious about the novels that the interwebs kept raving about, so I got on the Libby waiting list for The Nightingale. Here's what I'm starting to understand about Kristin Hannah books: 

• prepare for the emotional rollercoaster
• are set in historically accurate and important time periods
• the novel will be well researched
• there's a twist (because, duh, what novel doesn't have that?), but it's usually not hard to predict

I can definitely see why readers fell in love with this novel: it features a time period that is important, and currently relevant: WWII, has two wildly different sisters who experience the war very differently, has lots of interesting and horrifying details, and spans decades--so it feels like a rich and satisfying read. I, too, enjoyed (if you can say that you enjoy reading about truly horrifying events?) reading this novel, and I'm pretty selective these days about which WWII novels I read. I'll be honest, I was prepared not to like it because I thought it might be overhyped, but it was actually really interesting and I cared about Vianne and Isabelle. They each had such varied and different experiences and handled the hard upbringing and hardships and obstacles of WWII very differently, and yet, the love that they had for each other and the people they surrounded themselves with was deep and abiding, though not always obvious to each other. 

The Nightingale probably won't beat out The Women, but it's probably on par with it. They're both memorable and engaging and will leave any reader with experiences that are hard to forget.

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/4aUE4PN

SYNOPSIS:

In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says good-bye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gaëtan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.

 

REVIEW: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

 

OUR REVIEW:

After reading The Women by Kristin Hannah, I found myself very curious about her other works, so when this The Great Alone went on sale, I grabbed it. After reading it, I can definitely see that her curiosity about the impacts of Vietnam had to have been piqued, as it feels like the little sister novel of The Women. She explores PTSD via a male secondary character and his family. We see the damage that it wreaks on a family as they learn to survive in the beautiful, but unforgiving, land of Alaska. Leni and her mother try to weather the storms of her father, but as the days get darker and shorter, living with him gets harder and harder. 

The novel is filled with the beautiful and wild landscape of Alaska, as well as the people who migrate there. It's harsh and yet filled with community and love...and paranoia. We follow Leni from her early teen years to her adulthood as she struggles to find herself and what makes her heart sing. It's not the easiest novel to read, and not my favorite of Kristin Hannah's, but it was definitely a compelling read. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3CJCpA4

SYNOPSIS:

Alaska, 1974.
Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.

REVIEW: The Wedding People by Alison Espach

 

OUR REVIEW:

I have no idea how I came across The Wedding People but I found it or it found me and so with the thanks of the Libby app, I got to see what all of the hype was about. 

The novel doesn't have traditional chapters and is instead divided by days of the week, leading up to the wedding. And truth be told, after reading day one, I wasn't sure if I was going to finish it. It felt a little weighed down in details and in a headspace I wasn't sure I wanted to be in. It felt a little slow. But, I try to abide by my 20% rule (to give a novel up to 20% to hook me before I decide whether or not I want to keep reading it or not) and so I stuck with it and ended up really enjoying it. 

It starts with Phoebe drowning in a pit of despair and loathing. She's arrived at a most magnificent resort-like inn to off herself. Little does she know that she has checked herself into a place that was reserved for a wedding. She finds herself swept up in the wedding festivities--the wedding of Lila--and it's just the thing to dissuade her from her original plans. She gets to know Lila--a mix of spoiled and observant and honest and dishonest--and her groom, as she also gets to know herself. In the span of a week, Phoebe has an opportunity to reinvent herself, to become the woman that she wants to be, not the woman she felt like she should be or had to be, and through that finds a chance to live a life that feels more like her. 

After the first wedding day, the rest of the novel felt lighter and more entertaining and engaging. I found that I liked Phoebe and understood her so much better than I thought I could. The wedding party was filled with characters ...and I do mean characters. 

As the days of the week passed, I enjoyed the novel more and more and found that it had some pretty insightful moments. I'm glad I stuck with it. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3Ev8xb7

SYNOPSIS:

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

REVIEW: Heartwood by Amity Gaige

OUR REVIEW:

 A contemplative read about mother's and daughters and what happens when you feel loved and seen and heard. While the story itself is about a woman who is missing on the Appalachian Trail, it's really a story of how these women see themselves in the lives they lead and how they view their relationships with their mothers and how those relationships seemed to color a lot of the way they moved through the world.  And as deep as that may sound (or not), it was not as profound as I thought it would be...interestingly enough. I enjoyed it and found the ending to be satisfying, but I think I was hoping for some sort of deep truth, and that didn't happen for me. Instead what I got was a solid read that was entertaining and thoughtful. 

*Comes out April 1st, 2025*

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/4hHNDno

SYNOPSIS:

In the heart of the Maine woods, an experienced Appalachian Trail hiker goes missing. She is forty-two-year-old Valerie Gillis, who has vanished 200 miles from her final destination. Alone in the wilderness, Valerie pours her thoughts into fractured, poetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping.

At the heart of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who leads the search on the ground. Meanwhile, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut retirement community, becomes an unexpected armchair detective. Roving between these compelling narratives, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search, as Valerie’s disappearance may not be accidental.

Heartwood is a “gem of a thousand facets—suspenseful, transporting, tender, and ultimately soul-mending,” (Megan Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A Burning) that tells the story of a lost hiker’s odyssey and is a moving rendering of each character’s interior journey. The mystery inspires larger questions about the many ways in which we get lost, and how we are found. At its core, Heartwood is a redemptive novel, written with both enormous literary ambition and love.

REVIEW: A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

OUR REVIEW:

A Jingle Bell Mingle is the final book in this fun series. We get to revisit our favorite characters and town, Christmas Notch, in the story of Sunny and Isaac. She's a burst of sunshine and he's Mr. Broody. She's got writer's block, as does he. Solution? Live together and help each other get back to writing. In a surprise to no one, except the characters, they fall for each other, despite the lies they tell themselves. 

Funny, steamy, and heartfelt, A Jingle Bell Mingle is a cute final novel in this series.

BUY IT HERE: https://amzn.to/4gs0Oc5

SYNOPSIS:

What happens when there’s no room at the inn and you and your potentially demonic cat become roommates with your grumpy one-night stand?

Part-time adult film actress/one-time adult film director/makeup artist Sunny Palmer has accidentally sold her very first screenplay to the Hope Channel. That was six months ago. Fast forward to a looming deadline, an uninspired Sunny has returned to the source of her inspiration in Christmas Notch, Vermont, to immerse herself in the local Christmas miracle on which her fever dream of a movie pitch was based.

Isaac Kelly, former boy band heartthrob and the saddest boy in the music biz, is the latest owner of the town’s historic mansion. After his years of heartbreak following his young wife’s death, Isaac’s record label is done waiting for new music. What better place to attempt his first holiday album than a snow-covered mansion where he can become a hermit in peace?

But after their best friends’ wedding leads to them waking up together in a freezing motel room with questionable wiring and a broken shower, Isaac takes a chance and asks Sunny to stay with him at his home. Surely the place is big enough that he’ll hardly see her or her unhinged cat. But when the two discover they’re both creatively blocked, they make a handshake deal: Isaac will help Sunny hunt down the truth behind the local lore, and Sunny will find Isaac a new muse.

And with these two opposites under one roof, there’s no way this jingle bell mingle could go off script…right?

 

REVIEW: Back in the Saddle by Kristen Ashley

 

OUR REVIEW:

You absolutely know that KA is on our automatic buy list and that the minute she's released her latest book into the wild, we're jumping on it. So jump on Back in the Saddle we did. 

This novel is the second in the Avenging Angels series and follows Jessie and Eric. We met Jessie in book 1 and Eric wayyyy back in the Rock Chick days and it's apparent, very quickly, that they're going to be a really good fit for each other. She's sassy, he's accepting of that. He's careful and assertive but not in an aggressive way, she's impulsive and caring, in a usually smart but sometimes not way (ala Rock Chicks). They both have some challenging family things. They're both surrounded by friends who care for them and are protective of them. Check, check, check. And now, they're both involved in trying to resolve an issue using their resources as an Angel and a Nightingale Security/former FBI dude. It starts with Jessie's missing brother and soon morphs into a bigger situation that draws in all of the guys (and Angels) and help from Denver. Throughout it all, we get a little more invested in all of the new characters and this new world we're in, while also enjoying the characters we've known and loved for years.

Back in the Saddle had many of the qualities of a KA book we love: funny interactions with fun characters, intrigue, shenanigans, and a happily ever after. This particular novel felt like a bridge novel to me--a novel that is building the world and back story of the Angels and the new men who'll love them, leaving lots of holes and questions to be answered, while also engaging us in the story at hand. Can't wait for the next one!

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3DpZPdE

SYNOPSIS:

Jessie Wylde is on a secret mission. She’s trying to find her brother. She hasn’t told her friends; this is about family.

She doesn’t think it’s dangerous.

Eric Turner disagrees.

Eric is a member of the Nightingale Investigations and Security team. Therefore, Eric knows what he’s talking about.

Eric isn’t only badass, he’s also a seriously gorgeous guy, and Jessie has a huge crush on him. She doesn’t think he knows she exists…until now.

Eric steps in, and so do Jessie’s besties, the Avenging Angels. Soon, the Angels and the Hottie Squad are on the case to find Jessie’s missing sibling.

There’s more happening when it comes to Eric, though. Jessie’s so worried about her brother, she’s not paying attention. Eric sets about changing that, and just like all the Hot Bunch before him, when he finds his one, he doesn’t mess around.

However, something is afoot in Phoenix. And as the Angels uncover the sinister workings behind people going missing, and Eric and Jessie unpack their emotional baggage, the Angels dive deeper into the dark underbelly of the city…

Finding heroes, more hot guys, lots of hijinks…and heart.

REVIEW: Let's Call a Truce by Amy Buchanan

 

OUR REVIEW

Let's Call a Truce was a happy surprise. It's not often these days that I get to read a brand spanking new author's work and it's rarer that I enjoy it as much as I enjoyed this one. I really enjoyed how much fun it was reading Juliana and Ben's bickering and their ultimate capitulation into the romance fueled, initially, by all of their sexual tension. As we get to know them both, we discover their histories that make it difficult to move forward, which only serves to make us want them together even that much more. I enjoyed how much their lives overlapped and what an obviously good pair they made. I enjoyed their banter, the secondary characters, and even the yucky stuff that had to happen in order for them to realize that they needed to be together. My only complaint, a minor one, was that the build up to their getting together sometimes seemed a little repetitive or maybe I was just impatient for them to get to the good stuff? Ultimately, though, I was very happy with how it all played out and it was a solid 4 star read for me. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3yAQWfg

SYNOPSIS:

LET’S CALL A TRUCE is a sexy contemporary romance about second chances at life and love, bursting with humor and a touch of angst from debut author, Amy Buchanan.

After Juliana Ryan's husband dies unexpectedly, leaving her with two grieving kids and a stunted career from years as a stay-at-home mom, she has no choice but to make it work all on her own. But her confidence crashes around her when[AB1] she overhears her condescending but infuriatingly attractive new colleague, Ben Thomas, talking about how her kids and inexperience are a liability the company can’t afford. This sets off a feud between the two, as Juliana vows to prove him wrong.

Two years later, their feud rages on, but it may be charged with something they aren't willing to admit. When they are forced onto a career-making project together, Juliana has no choice but to call a truce. As their lives become more intertwined in and out of the office, Juliana finds it hard to ignore Ben’s perpetual smile and charming determination. What started as a truce grows into more, as boardroom-clearing arguments turn to desk-clearing kisses. Could the man she deemed her nemesis understand her life–her stress and responsibilities–better than anyone?

But just when Juliana decides to open her heart again, Ben’s past threatens their newfound bliss, and she has to figure out whether this second chance at love is worth it after all.

REVIEW: All the Missing Pieces by Catherine Cowles

OUR REVIEW:

It's been a while since I've read a Catherine Cowles novel and I'm glad that All the Missing Pieces was the novel I decided to try; it had an interesting premise and romance and it sounded like just the thing to cure my book slump; it was (and I'm happy to say it's launched a week of good reading). 

As you can see from the synopsis, this novel features a small town sheriff (Colt), a true crime podcaster (Ridley), and a cold case. Sounds good, right? Well, as you get deeper into the narrative, all of those things thread together in the most readable way. 

The novel starts off with an absolute tragedy for Ridley, which is the thing that launched her current career, and has her searching for clues for a cold case in the small town that Colt oversees as sheriff. As Ridley begins to uncover new details of the cold case, Colt finds it impossible to control her and ends up housing her in his home to keep her safe. These two instantly seem to rub each other the wrong way, which bodes well for all of us romance lovers, because even though they aren't enemies, they annoy each other and it's fun to read that, knowing that all of that annoyance is really just hiding attraction and curiosity.

As Ridley gets closer to solving the case, things get more dangerous, Colt gets more protective, and their romance blossoms. Throw in some small town tropes and that mystery of whodunit, and you have yourself a read easy to escape into. Now, of course, I'm eager to read the next novel in this series because I know it'll be a fun read. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3ZAmmxj

SYNOPSIS:

Sometimes the last thing you expect is exactly what you need, the final missing piece. And sometimes it comes in the form of a towering, broody sheriff, determined to get in your way at every step.

Ridley Sawyer knows what it’s like to miss someone, to feel like a piece of her vanished—because it happened to her the night her twin sister disappeared.

Now, Ridley channels that loss into hope, traveling the country covering cold cases for her true crime podcast. She might not have found justice for her sister but that doesn’t stop her from finding it for others.

Until Sheriff Colter Brooks gets in her way.

Colt knows what it’s like to have reporters descend on his town in the wake of a tragedy, and he’s not about to let a fiery podcaster stir up trouble. It doesn’t matter that her haunting blue eyes tell him there’s more to Ridley’s story or that he can’t stop imagining what it would be like to touch her.

But when Ridley’s cold case turns hot and she’s thrust into the crosshairs, Colt has no choice but to step in. Suddenly, Ridley’s living at his house, drinking his whiskey, and stealing his dog’s affections. But she’s also proving that she’s so much more than his first impression.

And as they get closer to the truth, the game they’ve been playing might just turn deadly…