While I haven’t been able to read as much as I would have liked to this month, due to my current Anatomy and Physiology II class, I did have a chance to read four books that I think deserve a spot on your must-read list for fall. First up, we have The Listener’s by Maggie Stiefvater, set during the early days of World War II. It was only after reading the book that I learned that several hotels, including The Greenbrier, The Homestead, and The Grove Park Inn, were used to station Axis diplomats before they were sent back to their native countries in exchange for American prisoners.
The second book on the list, How to Talk to Your Dog About Murder, was different from what I was expecting. With the title and the cover, I expected it to be more lighthearted, after all, we have a pet therapist who finds herself investigating and murder, but it was more genius than comedic. A definite must-read for those who enjoy a good murder mystery.
The third book on the list is an early holiday season release. It’s a Jewish rom-com, The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah. Instead of the 3 ghosts featured in the traditional A Christmas Carol, this story includes eight ghosts, some of whom weren’t even human at one point (spoiler alert: there is a talking chicken). For those who enjoy stories about a couple reconnecting after divorce, you’ll enjoy this new take on the classic story.
Last of all, we have a book that I read over a weekend, The Break-In by Katherine Faulkner. This twisted thriller set in London is just the sort of book you’ll want to read late into the night. (Who says you can’t stay up reading till 1 am just to finish a book!) It is just that good.
The Listeners | Maggie Stiefvater
Set during the early years of WWII, at the fictional Avallon Hotel & Spa, June Porter Hudson’s life is turned upside down with the new owner of the Avallon makes a deal with the State Department to avoid the draft. The hotel isn’t just any ordinary hotel; the sweetwater that runs through the hotel cannot only heal, but it can threaten as well.
With Axis diplomats flooding the hotel, tensions run high among the staff, and FBI Agent Tucker Minnick (who has secrets of his own) is listening for anything he can use to keep his standing at the FBI.
For those who enjoy reading books set in the early years of the last great world war, with a hint of fantasy, this is a book you’ll want to check out.
Rating: A
January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles.
Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the front lines—to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile.
Meanwhile FBI Agent Tucker Minnick, whose coal tattoo hints at an Appalachian past, presses his ears to the hotel’s walls, listening for the diplomats’ secrets. He has one of his own, which is how he knows that June’s balancing act can have dangerous consequences: the sweetwater beneath the hotel can threaten as well as heal.
June has never met a guest she couldn’t delight, but the diplomats are different. Without firing a single shot, they have brought the war directly to her. As clashing loyalties crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, June must calculate the true cost of luxury.
How To Talk to Your Dog About Murder | Emily Soderberg
How to Talk to Your Dog About Murder is a mystery that should be on your must-read list this fall/winter. There’s nothing like cozying up in bed with a cup of tea and trying to figure out who exactly killed Mrs. Van Meer. While the novel suggested a more light-hearted, perhaps even comedic, it couldn’t be more different. Told from the perspective of Nikki Jackson-Ramanthan, a dog walker turned pet behaviorist, who never expects to find herself tangled up in a murder when she agrees to help a grieving pet.
Shortly after taking the job, and being accused of being after Mrs. Van Meer’s money by the eldest granddaughter, Nikki does everything she can to keep out of the family’s way and just do her job… when she attends a football game soiree against her better judgement, everything seems as it should be, until it isn’t. Mrs. Van Meer goes to bed early, and by the time Nikki arrives to walk Reginald the following morning, Mrs. Van Meer is dead.
With fingers pointed everywhere, including at her, Nikki is determined to figure out who killed the wealth matriarch if it’s the last thing she does.
Rating: A+
Dogs are better behaved than people in this new cozy mystery where a pet behaviorist finds herself the prime suspect in an upscale murder, perfect for fans of Eva Gates and Victoria Gilbert.
Nikki Jackson-Ramanathan is struggling to get her pet behaviorist business off the ground, making ends meet as a dog walker while keeping her eyes peeled for greener pastures. An appointment in a rich suburb of Saint Louis seems to be her ticket to success. The wealthy Mrs. Van Meer wants Nikki to help the family’s old hound dog, who is grieving the loss of his owner. But then Mrs. Van Meer turns up dead.
With a multitude of suspects like the sketchy landscaper, the judgy housekeeper, and the rest of Mrs. Van Meer’s money-obsessed family members, Nikki’s happy to sit back and let the police solve the crime. Until she learns that Mrs. Van Meer’s will leaves Nikki in charge of a sizable amount of money and the police start dogging her every step.
New Release
Higher Magic | Courtney floyd
In this incisive, irreverent, and whimsical cozy dark academia novel for fans of Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde series and R.F. Kuang’s Babel, a struggling mage student with intense anxiety must prove that classic literature contained magic—and learn to wield her own stories to change her institution for the better.
First-generation graduate student Dorothe Bartleby has one last chance to pass the Magic program’s qualifying exam after freezing with anxiety during her first attempt. If she fails to demonstrate that magic in classic literature changed the world, she’ll be kicked out of the university. And now her advisor insists she reframe her entire dissertation using Digimancy. While mages have found a way to combine computers and magic, Bartleby’s fated to never make it work.
The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah | Jean Meltzer
Take Hanukkah, mix it with a life production of A Christmas Carol, a former couple being thrown back together at the worst possible time (for them), and you have The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah. This is the first book I’ve read by Jean Meltzer, and I really enjoyed it. The British rockstar who comes in at the last moment to star as Scrooge is a bit much, but that’s exactly the way he’s supposed to be.
The book deals with sensitive topics like divorce, miscarriage, and chronic health issues, but you’ll want to root for both Evelyn and David throughout the entire book as the story goes between their two storylines. I had to laugh out loud at the antics of the rock star as (spoiler) the fact that one of the ghosts is a talking chicken!
Check out this latest release just in time for the holidays.
Rating: A
Can these exes rekindle their love this Hanukkah?
Evelyn Schwartz has the perfect Hanukkah planned: eight jam-packed days producing the live-action televised musical of A Christmas Carol. Who needs family when you’ve got long hours, impossible deadlines, and your dream job? That is, until an accident on set lands her in the medical bay with one of her chronic migraines, and she’s shocked to find her ex-husband, David Adler, filling in for the usual studio doctor.
It’s been two years since David walked away from Evelyn and their life in Manhattan, and his ex-wife is still the same workaholic who puts her career before everything else—especially her health. But when Evelyn begins hallucinating “ghosts” tied to her past heartbreaks, and every single one leads to David, he finds himself spending much more time with her than he anticipated. And denying the still-smoldering chemistry between them becomes impossible.
As Evelyn revisits her ghosts of Hanukkah past, she and David both begin to wonder if they can have a Hanukkah future. But with a high-stakes production ramping up the pressure on Evelyn, and troublesome spirits forcing them both to confront their most difficult shared memories, it might just take a Hanukkah miracle for these two exes to light the flame on their second-chance at love.
The Break-In | Katherine Faulkner
The Break-In is my first novel I’ve read by Katherine Faulkner, and it won’t be the last. Set in London, this “deliciously twisted thriller” (People) is one you won’t want to put down. Told from various perspectives, including that of Alice, an art restorer who finds herself charged with murder after a break-in, can’t seem to put the events of that night behind her. The deeper she digs into what happened that night, the more she realizes that there is no one she can truly trust, not even those closest to her.
For those who enjoy murder mysteries with a wicked twist that just keeps giving, this one is for you!
Review: A+
After killing an intruder in self-defense, a wealthy London mother must unravel a terrifying mystery filled with twists and turns, from the author of the “deliciously twisted thriller” (People) The Other Mothers. Alice, a professional mother of one, is hosting a playdate with friends at her upscale London home when a disturbed man breaks in. With her child in the next room, Alice panics and kills him—an act later ruled to have been in self-defense. Everyone tries to encourage Alice to move on with her life—but with strange comments appearing online, a mysterious phone call telling her all is not as it seems, and her husband, nanny, and friends behaving strangely, Alice finds herself drawn to the mystery of who her intruder really was. As she digs deeper, she discovers a trail of dark secrets that spiral closer to home than she ever could have imagined.
