I had a great reading year in 2025 and 2026 is going well, too. Here are some of the books that I have loved with links in case you might want to read more about them.

by May Cobb

Set in sultry Longview, Texas during the 1980s, All the Little Houses has everything: wealthy, mean women, mean girls, cheating spouses, love potions, a dead body, oh, and one of the mean girls might be a psychopath. Totally unlikeable characters and I couldn’t put it down. Loved it! I thought that the ending left too much unfinished and so I was so glad to read that the author is writing a sequel. I have a theory and can’t wait to see if I am right. Please hurry May Cobb. We want more!

All the Little Houses was published on January 20, 2026. Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced reading copy.

The Undoing of Violet Claybourne

by Emily Critchley

A crumbling manor in the English countryside; a once wealthy family clinging to a life they can no longer afford; the youngest daughter who has some strange fixations; two older sister who may not be what they seem and family secrets. Yes, please!

Gilly Larkin’s mother died giving birth to her and her distant father doesn’t seem to care about her. In 1938 when Gilly meets her new boarding school roommate, Violet Claybourne, she is immediately drawn to her. Violet is everything that lonely Gilly isn’t. She lives with her two sisters and her parents at their large estate, Thornleigh Hall, in the English countryside. When Violet invites her to stay with her family over the Christmas break, Gilly has no idea how much this visit will change her life.

The Claybournes welcome her into their family and for once Gilly feels like she belongs. Violet’s older sisters are enigmatic, stylish and take Gilly under their wings. As Gilly becomes more involved with the older girls, her relationship with Violet begins to deteriorate. Violet feels betrayed but this is only the beginning. When a Boxing Day hunt at Thornleigh Manor goes terribly wrong we see how far the girls will go to protect themselves.

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. If you like mysteries with gothic overtones, twists and turns and family secrets, you will want to read The Undoing of Violet Claybourne.

Both Booklist and Library Journal have given this book starred reviews. Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced reading copy.

Fox Creek: A Gripping Antebellum Tale

by M.E. Torrey

Six year-old Monette grew up as the pampered daughter of a French Creole sugar planter. When her father dies, his son sells her into slavery. She and a young boy, Cyrus, are bought at auction by William Jensey and taken to Fox Creek plantation in Louisiana. Cyrus is sent to the fields to work but Monette, who speaks French, becomes the companion to their daughter,Kate. Monette is to teach Kate some French and she and Kate become best friends. Monette thinks that she is part of the family and doesn’t realize that her light colored skin still makes her a Negro. The other slaves in the household think that Monette is uppity because of her higher place in the household as Kate’s companion. As her attachment to Kate and her brother, Breck becomes stronger their lives are turned upside down.

I was pulled into this story set in the 1834 antebellum south from the very first page. Although the descriptions of slavery were difficult to read, I loved this family saga with a strong sense of place, well drawn characters, descriptions of the daily workings of the plantation and the gripping plot of a way of life that is facing a divided nation. Fox Creek begs for a sequel. I hope you are listening M.E. Torrey!

Fox Creek was published on September 1, 2025. Thanks to Sly Fox Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy.

P.S. It has been revealed by the author that this story will continue as a trilogy!

Coram House

by Bailey Seybolt

Based on true events, Coram House is a twisty, atmospheric mystery with a creepy gothic orphanage and an ending I didn’t see coming.

Alex Kelley, a true crime writer, goes to Vermont to do some research for a book she is ghostwriting for the attorney who handled abuse charges against the Coram House Catholic orphanage. She discovers that in 1968 a young boy named Tommy, disappeared without a trace from Coram House. The orphanage said he ran away while others said that a nun was involved and he drowned. Now, fifty years later, Alex is sure that a woman who just died in the lake is related to Tommy’s disappearance. As she digs deeper into the dark past of the orphanage and more people start to die, she is convinced that all is not as it seems and despite the police and others trying to deter her, she is determined to find out what really happened at Coram House.

I really liked this book and loved the character of Alex who is determined to find some kind of closure for the children who lived there. Read Coram House If you like eerie, twisty, atmospheric mysteries. You won’t be disappointed.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy.

Every Evil Deed: A Luke Phillips Mystery

by Joanne Flood

Colonel Luke Phillips is returning home from the Walter Reed Hospital where he was being treated for his injuries in Afghanistan. He is looking forward to a quieter life with his new job as a history professor. However, life has other plans for him. On his way home he receives a call from his longtime friend, Mike O’Brien, who is with the Brooklyn Police. A body has been found on the beach with items that seem to be part of the Lenape Indian burial rite. Luke is an expert on the Lenape so Mike asks him to come to the crime scene to lend his expertise. When other bodies are found in historic places around Brooklyn, it becomes increasingly apparent that a serial killer is at work. What else becomes apparent is that this killer also has a connection to Luke and the Phillip’s family.

The author, who was born in Brooklyn, seamlessly weaves the history of Brooklyn into a riveting mystery. I can’t wait to read the sequel to Every Evil Deed !

One For the Blackbird, One For the Crow

by Olivia Hawker

Life is rough in 1876 Wyoming. The Webber and Bemis families are the only two farms for miles. When Cora Bemis commits an indiscretion with Substance Webber, Cora’s husband, Ernest, kills him. With Substance dead and Ernest in prison, the two women are forced to come together to save their families from the harsh Wyoming winter that is fast approaching. Cora is filled with guilt and Nettie Mae is bitter and angry over the loss of her husband. Nettie Mae’s son, Clyde, is only sixteen but he must now be the man of the house to help his mother and the Bemis family survive.

One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow is a beautifully written, lyrical story of two very strong but different women who must put aside their feelings and form a bond to save their families. It has a strong sense of place and the author immediately pulled me into the setting and the characters. One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow is an example of historical fiction at its finest.

Broken Country

by Clare Leslie Hall

On a rainy, dreary Saturday morning I sat down to start reading this book and I couldn’t stop reading it. I finished it that day! When Beth’s first love comes back into her life in an unexpected way, the secrets from the past collide with her new life as a farmer’s wife. Can a women be in love with two men at the same time? When there is a suspicious death, the reader is left to try and figure out who has died as the story is told in flashbacks. Broken Country is emotional but also hopeful with a sweeping love triangle, twists, compelling characters and a mystery. I loved it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advanced reading copy of Broken Country.

Last Twilight in Paris

by Pam Jenoff

This dual timeline story about a little know event in WWII kept me turning the pages.

London, 1953: Louise was a red cross volunteer who helped take Red Cross care packages to prisoners in the camps during WWII. Now she is a wife and mother who loves her husband but is still struggling to adapt to her life as a housewife and mother. She helps in a thrift store sorting through boxes with items that can be placed for sale when she comes across a heart shaped necklace that is missing its other half. She is sure that she has seen this necklace before when she was with the Red Cross. She is determined to track down the other half and the history behind it.

Paris, 1943: Helaine is a young Jewish woman who is imprisoned in the Lévitan, an upscale furniture store that the Nazis are using as a temporary prison camp. The people are forced to work and put out items stolen from Jewish homes. High ranking Nazis can shop in the store to purchase items for their wives and mistresses. Helaine’s husband is a gifted cellist in the symphony and he was forced to go to the camps to entertain Nazi officers. Before he left he gave her half of a heart shaped necklace and he kept the other half.

Paris, 1953: Louise returns to Paris and runs into her old boss, Ian, who worked with her at the Red Cross. Louise is hoping that she can find answers to what happened to her Friend, Franny, who died while they were visiting the prisoners. Louise saw one of the prisoners hand her a heart shaped necklace just like the one that Louise found in the thrift shop. When Frany’s body was found, the necklace was missing. Her search in Paris leads her to a now closed but once upscale furniture store, the Lévitan. Louisse discovers that Parisian Jews were housed there as a temporary camp. She must find out what happened there and where the other half of the necklace is. She is hoping that with Ian’s help they can unravel the mystery. However, things are more complicated than she thought they would be and secrets are standing in the way.

I really enjoyed Last Twilight in Paris and it lead me to try and learn more about the history of the Lévitan. Thanks to NetGalley and Park Row for the advanced reading copy.

Our Last Vineyard Summer

by Brooke Lea Foster

Our Last Vineyard Summer is a book about the Whiting women and their love for their family beach home on Martha’s Vineyard. Betsy Whiting has had a tough first year in grad school but heads to their family home to help her mother and sisters pack up the house so it can be sold. Their father was an ambitious senator and he died leaving the family in a precarious financial position. Their mother is a feminist writer who wants her girls to be the best they can be. The dual timelines of 1965 and 1978 paints a vivid picture of the family and the coastal town and house they all love. As the girls come together to try to find a way to keep the house, old hurts must be resolved and family secrets come to light. I really liked this book but thought the ending was a little abrupt. Our Last Vineyard Summer is a perfect beach read.

Thanks to Gallery books and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy.

Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood

by William J. Mann

I have been interested in the Black Dahlia case for years and when I saw that a new book on this unsolved crime is going to be published, I had to read it! The author, William J. Mann, did an incredible job of researching this case. He humanizes Elizabeth Short as he reconstructs her last days leading up to her murder. The police were under pressure to solve this case and find the killer because the city was terrified but every lead led to a dead end. As he goes through primary documents, interviews and testimonies, Mann forms an opinion of who he thinks might have killed her. This is a riveting look at the most famous unsolved true crime case in American history. Anyone looking for a well researched, true crime mystery will devour it. Thanks to netGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced reading copy.

Where the Rivers Merge

by Mary Alice Monroe

I love a good family saga and this multi-generational, dual timeline novel set in South Carolina’s Low Country with family secrets, love, loss, nature and a strong female main character pulled me right into the story. I couldn’t put it down!

In 1908, Eliza Rivers grew up on the family estate, Mayfield. Se was a free spirited child chafing under the restriction placed on young girls and women at that time. Her love for the land and nature stayed with her as the story progresses through WWi and into the present of 1988. Now, eight-eight year -old Eliza has made the decision to turn part of the property into a nature conservatory for others to enjoy as she has. Eliza is now the CEO of her family’s business but she will soon be going head to head with her greedy son, Arthur, who wants to sell the land and build on it.

As Eliza tells her granddaughter about her life, the reader is pulled into this beautifully written story that is a perfect example of the best historical fiction. I am so happy that a sequel is coming to finish Eliza’s story.

If you love family sagas set in the south, you will also love Where the Rivers Merge.

The Story Keeper

by Kelly Rimmer

After a divorce and a difficult year, Fiona Winslow returns to Forbes, New South Wales, Australia and Wurimbirra, the house she grew up in in with her mother, cousin Jon and her Uncle Tad. Uncle Tad died ten years ago and this once beautiful home has fallen into disrepair. The house was left to Jon but he doesn’t want it and sells it to Fiona. She is a historical architect and plans to renovate this once beautiful house. The people in the town think that the house is haunted but Fiona scoffs at this idea until strange things begin happening there.

As she is clearing out the house she finds an unopened box of books by an unknown author. The book is titled The Midnight Estate and as Fiona is drawn into the story, she begins to see eerie parallels to her own life and the house where she grew up. As the lines begin to blur between reality and fiction, Fiona want to know who wrote this book and why?

This dual timeline novel with Gothic overtones and family secrets pulled me in right away. Kelly Rimmer is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and The Story Keeper is another winner from her.

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing /MIRA and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy.

The Gallagher Place

by Julie Doar

Marlowe Fisher and her siblings return to their family home in the Hudson Valley for Christmas. Marlowe is an illustrator of children’s books but she has recently experienced a break-up with the man she thought she was going to marry so she is happy to get away form NYC for awhile. Growing up there with her two brothers and her best friend, Nora, was wonderful but also bittersweet because twenty years ago Nora took the trash out after their family dinner and was never seen again. The police searched the grounds and surrounding areas but her body was never found. Marlowe and Nora were inseparable and Marlowe’s life has never been quite the same.

When Marlowe and her brothers take a long walk one day they come across a dead man on their property. Once again the police arrive and the old memories or Nora are dredged up. Does this death have anything to do with Nora;s disappearance? The police are interrogating everyone and the family is on edge. As the story unfolds, family secrets will be revealed and Marlowe will have to evaluate her memory, loyalties and and deep rooted scars.

This well done debut mystery has a dual timeline with a strong sense of place, family secrets and an ending that I didn’t see coming!

Thanks to NetGalley and Zibby Publishing for the advanced reading copy of The Gallagher Place.