August 7, 2020
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
My focus-challenged COVID brain craves lighter reads recently. Does yours?
Carla @ Carla Loves to Read suggested these two authors that were just right! So, in the event that you might be looking for some lighter women’s fiction at the moment, here are five suggestions! (I’ve also linked to Carla’s reviews)
July 14, 2020
Genre/Categories: Contemporary Fiction, Romance
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Samantha is a happy elementary school librarian in Galveston, Texas. One day, the school loses its beloved principal and his replacement is Duncan Carpenter, someone that Sam knows from her past. She’s a bit concerned about how this will play out because she used to have a crush on Duncan. She keeps this a secret while assuring everyone that the new principal is a great person and they are lucky to have him. However, Duncan shows up as a stiff and humorless person who is preoccupied with school safety. Everything that Sam loves about her school is suddenly being systematically destroyed. How will she stand up to him and fight his policies, and how will this affect their relationship?
June 18, 2020
I’m linking up today with Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog for #throwbackthursday.
This year as part of Blog Audit Challenge 2020 I’m going back to update older review posts. On Thursdays, I’ll be re-sharing a few of these great reads, and today I’m sharing my review of The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper….the imagined story of May Alcott (Amy).
Are you a fan of Little Women?
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Genre/Categories: historical fiction, women’s fiction, biographical, sisters
“If you’ve read Little Women, you are familiar with the author, Louisa May Alcott. It’s also well known that Miss Alcott’s family provided inspiration for the book and its colorful cast of characters. While many readers love spirited Jo March (the character based on the author Louisa May Alcott), Jo’s younger sister Amy March is not quite as popular with readers. In Elise Hooper’s new release and debut novel, The Other Alcott, the author reimagines the world of the Alcotts from the perspective of Louisa’s real-life younger sister, May (Amy in Little Women). Hooper’s story explores the relationship between Louisa and May which might have been fraught with jealousy, competition, and sibling rivalry. Through Hooper’s storytelling, we follow May as she studies and travels abroad to carve out her own career as an artist in a man’s world at a time when women who wanted a career often had to forgo dreams of a family. Although the publication of Little Women substantially helps the struggling Alcott family financially, May experiences conflicting feelings about the way she was portrayed in the book through the character of Amy. Eventually, this causes May to want to distinguish her own life from the selfish, spirited, and spoiled character of Amy. So in real life, the optimistic, stylish, outgoing, and creative May pursues art in Boston and in Europe. At first, she is convicted about not working too hard (as she’s seen her sister do) because she also values happiness and enjoyment of life. This is a story of art, ambition, and of a brave, determined young woman finding her voice and establishing her identity.”
QOTD: Have you read The Other Alcott or is it on your TBR?
June 2, 2020
Genre/Categories: Light Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Southern Fiction, Uplit, Divorce
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Thanks, @thomasnelson #netgalley for the complimentary e copy of #thesummerhouse. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
From the author of Hurricane Season and Glory Road…
Lily is devastated to find a goodbye note and signed divorce papers on the kitchen table when she awakens. Before her brief marriage, she was a hairstylist, and she contemplates the possibility of leveraging this skill to make a fresh start. By chance, she notices a flyer advertising the need for a hairstylist in a nearby retirement community. Desperate for a job, she makes the call and shows up for the interview and also negotiates for the apartment above the salon.
March 6, 2020
Genre/Categories: Contemporary Women’s Fiction
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Thank Jaymi @ Orange County Readers for the free copy! All opinions are my own.
No new people….
In the long tradition of other beloved, quirky characters, Annie Mercer feels best when she limits her interactions with new people. As a scientist, she analyzes her life experiences through the lens of science. Suddenly her organized life is turned upside down: she loses her job, curiosity about a new neighbor consumes her, her fiance takes a leave of absence, and a personable and charismatic private investigator surprises her. Ultimately Annie is faced with some big, life-changing decisions.
February 6, 2020
Genre/Categories: Contemporary Fiction, Books About Books, Women’s Fiction
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friendship…forgiveness…second chances…new beginnings
Madeleine’s happiest childhood memory is spending time at her Aunt Maddie’s house and her beloved bookshop. Suddenly, the families become estranged and Madeleine hasn’t seen her aunt in twenty years. After her aunt dies, Madeleine discovers she has inherited everything: the bookshop, the house, the car, and all the debt. At the same time, Madeleine’s career plans are in jeopardy and she begins to seriously investigate what saving the bookshop, moving, and a new plan for her life might involve.
December 3, 2019
Genre/Categories: Retelling, Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Romance, Family
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
In this retelling of Little Women, the March family home is in North Carolina, U.S.A. The girls are young adults and living on their own. Meg is married to John and they have young twins; Jo is working as a sous chef in New York and writing an anonymous food blog; Beth is taking a break from school and trying out for a musical; and Amy is working in the fashion industry and traveling abroad. Mr. March is an absentee husband and father who cares more about his ministry and charity work than caring for his family. As the holidays approach, Mrs. March is suddenly hospitalized and the sisters rally around to help and support each other, their mom, and her business.
July 26, 2019
Have you read well-loved author, Rachel Joyce?
Genre/Categories: Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Love Story
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If you’ve read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, you know that Harold has set out on a walking trip across England to visit his former coworker Queenie Hennessy who is dying from cancer. He tells her to wait for him and believes that his pilgrimage will help keep her alive. In The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy we hear Queenie’s story including all her secrets and relive the spirit of Harold’s pilgrimage from her perspective. This is not a prequel or a sequel; it is a companion to Harold’s story. When the two works are put together we are able to construct a complete picture of their lives.
Amazon Rating: 4.4 Stars
March 19, 2019
Genre/Categories: Women’s Fiction, Southern Fiction, Romance, Small Town Life, Mothers/Daughters
Thanks to #NetGalley #ThomasNelsonPublishers for my free copy of #GloryRoad by @LaurenKDentonBooks @laurenkdenton in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Glory Road shares the story of three generations of women from the same family during one summer of their lives on Glory Road as they work toward building trusting and loving relationships with each other and also forging the path of their individual lives and future. While some characters are stereotypical, the main characters are well drawn and seem like friends. We are able to empathize with the grandmother’s fear and feelings of distress as she experiences episodes of dementia; we understand the pressure Jessie feels as a single, working, entrepreneurial mom; and we remember how it felt to be a teenager through the experiences of fourteen-year-old Evan.
February 1, 2019
Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WW11, Spies, Women’s Fiction
Thank you #netgalley and #parkrowbooks for my free copy of #thelostgirlsofparis in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own. *This post contains affiliate links.
Fans of Pam Jenoff (The Orphan’s Tale) will enjoy her newest histfic release, The Lost Girls of Paris. This engaging page turner tells the story of a courageous and brave ring of women spies in WW11. Told from three perspectives and two alternating time periods from 1943-1946, the story revolves around three women: Eleanor, leader of the British secret agents; Marie, a young mother turned spy; and Grace, an inquisitive young woman and Manhattan resident. One day in Grand Central Station, Grace stumbles upon a mystery surrounding the fate of twelve female British spies who never returned home from WW11. Based on true events, the story shines a light on these women of valor.
Pam Jenoff doesn’t disappoint! She’s one of my must-read-her-newest-release authors.
Well Researched. This story is filled with intrigue and is engaging from the first page, and the details Jenoff uses to describe the training and the dangers demonstrate her meticulous research. Jenoff strikes a good balance between fast paced story telling and including sufficient research to satisfy those who read for historical interest. I appreciate this histfic story for expanding my knowledge about the role women played in WW11 and their little known sacrifice. Even though the story is well researched historical fiction, parts of the story read like women’s fiction (in my perception), so I think it could be considered a mixed genre.
Themes: Important themes include heroism, bravery, friendship, determination, sacrifice, and courage.
Recommended. A women/s fiction/histfic mix, this story of intrigue is recommended for fans of WW11 histfic, for readers who appreciate stories of strong and determined women facing the hardest of circumstances, and for fans of The Alice Network by Kate Quinn and The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.
Find my brief review of Pam Jenoff’s previous novel, The Orphan’s Tale, here.
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pam Jenoff is the author of several novels, including her most recent, The Orphan’s Tale, an instant New York Times bestseller, and The Kommandant’s Girl, which received widespread acclaim, earned her a nomination for the Quill Awards and became an international bestseller. She previously served as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. State Department in Europe, as the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon and as a practicing attorney at a large firm and in-house. She received her juris doctor from the University of Pennsylvania, her masters degree in history from Cambridge University and her bachelors degree in international affairs from The George Washington University. Pam Jenoff lives with her husband and three children near Philadelphia where, in addition to writing, she teaches law school. Pam would love to skype with your book club or library group!I didn’t know too much about women spies in WW11 until I read books like The Alice Network and The Nightingale. How about you? Do these stories of women spies intrigue you? Do you read histfic?
Have you read The Orphan’s Tale by Jenoff?
“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke
“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes
“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text
This is important information! Why getting lost in a book is so good for you according to science!
I’ll be updating my Winter TBR as I read and review selections. So check back often!
Don’t miss my Most Memorable Reads of 2018 post here.
For Fredrik Backman fans, Britt-Marie Was Here will be a movie! (I also heard that a Beartown series is being produced for Europe HBO…so maybe soon in the US?)
Reese Witherspoon to produce “Where the Crawdads Sing” and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
And….here’s the trailer for Where’d You Go Bernadette starring Cate Blanchette.
(You might consider adding these four books to your ‘want to read list’ in preparation!)
Thank you for reading today! I’d be honored and thrilled if you choose to enjoy and follow along, promote, and/or share my blog. Every share helps us grow.
***Blogs posts may contain affiliate links. This means that at no extra cost to you, I can earn a small percentage of your purchase price.
Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.
Book Cover and author photo are credited to Amazon or an author’s (or publisher’s) website.
