⭐⭐⭐-1/2 Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere follows Joan Goodwin, a quiet, brilliant physics professor who stuns everyone—including herself—by joining NASA’s Space Shuttle program in 1980. The setup hints at a high-flying, STEM-driven narrative, but the story spends more time grounded in Joan’s personal relationships: her bond with her niece, her complicated family ties, and a romance that becomes central to the plot. Reid’s writing is as strong as ever, and the ensemble cast of fellow trainees is engaging. There are moving moments and thoughtful themes about identity, love, and finding your place in the universe. But I was hoping for a deeper look at what it meant to be one of […]
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Mob Queen Is Fierce, Gritty, and Gloriously Unapologetic
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I absolutely loved Virginia Hill. Fierce, determined, and headstrong, she bursts off the page in Erin Bledsoe’s Mob Queen—a gutsy, gripping dive into the glitzy but treacherous world of 1930s organized crime. From the moment Virginia flees a violent marriage in Georgia and tumbles into Chicago’s mob scene, the stakes are life and death—and she rises to meet them with swagger and smarts. Bledsoe doesn’t sugarcoat the brutality. Mob violence is graphic and unsettling, and Virginia grows increasingly at ease carrying out the family’s dirty work. It’s a humanizing portrait of a woman who finds agency in a world that rarely offers it. Her relationship with Bugsy Siegel is steamy […]
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Run for Your Life: A Debut That’s Brave, Bold, and a Bit Bumpy
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5) Eve J. Chung’s Daughters of Shandong is a powerful debut inspired by her grandmother’s real-life escape from Communist China. It follows teenaged Hai, her mother, and sisters after they’re abandoned by Hai’s father during the civil war. The women face violence, hunger, and betrayal on their harrowing journey from Shandong to Taiwan. Chung nails the setting and stakes, giving readers a vivid, emotional ride. Hai is a strong narrator—young, naive, and surprisingly resilient. I had a hard time putting the book down. Chung brings urgency and heart to the page, especially in scenes of political persecution and gender injustice. The themes of survival and sisterhood pack a punch, and the author’s […]
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Sweet Story, Slow Burn: A Seaside Tale That Takes Its Time
⭐⭐⭐ Marty Wingate’s The Orphans of Mersea House is a quiet, character-driven novel set in a post-WWII English boarding house. Olive Kersey, now orphaned and jobless, lands a position as housekeeper at Mersea House, run by her prickly childhood friend Margery. The arrival of young Juniper—spirited, bright, and disabled by polio—adds a welcome jolt of energy to the otherwise uneventful household. The best part of the book is its cozy, coastal setting and its gentle exploration of found family, resilience, and second chances. Olive is likable, and her growing bond with Juniper is touching. The supporting cast includes a few charming oddballs, and Wingate captures small-town postwar life with warmth and […]
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A Vivid Reimagining of Hester Prynne’s Untold Story
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Laurie Lico Albanese’s Hester reimagines Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, The Scarlet Letter, from the point of view of a woman who might have inspired Hester Prynne. Isobel Gamble is still a teenager when she emigrates from Scotland to Salem, Massachusetts, with her much older husband, Edward. She comes from a long line of women with secret knowledge—including her ancestor, Isobel Gowdie, Queen of Witches—and has learned to hide her synesthesia, a condition that makes her see letters and sounds in color. Albanese describes this brilliantly, weaving it into the story in ways that feel both magical and grounded. Told in a dual narrative between Isobel Gamble and Isobel Gowdie, the novel’s prose is […]
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A Norwegian Twist on WWII Fiction
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Resistance Girl by Mandy Robotham offers a fresh take on WWII fiction by shifting the setting to Nazi-occupied Norway. It was a welcome change to step outside the usual France-or-England narrative and experience the war from a different vantage point. The icy backdrop, secret missions, and quiet acts of defiance give this story a unique atmosphere. The plot centers on a young woman drawn into the resistance after a personal tragedy. She’s not a superhero, but her courage feels real—and that grounded strength gives the book its heartbeat. There’s a romantic subplot that adds warmth, though at times it overshadows the larger wartime stakes. A few secondary characters […]
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Dual‑Timeline Tale of WWI and WWII Wrens
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars) If you enjoy wartime fiction with strong female leads, add The Call of the Wrens to your reading list. Jenni L. Walsh takes us on a ride—literally—through two world wars with dual heroines who sign up for the Women’s Royal Naval Service, better known as the Wrens. Marion is an orphan in WWI who finds purpose as a motorcycle dispatch rider. Evelyn is a wealthy young woman in WWII, born with a clubfoot and aching to break free from expectations. Their stories are told in alternating timelines, and I found both characters really likeable and well-drawn. I was especially moved by how their paths ultimately connect in a meaningful […]
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The Grand Design: Gilded Ambitions, Unrelatable Lives
⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you love your historical fiction with a side of luxury, The Grand Design by Joy Callaway might catch your eye. Set at the glamorous Greenbrier resort in West Virginia, the story is based on real-life interior designer Dorothy Draper, who carved out a career for herself in an era when women were expected to marry well and stay quiet. Callaway paints a vivid picture of high society in the early 20th century, from debutante balls to decor trends. The historical tidbits about Draper’s life and inner circle were genuinely interesting, and I enjoyed learning more about the Greenbrier itself—it’s the kind of place that’s fun to peek at from afar, […]
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A Heroine with Ink on Her Fingers and Fire in Her Blood
⭐⭐⭐⭐ My Name is Emilia del Valle is vintage Isabel Allende—lush, sweeping, and utterly addictive. But it’s also refreshingly bold. Emilia is a whip-smart heroine who barrels through 19th-century expectations like a runaway press. Born illegitimately to an Irish nun and a Chilean aristocrat, Emilia grows up defying convention. Her journey from dime store novelist to war correspondent is gripping enough, but it’s the layers beneath—the fractured family ties, the search for identity, the slow-burning love story with fellow journalist Eric Whelan—that give the novel its heart. The battlefield scenes are vivid and unsparing, told through Emilia’s clear-eyed reporting. The horrors of war don’t overshadow the personal stakes, especially as […]
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A Gritty Slice of Oregon History
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kristina McMorris has a gift for blending history and heart, and her latest novel, The Girls of Good Fortune, digs deep. Set in 1888 Portland, the story opens in the city’s infamous Shanghai Tunnels, where Celia, a young woman of mixed heritage, awakens in a drugged haze, disguised and imprisoned. She’s about to be shipped off as forced labor—shanghaied into a nightmare that pulls no punches. Celia’s struggle to piece together how she ended up there takes readers on a twisting journey through corruption, injustice, and survival. As a half-Chinese woman passing as white in a time of deep anti-Chinese sentiment, her very existence is a balancing act. The […]
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