I have been so busy the last couple of years, that I am ashamed to say I haven’t read as much as I used to. So, I made a Goodreads goal of reading 20 books this year…I’ve read two. I need to pick up the pace!
Below are new fiction books that have either just been released or will be released soon:
The Darkling Bride: A Novel –by Laura Anderson — The Gallagher family has called Deeprath Castle home for seven hundred years. Nestled in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland, the estate is now slated to become a public trust, and book lover and scholar Carragh Ryan is hired to take inventory of its historic library. But after meeting Aidan, the current Viscount Gallagher, and his enigmatic family, Carragh knows that her task will be more challenging than she’d thought.
Two decades before, Aidan’s parents died violently at Deeprath. The case, which was never closed, has recently been taken up by a new detective determined to find the truth. The couple’s unusual deaths harken back a century, when twenty-three-year-old Lady Jenny Gallagher also died at Deeprath under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind an infant son and her husband, a renowned writer who never published again. These incidents only fueled fantastical theories about the Darkling Bride, a local legend of a sultry and dangerous woman from long ago whose wrath continues to haunt the castle.
The past catches up to the present, and odd clues in the house soon have Carragh wondering if there are unseen forces stalking the Gallagher family. As secrets emerge from the shadows and Carragh gets closer to answers—and to Aidan—could she be the Darkling Bride’s next victim?
The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova — Released on March 13, 2018 — Twenty-seven years ago—and a week after the fall of the Berlin Wall—found herself traveling to Bulgaria. Like the protagonist of this novel, she was young and eager to learn about a place she’d never been before. She stayed on for six months, traveling to remote areas and interviewing its inhabitants about their lives. During her journey, she fell in love with this foreign, seemingly enchanted land and also with her future husband.
It’s not hard to imagine Kostova in the shoes of Alexandra Boyd, a young American woman who arrives in Sofia, Bulgaria hoping that life abroad will salve the wounds left by the loss of her beloved brother. But within an hour of landing in this elegant Eastern European city, Alexandra helps an elderly couple into a taxi and realizes too late that she has accidentally kept one of their bags. Inside she finds an ornately carved wooden box engraved with a name: Stoyan Lazarov. Raising the hinged lid, she discovers that she is holding an urn filled with human ashes.
As Alexandra sets out to locate the family and return this precious item, she will have to uncover the secrets of a talented musician who was shattered by oppression—and risk her own life to solve the mystery behind his.
A Nantucket Wedding by Nancy Thayer – Ballantine Hardcover, on-sale April 3, 2018 — A few years after losing her beloved husband, Alison is doing something she never thought she would do again: getting married. While placing the finishing touches on her summer nuptials, Alison is anxious to introduce her fiancé, David, to her grown daughters: Felicity, a worried married mother of two, and Jane, also married but focused on her career. The sisters have a somewhat distant relationship and Alison hopes that the wedding and the weeks leading up to the ceremony will give the siblings a chance to reconnect, as well as meet and get to know David’s grown children.
As the summer progresses, it is anything but smooth sailing. Felicity stumbles upon a terrible secret that could shatter her carefully cultivated world. Jane finds herself under the spell of her soon-to-be stepbrother, Ethan, who is as charming as he is mysterious. And even Alison is surprised (and slightly alarmed) by her new blended family. Revelations, intrigue, resentments—as the Big Day approaches, will the promise of bliss be a bust?
Against the gorgeous backdrop of the sunswept island of Nantucket, Nancy Thayer sets the stage for a walk down the aisle no one will ever forget.
Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir — Release date May 17, 2018 — Ever since she was a child, Jane has longed for a cloistered life as a nun. But her large noble family has other plans, and as an adult, Jane is invited to the King’s court to serve as lady-in-waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon. The devout Katherine shows kindness to all her ladies, almost like a second mother, which makes rumors of Henry’s lustful pursuit of Anne Boleyn—also lady-in-waiting to the queen—all the more shocking. For Jane, the betrayal triggers memories of a haunting incident that shaped her beliefs about marriage.
But once Henry disavows Katherine and secures Anne as his new queen—forever altering the religious landscape of England—he turns his eye to another: Jane herself. Urged to return the King’s affection and earn favor for her family, Jane is drawn into a dangerous political game that pits her conscience against her desires. Can Jane be the one to give the King his long-sought-after son, or will she be cast aside like the women who came before her?
I’m so excited to read these books this spring (and summer, maybe fall let’s be honest)! What are you reading now?
Forty, Flirty & Fabulous 