The Novelist from Berlin by V.S. Alexander is a historical fiction novel that was inspired by a true story. I always love books that teach me something I didn’t know. In this case, it’s the story of Irmgard Keun, a female novelist in German after World War I.
1920s Germany: Though the world has changed in the wake of the Great War, it is still ruled by men. Even a woman as resourceful and intelligent as Niki Rittenhaus needs alliances in order to survive. Her marriage to Rickard Länger, a movie producer for Berlin’s Passport Pictures, seems convenient for them both. When Rickard succumbs to increasing pressure from the Nazis to make propaganda movies, a horrified Niki turns away from her own film aspirations and instead, begins to write.
Niki’s first novel, The Berlin Woman, is published under a pseudonym to great success. But Niki knows she cannot stay anonymous for long. The Nazis are cementing their power over Germany—and over her husband. Though she succeeds in escaping Rickard, he directs Hitler’s Brownshirts to do the unthinkable: kidnap their daughter. With her books blacklisted, her life in danger, and Europe descending into war, Niki travels to Amsterdam, joins the Dutch Resistance, and then returns to war-torn Berlin determined to claim freedom for herself and her child, and to write her own story at last.
Don’t miss this fantastic book! OUT NOW
Another historical fiction book to read is Under the Java Moon by Heather B. Moore. I absolutely loved her book, The Paper Daughters of Chinatown and highly recommend it- that was a five star read for me. Under the Java Moon didn’t grab me the same way, but it’s still a great book and writing with such detail that you cannot deny the talent of the author.
Six-year-old Rita Vischer cowers in her family’s dug-out bomb shelter, listening to the sirens and waiting for a bomb to fall. Her charmed life on Java—living with other Dutch families—had always been peaceful, but when Holland declares war on Japan and the Japanese army invades Indonesia, Rita’s family is forced to relocate to a POW camp, and Rita must help care for her little brother, Georgie.
Mary Vischer is three months pregnant when she enters the Tjideng women’s camp with thousands of other women and children. Her husband, George, is somewhere on the Java Sea with the Dutch Navy, so she must care alone for her young children, Rita and Georgie, and her frail mother-in-law. The brutal conditions of the overcrowded camp make starvation, malaria, and dysentery a grim reality. Mary must do everything she can to keep her family alive.
George Vischer survives the bombing of his minesweeper but feels little hope floating on a small dinghy in the Java Sea. Reaching the northern tip of the Thousand Islands would be a miracle. Focusing on of the love of his life, Mary, and his two children, he battles against the sea and merciless sun. He’ll do whatever it takes to close the divide between him and his family, even if it means risking being captured by the Japanese.
Under the Java Moon highlights a little-known part of WWII history and the impact of war on Indonesia, its people, and the more than 100,000 Dutch men, women, and children who were funneled into prison camps and faced with the ultimate fight for survival.
OUT NOW
A quick read that was super enjoyable, Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter involves a cold case crime that is pieced together through the book via articles, notes, text messages, and interviews and I loved that. I like the way the author wrote the book, and it was a pleasant break from the usual narrative structure. I am always drawn to cold cases and mysteries, so this was the perfect novel for me. If you like suspense, mysteries, true crime etc then get this book!
It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.
Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two half-sisters were in the house at the time of the murder—but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.
But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…
Now comes the sensational new streaming series Infamous, dedicated to investigating—and perhaps cracking—this famous cold case. The production team will re-examine testimony, re-interview witnesses, and once again scour the evidence. The family will speak. The key players will be reunited—on camera. The truth will come out.
Go get this one right now!
Beth O’Leary’s books are so good. If you haven’t read any of them, go get one right now. My favorite was The Road Trip. Her newest is called The Wake-Up Call and it was just published!
Here’s what you need to know:
It’s the busiest season of the year, and Forest Manor Hotel is literally falling apart. So when Izzy and Lucas are given the same shift on the hotel’s front desk, they have no choice but to put their differences aside and see it through.
The hotel won’t stay afloat beyond Christmas without some sort of miracle. But when Izzy returns a guest’s lost wedding ring, the reward convinces management that this might be the way to fix everything. With four rings still sitting in the lost & found, the race is on for Izzy and Lucas to save their beloved hotel—and their jobs.
As their bitter rivalry turns into something much more complicated, Izzy and Lucas begin to wonder if there’s more at stake here than the hotel’s future. Can the two of them make it through the season with their hearts intact?
You have to read this book, especially if you are burnt out on heavier fiction like thrillers and historical novels. This was a much-needed light story that was the perfect read for an afternoon. Even if you aren’t into romance or women’s fiction, READ IT NOW!
The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin was a tense, creepy read. In other words, perfect for the spooky Halloween season! It’s a dark read- it takes place in a house where a murder occurred after all, but if you are into nerve-wracking, sinister stories then this is absolutely for you. Personally, I would never buy an old house where someone was killed, even if it was a rock-bottom price.
A therapist and self-help writer with all the answers, Sarah Slade has just bought a gorgeous Victorian in the community of her dreams. Turns out, you can get a killer deal on a house where someone was murdered. Plus, renovating Black Wood House makes for great blog content and a decent distraction from her failing marriage. Good thing nobody knows that her past is just as filthy as the bloodstain on her bedroom floor.
But the renovations are fast becoming a nightmare. Sarah imagined custom avocado wallpaper, massive profits, and an appreciative husband who wants to share her bed again. Instead, the neighbors hate her guts and her husband still sleeps on the couch. And though the builders attempt to cover up Black Wood’s horrifying past, a series of bizarre accidents, threatening notes, and unexplained footsteps in the attic only confirms for Sarah what the rest of the town already knew: Something is very wrong in that house.
With every passing moment, Sarah’s life spirals further out of control—and with it, her sense of reality. But as she peels back the curling wallpaper and discovers the house’s secrets, she realizes that the deadly legacy of Black Wood House has only just begun.
Out now, get a copy if you want to be biting your nails off while reading a frightening story.
I don’t know how I went so long not even knowing of author Valerie Keogh’s books. She has several, and I have been reading each one, trying to get through her entire blacklist! What a great author she is, I have thoroughly enjoyed everything she’s written. My favorite was The Trophy Wife which to me, was just the right amount of clever and creepy, with an unreliable narrator, my favorite. You cannot go wrong with any of her fantastic books though!
The Lawyer is her latest, and this one kept me intrigued. A four-star read!
When Melanie Scott is promoted to junior partner, she thinks she has put her past behind her and while out celebrating her promotion, she meets the handsome and charming Hugo Field.
Melanie has her doubts and is haunted by her mother’s critical voice, which reminds her she’s messed up before. But when Hugo invites her for dinner, she buries her feelings and accepts his invitation.
She deserves the chance of happiness, doesn’t she? However, the past she thought she’d buried resurfaces when she receives an email containing a name; Anne Edwards. A name she thought she’d left behind.
When the emails escalate, she knows she has to find out who is behind them, but at what cost? Melanie is about to learn that her past will shape her future forever…
If you like books by Freida McFadden and Kiersten Modglin, you will want to read all of Valerie’s books! The Lawyer is out now.
I have also read these recently and recommend them!
Nobody has a “normal” family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly…something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.
Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.
When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.
It starts with a party. It ends in murder.
Things are going well for Amy Mackenzie: her floral business is thriving, catering for some of the wealthiest families in the area. And none are more glamorous than James and Eleanor Elliot.
But try as she might to become part of their world, Amy is always on the outside – as invisible to them as the other members of staff who pass through their vast South London home every day.
Until the day of the party.
When Eleanor’s sister Izzy is found dead hours before her own party, Amy is horrified when the finger of blame is pointed at her. Tasked with doing the flowers, Amy was the only person in the house when Izzy fell. The only person apart from Eleanor, that is.
Convinced the Elliots are trying to frame her, Amy resolves to find out everything there is to know about them and prove that they are the ones who killed Izzy.
After all, this isn’t the first time Amy’s been accused of murder, and she’ll be damned if she’s going to let it happen again.
After her troublemaker mother’s mysterious death, Kira fled her wealthy Texas town and never looked back. Now, decades later, Kira is invited to an old frenemy’s vow renewal party. Though she is reluctant to go, there are things calling her back . . . like chilled wine and days spent by the pool . . . like her sexy childhood crush, Jack. But, more importantly, it’s the urgent texts from her grandmother who says she has something to give Kira. Something about her mother’s death, something that looks an awful lot like murder.
When her grandmother gives Kira a memoir that her mother had been working on before she died, she is pulled into the past and all of the sizzling secrets that come along with it. With few allies left in her gossipy, country club town, Kira turns to Jack for help. As she gets closer to what–and who–might have brought about her mother’s end, it becomes clear that someone wants the past to stay buried.
And Kira might be next.
Of course, I’m not going to murder her in the night. I need my laptop back first. That’s the whole point of making friends with Emily Harper, author of the hugely successful novel Diary of an Octopus . So I could get inside her apartment and take back what’s mine.
Emily doesn’t know who I really am. She thinks I’m her biggest fan, her new best friend who happens to need a place to stay for a few days. She doesn’t realize the laptop she found—and took—from a busy airport almost two years ago was mine.
I didn’t care about the laptop, just what was on it.
My diary.
The one I kept many years ago as a troubled thirteen-year-old girl with a vivid imagination and a flair for the dramatic. The diary Emily Harper has now published as her own.
She thinks it’s a story about a schoolgirl’s crush on her teacher, but she’s wrong. It’s a story about a murder. Two murders, if you count the hamster.
She thought it was okay to make a few changes and publish it under her own name, but she was wrong about that, too.
Because sometimes, truth is deadlier than fiction.
