The Paris Dressmaker

by Kristy Cambron

This is another book set in France during WWII. Before you think that you’ve read enough of these, give this one a chance. It is an engaging and involving read.

The Paris Dressmaker follows several women and the men and families that surround them. Lila is a talented dressmaker and designer. Lila’s closest friend is Amelie, another seamstress. Then there is Sandrine and her close friend Michelle. Sandrine works at the Jeu de Paume. Each of these characters faces moral decisions, choices and moments of fear and courage.

The settings in this book are wonderfully rendered. There are the dress salons, a bookstore, the Jeu de Paume, a bakery, The Ritz..and the list goes on. Each is vividly portrayed as are the streets of wartime Paris.

This is a novel that tells moving stories of love, friendship, resistance, traitorous behavior, courage and consequences. The narrative moves back and forth in time from 1939 and into the 1940s.

I became quite involved in the lives and stories of these characters. I think that readers will as well.

I alternated between reading this book and listening to it. The narration was excellent with characters well delineated and the French accents of the characters.

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

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Debut Fiction Sampler, Spring 2021

by Various

Penguin Random House Library Resources

This (free) sampler includes excerpts from ten upcoming fiction titles. These books cover quite a range so there is sure to be something for everyone who enjoys reading. How about a book about a dictionary, a southern family, an elephant in Belfast, an “opium prince,” or chickens? The included titles are The Opium Prince, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano, The Music of Bees, Highway Blue, Things We Lost to the Water, Brood, Dial A for Aunties, The Sweet Taste of Muscadines, The Elephant of Belfast, and The Dictionary of Lost Words.Take a look. Decide on your next read. Highly recommended for those looking for new books.

A Brittany Mystery

by Jean-Luc Bannalec

This title is one of six in a mystery series set in Brittany. The detective, Inspector Dupin, has been sent there from Paris. He is not thrilled. In this case, someone close to Dupin is murdered. Lilou was investigating something to do with the salt marshes that provide the well known fleur de sel. What did she discover? Why did she die? How will Dupin and his team manage to work with Inspector Rose on this case? (I wonder if she will be a recurring character.) Read this title to find out and along the way, get to know Dupin. Readers may well want to follow all of his adventures.

A note: This book series has been made into a TV one called Inspector Dupin. It is available on the MHZ streaming service.

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

Chocolate Cream Pie Murder

by Joanne Fluke

Fans of small town Lake Eden and baker, Hannah Swenson, will no doubt enjoy this 24th entry in the long running series.

Here is the publisher’s synopsis of this title:

When The Cookie Jar becomes the setting of a star-studded TV special about movies filmed in Minnesota, Hannah hopes to shine the spotlight on her bakery—not the unsavory scandal swirling around her personal life. But that’s practically impossible with a disturbing visit from the shifty character she once believed was her one and only love, a group of bodyguards following her every move, and a murder victim in her bedroom. Now, swapping the crime scene in her condo for her mother Delores’s penthouse, Hannah and an old flame team up to solve a case that’s messier than an upended chocolate cream pie. As suspects emerge and secrets hit close to home, Hannah must serve a hefty helping of justice to an unnamed killer prowling around Lake Eden…before someone takes a slice out of her!

So, as readers can see a lot is going on here. It is good to know that Hannah always comes out okay in the end. Readers will be treated to a good story line, some vicarious baked goods and a number of recipes.

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

Note that there are additional Narnia titles on special sale today.

An e book bargain for 4.23.24

A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

by Donna Leon

Pub date: March 9, 2021

Transient Desires is Donna Leon’s thirtieth (!) book about Guido Brunetti. What an accomplishment to have kept a series fresh over so many novels..

In thinking about this title, I concluded that it is a story of place and character, as compared to a classic mystery. There are people good and bad, those with and without morals, those who get caught up in situations with difficult consequences, vicims, various types of love and more. Venice is also critical part of this story. Areas of the city that were new to me were in this book as were the canals, cafes and tourist sites along, of course, with Brunetti’s home.

My favorite of all of the people in this novel is Brunetti. His desire to do right, his willingness to apologize when wrong, his trying to help others and his love of lunch and Paola (his wife) all play their part.

The plot is not dense. Two young girls are injured and left at a hospital. The story goes from there as it impacts a number of others.

If you are going to be a new reader of Brunetti, start at the beginning with Death at La Fenice. All other Leon fans welcome our Commissario back! Now I just have to wait for #31.

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

A Novel

by Finola Austin

Undoubtedly when readers see the name Bronte, they think about Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. But, Charlotte and Emily were only two of the Bronte siblings. Among them and others, they had one brother Branwell; he is the focus of this story based on some historical facts.

Sister, Anne, had a job as a governess. Branwell became a tutor to a child in that same family. As a result, he met Lydia Robinson who was over ten years his senior. She was a woman reeling from loss, a difficult marriage and a controlling mother in law. As the title of this novel tells readers, she became Bronte’s mistress. What happened to them and this relationship will surely interest readers of historical fiction.

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

Some other opinions:

“[A] meticulously researched debut novel . . .  In a word? Juicy.” —OPRAH MAGAZINE

“A convincingly multifaceted picture of Lydia, a smart, passionate woman who is caught between her own thwarted desires and the gears of society’s conventions. Austin grounds her book in research, but it’s the entirely fictional letters she intersperses throughout the book that truly bring Lydia and many of her other characters to life. Austin has written a stirring defense of the maligned Mrs. Robinson, and who can say if it isn’t also the truth?” —THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR