As is my warm-and-fuzzy December tradition, here I am again with my humble bookish offering of six sweet reads I particularly enjoyed in 2024. Rather than vacillating willy-nilly between the 40-ish titles I’ve devoured over the past 12 months, I simply selected stories that I can’t shake. Unforgettable characters. Harrowing plots. You know the ones? Maybe you’ll find an intriguing option for yourself or even as a gift—because I don’t need to remind you that Christmas is just around the corner… ho ho ho!
“A book is a gift you can open again and again.” Garrison Keillor
Moving house and downsizing a wee bit has forced me to cull my mountains of beloved books as I agonize over the decision to donate or keep each these “dear old friends”. The nostalgia is real as I hold in my hands a precious book and recall where I read it, how it made me feel, or who bought it for me. Books really are gifts that keep on giving!
As an author, reading is part-work and part-pleasure—mostly pleasure—and thanks to Goodreads, I’m able to keep track and look back to assess how my reading life has fared. It’s always fascinating to ponder the results and is an absolute life-saver for those of us with a memory like a sieve. (What did I even read last week?) Feel free to follow me over on Goodreads and be my bookish buddy—my author profile is HERE.
I LOVE sharing book recommendations with anyone who will listen for half a minute, so I invite you to check out these six books and see if any appeal to you or perhaps to a bookish loved one.
I’ve included a little review with each book, along with my Amazon affiliate links (full disclosure here) which means I get a tiny commission. At the same time, you pay the regular price for any of the books. (*Christmas shoppers, some of the titles are currently on sale, so you might want to clickety-click!) Here we go:
HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano
“Can love make a broken person whole?”
If you enjoy a dramatic family saga drenched in grief, love, and difficult choices, then you might want to pick up this stunning novel.
Anything paying homage to my favourite book of all time, Little Women, and I’m all in! This tale is set in the 1980s and features the four Padavano sisters, reminiscent of the classic’s March sisters, along with William Waters, who is born into a loveless home with only his beloved basketball to live for… until he meets Julia Padavano.
This is a brilliant book in my humble opinion, perhaps being one of four sisters drew me in even deeper, but I truly devoured every page.
Fair warning, this is a heavy read with triggers galore—including mental health and attempted suicide, but it’s a compelling story that I know will stay with me for years to come.
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THE BRITISH BOOKSELLERS by Kristy Cambron
This beautiful, bookish love story is woven through the heartache and horrors of both WWI and WWII in England. We first see Charlotte and Amos with an unlikely childhood friendship as an earl’s daughter and a tenant farmer’s son, yet their affection runs deep and true.
When WWI and real-life expectations pull them apart, their young love seems to be a mere memory—until years later when their lives collide as rival bookstore owners. It’s only when the WWII Coventry Blitz threatens to devastate everything they hold dear that they are able to put aside pain from the past and the truth is finally revealed.
Courage, forgiveness, and resilience are depicted in a novel that builds in tension and romance right until the end… an absolutely delightful read!
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THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah
Kristin Hannah does it again with a powerful historical fiction novel shining a light on unsung heroes!
As a 20-year old nursing student from a wealthy Californian family, Frankie McGrath has her conservative world turned upside-down when she is told that women CAN be heroes. She promptly joins the Army Nurse Corps and soon discovers the raw reality and horrors of heroism in Vietnam.
This meticulously researched novel begins in 1965 and spans two decades as Frankie’s life is forever changed by both the devastation she sees daily as a nurse in the midst of war—and then back home where she is soul-broken by a divided America.
This is a haunting, heartbreaking story of loss, friendship, courage, depression, hope, and the pursuit of peace for a troubled soul. As a Brit, I realized how much I didn’t know about the Vietnam war, the aftermath, and the role of women at that time—and I’m utterly grateful to have read yet another spectacular book by this author!
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MISS MORGAN’S BOOK BRIGADE by Janet Skeslien Charles
If you love books about books, libraries, courage, and strong women based on true events in history—this could be for you!
The narrative is shared through dual timelines set in WWI France and 1980s New York City.
In the 1918 French setting, devoted librarian, Jessie Carson, leaves behind the New York Public Library to serve as a “CARD” in the American Committee for Devastated France, which was founded by a female American millionaire. Jessie’s goal is to offer the love and comfort of books to villagers—especially children—in dangerous, war-torn areas of rural France. She achieves so much more, while suffering personal, heartbreaking losses along the way.
In 1987, Wendy Peterson is an aspiring writer working in the New York Public Library. In the archives, she comes across the history of the CARDs women, yet only scant information on Jessie Carson, and so becomes obsessed with researching and writing Jessie’s story…
Be sure to read the author’s note for details on the real-life women of courage who served as her source of inspiration.
The power of books bleeds through the pages of this utterly compelling novel!
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SPECTERS IN THE GLASS HOUSE by Jaime Jo Wright
This book is described as “A Haunting Dual-Time Inspirational Gothic Suspense”—and that pretty much sums it up! If you enjoy a little spine-tingling chill with the “safety net” of Christian fiction so you know it’s not going to be TOO scary, this is for you.
In 1921 Wisconsin, brewery heiress Marian Arnold finds herself living in the quirky, summerhouse manor post-prohibition without parents or fortune, and begins to question her surroundings and sanity when nightmares and hallucinations blur with actual murders.
In the present day, Remy Shaw is a keen researcher with a troubled past, who joins a successful elderly biographer as they work on the mysteries surrounding the unresolved murders at Marian’s manor. Remy also joins forces with the great-great-grandson of Marian in an attempt to dig out the truth from layers of lies, mental health issues, and a plethora of family secrets.
Butterflies, murders, and a mystery that kept me guessing until the end… brilliant!
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EMBERS IN THE LONDON SKY by Sarah Sundin
This compelling WWII story about a mother’s love is taken up a notch when it becomes evident that a murderer is at large in the midst of unimaginable mayhem in London.
When Aleida Martens flees the Netherlands in 1940 with her abusive husband and their sweet three-year-old son, her nightmare begins as she loses them both. Desperate to find her boy, she arrives in London and begins a frantic search—helped by Hugh Collingwood, a big-hearted BBC radio correspondent who is both intrigued and smitten by this brave widow.
Hope, courage, and persistence are woven through the pages while romance blossoms between this complex, delightful couple as they look for Aleida’s boy, solve a murder mystery, and survive the horrors of the Blitz!
Another immaculately researched novel by Sarah Sundin, perfect for lovers of Christian romantic suspense and historical fiction!
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“Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it’s much cheaper to buy somebody a book than it is to buy them the whole world!” Neil Gaiman
As always, I would love to know if you have read any of my six picks, or if you have a favourite read this year. Feel free to share the book love and leave it in the comments below! ⬇️
Happy winter reading, friend…
P.S. 🎄 My 2 award-winning Christmas novellas have just been republished by Mountain Brook Ink with gorgeous new covers… if you enjoy winter wonderland Hallmark vibes along with a dose of page-turning suspense in a story of hope, you might want to take a peek at The Christmas Cabin and Snow Globe Secrets. They are perfect stocking stuffers! 🙂
Linking up with some fabulous encouragers… check them out:
Merry Christmas. In my house we celebrate both Chanukah and Christmas.maybe a book about a two religion couple some day? Oh well
Love your emails and your books
Sandra O’Reilly [email protected]
Hi Sandie— that sounds like a very interesting premise for a book! Thanks so much for your support and encouragement… Merry Christmas to you and yours! 🙂