The Empress of Cooke County

A sweet and sassy, coming-to-terms mother-daughter saga that sparkles with juicy secrets and scheming, 1960s Southern Gothic flare. 

Scheming Southern flare sparkles in The Empress of Cooke County, a first novel by Elizabeth Bass Parmen.  

Set in 1966 in Spark, Tenn., Cooke County, this split point-of-view narrative centers on a fraught mother-daughter relationship. Posey Jarvis is an outspoken, 38-year-old, wife and mother who idolizes Jackie Kennedy. She and her “sweet,” good-natured husband of twenty years, Vern, appear settled in the folksy small town. However, Posey still carries a secret torch for a man who jilted her years before—swigs of gin from a tucked away flask help her to cope. Posey’s broken heart still colors her life, especially her high-hopes for 18-year-old daughter, Callie Jane. When Callie is blindsided by a public marriage proposal, she suddenly must confront the expectations that have shaped her life. And when her mother inherits a once-glamorous, now delipidated house from a long-lost aunt--and Posey decides to spruce up the house for Callie’s upcoming wedding and Posey’s 20^th high school reunion--the stakes are raised. A lifetime of angst, secrets, and rebellion escalate between overbearing, conniving Posey and Callie Jane, who fights to finally come into her own. 

Escalating drama sharpens brisk plotting that includes story-threads about a renegade, local peeping Tom and changing mores of the social-climbing South. Fans of unfaltering Southern Belles in the vein of authors Fannie Flagg and Kathryn Stockett will bask in the sassy charm of Parmen’s stellar debut.

The Empress of Cooke County by Elizabeth Bass Parmen

Harper Muse, $18.99 paperback, 9781400342594, 304 pages

Publication Date: September 3, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (September 13, 2024), link HERE 

The Match

A poignant, wholesome rom-com about how an epileptic child’s search for a service dog inspires romance for her single father and an epileptic woman. 

In The Match, Sarah Adams infuses serious subject matter with poignant humor and lovable dogs sure to charm rom-com readers.

 

Cheery and optimistic, Evelyn “Evie” Grace Jones is a 26-year-old who suffers from epilepsy. She moves away from her snooty, status-conscious “Charlestonian” parents to work for Southern Service Paws, an organization that led Evie to Charlie, her beloved service dog. Evie adores her job, helping to match other people with canines who offer remarkable assistance to the disabled.

 

Samantha Broaden is a 10-year-old who also suffers from epilepsy. After her parents’ divorce--her mother leaves to pursue acting aspirations--Sam is doted on and cared for by her overprotective, self-sacrificing, single father, 33-year-old architect, Jacob. Sam loves Jacob, but he’s resistant to his daughter pursuing independence by sharing her life with a service dog.

 

When Sam sneakily lures Jacob to Southern Service Paws, he locks horns with Evie, who finds him rigid, but also romantically irresistible. As Evie searches for a loyal canine companion for Sam, Jacob comes to witness Evie’s compassion toward his daughter and her condition. When Evie ultimately finds Sam a beautiful service dog, Daisy, Jacob softens and lowers his defenses. Romance blooms with Evie. However, Jacob’s insecurity from his failed marriage and the return of his ex-wife--along with Evie’s meddling family--set up obstacles to the couple’s happiness. 

Adams’s (The Rule Book) uplifting, wholesome romantic comedy delivers positive messaging and feel-good hope.  

The Match (It Happened in Charleston, Book One) by Sarah Adams

Dell (Penguin Random House), $17.99 paperback, 9780593871713, 320 pages

Publishing Date: July 2, 2024

To order this book via Indiebound/Bookshop.org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (July 19, 2024), link HERE 

Forgotten on Sunday

 

An emotionally engrossing novel that exposes the ways losses sustained by two French women, born generations apart, come to define their lives. 

An unlikely friendship is forged between two women, born generations, apart in Forgotten on Sunday, a profound, emotionally complex novel written by Valérie Perrin and translated from the French by Hildegard Serle.

 

For years, 21-year-old Justine Neige has lived in Milly, a small French village, while happily working as a nursing assistant at the Hydrangeas, the local retirement home. There, Justine is most intrigued by Hélène, an enigmatic, 96-year-old nicknamed “The Beach Lady.” Drawn to Hélène and her stories, Justine willingly collects and record her remembrances in a notebook at the behest of Hélène’s grandson. In doing so, Justine uncovers details of Hélène’s long, fascinating life that include romantic passions; a bistro job where she catered to the poet Baudelaire; and the harrowing atrocities of World War II. These incredibly moving stories of love, loss, and forgiveness awaken Justine’s desires: “I feel nostalgic, nostalgic for what I’ve not yet lived.” These feelings deepen when anonymous, mysterious phone calls are made from the Hydrangeas that falsely notify relatives that their loved ones have died. The contacts have either forgotten or refused to keep in touch with the geriatrics; the calls finally force folks to visit.  As a police investigation ensues, Justine probes the history of her own family—and questions are suddenly raised regarding the long-ago, tragic car, accident that claimed her parents’ lives.

 

Perrin (Freshwater for Flowers) skillfully juggles the storylines of Justine and Hélène, heightening the drama of each with unexpected revelations. Delicate plot points--infused with elements of historical fiction juxtaposed against contemporary themes--will keep readers, charmed and deeply engrossed. 

 

Forgotten on a Sunday by Valérie Perrin (translated from the French by Hildegarde Serle)

Europa Editions, $28, hardcover, 304 p., 9798889660187

Publishing Date: June 4, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (June 14, 2024), link HERE 

 

To read a longer form of this review as published on Shelf Awareness for the Book Trade (April 4, 2024), link HERE

How to Age Disgracefully

An adventurous, madcap novel about a group of rebellious British pensioners who must fight to keep their community center ‘hangout’ open.

 

In How to Age Disgracefully, Clare Pooley delivers another off-beat comedy--with a hopeful message--that brings together a cast of quirky, raucous British pensioners whose lively antics will charm readers.

 

The story is set amidst a London-Metro community center in need of revitalization—literally and figuratively. A roof collapse kills the headmistress. Lydia, a 53-year-old wife and mother--and a once in-demand food stylist who is suffering a mid-life crisis--has been hired as the facility’s new Senior Citizens’ Social Club. However, a ceiling collapse kills one of their members during the first meeting. In addition to stepping up to establish the club, Lydia and the group also take on “Maggie Thatcher,” the “ugly-looking,” now orphaned dog of the deceased woman.

 

The small club is comprised of septuagenarians who are vastly different in backgrounds and temperaments who are in search of adventure. The group includes a former businesswoman-turned-loner with secrets; an aging actor with kleptomaniac tendencies, who’s tired of playing grumpy old men and dead bodies; a retired paparazzo; a hardcore knitting addict; and woman who is ‘pushy,’ in every sense of the word, including how she navigates her walker. Lydia learns that managing the health and safety of this less-than-sedate group--on a cash-strapped budget--is no easy task. And when the town threatens to bulldoze their hangout, the group rebels in hilarious ways—complete with help from kids at the nursery school, housed in the same facility.

 

Readers are in for great fun, traveling along with Pooley’s (The Authenticity Project, Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting) assembly of madcap characters who refuse to succumb to age—or play by the rules

 

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley

Pamela Dorman Books/Penguin, $29.00 hardcover, 352 pages, 9780593831496

Publishing Date: June 11, 2024 

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (July 5, 2024), link HERE 

A Good Life

An evocative, powerful love story about two adult sisters forced to reconcile their lives at their grandmother's seaside home in the Basque Country.

In A Good Life, French author Virginie Grimaldi delivers a sensitive, familial love story about the unrivaled, transformative bond of sisterhood. The novel is set in the beautiful Basque countryside, where the adult Delorme sisters, Emma and Agathe, are reunited after a five-year estrangement. The two were forced to come together to spend one last summer vacation at the home of their beloved--now deceased--grandmother Mima. The seaside dwelling, about to be sold, holds dear memories that have anchored the sisters throughout their lives, despite their differences.

 

During the week shared at Mima’s house for the last time, the Delorme sisters revisit bygone stories. Short, evocative chapters render slice-of-life remembrances that take readers through episodes that defined and shaped the women’s childhood and teenage years—and probe stories of family and other loves and losses sustained into adulthood. These enlightening scenes are contrasted against the women’s lives in the present. They come to discover how Mima and the “good times” they shared via her influence at the house every summer served to calm and steady them through the storms of life. The deep challenges that befall the family mark the women’s identities, personalities, and coping methods. Tensions build in the narrative as Emma and Agathe ultimately confront each other and tend to the wounds that drove them apart.

 

Grimaldi’s concise pros, translated by Hildegard Searle, is striking and vivid, painting a sympathetic portrait of the enduring bond of sisterhood. Readers will fall under the spell of a compassionately revealed story that blends poignancy and humor in depicting the transcendental nature of familial love and forgiveness.  

 

A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi (Translated from the French by Hildegarde Searle)

Europa Editions, $28 hardcover, 288 pages, 9798889660248

Publishing Date: May 28, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (May 31, 2024), link HERE 

 

A longer-form review of this novel was also published at Shelf Awareness on March 26, 2024.  Link HERE to read the review in its original long-form.

Swan Song

A burned down mansion and a missing young woman permeate the riveting finale of Elin Hilderbrand’s glitzy Nantucket series of novels.

With high drama and a boatload of mystery, Elin Hilderbrand (The Five Star Weekend, Golden Girl, The Perfect Couple) reels in the stunning final installment in her Nantucket-based series of novels. Readers will savor Swan Song, as it nostalgically brings back characters from former books and adds a host of dynamic new ones.

 

When enigmatic, middle-aged, island newcomers, Bull and Leslee Richardson--a “hot commodity” power couple--purchase a lavish, 22-million-dollar oceanfront property, they enlist the help of Colleen “Coco” Coyle, an aspiring screenwriter in need of a job. Coco serves as their “personal concierge,” assisting their quest to integrate into island society culture. Coco is befriended by Kacy—a dedicated nurse from California who recently broke up with her girlfriend. She returns home to visit her Police Chief father, Ed Kapenash, who has suffered some health challenges and is now facing retirement.

 

When the Richardson mansion mysteriously burns down and Coco goes missing on the same day, many questions are suddenly raised. A police investigation coupled with town intrigue slowly starts to reveal the true identity of the Richardsons and their modus operandi. In doing so, spicy details are also revealed regarding those in their orbit. This includes socially connected friends, a real estate agent, an architect, a boat captain, sommelier, a masseuse and others.

 

Romance and island glitz infuse Hilderbrand’s spellbinding 30^th novel that packs a juicy, suspenseful wallop for devoted readers of her last 29 books and rare latecomers to the captivating Hilderbrand ‘brand.’

 

Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand

Little, Brown and Company / Hachette Book Group, $30.00 hardcover, 9780316258876, 384 pages

Publishing Date: June 11, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (July 5, 2024), link HERE 

The Accidental Medium

A struggling British actress starts seeing ghosts who enlist her crime-solving help in a clever, comic paranormal mystery series.

In The Accidental Medium, British author Tracy Whitwell launches the first in a hilariously clever, paranormal cozy mystery series.

Readers will be rapt by the free-wheeling narrative voice of Tania--aka Tanz--a struggling, 38-year-old, British actress waiting for her next big breakthrough role. Neurotic and self-deprecating, Tanz is going through a rough patch. She’s grieving the loss of an unrequited love--a 32-year-old male friend who died in a freak car accident--whose ghost keeps appearing in her dreams. Tanz has also become a “borderline alcoholic,” indulging in “buckets of Merlot,” and she’s “addicted to old-school horror films and magazines about murders.” Such behaviors were only exacerbated when “the complete bastard” she used to love moved out, leaving her to pay the rent on her own.

 

When Tanz is forced to take an interim job booking tarot card readings at a local, new age shop, the “Mystery Pot,” she fears she’s been plunged into a world of “nutters.” But when more ghosts suddenly start appearing, enlightening Tanz to make predictions about other peoples’ futures, she reluctantly starts utilizing her suddenly acquired medium-clairvoyant skills. Things take a dramatic turn when she’s visited by a murder victim who enlists her help in identifying her killer and bringing the perpetrator to justice.

 

The sharp-tongued, street-smart ingenuity of Whitwell’s (Love Button) lovable heroine--along with tight plotting and a cast of off-beat characters--makes for a wildly fun, bright as lightning start to a crafty new series.

 

The Accidental Medium (The Accidental Medium, Book One) by Tracy Whitwell

MacMillan/Pan Publishing, $18,99 paperback, 9781529087529, 304 pages

Publishing Date: April 9, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (May 10, 2024), link HERE 

Effie Olsen's Summer Special

A fun, delicious romcom about a down-on-her-luck chef who returns to her small Maine hometown and rekindles a relationship with an old friend. 

Second-chance romance, culinary culture, and a beautiful seaside setting sweetly combine in Effie Olsen’s Summer Special, a deliciously appetizing romcom by Rochelle Bilow (Ruby Spencer’s Whiskey Year).

 

Broke and without a backup plan, Effie Olsen--a single, 33-year-old, professional chef--loses her “dream job” in San Francisco. She packs up her “knife bag and a few chef’s coats” and returns, after 16-years, to her “absurdly small, insufferably chatty” hometown of Adler Isle, Maine. Effie takes refuge under the pretext of a summer visit with her father and her younger sister, a “Generation Z financial prodigy.”

 

Effie’s return reunites her with Ernie Callahan, her still-single, former high school BFF. Ernie works as a chef at “Brown Butter,” a “farm to table… Michelin-starred restaurant” operated by a sexist male head chef who offers Effie a job. With Effie and Ernie working under the same roof, the two easily fall into favor and rekindle a “bucket list” of planned field trips of watching sunsets, indulging in giant lobster rolls, and even salsa dancing.  Along the way of their making fun, new memories, a situation arises at the restaurant that calls professional integrity into question—might the dilemma impinge upon the old friends turning into lovers?

 

Bilow’s insider knowledge of the restaurant industry is a key ingredient that adds depth and authenticity to this spicy, richly satisfying story that blends the pleasures of true love with elements of self-discovery.

 

Effie Olsen’s Summer Special by Rochelle Bilow

Berkley, 18.00 paperback, 9780593547908, 384 pages

Publication Date: April 30, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (May 2, 2024), link HERE