Tag: Book List

Weyward by Emilia Hart

This was my Book Club pick this month and it was a fantastic read! It also provided a rich conversation and analysis.

See below for description.

“A brave and original debut, Weyward is a spellbinding story about what may transpire when the natural world collides with a legacy of witchcraft.” ––Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The London Séance Society

I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family’s grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart’s Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

If you haven’t read a Grady Hendrix book yet, you’re missing out. I first became familiar with Hendrix after reading The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. It was disgusting, terrifying, hilarious and absolutely fabulous! How to Sell a Haunted House is Hendrix’s newest book and it very much lives up to Hendrix expectations.

Read below for full description.

New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a thrilling new novel that explores the way your past—and your family—can haunt you like nothing else.

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. Louise doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.

Most of all, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market.

But some houses don’t want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them…

Like his novels The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and The Final Girl Support Group, How to Sell a Haunted House is classic Hendrix: equal parts heartfelt and terrifying—a gripping new read from “the horror master” (USA Today).

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas

I love Isabel Canas books. Her lyrical language and supernatural versions of classic genres are no short of pure magic. I first discovered her when I read The Hacienda last year. The Hacienda is Rebecca set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence and was a true gothic story.

Vampires of El Norte is Canas version of a supernatural Western.

See a full description below.

Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.

What are your favorite haunted reads and which books on my Halloween Book List for Adults will make your reading list?

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Dive into the Best Summer Reads 2023

These books were worth their beach bag weight and made a splash this summer!

Summer is sadly coming to an end here. We just returned from the last of our summer travels and my kids return to school next week. How fast it all flew by! But I was fortunate enough to enjoy some fantastic books this summer. I read a lot this summer, so trust me when I say I had plenty to hold these up against. These were my true favorites- all five star ratings! So join me below to see my best summer reads 2023!

Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino

I technically got this early as part of my Amazon First Reads program. But, it’s available for Pre-Order and comes out Sept 1st.

What a fantastic read! I absolutely loved this book. Don’t Forget to Write, takes place in 1960 when twenty-something, Marilyn, gets caught kissing a boy during synagogue. Upon refusing to marry him, she gets sent to spend the summer with her strict, great-aunt, Ada. However, Ada is far from the punishment she expects and instead Marilyn ends up learning lessons about love and what she wants for herself that she’ll carry for a lifetime.

See the full description below:

In 1960, a young woman discovers a freedom she never knew existed in this exhilarating, funny, and emotional novel by the bestselling author of She’s Up to No Good.When Marilyn Kleinman is caught making out with the rabbi’s son in front of the whole congregation, her parents ship her off to her great-aunt Ada for the summer. If anyone can save their daughter’s reputation, it’s Philadelphia’s strict premier matchmaker. Either that or Marilyn can kiss college goodbye.To Marilyn’s surprise, Ada’s not the humorless septuagenarian her mother described. Not with that platinum-blonde hair, Hermès scarf, and Cadillac convertible. She’s sharp, straight-talking, takes her job very seriously, and abides by her own rules….mostly. As the summer unfolds, Ada and Marilyn head for the Jersey shore, where Marilyn helps Ada scope out eligible matches―for anyone but Marilyn, that is.Because if there’s one thing Marilyn’s learned from Ada, it’s that she doesn’t have to settle. With the school year quickly approaching and her father threatening to disinherit her, Marilyn must make her choice for her future: return to the comfortable life she knows or embrace a risky, unknown path on her own.

Homecoming by Kate Morton

Ok, this is not a “light” read. I’m also going to lay out the trigger warning- there are child deaths in this book. And there is suspected filicide (mother killing self and children). I thought that would be a deal breaker for me, but Kate Morton’s writing is so magical and thoughtful, I needed to keep reading to discover what really happened. I’m so glad I did, because I loved, loved this book!

See below for full description.

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek on the grounds of a grand country house, a local man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most baffling murder investigations in the history of South Australia.Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for two decades, she now finds herself unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and is seriously ill in the hospital.At Nora’s house, Jess discovers a true crime book chronicling a long-buried police case: the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. It is only when Jess skims through its pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this notorious event – a mystery that has never been satisfactorily resolved.An epic story that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, how we protect the lies we tell, and what it means to come home. Above all, it is an intricate and spellbinding novel from one of the finest writers working today.

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

If you’ve seen me in person this summer, I’ve most likely already recommended this book to you. Because I really have been recommending it to everyone I see. I love, love Fiona Davis. She’s on my auto-buy list and I had pre-ordered this book long before it came out. I’m so glad I did, because it truly was- Spectacular!

See below for what makes this book so awesome!

New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion is over the moon to have been selected to be one of the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall’s glamorous precision-dancing troupe. It’s an honor to perform in the world’s most spectacular theater, an art deco masterpiece. But with four shows a day as well as grueling rehearsals, not to mention exacting standards of perfection to live up to, Marion quickly realizes that the life of a Rockette has both extraordinary highs and devastating lows.Then one night a bomb explodes in the theater. It’s only the latest in a string of explosions around the city orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the “Big Apple Bomber.” They have been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a years long manhunt, the police, at Marion’s urging, turn in desperation to a radical new technique: psychological profiling.As Marion finds herself pulled deeper into the investigation, she realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. But she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.

I hope you enjoyed and feel inspired to pick up one of these great reads for yourself. Happy Reading!
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What Do Great Books & Road Trips Have in Common?

They both take you on incredible adventures, have unexpected twists and hopefully leave you wanting more!

It’s that time of summer where everyone’s cleared out of the DC area. Swim team’s over. School begins in a few weeks. Everyone is squeezing in their family vacations. We’re hitting the road ourselves for a NY beach trip and “glamping” with family. So, to get in the mood, I’ve put together a fun Road Trip Themed Book List. Enjoy!

In the Face of the Sun by Denny S. Bryce

This is an inspiring dual narrative, journey themed tale. Bryce weaves together two powerful stories as they unfold decades apart. See full description below.

1928, Los Angeles: The newly-built Hotel Somerville is the hotspot for the city’s glittering African-American elite. It embodies prosperity and dreams of equality for all—especially Daisy Washington. An up-and-coming journalist, Daisy anonymously chronicles fierce activism and behind-the-scenes Hollywood scandals in order to save her family from poverty. But power in the City of Angels is also fueled by racism, greed, and betrayal. And even the most determined young woman can play too many secrets too far . . .

1968, Chicago: For Frankie Saunders, fleeing across America is her only escape from an abusive husband. But her rescuer is her reckless, profane Aunt Daisy, still reeling from her own shattered past. Frankie doesn’t want to know what her aunt is up to so long as Daisy can get her to LA—and safety. But Frankie finds there’s no hiding from long-held secrets—or her own surprising strength.

Daisy will do whatever it takes to settle old scores and resolve the past—no matter the damage. And Frankie will come up against hard choices in the face of unexpected passion. Both must come to grips with what they need, what they’ve left behind—and all that lies ahead . .

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On the Road by Jack Kerouac

What road trip book list would be complete without including Jack Kerouac’s classic? On the Road has become a symbol of America’s beetnik culture and was one of the first adventure books about road trips and searching for meaning on the open road. If you haven’t yet read it, it’s definitely worth checking out! See full description below.
The classic novel of freedom and the search for authenticity that defined a generation.

On the Road chronicles Jack Kerouac’s years traveling the North American continent with his friend Neal Cassady, “a sideburned hero of the snowy West.” As “Sal Paradise” and “Dean Moriarty,” the two roam the country in a quest for self-knowledge and experience. Kerouac’s love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz combine to make On the Road an inspirational work of lasting importance. Kerouac’s classic novel of freedom and longing defined what it meant to be “Beat” and has inspired every generation since its initial publication more than fifty years ago.

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Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck

Steinbeck, his dog and the open roads of America in the 1960s. This is another road trip classic that has inspired generations. This is an intimate look at Steinbeck himself as he takes off to explore America. What follows is a 10,000 mile trip where he shares his experiences and the good and bad he finds along the way. If you haven’t yet read it, it’s another one that’s definitely worth checking out! See full description below.

An intimate journey across America, as told by one of its most beloved writers. To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck’s goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.

With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. Along the way he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, the particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and the unexpected kindness of strangers.

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Don’t Make Me Pull Over by Richard Ratay

A book for parents everywhere! What parent has not uttered these words at some point? This is a fun and unique read about both the history of American road trips and our interstate system while also offering intimate family narratives of road trip experiences. See full description below.

“A lighthearted, entertaining trip down Memory Lane” (Kirkus Reviews), Don’t Make Me Pull Over! offers a nostalgic look at the golden age of family road trips—before portable DVD players, smartphones, and Google Maps.

The birth of America’s first interstate highways in the 1950s hit the gas pedal on the road trip phenomenon and families were soon streaming—sans seatbelts!—to a range of sometimes stirring, sometimes wacky locations. In the days before cheap air travel, families didn’t so much take vacations as survive them. Between home and destination lay thousands of miles and dozens of annoyances, and with his family Richard Ratay experienced all of them—from being crowded into the backseat with noogie-happy older brothers, to picking out a souvenir only to find that a better one might have been had at the next attraction, to dealing with a dad who didn’t believe in bathroom breaks.

Now, decades later, Ratay offers “an amiable guide…fun and informative” (New York Newsday) that “goes down like a cold lemonade on a hot summer’s day” (The Wall Street Journal). In hundreds of amusing ways, he reminds us of what once made the Great American Family Road Trip so great, including twenty-foot “land yachts,” oasis-like Holiday Inn “Holidomes,” “Smokey”-spotting Fuzzbusters, twenty-eight glorious flavors of Howard Johnson’s ice cream, and the thrill of finding a “good buddy” on the CB radio.

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Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon

This last one is not US based. Based in the 1970s, Ted Simon set off from London and traveled the world by motorcycle for four years. See full description below.

Simon rode a motorcycle around the world in the seventies, when such a thing was unheard of. In four years he covered 78,000 miles through 45 countries, living with peasants and presidents, in prisons and palaces, through wars and revolutions.

An incredible journey in the days before cell phones and the internet, and all done solo with no support team or social media updates.

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I hope you enjoyed and feel inspired to explore the road yourself, whether it be physically or through a book’s pages. Happy travels!

If you enjoyed this book list, make sure you check out Joyana’s other Book Lists HERE.

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MORE Historical Fiction Books for Men

Books HE will WANT to read!

Happy Father’s Day everyone! Do you have book loving dad in the house? Last year I posted about historical fiction books for men and it’s actually been my most popular post ever! So, here’s an update- check out MORE historical fiction books for men!

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell is hailed as Game of Thrones but real! It chronicles the making of England during the ninth and tenth centuries with King Alfred the Great and his grandson fighting to protect against fierce Viking invaders.

This thrilling adventure is masterfully told and meticulously researched, utilizing records of Cornwell’s own ancestors. See the full description below!

The first installment of Bernard Cornwell’s New York Times bestselling series chronicling the epic saga of the making of England.

In the middle years of the ninth century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until but one realm remained. And suddenly the fate of all England—and the course of history—depended upon one man, one king.

From New York Times bestselling storyteller Bernard Cornwell comes a rousing epic adventure of courage, treachery, duty, devotion, majesty, love, and battle as seen through the eyes of a young warrior who straddled two worlds.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

This Pulitzer Prize winning book is a classic for a reason! If you’ve never read before, be prepared for ALL the emotions. It’s a love story, adventure– all the above!

It does fall into Wild West stereotypes with depictions of Indian savages, but please don’t let that stop you from reading this amazing book. See the full description below.

The Pulitzer Prize–winning American classic of the American West that follows two aging Texas Rangers embarking on one last adventure. An epic of the frontier, Lonesome Dove is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America.

Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield

This epic novel on the Battle of Thermopylae has been hailed as an education in warfare. It’s even on the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ Reading list.

Although written as a fictional account through the eyes of a survivor of the battle, Pressfield demonstrates his attention to detail and meticulous research in every sentence. It’s a definite Must Read! See the full description below.

Thousands of years ago, Herodotus and Plutarch immortalized Spartan society in their histories; but today, little is left of the ancient city or the social structure of this momentous culture.

One of the few antiquarian marks of the civilization that has survived lies scores of miles away from Sparta, at a narrow Greek mountain pass called Thermopylae.

It was there that three hundred of Sparta’s finest warriors held back the invading millions of the Persian empire and valiantly gave their lives in the selfless service of democracy and freedom. A simple engraved stone marks their burial ground.

Inspired by this stone and intrigued by the lore of Sparta, author Steven Pressfield has brilliantly combined scholarship with storytelling. Narrated by the sole survivor of the epic battle–a squire in the Spartan heavy infantry–Gates of Fire is a mesmerizing depiction of one man’s indoctrination into the Spartan way of life and death, and of the legendary men and women who gave the culture an immortal gravity.

Culminating in the electrifying and horrifying epic battle, Gates of Fire weaves history, mystery, and heartbreaking romance into a literary page-turner that brings the Homeric tradition into the twenty-first century.

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The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This is a beautifully written book that is in essence an ode to literature. But it’s also an intricately woven mystery and homage to 20th century Barcelona. See the full description below.

Barcelona, 1945—just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again.

Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn’t find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.

As one leading Spanish reviewer wrote, “The originality of Ruiz Zafón’s voice is bombproof and displays a diabolical talent. The Shadow of the Wind announces a phenomenon in Spanish literature.” An uncannily absorbing historical mystery, a heart-piercing romance, and a moving homage to the mystical power of books, The Shadow of the Wind is a triumph of the storyteller’s art.

The Eisenhower Chronicles by M.B. Zucker

This is an informative inside glimpse of the life of President Eisenhower. Ike had not only an illustrious military career, but was president during a particularly tumultuous time in U.S. history. Zucker masterfully shares his story. See full description below.

A Five-Star Book about a Five-Star General.

In 1938 he was a lieutenant colonel stationed in the Philippines; by 1945 the world proclaimed him its savior. From leading the forces of liberal democracy against history’s most evil tyrant to the presidency, Dwight D. Eisenhower fought for and kept the peace during the most dangerous era in history.

The Eisenhower Chronicles dramatizes Ike’s life, portraying his epic journey from unknown soldier to global hero as only a novel could. He is shown working with icons such as FDR, Winston Churchill, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and confronting challenges like D-Day, the Little Rock Crisis, and Sputnik.

Eisenhower’s legacy is grounded in defending the world from fascism, communism, and nuclear weapons. This novel shows how he accomplished it all and takes readers into his mind and soul, grounding the history in the man who made it.

“An ambitious novel that illuminates the complexity of one of the great figures of the twentieth century. Ike’s homespun manner concealed a remarkably skilled, at times Machiavellian, leader who guided the nation through perilous times. M.B. Zucker brings us inside Eisenhower’s world as he wrestles with a series of decisions affecting the survival of free government and the fate of humanity. This is a fun, fast-paced, informative read that captures the man and his times. Highly recommended.”

Stephen F. Knott, Professor of National Security at the Naval War College and author of Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance that Forged America.

Hope you enjoyed this historical fiction books for men round-up and it gave you some inspiration. Happy Reading!

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Summer Books for the Beach Bag

Light reads for light weather.

Historical fiction is such a broad genre. And one thing I hear people say is, I love it, but it can be so “heavy” and “serious”. That most definitely can be true. And I don’t know about you, but during summer I’m naturally looking for lighter reads. There’s just something about the warmer weather and more playful activities that have me reaching for books that match that mood. Hence the roundups for “beach” reads! (Stay tuned, I do have a book list coming soon for that also that isn’t just historical fiction.) But here, I have “lighter” historical fiction summer books to read! Enjoy!

Go as a River

Go as a River by Shelley Read is already an international bestseller. It came out as Read’s debut novel in February of 2023 and is taking the world by storm!

I consider it a perfect summer historical fiction read for a few reasons. For starters, Read’s descriptive outdoor settings are exquisite. The book is set in Colorado in the 1960s and the wild beauty of the area is a character in and of itself.

Yes, there is hardship and a disaster or sorts like many historical fiction novels. But there is also a courageous coming of age story, a passionate love affair and an incredibly strong protagonist you can’t help rooting for. See the book description below and add it to your list this summer!

Seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash runs the household on her family’s peach farm in the small ranch town of Iola, Colorado―the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Wilson Moon is a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land and determined to live as he chooses.

Victoria encounters Wil by chance on a street corner, a meeting that profoundly alters both of their young lives, unknowingly igniting as much passion as danger. When tragedy strikes, Victoria leaves the only life she has ever known. She flees into the surrounding mountains where she struggles to survive in the wilderness with no clear notion of what her future will bring. As the seasons change, she also charts the changes in herself, finding in the beautiful but harsh landscape the meaning and strength to move forward and rebuild all that she has lost, even as the Gunnison River threatens to submerge her homeland―its ranches, farms, and the beloved peach orchard that has been in her family for generations.

Inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola in the 1960s, Go as a River is a story of deeply held love in the face of hardship and loss, but also of finding courage, resilience, friendship, and, finally, home―where least expected. This stunning debut explores what it means to lead your life as if it were a river―gathering and flowing, finding a way forward even when a river is dammed.

The Secret Book of Flora Lea

The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry- Ok, yes, this is another WWII historical fiction book. Or at least half the storyline is. But I swear it is an incredibly fresh take on that time period! The one word I can use to describe this book is Magical.

This is a story about sisters and the unbreakable bond between them. It’s also a tale of a magical world created just for them. This book just came out recently in May of 2023 and was an instant NY Times bestseller. It was a fast and enchanting read and I can’t recommend it enough! See the description below and make sure you add it to your list!

Summer books: The secret book of flora lea

In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own.

But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves.

Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby’s. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel’s future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years?

As Hazel embarks on a feverish quest, revisiting long-dormant relationships and bravely opening wounds from her past, her career and future hang in the balance. An astonishing twist ultimately reveals the truth in this transporting and refreshingly original novel about the bond between sisters, the complications of conflicted love, and the enduring magic of storytelling.

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? By Crystal Smith Paul was a Reese’s Book Club pick and instant bestseller! Kitty Karr is a fun and thought-provoking book about a black movie star passing as white and rising to the top. This storyline has been told in some variance before. But Paul does a fantastic day of creating another intriguing and fresh version that examines the complexities of racial identity. See the full description below and make sure you add to your list for the summer!

When Kitty Karr Tate, a White icon of the silver screen, dies and bequeaths her multimillion-dollar estate to the St. John sisters, three young, wealthy Black women, it prompts questions. Lots of questions.

A celebrity in her own right, Elise St. John would rather focus on sorting out Kitty’s affairs than deal with the press. But what she discovers in one of Kitty’s journals rocks her world harder than any other brewing scandal could―and between a cheating fiancé and the fallout from a controversial social media post, there are plenty.

The truth behind Kitty’s ascent to stardom from her beginnings in the segregated South threatens to expose a web of unexpected family ties, debts owed, and debatable crimes that could, with one pull, unravel the all-American fabric of the St. John sisters and those closest to them.

As Elise digs deeper into Kitty’s past, she must also turn the lens upon herself, confronting the gifts and burdens of her own choices and the power that the secrets of the dead hold over the living. Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is a sprawling page-turner set against the backdrop of the Hollywood machine, an insightful and nuanced look at the inheritances of family, race, and gender―and the choices some women make to break free of them.

What are you looking forward to reading this summer? Please share below in the comments. I’m always looking for new recommendations!

If you enjoyed this book list be sure to check out my others HERE and subscribe for my blog below to get alerted whenever I post another. Thanks for your continued support!

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Best Historical Fiction Books for Mother’s Day Reading

Looking for a last minute Mother’s Day gift? A good book is always a hit! Check out this round up of great historical fiction picks for Mother’s Day Reading!

Mother’s Day Reading Picks

Mother’s Day is here! And I know there are probably some out there who are still scrambling to find gifts to honor Mom. But if she’s like me, all she wants is a good book and a glass of wine to enjoy. So for the HF Bookworm Moms out there- here is a round up of the best historical fiction books for Mother’s Day Reading! Enjoy!

Caroline Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller

In this novel authorized by the Little House Heritage Trust, Sarah Miller vividly recreates the beauty, hardship, and joys of the frontier in a dazzling work of historical fiction. It’s a captivating story that illuminates one courageous, resilient, and loving pioneer woman as never before–Caroline Ingalls, “Ma” in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved Little House books.

In the frigid days of February, 1870, Caroline Ingalls and her family leave the familiar comforts of the Big Woods of Wisconsin and the warm bosom of her family, for a new life in Kansas Indian Territory.

Packing what they can carry in their wagon, Caroline, her husband Charles, and their little girls, Mary and Laura, head west to settle in a beautiful, unpredictable land full of promise and peril.

The pioneer life is a hard one, especially for a pregnant woman with no friends or kin to turn to for comfort or help. The burden of work must be shouldered alone, sickness tended without the aid of doctors, and babies birthed without the accustomed hands of mothers or sisters. But Caroline’s new world is also full of tender joys. In adapting to this strange new place and transforming a rough log house built by Charles’ hands into a home, Caroline must draw on untapped wells of strength she does not know she possesses.

For more than eighty years, generations of readers have been enchanted by the adventures of the American frontier’s most famous child, Laura Ingalls Wilder, in the Little House books. Now, that familiar story is retold in this captivating tale of family, fidelity, hardship, love, and survival that vividly reimagines our past.

SHOP AMARYLLIS CO.

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A profoundly moving and unconventional mother-daughter saga, The Last Story of Mina Lee illustrates the devastating realities of being an immigrant in America.

Margot Lee’s mother, Mina, isn’t returning her calls. It’s a mystery to twenty-six-year-old Margot, until she visits her childhood apartment in Koreatown, LA, and finds that her mother has suspiciously died. The discovery sends Margot digging through the past, unraveling the tenuous invisible strings that held together her single mother’s life as a Korean War orphan and an undocumented immigrant, only to realize how little she truly knew about her mother.

Interwoven with Margot’s present-day search is Mina’s story of her first year in Los Angeles as she navigates the promises and perils of the American myth of reinvention. While she’s barely earning a living by stocking shelves at a Korean grocery store, the last thing Mina ever expects is to fall in love. But that love story sets in motion a series of events that have consequences for years to come, leading up to the truth of what happened the night of her death.

Told through the intimate lens of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand each other, The Last Story of Mina Lee is a powerful and exquisitely woven debut novel that explores identity, family, secrets, and what it truly means to belong.

SHOP AMARYLLIS CO.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • Two estranged siblings delve into their mother’s hidden past—and how it all connects to her traditional Caribbean black cake—in this immersive family saga, “a character-driven, multi-generational story that’s meant to be savored” (Time).

“Wilkerson transports you across the decades and around the globe accompanied by complex, wonderfully drawn characters.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones & The Six, and Malibu Rising

In development as a Hulu original series produced by Marissa Jo Cerar, Oprah Winfrey (Harpo Films), and Kapital Entertainment

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves.

Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right”? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.