Looking for Good Historical Fiction?

Here are some highly recommended reads! Click on the titles to find copies!

Published 2022-2023

The Librarian spy: a novel of World War II
by Martin, Madeline
 
Belle Greene
by Lapierre, Alexandra
 
The Invincible Miss Cust
by Haw, Penny
 
The Diamond Eye
by Quinn, Kate
 
The Christie affair
by Gramont, Nina de.
 
Take my hand
by Perkins-Valdez, Dolen
 
Peach Blossom Spring
by Fu, Melissa
 
A woman of endurance
by Llanos-Figueroa, Dahlma
 
Four treasures of the sky
by Zhang, Jenny Tinghui

Lessons in Chemistry
Garmus, Beth

Augusta 
by Ryker, Celia

The Golden doves
by Kelly, Martha Hall

The London Séance Society
by Penner, Sarah

 

Staff Picks - Chelsea's Top 5 for the Second Half of 2022

Happy Holidays! And welcome to the end of the year and the second half of my top picks for the year. Just like the first time, I did find it difficult to narrow it down but I managed to get it down to just 5!

The Change - Kirsten Miller

Not for the faint of heart, The Change follows three women each at different points in their lives. Miller blends mystery with light fantasy well to create a rich environment that you can't help but get lost in. 

A little slow to start but once it starts you just can't put it down.

For fans of women taking a stand and defying expectations and reality. 

Cackle - Rachel Harrison 

This speculative fiction from Harrison is a spooky good time. I loved reading this one for Halloween. It follows Annie, as she moves to a new town to start over and in the process makes new friends and discovers a new side to herself. 

For fans of speculative fiction, strong female characters, and those not afraid of spiders. 

Shady Hollow - Juneau Black

Of course, there would be a cozy mystery. This one is a little more unique where all the characters are woodland creatures. And our lead is the clever fox, Vera Vixen a reporter at the local paper who is on the hunt for the murderer of the cantankerous old toad that lived in the pond.

For fans of cozy mysteries, cute characters, and clever mysteries. 

House of Hunger - Alexis Henderson

This gothic horror retells the nature of vampires as Marion fights to survive. Lush in description, this bloody tale leaves your heart racing as it quickly advances to the climax and an ending that you'll never see coming. 

For fans of vampire stories, gothic horror, and never knowing what happens next.

The Sandman Vol. 1 - Neil Gaiman

A timeless classic that has recently been adapted into a tv series. I don't know why it's taken me so long to read this series but I am happy to finally do so. 

I think everyone should read this!

Cozy Mysteries for Fall

It's getting chilly out there and what better way to warm up than with a cozy mystery!

Here are some of my favorite titles and some new ones for you to check out!

• In the Company of Witches
• Shady Hollow
• Haunted Hibiscus
• Arsenic and Adobo
• Caramel Pecan Roll Murder
• Bayou Book Thief
• Nonna Maria and the Case of the Missing Bride 
• Witches' Bane

And if you are interested in joining the Oxford Last Friday Book club, they are reading The Secret, Book & Scone Society. Register here, to reserve your copy today! There are limited copies available but anyone who has read the book is welcome to join the meeting. 

~CP

Spooky Rec List for October!

Happy Halloween Season all!

Here are some titles to get you into the Spooky Season spirit! 

Book:

• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
• The Shining by Stephan King
• The Only Good Indians by Stephan Graham Jones
• The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

And if you maybe prefer a Movie:

• Hocus Pocus
• Scream (2022)
• Halloween Kills (2021)
• Us
• The Addams Family

Stop in to find your perfect Halloween fix!

~CP

The Change by Kirsten Miller

 

5/5 ⭐

The Change by Kirsten Miller is not one for the faint of heart. It's not for someone looking for some light-hearted reading with a cookie-cutter ending. 

The Change is not for anyone unwilling to face their own mortality as they age and the 'changes' that come with it. This book is for anyone, especially women who will, have, or are going through 'The Change', better known as Menopause. Or if you are Blanche Devereaux, 'The Curse'. 

Following the pov of three middle-aged women at different points in their life, Miller blends mystery and light fantasy together as these three individuals come into gifts they alone can wield. 

For those interested, I will warn you that it takes a little before the story really picks up but once it does it is a gripping page-turner. So stick with it because trust me... you don't want to miss that ending. 

This was an unusual pick for me as I don't usually read books that too closely match real-world happenings. But there was something about this one that kept calling me, so I gave it a shot. 

And oh boy. But in the end, I managed to finish it in just two days. Not even moving from my seat to finish it, because I just needed to know the ending. 

Miller managed to write in such a way that you had to figure out what happened next. Dragging you in and in and in. It left me reeling in the best way possible and left me thinking about it constantly for days afterward. 

~CP

*Remember to check the TW, there are some heavy topics and explicit events that take place. 

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

 

The Kitchen Front was a deeply meaningful story written by bestselling author Jennifer Ryan, author of the Chilbury Ladies’ Choir and The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle.  

During World War II, the BBC hosted a radio program to help British housewives be more creative with their food rations.  The focus of the program was to share recipes and cooking tips to help manage rations.  The radio program, hosted by cuisine expert Ambrose Hart, decides to hold a cooking contest to try and find the program’s first female co-host to add a woman’s touch to the show.

The four main characters competing for a chance to co-host the radio program are women who are each very different in their own way and each woman has personal struggles that they are enduring.  There is Audrey Landon a young widow who is trying to find a way to pay her bills and to keep a roof over her children’s heads.  Miss Nell Brown the kitchen maid who is looking for a chance to leave her job and find freedom.  Lady Gwendoline Strickland is searching for an opportunity to escape her rich husband’s abuse.  Zelda Dupont a trained chef who is also pregnant hopes to win the cooking competition so that she can land a job as a top London chef. 

The challenges that the women face is far too much for them to handle by themselves.  However, as the story unfolds, the four women establish close friendships and become their own support network.  Through the wisdom that friendship and caring offer, each woman is transformed by the end of the story into a different person who is better able to handle their circumstances.  The Kitchen Front was heartwarming with many touching moments.  ~JE

 

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

 

 5/5 ⭐

This mind-blowing follow-up to A Psalm for the Wild-Built will leave you reflective and wanting for simplicity.

We are greeted once more by Sibling Dex and Mosscap as they continue their journey toward the city so Mosscap can ask their question "What do people need?"

While stopping in surrounding villages to seek answers and let Mosscap meet more people, Dex themselves is struggling with feeling burnout and guilt over taking care of themselves. And Mosscap must learn what it is to be sentient and what they want beyond their question. 

With even more exploration of burnout and not knowing what you want when you have at your fingertips anything you could want, Becky Chambers gives us a way to work through struggles we might not be able to put into words. 

~CP