Hi Everyone!!
I hope that you are all having a great week so far. I am switching things up here and doing a book review post. Reading has always been a favorite way for me to relax and escape. I love to sit with a cup of coffee or tea in the afternoon and read for a while. I hope that you all enjoy this post and I am always looking for book recommendations so share them in the comments below. 🙂
Hello, Summer by Mary Kay Andrews – Conley Hawkins returns to the small town of Silver Bay after her new job goes up in smoke. She ends up working at the local paper that her family owns with her sister. Conley and her sister also have a strained relationship. She also moves in with her grandmother who is quite a character. While she is out with a friend one night, they witness a car accident and a local congressman is killed. This book took me by surprise in a good way. I loved the mystery, the romance was not cheesy, and the characters were all great. I really enjoyed this book and it would be a good thing to read at the beach or the park.
Girl From Ballymor by Kathleen McGurl – This story takes place in Ireland. It goes back and forth between 1847 and the present day. Kitty McCarthy is a young widow living in Ireland during the potato famine. She has to fight to survive and to take care of her family. I loved how strong Kitty was as a mother and also as a woman. Her story was both incredible and also sometimes sad. Maria is living in the present day. She travels to Ireland from England to find out more about her ancestor, Michael McCarthy. While she is in Ireland she makes some new friends and also works to find answers to questions that she has about her own life. I did not like Maria at first, but then she grew on me. I loved the new friends that she makes and also her character development.
The Lost Girls of Devon by Barbara O’Neal – I loved The Art of Inheriting Secrets and When We Believed in Mermaids, so I was excited to read this book. Zoe travels back to the small village in Devon where she left years ago to care for her grandmother. She also brings her teenage daughter along. Returning there brings up a painful memory of her childhood but also happy memories. While they are there, her friend and her grandmother’s caretaker disappears. The story is also told from four different viewpoints. Zoe, Isabel, Lilian, and Poppy. I loved this story so much and I could not put it down. It is a great story about second chances, forgiveness, family, and friendship.
The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett – I know that there has been a lot of buzz about this book. I decided to read it after my neighbor recommended it. This story is about twin sisters Stella and Desiree. It is set in a small Louisiana town in the 1950s during the Jim Crow era. When they are sixteen they decide to leave and go to New Orleans. When they grow up, Desiree marries a Black man and has a daughter who is darker than she is and after ten years she finds herself back in her small Louisiana town. Stella realizes that she can pass for being white, she ends up marrying a white man, and her life is completely different than Desiree’s. Stella also keeps her past a secret from everyone including her husband and daughter. The story goes back and forth between the 1950s and the 1990s. I read this book for two days and I loved it. It is a story about family, race, and identity.
The Dressmakers Gift by Fiona Valpy – I had this book on my list forever and I finally got around to reading it. I read The Beekeepers Promise, Sweet Memories and I loved both of those books. This story goes back and forth between WWII and the present day. It is mainly the story of Claire, Mirelle, and Vivienne. They are seamstresses in Paris during WWII. When their story begins it is 1940. Claire has fallen for a German officer, Mirelle is fighting with the Resistance, and Vivienne is involved in something that she has to keep secret from her two friends. Fast forward to the present day. Harriett is Claire’s grandaughter who travels from England to Paris for a job in fashion. While she is there she begins to learn the truth about her grandmother and her family. Harriett’s story was really good but I really loved Claire, Mirelle, and Vivienne’s story. The bond between the three women was incredible and I loved hearing about the beautiful clothes that they were making.
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré – Adunni is a fourteen-year-old girl living in a small village in Nigeria. She dreams of going to school so that she can speak up for herself and also have a career. This was an incredible story. Adunni’s courage and strength were so inspiring and I loved her. I loved this book so much and I still think about it because it was just so good.
The Fatal Flying Affair (A Lady Hardcastle Mystery) by T.E. Kinsey – I have read every single book in this series and I loved them all. This takes place in the summer of 1911. Emily / Lady Hardcastle and her lady’s maid Florence are having fun enjoying summer until Harry, Lady Hardcastle’s brother shows up. Harry asks them to help solve a mystery involving a local aviation company and a failed routine parachute test which resulted in the death of a pilot. I will not get into any more details of the mystery, but this book was really entertaining. I have also mentioned this before when I have reviewed the books in this series, none of them are gorey or disturbing. They are purely a fun adventure-meets-mystery series.
Thank you all so much for stopping by and I hope that you all have a great day! XO
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