Total Books: 6   Total Pages: 2305   Longest: 472   Shortest: 202

Genres: 3 (Fiction – 3, Historical Fiction – 2, History – 1)

The cold winter days and nights of January lead to many pages read! And I didn’t even count the two travel related books I scanned in preparation for a trip later this spring (more on that soon).

The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh

Isadora Bentley is a university researcher who deems herself perfectly happy following the rules, keeping to herself, and enjoying her research all by herself. However, on her 30th birthday, she sees a magazine article entitled, “Thirty-one Ways to be Happy” and thinking it a ridiculous concept, decides she will conduct her own independent research to prove the author wrong! It’s a fun read as Isadora puts each of the 31 ideas to the test and discovers that maybe the author is on to something after all.

Give Her Credit by Grace L. Williams

Did you know that women in the US typically couldn’t get credit or open bank accounts without a male co-signer until the mid-to-late 1970s? In Give Her Credit: The Untold Account of a Women’s Bank That Empowered a Generation, Grace Williams has thoroughly researched this topic and provides a fascinating account of how a group of diverse women came together in Denver to challenge and change the traditional banking norms of the times.      

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Easily one of the most talked about books of 2024, The Women is a fictionalized account of the American nurses who volunteered with the US Army (and other branches) during the Vietnam War era, worked in the military hospital units in Vietnam, and came home fighting their own demons (PTSD), along with the American public divided and even denying the sacrifices of their service.  

The Newcomer by Mary Kay Andrews

After the grittiness of The Women, it was time for a “beach read” (or given the month a “fireside read”) by Mary Kay Andrews. However, this one ended up being a little more crime mystery to it than her normal rom-com as the protagonist Letty tries to uncover her sister’s murderer. Still, Andrews did not let me down with her characters and the overall plot development.

The Queen’s Game by Katharine McGee

Known for her American Royals series which portrays what might have happened had George Washington become King with the Washingtons still in power in the 21^st century, McGee has started a historical fiction series based on some of the granddaughters of Queen Victoria as she tries to arrange their marriages while tumultuous times start encroaching upon the grand European monarchies. I definitely went down many rabbit holes while reading this one in order to connect all the dots of the European royal families and preview what happens next in this historical timeline.

Echoes of Us by Joy Jordan-Lake

Joy Jordan-Lake has provided her readers with another epic dual-timeline (modern day and WWII) historical novel, this time set on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Ever since reading A Tangled Mercy back in 2018, I’ve looked forward to reading more of her books and this one did not disappoint. I found myself once again chasing squirrels, I mean facts, and learning things I did not know or didn’t know much about – for example, more Americans were killed by German U-boats off the East Coast of the US than were killed at Pearl Harbor, nor did I realize the number of German, Japanese, and Italian POWs located at camps across the US was more than 425,000! My mother has told me multiple times about the fear she had as a young girl knowing that there were POWs in Galveston only 50 miles from her home and her fear that they would escape and come marching up Highway 146, but I never realized how many of the 511 camps were in the state of Texas (over 30 camps with more than 50,000 prisoners)!

But I digress from the story told in Echoes of Us.

From the Amazon description: In the midst of World War II, a Tennessee farm boy, a Jewish Cambridge student, and a German POW forge a connection that endures—against all odds.

But now everything that Will Dobbins, Dov Silverberg, and Hans Hessler fought for is at risk as their descendants clash for control of the corporation they founded together. In an attempt to remake its tattered corporate image, the firm hires event planner Hadley Jacks and her sister Kitzie to organize a reunion for the families on St. Simons Island, Georgia, the place that changed all three men’s lives forever.

As Hadley and her sister delve into the friends’ past, they uncover the life of the courageous young woman who links them all together…and the old wounds that could tear everything apart.

It’s another bittersweet, redemptive novel from a gifted writer that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Until next time, read what pleases you!