The Memory of Her by Bianca M. Schwarz

The Memory of Her is a reminder of the importance of friendship and love getting you through your darkest hours -- and that it is possible to love after all the trauma you overcome and heal from, especially when you have the right people in your life to support you.

If you know a survivor of trauma that still feels unseen, misunderstood, or you want to know what it’s like to have reoccurring nightmares that suffocate you to your core, reading Bianca’s writing can help you understand what that feels like.  

Every time I read Bianca’s new book in the Gentleman Spy Mysteries series, I get so engrossed in the characters that I can’t bother to put the book down and have to read it more than once. I read this one three times before reviewing because it is just that good! 

Buy the series today! 

The third book in the darkly romantic Gentleman Spy Mysteries.

Eliza Broad has overcome trauma and loss to become the confident woman and spy she is today. Allen Strathem, fellow spy and good friend, has loved Eliza since the moment he first set eyes on her. But he left England without telling her so, bound for a mission on the Crimea with his secret buried deep.

When he returns, Eliza is tasked with helping Allen recover from the horrors he has experienced, and she dedicates herself to banishing the specters of his Russian captivity and restoring the sparkle in his eyes.

As Allen recuperates, they realize danger has followed him back to England. Together, they set a trap for the man who tortured him, only to discover something far more menacing afoot. With danger and intrigue around every corner, Eliza and Allen rely on and trust each other, and soon their once-buried love becomes a driving force. The perilous adventure they share and thrive on binds them together, but will that be enough to protect them from those who wish to see them dead?

 

Before the Dawn by Emma Pass

I need this to be a movie! This was a beautiful story of love and the dual perspective was perfect! 

When everything you hold dear is torn apart by war, can love put you back together again?

It's 1943, and the Second World War is raging. Ruby Mottram works for her local newspaper, the Bartonford Herald, typing up adverts and obituaries, whilst dreaming of a more exciting life. Between her shifts as an ARP warden and caring for her ailing father, the chance for escape doesn't come often to Devon.

Meanwhile, in America's deep south, Sam Archer is hatching a plan to raise enough money to get his mother and sister away from his abusive stepfather. Using falsified documents to hide his age, he enlists with the U.S. Army.

Two chance encounters bring Ruby and Sam together from opposite sides of the Atlantic, giving them the chance of love, hope and freedom from their troubled lives. But fate, in the shape of D-Day and Omaha Beach, has other ideas.

When their very lives are at risk, will their promise to wait for one another be what keeps them alive?

Fatal Intent by Tammy Euliano

The perfect reminder to write and notarize a living will, DNR, end-of-life guidance, funeral plans, and to research appropriate death with dignity programs ahead of time.

Buy it today. 


End-of-life care—or assisted death

When her elderly patients start dying at home days after minor surgery, anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey wants to know why. The surgeon, not so much. “Old people die, that’s what they do,” is his response. When Kate presses, surgeon Charles Ricken places the blame squarely on her shoulders. Kate is currently on probation and the chief of staff sides with the surgeon, leaving Kate to prove her innocence and save her own career. With her husband in a prolonged coma, it’s all she has left.

Aided by her eccentric Great Aunt Irm, a precocious medical student, and the lawyer son of a victim, Kate launches her own unorthodox investigation of these unexpected deaths. As she comes closer to exposing the culprit’s identity, she faces professional intimidation, threats to her life, a home invasion, and, tragically, the suspicious death of someone close to her. The stakes escalate to the breaking point when Kate, under violent duress, is forced to choose which of her loved ones to save—and which must be sacrificed.

On a Night of a Thousand Stars by Andrea Yaryura Clark

I learned about Argentina's Dirty War, coup, politics, and turmoil during undergrad, but reading Clark's novel reopened the empathy in a way I hadn't experienced then: a mother's love and doing what we think is best for our child, sometimes even to their detriment. #ReadForever, #ReadForeverPub, #ReadForever2022 

In this moving, emotional narrative of love and resilience, a young couple confronts the start of Argentina's Dirty War in the 1970s, and a daughter searches for truth twenty years later.

New York, 1998. Santiago Larrea, a wealthy Argentine diplomat, is holding court alongside his wife, Lila, and their daughter, Paloma, a college student and budding jewelry designer, at their annual summer polo match and soiree. All seems perfect in the Larreas’ world—until an unexpected party guest from Santiago's university days shakes his usually unflappable demeanor. The woman's cryptic comments spark Paloma’s curiosity about her father’s past, of which she knows little.

When the family travels to Buenos Aires for Santiago's UN ambassadorial appointment, Paloma is determined to learn more about his life in the years leading up to the military dictatorship of 1976. With the help of a local university student, Franco Bonetti, an activist member of H.I.J.O.S.—a group whose members are the children of the desaparecidos, or the “disappeared,” men and women who were forcibly disappeared by the state during Argentina’s “Dirty War”—Paloma unleashes a chain of events that not only leads her to question her family and her identity, but also puts her life in danger.

In compelling fashion, On a Night of a Thousand Stars speaks to relationships, morality, and identity during a brutal period in Argentinian history, and the understanding—and redemption—people crave in the face of tragedy.

Desaparecidos
1999, Noemí Escandell
Impresiones multiejemplares sobre papel
40 x 35 cm


Noemí Escandell’s piece, “Desaparecidos” encompasses the sentiments of these mothers of the Plaza de Mayo through her interpretation of Michelangelo’s “Pieta” from 1499.


“Durante la dictadura militar se sentía algo muy profundo, y me dije Dios desapareció. Recordando esta sensación cuando me pidieron la obra lo hice desaparecer a Dios. En La Piedad de Miguel Ángel Dios estaba en las faldas de la madre, y yo se lo saqué (Ballan 1).”



In Escandell’s interpretation, Mary’s head is wrapped in the white kerchief, lap empty, whilst she stares at the space where the body of her dead child should be, her arms widened, waiting to accept a death that will never be confirmed, a hurt that will never be comforted or forgotten. The questions remain: Where are they? What has happened to them?

Buy On a Night of a Thousand Stars today. 

Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg

Prepare yourself a picnic of brie, baguette, and Veuve Clicquot before you read this book, or you'll find yourself craving those things whilst you traverse Europe during the Napoleon wars. I'm looking up the winery, region, and studying the map now to get a feel for the terroir of this novel.

Buy it today! 

From triple-gold award-winning author Rebecca Rosenberg, a novel about the first woman of Champagne, Veuve Clicquot.

Champagne, France, 1800. Twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole inherited Le Nez (an uncanny sense of smell that makes her picky, persnickety, and particularly perceptive) from her great-grandfather, a renowned champagne maker. Her parents see Le Nez as a curse that must be hidden and try to marry her off to an unsuspecting suitor. But Barbe-Nicole is haunted by her Grand-mere’s dying wish for her to use Le Nez to make great champagne. When she learns her childhood sweetheart, Francois Clicquot, wants to start a winery, she rejects her parents’ suitors and marries Francois despite his mental illness.

Barbe-Nicole Clicquot must now cope with Francois’ suicide, the difficulties of starting a winery, and the Napoleon Codes preventing women from owning a business. All this while Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, wages six wars against the European monarchs, crippling her ability to sell her champagne. Using Le Nez, she beats the impossible hardships of Napoleon’s wars, often challenging Napoleon himself. When Veuve Clicquot falls in love with her sales manager, Louis Bohne, who asks her to marry, she must choose between losing her winery to her husband, as dictated by Napoleon Code, or losing Louis.

In the ultimate showdown, Veuve Clicquot defies Napoleon, risking imprisonment and even death.

Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting

I'm living vicariously through the love and bond of these sisters. I know they are book characters but they just make me so happy! Looking forward to the next book of the series! 

Charming, hilarious, and emotional, Starry-Eyed Love is Helena Hunting at her very best!

Having just broken up with her boyfriend, London Spark is not in the mood to be hit on. Especially not when she’s out celebrating her single status with her sisters. So when a very attractive man pays for their drinks and then slips her his number, she passes it right back to him with a ‘thanks, but no thanks’. As the business administrator for their family’s event hotel, the Spark House, London has more important things to worry about, like bringing in new clientele.

As luck would have it, a multi-million-dollar company calls a few months later asking for a meeting to discuss a potential partnership, and London is eager to prove to her sisters, and herself, that she can land this deal. Just when she thinks she has nailed her presentation, the company’s CEO, Jackson Holt, walks in and inserts himself into the meeting. Not only that, but he also happens to be the same guy she turned down at the bar a few months ago.

As they begin to spend more time together, their working relationship blossoms into something more. It isn’t until their professional entanglements are finally over, that London and Jackson are finally ready to take the next step in their relationship. But between Jackson’s secretive past and London’s struggle with her sisters, London must question where she really stands - not just with Jackson, but with the Spark House, too.

Love in a Time of War by Adrienne Chinn

I'm so happy that this will be a series! I enjoyed these characters immensely and the ending went too fast for me. Looking forward to what happens in the next book. My favorite part was how Jessie overcame her bias.


Buy it today! 

In 1913, in a quiet corner of London, the three Fry sisters are coming of age, dreaming of all the possibilities the bright future offers. But when war erupts their innocence is shattered and a new era of uncertainty begins.

Cecelia loves Max but his soldier’s uniform is German, not British, and suddenly the one man she loves is the one man she can’t have.

Jessie enlists in the army as a nurse and finally finds the adventure she’s craved when she’s sent to Gallipoli and Egypt, but it comes with an unimaginable cost.

Etta elopes to Capri with her Italian love, Carlo, but though her growing bump is real, her marriage certificate is a lie.

As the three sisters embark on journeys they never could have imagined, their mother Christina worries about the harsh new realities they face, and what their exposure to the wider world means for the secrets she’s been keeping…

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

I knew from Abby's TikTok teaser that this would be good, but dagnabbit Abby, why ya have to go leaving us hanging at the nekkid part!? 

*Goes to pre-order book*

 I'm looking forward to adding this novel to my Jimenez collection and I'm taking bets on how long it takes for Abby to talk her husband into adopting a baby goat.

After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable.

While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.


Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?

Until We Meet by Camille Di Maio

I couldn't put this book down and don't regret losing sleep to finish it in the wee hours of the morning. I was prepared with tissues and hot chocolate to comfort myself and absolutely love this novel, even with it wrecking my emotions. 

A poignant and page-turning story of three women whose lives are forever changed by war.…

New York City, 1943

Can one small act change the course of a life? Margaret’s job at the Navy Yard brings her freedoms she never dared imagine, but she wants to do something more personal to help the war effort. Knitting socks for soldiers is a way to occupy her quiet nights and provide comfort to the boys abroad. But when a note she tucks inside one of her socks sparks a relationship with a long-distance pen pal, she finds herself drawn to a man she’s never even met.

Can a woman hold on to her independence if she gives away her heart? Gladys has been waiting her whole life for the kinds of opportunities available to her now that so many men are fighting overseas. She’s not going to waste a single one. And she’s not going to let her two best friends waste them either. Then she meets someone who values her opinions as much as she likes giving them, and suddenly she is questioning everything she once held dear.

Can an unwed mother survive on her own? Dottie is in a dire situation—she’s pregnant, her fiancé is off fighting the war, and if her parents find out about the baby, they’ll send her away and make her give up her child. Knitting helps take her mind off her uncertain future—until the worst happens and she must lean on her friends like never before.

With their worlds changing in unimaginable ways, Margaret, Gladys, and Dottie will learn that the unbreakable bond of friendship between them is what matters most of all.

When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting

This was my first time reading a Helena Hunting novel, and I am shook. This novel will tear your heart up, make it melt, and feel roasted, but dang it's a wonderful ride.


Buy it today! 

Avery Spark is living her best life. Between her friends, her sisters, and Spark House, the event hotel her family owns, she doesn’t have much time for anything else, especially relationships. She’d rather hang out with her best friend and roommate, Declan McCormick, than deal with the dating scene. But everything changes when she is in a car accident and needs someone to care for her as she heals.

Declan avoids relationships, giving him a playboy reputation that he lives up to when he puts a one-night stand ahead of a promise he made to Avery. While he may not have been the one driving the car, he feels responsible for Avery’s injuries and is determined to make it up to her by stepping into the role of caretaker.

Little did they know that the more time they spend in compromising positions, the attraction they’ve been refusing to acknowledge becomes impossible to ignore. When they finally give in to the spark between them, neither is prepared for the consequences. Their love is fragile and all it will take is a blow from the past to shatter it all.

The Helsingør Sewing Club by Ella Gyland

 An empowering true story of community, resilience, and defying those in power to follow your morality and truth and help others through the onslaught of violence and terror. 

Inspired by the incredible true story of how the people of Denmark came to the aid of their Jewish neighbours during WW2

Elsinore, Denmark, 1943

In the midst of the German occupation during World War Two, Inger Bredhal joins the underground resistance and risks her life to save members of Denmark’s Jewish community and help them escape to Sweden.

Copenhagen, 2018

Inger’s granddaughter, Cecilie Lund, is mourning her death when a mysterious discovery while cleaning out Inger’s flat leads past and present to intersect. As long-held secrets finally see the light of day, Cecilie learns the story of her grandmother’s courage and bravery, and of the power of friendship, love, and standing for what’s right…even when you have everything to lose.

An inspiring tale of the resilience of the human spirit and the power of community.

The Next Ship Home by Heather Webb

Reminder to surround yourself with strong women who wholeheartedly support you, even (especially) when the men in their lives affect yours negatively. Female empowerment, overcoming obstacles, finding true love - a wonderful tale of the American dream and its realities. 

Ellis Island, 1902: Two women band together to hold America to its promise: "Give me your tired, your poor ... your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

A young Italian woman arrives on the shores of America, her sights set on a better life. That same day, a young American woman reports to her first day of work at the immigration center. But Ellis Island isn't a refuge for Francesca or Alma, not when ships depart every day with those who are refused entry to the country and when corruption ripples through every corridor. While Francesca resorts to desperate measures to ensure she will make it off the island, Alma fights for her dreams of becoming a translator, even as women are denied the chance.

As the two women face the misdeeds of a system known to manipulate and abuse immigrants searching for new hope in America, they form an unlikely friendship—and share a terrible secret—altering their fates and the lives of the immigrants who come after them.

Inspired by true events and for fans of Kristina McMorris and Hazel Gaynor, The Next Ship Home holds up a mirror to our own times, deftly questioning America's history of prejudice and exclusion while also reminding us of our citizens' singular determination. This is a novel of the dark secrets of Ellis Island, when entry to "the land of the free" promised a better life but often delivered something drastically different, and when immigrant strength and female friendship found ways to triumph even on the darkest days.

Little Souls by Sandra Dallas

My goodness, my heart after reading this novel aches. Many a time I had to power through and keep reading, because of the triggers for domestic abuse and sexual assault, or because of how closely the current pandemic relates to the Spanish Flu. But, man, was the heart-warming ending worth the heart-wrenching eye twitches and pearl clutching.

Buy it today! 

Sandra Dallas's Little Souls is a gripping tale of sisterhood, loyalty, and secrets set in Denver amid America’s last deadly flu pandemic.

Colorado, 1918. World War I is raging overseas, but it’s the home front battling for survival. With the Spanish Flu rampant, Denver’s schools are converted into hospitals, churches and funeral homes are closed, and horse-drawn wagons collect corpses left in the street. Sisters Helen and Lutie have moved to Denver from Iowa after their parents’ deaths. Helen, a nurse, and Lutie, a carefree advertising designer at a fashionable women’s store share a small, neat house, and each finds a local beau—for Helen a doctor, for Lutie a young student who soon enlists. They make a modest income from a rental apartment in the basement. When their tenant dies from the flu, the sisters are thrust into caring for the woman’s small daughter, Dorothy. Soon after, Lutie comes home from work and discovers a dead man on their kitchen floor and Helen standing above the body, an icepick in hand. She has no doubt Helen killed the man—Dorothy’s father—in self-defense, but she knows that will be hard to prove. They decide to leave the body in the street, hoping to disguise it as a flu victim.

Meanwhile Lutie also worries about her fiancé “over there.” As it happens, his wealthy mother harbors a secret of her own and helps the sisters as the danger deepens, from both the murder investigation and the outbreak.

Set against the backdrop of an epidemic that feels all too familiar, Little Souls is a compelling tale of sisterhood and of the sacrifices people make to protect those they love most.

Damn Lucky by Kevin Maurer

This biography of Lucky was fascinating, and I hope the published copy includes photographs! I live an hour away from Portsmouth, Ohio where Second Lieutenant Maurice Beatty grew up in Portsmouth, Ohio; what a small world.

Buy it today!

“We were young citizen-soldiers, terribly naive and gullible about what we would be confronted with in the air war over Europe and the profound effect it would have upon every fiber of our being for the rest of our lives. We were all afraid, but it was beyond our power to quit. We volunteered for the service and, once trained and overseas, felt we had no choice but to fulfill the mission assigned. My hope is that this book honors the men with whom I served by telling the truth about what it took to climb into the cold blue and fight for our lives over and over again.”
—John “Lucky” Luckadoo, Major, USAF (Ret.) 100th Bomb Group (H)

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was a world away from John Luckadoo’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But when the Japanese attacked the American naval base on December 7, 1941, he didn’t hesitate to join the military. Trained as a pilot with the United States Air Force, Second Lieutenant Luckadoo was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group stationed in Thorpe Abbotts, England. Between June and October 1943, he flew B-17 Flying Fortresses over France and Germany on bombing runs devised to destroy the Nazi war machine.

With a shrapnel torn Bible in his flight jacket pocket and his girlfriend’s silk stocking around his neck like a scarf as talismans, Luckadoo piloted through Luftwaffe machine-gun fire and antiaircraft flak while enduring subzero temperatures to complete twenty-five missions and his combat service. The average bomber crew rarely survived after eight to twelve missions. Knowing far too many airmen who wouldn’t be returning home, Luckadoo closed off his emotions and focused on his tasks to finish his tour of duty one moment at a time, realizing his success was more about being lucky than being skilled.

Drawn from Luckadoo’s firsthand accounts, acclaimed war correspondent Kevin Maurer shares his extraordinary tale from war to peacetime, uncovering astonishing feats of bravery during the bloodiest military campaign in aviation history, and presenting an incredible portrait of a young man’s coming-of-age during the world’s most devastating war.