Author: joycesmysteryandfictionbookreviews

#TheAudreyHepburnEstate #NetGalley

Movie lovers and fans of Audrey Hepburn may now the movie Sabrina. This is the film that inspired this novel’s title and some of the story line. Much like Sabrina, Emma has grown up on a luxurious estate where her parents are servants/staff. Also, as in Sabrina, there are two men who capture Emma’s interest. Henry is the grandson of the estate’s owner while Leo is the son of the estate owner’s driver. Will she find true love with either of them?

The story takes place in the present with many chapters that detail the past and Emma’s experiences as she grew up. Emma was not immune to tragedy but neither were Henry or Leo. Leo and Emma discover something rather unsavory about Leo’s grandfather; are they right about his connections in the past? Also, what happened to beloved cook Fleur? A niece of Fleur’s also wants to know.

When the story opens, the grand estate is part of a plan for a luxury housing development. Emma is aghast and goes to an open house to learn more. She would like to prevent the sale. While there, Emma is reconnected with Leo and meets Fleur’s niece. Readers, the pages just turn from here as relationships build along with the plot.

I very much enjoyed this novel. Fans of women’s fiction with some historical context, should mark their calendars for this title’s release date.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 18 April 2023

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for The Audrey Hepburn Estate

“A complex family tale of love and deception. Brenda Janowitz always delivers delightfully complicated stories that leave me with tears in my eyes and hope in my heart!”
—KRISTIN HARMEL, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names

“Brenda Janowitz strikes again! Fast-paced, emotional, and unputdownable. Janowitz skillfully weaves the past and present as Emma’s love triangle persists then and now.”
—LISA BARR, New York Times bestselling author of Woman on Fire

“Janowitz adeptly crafts a tale that is sentimental yet enigmatic, and readers will find themselves engrossed by this absolute treat of a book.”
—PAM JENOFF, New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Sapphire

“The Audrey Hepburn Estate is as charming and elegant as Miss Hepburn herself and, also like Audrey, hides a huge heart. This book is smart and sweet and funny.”
—JENNA BLUM, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Family

As many may remember, Radcliffe was once the women’s college affiliated with Harvard University. As such, it was one of the prestigious seven sisters schools.

As this novel, set in the 1950s, opens four young women are enrolled as Radcliffe freshman. They each arrive at school with their own family history. Tess hopes to be a writer and is happy to leave an unhappy home life behind in order to be a scholarship student at the school. Tess’s roommate, Caroline, is a wealthy young woman with a voluminous wardrobe. She seems less interested in academics than in dating and having fun. There are then Merritt and Evie rounding out the group.

A new bookstore has opened in Cambridge. The slightly mysterious owner, Alice, is planning to have a monthly book group with the first selection being Jane Eyre. Our four protagonists join.

I enjoyed this book’s setting and the way that the gracious life of a 1950s women’s school was brought to life. I could completely visualize the common room’s sofas and the dorm dining room where waitressed meals were served. These details accurately reflect the novel’s time period. I also enjoyed and eagerly waited to see which book would be discussed each month.

Many things happen to and around these four young women. They go through some difficult times on their way to adulthood and the story can be quite dramatic.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this title. All opinions are my own.

Content warning:

Violence against one of the women

Pub date: 06 June 2023

How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World

by Gretchen Rubin

#LifeinFiveSenses #NetGalley

Gretchen Rubin has written what, I am sure, will be a best seller and a book welcomed by her many fans. This time, she focuses on learning to appreciate life through the senses, recognizing all that they do for us, NOTICING them, and using this awareness to have a more meaningful and fulfilled existence.

One aspect of the book that I enjoyed was Ms. Rubin’s sharing of personal anecdotes. Her personality, organized yet open, inquiring yet functioning best with routine come across most clearly through these.

Each sense is carefully explored through a variety of lenses. The author begins with sight. There is scientific information and much about the ways in which Ms. Rubin literally began to see and notice more. Two examples; Ms. Rubin began a collection of objects in one color family and, for another, she began going to the Metropolitan Museum daily in an effort to really LOOK at what what was there. I found that I paid more attention in my life as a result, just noticing the hues of my world a bit more and slowing down to enjoy them. The same is true as each sense is examined and readers are invited in.

This book will be a welcome guide to its intended audience. Ms. Rubin has done it again.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 18 April 2023

Here is another title in the series that began with Before the coffee gets cold. Those familiar with the books know what to expect.

For those who are new to the author, it is important to know that a unique cafe is featured. This spot helps select patrons to return to the past so long as they are ready to return within the proscribed time frame. It is critical that the rules are followed.

Four customers want to go back in time. For example, one is a daughter who pushed her father away.

Will these returns bring peace or resolution? Read this short collection to find out.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

This book was published in 2023.

This is the first book that I have read by Ellery Adams and I truly enjoyed it. The protagonist, Nora, is a bookseller who believes that there is a book that is just right for each customer’s particular emotional state; the notion that one could get meaningful suggestions from a bookseller was lovely in this day of internet sales. I enjoyed the many literary references and the back stories of the protagonists. There are also hints of romance. If you like cozies, I would recommend this book highly.

This is the fifth title in this series. I have enjoyed (and reviewed) all of them. These (pretty much) cozy mysteries will hearken to bibliophiles and to those who enjoy stories of female friendships that are honest and built upon trust. The mysteries are also an integral part of the novels.

This time the friends have a lot going on. Hester is getting engaged. Why have many copies of The Scarlet Letter had her name cut out of them, that name she shares with Miss Prynne? Who is the dead body below a cliff? What is the significance of a series of books about women that are old and have flowers in their titles?

Along with these goings on, spend time (at least in imagination) eating book pockets, drinking hot chocolate and browsing the wonderful shelves of Miracle Books. Any reader could make a wish list from the book titles that make their appearance in this title.

I already look forward to the next time that I get to visit with Hester, June, Nora and Estella, and those around them. These include employee Sheldon, character’s children and the women’s romantic interests.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 26 April 2022

#TheBookClubHotel #NetGalley

This is the perfect book to sit down with on a fall night. It is nicely written and plotted; the characters are people with whom readers will wish to know. (Too bad, they can’t come for a real visit).

The Maple Sugar Inn just seems like the perfect place to go to relax. The setting is gorgeous, the rooms are beautiful and the inn keeper cares about her guests…even as she has her own struggles.

Inn owner, Hattie is carrying on the dream of her husband which was to run this inn. Readers learn early in the book that he died in a freak accident, leaving Hattie a widow and a very young one at that. Will she want to keep the inn going?

Three friends are going to visit. Their lives are quite different from one another’s but the relationships go back years and are deep. One is a single, su

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

Also:

If interested, I did a blog tour for this one. It is on my site.

From the Publisher

#TheLittleItalianHotel #NetGalley

Phaedra Patrick has become one of my favorite authors. I very much enjoyed both The Messy Lives of Book People and The Secrets of Love Story Bridge, so was very excited to read this forthcoming book.

Patrick’s talent for creating wonderful settings and people with whom readers will enjoy spending time are very present here. Much of the story takes place at a small, Italian, old fashioned hotel. This spot contrasts with a much more modern hotel that is nearby. Readers can decide where they might rather be as they read the story.

Protagonist Ginny has, for many years, had a radio show in which she offered help to others as a kind of agony aunt. To her surprise, Ginny learns that there are issues in her own life when her husband says that he wants to separate. This occurs just as Ginny had been planning a romantic getaway for them.

Needless to say, Ginny is distraught. When she finds that she cannot get a refund, the plot leads her to invite some of her listeners on her trip to Italy. They then stay at the hotel mentioned above.

The travelers include an elderly widow grieving her special needs daughter, a teacher whose mother is unwell, a man who has lost his best friend (a dog), and a property developer. Readers also get to know the hotel owner and his daughter.

One of the plot threads has to do with what happens when Ginny, posing as Jenny, and Aidan (her husband) start to communicate without Aidan knowing that he already intimately knows “Jenny.” Will they want to try again? What will happen to the other characters, all of whom become quite close to one another as they visit museums, hike, quilt, eat and do other activities together? Readers will enjoy finding out.

This book is recommended to those who enjoy women’s fiction. Those who know the author will be delighted to read another one of her books. Those new to Patrick are in for a treat.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HTP for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 06 June 2023 MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

Sloane faced an unthinkable loss when her sister died (not a spoiler as readers learn this early in the story). She is engaged to a somewhat pompous fiance who has an over involved family and often make Sloane feel inferior. On top of all this, Sloane’s parents are not the easiest people.

Sloane escapes into her work as a librarian although that also has it challenges. One of these is an older gentleman who enjoys mentally fencing with Sloane. Will these two change each other? Will others also be drawn in? Readers may know the answer but will still, I think, enjoy this book. It gives voice to some of what is important in life.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for this title. All opinions are my own

This book was published in March 2023

From the Publisher

This is the third book that I have read by Jennifer Ryan. I very much enjoyed her earlier novels, The Chilbury Ladies Choir and The Spies of Shilling Lane. Ms.Ryan has found her authorial voice writing fiction about women and WWII. The Kitchen Front, also set during WWII, is a book that I highly recommend.

As the novel begins, the men are mostly away or involved in war work, while women try their best to manage both on the home front and in the kitchen. Food is scarce and rationing pervasive. There is a campaign to make creative, practical recipes using what is at hand.

In this story, food concerns lead to a cooking contest in a small village. The winner will be given co-hosting duties on a food related BBC radio show. The novel tells the story of four of the women who, through their recipes, try to win first prize. They are Audrey, a young widow with three children; Audrey’s sister, the snobby Lady Gwendoline; kitchen maid Nell and pregnant, unmarried, French trained chef, Zelda. Each of these characters comes to life with a backstory and relationships. I very much enjoyed spending time with each of them and also enjoyed the village setting. An added plus of this book is that each cook’s recipes are included, giving insight into what cooking was like in the 1940s.

I highly recommend this enjoyable novel. For Ms. Ryan, third time (for her historical novels) is definitely the charm!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.