Book Make Great Gifts Guide

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

Books Make Great Holiday Gifts Guide

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and it feels like everyone is already shopping for holiday gifts. And so it’s time for my annual Books Make Great Gifts Guide. There’s something for everyone on your list, and remember that books are so easy to wrap!

Biographies and memoirs are popular this season, especially from celebrities. Cher’s memoir is titled simply Cher- The Memoir : Part One because her life is so big (she has been in the spotlight for six decades) it will require two volumes. Volume two publishes next year. 

Ina Garten, known as the Barefoot Contessa, usually publishes a new cookbook every year, but this year she gives us a fascinating memoir Be Ready When The Luck Happens. Your best friend who watches the Food Network will love this one. 

Everyone was a fan of Johnny Carson, and Bill Zehme with Mike Thomas’ new biography, Carson the Magnificent, would make a great gift for Dad, as would Max Boot’s Reagan- His Life and Legend, which shines new light on the life of Ronald Reagan.

Other nonfiction titles that would make a good gift for your son-in-law include Adam Higginbotham’s Challenger-A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, and Yuval Noah Harari’s Nexus- A Brief History of Information Networks From The Stone Age to AI. Sy Montgomery has written brilliantly about pigs and octopuses, and now she has What the Chicken Knows for the animal enthusiast on your list.

For your favorite chef, Martha Stewart has Martha: The Cookbook- 100 Favorite Recipes with Lessons and Stories From My Kitchen, or perhaps they would like Stanley Tucci’s What I Ate In One Year- and Other Thoughts as he takes us through a year in his life through food.

If you have fiction fans on your list, Susan Rieger’s stunning Like Mother, Like Mother shares the story of three generations of women and how the decisions they each make affects the following generation.

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment starts on a airplane sitting on a tarmac. When one passenger stands up and predicts how and when each person will die, it is disconcerting until one prediction comes true, then it is life-altering for all.

Richard Price’s Lazarus Man takes place in 2008 East Harlem as a tenement building blows up, and we see how it affects everyone who lived there and the police investigating it. 

If your neighbor who loves a good Hallmark Christmas movie, Susan Mallery’s One Big Happy Family is the perfect holiday read. 

Romantasy is a hot genre now, and your adult niece who read the Iron Flame series would enjoy Shelby Mahurin’s The Scarlet Veil. 

You could give your aunt two fantastic reads- Niall Williams has two novels that take place

 in a small Irish town- This Is Happiness, along with his new one, Time of the Child. 

Mystery fans will enjoy Richard Osman’s (of the Thursday Murder Club series) new stand-alone novel We Solve Murders about a retired cop who teams up with his daughter-in-law to discover who is trying to kill her. It’s a real page-turner with terrific characters and some hilarious dialogue. 

Moving on to the younger readers, Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures is for young  readers who are into fantasy novels.

Middle grade readers are big fans of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books, and his new one Wrath of the Triple Goddess continues the series that features mythological themes. 

Book series are big with younger readers, and you can’t go wrong with Dav Pilkey’s newest Dog Man title- Big Jim Begins. Other series that younger readers enjoy include  InvestiGators, about alligator private eyes, and Wings of Fire and Dragon Masters series that appeal to the younger fantasy readers. 

The Bad Guys series is humorous, and Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson series delights elementary school age children. For graphic novels reades, you can’t go wrong with The Babysitters Club and Amulet series of books. 

For the littlest ones, Sherry Duskey Rinker has a new board book- Construction Site: Garbage Crew to the Rescue for fans of all her Construction book series. Mo Willems is hugely popular with kiddies, and his Don’t Let the Pigeons Drive The Sleigh has a holiday theme.

No one is more popular with the toddler set than YouTube sensation Ms. Rachel, and she has a board book- Ms. Rachel and the Special Surprise that will enchant your grandchild. 

I hope you found something here for everyone on your list. Remember to support local indie bookstores, most of them have online shopping, or go to bookshop.org to support independent bookstores.

Fall Book Highlights

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Fall is a big season for publishers, a time when so many great books can be found in bookstores. This year is no exception, and I have three terrific books, something for all types of readers.

The first book is a mystery written by Team W as they are known- good friends Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White- titled The Author’s Guide To Murder. The authors met at a book conference, became friends, and decided to write a book together. 

In this fifth collaboration, three American authors are at a Scottish castle owned by a very famous and successful writer. They are supposed to be there for a writing conference with the famous writer, but they each have other reasons to be there.

When the writer ends up murdered, the women become suspects in the killing. The book alternates between the police interrogation of the women and the lead up to the murder. The police interviews are hilarious as we get to know each of the authors. 

Kat writes erotica and plays her part with innuendo and outrageous flirtatious behavior. Cassie is a mom of six who writes cozy mysteries and has a Mary Poppins bag filled with every item anyone would ever need. Emma writes historical fiction and is what would be called a history buff, always ready with a quick historical fact whether anyone wants to hear it or not.

Readers of Team W’s novels will get immense enjoyment as the authors have played around with own personalities and created characters that mix-and-match their own writing style and lives. I found myself laughing out loud several times.

Although it is humorous, there is a serious undertone as we learn why the women have come together to confront the famous writer. It is billed as “Murder, She Wrote” meets Agatha Christie, an accurate assessment. I highly recommend.

Lynda Cohen Loigman's new novel The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern tells the story of Augusta Stern, an eighty year-old pharmacist who has just (unwillingly) retired to a Florida community her niece found for her. 

On her first day there, she discovers that Irving Rivkin, who worked as delivery boy in her father’s pharmacy back in the 1920’s, also lives in the same retirement community. Irvin hurt her deeply many years ago and Augusta never got over it.

This is also a story told in two different time lines- the 1920’s and 1997. Frequently in two different timeline novels, one story is more interesting, but Cohen had me equally engaged in both stories.

Augusta is a fabulous character, she can be difficult and a tough nut to crack. Although she initially keeps to herself, she eventually makes friends. What she doesn’t understand is why Irvin is pursuing her romantically after he broke her heart years ago with no explanation.

It’s refreshing to see more older female characters in recent novels and Augusta is one of the more intriguing and well-drawn ones. We get the opportunity to see how she became the person she was, and her close attachment to her great aunt Esther, another intriguing older female character. The setting of 1920’s Brooklyn is so vividly created, I could picture Augusta’s father’s pharmacy clearly. I also highly recommend The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern.

There are many memoirs out this fall, and Connie Chung’s Connie is one of the more interesting ones. Chung, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, became one of the most prominent broadcast journalists in the 1970s. 

She was one of the few female television reporters covering the Nixon White House during the tumultuous Watergate years. Chung has to battle not only sexism but also anti-Asian attitudes during her tenure. She believed the best way to do that was to become one of “boys”- she could curse like a sailor, and she gave as good as she got.

Chung worked incredibly hard, and would take any opportunity to show that she was a team player. At one point she anchored a pre-Today Show news hour, reported on stories for the Nightly News, then did live news cut-aways at 9pm and 10pm. She worked nearly around the clock.

She is one of the few people to work on-air for all three broadcast networks- she co-anchored the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather (who undermined her), co-anchored 20/20 on ABC, and was an anchor on the local Los Angeles CBS station for years.

If you know of Chung’s career, you’ll want to read Connie, and if you don’t know her, you’ll want to read what it was like to be a woman in the news business at this time. It’s a fascinating read.

The Author’s Guide To Murder By Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig & Karen White-A

Published by William Morrow

Hardcover, $30, 416 pages

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman- A

Published by St. Martin’s Press

Hardcover, $29, 312 pages

Connie by Connie Chung- A

Published by Grand Central

Hardcover, $32.50, 323 pages

Sleeping With the Frenemy by Natalie Caña

Sleeping With the Frenemy by Natalie Caña

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778305460

Trade paperback, $18.99, 352 pages

I truly enjoyed getting to know the Vega family in Natalie Caña's first two novels- A Proposal They Can't Refuse and A Dish Best Served Hot- and I was so happy to discover that the third book in the trilogy, Sleeping With the Frenemy, is just as wonderful as the first two.

Leo Vega is recouperating from a gunshot wound from a year ago and is secretly trying to get strong enough to get his job back as a firefighter. In the meantime he is working at his soon-to-be brother-in-law Leo's whiskey distillery creating craft cocktails.

When his his sister Kamilah's best friend (and his secret on-again, off-again lover) Sofi returns to Chicago from Paris, Leo wants to pick up their affair and make it public. Leo wants Sofi to acknowledge them as a couple, something Sofi reluctant to do, fearing it will complicate her already rocky relationship with her best friend Kamilah.

While Sofi fights her growing attraction to Leo, he pulls out all the stops showing her what she is missing. When they end up living in the same apartment, sparks and more fly. Caña writes spicy scenes just about better than anyone. You may need to crank up the AC as you read these sexy scenes.

I love that once again, as in the first two novels, Leo's grandfather works overtime to get two people together, this time along with Sofi's grandmother.  I also liked that we circled back to Kamilah and Leo, the couple from the first Vega Family novel, as planning for their wedding plays a big part in the story.

I also get to brush up on my Spanish language skills reading these novels, and I like the feeling of community you get reading about this proud Puertominican neighborhood in Humboldt Park. I highly recommend Sleeping With the Frenemy and all of the Vega Family novels. I hope we get to see more of them in the future.

Vega Family Love Stories:

Book 1: A Proposal They Can't Refuse (my review here)

Book 2: A Dish Best Served Hot (my review here)

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on the Fall 2024 Blog Tours.

One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery

One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery

Published by Canary Street Press ISBN 9781335006301

Trade paperback, $18.99, 320 pages

From the publisher:

Don’t come home for Christmas. . .

Julie Parker’s kids are her greatest gift. Still, she’s low-key joyful that they want to skip a big Christmas this year. Her son Nick is romancing his bride Blair with a belated honeymoon, while her daughter Dana plans to purge every reminder of the guy who dumped her. Again. Julie’s excited to hole up for the holiday with Heath, the (much) younger man she’s secretly dating.

Her plans go from cozy to chaotic when her kids change their minds and plead for Christmas at the family cabin in memory of their beloved father. Julie can’t refuse, despite being nervous about the over-the-top traditions her grown children still enjoy—and anxious about how they’ll feel when they meet Heath and realize she’s been lying to them for months. She has justified her deception by insisting to herself that they’re not serious, despite the spark she feels whenever he’s near.

As the guest list grows in surprising ways, from Blair’s estranged mom to Heath’s beautiful young ex, Julie’s secret is one of many to be unwrapped. Over this complicated and very funny Christmas, she’ll discover that more really is merrier, and that a big, happy family can become bigger and happier, if they all let go of old hurts and open their hearts to love.

My thoughts:

I have always enjoyed Susan Mallery's books, but One Big Happy Family may be my favorite yet. As a mom to two grown adults, Julie is so relatable. She owns a tow business that she hopes her son Nick is ready to take on more responsibility in the business, just as she did as she took over for her father.

Julie's ex-husband (and Nick and Dana's father) passed away in January and this will be the first Christmas without him. Nick's wife Blair knows that it will hard for him and she is willing to forgo their planned Maui trip to spend Christmas at the family cottage in the mountains as they have always done.

As any good mom would do, Julie sacrifices her time with her (hot and younger) new boyfriend Heath for a family Christmas. Anyone who has done a big family holiday vacation will smile at the organizational skills that Julie shows as she plans menus, decorating, chore charts, and gift-wrapping to make everything go smoothly. (We all have someone like that in our family, right?)

As the number of people who will be staying at the cabin begins to grow, from Heath and his two young children to his ex-wife, to Dana's once-and-for-all-ex-who-broke-her-heart-for-the-last-time, to Blair's unpleasant estranged mother, secrets begin to bubble to the surface that may cause problems for more than one person.

I truly enjoyed these characters, Mallery makes them so real. From Dana's heartbreak to Blair's dealing with her IBS, to Julie's unwillingness to let anyone help her when she is vulnerable - we all know these people (and maybe are some of them). The Christmas setting was wonderful, and One Big Happy Family is the book I will gifting to many people this holiday season. I give it my highest recommendation. I adored it and I'd love to get an invitation to stay at Julie's family cottage for the holidays.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Fall 2024 Blog Tours.

Time To Fall In Love With Books

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Time to Fall in Love With Books

Summer is officially over and now it’s the season to fall in love with books. This month’s Book Report takes us to three different eras from the past with books that have flown under the radar.

If you just can’t let go of summer, Suzanne Rindell’s sweet Summer Fridays will keep the summer vibe going. The novel takes place in 1999 New York City, when AOL was the hot thing. 

Sawyer works as an assistant at a publishing house and is planning a wedding to her live-in college boyfriend Charles who is beginning his career as a lawyer. She is not so much planning a wedding as allowing her future mother-in-law to completely take over the wedding planning.

Charles is working long hours with his attractive colleague Kendra. This doesn’t really bother Sawyer until Kendra’s boyfriend Nick sends her an email insinuating that Charles and Kendra are having an affair.

Nick and Sawyer strike up an online email friendship, which leads to Nick joining Sawyer on her summer Friday lunches in a local park. Sawyer and Nick have a platonic relationship, but could it be more? Does Sawyer have more in common with Nick than Charles? You’ll have to read Summer Fridays to find out. Fans of the movie You’ve Got Mail will be delighted.

I liked the New York City setting here, and the characters are interesting. I read Suzanne Rindell’s historical novel The Other Typist and loved it, and Summer Fridays is very different from that book but just as wonderful.

Madeline Martin takes the reader to WWII England in The Booklover’s Library. In Nottingham, England, Emma is a young widow with a seven year-old daughter Olivia. The war against Germany is just ramping up, and Emma is having a difficult time finding a job, as widows and married women are discouraged from working. 

While Emma is able to secure a position at the Booklover’s Library in a chemist shop, she must hide the fact that she has a child. They live in an apartment building, and we meet some of the other tenants, including a grumpy older man and an older widow who is willing to care for Olivia part-time.

As Germany begins to bomb England, a program begins where people are encouraged to send their children to the countryside becasue it is thought they will be safer from the bombing that is happening in the cities. 

Since Emma must work at her job to support herself and Olivia, she makes the difficult decision to send Olivia to the countryside to a family she doesn’t know. Olivia sends Emma letters begging to come home, and Emma struggles with the decision she made.

Martin does an incredible job putting readers in the shoes of Emma. As we read, we wonder what would we have done in Emma’s place. The author also paints such a vivid picture of life during war in England. 

The author did a great deal of research into the lending libraries found in chemists shops at this time. I was fascinated by Emma’s job and found myself wanting to learn even more about them than I found in the Author’s Notes at the end of the book. If you liked historical fiction, The Booklover’s Library is one you will definitely want to read.

For the Nonfiction fan, Scott G. Shea’s All the Leaves Are Brown shares the true story of the rise and fall of the 1960’s super group The Mamas and The Papas. 

Shea traces the beginnings of the group, starting with a detailed biography of the group’s leader and songwriter John Phillips. We follow John’s story from his childhood as the son of a military man, through his troubled teen years, and his love of music.

Along the way, John (who was already married) falls in love with a much younger Michelle Gilliam, and eventually they end up with Canadian folk singer Denny Doherty and the vivacious and amazing singer Cass Elliot to become the Mamas and the Papas.

Shea shares the ups and downs, the love triangles, the rampant drug use (that part just astonished me- so many drugs!), the talent, and the incredible music they made during the last part of the 1960s. The Monterey Pop Festival that John Phillips created with others is described in great detail and I found that very interesting. 

After reading All the Leaves Are Brown,  I immediately put on a Mamas and Papas playlist and wow, they were fantastic. This one is for fans of 1960’s music, Fleetwood Mac, and Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six.

Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell- A

Published by Dutton

Trade paperback, $18, 432 pages

The Booklover’s Library by Madeline Martin- A

Published by Hanover Square Press

Trade paperback, $18.99, 432 pages

All the Leaves Are Brown by Scott G. Shea- A-

Published by Backbeat

Hardcover, $32.95, 422 pages