Book Review: The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Calamity Club
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Publication date: May 5, 2026
Length: 656 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

In 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, Prohibition is on the wane, and the Great Depression is tightening its grip. Poor and rich folks alike have fallen on hard times, even as the old social order remains. For women on the margins, the options are few and the price of dignity and self-determination is unbearably high.

Eleven-year-old Meg, one of the unadoptable “big girls” at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. Birdie, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford on a mission to ask her social-climbing sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind. And Charlie is a woman with a past, running low on luck but driven by fire, fury, and grit. When their fates converge, they come up with an audacious plan to take back control of their lives. Together, they form an unlikely sisterhood—but in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife, women’s freedom is fragile, and making an enemy can have dire consequences, will the price they pay for their outrageous risk-taking be too high?

The Calamity Club will make you laugh, cry, and cheer—an epic testament to resilience, friendship, and the fierce, funny women who know that calamity can be the spark of new beginnings. This is Kathryn Stockett at her most confident, heartfelt, and hilarious—the triumphant return of one of the most beloved storytellers of our time.

In Kathryn Stockett’s new — BIG — novel, it’s 1933 in Oxford, Mississippi, and even the wealthiest of families are seeing their homes and livelihoods slip away, while those who’ve never had much now have even less. Foreclosures and job losses are everywhere. The roads are lined with people who can’t pay their rents or taxes and have been forced out of their homes. In this setting, we meet remarkable characters who’ve had their own shares of misfortunes and yet remain determined to find a way through.

Meg is a very smart 11-year-old whose single mother went out to the store two years earlier and never returned. Since then, Meg has lived at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum for Girls (know simply as the Orphan), a dismal place filled with babies, toddlers, and big girls. Families looking to adopt are invited to attend View Days, where the little ones get snapped up instantly, but the big girls tend to find new homes only if they can prove useful. The Orphan is run by volunteer society ladies, headed by chairwoman Garnett Pittman, who rules the roost with an iron fist and who has an intense, particular dislike for Meg.

Meg is one of two point-of-view characters in The Calamity Club; the other is Birdie Calhoun, an unmarried 24-year-old from the Delta who comes to Oxford to beg her sister Frances — who married wealthy Rory Tartt without even inviting her family to the wedding — for the money needed to pay the back taxes on their mother and grandmother’s home. Frances lives in style at the grand Tartt mansion and tries hard to hide her poor background, and is none too pleased by Birdie’s arrival. However, as Birdie soon learns, even the Tartts are not immune to economic realities, and she soon finds herself with more than one family to save from utter ruin.

Meg and Birdie meet at the Orphan, where Frances volunteers and offers Birdie’s bookkeeping services in an effort to impress Garnett. Birdie is horrified to discover that Meg has been pulled out of school due to a perceived act of disrespect, and spends her days sitting in a moldy room with no distractions or social interactions. As the two spend time together, Birdie becomes determined to improve Meg’s living conditions, which becomes yet another uphill struggle as she also attempts to find money for her family and save Frances’s lovely, somewhat oblivious mother-in-law from losing everything she holds dear.

When Charlie — a woman with important connections to others in the story — shows up asking Birdie for help, she’s able to offer help herself around the Tartt household… and she also has a plan to pull all of them out of financial ruin. If you read any reviews or synopses of The Calamity Club, you’ll likely come across the details of this plan, but just in case…

SPOILERS AHEAD

Charlie’s plan is to open a “dime-a-dance” club at the Tartt estate, sure to attracting the hundreds of college boys arriving for a new school year in Oxford. Mrs. Tartt agrees to the plan, with nostalgia for the days when she and her late husband hosted glamorous dance parties on their back lawn. What Mrs. Tartt doesn’t realize (and what Birdie and Charlie struggle to hide from her) is that the dance club will be a front for a very different sort of club — one that’s likely to bring in much more money than dances ever could.

When you opened a brothel in a town with thirteen churches, surely it was natural to find peril in every move.

With Birdie handling the business end, Charlies brings in old acquaintances to offer the talent for the club, and with the help of a local woman who’s determined to attend medical school even when no one seems to want to admit female students, they’re up and running. Not without complications or very great risks, of course, but as the money starts piling up, there’s hope in sight for all of these women for the first time in years.

The Calamity Club, at well over 600 pages, is a big doorstopper of a book, which may lead potential readers to hesitate about picking it up. I’m so glad I didn’t! Despite the length, it never lags, although it takes a good long while — more than half the book! — to get to the “club” part of the plot. I hadn’t read any detailed synopses prior to starting the book, and had no idea what was coming, and for me, this was just perfect. I enjoyed watching the story unfold without expectations, and found something to savor in each new turn of the plot.

The Calamity Club deals with many serious and disturbing topics, including eugenics and the forced sterilization of those considered “feebleminded” — which, according to the morality movement of the time, included unmarried woman having babies out of wedlock. The author provides historical context in her notes at the end, a chilling reminder of just how awful a society that dictates standards of women’s behavior can be.

The treatment of the orphans is very disturbing as well, and while Meg perseveres with gritty determination, it’s easy to see how these discarded girls have no one on their side and very little chance of ever finding a safe landing spot. Add to this the bleak landscape of the Depression, and the world of The Calamity Club can seem intensely dire — and yet, this is a book with joy and laughter as well.

It was stuffy in here and hot and prostitutes kept getting in my way, but it was nice to have the company while I cooked everybody breakfast.

Birdie is a wonderful character, and her narration offers a smart, sharp take on the world around her and the people in it. She’s remarkably kind and supportive, with a deeply ingrained instinct to protect the people she cares for — even her spoiled sister, who seems mainly unworthy of such devotion. The assorted women of the “club” each have their own backstory and reasons for being where they are, and I loved Virginia (the aspiring doctor) and Mrs. Tartt, among others.

The Calamity Club pulled me in right from the start, and I really only have minor quibbles. First, there’s the character of Garnett Pittman, who as the villain of the piece, veers on a cartoonish sort of bad-guy status. She’s so evil that her actions lose the element of surprise — we expect that she’ll do the worst thing in any given situation.

My additional quibbles are plot-related. While the ending wraps up all storylines, a few threads are left dangling or allowed to drift off. I would have liked more certainty about certain characters’ probable futures. More significantly, I expected something much more dire to unfold before the end — some sort of cataclysmic event or disaster or tragedy — and that just doesn’t happen. As I said, there’s a conclusion that ties it all together, but the big climactic moment I was expecting, based on a sense of looming peril, didn’t actually arrive.

Overall though, I truly enjoyed The Calamity Club. The setup — the time and place and historical context — is so well conveyed that it’s immediately compelling. The characters grab hold and make a reader care; I felt invested in their lives and needed to keep turning the pages to see what was in store for each of them.

Don’t be put off by the page count! While reading The Calamity Club does take a time commitment, it’s easy to get involved and feel totally immersed. With writing that offers snappy dialogue, compelling situations, and a plot that zips along, the 600+ pages fly by. The Calamity Club is a must-read for summer 2026.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

2Jul2026

Audiobook Review: Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages by Jenny Colgan

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages
Author: Jenny Colgan
Narrator: Eilidh Beaton
Publisher: Avon
Publication date: June 16, 2026
Print length: 352 pages
Audio length: 11 hours, 44 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased (audiobook); E-book ARC from the publisher/NetGalley
Rating:

EVERYONE IS SEARCHING FOR THEIR PERFECT HOUSE. BUT HOME IS REALLY WHERE THE HEART IS…

Janey Carter has a lot to be grateful for—a home by the sea in the Scottish isles, a job that she loves, two kids who have successfully launched, and a network of kind and supportive friends. But since her husband left, her confidence has taken a nosedive. And then, out of the blue, her thirty-year-old daughter Essie announces she’s moving back home. Janey loves Essie dearly, but she was never the easiest to live with, and Janie has been enjoying the empty nest life.

Yes, Essie Carter has just lost her job, can’t afford her rent in Edinburgh, and her boyfriend isn’t ready to commit. She hates to admit defeat and isn’t wild about moving back to the remote island community where she was raised. But maybe the sea air will clear her head?

No sooner is Essie back under her mother’s roof than an unusual opportunity pops up: the shabby and unloved Seaside Cottages next door come up for sale. Janey has some experience renovating the island’s famous stone fisherman’s cottages, Essie needs something to do, and they could both use a little Air B&B income to warm their pockets. Mother and daughter slowly bond over the shared challenge, which delivers some much-needed revelations for Essie, and offers Janey a surprise second chance at love as well.

If a house can be brought back to life, along with the community around it, then so can a heart …

Jenny Colgan’s books can be counted on to provide a lovely escape to a charming small town, humorous challenges as well as interesting relationship dynamics, and simply gorgeous landscapes — which may induce hallucinations of chucking it all and running away to a sweet little Scottish village on the northern coast!

In Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages, the heart of the story is a mother-daughter relationship that just as prickly now as when Essie was in her teens. Janey is a mid-50s audiologist who loves her job, loves her community, loves the tiny cottage she’s made her home, and loves her adult children… although a bit of distance is best. Essie, around 30, fled their small town of Carso as soon as she could, preferring a life in the business world, with posh social events and gorgeous clothes (and a gorgeous financier boyfriend) in Edinburgh. Essie has never gotten over her parents’ divorce, for which she mainly blames Janey… even though it was her father who cheated and ultimately left for another woman.

Janey loves Essie, but Essie treats her with scorn and can’t really be bothered answering most of her texts. But as the story opens, Essie learns that her banking firm is relocating to Switzerland and she’s being let go. Sure, she had a well-paying job in finance, but she didn’t see this coming and has no savings. With housing in Edinburgh either impossible to find or exorbitantly priced, she can’t afford to stay — so full of dread and misery, she heads back to Carso, to her mom’s tiny cottage, to regroup and (hopefully) get back to a job and “real life” in Edinburgh as soon as humanly possible.

Meanwhile, Janey is slowly coming out of her shell socially. She has very good friends and is well liked and appreciated within the community, but she hasn’t dared dip her toes back into the dating pool since the divorce. She feels old and unattractive, and the dating apps aren’t exactly enticing. When she encounters a very nice man at a pub quiz, she’s interested in someone for the first time, and thanks to a pregnant dog in distress (and a very ungainly batch of puppies), Janey has a strangely quirky reason to interact with this man. Who wouldn’t want to bond over pupppies?

While Janey is delightful, Essie is hard to warm to. She returns to Carso full of despair and feeling hopeless, which she expresses through disdain of the of the town and absolute nastiness toward her mother. She loosens up eventually, once she gets involved in assisting a local with rehabbing the cottages next door — finding purpose and a potential romance along the way — but meanwhile, she can be a total pill.

There’s not exactly a ton of plot in Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages, but that’s okay. The setting, the tone, the characters — these are the reasons we pick up Jenny Colgan novels, after all! I enjoyed seeing the interwoven relationships within the community, and very much enjoyed Janey and her day to day life, as well as the slow dawning of a new romance for her.

I struggled with the mother-daughter relationship, not that it might not be realistic, but just that Essie’s behavior makes her so unlikeable for much of the story. I recognize that she lashes out at her mother because of her own traumas, but it’s just unpleasant to have to see, and made me less interested in following her through the chapters about her adjustment and transformation. (Then again, demographic-wise, I’m much more aligned with Janey than Essie. Perhaps a reader in Essie’s age range might feel more sympathetic toward her?)

It’s interesting to see how the author weaves economic challenges into the story. People in Carso can’t find housing, because outsiders keep scooping up properties and converting them to vacation rentals for people from the cities, who swoop in, don’t shop at or patronize local businesses, and drive rents sky-high for the people who actually live there. Essie experiences the same in Edinburgh, where she’s constantly exposed to the have/have-not divide and lives in a state of envy over all the gorgeous flats she’ll never be able to afford. While the overarching story is very much centered on the lives of the characters, much of the plot is informed by the financial challenges they experience and the interest in property — for both locals and the wealthy investors who see money rather than people when they look at Carso.

A note on the audiobook: Eilidh Beaton is wonderful. She narrates many of Jenny Colgan’s books, and has a talent for voicing an array of characters, adding just the right humorous touches, and evoking the feel of the place and its people.

Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages is a sweet, light story about mothers and daughters, and about life in a changing community whose people are anxiously trying to hold onto the qualities that make their world so special. The storyline overall is gentle and entertaining. Don’t pick up this book expecting much in the way of action — but if you enjoy interesting characters, beautiful settings, and small town goings-on (and puppies!), this makes a lovely option for good escapist reading.

Note: Amazon and Goodreads indicate that this book is part of the Mure series. It’s not. There’s really no connection at all, other than a location that’s in the same general vicinity. This book does include characters from Close Knit and The Summer Skies, but only in passing — there’s no actual impact on the story here, so no need to read these novels in any particular order.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

1Jul2026

Book Review: The Midnight Train by Matt Haig

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Midnight Train
Author: Matt Haig
Publisher: Viking
Publication date: May 26, 2026
Length: 296 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:

When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop?

No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there. The chance to re-live the moments that meant most. To see what kind of person you really were.

For Wilbur his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice.

Before he gave it all away.

He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything . . .

A magical, time-travelling love story, from the world of The Midnight Library.

As The Midnight Train opens, it’s 1974, and Wilbur and Maggie are on their honeymoon in Venice. They’re young, in love, and have their whole lives in front of them. They promise to love one another forever.

They talked and talked, as though a relationship was really just a conversation that never wants to end.

And then we readers turn the page. Wilbur is 81 years old, and it’s the day he dies. And we learn that he and Maggie have been divorced for years, although he still has their wedding photo on display in his house. He clearly still loves her. What went wrong?

Upon dying, Wilbur is summoned to board a train — the Midnight Train — that takes him back through scenes from his life. To reach eternity, where he’ll exist forever and be reunited with everyone he’s ever cared about, he first has to revisit his life, getting off the train to witness significant moments, then reboarding as the train carries him onward. He can only observe, not change things — this is an opportunity to see all the places in his life where his decisions and actions set him on certain paths, and to understand where and how he might have chosen differently.

The incredibly annoying thing about being dead was that you got all your priorities in order, just when it was too late to do anything about them.

The journey is difficult. While Wilbur has the joy of seeing his first meetings with Maggie and how they fell in love, he also must revisit the most painful moments as well, when he lost important people in his life, responded from a place of fear, and made some crucially bad decisions. The further Wilbur travels, the more he wonders: Could he actually interact with his younger self? Knowing all the ways in which he failed, can he try to course-correct? And should he, if it means that he’ll be giving up eternity?

He had lived long enough to know that time and meaning were not shared out equally. Some personal eras were relatively empty. The temporal equivalent of air. And then you would come across a day—or even a minute—and it would have a whole decade’s worth of weight. It would be everything. It would have the power to change an entire life.

The Midnight Train is a moving look at what it means to live fully, and how working toward some unknowable future can mean not fully inhabiting the present. Wilbur is a well-meaning person who loves his wife devotedly, and yet lets the pain of past losses drive him in a way that brings financial success while losing what really matters along the way. Wilbur and Maggie start off so clearly meant for one another, with such brightness ahead of them. It’s painful to see them losing their connection, not through ill intent, but through distraction and ambition and a misdirected focus.

The magical elements of The Midnight Train work well as a conduit for Wilbur’s journey back through his own life. It doesn’t have to make perfect sense, and indeed, we’re told that each person experiences their journey in a way that’s personal to them. Traveling alongside Wilbur, we see the heartbreaking losses of his younger years and can understand the fear and guilt that stays with him, even as we wish for things to turn out differently.

The Midnight Train is a companion of sorts to the author’s 2020 novel, The Midnight Library. You don’t have to have read the first book to appreciate this one, although an important character from The Midnight Library plays a role here. Both books deal with themes related to finding meaning in life, but come at this theme from different angles. Each approach is fascinating — as the author states in his acknowledgments, the two books can be seen as being in conversation with one another.

I found The Midnight Train to be a fast, engaging read with an emotional core that feels true. Wilbur’s journey conveys profound messages about appreciating the life in front of us, but these messages never feel preachy or overly sentimental. There’s a beauty to Wilbur’s experiences and the wisdom that he finally finds at the end of his life. We’re left with a lovely sort of hope as we reach the final pages and see how his story turns out.

I highly recommend The Midnight Train. A lively writing style with humor mixed in alongside the sadness and seriousness make this a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience, and there are plenty of life lessons to be absorbed along the way — not to mention a love story that’s sweet and powerful.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

27Jun2026

Book Review: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: I Who Have Never Known Men
Author: Jacqueline Harpman
Publisher: Transit Books
Publication date: 1995
Length: 173 pages
Genre: Speculative fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Deep underground, forty women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.

As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others’ escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.

Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.

Published in 1995, I Who Have Never Known Men came roaring back in recent years as a BookTok sensation. After hearing the buzz from so many sources, I finally decided to check it out for myself.

In this strange, moving, puzzling work of speculative fiction, our unnamed narrator introduces us to a harsh new world. As the story opens, she is one of forty women locked in a cage in an underground bunker, watched constantly by a rotating set of male guards who patrol outside the cage, armed with whips. They do not interact with the prisoners, using the whips to threaten if the women break rules, such as touching, hiding, or expressing strong emotions. The women have been there for years, and have only vague memories of a life before or how they ended up in the cage.

But our narrator is different. Caged as a child, she knows nothing of any other life. The women share stories of families, husbands, homes… but she has no understanding of what these concepts are. As she enters her teen years, she holds herself apart, but eventually learns to count her heartbeats as a way of making sense of the unknowable passage of time. When the routine finally breaks and the guards flee, she’s able to secure the key that will allow them out of the bunker… but the world they find above is not what they expect.

The women are finally free, but for what? They find themselves on a vast plain, with no other people anywhere within sight. Out in the open, but with no direction or answers, they must fend for themselves and find a way to survive yet another type of existence they have no understanding of.

She wondered when it had dawned on us that we were as much prisoners out in the open as we had been behind bars.

The narrator tells the women’s stories through her own unique voice, mostly devoid of emotion, keen to find sense in the vast nothingness, connected to but never quite understanding her companions. As years and then decades pass, the women forge a community together, surviving their isolated existence in a world devoid of other living beings.

What has happened to lead to this point? Where are they? What became of all the other people? Why are there no animals or seasons? Why are there so many bunkers and cages identical to the one they escaped? And why are these bunkers the only buildings they’ve ever found in all their years of wandering?

If you pick up I Who Have Never Known Men expecting answers… well, this isn’t that sort of book. The narrator makes it clear early on that she’s lived a long, strange life, that she’s the last one left, and that she’ll never truly know what happened to the world that came before. This is the only life she knows or remembers. Readers go along with her and the other women as they journey over the course of many years. The narrator’s inner thoughts provide an odd sort of focus, centering this existence through the perspective of someone who begins as a clean slate and finds purpose, skills, and perseverance through sheer stubbornness and an innate sense of curiosity, a desire to learn and understand.

While described as a work of feminist speculative fiction, I don’t know that I’d stick with that label completely. The story’s focus is about the women, first as prisoners and then through the experiences they have once they achieve freedom. And yet, this doesn’t fit the mold of many works of dystopian fiction, in which women are oppressed by a misogynistic, authoritarian society. We really have no idea why the women are in a cage — but as we learn later, the cages aren’t exclusively for women. As this group of women travel and find bunker after bunker, they find many that had once held forty men as prisoners as well. (The cages always hold forty people. Why forty? Yet another unknown.) The reason for the bunkers isn’t necessarily related to misogyny — we get the impression that there was a total collapse of civilization, perhaps war or some other sort of disaster. But I suppose the fact that what we focus on is how this group of women survivors chooses to live and move forward is where the feminist fiction categorization applies. I don’t have a problem with that — it’s just that the book was definitely not what I expected it to be.

That’s a good thing, actually. It’s nice to have expectations turned upside down. Starting a book with no real idea of where it will go and feeling totally immersed along the way is one of the joys of reading, after all. I Who Have Never Known Men is a short book — under 200 pages — that contains powerful language and imagery on every page.

A note on the reading experience: There are no chapter breaks, or even section breaks. This is one long unbroken narrative, as the narrator — approaching the end of her life — thinks back on the earliest days she remembers, already in the cage, and tells the story of everything she’s experienced since then. Being inside her head is a unique, unsettling experience. Yes, I prefer my books to have chapters! But once I got into the rhythm of this story, it moved so quickly that I was willing to just go with it.

I recommend checking out I Who Have Never Known Men. It’s definitely not like anything else I’ve read lately. Thought-provoking and disquieting, this is a book that will stay with you long after reading the final pages.

For more about this book, check out this essay from The New Yorker and this article from The Guardian. More about the book’s resurgence thanks to social media buzz:
Medium
The Cut

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible audiobook – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

25Jun2026

Book Review: The Children by Melissa Albert

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Children
Author: Melissa Albert
Publisher: Bramble
Publication date: June 2, 2026
Length: 416 pages
Genre: Fantasy/Horror
Source: Library
Rating:

An intoxicating, haunting new novel from New York Times bestselling author Melissa Albert, in which the estranged adult children of a legendary author, written into their dead mother’s beloved fantasy series, contend with the vine-like creep of legacy, memory, and magic.

Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.

In one, she lives in the wooded shadow of her family’s isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of her mother’s world-famous Ninth City books, where her magical adventures have made her a household name. In reality, Guinevere’s childhood isn’t the enchanted idyll her mother’s readers imagine: she and her older brother are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the lichen-clotted woods they’ve made their playland. As Edith Sharpe’s books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame—until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith’s series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.

Now an adult coasting on her mother’s name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family’s legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled Mother. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere’s childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she’s spent the last twenty years running from: What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother’s creative genius?

Wise to the mythic weight childhood memories gather over time, The Children whispers to you from the hallway outside your bedroom, lights flickering as you turn the pages of a book that didn’t seem so scary a moment ago. It’s a story for anyone who’s ever revisited an old favorite and found it cast in a darker light, the line separating magic and memory blurring as the gap widens between the authors we imagined and the people they turn out to be.

The Children is a creepy, haunting tale that drew me in practically from page 1 and never let me go. I found myself immersed in this story about the children of a bestselling author — whose childhood was anything but the ideal dream portrayed to the public.

Edith Sharpe writes the children’s fantasy series, The Ninth City, at the family’s rural Vermont home, an isolated place known as the Farmhouse, surrounded by forests and orchards, miles from anywhere. As Edith’s fame grows, so too does the never-ending streams of stars and artists and wannabes who gravitate into Edith’s orbit. Edith’s children, however, never asked for or agreed to the fame that they’re forced into by their mother, who gives her main characters her children’s names. The world thinks they know Ennis and Guinevere Sharpe, the brave, clever brother and sister who star in the series. Only Ennis and Guin know the truth about their childhood — one in which they essentially grew up wild and untended, cared for only by one another while their parents indulged in a life of creative frenzies, dissipated parties, and a general lack of interest about their children’s wellbeing.

As adults, Guin and Ennis have been estranged for twenty years, ever since the horrific night of a fire that destroyed their world and thrust them into very different lives. Now in her early 30s, Guin has been living off her mother’s legacy, in terms of both her inheritance and being part of the publicity machine that keeps Edith Sharpe on the bestseller list year after year. While promoting her own memoir — a whitewashed, ghost-written, surface-level and sunny depiction that bears little resemblance to the truth — Guin learns that Ennis will be opening a new art installation entitled “Mother”, and is immediately consumed by the need to reconnect with him… and to find out whether he’s finally decided to break his silence on Edith Sharpe after all these years.

As Guin goes off the rails, ruining her carefully constructed publicity tour through unpredictable and ill-advised interviews, she’s thrust back into childhood memories she’s worked so hard to ignore or deny.

The story unfolds through modern-day chapters, in which adult Guin spins out of control in her search for meaning and for Ennis, woven among chapters going back to the siblings’ childhood, from arriving at the Farmhouse when Guin was five years old to the final disaster when she was eleven. There’s a certain beauty to some elements of their early years, as they run wild, unhindered in their exploration of the forests, with no rules and little to no guidance about their daily lives. They’re supposedly home-schooled, but they’re not. They’re fed… when someone remembers, or when they fend for themselves. Their father, a gifted actor who was forced out of the spotlight due to scandal, is a shining, glorious creature… until he’s not; until something, somehow causes him to lose bits and pieces of himself and fade into a failed has-been.

And then there’s Edith, a woman who’s never been predictable, married young to an older man, and an uninvolved mother even at the best of times. But something happens at the Farmhouse. Guin loves the house, except for the sinister 3rd floor room where Edith writes. And Edith writes in frenzied bursts, clacking away on her typewriter with no interruptions allowed.

The sense of menace is pervasive throughout The Children. We may not know exactly why, but we know from the start that very bad things have happened. At the same time, we know that the Ninth City books were life-changing for their millions of fans, and that Guin and Ennis are seen as heroes, standing in for Edith and the world she created even as they attempt to live their own lives. The neglect that Guin and Ennis live through is disturbing in and of itself, but add to that the sense that something other is going on, something very much not right, and the chills ratchet up higher and higher.

While I had guesses about the mysteries of The Children, I never did quite manage to figure it all out, and I’d guess that most readers end up in the same boat. The revelations near the end of the book are mind-blowing, yet tie the entire story together in a way that makes a frightening sort of sense. I simply couldn’t put the book down; each chapter is stunning in its own way. I cringed quite a bit over adult Guin’s choices and actions, but there’s no denying that she follows a path that seem practically foreordained. The childhood chapters are more deeply disturbing and impactful, but the entire book works so well together that it’s impossible to point out any moments where the story lags or loses focus.

I’d say that my only complaint about The Children has more to do with my reading experience than with the book itself. I tore through the final third or so in such a mad dash to get to the end that I’m afraid that I may not have absorbed it all as deeply as I might have if I’d taken my time. I can definitely see going back for a reread to savor it more slowly and pick up the themes and hints I might have missed along the way the first time through.

The Children is one of this summer’s biggest, buzziest books… and it’s well worth giving in to the hype and giving it a chance! Creepy, scary, disturbing, and compelling, this story will stick with you long after the final pages.

Want to know more? Check out these great reviews:
Tammy at Books, Bones & Buffy
Krysta at Pages Unbound

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

21Jun2026

Audiobook Review: Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Time Loops & Meet Cutes
Author: Jackie Lau
Narrators: Cindy Kay & Raymond J. Lee
Publisher: Atria
Publication date: May 6, 2025
Print length: 339 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 15 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

The “masterful, inspiring, and full of heart” (Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author) Jackie Lau returns with a thoroughly unique love story about a woman reliving the same Friday over and over again—and the intriguing man who can’t quite remember her.

Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old lady at the stall said they’d give her what she needed most, and what Noelle desperately needed after another long workweek was food.

Except now she’s reliving the same Friday over and over. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45 no matter what, the Wordle answer is always “happy,” and she watches a silly squirrel video go viral day after day. And no matter how much she works on the same proposal, it’s always erased when she wakes up. It seems Monday will never come in this workaholic’s worst nightmare.

Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,” especially now that everything seems meaningless. Sure, three fancy meals in a row is a fun treat, but it’s getting repetitive. Noelle’s not sure what lesson the old lady was trying to impart. Even a trip to the dumpling stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it.

But then she meets a young woman who also ate the dumplings, and good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While he seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle will have to put work aside and live a little in order to make him notice her. As their flirtation progresses, Noelle begins to worry that if she ever gets to turn the calendar page, Cam won’t know who she is and her life may never return to what it was before that fateful Friday…

In Time Loops & Meet Cutes, Noelle’s life revolves around work, even though she never gets the recognition she deserves and seems to constantly be the last to leave the office, staying late to clean up other people’s projects. She lives frugally, despite a decent salary as a mechanical engineer, denying herself any indulgences in order to make sure her savings will see her through whatever the future might hold. After a painful breakup years earlier, she’s also sworn off relationships, and she’s not terribly good at staying in touch with old friends either.

On a Friday in June — June 20th to be exact — Noelle is so hungry after yet another long day at work that she stops at a night market on the way home to grab a bite to eat, and stops at a dumpling stand with a hand-written sign and no line. The charming older woman behind the counter tells her that these dumplings will give her what she needs most — and give how starving she is, their deliciousness seems to do the trick.

The next morning, Noelle’s alarm goes off at 6:45, which is weird since it’s the weekend. And then the Wordle is the same as the previous day’s — huh, an odd glitch? But as the day progresses, Noelle realizes that it’s June 20th again… and so is the next day, and the next, and the next. As hard as it seems to believe, Noelle is forced to accept that she’s stuck in a time loop, and has no idea why or — more importantly — how to get out of it.

It’s amazing how many possibilities there are in a single day. You can quit your job… or not. You can go to Vancouver and feel the rain on your skin. You can eat three types of dumplings and get sprayed by a skunk when you go hunting for ghosts in a cemetery.

On the bright side, she learns that each day is a clean slate, so she can splurge on a fancy meal or new haircut, and all will be reset when she wakes up once again on June 20th — no damage to her bank account or credit card, no long-lasting remorse if she decides the pixie cut really isn’t for her. When she keeps running into a very attractive man named Cam, who seems to recognize her without knowing why, she decides that he might be the key to escaping the time loop. Could it be like a fairy tale, where true love’s kiss has the power to break a spell? But beyond escape, Noelle starts to enjoy these daily first meetings with Cam, especially since there are no consequences that last more than a day — so if she makes a stupid joke or does something especially cringe-worthy, it’ll just get wiped away by the next morning.

But as Noelle continues to “meet” Cam, over and over again, and goes on a series of lovely first dates with him, it starts to feel like not enough. She’s developing feelings, and he seems to respond in a way that shows that something’s pulling him toward her — but she can’t truly connect with someone she has to meet again for the first time every time she sees him.

I was surprised by how utterly charming I found Time Loops & Meet Cutes. The why and how of the time loop is much less important than the fact of it. Noelle meets another woman, Avery, who’s stuck in the same loop, and their friendship offers them both companionship and a sense of normalcy in an incredibly abnormal situation. As Noelle and Avery navigate the ways in which their June 20ths are similar and different, we get a clear-eyed view of why it might be wonderful to experience certain things over and over again for the first time… and how awful it would be to repeat the worst moments too.

The story offers powerful examples of how people can stagnate in safe or predictable lives, and how taking chances can lead to moments that can change the future. Noelle doesn’t become a new person overnight, but over the course of the many months she spends in the loop, she’s able to experience the outcomes of various “what if” moments, which help her see that good things can come from taking chances, as well as the value in being honest and repairing family relationships that she’d once just accepted as being unpleasant.

The romance is sweet and often funny, as Noelle and Cam have first date after first date, each one a bit different. At first, Noelle sticks to a sort of script in her flirting, knowing that Cam responds positively to certain jokes… but as she gains confidence and starts to know him better, she’s able to behave more naturally and enjoy their moments together.

The resolution of the time loop offers fresh problems and dilemmas which are quite interesting. Noelle has to adjust to yet another new reality, one in which she doesn’t get a clean slate each day. Can she still be bold and try new things — and try to connect with Cam — when her actions will carry over to tomorrow?

The audiobook narrators (one for Noelle, one for Cam) do a terrific job bringing the characters to life and showing their personalities and senses of humor. Most chapters are told through Noelle’s perspective, but the Cam chapters are a nice way to break up the sound of the story and add another viewpoint to these decidedly unusual events.

Time Loops & Meet Cutes is a fun, upbeat story with plenty of introspective and sensitive moments too. The big-picture plot points are outlandish, but seeing the time loop play out in relatively ordinary people’s lives makes it all feel relatable… and highly entertaining.

I’ve read several of author Jackie Lau’s previous books, and always enjoy her well-written characters, interesting narratives, and seriously amazing food moments! I recommend Time Loops & Meet Cutes for anyone who appreciates a rom-com with heart — and a very quirky premise.

For more by Jackie Lau:
Donut Fall in Love
The Stand-Up Groomsman
Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie

18Jun2026

Book Review: The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Lion Women of Tehran
Author: Marjan Kamali
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: July 2, 2024
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams for a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions of becoming “lion women.”

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.

The Lion Women of Tehran is a powerful, moving look at the lifelong friendship between two remarkable women, set against the political upheavals of 20th century Iran.

“You know what we’ll both become when we grow up?”

“I do not,” I said.

“Shir zan. Lionesses. Us. Can’t you just see it, Ellie? Someday, you and me—we’ll do great things. We’ll live life for ourselves. And we will help others. We are cubs now, maybe. But we will grow to be lionesses. Strong women who make things happen.”

Ellie and Homa meet at age seven, as Ellie attends her first day of school after moving “downtown” — to a poor neighborhood of Tehran — after her father’s death. It’s 1950, the Shah is in power, and Ellie’s station in life has changed dramatically, something her aristocratic mother seems unable to accept. Homa, from a lower class family, is full of life and energy, and immediately befriends Ellie. While Ellie’s mother bans Homa from their home, Ellie is welcomed by Homa’s warm, loving family.

But three years later, Ellie’s life shifts again when her mother remarries and they return to the privileged life they’d once enjoyed, leaving the downtown neighborhood — and Homa — behind. The girls may be best friends, but at age ten, their ability to stay connected is limited, and over time they drift apart and lose touch. Years later, they’re reunited when Homa transfers to Ellie’s elite high school, and their bond is soon reestablished.

Ellie’s mother wants what she considers a good life for her daughter — marriage, children, and high standing in Tehran’s upper class society. But Homa encourages Ellie to think differently. They both excel in school; why not pursue a university education and careers? Homa dreams of attending law school, becoming Iran’s first woman judge, and making a true difference in achieving a fair and equitable society. As the friends move into their college years, they remain tightly bonded even as their goals diverge, but Homa’s political activism becomes dangerous, and leads to an unimaginable consequence.

As Ellie and Homa become estranged in their adult lives, neither can forget their friendship and what they once meant to one another. When revolution and war devastate Iran in the 1980s, Homa reaches out to Ellie once again, and the two must fight to reclaim what they once had and find a way to safeguard the people they love.

The overarching theme of life-long friendship adds sweetness and sorrow to this emotional story, even as Iran’s political and religious upheavals threaten the characters’ lives. We may all know the headlines from this time period; The Lion Women of Tehran provides an opportunity to learn about the lives of people who lived through these events. By focusing on Ellie and Homa, who represent two very different walks of life, readers are allowed into the day-to-day experiences of life in Tehran under the Shah and during the early years of the revolution. Their journeys — together and apart — provide a personal lens through which to view these events and understand the impact on individuals within the larger society.

Despite the seriousness, the story includes lovely moments of joy as well. The tastes and smells of the food the girls share add texture to the narrative. Their adventures as girls and young women also show the more beautiful aspects of life in Tehran, helping readers understand the yearning for home and love of their country even when life there becomes extremely dangerous.

Overall, I was incredibly moved by the richly described friendship between Ellie and Homa, and profoundly affected by the upheavals and tragedies in their lives. The Lion Women of Tehran is a beautifully written book. Once again, I find myself grateful that my book group led me to such a wonderful reading experience. Highly recommended.

The author’s website (https://marjankamali.com/) includes a link to download of recipes from the book. They all look amazing!

I’m eager to check out the author’s previous novel, The Stationery Shop. Learn more about it, here.

14Jun2026

Book Review: Swordheart by T. Kingfisher

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Swordheart
Author: T. Kingfisher
Publisher: Bramble
Publication date: Originally published November 27, 2018; new hardcover edition released 2025
Length: 448 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Halla has unexpectedly inherited the estate of a wealthy uncle. Unfortunately, she is also saddled with money-hungry relatives full of devious plans for how to wrest the inheritance away from her.

While locked in her bedroom, Halla inspects the ancient sword that’s been collecting dust on the wall since before she moved in. Out of desperation, she unsheathes it—and suddenly a man appears. His name is Sarkis, he tells her, and he is an immortal warrior trapped in a prison of enchanted steel.

Sarkis is sworn to protect whoever wields the sword, and for Halla—a most unusual wielder—he finds himself fending off not grand armies and deadly assassins but instead everything from kindly-seeming bandits to roving inquisitors to her own in-laws. But as Halla and Sarkis grow closer, they overlook the biggest threat of all—the sword itself.

I adore T. Kingfisher’s fantasy novels, so it’s not a surprise that Swordheart seems written just for me! Originally published in 2018, Swordheart was reissued in 2025 with a gorgeous new cover… and call me shallow, but I just cannot resist a pretty book. Although I gifted myself the hardcover edition last year, I hadn’t found the right moment to pick it up and read it… until on a whim, I borrowed the audiobook from the library last week. What a treat! My main complaint… is against myself. Why did I wait so long to indulge in this delicious story?

The main character of Swordheart is Halla, a “respectable widow” (as she defines herself) in her thirties who lost her inept, less-than-charming husband years earlier, and has spent the years since as his kindly great-uncle’s housekeeper. With no other family and no means of support, Halla has been grateful for her place in his home. When Great-uncle Silas dies of old age, Halla is startled to learn that he’s left her his entire estate… but not as startled as his scheming niece and her son, who are positively irate.

Aunt Malva decides that the best solution is for Halla to marry her pathetic son Alver, so that the inheritance will legally belong to Alver. And if Halla meets with an accident soon after, well, who would really mind? This assumes that Halla will agree to the plan, and she most emphatically does not. Halla’s unwillingness doesn’t seem to faze Malva, who locks Halla in her bedroom and plans to leave her there until she complies. Malva doesn’t count on Halla finding an antique sword hanging on the wall. Intending to put herself out of her own misery, Halla unsheaths the sword to see if she can find a way to use it on herself, and instead ends up face to face with the tough, scowling, ancient warrior who appears in a burst of blue light.

Sarkis is the servant of the sword, a man who centuries earlier was magically bound to the weapon, condemned to live forever and serve the sword’s wielder, whoever that might be. Sarkis has served kings and warlords and all sorts of unsavory types, but never a stubborn “respectable widow” with a tendency to stop and chat when she should be running away.

An unlikely pair, Halla and Sarkis are bound together nonetheless, and after making a daring escape from Silas’s house, they set off on the road to seek help in reclaiming Halla’s inheritance. At first, they find one another maddening: Sarkis has a tendency to manhandle Halla into ditches whenever trouble approaches, and Halla asks questions about absolutely everything. But as their spur-of-the-moment road trip progresses, they find a sense of camaraderie they hadn’t expected. Later, joined by Zale, a priest of the order of the White Rat, it’s practically a buddy movie! The travelers get into a crazy amount of adventures and trouble, but somehow manage to keep their quest moving forward… even if it’s at the excruciatingly slow pace of the ox pulling their wagon.

Swordheart is pure delight, there’s just no other way to put it. From the start, Halla is an incredibly entertaining main character. She’s kind, but unwilling to just take orders, especially when it comes to Aunt Malva and Cousin Alver, whose clammy hands are but one of his unpleasant defining features. Halla’s superpower seems to be driving people batty: She’s learned that people in power just can’t deal with women they underestimate, and has perfected the fine art of playing stupid in order to get others to see her as not a threat and therefore not worth questioning too closely.

Sarkis’s tortured past leaves him dour and scowly. He’s utterly fierce, but finds himself continually flabbergasted by Halla’s chatter and tendency to march right into trouble. And yet, he can’t help but soften toward her… and the feelings quickly become mutual.

The adventure aspects of the story zip along quickly, as Halla and Sarkis meet an eclectic assortment of rogues, priests, bandits, and more along the road, not to mention the otherworldly dangers they stumble into when they end up traveling through magical lands. Still, the most menacing people they encounter are the family members and close associates of Silas’s, who pose more of a threat than all the various others who wave weapons at them from time to time.

The dialogue throughout Swordheart is incredibly entertaining, and made me laugh out loud throughout the book. The humor leavens even the tensest of situations, and I adored the chemistry between Halla and Sarkis, as well as their friendship with Zale. The world of Swordheart is fascinating, with a whole host of gods and religions complicating the group’s journey, and Sarkis’s backstory, including the lingering questions about the magic of his sword, adds a magical element with its own rules and complications.

The ending implies that there’s more to come, if not for Halla and Sarkis personally, then certainly within the world of their story… and so it’s wonderful to know that book #2, Daggerbound, will be released in August 2026. I’ve already placed my preorder!

Swordheart is easily one of my favorite reads for 2026. I’m beyond thrilled that I finally experienced this terrific tale. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys fantasy books with a touch of humor and light romance… and of course, a must-read for fans of T. Kingfisher.

A note on the audiobook edition:

Narrator: Jesse Vilinsky
Released: 2021
Audio length: 14 hours 32 minutes

While I own a beautiful hardcover edition of Swordheart, I ended up listening to the audio version when a long-time library hold came in — and I’m so glad I did! Jesse Vilinsky’s narration is perfection! Halla’s personality shines through, and Sarkis’s growly voice (with a bizarrely Scottish-sounding accent — which totally works!) is exactly how I’d want him to sound. The action scenes ring with vibrancy, and the entire delivery is well worth the 14-hour listening time. If you’re thinking of checking out Swordheart and enjoy audiobooks, this is the way to go!

Question for readers: I understand that Swordheart connects to the same world as the author’s Clockwork duology and Paladin series. Has anyone read either or both of these? Any recommendations on which to pick up first?

11Jun2026

Book Review: The Last Lady B by Eloisa James

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Last Lady B
Author: Eloisa James
Publisher: Gallery
Publication date: May 12, 2026
Length: 384 pages
Genre: Historical romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Lady B may have married Bluebeard; she may have fallen in love with a gorgeous, grumpy solicitor; she may have met a ghost and survived to tell the tale! New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Eloisa James delights with witty historical romance with a gothic twist.

In the depths of winter, Lady Genevieve Hughes, her pet piglet, and her septuagenarian husband travel to a haunted abbey in the Scottish Highlands. Evie is excited to meet a ghost (perhaps one of her husband’s three previous wives), but didn’t expect the funny, quirky guests to become the friends she’s never had. And she certainly didn’t imagine meeting Sir Godric Everly, a sardonic, witty solicitor who loathes her husband.

Yet as secrets and lies turn Evie’s world upside down, Sir Godric becomes the one person whom she can trust.

[Note: Redacting part of the synopsis — too spoilery!]

More importantly, she has to figure out whose identity is false, whose vows are dishonorable, whose truths could destroy her reputation—and where her heart belongs.

The Last Lady B is such a fun historical rom-com romp! In this upbeat romance, our main character Genevieve (Evie) goes through twists galore, including ghostly encounters, strange mysteries, and adventures in a possibly cursed castle, before finally arriving at a happy ending.

Perhaps there comes a time in every woman’s life when she discovers that propriety is poppycock. To put it vulgarly, propriety is bollocks.

Or perhaps that only happens to a woman foolish enough to marry a man older than her father.

Evie, at age 25, isn’t much interested in courtship or having a successful season. Her family has a sterling reputation and her father has a title, but their fortunes are in tatters. Evie has seen one too many potential matches dissolved over her lack of a dowry (or new gowns). Then there’s the added fact that the idea of marriage isn’t all that attractive. From what she’s heard, all that bedroom stuff sounds like something to endure, so maybe she’s not missing much.

However, Evie has a beloved younger sister, and she does care very much about her future. And so, she develops a plan: The elderly Lord Burnsby, in his 70s and with three late wives, is looking for wife #4 — someone young, pretty, and a charming companion. Evie isn’t looking for romance, and makes it clear that she expects a platonic relationship — but he’s polite, kind, and willing to sign a contract for a generous dowry for her sister. So yes, call Evie a fortune hunter if you must, but she has a goal and is willing to tolerate scornful sniffs if it ensures a good future for those she loves.

Except things don’t quite work out that way. After an uneventful (boring) half-year of marriage, Evie heads to Lord Burnsby’s estate in the Scottish Highlands for the Christmas holidays — an ancient abbey rumored to be haunted by his three dead wives — and finds that her tolerable husband has secrets and a loathsome side that she never expected. As they’re joined by Lord Burnsby’s heir, his new (lovely) wife, and his best friend, complications abound, including the fact that the best friend, Sir Godric Everly, is attractive and has a wonderful heart hidden beneath a gruff exterior.

It gets even more convoluted, as more unexpected houseguests and residents show up, enormous secrets and scandals come to light, and the chilly, lonesome abbey reveals its own dangers. And is that really a ghost that Evie encounters? Could there be dead wives hovering about? And if they are, what could they possibly want?

The plots twists of The Last Lady B are highly entertaining, with each new reveal leading to yet another secret or misleading clue. Plenty of banter makes for scenes with a certain zing, and Evie’s spirit and willingness to speak her mind make her a delightful lead character.

The storyline offers ups and downs, moments of romantic bliss and erotic tension, while also providing an opportunity for Evie to redefine her own priorities, what she’s willing and not willing to do to achieve her goals, and what a real family might actually look like.

After the various twists concerning Lord B’s shady secrets are finally wrapped up, the book concludes with another couple of chapters focusing on Evie’s love life — and while it’s good to see her finally get the happiness she deserves, I could have done with a bit less detail about her sexual awakening. But that’s a matter of reader preference — your mileage may vary.

This was my first Eloisa James book. I can see from her website (https://eloisajames.com/books/) that she’s an incredibly prolific author. From a glance at all the titles and covers, my impression is that The Last Lady B is a bit of an outlier, with its light, comedic tone, and that most of her other novels are more serious/dramatic romances. Someone correct me if I’m wrong! If she does have other books with more of a similar vibe, I’d love to know about it.

The Last Lady B is a fun, engaging romance with a strong sense of sassy humor and snark. It was just the right book to lighten my mood when I most needed it, and I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended!

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6Jun2026

Book Review: Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier (Classics Club Spin #44)

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Frenchman’s Creek
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Publication date: 1941
Length: 290 pages
Rating:

Bored and restless in London’s Restoration Court, Lady Dona escapes into the British countryside with her restlessness and thirst for adventure as her only guides. Eventually Dona lands in remote Navron, looking for peace of mind in its solitary woods and hidden creeks. She finds the passion her spirit craves in the love of a daring French pirate who is being hunted by all of Cornwall. Together, they embark upon a quest rife with danger and glory, one which bestows upon Dona the ultimate choice: sacrifice her lover to certain death or risk her own life to save him.

My newest Classics Club Spin landed on this Daphne du Maurier gem, and I couldn’t be happier. Without the little push of the spin, I’m not sure when I would have picked up this book — and it would be such a shame to have missed it.

In this lush, sweeping novel set during the Restoration era (late 1600s), Lady Dona St. Columb is a pampered aristocrat, a 29-year-old wife and mother of two young children who is both bored and disgusted by the excesses and meaninglessness of her life in London. After too many nights of careless pranks and drinking with her husband’s friends, she abruptly departs with her children to the family estate at Navron on the Cornwall coast. There, she finds isolation and peace, a place to explore the wild beauty of the seaside and natural landscapes, and remove herself from the life that was turning her into someone she didn’t actually like.

Once at Navron, she hears startling rumors about a French pirate terrorizing the area. The nobility of the area are on high alert and desperate to catch this fiend, but Dona herself finds the stories fascinating.

One day, Dona spies a ship approaching the coast, and soon after, follows an unseen trail down to a creek near Navron, where she discovers the secret mooring place of the pirate ship La Mouette. And there, she’s introduced to a man most frequently referred to as “the Frenchman” — handsome, refined, a skilled artist, and captain of La Mouette. He and Dona find common ground immediately, and share a thirst for adventure and danger as a way of feeling alive, breaking out of the roles society expects of them, and experiencing true freedom.

Their connection leads to lazy days of fishing and swimming on the creek, as well as riskier and riskier adventures as Dona disguises herself as a cabin boy and joins the crew for expeditions. But eventually, Dona’s secret life catches up with her, and ultimately, her worlds collide and she is forced into the greatest risk of all, as well as a life-altering decision.

She looked out over the smooth sea towards the land, the smell of it came to her with the evening breeze, warm cliff grass, and moss, and trees, hot sand where the sun had shone all day, and she knew that this was happiness, this was living as she had always wished to live. Soon there would be danger, and excitement, and the reality perhaps of fighting, and through it all and afterwards they would be together, making their own world where nothing mattered but the things they could give to one another, the loveliness, the silence, and the peace.

Frenchman’s Creek is so beautifully written that it took my breath away. The story itself is marvelous. Dona is jaded and disillusioned; she hates what she’s become and the carelessness with which she lived her life in London. Her marriage is dull, and while she has all the jewels and gowns and comforts of a spoiled life, she lacks purpose. We see her transformation even before she meets the Frenchman. In Navron, it’s as if she can breathe again. She experiences peace and natural beauty, and is able to think for herself for what seems like the first time in years.

While we don’t learn much about Dona’s past or how she ended up married to Harry, it’s clear to see that she has a creative and adventurous spirit that’s been beaten down by the stifling life she’d been leading. At first appearance, she’s a beautiful, refined, well-dressed, respectable married woman… but she’s quick to throw off the trappings of Lady St. Columb and run barefoot through the trees, swim in the creek, and lie in the grass just to feel the world around her.

The other Dona was dead too, and this woman who had taken her place was someone who lived with greater intensity, with greater depth, bringing to every thought and every action a new richness of feeling, and an appreciation, half sensuous in its quality, of all the little things that came to make her day.

The overall feel of Frenchman’s Creek is headlong passion — not just in the love story aspects, which are beautifully told and sweep us up in the emotional heights — but in the sense of Dona’s reactions to having her spirit restored and being able to embrace having agency over her own life for the first time in years. The descriptions of the natural beauty of Cornwall, Navron, and the creek are simply gorgeous, and again convey a vibrancy and passion that are remarkably vivid.

Action and emotion tie together so well throughout Frenchman’s Creek. If you pick up a pirate story expecting swashbuckling action… well, there’s plenty here to enjoy! The sense of danger is profound in certain scenes, and I had no idea whether to expect a happy or tragic ending. Meanwhile, the love story is achingly beautiful and passionate; even when complications arise and Dona faces enormous conflicts, it’s impossible not to hope for a perfect solution.

For whatever happens we have had what we have had. No one can take that from us. And I have been alive, who was never alive before.

What a wonderful reading experience! I truly loved Frenchman’s Creek. Before this book, the only Daphne du Maurier book I’d read was Rebecca. Now, I’m very motivated to read more. I have copies of The House on the Strand, My Cousin Rachel, Jamaica Inn, and The King’s General — I’d welcome recommendations on which to try next!

About the author:

Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989) was the daughter of the legendary actor-manager Gerald du Maurier and granddaughter of George du Maurier, the author of the vastly successful late-Victorian novel Trilby and cartoonist for the magazine Punch. She grew up in London and Cornwall, where she would settle as an adult. Du Maurier published her first novel when she was twenty-three and would go on to write seventeen more, many of them best-sellers, including My Cousin Rachel, Jamaica Inn, and Rebecca, one of the most popular novels of the twentieth century. In addition to her fiction, du Maurier wrote several family biographies, a biography of Branwell Brontë, a study of Cornwall, two plays, and a good deal of journalism. She was married to Tommy “Boy” Browning and was the mother of three children.