January was a busy month, with work, nursing school, and my grandfather in the hospital, I didn’t find much spare time for reading. That being said, there are three amazing books on this month’s list of reads, along with a debut novelist’s recommendations.
Good Grief | Sara Goodman Confino
I just got around to reading Good Grief (it was released in August of last year), and I just love it. It had so many laugh-out-loud moments. It’s set in the early 60’s, which I didn’t realize until I started reading (I often pick up books for their interesting covers), and author Sara G. Confino really does paint the time period well with her descriptions.
The story centers around Barbara Feldman, whose husband passed away two years ago. Her mother had been staying with her during that time to help her raise her two young children. The book starts off with Barbara bidding farewell to her mom with the plan of trying things out on her own. This plan doesn’t last very long, when her mother-in-law, Ruth, turns up on her doorstep intending to move in.
In an effort to get her mother-in-law to move out, she plans to play matchmaker… only to find out her mother-in-law has the same intentions for her… hilarity ensues.
Rating: A+
A mother- and daughter-in-law. To move on, one of them will have to move out in a hopeful and hilarious novel about widowhood and family friction by the bestselling author of Don’t Forget to Write.
It’s 1963, two years since Barbara Feldman’s husband died. Raising two kids, she’s finally emerging from her cocoon of grief. Not yet a butterfly, but she’s anxious to spread her wings.
Then one day her mother-in-law, Ruth, shows up on her doorstep with five suitcases, expecting a room of her own with a suitable mattress. Abrasive and stuck in her ways yet well meaning, Mother Ruth arrives without warning to help with the children. How can Barbara say no to a woman who is not only a widow herself but also a grieving mother? As Ruth’s prickly visit turns from days to weeks to what seems like forever, Barbara realizes Ruth has got to go. But Barbara has an ingenious plan: introduce Ruth to some fine gentlemen and marry her off as fast as she can.
Soon enough, something tells Barbara that Ruth is trying to do the same for her. At least they’re finding common ground—helping each other to move forward. Even if it is in the most unpredictable ways two totally different women ever imagined.
The English Masterpiece | Katherine Reay
This is one of my favorite books to date. We move from the 1970s, where a young assistant and aspiring artist yearns to prove herself. She helps the Tate Modern Collections keeper, Diana, plan a Picasso exhibit following the artist’s passing. Everything is going according to plan until Lily discovers that one of the paintings is a forgery. Without realizing it, she says, “It’s a forgery.”
Those words set off a sequence of events that has Lily defending herself against allegations that she is the forger (although we, the reader, are clued into who the real forger is fairly early in the book). We watch as Lily works through the details with the help of her friends, including a handsome art detective from the US.
Rating: A+
Set in the art world of 1970s London, The English Masterpiece is a fast-paced read to the end, full of glamour and secrets, tensions and lies, as one young woman races against the clock to uncover the truth about a Picasso masterpiece. Perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Ariel Lawhon.
As the recently promoted assistant to the Tate’s Modern Collections keeper Diana Gilden, Lily helps plan a world-class Picasso exhibit to honor the passing of the great artist–and she’s waited her whole life for this moment. The opening is beyond anyone’s expectations–the lighting, the champagne, the glittering crowd, and the international acclaim–until Lily does the unthinkable. She stops in front of a masterpiece and hears her own voice say, “It’s a forgery.” The gallery falls silent.
Daughter of Egypt | Marie Benedict
So I didn’t quite get to finish this one before the end of January, but I’m about halfway through the novel, and it is such an interesting read. Between the 1920s time period and the time of Hatshepsut 3,000 years before, author Marie Benedict fully sets the scene. Stay tuned to my Q&A coming before publication in March.
Rating: A+
Known for her “delightful blend of historical fiction and suspense” (People), New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict, returns with a sweeping tale of a young woman who unearths the truth about a forgotten Pharaoh—rewriting both of their legacies forever.
In the 1920s, archeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle made headlines around the world with the discovery of the treasure-filled tomb of the boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun. But behind it all stood Lady Evelyn Herbert—daughter of Lord Carnarvon—whose daring spirit and relentless curiosity made the momentous find possible.
Nearly 3,000 years earlier, another woman defied the expectations of her time: Hatshepsut, Egypt’s lost pharaoh. Her reign was bold, visionary—and nearly erased from history.
When Evelyn becomes obsessed with finding Hatshepsut’s secret tomb, she risks everything to uncover the truth about her reign and keep valued artifacts in Egypt, their rightful home. But as danger closes in and political tensions rise, she must make an impossible choice: protect her father’s legacy—or forge her own.
Propelled by high adventure and deadly intrigue, Daughter of Egypt is the story of two ambitious women who lived centuries apart. Both were forced to hide who they were during their lifetimes, yet ultimately changed history forever.
New Release
Hollow | Celina Myers
Mia Adair isn’t even twenty-five yet, but she’s starting to wonder if her peak has already passed. She’s spent years working at her local bookstore, a job that was supposed to be temporary. As a kid, she experienced a strange sort of fame within the paranormal community thanks to her inclusion in a book that revealed Mia’s ability to talk with the dead. But that was then, and Mia’s “gift” dried up once adolescence set in. These days, she feels like she’s nobody special.
Until she dies in a tragic car crash and reawakens as a vampire…
Forced to leave behind everything she knew, Mia must choose to live with one of two rival vampire families. The Bellamy and Sutton clans share a dark, complicated history that spans centuries. As Mia learns about their age-old traditions and extraordinary powers, along with their forbidden romances and betrayals, she’s drawn toward two very different loves. And as she feels her gift returning, more potent than ever before, Mia realizes she’ll need it to protect innocent lives—and save the only family she has left.
