thoughts on books

Category: historical fiction

  • wait for me by amy jo burns

    If you are interested in this novel and not sure if you should read with your eyes or ears, this is great on audio. Not only is it exquisitely acted, well paces for audio, easy to follow, the performance is excellent and there are several songs that really set the mood. Because this is blue grass, 70’s country music hearing it sung and produced really enhances the experience of the story.

    The genre is mainly historical fiction, but reads like family drama as we follow the story of young singer songwriter Elle Harlow, her trauma and tragedy, how she comes into Nashville and befriends Josie, another singer that comes from Tennessee royalty. It asks questions of privilege and how talent versus presence versus having the right contacts makes you successful back in the 1970’s, then fast forwarding to the 90’s. Elle Harlow had 2 great albums then disappeared for 18 years. Marijohn is an 18 year old girl unsure of her parentage. She also loves music, has a great father, and follows him into the mystery of Elle Harlow and if this is her mother.

    The dual timeline really works well here, as each story progresses, we learn the reasons why people are the way they are and build up our empathy. The record company executive Cleo is a great character to hate, but at the end of the day you understand his motivations as well. I loved Josie and Elle and their experience and how they gained and lost loyalty to each other.

    Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this ARC. Book to be published March 3, 2026

  • the half life by rachel beanland

    An exceptionally well written historical fiction with a deeply engrossing setting and wonderful characters.

    The story starts out as a coming of age story, Eileen O’Malley is sort of floundering in grief. Her brother was killed in Vietnam after being drafted, and she has foregone college and is working at a department store. There she meets Paul, and things are going okay, when he tells her that the Navy is sending him to Italy. And they sort of spontaneously decide to get married, and she follows him to La Maddalena, a Mediterranean island that the US Navy is doing something with nuclear power on a submarine. There she has to learn how to navigate not only Italian culture, not only ex-pat culture, but also how to be a Navy wife. There she discovers how to let go of American exceptionalism, and maybe their actions are harmful in many ways.

    Set in 1970’s Nixon America, this is less nostalgia and more written to a future, unnamed person who we find out about in the epilogue. While the narrative took awhile to get to major plot point, the journey is well worth it for the deeper characterization and learning about who you are within the context of a marriage. Eileen floundered at times and became curious, giving herself so much pressure and stress to mask the grief from her brother’s death.

    I love the way that Beanland is simultaneously giving us the journey of Eileen, of Paul and Eileen’s marriage, and the setting of the US Navy’s occupation and nuclear strategy. All of them are stories worth telling and have their own story arc. I found myself so drawn in to this one.

    Main character in 3 adjectives= curious, bold, strong

    Favorite minor character- Eileen’s mom

    Hollywood Cast
    Eileen- Bella Thorne
    Paul- Mark Paul Gosselaar
    Laura- Brittany Snow
    Teo- Michele Morron

    Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC. Book to be published July 14, 2026

  • Off the record by Sara Goodman confino

    It is Washington, DC, we are with a buttoned up high-powered newspaper publication and our heroine, Judy, has just graduated with a 4.0 from the University of Maryland. Like a good Jewish girl, she lives at home with mom and dad in Silver Springs, but commutes into the city and accepts a position in the typing pool at the second-best newspaper. It isn’t editing, or the sharp reporting she longs for, but at least it isn’t a secretarial job at her uncle’s law firm. Her parents are very invested in her finding a husband and settling down to have kids and make a home with a good Jewish boy. Judy is fine with marriage AT SOME POINT but her priority is making an impact- her writing career comes first! Also it seems like there is no other Jewish folks at the paper at all.

    This is a sparkling and page turning story of international intrigue, the background setting is so intriguing and absolutely engaging. When it comes to Sara Goodman Confino’s books, this is the kind of heartwarming yet flawed strong female character we have come to expect. I found this latest to be lighthearted and sparkling, not exactly YA but written more like a hopeful YA historical fiction can be. This definitely has Hallmark-vibes and there is a sweetness here that I REALLY was craving in the midst of a real world situation that terrifies me daily. There is a little romance and the reveals at the end are positively Pixar-esque. Give me all the wholesome.

    Three adjectives to describe our main character: Determined. Hard working. Intelligent.

    Hollywood cast
    Miss Kelly- Allison Janney
    Judy Greenfield- Hailee Steinfeld
    Jack Fields- Zach Efron

    thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the ARC. Book to be published June 9, 2026

  • The women in white by Sarah pekkanen

    Screenshot

    Riley has just gotten divorced from her gambling husband Danny. She has lost everything and now has the chance to be a love-in caretaker for Betty, an old lady widow in her 80’s who has been a hermit for the last 60 years.

    Betty asks her to look into her 3 best friends from her time at Marquis college- loosely based on Duke. She and her 3 friends showed psychic abilities and were used an experiments for a professor there in the 60’s.

    It’s a story that intrigued me, although I found the pacing to be clunky and the ending somewhat disappointing. The beginning and setup was very well done, I was so drawn in by the chapters in the early 60’s.

    Three words to describe the main character? Enabler. Loyal. A
    Mary sue.

    Hollywood cast
    Betty- Lily Tomlin
    Riley- Zoe Saldana

    Thanks to NetGalley and st martins press for the ARC. Book to be published August 4, 2026.

  • lady tremaine by rachel hochhauser

    WOW- extremely intriguing retelling of Cinderella from the viewpoint of her stepmother. This is one of those re-tellings that makes you question history to begin with and how no on eis the villain of their own story. In this version, Cinderella (Ellen) is a little bit dramatic, immature and slightly self-centered- in other words, kind of a typical 16 year old girl. Etheldreda is twice widowed, the first to Henry, her daughters’ father, and the second to Robert, Ellen’s father. He made an interesting and not-great decision about how to handle his estate. All of his money went into a dowry for Ellen that cannot be touched until she is married and it goes directly to her husband once she is married. So Etheldreda has no way to support herself and the 3 girls, although she has inherited the estate she really cannot take care of it.

    A bit of a mystery, this book takes awhile before revealing who the true villain is in this story, and it is very much an adult tale with adult themes and language. It reveals with exquisite pacing the challenges and drawbacks of high society in a highly patriarchal system. Lady Tremaine truly is misunderstood, and makes a lot of mistakes being a stepmother but also has their best interests in mind. I wasn’t expecting her to become an amateur detective and to help her daughters and step daughter learn how to be responsible for their choices.

    I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes historical fiction and especially if you enjoy retellings. The story is really addictive!

    Audiobook review- wonderful performance from Bessie Carter, one of the best in the audio game. I loved her accents and the way that she read the inner dialogue, to be complex and interesting and multi-faceted.

    Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and MacMillan Audio for the ARC and ALC. Book to be published March 3, 2026.

  • the top of the world by ethan joella

    Screenshot

    A dual timeline story of 1975, when Maggie is heading to a resort in the Poconos to work and discover what her brother did when he was there the previous summer prior to his untimely death from leukemia.  Maggie is grieving the loss of her older brother and remembering him at his best.  She wonders why he chose to leave in the midst of being a cancer patient and didn’t tell his family where he was.  She soon learns they were like a camp family and mostly didn’t know he was sick. 

    The timeline jumps back and forth from 1975 Maggie to 1974 Chip, when he is living the last few months of his life and working at the resort. 

    I knew this would be a book about grief and moments of human connection, I knew it would be sad.  This is purely devastating, it’s 50% grieving (Maggie) and 50% dying and dealing with dying (Chip).  This is written with so much personal wisdom and raw emotion.  It was so sad to think of Chip wanting to feel alive by hiding his treatment.  There are also some lovely small town minor characters that rounded out the lovely setting.  

    Do I recommend it? Definitely, if you are in the mood for a good mournful cry.  

    Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC.  Book to be published June 29, 2026. 

  • where there’s room for us by hayley kiyoko

    A well produced narrative, this is a well crafted and performed audiobook for fans of Emma Alban. The story itself felt a little slow to me, but I do absolutely love the premise. A historical book set in the English countryside, but it is a different version than actually happened in history- this universe is much more accepting of queer couples. Although the inheritance traditions do leave the same sex couples out, gay marriage and gay couples are widely accepted. I really loved being in this kind of environment and imaging what it would be like if we were far ahead. The story itself is reminiscent of Pride & Prejudice or Little Women, but in a world a little more accepting than our own. Ivy and Freya had a lot of yearning, each with a different voice, with great chemistry.

    The audiobook not only has a strong performance, but also includes sound effects (horse hooves, etc) and brief musical interludes.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. Book to be published 11/4/25

    #macaudio2025

  • Long Island girls by Gabrielle korn

    Screenshot

    “Everything is changing all the time, regardless of our feelings about it.”

    One of my favorite quotes from the book is also exactly a perfect reflection of its best themes. The book follows Susan and has a few snapshots from her life. Sort of like how the memories on your phone hit you hard sometimes… it’s incredible how not much seems to change day to day but a snapshot from 2019 can really knock you off your stool.

    Starting in 2005, Susan doesn’t know who she is and has typical self-centered teen relationships. She comes across Eliza briefly but immediately loses track of her and sees her as the one that got away.

    The first chapter is rife with early 00s nostalgia, you’ll be surprised at things that have since faded away that were so entrenched in the every day. The Lancôme juicy tubes and downloaded punk rock.

    The subsequent chapters jump and while you miss Susan’s coming out, her career start, I love the way this book skips the “big event” scenes and just cuts to a sort of a normal day. Just as in real life, people who are main characters in one phase of your life become a forethought in the next.

    All throughout, Susan sort of romanticizes Eliza although she truly doesn’t really know her. It’s less of a Romance than a coming of age LitFic character study. It is solidly Susan’s POV and shows a jump in her maturity and a loss of innocence and a growth with each passing year.

    “Maybe love is trusting how someone feels about you.”

    You’ll highlight several sentences.

    Thanks to NetGalley and st martins press for the ARC. Book to be published June 22, 2026.

  • the mad wife by meagan church

    Historical fiction with a message. Post-war 50’s suburbia, and Lulu knows her job is to be the perfect wife and mother. Her husband Henry is up for a promotion at the architectural firm. Her son Wesley has just turned 4. And she is pregnant, Henry is thrilled that their family will be complete. When a new family moves in across the street, Lulu takes an instant dislike to Bitsy. She continues to react to the pressures of the life she lives and how she is allowed to express herself. Although she would have preferred to live in the country, although she would have preferred working at a newspaper to staying home, her needs are always dismissed.

    I didn’t read any trigger warnings on this one, and I’m glad, because the plot twists came as pretty surprising and heartbreaking to me. Intensely readable, it is easy to get lost in Lulu’s inner dialogue, even as things are not as they seem. This is a perfect book club book- there is something for everyone. Sure to inspire discussions about how women’s needs were dismissed, and everything became “hysteria” or “housewife’s syndrome.”

    Audiobook review- with a reverential performance, the narrator takes a solemn tone to Lulu’s inner dialogue, which is absolutely pitch perfect for the time period and how we see the world from her point of view. The pacing lends itself well to audio, for me this was a perfect 1.8 speed novel.

    Five stars
    a best historical fiction of 2025

    Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the ARC. Book to be published November 4, 2025.

  • like in love with you by emma alban

    Screenshot

    A steamy historical sapphic romance – in Jane Austen’s Northern England, Bridgerton, except gay. Rosalie and Catherine meet, knowing this season they are both prospects for the same eligible bachelor, Mr Dean. Their mothers used to be best friends before a falling out in their own season. Early on in the narrative the girls find attraction for each other, and set up events that ruin the prospective courtships.

    This is my third Emma Alban novel and I have really enjoyed them all. It is romance and a creative “what if” scenario so that we can thoroughly enjoy the nostalgia and romance of this time period in a way that allows for inclusion of everyone. This is an idealized 19th century England. So instead of queer people being closeted and mentally depressed their entire lives, there are pockets of people that do understand their queerness.

    Although it is lighthearted and very romantic, I think this theme is also a patient warning for us as to how easy it is to build cultural values. Both Rosalie and Catherine are great characters in their own right, the minor characters are nuanced and their parents in strong relationships.

    It’s a lovely universe to escape into!

    Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC. Book to be published 1/14/26