April favorites

The House of Hidden Letters by Izzy Broom. Berkley Publishing, 17 March, 2026.

Skye MacKinnon is desperate for an escape. When she wins a lottery to buy a run-down cottage on a Greek island for only one euro, Skye jumps at the chance to get out of England and start over. As she unlocks the tattered blue door of her whitewashed new cottage, the sun-kissed sea glinting in the bay outside her windows, Skye immediately feels like she’s found her true home.

Skye and the other lottery winners—the first residents in these houses since the 1940s—form a tight-knit group, finding in one another the strong relationships they’d been missing in their own lives. When Skye and local contractor Andreas find a set of mysterious letters, they begin to unravel the history of the prior residents, and the truth about life on Folegandros during World War II.

The Queen of Roses by Julia Kelly.  Gallery Books, 20 October 2026.  (Review to come.)

1960: Frustrated reporter Theresa Johnson’s life changes when she receives a phone call from a Miss Pearce who claims her obituary about one of Pasadena’s last great hoteliers is wildly inaccurate. Seeking the truth, Theresa drives to the mysterious Rosewood House nestled high in the Altadena foothills. Even more intriguing than the house’s beautiful garden is Miss Pearce’s proposal that Theresa help her settle old scores by writing her biography.

1903: Beautiful but haughty, Adele Pearce is reluctant to leave the London Season and her last hope of a proposal. When she arrives in California, she discovers the startling truth of why her mother has called her there: her father has squandered his fortune and Adele must marry a wealthy American to save the family.

Stifled by expectation as Pasadena’s newest doyenne, Adele’s only comfort is Rosewood House and the beautiful garden she creates with the help of taciturn gardener Alexander Macalister. However, as Adele’s feelings for Alex flourish, a fire ignites in the San Gabriel Mountains above Rosewood House, threatening everything Adele holds dear, while in 1960, Miss Pearce learns that history has a terrible habit of repeating itself.

The Grapevine by Alexandra Sokoloff and Craig Robertson.  Blackstone Publishing, 23 June 2026.  (Review to come.)

How far would you go to find your missing child?

Lou Gomersall's going as far as it takes. And there's no turning back.

When her nineteen-year-old daughter Abby disappears, Lou embarks on a reckless road trip in the family RV, scouring the highways and back roads of California. Through desert and mountains, into the woods, and to the ocean's edge.

A year later, the police don't believe Lou's theory that four other missing young women have been taken by the same elusive predator. So, when another college sophomore vanishes, Lou jumps on the fresh trail, enlisting millennial #vanlifers, Gen Z entrepreneurs, boomer RVers, homeless sages, truck stop prostitutes, and everyone in between in her do-or-die mission to rescue Abby …

(Watch for my upcoming review of The Grapevine!)

My favorite historical fiction of 2025

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict (St. Martin's, 2025).

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick (Harper Muse, 2025).

Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union, 2025).

Kate & Frida by Kim Fay (Penguin, 2025).

The Dressmakers of London by Julia Kelly  (Gallery Books, 2025).

The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club by Martha Hall Kelly (Random House, 2025).

Confessions of a Grammar Queen by Eliza Knight (Sourcebooks, 2025).

The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes (William Morrow, 2025).

The Eights by Joanna Miller (Penguin, 2025).

A Resistance of Witches by Morgan Ryan (Penguin, 2025).

Book Review - Dressmakers of London

 The Dressmakers of London by Julia Kelly.  Gallery Books, 18 February 2025.

Julia Kelly specializes in historical novels with strong female protagonists, and so far, I’ve loved every one of them.

It’s November of 1941.  Twenty-eight-year-old Isabelle Shelton is content to work in her mother’s dressmaking shop in London.  Her older sister Sylvia had been married wealthy Hugo Pearsall for several years, and due to the difference in their lifestyles, the sisters had drifted apart.

That all changed when their mother Maggie passed away in her sleep, leaving the shop to both of her daughters. 

Izzy is shocked and hurt.  She’d been working for her mother since she was fourteen, while Sylvia had never shown any interest in the business. She’s determined to buy out Sylvia’s share of the shop, but when she’s conscripted to join the WAAF, she’s forced to accept Sylvia’s help to keep the shop open.

While this is a story of the relationship between the two sisters, there are several other themes here.  We all know about the rationing of food, medicine, and other necessities, but fabric and notions for making clothing were also rationed. 

We also learn about the travails of the young women who were called up to serve in the war.  Isabelle’s unit works on testing and repairing barrage balloons, and we learn much about their living circumstances, including the fact that the female conscripts had to wear ill-fitting and uncomfortable uniforms sized for men.

I finished this gripping novel in a day, and I recommend it highly!

 

Many thanks to Edelweiss for the e-galley.

January favorites

 Bivald, Katarina.  The murders in Great Diddling.  Sourcebooks, 13 August 2024.

Johnson, Debbie.  Statistically speaking.  Harper Muse, 3 December 2024.

Kelly, Julia.  The dressmakers of London. Gallery Books, 18 February 2025.

Loigman, Lynda Cohen.  The love elixir of Augusta Stern. St. Martin's Press, 8 October 2024.

Martin, Madeline.  The booklover's library.  Hanover Square Press, 10 September 2024.

Thompson, Kate.  The wartime book club.  Forever, 9 April, 2024.