Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese (2022)

Hester will be of particular interest to fans of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter as it is the author’s imagining of the woman who inspired the main character, Hester Prynne. For those forced to read The Scarlet Letter and hated the novel, Hester will have you reconsidering your opinion.

The heroine, Isobel Gamble is a gifted needleworker, with a very special talent she keeps hidden from the world. She and her husband Edward, an apothecary with a fondness for opium, leave Scotland for Salem, Massachusetts in the early 1800s to escape Edward’s growing debts. But only days after their arrival, Isobel learns Edward has signed up to be a medic on a departing trade ship. Isobel finds herself penniless and alone in a strange country where she must rely on her needle and her inner strength to make a life for herself.

When Isobel meets a young Nathaniel Hathorne, the two are instantly drawn to one other. They have much in common, Hathorne is haunted by his ancestor’s role in the city’s witch trials and Isobel is troubled by her own special talents. Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer as it becomes doubtful that Edward will ever return from the sea. Like Hester Prynne, Isobel finds Hathorne will not stand by her when she needs him the most.

Lico Albanese’s Hester includes vivid descriptions of the Salem witch trails in the late 1600s and the beginnings of the Underground Railroad in the early 19^th century, as well as a look into how immigrants were treated at that time. I found the book impossible to put down after Isobel arrives in America.

4.0 stars on Goodreads, 4.3 on Amazon

Blind Spots by Thomas Mullen (2023)

 

Seven years before the story begins, the entire world was hit with a fast moving virus (“The Blinding”), resulting in complete blindness for the entire population. Millions of people died that first year due to panic and the resulting drug overdoses, suicides, rioting, and fires. The following year, Eye Tech, now the most powerful corporation in the world, introduced a cranial implant called a vidder which downloads visual information directly into the brain on what the eyes should be seeing. Blind Spots is the story of what happens when someone learns to hack the technology and can change what the wearer sees.

Homicide detective Mark Owens has been on the force since before The Blinding. When a scientist is murdered and the only witness insists the killer was blacked out of her vision, Owens doesn’t believe her―until he experiences the phenomena himself. No one believes him either until they witness the same thing right before they die. Suspects range from the tech billionaire who designed the vidder to anti-modernity cultists. Owens must investigate them all knowing he can’t trust his own eyes. Parallel to the murder plotline is the internal affairs investigation into the suicide of Owens’s wife Jeanie.

The reader can’t help but draw parallels to today’s world- the COVID pandemic, those that get vaccine and those that won’t or can’t afford it, search engine type results, complete with pop-ups, fake news, and corporations that hold the real power. I found Blind Spots a fascinating read.

3.89 stars on Goodreads, 4.1 on Amazon

No Graves As Yet (Reavley #1) by Anne Perry (2003)

 

No Graves As Yet is the first in a five book series set during the years of World War I. This first book begins in the summer of 1914 and takes place in the area surrounding the University of Cambridge, England where life is peaceful until it is not.

The reader is first introduced to Joseph Reavley when his brother, Matthew, comes to Cambridge to inform him that their parents have been killed in a car accident. Joseph is a former chaplain who is now teaching at Cambridge and Matthew is an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, now known as MI6. Their father, Joseph, had been on his way to London to show Matthew a document he claimed proves a conspiracy reaching all levels of British government with the power to disgrace England forever and destroy the civilized world. That is all Matthew knows about the document, except that it is now missing.

Joseph and Matthew soon discover the accident was actually murder and set out to find the truth. It is not long after that that one of Joseph’s most gifted students, Sebastian Allard, is found murdered at Cambridge.  Sebastian seemed to be loved and admired by everyone who knew him. Why would anyone want to hurt him? Joseph is determined to find out.

Elsewhere, the Austrian archduke is murdered by a Serbian anarchist and England’s peaceful existence is threatened.

The book also introduces us to the Peacemaker character and his nefarious cousin who appear to be at the head of the conspiracy.  But just who are these two?  Joseph and Matthew are hot on their heels but you will have to read the other four titles in the series to find out who they really are.

Perry’s writing style in this series is very different from her other novels. It is very dense and every detail is carefully examined so this is not a fast read. But the reader will feel like they are right in the middle of the action.

3.68 stars on Goodreads, 4.2 on Amazon

Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #13) by Louise Penny (2017)

 

The Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series is set in the small village of Three Pines, Quebec near the Vermont border, where Gamache lives with his wife and a variety of quirky and lovable characters, all well developed by Penny throughout the series. For such a quiet, out of the way village, a lot happens here.

In Glass Houses, Gamache has been plucked from retirement to become the Chief Superintendent of the Surete du Quebec with the task of ridding the department of the corruption that has plagued it for years. The book begins with Gamache on the witness stand in a sweltering courtroom in Montreal’s Palais de Justice. The reader is told this is a murder trial but the names of the victim and the defendant aren’t revealed until much later in the story. As Gamache testifies, the mystery unfolds for the reader. This unique story structure will not appeal to everyone but I found it refreshing.

It all begins when a tall, hooded, and masked figure appears in the green of Three Pines’ Village the day after the annual Halloween party. Gamache and the villagers are at first curious and then wary as the costumed figure never moves or speaks, all the time staring ahead at the village bistro. Or is it staring at someone inside? As no laws are being broken, there is nothing Gamache can do by watch, much to the dismay of his fellow villages. Gamache is correct that the figure has deep roots in the past and is there for some dark purpose. That purpose is to collect a debt of conscience. As its purpose becomes know, each of the villagers must examine his or her conscience. Is the masked figure there for them?

When the figure vanishes after four days and the body is discovered in the church basement, Gamache must discover who the figure was trying to shame. At the same time Gamache is overseeing a complex investigation into Canadian drug cartels and struggling with his own conscience about the decisions he has made. Little does he know, his two cases will collide and bring him right back to that quite, little village.

Penny writes each Gamache book to stand on its own and I had no problem following the story without having read any of the other titles in the series.

4.32 stars on Goodreads, 4.7 on Amazon.

The Christmas Hummingbird by Davis Bunn (Miramar Bay, #7) (2022)

 

Fighting an out-of-season wildfire in Miramar Bay, California is not the way any one wants to celebrate the Christmas season but that is the backdrop for The Christmas Hummingbird.

Ryan Eames is a policewoman and single mother to an artistically gifted son who doesn’t communicate with the rest of the world, Liam. Exhausted by the double shifts required by the fire, Ryan is responsible for getting people out of their homes before the fire reaches them. One of whom is Ethan Lange who now has only the clothes on his back.

Ethan is a bank Vice-President and creates concept sets in miniature for a movie producer in his spare time. At the time of the fire, Ethan had just been commissioned to come up with a set idea for the movie adaption of book one of the Elvin Child series, a favorite of his childhood novel  Before the story ends he is also a volunteer fire fighter, working with the police.

With the police force already stretched to its limits, Ethan is deputized and assigned to help Ryan protect the belongings in the destroyed homes with wealthy, absentee owners from the professional thieves operating in the area.  As the two get to know each other, Ethan is introduced to Liam.  Much to Ryan’s surprise, Liam opens up to Liam and even shares his drawings which even his mother isn’t allowed to see.  Together they forge a plan to save the hummingbirds whose habitat is being destroyed by the fire.

Although this is a love story, the real star of the book is the hummingbird and the lessons we can learn from them. They figure prominently throughout the story.

The story moves very quickly but is a little too sweet for my taste.  I also felt the author went overboard with all of Ethan’s great ideas for the town and his almost instant connection to Liam. However, if there ever is a time for a story tied up in a perfect bright red bow, it is Christmas.

4.02 stars on Goodreads, 4.7 on Amazon

Remember Love by Mary Balogh (Ravenswood #1) (2022)

 

Mary Balogh is my favorite Regency author and Remember Love is just another reason why. It is the love story of Devlin Ware, the heir to the Earl of Stratton, and Gwyneth Rhys but the road to their happy ever after is not an easy one.  Both have loved each other from afar while thinking the other despised them. They have one beautiful day together when they confess their love for each other and look forward to a beautiful future.  That evening a scandal rips the Ware family apart and Devlin is banished from his family home forever.

Feeling betrayed by what he always believed to be true and the mother and woman he loved, Devlin enlists in the fight against Napoleon and didn’t look back for six years. He thrusts his family and Gwyneth behind a mental wall, behind which he never visits. His only contact with his old world is his half-brother Ben who travels with him.

When Devlin returns two years after the death of his father, he is a changed man. His face bears a nasty scar, he has lost the ability to feel, and his family and friends are virtual strangers. Everyone has been scarred by the scandal Devlin unknowingly unleashed.

After the shock of seeing what Devlin has become, Gwyneth is convinced the Devlin she knew and loved is still in there, buried deep but struggling to come out. And she feels it will be her love for Devlin that will help him learn to love and trust again and heal all their fractured lives.

The book starts slowly as the reader is introduced to all the members of the Ware family and their relationship to one another. No one paints a character or a place as thoroughly as Mary Balogh and it can be a bit tedious. After learning all about the idyllic world of the Wares and their Ravenswood home, the rug is thorn out for under everyone.

The next book in the series, Remember Me, is due out the end of June 2023.  Mary Balogh has written a number of different series and you really can’t go wrong with any of them but I highly recommend her Survivor’s Club series.

4.06 stars on Goodreads, 4.5 on Amazon

Coming Home for Christmas (Haven Point #10) by RaeAnne Thayne (2019)

 

Luke Hamilton’s wife Elizabeth disappeared without a word seven years before the story begins, leaving Luke to care for their two young children. Luke has known for several months now that Elizabeth is indeed alive and living in Oregon but he wanted nothing to do with the woman who had deserted him. That is until Luke learns he is to be arrested for her murder. Determined to prove his innocence, Luke knows he has to bring Elizabeth home and present her to the district attorney.

What Luke finds in Oregon is not what he expected. The woman who says she is Elizabeth has her eyes and voice but looks totally different, has a visible limp, and goes by the name Sonia Davis. Luke has no interest in finding out why Elizabeth never contacted him and the reader doesn’t learn the entire backstory until Elizabeth meets with the DA. A car accident had left her disfigured and with a traumatic brain injury (“TBI”) that stole her memory but that’s only part of the story.

Neither Luke nor Elizabeth really understand what the other has been through during the past seven years. As they get reacquainted – Elizabeth and Luke, and Elizabeth and the children – things are not always easy but Christmas is the time of miracles.

This is not your typical Christmas romance. Elizabeth’s TBI plays a large part in the story, as well as the depression that caused her to run in the first place.

4.17 stars on Goodreads, 4.7 on Amazon

This book is not available at EPL. Ask any of the reference librarians to get it for you from an area library.

Gabriel’s Angel by Nora Roberts (1989)

 

Though this looks and sounds like a Christmas title, it is not. However, if you are looking for a wholesome, easy to read romance, Gabriel’s Angel is for you. The story follows the age-old formula – girl on the run, saved by the boy, and they both get snowed in and fall in love but with a Roberts twist. Laura is the girl on the run, trying to escape the family of her abusive, now deceased husband who want to take her soon-to-be-born child away from her. Gabriel (“Gabe”) is a famous painter who has sought refuge in an isolated mountain cabin following the death of his younger brother. As one would expect, the sparks fly, and Gabe proposes marriage to protect Laura and the unborn child.

As the snow clears, the new family returns to Gabe’s home in San Francisco. Although Gabe knows Laura’s whole story, he has yet to tell Laura what drove him to the mountains where she met him. Both know that the fight for the child is not over, and Laura works to gain the strength and confidence she will need to be successful against her in-laws when they finally catch up with her.

Roberts, who now has written more than 225 romance novels is known for creating   well rounded characters. In Gabriel’s Angel the reader can almost feel the love, gratitude and strength of the characters and the evil in the family Laura is attempting to escape.  Roberts also writes mysteries and fantasy books under the pseudonym J.D. Robb.

3.90 stars on Goodreads, 4.5 on Amazon

Santa's Little Yelpers (Andy Carpenter #26) by David Rosenfelt (2022)

 

This was my first foray into the world of Andy Carpenter and I will definitely be visiting again. Andy is a defense attorney who doesn’t want to practice law and has an aversion to talking on the phone. And he always manages to get roped into both.

Throughout the book I felt Andy was sitting in my living room telling me all about his latest case, complete with wise cracks and asides. Secondary characters receive the same treatment, as well as Andy’s three dogs. I was laughing out loud at the author’s description of Andy’s basset hound, having owned one myself.

Santa's Little Yelpers has very little to do with the puppies on the cover. Rather it deals with their caregiver, Chris Myers, an ex-con who has always maintained he was innocent of the crime for which he was convicted. When the main witness against Chris recants his testimony, Chris asks Andy to help him get the decision overturned.  When that witness is murdered just after recanting his recant, all trails lead once again to Chris.

Andy and his private investigator wife are convinced Chris was framed for both crimes and set out to determine by whom. In addition to his wife, Andy works with a large team with a diverse collection of talents. It was very entertaining to be introduced to all of Andy’s vice presidents in charge of … There always seemed to be one when he needed it. The road to proving Chris innocent had many twists, turns, and dead-ends before reaching its satisfying conclusion.

The library owns 18 other titles in this series, including three other Christmas titles.

4.35 stars on Goodreads, 4.7 on Amazon

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais (2022)

 

Moonshyne Manor is home to a sisterhood of five octogenarian witches, one of them being a ghost and another returning from somewhere, who spend their days running a distillery out of the manor that has been their home for most of their lives. The story begins with an angry mob of townspeople who want the manor foreclosed on due to a defaulted mortgage and demolished to make room for an amusement park named Man’s World.

In addition to being behind on the mortgage payments, the witches face another threat in the form of a relative of the former owner who is determined to get revenge for the theft of the manor he claims was rightfully his. Although each sister has her own unique magical skill and was once a very powerful witch, their powers are diminishing with each passing year. In an attempt to set things right, Queenie, the unofficial head of the sisterhood, makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced.

The witches’ are aided by a young girl named who is eager to smash the patriarchy that exists in the town. Though the witches don’t want to interact with her at first, Persephone becomes very important to the story. As the foreclosure deadline approaches, fractures among the sisterhood are revealed, and secrets are exposed, all leading up to a fiery confrontation with their enemies.

Each of the characters has a complete backstory and the reader will want to root for them. Marais often makes mention of events that have yet to happen or have happened in the past but doesn’t fill the reader in until much later in the book. That if nothing else will keep you reading.

Includes recipes for all the potions mentioned.

3.83 stars on Goodreads, 4.3 on Amazon

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (2022)

 

Mika Moon is a 31 year-old witch in England. Orphaned at a young age, she was raised by fellow witch Primrose Everly. As a child, all Mika’s basic needs were provided for her but her time with Primrose was limited and none of the household was allowed to stay if they got a hint of Mika’s magical powers. Between Primrose’s absence and that fact the governesses never stayed long, Mika is convinced she is unlovable.

Mika has been taught to hide her magical abilities and stay away from other witches for fear of drawing attention to their powers. Being a bit of a rebel, Mika uploads a series of videos to the Internet of herself pretending to be a witch making potions. Elderly actor Ian Kubo-Hawthorn is convinced Mika is the real deal and asks her to interview for a job at Nowhere House. Nowhere House is the home of three young witches whom Ian wants Mika to teach to control their magical powers. Mika learns that the youngsters have been adopted by a witch who, much like Primrose is absent the majority of the year.

Taking the job breaks all the rules but Mika accepts the position. She arrives in her yellow hatchback named The Broomstick out of which she retrieves her potions, greenhouse, coy pond, and a golden retriever.

As Mika settles in at Nowhere House, she begins to think she might have found a place where she belongs after all but that is threatened when she discovers the real reason she was invited to Nowhere House and the secret all the adults have been hiding. With that knowledge comes danger and Mika must decide what she is willing to risk to protect Nowhere House and the inhabitants who have become like family.

Mika has a great personality and sense of humor and her sense of loneliness and lack of connection to others really comes through. The book’s other characters, the children, Ian, two long-suffering caretakers, and Jamie, the handsome and prickly librarian are all full of life as well and they all add to the story. Each has a distinct personality and readers are clued into their feelings as well as their unspoken thoughts.

Ultimately this is a story about recognizing what you need and then going after it. It's about finding people you love who love you back and making a home and a life with them even if it’s not the one you expected or how you were told it should be.

4.27 stars Goodreads, 4.5 on Amazon

By Her Own Design by Piper Huguley (2022)

 

By Her Own Design is author Piper Huguley’s fictional account of the life of Ann Lowe, the first African American to become a noted fashion designer. Throughout her up and down career, Ann only worked for members of the social register and never repeated a design. She is best known for her fabric flowers and designing the dress worn by Jacqueline Bouvier when she married John F. Kennedy but fame did not come until after Ann's death.

Ann learns the art of sewing from her grandmother, a former slave, and her mother who were thought to be the most talented seamstresses in the state of Alabama. She excels at many flower embellishments and offers them for sale.

Ann dreams of becoming a celebrated designer but puts the dream on hold when she elopes at 12 with an older tailor. When a Tampa socialite sees Ann's talent she offers to take Ann back to Tampa to sew and design clothing for Florida's society elite she walks away from her abusive marriage with her young son.

Ann faced many struggles during her 40-year career, which began in the 1920s. The author does justice to both the ups and downs in Ann’s live and writes an engaging novel.

 4.48 stars on Goodreads, 4.7 on Amazon

This book is not available at EPL. Ask any of the reference librarians to get it for you from an area library.

The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick (2022)

 

What book lover could resist a title like this? The Messy Lives of Book People is a story of self-discovery with a bit of mystery on the side. The main character, Liv Green, cleans for a living and is thrilled when she is hired by her favorite author, the reclusive Esse Starling. Esse is responsible for creating the character Georgia Rory who Liv has loved and admired since the first installment of the series. Soon a tenuous friendship begins between the two.

When Esse dies suddenly, Liv is shocked to learn Esse’s last wishes were that her death be kept secret until a specific date six months in the future and that Liv finish writing the last Georgia Rory novel. Liv is someone of an expert on all things Georgia Rory, having read the books over and over. The chance to actually fulfill her dream to write is an opportunity Liz cannot pass up, even though it means lying to her family for the foreseeable future.

Liv, who has always been somewhat of a doormat, tackles the task by channeling Esse. She works in Esse’s penthouse, dresses in Esse’s clothes, and makes a point to get to know the people in Esse’s past. Liv is determined to find out what happened to turn the popular Esse into the demanding recluse she knew. Liv is sure that once she knows the secret, the remaining eight chapters of the manuscript will write themselves. While discovering the real Esse, Liz finds herself, as well as why Esse chose her to complete her legacy.

The first few chapters had me considering returning the book to the library, but I’m glad I continued reading.  It was worth the effort.

3.71 stars on Goodreads, 4.3 on Amazon