The Difficult Girl by Helen Morse

Wow was my first thought when I reached the last page of this extraordinary memoir. With The Difficult Girl, author Helen Morse takes her readers on a journey through her childhood and the difficult, dysfunctional-beyond-measure family who peopled it. It’s disturbing, often strange, most definitely tragic, and, in the end, powerful in the courage shown by herself as she navigates her survival into adulthood with her heart and soul still intact.   

I had trouble getting this story out of my thoughts for many days after I finished it. My mother used to love telling me that being rich does not necessarily equate with guaranteed happiness. This tale shows this and more with no frills and no sensationalism—just pure, authentic, masterful storytelling at its best. Despite the heart-wrenching tenor of a life filled too often with neglect and emotional pain given out by parents incapable of showing love, its themes are about seeing people for who they are and what they are capable of, strength, forgiveness, and the power of kindness. Riveting is another word I would use to describe this book. This is a five-star-plus read that you don’t want to miss. Congratulations to this author on a most beautifully written debut.

A Spider’s Web (Mrs. Hudson & Sherlock Holmes, Book 3) by Liz Hedgecock

Take a female detective determined to forge her own career apart from her renowned mentor, an errant husband missing for years showing up, an anonymous bomber, and set the story in Victorian London, and you have a page-turner of a mystery that will keep you on the edge of the seat until you reach the end.   

Brief story summary of A Spider’s Web: Despite her romantic entanglement with esteemed detective Sherlock Holmes, Nell Hudson is intent on making her own way as London’s only female private investigator, even turning down an opportunity to again work with Holmes. When an anonymous bomber plants dynamite-fused bombs all over London, sending clues only to Holmes, Nell is drawn in as they race to find the villain, who may or may not be a face from her past she believed gone forever. 

Author Liz Hedgecock has again woven an irresistible tale comprised of a well-thought-out mystery with more than enough twists and turns to keep me guessing, and well-developed characters that kept me engaged and vested in their journey, along with a lovely romance interwoven nicely with all the danger. I have to say I enjoyed this tale from this tale form the opening paragraph to the satisfying end. 

A Spider’s Web is the third installment in the Mrs. Hudson & Sherlock Holmes mysteries and can be read as a standalone; however, I recommend reading the previous two. I highly recommend,  I’m looking forward to the next one. 

The Guardian by Kimberly Kincaid

I love this series! Author Kimberly Kincaid delivers such a wonderful weave of keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat-guessing suspense with some of the best curl-your-toes, steam-up-the-windows romance I have read. The Guardian is the second in the Remington Intelligence Unit stories and this one, like The Grifter (okay, I’m reading these in reverse order), kept me in my seat turning the pages until I reached the most satisfactory end. (Yes, it was another, “nah, I’m not going to stop reading, go get yourself a pizza” night for the hubby.)

This time around, we have hero Matteo Garza—a broody, workaholic, relationship-phobic, dedicated-to-the point-of-all else cop—and heroine Delia Sutton, who is brilliant, quirky, and loves to color outside the lines. She’s the best friend of Detective Garza’s younger sister, and also happens to have a mad crush on the detective ever since they crossed paths when she roomed with his sister in college. Add in a mugging, a sociopathic mobster, a money-laundering scheme that is damn near impossible to track, and a few villains who are complex, scary, and so realistically portrayed you are not sure who in the end will be the true baddest of the bad. Then, of course, my favorite part: the burgeoning, intense chemistry between Matteo and Delia, two people who, despite their best efforts, cannot seem to keep their relationship on a strictly professional level regardless of the mounting danger closing in.

The Guardian is a scorcher of a story in more ways than one. I highly recommend this delicious tale. I’ve already ordered the first in the series. Just a heads up: each one of these in the series can be read as a standalone!

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

I LOVED THIS STORY!  A mesmerizing, twist-and-turn of a page-turner that enchants, disturbs, horrifies, frightens, and makes you want to go out in the wild to hang with wolves and Inti Flynn, the extraordinary protagonist who feels in a way she cannot explain and no one can begin to comprehend. With Once There Were Wolves, author Charlotte McConaghy delivers a tale that is as near-perfect an example of storytelling as I have ever been fortunate enough to read.

Set in the Scottish Highlands (one of my favorite places on the planet), this tale is about far more than wolves and what it takes to bring them back to a location where they have long been extinct. It is about a person’s capacity for love no matter how much damage to the heart one has sustained. It is about the healing of broken souls and it is about the evil humans are capable of when they are afraid or so enmeshed in superstition that they are ignorant of the truth.

“When we were eight, Dad cut me open from throat to stomach.” From this very first incredible line, I was one hundred percent in. The descriptions of the wild, mostly unpopulated Highlands are Inti’s, looking out at this world from her eyes as she tracks her beloved wolves and tries to follow the clues of a murder at the same time. I was not able to come close to figuring out who the killer was. The writing style was outstanding. The development of her cast of her characters is spot on. This book will haunt you long after you reach the end and put it down. This has been my favorite read so far in 2022. I highly recommend!

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

I love historical fiction. I love it more when it is well researched and well written, and combines the immersion in a specific time in history with masterful storytelling that makes the reader feel like they have time traveled. With The Kitchen House, author Kathleen Grissom delivers on all counts. The tale is told through the eyes of Lavinia, a young, white, Irish orphan indentured on a tobacco plantation and placed in the care of Belle, the master’s slave daughter and her family, who not only take Lavinia in, but embrace and love her, all the while knowing she will always be the other, no matter how much Lavinia wants to belong in their world.

 The story has complex characters and a page-turner of a plot that was sometimes sad and often disturbing, but also hopeful in its message that the bonds that bind us can be so strong they can transcend race. The Kitchen House has earned a permanent place on my bookshelf. I loved this story from the first page to the last and was torn between reading nonstop to see what happened to wanting to read slowly and savor every word. If asked to describe this book, the words that immediately come to mind are: powerful, compelling, thought-provoking, and absolutely riveting. I highly recommend and can’t wait to read more from this author. 

A Quiet Death in Italy by Tom Benjamin

I adore Italy and all things Italian. I love a good thriller/murder mystery. When the two are combined, I am all in. With A Quiet Death in Italy, author Tom Benjamin creates a plot with an abundance of twists and turns that kept me turning the pages and guessing who’d done it until the end. The quirky cast of characters had me thoroughly engaged and just added to the enjoyment of reading this tale.  The vivid descriptions of present-day Bologna and the local cuisine made me want to go back to  Bologna and do a lot more exploring of this fascinating city.  

 Brief summary to tease: Englishman and widower Daniel Leicester, is a private detective in Bologna, working for his father-in-law and raising his just-turned-teen daughter, Rose. He is asked to investigate the suspicious death of a well-known anarchist found in one of Bologna’s underground canals, leading Daniel down a labyrinth of trails clouded by the myriad of suspects and the unavoidable and generally corrupt Italian bureaucracy.   

 I stumbled across this book by accident. I enjoyed this story immensely. I have already ordered the second in the series. I highly recommend.  

By Love Undone by Suzanne Enoch

I love a romance with humor, a strong plot, and some good steam (I’m referring to sex, not a train). Author Suzanne Enoch delivers all with By Love Undone. It’s fast-paced with strong characters, some whose often-hilarious quirks heighten their likeability and others whose shortcomings lend to a love-to-hate-them appeal.

Short summary: Madelaine Willis is shunned by London society for a scandal that was not her fault. Forced to flee to the country and take a paid position as a companion to an ailing, elderly gentleman, she finds herself settling in nicely and beginning to feel safe once again, happy to be away from all she hates about society and nobility, When Quinlan Bancroft, Marquis of Warefield, arrives to take charge of his ailing uncle’s household, Maddie dislikes him on sight, though for reasons she cannot fathom she cannot seem to stay away from him. The Marquis feels guilty when they are caught kissing and is then determined to re-establish Madelaine back into society with what he sees as disastrous results.

Fun, funny, romantic, and all-around delightful storytelling is how I would describe a Suzanne Enoch read. Love triumphs, and the baddies are trounced and banished to a most satisfactory ending. I was going to say this is a great beach read, but it’s also a wonderful, curl-up-on-a-cold-afternoon-under-your-favorite-fluffy-blanket read as well. I highly recommend.

The Grifter by Kimberly Kincaid

I’m a huge fan of author Kimberly Kincaid’s stories. They never ever fail in the “gotcha” story thread with heart-tugging romance and toe-curling steam to go along with the romance and characters. The characters, both main and supporting, not only engage me but make me feel that I need to find these people and become friends with them. (Yes, I know they are all fictional and not real people.) This particular deadly combination makes for a page-turning story for which you will let your dinner burn to keep reading. Hey, what’s wrong with pizza?

The Grifter is no different and I have no idea how I missed this series before now. From the opening page to the kept-me-guessing end, I did not want to put it down. I really enjoyed getting into the heads and feelings of both heroine detective Frankie Rossi and hero Shawn Maxwell, ex-partners and -lovers whose relationship fell apart when Frankie was stabbed in the line of duty, had to recover from an injury that almost took her life, and became addicted to first the painkillers then harder drugs. It all left her partner racked with so much guilt, he is emotionally paralyzed. Jump eight years ahead, and Frankie returns to undercover work to nail a deadly drug dealer responsible for the destruction of a friend and of more lives than Frankie can name. Beck, the sociopathic dealer has now relocated to Remington to create a new market for his prescription drugs and tainted heroin. The one catch: she will need to work with her ex to have any chance of bringing down this baddie. What subsequently results is a kickass story with two protagonists whose chemistry could set the pages to flame.

With this tale, Kincaid weaves a masterful story that explores second chances and single parenthood, all the while delivering a chilling thriller with an abundance of unexpected twists and turns that will keep your heart pounding. The Grifter, I discovered, is the third in the Intelligence Unit series. The Grifter is, as the rest of the books in the series are, a standalone story. However, I have ordered the two preceding this one and can’t wait to read them so I’ll be all caught up when the next in the series comes out. I highly recommend this book! 

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

I chose this book after reading the blurb for Book of the Month Club. I was intrigued. When I opened the first page, I was pretty much hooked and remained that way until I got to the last page. Riveting is a word I would use to describe this tale. Haunting is another. That it stays with you long after you are finished is pretty much a guarantee. 

Basic summary without spoilers: Travis Wren, a man with an almost supernatural ability of finding people, has been hired to find children’s author Maggie St. James, who went missing five years earlier. Travis tracks her close to the long-forgotten Utopian community of Pastoral, and then shortly after goes missing himself. Years later, Theo, a Pastoral resident, and his wife Calla begin to find clues not only of Travis’s and Maggie’s existence, but their subsequent disappearances. The clues tug them to cross the borders out of Pastoral, which all community members are forbidden to do as they will catch the “rot” infecting the trees surrounding them and all life that they touch. 

Writer Shea Ernshaw is a masterful storyteller, and with this tale, she delivers on all counts with a strong, suspenseful plot that kept me turning the pages long into the night. The story is told from the POV of three protagonists, and it’s impossible to not get emotionally invested in her characters. They are totally believable and I found myself seeing their world from their eyes.
Chilling, mysterious, at times poignant, and always suspenseful with an unexpected final twist makes this book a don’t-miss. I highly recommend this book!  

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The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King

Author Laurie R. King gives her readers a wonderful spin on the traditional Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Her first of so far four in this series, involves the retired, somewhat bored, now beekeeping Holmes and fifteen-year-old Mary Russell, the young half American, half English girl with an intellect and curiosity to rival the renowned detective and who stumbles into his life to become first his friend, then his apprentice. 

The detail of what it’s like to live in England in the early 20th century made me feel like I was walking the hills and dales and to many other places to name with Sherlock and Mary. The plot is solid and captivating. The mystery has more than enough twists and turns to have kept me guessing who the culprit was to the end. The cast of characters the protagonists run into are quirky, funny, sometimes, scary and always believable. King’s writing is an example of masterful story telling. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale from the first page to the last. Even if you have never been a fan of the Holmes mysteries, I highly recommend you pick up this one and then run to get the next three.

Things You Save In a Fire by Katherine Center

I discovered this book by accident. I have to say I loved this story! I read it in one sitting. 

What drew me in from the first page? To start, I can’t resist a badass heroine. To make it even better, the protagonist, Cassie Hanwell, is a firefighter (people who fight fires have always fascinated me) in a firehouse of all male firefighters, first in Texas and then in Massachusetts, where, despite her skill and experience, she needs to prove herself every day. Mix in an estranged mother who is ill, an irresistible romance, a quirky cast of characters who will make you laugh out loud with their firehouse antics—as well as sometimes want to smack them in the head—then end with a wonderfully suspenseful and satisfying climax. If you are like me, you have a book that you will want to pass on to all your friends—that is, if you don’t keep it to read again.     

With Things You Save In a Fire, author Katherine Center gives her readers a masterfully crafted mix of humor, tragedy, struggle, suspense, and hope in this fast-paced, heartstring-pulling read. I can’t wait to check out her other stories. I highly recommend this book!  

The Secret Stealers by Jane Healey

I love historical fiction. Even more, I love historical fiction based on true stories. Give me a story set in England and France during World War II, then add a network of heroic spies and a heartstring-pulling romance and I’m in reader heaven. 

I became a fan of author Jane Healey when I read her first novel, The Saturday Evening Girls Club and with her latest novel, The Secret Stealers, she does not disappoint. 

A plot summary without spoilers: Anna Cavanaugh is a war widow in Washington, D.C. With a safe, secure life teaching French in a private school, restless Anna decides she needs more in her life, that she needs to somehow do more than watch as the world goes to war. Anna is given the chance when she is recruited to go to England and become a member of the Office of Strategic Services. She will be trained and sent to occupied France as a spy to help the French Resistance in their clandestine missions to extract information for the Nazis that could turn the tide of the war. 

The author has clearly researched the time period, giving me an excellent feel for Washington, England, and France during the second World War. With detailed descriptions and events based on historical fact, I felt like I had been transported back in time with Anna and the three women who became her close lifelong friends.  

From the first page, I was hooked. I did not want to stop turning the pages. Fast paced, with enough twists and turns to keep one’s heart pounding, this book by Healey delivers a wonderful tale of intrigue, romance, and the resilience of the human spirit as characters come together to fight and surmount terrible and dangerous odds to keep the world free from the tyranny of the Nazi regime. The story has a solid plot and outstanding character development—especially when it comes to the strong, independent, and thoroughly engaging female characters, whom I became invested in right away. This is a terrific read and shouldn’t be missed! I highly recommend this book!

Finding Fraser by KC Dyer

My critique partner gave me this book because she knows, first, I’m a huge Outlander fan, second, pretty much anything that is set in Scotland will gain my attention and last, she knows that sometimes I just want a bit of light romance with a guaranteed happily ever after. Finding Fraser turned out to my delight to be a light, fun, fast paced, laugh out loud funny story that I read in one sitting and just what I was in the mood for.

Basic plot without giving all away. Heroine Emma Sheridan is about to turn thirty. Her work life is a mess. Her love life is a disaster except for her fantasies about fictional Outlander hero, Jamie Fraser. She has an uber successful workaholic sister who despite her best intentions, makes Emma feel like a pathetic loser. Deciding a major change is an absolute necessity for her sanity and well-being, Emma sells everything, quits her dead-end job, starts a blog and heads to Scotland to find her own Jamie where to her surprise she realizes finding the perfect man is quite possibly nowhere near as important as finding yourself.

Author KC Dyer weaves a hilarious romp of a story with wonderful detailed descriptions that made me feel like I was traveling through Scotland with Emma. and not seeing it from a touristy point of view, but more connecting with the landscape and more importantly the locals. The cast of quirky character’s Emma crosses paths worth are memorable, well developed., not at all stereotypical and there were a few I would have liked to learn more about. The ending was of course romance, happily ever after. Finding Fraser was a romantic, fun, fluff of a story that I highly recommend!

Threshing of Straw by Kim Catron

This author and book were recommended to me by a friend and I am thrilled to have discovered this amazing writer. From the first sentence I was captivated and could not stop turning the pages. Kim Catron is a masterful storyteller and delivers a powerful tale about love, sacrifice and the ramifications of keeping secrets no matter how honorable the intent. 

The plot is solid, fast paced, and though both disturbing and difficult at times it is beyond compelling. The character development is superlative. Told from the point of view of the grandmother, Cora Lee, the mother, Rose, her husband, damaged Korean vet Curtis, and Macey May, the granddaughter forced to face the reality of life as a person of color in the early 60's Georgia, I felt like was I was seeing and experiencing their world, and experiencing their feelings through their eyes. I will miss these strong female characters and their courageous male counterparts. I was sad to reach the end. I can’t wait to see what story this author gives us next. You don’t want to miss this fabulous read. I highly recommend it.

Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness

I am a fan of paranormal romance, especially if they are filled with witches and vampires. If a few fascinating daemons are thrown in for good measure, the more the better. I have been a fan of author Deborah Harkness since 2011 when I first came across Discovery of Witches, and have been hooked on her stories ever since. Times Convert is no different. This tale focuses on Marcus Whitmore from the All-Souls world. It’s his history as well as his destined mate Pheobe, and her transformation into a vampire. I was, however, delighted to find many of my old favorites from the trilogy present and as engaging as ever. 

I love the author's ability to bring her characters to life from their detailed backstories and unique voices. Her intriguing story arcs took me on another fantastic journey and kept me turning the pages as she merged Marcus’ past during the American Revolution and ramifications of his becoming a vampire at Matthew’s hand to the present day, all leading to a most satisfactory ending that left me wanting more. I highly recommend this book and can’t wait for the next one! 

The Unfaithful Queen by Carolly Erickson

This is the first novel, I’ve read by author Carolly Erickson, so I had no particular expectations. I enjoyed this read, but then I’m a huge fan of historical romantic fiction and the Tudor Court time frame is one of my favorites. The story is presented as a first-person narrative seen from the much-abused Katherine’s eyes. I often felt like I was reading the young Queen’s diary and for me, this was a fun read which I read on a rainy afternoon wrapped in my afghan in front of a nice, warm fire.

Was there a good deal of historical accuracy? No, there was much embellishing such as Katherine Howard's (Henry’s youngest and most impulsive Queen) being sent to accompany Anne of Cleves on her journey from to England to wed Henry. Didn’t happen in any way, shape or form. Making Anne of Cleves into a nasty, out to get Katherine villain was an interesting take though entirely fictional, at least from what I have read. Did any of the historical inaccuracies affect my enjoyment of this version of Henry VIII’s fifth wife? Absolutely not. Author Carolly Erickson gives her readers a what might have happened by didn’t. The story is presented as a first-person narrative seen from the much-abused Katherine’s eyes. I often felt like I was reading the young Queen’s diary. When you pick this book up, think People magazine at Henry VIII court. Light entertainment.