Summer of Love

A deeply engrossing, fully realized family saga about three independent women and how personal choices affect their lives. 

Feminist themes embody the soul of Kerri Maher’s novels. She’s fictionally explored the historical lives of fiercely independent public women like Kick Kennedy (The Kennedy Debutante) and Grace Kelly (The Girl in White Gloves). She’s also told the story of a humble woman who changed the world and the literary community of the 1920s in The Paris Bookseller. And in All You Have to Do is Call, she evoked the 1970s, extoling the power of female support systems. 

In Maher’s fifth novel, Summer of Love, she braids together two eras, 1967 and 2015, depicting how the past informs the present for three women of the Hartley family. 

Ambitious and inventive Miranda Hartley, the “first woman vintner” of Napa Valley, is inspired and challenged by overseeing the family-run winery. Miranda grew up with her free-spirited sister, Winnie, a poet, who bailed on the family business and took off to San Francisco in the 1960s. When Miranda’s now adult daughter, Dawn, a freelance set designer--and a closeted alcoholic grappling with sobriety and finding her place in the world--exhumes a family secret, the delicate balance of life comes undone and questions long buried about the sisters must get answered. 

Maher is an evocative storyteller whose literary prowess is on full display. Summer of Love delivers an impactful, surprising story about the bonds shared between sisters, mothers and daughters, and friends—and how hard it is to hold on to those we love and also learn to let go. 

Summer of Love by Kerri Maher

Berkley (Penguin Random House), $30.00 hardcover, 9780593816394, 368 pages

Publishing Date: July 7, 2026

To order this book on Bookshop.org, link HERE

Learn more about Kerri Maher HERE

Summer State of Mind

A heartfelt Southern romance, infused with an air of mystery, that begs the questions: “Who are we?” and “Where do we belong?”

Kristy Woodson Harvey returns readers to the coziness of small-town Southern charm in Summer State of Mind, a simmering, heartfelt story that gently explores family dynamics and the challenges of new beginnings.

 

The story starts when Daisy Stevens of Charlotte, North Carolina--a single, deeply dedicated, yet burned out nurse--decides she needs a change. After working for ten years as a Neo-Natal Intensive Unit (NICU) nurse in a Charlotte, North Carolina hospital, she packs up and takes what she believes will be a “simpler” job in Cape Carolina, a “sleepy seaside town” she had idealized since she was a child.

 

On Daisy’s first day on the job, a baby is found--cast off in a garbage dumpster--and is brought to the hospital by Mason Thaysden, the high school baseball coach. Mason was once a Major League prospect whose dreams were sidelined by an injury that forced him to stay put in his own hometown.

 

The abandoned newborn becomes the talk-of-the-town and forges a bond between Daisy and Mason. As the couples’ affection and love deepens, they are both forced to examine their hearts, hopes, and dreams. Along the way, Mason’s quirky Aunt Tilley also plays a part in reconciling her own mysterious past—a past that has the power to send ripples through the community. 

 

Readers have come to relish and take comfort in Woodson Harvey's (Beach House Rules) firm grasp on the perks--and drawbacks--of small-town living, the deep-seated complexities of love, and how “family” can often be defined beyond a mere bloodline.

 

Summer State of Mind by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Gallery Books (Simon and Schuster), Hardcover $29.00, 9781668074886, 384 pages

Publication Date: May 5, 2026

To order this book via Bookshop.org, link HERE

 

Learn more about author Kristy Woodson Harvey HERE

 

Meet Me in Italy

A heartfelt romcom about a novelist facing a broken marriage and writer’s block who puts the pieces of her life back together via a trip to Italy.

With the release of Meet Me in Italy, prolific author Brenda Novak treats readers to another deeply engaging, multi-layered romance that starts in California and ultimately unspools amidst the rugged Amalfi Coast of Italy.

The story launches at the nadir of Charlotte Williams-Jackson’s life. The life of this 20-something, California-based novelist is upended when her NBA-player husband abruptly walks away from their marriage of four years--he just doesn’t “want to be married anymore.” Unmoored and disoriented by the split, Charlotte moves back in with her parents.

With her life in an emotional tailspin, Charlotte succumbs to a severe depression that solidifies into writer’s block. As she struggles to meet a deadline to finish her second novel, Charlotte reconnects with local, old friends, Sloane and her twin brother, Julian—both of whom are also facing personal life crises.

When Charlotte receives a letter informing her that she was adopted and has an orphaned, 12-year-old half-sister who lives in Italy, the torpor of her life suddenly shifts. She, along with Sloane and Julian set off on an Italian adventure that enlightens Charlotte to the truth of who she really is and what she really wants out of life.

A strong premise, a well-drawn cast of characters, and a passionate, colorful Italian backdrop make for an exciting literary journey. Novak (The Summer That Changed Everything) nicely entwines many meaningful story threads that weave together to form a powerfully heartfelt, happily-ever-after.

 

Meet Me in Italy by Brenda Novak

MIRA (HarperCollins), $18.99 Paperback, 9780778305811, 400 pages

Publication Date: April 7, 2026

To order this book on Bookshop.org, link HERE

Learn more about author Brenda Novak HERE

Once Upon a Christmas Carol

A blissful, charming Christmas story that extols the gifts and hopeful wisdom of unexpected providence.

Readers who enjoy wholesome, Christmas-themed romances will be blissfully charmed in reading, Once Upon a Christmas Carol by prolific author, Melody Carlson, who delivers an enjoyable holiday story that extols the gifts of unexpected providence.

 

Carol Langstrom might’ve been named Carol because her birthday, nearly 40 years before, fell on Christmas, December 25^th. However, after many years of dashed romantic hopes and a split family riddled with angst, the spirit of the holidays has lost its luster.

 

This year, Carol--a single, interior designer--treats herself to the sun, sand, and surf of a solo holiday getaway to the Bahamas. However, when her flight enroute is diverted to Michigan because of a snowstorm, she is left stranded—until she remembers that her mother’s estranged, older sister lives near the airport. On a lark, Carol takes a chance and calls her 70-year-old Aunt Maria. Recently widowed and out-of-commission with an injury, Aunt Maria eagerly welcomes a niece she’s never met. Carol is pleasantly surprised by Maria’s welcoming hospitality—as well as the attentions of Victor, Aunt Maria’s single neighbor who has returned home to tend to his own family and their farm. Victor--an upbeat, do-gooder and great cook, who comes from a big Italian family--instantly bonds with Carol. As the two get to know each other during her short stay, Carol begins to rethink her priorities and the meaning of family, Christmas, and love.

 

Carlson (Welcome to the Honey B&B) offers another pleasurable escape that will not only entertain readers but also enlighten them with uplifting Christian wisdom and hope.

 

Once Upon a Christmas Carol by Melody Carlson

Revell (Baker Publishing Group), $18.99 hardcover, 9780800744731, 176 pages

Publishing Date: September 2, 2025

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

 

Learn more about author Melody Carlson HERE

The Summer That Changed Everything

A passionate, sharply plotted story about a daughter’s quest to exonerate her estranged father, who is serving a life sentence for murder.

The past in its many incarnations figures prominently in The Summer That Changed Everything, an emotionally nuanced romantic suspense novel by Brenda Novak. 

Lucy Sinclair’s life hasn’t been easy. When she was just 17 years-old, Lucy’s father was found guilty of murdering three locals in their small hometown of North Hampton Beach, Virginia. 

In the aftermath, Lucy fled the town and lived a vagabond existence, ultimately becoming a professional poker player in Las Vegas. Unsettled, still traumatized and soul-searching, Lucy now feels the need to reconnect with her father, from whom she’s been estranged for 15 years. 

Her father admitted to killing an old couple who lived in a trailer park. However, he vehemently denied killing the third victim, Aurora Clark, a ‘mean girl’ peer of Lucy’s, the “most popular girl” in her high school. This always haunted Lucy, who becomes determined to finally get answers and, if true, find a way exonerate her father for Aurora’s death. 

Lucy’s quest reconnects her with Ford Wagner, an old beau whose own life is in flux. As Lucy and Ford revisit memories from the past, including the fateful murders, they ultimately unite to root out the real killer of Aurora Clark. But their investigation soon unearths surprising new details that suddenly endanger their lives. 

Novak’s (The Banned Books Club) premise hooks readers from page one. Her passionate story weaves a ratcheting, suspenseful plot that intricately braids together elements of romance and mystery.

The Summer that Changed Everything by Brenda Novak

MIRA (HarperCollins), $18.99 paperback, 9780778387688, 368 pages

Publication Date: June 3, 2025

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

 

Link HERE to learn more about author Brenda Novak

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.

Mother-Daughter Murder Night

Multi-generational family dynamics imbue this exciting well-drawn and well-plotted supersleuth whodunnit about murders in a coastal California town.

In Mother-Daughter Murder Night, first time novelist Nina Simon appealingly integrates spirited family dynamics with the intricacies of a complex whodunnit.

 

Three generations of women shack up together in a little house in Elkhorn Slough, a coastal town in Monterey Bay, Calif. This all comes about when family matriarch, Lana Rubicon--a 57-year-old, take-charge real estate mogul--faces an advanced cancer diagnosis. While undergoing treatment, her daughter, Beth, a geriatric nurse, insists that Lana, from Santa Monica, come and live with her and her daughter, Lana’s granddaughter, 15-year-old “Jack.” Lana and Beth’s contentious relationship had been riddled with angst ever since Lana became a single mother when Beth was just a rebellious teenager. Navigating the emotional minefield of Lana’s present illness and trigger points from the past, the strong, fiercely independent, mother and daughter are forced to bury the hatchet when a young man who works for a local land trust is found murdered. When the police investigation draws Jack, a kayak tour guide, into the list of suspects, Beth and Lana, who long-ago shared a passion for watching Columbo TV crime stories, put their amateur detective skills to work. They become determined to exonerate Jack and root out the real killer—but not before another murder takes place that ups the ante.

 

Simon has skillfully crafted a multi-generational study of disparate characters where surprising, immensely well-plotted crimes and clues will keep mystery readers guessing.

 

 

Mother-Daughter Murder Night: A Novel by Nina Simon

William Morrow, $30.00 hardcover, 9780063315044, 368 pages  

Publishing Date: September 5, 2023

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 on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (September 8, 2023), link HERE

 

Silver Alert

A sparkling, serio-comic novel about an ailing wife, her elderly husband, overbearing kids and a manicurist trying to eke out a new life.

Prolific, masterful storyteller Lee Smith (Guests on Earth; Dimestore) returns to the Florida Keys in her sparkling, tender-hearted novel Silver Alert. For 12 years, Key West resident Herb Atlas—gruff, no nonsense and married several times—has been taking “great care” of his “last wife,” Susan—a passionate lover of the arts and an artist herself who started to exhibit symptoms of early-onset dementia at age 58. With Herb now 83 and suffering health problems of his own, and Susan’s condition progressing more rapidly now that she’s 70, Herb hired the upbeat and free-spirited Renee to help out.

Renee, a manicurist who lives in a trailer park, is struggling to escape a dark, secret past and reinvent her life. She becomes a friend and companion to Susan, and her lively presence in Susan’s and Herb’s live reinvigorates the emotional well-being of the Atlases. However, when Herb’s overbearing and domineering adult children and half-children descend on Key West and stage an intervention to help the burdened couple, things take a dramatic, unexpected turn. “Everybody agrees. Susan ought to be in a facility now”—except Herb. Feeling powerless and boxed in by the limits imposed by his obstinate children, who take over and orchestrate decisions for his life and Susan’s care, Herb ultimately rebels. On a lark, he sets off in his prized Porsche sportscar with Renee. The two go on the lam—a wild, liberating road trip that will change their lives forever.

Smith has crafted a remarkably well-rounded, empathetic, serio-comic story. Silver Alert is a novel that takes readers on a deeply meaningful, unforgettable ride brimming with hope.

 

Silver Alert by Lee Smith

Algonquin Books, $27.00 hardcover, 224 pages, 9781643752419

Publishing Date: April 18, 2023

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 on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (April 21, 2023), link HERE

NOTE: To read this review, the original long form review as published on Shelf Awareness for the Book Trade (March 30, 2023), link HERE