I’ve reviewed many titles in this series. Here is something excellent for those who enjoy these stories of Little People with Big Dreams; it is a collection of that is organized chronologically beginning in 1880s and going through the 2000s.
Start with Harriet Tubman in the very first entry and in this section also meet Rosa Parks, Ella Fitzgerald and others. The next part includes Iris Apfel and Elvis Presley among the entries. Move along to Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Mindy Kaling and Megan Rapinoe in their time periods along with so many inspiring people in the featured short biographies.
It is very easy to recommend this book. It is perfect for home and school libraries. Each entry is nicely laid out and enticingly illustrated; time lines are also included. This is a book that will be dipped into again and again.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
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.
I have read and reread Jane Austen’s novels with great enjoyment. I have never gone on to read Regency romances, however, until now. I knew that Georgette Heyer was the doyenne of the genre so I wanted to give one of her books a try. I was not disappointed.
Simply put, this is a fun, relaxing, enjoyable, escapist read. Sophy is funny, exuberant, daring and a bit unconventional. She is a delightful heroine. One thing that is clear is that she touches and changes the lives of many with whom she comes in contact.
The story begins with Sophie’s father wanting to put his daughter in the care of his sister. This sister has a wayward husband, perhaps too many children and an eldest son who has become the head of the family. He is somewhat humorless and engaged to a very conventional young woman as the novel opens. Cecilia is another of the children. She is set to marry a rather unappealing gentleman who has come down ill. Will this give her the chance to marry the poet with whom she has fallen in love? These are only two of the plot strands in this fairly long book.
When Sophie arrives, along with a horse, a monkey and more, the household is put in in a bit of an uproar. From this beginning, readers spend time with Sophy and those around her. They will smile at Sophy’s way of doing things, her adventures and her time on the marriage market. They will also watch how life works out for those whose lives she touches.
This book is highly recommended for when an escape is needed. I see why the author is so popular.
Also note that if this book is one that you want to read, others by the author are also being reissued.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this title All opinions are my own.
Nancy Horan is the author of one of my favorite historical novels, Loving Frank, which was about Frank Lloyd Wright. The writing was so evocative and truly captured the man in all of his complexity. When I saw this book, I was eager to read it as a new novel by Ms. Horan is always welcome.
The House of Lincoln is, as its title suggests, partly about Mr. Lincoln. It is also about his wife and children. However, even more, it is the story of a woman who worked for the family. She witnesses both their lives and the lives of those in the world around her, especially her friend Callie. Through Callie, readers are offered insight into the fraught world of race during this time period. Note that there is a bit of romance to lighten things up.
Those who are interested in Lincoln, the time period and the women around historical events may want to give this title a look.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this title. All opinions are my own.
My favorite part of this book was the illustrations that highlighted the text so well. They did a good job of showing the main character’s feelings.
Of course, adults know that the star of this book is a donkey but…he does not know this for quite a while. He lives with cats, imitates cats’ behaviors and thinks that he too is a cat. What will happen as this certainty fades? How will he find his place in the world and reconcile his identity? (hint: watch for his new description of who he is in his own vocabulary).
The author is, I think, writing about finding one’s place comfortably in the world. Perhaps this is something that the adult who reads this one with a child will choose to explore a bit.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for this title. All opinions are my own.
I am so delighted to be part of the blog tour for this enjoyable summer read. Many thanks to Rachel of Rachel’s Random Resources and Boldwood Books for this opportunity.
About the book and more:
A Vintage Vacation
Clover Harrington might be sixty-one, but she’s still bossing it in the corporate world and can still run rings around her younger colleagues. And then she is made redundant….
Devastated and now suddenly the wrong side of sixty Clover doesn’t know what to do with her life or her corporate wardrobe! What does she wear if not red lippy and a power suit?! Rather than offer her any support, her partner, Jack announces he’s off on a golfing weekend, leaving Clover completely adrift.
Desperate to get away from it all, Clover decides to visit her cousin Zoe at her small taverna in the gorgeous Italian Lakes. There she can rest and recuperate and plan the next stage of her life.
Until Clover’s eighty-year-old mother, Eleanor decides to turn up for the holiday too! Instead of gentle ambles around the lake, Eleanor seems more interested in late night poker and swigging Prosecco and Clover can’t quite believe her mum is having more fun than she is. But as the saying goes – if you can’t beat em, join em!
Maddie Please is the #1 bestselling author of novels including The Old Ducks’ Club and Sisters Behaving Badly. Having had a career as a dentist and now lives in rural Devon where she enjoys box sets, red wine and Christmas. She will be taking a new direction in her writing for Boldwood with joyous tales of older women.
I was intrigued by this title as soon as I saw the cover. It just looked like such an inviting summer read.
I enjoyed that A Vintage Vacation features a protagonist who is sixty-one years old. It is a nice change from twenty and thirty somethings.
Unfortunately, Clover is made redundant. This is understandably very upsetting. Sadly (and frustratingly), Clover’s partner is off on his own vacation, leaving her quite adrift. Will her life stand still? No, it won’t! She decides to spend time with a cousin in the Italian Lakes. What will she find there? One thing will be her eighty-plus year old mother but there will be more than this. Watch (happily) as Clover comes to embrace life.
A Vintage Vacation, a title I love for its several meanings, is a delightful novel. Highly recommended to those who enjoy women’s fiction.
Anyone who read and enjoyed Last Call at the Nightingale will be delighted to get their hands on this next in the series. It is set within the speakeasy culture of Jazz Age/Prohibition New York, a time and place that are vividly brought to life in these pages.
Vivian, who is of working class background, thinks that she has finally found a way to improve both her own life and that of her sister. However, when a friend’s relative, a club bouncer, dies, Viv will risk so much to try to get to the bottom of things…and readers can feel pretty certain that she will. Still, on the way,Vivian will have to understand what happened to some missing money and will be forced to contend with mob bosses and more.
This is a novel that does a terrific job with its characters and setting. The people and times come to life. The plot is also involving. Recommended for those who enjoy historical mysteries and strong female protagonists.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur for this title. All opinions are my own.
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. No spoilers so those who are interested, put this one on your calendar.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this title. All opinions are my own.
Four stars
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 