Happy Friday, book buddies! Today we have a beachy romance, a Golden Age-style mystery, and a real-life mystery from 1928. Let’s dive in! ❤️
Maid for Love by Marie Force
Find out why more than 5 million readers have landed on Gansett Island and never want to leave!
She’s a single mom with no patience for a playboy until he proves he’s playing for keeps.
Maddie Chester is determined to leave her hometown of Gansett Island, a place that has brought her only bad memories and ugly rumors. Then she’s knocked off her bike on the way to her housekeeping job at McCarthy’s Resort Hotel by Gansett’s “favorite son,” Mac McCarthy.
He’s back in town to help his father with preparations to sell the family resort and has no intention of staying long. When Mac accidentally sends Maddie flying over the handlebars, badly injuring her, he moves in to nurse her back to health and help care for her young son. He soon realizes his plans for a hit-and-run visit to the island are in serious jeopardy, and he just may be “maid” for love.
“No one tells a love story like Marie Force or makes characters come alive for the readers. She has an incredible ability to pull you into the story and long after you finish the book the scenes still play out in your head and your heart. The McCarthys of Gansett Island sets a very high standard for all other series.” Desiree Holt, author of the Phoenix Agency and Naked Cowboys series.
Misha’s note: I love a single parent romance, so I was instantly sold on this one. If you feel the same, and you can find it here.
The Maid and the Mansion by Fiona Grace
In post-World War II England, a clever, young woman named Mary Adams finds herself thrust into a world of privilege and secrets as she transitions from being a wartime factory worker to a maid in the grand estates. When Mary’s wealthy employer propositions her, she refuses. And when he is discovered dead the next morning, Mary becomes the prime suspect.
Relying on clues around the mansion and her sharp intellect, Mary must prove her innocence.
Will her pursuit of the truth lead her to the killer? Or is she being framed?
Misha’s note: I love Golden Age of Detective Fiction, and this looks like a return to that iconic style. If it strikes your fancy, you can find your copy here.
Goodreads Giveaway – print copy: The Flower Sisters by Michelle Collins Anderson
Drawing on the little-known true story of a tragic event that took place in the author’s Missouri hometown at an Ozarks dance hall in 1928, this beautifully written novel, told through twin storylines fifty years apart, explores the unpredictable effect of split-second decisions, small-town tragedy, and the ways family secrets reverberate through generations.
Sure to resonate with fans of Daniel Woodrell, Donna Everhart, Ellen Marie Wiseman, and Jeannette Walls.
At birth, Violet and Rose Flowers were identical, save for a tiny bluish-purple mark gracing Violet’s slender neck. By nineteen, their temperaments distinguish them, as different as the flowers their mother named them for—Violet, wild and outgoing, and Rose, solitary and reserved. Still, they are each other’s world. Then, on a sweltering, terrible August night in 1928, an explosion rocks Lamb’s Dance Hall in Possum Flats, Missouri, engulfing it in flames, leaving one twin among the dozens dead, and her sister’s life forever changed.
Fifty years later, Daisy Flowers is dumped on her grandmother Rose’s doorstep for the summer. A bright, inquisitive fifteen-year-old, Daisy bargains her way into an internship at the local newspaper—where she learns of the mysterious long-ago tragedy and its connection to her family. Rose, now the local funeral home director, grows increasingly alarmed as her impulsive granddaughter delves into Possum Flats’ history, determined to uncover the horrors and heroes of the fiery blast.
For a small town, Possum Flats holds a multitude of big secrets, some guarded by the living, some kept by the dead. And through Rose, Daisy, Dash—a preacher who found his calling that fateful night—and others, those ghosts gradually come into the light, forcing a reckoning at last.
Misha’s note: A captivating real-life mystery and a dual-timeline storyline. Sign me up! The giveaway ends on April 24. Enter here to win a print copy of this book on Goodreads. You can also preorder it on Amazon here; it will be released on April 23.
Did any of these strike your fancy? Let us know in the comments! ❤️
Hugs and Happy Reading,
Misha