The Gin Lovers

Author: Jamie Brenner
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2012
Pages: 448
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: It's 1925, and the Victorian era with its confining morals is all but dead. Unfortunately, for New York socialite, Charlotte Delacorte, the scandalous flapper revolution is little more than a headline in the tabloids. Living with her rigid and controlling husband, William, her Fifth Avenue townhouse is a gilded cage. But when William's rebellious younger sister, the beautiful and brash Mae, comes to live with them after the death of their mother, Charlotte finds entree to a world beyond her wildest dreams - and a handsome and mysterious stranger whom she imagines is as confident in the bedroom as he is behind the bar of his forbidden speakeasy.

Review: Jamie Brenner is one of my favorite authors, and I loved The Gin Lovers. Spicier than what is typical from her, this was perfect to read when you just want to be buried underneath an electric blanket with a cup of tea. 

The jazz age and Prohibition era captures my imagination every time, and the characters were impossible to put down. The Gin Lovers is a delightful soap opera, and one I recommend for long, cold January days.

Originally published as a 6 part serial for ebooks, The Gin Lovers is the compilation of these parts into one novel. Each chapter has an arc which makes reading this as a singular novel interesting. Something is always happening.

The Last House on the Street

Author: Diane Chamberlain
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2023
Pages: 384
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: 1965: Growing up in the well-to-do town of Round Hill, North Carolina, Ellie Hockley was raised to be a certain type of proper Southern lady. Enrolled in college and all but engaged to a bank manager, Ellie isn't committed to her expected future as her family believes. She's chosen to spend her summer break as a volunteer helping to register black voters. But as Ellie follows her ideals fighting for the civil rights of the marginalized, her scandalized parents scorn her efforts, and her neighbors reveal their prejudices. And when she loses her heart to a fellow volunteer, Ellie discovers the frightening true nature of the people living in Round Hill.

2010: Architect Kayla Carter and her husband designed a beautiful house for themselves in Round Hill's new development, Shadow Ridge Estates. It was supposed to be a home where they could raise their three-year-old daughter and grow old together. Instead, it's the place where Kayla's husband died in an accident - a fact known to a mysterious woman who warns Kayla against moving in. The woods and lake behind the property are reputed to be haunted, and the new home has been targeted by vandals leaving threatening notes. And Kayla's neighbor Ellie Hockley is harboring long buried secrets about the dark history of the land where her house was built.

Two women, two stories. Both on a collision course with the truth - no matter what that truth may bring in light.

Review: I was on a Diane Chamberlain kick for awhile, but then I got away from reading her. This author can write, and I find myself googling for more information on either the subject matter or something she mentions. I found myself thinking about these characters, especially Kayla, when I had to set the book aside. I shed a few tears and not for the characters necessarily, but for all the people who would have experienced these turbulent times and because some people still can't' see past the colors of someone's skin. Five stars.

The Most

Author: Jessica Anthony
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company, 2024
Pages: 144
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: It's November 3, 1957. As Sputnik 2 launches into space, carrying Laika, the doomed Soviet dog, a couple begin their day. Virgil Beckett, an insurance salesman, isn't particularly happy in his job but he fulfills the role. Kathleen Beckett, once a promising tennis champion with a key shot up her sleeve, is now a mother and homemaker. On this unseasonably warm Sunday, Kathleen decides not to join her family at church. Instead, she unearths her old, red bathing suit and descends into the deserted swimming pool of their apartment complex in Newark, Delaware. And then she won't come out.

Set over eight hours, The Most breaches the shimmering surface of a seemingly idyllic mid-century marriage, immersing us in the unspoken truth beneath.

Review: I think I picked this book up at the library at the end of 2024 because it was short, and I was concerned that I wouldn't complete my reading challenge. However, I actually finished one book ahead and started this in 2025. I loved it.

As I write this review and think about what drew me in, I love it even more. There's so much complexity and nuance in what is a short novel at 144 pages. It's life and it resonated.

The Husband's Secret

Author: Liane Moriarty
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2015
Pages: 464
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something with the potential to destroy not only the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. And then imagine that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive...

Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all - she's an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her community, and a devoted wife and mother. But that letter is about to change everything - and not just for her. There are other women who barely know Cecilia - or each other - but they, too, are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband's secret.

Review: I finished this book in 2024 with moments to spare. What a great way to end the year. I don't know why it's taken me so long to read Liane Moriarty. Her novels are quickly paced and engaging. I was all-in with this novel from chapter one.

Other Liane Moriarty Novels
Here One Moment

A Kiss Remembered

Author: Sandra Brown
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing,183 (republished 2002)
Pages: 192
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: After leaving her disastrous marriage behind, Shelley Browning goes back to college to get her degree and comes face-to-face with an unforgettable man from her past. Ten years ago, when she was Grant Chapman's student, they shared a single, scorching, unplanned kiss that still haunts Shelley's dreams. Now, as irresistible than ever, Grant has just returned to teaching after taking a stint as a congressional aide in Washington. . .and sees now impropriety in asking out Shelley. Isn't this what she secretly longs for? Still, Shelley isn't sure what she really wants. But a stunning accusation is about to change all that - and she must choose to take some dangerous risks or spend the rest of her life filled with regrets.

Review: This novel was first published in 1983, and it reads like a 1983 novel (of course). It's steamy, predictable, and a perfect fluff novel with themes that I have a hard time believing would be published in 2024.

The Tin Whistle

Author: Kathleen Shoop
Genre: Christmas / Fiction
Publisher: Indie published, 2020
Pages: 106
Rating: Recommend 

Synopsis: 1854: Jacob Guskey wakes up hoping Santa has arrived. And he has, but not for Jacob, one of two Jewish boys living at the Boys' Home of Manhattan. When a friend gifts him a tin whistle, Jacob learns the power of giving, the joy in receiving, and hears what he considers to be the sound of happiness.

1881: Recently widowed and completely out of options, Frannie takes her daughter Molly to the Home for the Friendless. "You'll be back before Christmas?" Molly asks. Frannie gives Molly half a quilt square and keeps the other, choking on her reply.

Now a happily married father of three, Jacob Gusky owns Gusky's Grand Emporium, Pittsburgh's first premier department store. After unearthing the tin whistle from the orphanage, he is reminded of what it felt like to have nothing, and decides to make a difference in the lives of others no matter their faith. But with so little time before Christmas morning, can he even begin to give the orphaned children of Pittsburgh what he knows they need?

Review: A novel based on a true story? Yes, please. A novel set in my home city? Yes, please. This was heartwarming and perfect for the season.

A Very Merry Christmas

Author: Anita Higman
Genre: Fiction/Christmas
Publisher: Summerside, 2012
Pages: 256
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Franny Martin is a woman who isn't afraid to dream big. But most of all, this is a love story about two people who come from different worlds. Charlie is all wealth and polish while Franny is a simple farm girl who has more spirit than money. In the process of a "trading places" arrangement between them, they unearth some discoveries of the heart - that sometimes love comes when you're least ready for it, and that love can bring the most impossible dreams within reach.

Review: To be honest, I was bored with this novel. It's typical for the genre, but the characters were annoying. Upshot, there are better Christmas/Hallmark theme novels available.