thoughts on books

Category: historical fiction

  • let them stare by jonathan van ness and julie murphy

    Infinity stars; I loved this— it is a ghost story / non-binary MC / small town Pennsylvania/ YA romcom … and I know not everyone enjoys some of those elements… but ignore those biases because this book is delightful.

    Sully can’t wait to leave Hearst, PA; after high school graduation they have a fun new internship with an influencer in New York City. But just as their new life is about to start, the internship falls through and they are stuck with no job and no car. So what better time to go thrifting? And because karma rewards those without hope, they are rewarded with a super rare, vintage, extremely valuable Butler bag. (Think of a vintage Birkin because I don’t think a Butler bag is a thing)

    Lo and behold the handbag is haunted with the ghost of Rufus,
    a queer diva who has been erased from the history of Hearst- so now it up to Sully to uncover and tell their story.

    I love Julie Murphy- she wrote my favorite in the Meant To Be Series, “If the Shoe Fits” and other romcoms with a plus sized/ thick hottie FMC.

    Queer Eyes’ Jonathan Van Ness first novel- I know them from their hair care only, but I am a fan.

    I laughed a lot at the dialogue between Sully – a modern day 18 year old, and Rufus who asks too many questions. I was really enraptured by the historical love story between Rufus and Robby and finding out as they did what happened in the 1950s. I was absolutely rooting for Sully all the way, a snarky and confident kid, a great friend.

    This is a happy ending with a lot of realism about our current state- and a lot of respect and integration of queer history. We simultaneously have so much to be grateful for and so much to keep fighting for. This book reminds me of a quote from Steel Magnolias “Laughter through tears is the best emotion.”

    Indeed.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC. Book to be published May 20, 2025.

    **a best book of 2025**
    ***a best LGBTQ book of 2025***

  • a family matter by claire lynch

    I was recommended to read this on NetGalley- thank you to the publisher for the ARC— in exchange for an honest review.

    This is a quick read and somewhat difficult subject matter.

    Multiple timelines- 2022 Heron, recently diagnosed with cancer and his adult daughter Maggie. He has been divorced for 40 years, Maggie has no memory of her mother, Dawn.

    1983- Dawn and Heron divorce because Dawn is in love with a woman, Hazel.

    We already are aware, because of the structure of the book, that Dawn’s decision to leave Heron makes her completely absent from Maggie’s life. In the 1980’s during divorce proceedings most gay parents were not given custody, and this is a tragedy; the homophobia of the time is still not giving us a lot of hope, but we can’t forget about what used to be.

    That said, Dawn had to continue living and learn to let go.

    Honestly, it is very sad, but the plot felt a little lacking- perhaps it would be an excellent short story; plus you kind of know right up front how it is going to end because you have the dual timelines. I didn’t feel a strong connection to any of the characters, but I think it’s also an ambitious topic for a debut author.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC. Book to be published June 3. File under LitFic

  • happy land by dolen perkins-valdez

    I was thrilled to see that Dolan Perkins-Valdez had a new historical and contemporary fiction book releasing, I loved her prior work, Take My Hand, which I read for my book club. It led to so many beautiful and inspiring conversations. 

    This book is about a woman, Nikki, who goes to North Carolina to visit her estranged grandmother, and gets more than she bargained for in learning about her entire family history. This is dual timeline and dual POV, I was heavily invested in both stories. The other storyline is Nikki’s great great great grandmother who was an enslaved person, then after emancipation, went on to become Queen of a utopian type village of formerly enslaved people in cabins once owned by a wealthy widow. They have a significant amount of land but they neither trust nor use US government resources. 

    I think what made me love this book so much are the characters, particularly Nikki’s grandmother Rita and her community. Even the minor characters seemed to stand out with complex personalities and side stories. This would make a great movie, the setting both past and current are very cinematic. 

    4 stars

  • great big beautiful life by emily henry

    Part romance, part mystery, part family drama, this book will have you reading late into the night. Emily Henry has definitely branched out from her typical Beach read, this book is much more complex and the characters are so well drawn. Alice got a tip that Margaret Ives, who went into hiding decades ago, was making art under an assumed name on a Georgian Island. She uses her journalistic integrity and hunts her down, this is HUGE. The Ives family is incredibly wealthy, a publishing empire based on Margaret’s great grandfather during the gold rush. But Margaret is known for marrying an Elvis type rock and roll star, and after being married for 4 years, he tragically died. 

    Alice goes to visit with Margaret and ghost write her memoir, but then finds out this is a competition, Pulitzer Prize winning writer Hayden is also on the island for the exact same reason. Hayden and Alice, despite being rivals, get to know each other and split interview time with Margaret.

    This book jumps back and forth between the romance between the writers and in Margaret telling Alice the entire story of her life, starting with her great great grandfather Lawrence. I enjoyed BOTH storylines. There was some spice after a lot of chemistry and funny banter between Alice and Hayden. There were some surprises and reveals the whole way through.

    I was lucky enough to get this audio on Libby at the same time as I got my pre-ordered hardback copy. I really enjoy books that I get to listen along with as I read. Julia Whelan is back to narrate this one, no other narrators as the entire book is from Alice’s POV. I loved this story.

  • spectacular things by beck dorey stein

    Mia was her mom and dad’s gift to each other, and her little sister Cricket was their present to Mia. The story begins as Cricket is playing for the US Women’s soccer Olympic team. Older sister Mia is giving birth at the exact time and watching Cricket play from the hospital. A health emergency occurs. Then the narrative jumps back to their mother Liz Lowe as she is a high school senior who has signed and committed to play for UCLA. It becomes apparent that Liz is pregnant with Mia and her promising soccer career ends abruptly.

    What I absolutely loved about this story was the characterization, the relationship and dynamic between Mia and Cricket, the gradual way that the narrative unfolds as we find out more about Mia and Cricket’s absent father, their mother’s love of soccer, and how she passed along being a “team player” to her girls, both named for Women’s soccer legends. Something else I loved was the interlocution of the history of the game of soccer and how it grew in culture. As a fan of women’s soccer I loved this essential part of the story. Cricket, Mia and Liz were WONDERFUL characters, there are also very memorable side characters.

    What I didn’t like; in some ways I feel like this book glorifies codependency, but it does show the darker side. I had a professor in college that said “Gilmore Girls” was “anti-choice pro-life propaganda” and I spent hours trying to prove them wrong by highlighting some of Rory’s most pro-feminist and pro-choice identity scenes. But ever since then I have always read into stories about teenagers choosing birth instead of termination with a critical eye, especially in narratives where the child’s father was a predator of some sort. I don’t think this is the case at all, but it did give me a lot to think about. What was a larger theme in this book is the mother and the sister giving up big parts of themselves for the other; without the person asking- so in some ways what you are willing to give up in your life for your daughter or sister.

    While some of the setbacks that happen can seem like too much, there is enough drama in all of their years that you are like JEEZ WHAT ELSE CAN HAPPEN TO THESE WOMEN they deserve a break already. It can be bit much at times and you don’t always agree with the decisions of the characters but you still get the feeling that things will work out for them….. particularly because in the prologue about Mia having a baby, you get a lot of what can only be described as spoilers.

    This would be a great book for book clubs as it is thought provoking and allows readers to ask questions within a group. The characters are flawed yet likable. This is great for fans of sweeping family dramas like The Celebrants, Blue Sisters, Long Island Compromise and Like Mother Like Mother. Written by a former White House stenographer.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Dial Press for the ARC. Book to be published July 1, 2025.

  • murder at gull’s nest by jess kidd

    I like historical fiction combined with a cozy mystery. This one is sweet and the main character is well written and the characterization is strong. Although I did guess the ending very early on, there is a clue that jumped out at me, I did find all of the characters to be interesting and endearing. A small town and a tight knit community. Nora is a former nun who used to be known as Sister Agnes, she left the convent when her pen pail Freida goes missing. Nora goes to the place she sent all the letters in order to see what happens. 

    This is a first in a new series, and I recommend reading it first so you can get the full backstory of Nora. I enjoyed the reading and the pacing of laying out the clues. Soon there is a murder at Gull’s Nest and Nora fancies herself an amateur detective and has some great chemistry with the real investigator. She uncovers many secrets and we learn secrets about Nora herself.

    I enjoyed the pacing and the minor characters had good personalities. Some of the British references are heartwarming and quaint. Although I didn’t love this, I did like it quite a bit. 

    Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC. Book published April 8, 2025.

  • good grief by sara goodman confino

    Good Grief is an engaging, female-centered novel that celebrates the connection between two women who both love the same deceased man. That is… a young widow and her mother-in-law.

    The year is 1963 and the setting is the greater DC area. Barbara Feldman has 2 children, 6 and 4. Her mother moved in when her husband died very young of a massive heart attack. They realize that the time has come for Barbara and the kids to survive on their own, so her mother-in-law moves out.

    They have exactly one day as a family of 3, when her Mother-in-law shows up on her porch with five suitcases. There is no room for argument, Ruth Feldman knows that Barbara’s mother has just left and she is taking her rightful place.

    Hilarity ensues!

    Okay- time for my trigger warning. What happens next is Ruth meddling and really going overboard on being intrusive. If you struggle with setting boundaries and/or are triggered by this, this is a major theme of the book and – I will admit – it raised my blood pressure a bit. I grew to really love Ruth in the end, but there were several times that I was full of anxiety at what she was doing. For example, Barbara has people coming to paint the kitchen a pale yellow and Ruth changes it to being pink. That kind of thing, over and over.

    But all the while, you know that Ruth means well, and she really does love Barbara and her grandchildren. Barbara decides to play matchmaker to just get Ruth out of her house.

    Historical fiction in the mid twentieth century can be a difficult plot for 2025 readers; authors make the mistake of making the characters unrealistic and having the culture/viewpoints of the typical 21st century reader. Authors also can make the time period overly nostalgic, but that isn’t the case here. The workplace is a hospital and very different than today’s society. You can change your own perceptions and see things through the eyes of characters who are
    Immersed in another time.

    It also made me grateful for the women of Barbara and Ruth’s time that made workplaces better for women and mothers like myself.

    4.5 stars rounded up.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Lake House publishing for the ARC. Book to be published August 26, 2025.

  • what kind of paradise by janell brown

    This book is a phenomenal thriller with such deep, thought provoking questions about our society. If there was ever a “page turner,” it is this book. I absolutely could not put this down.

    Jane lives in a shack in the woods with her kooky dad. He has raised her far apart from society, a Luddite of the most exceptional proportions. Jane, at 17, knows no one except her father, and has near no contact without the outside world. Set in the late 90’s, they only leave their Montana home periodically to sell a zine called Libertaire. Jane’s father tells her that her mother died in a car accident, which she had never questioned until now.

    Hungry for the outside world, she sneaks episodes of the X-files and get access to the internet via a modem. In these early days of the internet, social media is arbitrary and sparse- but Dad wants her to learn HTML so he can publish his “manifesto.”

    This is where the tires start to fall off, and learning who she is and that her father is more than just a tin foil hat extremist. I don’t want to give away any more of the plot, but know that once we leave the shack this entire story goes full throttle.

    I think what sets this book apart from other suspense/thrillers is the theme of the complicated relationship we have with technology. Although it hurts just a little to call a book taking place in 1995 “historical” fiction, the time period when the world was hurtling towards connectivity with little regard for the implications truly doesn’t take that long to feel like a long time ago. In some ways, Jane’s “kooky” conspiracy dad is actually right about what he was warning the world about. And that’s what is so deeply moving about the greater theme— we know more than the characters about what is to come. We know he’s not totally wrong, even though in many ways, he is the villain of this story.

    Also, the epilogue was so unexpected and wonderful. It doesn’t end with a bang, but with an echo.

    Pub date was pushed from June 10 to June 3, so I am sure this is going to be a book club pick of some kind.

    a best mystery/thriller of 2025

    Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. Book to be published 6/3/25

    PS- that is THREE outstanding ARCs in a row for me after a dearth of mid picks. Reading so many good ones feels like an embarrassment of riches. I actually feel as though I am bragging to all my #bookstagram friends.

  • the phoenix pencil company by allison king

    You have 32 great-great-great-grandparents. And some of them were probably very brave. Some were very smart, and some were very good people. Over time, their stories have been lost, likely you do not know any of their stories specifically. If you have done 23 and me, you likely know where they were born and grew up. For most people on earth today, you live in a different country than your great-great-great grandparents did. And so much of our experience, our connections, are wildly different than theirs. And yet, much is the same.

    Monica’s family’s legacy is the Phoenix Pencil company, a manufacturer of pencil in Shanghai. As her grandmother Yun is facing her final days, Monica wants to reconcile her relationship with her cousin Meng. She survived the Chinese civil war (I did have to look up “Chinese civil war” on wikipedia quickly for context) and came to California, leaving her beloved cousin behind. Soon Monica discovers that the pencils are not just pencils but carry the stories within them. And what is a Phoenix but a magical creature that burns and is born from its own ashes.

    Highly lyrical and descriptive, The Phoenix Pencil Company is a debut novel that spans generations and continents. The characters change and grow, and there is also a tangential love story that (to me) kind of sprang up out of nowhere. The plot, while simplistic, was hopeful and original. True to the culture and timeline, the story echoes the question, “who owns your story and who will tell it?”

    Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC. Book to be published June 3, 2025.

  • grace of the empire state by gemma tizzard

    This book is just like Mulan except if Mulan was named Grace and;

    Instead of replacing her old dad as a soldier she replaced her twin brother with a broken arm
    Instead of China it is America
    Instead of the year 400 it is 1930
    Instead of fighting a war she is being a riveter 300 feet in the sky, building the Empire State Building.
    Instead of falling for her commanding officer she falls for her Italian co-worker Joe.

    Much like Mulan, Grace dresses as a man in order to save the day. It is a good and memorable story and a solid effort from a debut author. I will say it is written very simply, probably at an 8th grade level. It reminds me of the old books based on the American girl dolls.

    Boy it is a good thing we have OSHA and Unions. Otherwise we would all be dead. I adore the Empire State Building and I am eternally grateful for my great grandfather who poured the steel in Pittsburgh to create it, and the riveters and connectors who put the whole thing together.

    Thank you to @gallerybooks for this #gifted book #partner.