Girl Who Reads

Free Friday Read: Love Blooms by Jennifer Faye

2026-06-05T06:30:00.000-04:00

It's Friday in the summertime. If you have weekend plans at the pool, beach, lake, or even on your front porch, then you'll need a good book to read. And a free book is even better. Check out today's Free Friday Read.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. The ebook was free at the time of posting; please verify the price before purchasing.

He’s an injured firefighter. She bakes the most delightful treats. When their worlds collide, will the baker help heal the firefighter with a mix of blueberry muffins and her caring way?

The elegant baker, Hannah Bell, has always lived on Bluestar Island with her family. While still grieving for her father, who died in a fire, she focuses all of her energy on making her dream come true—opening her very own bakery. But when a broken water pipe washes away her carefully laid plans, she’s on the verge of losing everything.

New York firefighter Ethan Walker’s life is in a tailspin after he’s injured on the job. When an urgent call detours him to Bluestar Island, he agrees to help his lovable but meddlesome great-aunt. But organizing the island’s Spring Fling proves a lot harder than he originally imagined. He needs help…and fast.

Under the magic of Bluestar Island’s sea breeze and warm sunshine, Hannah and Ethan must not only face their immediate obstacles but also their own turning points in life. Will they have to do that alone? With a leap of faith and a dash of romance, they might just find the perfect mix to make their dreams come true.

Buy Love Blooms at Amazon

Note: If you love this book, there are 4 more books in the series.

Start reading Love Blooms

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Meeting the Author!

2026-06-04T06:30:00.000-04:00

by Susan Roberts

I love to go to author events. It’s great to get to know some of my favorite authors and to find out the ‘inside story’ about their books. Luckily, I live in an area with lots of indie bookstores within 50 miles, and all of them do events with authors both local and nationwide. I was kind of nervous the first time I went to an author event by myself and was afraid that I would just sit quietly by myself. What I soon found out is that when you put a bunch of book-loving women in the same room, they immediately bond over books and are soon treating each other like friends. I’ve attended two fantastic events this month with two of my favorite authors and thought I’d tell you about them. Question – Do you like to meet new authors and old favorites? Do you go to author events?

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KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY - Summer State of Mind

I drove 200 miles to Litchfield Books in Pawley’s Island, SC. This bookstore does fantastic author events, and I always look forward to a few days at the beach, so it’s a real win/win for me. Kristy’s new book was published in May.

After the worst day in her professional life, burnt-out NICU nurse Daisy Stevens runs to Cape Carolina, North Carolina, looking for a new life—and possibly a new romance. On her first day at her “simpler” job, high school baseball coach Mason Thaysden discovers an abandoned baby, sending ripples through the entire tight-knit town of Cape Carolina.

Mason is still struggling to reconcile the scars of the injury that kept him out of the big leagues, stuck in his hometown, and searching for a way out. This newcomer and the child they’ve saved together might be just the motivation he needs to stay put. Sparks fly as Mason acquaints Daisy with Cape Carolina, introducing her to his friends and family, including his batty Aunt Tilley, who is looking for relief from long-buried family secrets and her own fresh start.

But as Daisy becomes increasingly attached to this abandoned child and begins facing her own demons in the process, a startling discovery is made that threatens to rip the entire town of Cape Carolina apart, placing Daisy, Mason, and Tilley in the center of the storm. In a novel that proves that “Kristy Woodson Harvey is (the) go-to for elevated beach reads” (People), they will each learn that with love, understanding—and a community theater production of Hello, Dolly!—sometimes life conspires to bring us just exactly where we belong.

This is Kristy’s 12th book, and probably my 8th time seeing her at an event. She talked to the sold-out group about the book and added some anecdotes about her family. As always, it was a great event with a fantastic lunch, and I enjoyed talking with the women at my table.

Buy Summer State of Mind at Amazon

MARY KAY ANDREWS - Road Trip

I saw Mary Kay Andrews in my hometown this week at an event put on by O’Henry Magazine, a local publication that highlights Greensboro, NC. Mary Kay’s book ROAD TRIP was published in June.

Determined to uncover the truth―and desperately in need of the money―the sisters set out on a journey to Ireland, tracing their family’s roots and the origins of the portrait. What begins as a search for answers soon becomes something deeper―a reckoning with the past, as they uncover secrets that span generations and reshape everything they thought they knew about their family.

With tensions simmering, the two hit the road and find themselves on twisty lanes, in colorful villages, at local pubs, and with handsome men whose gift of the gab is surpassed only by their charm.

Can Maeve and Therese actually survive the journey without killing each other? Join Mary Kay Andrews on a road trip that will entertain you for miles.

Mary Kay has written over 30 novels, and I have seen her several times in the past. She talked to the sold-out crowd about her family history and how it was an inspiration for this novel. She also told us all about the road trip she made to Ireland with her best friend to do research for this novel. As always, her talk was both informative and humorous. It was a great event with a fantastic luncheon provided, and it was great to talk about books with the women at my table.

Buy Road Trip at Amazon

NOTE: Reviews of both of these books will be available soon.

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west. She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.

Mini Reviews ~ May Libby Library Borrows

2026-06-03T06:30:00.000-04:00

by Donna Huber

I mostly read advance reader copies (ARCs) that I get through Netgalley or directly from the publisher/author, but I also get books from my library. Sometimes that means my brick-and-mortar library, but most of the time it means my digital library through Libby. It is usually my 2 book club reads for the month, but I also listen to a lot of audiobooks - more than I get through Netgalley. It is a way for me to catch up on older titles and sometimes to catch up on the ARCs that I didn't get to before they were published. I don't usually review the older titles or book club reads, but I realized I'm missing out on telling you about the great reads that are probably available at your library with little to no wait. Let me know if you enjoy this feature and I'll keep doing it monthly.

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Blackberry Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke

I'm slowly making my way through this series. I will often read the newest book out, so eventually I will catch up to where I started this series. I think I started with book 24; this one is book 17, so I don't have too many more to go. I think this is the only one that I've read (so far) that had a cliffhanger ending. There is usually a waitlist for the books in this series, so I'm not sure when I will get to find out what happened. It is a fun series with great recipes. I've tried a few of them and have the Lake Eden cookbook. If you are into cozy mysteries and like to binge-read series, this one is perfect for you. I listened to this book (and all of the backlist) and I really like the narrator, Suzanne Toren.

Buy Blackberry Pie Murder at Amazon

Murder at 30,000 Feet by Susan Walter

This is one of the ARCs I didn't get to before the book came out in February. When my library offered the audiobook, I put my name on the list. It was a great book to listen to. The plot jumps back and forth in the timeline and with POVs but I didn't have any trouble following it. Since I had an ARC for it, I did write a longer review, if you want to check it out. It is read by one of my favorite narrators, Scott Brick.

Buy Murder at 30,000 Feet at Amazon

I Cheerfully Refuse by Lief Enger

I listened to this for my post-apocalyptic book club, which meets on Thursday. It was an okay book. I kind of wonder if it was supposed to be like Homer's Iliad, as the main character does seem to be on an odyssey. I think there was a reference to the book early on as well. In the book description, it mentions "Gulliver-like challenges", which I definitely recognized. I think the discussion will be good.

Buy I Cheerfully Refuse at Amazon

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn

Another ARC, but it has been sitting on my eReader since last year. It is a predictable historical fiction story of a woman's journey to independence. Set in the 1920s, it involves the Titanic and a woman trapped in a loveless marriage of convenience (her husband's convenience). I liked the characters (or at least the characters you are supposed to like). I thought the beginning was a bit slow - probably because I didn't need the details of how trapped she was, as I've read plenty of books about women having few rights in the early 1900s. The second half of the book, after the sinking of the Titanic, was more enjoyable. Though even then, I knew what the eventual outcome would be. Heather Long does a great job as narrator. If you want to read more of my thoughts on the book, check out my longer review.

Buy The Lost Passenger at Amazon

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

It seemed like everyone was talking about this book. I understood why local people were reading it as Allen Levi has connections to my town (he graduated from the university here). Though his earlier books didn't seem to get the same attention locally. So it probably has more to do with the book being a Katie Couric Book Club pick and a Jen Hatmaker Book Club pick. Since Libby had the audiobook, I added my name to the list. At the time, there were only 1 or 2 copies, so I was something like 173 on the list. I'm part of a consortium, and quickly other libraries purchased it (now there are 113 copies), so my wait wasn't that long. It was a good book. I'm not sure it earned "best book of the year" status with me, but it has a good message that needs to be heard in today's world. There are a few surprises with the plot. It is kind of told in the slice-of-life vignette style that is popular in Japanese literature (kind of like Before the Coffee Gets Cold without the magical realism). David Morse reads the story.

Buy Theo of Golden at Amazon

Famous in a Small Town by Viola Shipman

I've been wanting to read this book since Susan reviewed it back in 2023. There was always a waitlist for it, and other books got in the way. Finally, the stars aligned, and I didn't have another audiobook, and there was no wait to borrow it. I love all the Viola Shipman books I've read and this one is really good. It made me want to visit Michigan more than any of the books. A couple of the places mentioned in the book really exists so I could go visit. It is a feel-good story. I put it on my recommendation list of 5 audiobooks for a road trip with a road trip as part of the plot. Nancy Peterson reads the story.

Buy Famous in a Small Town at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

The Jellyfish Problem by Tessa Yang ~ a Review

2026-06-02T06:30:00.000-04:00

by MK French

Dr. Jo Ness spends her days hidden away at an underfunded aquarium with her specimens and a draft of the jellyfish guide she and her best friend Aldo had been working on before he died seven months ago. Nadia is a friend she hadn't heard from in years contacts her with a grainy video of a giant jellyfish terrorizing a tiny island off the coast of Maine. Though it looks fake, Jo immediately flies across the country to help Nadia. When Jo arrives on Shattering Point, Nadia is nowhere to be found. The islanders have different stories about the jellyfish, and it's up to Jo to figure out what happened.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

June 2026; Berkley; 978-0593955826
audio, ebook, print (384 pages); fantasy

The story is as much about learning about the giant jellyfish that a child named Clementine as it is about Jo and her grief. Each chapter has an excerpt of the book she and Aldo had been working on, and the comments on it, as they left notes for each other, show the fondness as well as the knowledge they have. Jo is stuck in a holding pattern of grief, keeping people at bay so she's not hurt again, but the lure of a weird jellyfish draws her out of her office. Clementine has a strange property that soon becomes apparent: those who see her can't leave the island. Jo sees her and starts to investigate that odd property so the people can leave if they need to, which becomes more imperative when one person is medivaced out, and when the barrier holding the people in place seems to shrink.

The grief makes Jo see Aldo, who she eventually thinks is a yōkai, or a Japanese spirit. Half Japanese in heritage, she thinks it's a menacing force out to hurt her, and it's a great allegory for how grief seems to keep people isolated and small, hurting them from the inside. Jo gets to know people on the island and reconnects with Nadia. The solution to the jellyfish problem is not what the locals expect, and is one that Jo figures out with the help of others. I loved the message in this: making connections with other people helps solve problems, and eases the pain from grief. It's not pretty, and it's not easy, but everyone is connected, and it's the only way to move forward.

Buy The Jellyfish Problem at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

The Disaster Gay Detective Agency by Lev AC Rosen ~ a Review

2026-06-01T06:30:00.000-04:00

by MK French

Brandon meets a cute guy named Jon, but witnesses a murder when trying to return his phone, and sees said cute guy fleeing the scene. Brandon had hit it off with Jon and is afraid that he might be a murderer. His friends Ollie, Nicole, and Ian agree to help him identify the victim, track down Jon, and figure out the truth. The "lovesick puppy" investigation soon snowballs from there, and the four friends are in over their heads.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

June 2026; Poisoned Pen Press; 978-1464252853
audio, ebook, print (400 pages); cozy mystery

The meet-cute and hookup open the book, and we have varying POV chapters from Brandon and his friends. Their text messages are hilarious as they rib each other, but all are in a holding pattern of sorts. Jon's showing up, setting off the chain-reaction investigation, shakes up everything in their lives. They dig through what they know in the area and follow the steps all the true crime podcasts do, since Ollie is a fan. The situation is very quickly over their heads: the body disappeared within hours, a creepy guy shows up around them, potential video evidence goes missing, and the phone has no real information on it. The four friends are regular people with ordinary jobs and are not equipped for a murder investigation that possibly involves the mafia.

The four friends are utterly chaotic and messy, making questionable decisions that get compounded over time. They stumble through the novel largely because the bad guys don't actually want them dead. I love the friendship and snark in the group texts that we see, and the backtracking in scenes from different POV'S shows us more context for what's happening during those text chains and why they act the way they do. It's a fun and engaging read, having me laughing at how hopeless and hilarious they are.

Buy The Disaster Gay Agency at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

5 Audiobooks for Summer Road Trips

2026-05-31T06:30:00.000-04:00

by Donna Huber

Are you hitting the road this summer? I won't be taking my annual trip to the Smoky Mountains this summer, but I do have a series of day trips planned for that week. So I will need some good reads to listen to and I thought it would be fun to listen to books featuring a road trip or journey of some sort. Here's a list of audiobooks that I have listened to or am considering for my own trip.

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Famous in a Small Town by Viola Shipman

I'm listening to this book now - it took forever for the audiobook to be available at Libby when I wasn't already listening to something else. Famous in a Small Town would be great for a road trip with your girlfriends. It features two female friends who are roadtripping from St. Louis to Michigan. I'm a third of the way through it, and I'm loving the book.

Becky Thatcher came to Good Hart with her ride-or-die BFF to forget that she’s just turned forty with nothing to show for it. Ending up at the general store with Mary is admittedly not the beach vacation she expected, but the more the feisty octogenarian talks about destiny, the stronger Becky’s memories of her own childhood holidays become, and the strange visions over the lake she was never sure were real. As she works under Mary’s wing for the summer and finds she fits into this quirky community of locals, she starts to believe that destiny could be real, and that it might have something very special in mind for Becky… (Goodreads)

Check out Susan's review.

Buy Famous in a Small Town at Amazon

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

I found this book while looking for what I might listen to on my day trip vacation this summer. I won't be hiking the Appalachian Trail, but I do have a mountain hike planned, and the summit has views of the trail. The trips I have planned are focused on nature (I have 3 hikes and a garden ramble planned) so this might be a good book to listen to while I travel around that week.

The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America—majestic mountains, silent forests, sparkling lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaining guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way—and a couple of bears. (Goodreads)

Buy A Walk in the Woods at Amazon

Tough Luck by Sandra Dallas

Are you traveling out west? Tough Luck is set in 1863 Colorado, and two orphaned children are looking for their father, who left several years before in search of gold in Colorado. Though Haidie is a kid, she seems older (in a totally believable way, in which hardship makes a kid grow up fast). From my review last year, "Crossing the prairie in the 1860s often meant running across colorful characters, and there are plenty of colorful characters in the book. They had some really witty dialogue, and I found myself laughing out loud several times." This is a book that would be enjoyed by adults and older teens.

Patience is not one of Haidie’s virtues, and soon she and her brother make a break for it. Boots and Haidie, disguised as a boy, embark on a dangerous journey deep into Western territory. Along the way, Haidie learns fast not only how to handle mules, oxen, and greedy men, but also that you are better off in a community. Hers includes a card shark, independent “spinster” sisters, and a very fierce dog. Once she arrives in Colorado and finds out the truth about her father, Haidie will need all her new friends for a get-even plot worthy of The Sting. (Goodreads)

For another opinion, check out Susan's review.

Buy Tough Luck at Amazon

Road Trip by Mary Kay Andrews

What better book for a road trip than a book with Road Trip as the title? Of course, you can't go wrong with a Mary Kay Andrews summer book. It comes out Tuesday, so unless you are leaving today or tomorrow, you can include it with all your other road trip purchases. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Maeve and Therese Dunigan are sisters—but the two have been estranged for years. They could not be more Maeve, a rule-follower and Therese, a rebel. But when their mother's death brings the family back together, the two find that they have inherited a painting—one that could be worth millions and could save each of them from their respective wolves at the door. The only issue is, the painting might be a fake and the only way the can solve the problem is to find the original. This means a road trip—to Ireland, to their family roots, and to a mysterious crime that occurred years ago. With tensions simmering, the two hit the road and find themselves on twisty lanes, in colorful villages, at local pubs, and with handsome men whose gift of the gab is surpassed only by their charm. Can Maeve and Therese find the real painting, remove a family curse, solve a cold case, and actually survive without killing each other? (Goodreads)

Buy Road Trip at Amazon

Detour by Jeff Rake and Rob Hart

Want a futuristic road trip? This thrilling journey will take you to space and back. This book is pure entertainment and would be great for a long road trip.

A devoted family man, Ryan is reluctant to leave on this two-year expedition, yet with the encouragement of his loving wife—and an exorbitant paycheck guaranteeing lifetime care for their disabled son—he crews up and ventures into a new frontier.

But as the ship is circling Titan, it is rocked by an unexplained series of explosions. The crew works together to get back on course, and they return to Earth as heroes.

When the fanfare dies down, Ryan and his fellow astronauts notice that things are different. Some changes are good, such as lavish upgrades to their homes, but others are more disconcerting. Before the group can connect, mysterious figures start tailing them, and their communications are scrambled. (Goodreaads)

Read my review and MK's review.

Buy Detour at Amazon

If you need more recommendations, check out the 11 audiobooks I recommended last summer.

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

Celebrate International Jazz Day With These Books

2026-05-30T06:30:00.000-04:00

by Donna Huber

Today is International Jazz Day. Jazz has its roots in New Orleans, all the way back to the 1800s. My college days were spent swing dancing to the big band music of the 1930s and 1940s. Whether you prefer the smooth sounds of solo artists or the larger ensembles of the big band era, queue up your favorites while reading a book or two about the music style. If you aren't sure if jazz is your thing, the first book will help you appreciate it more. The other books feature some of my favorite artists. And if rather not read nonfiction, there's a couple of fiction novels set during the Jazz Age on the list too.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site.

How to Listen to Jazz by Ted Gioia

In How to Listen to Jazz, award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia presents a lively introduction to one of America's premier art forms. He tells us what to listen for in a performance and includes a guide to today's leading jazz musicians. From Louis Armstrong's innovative sounds to the jazz-rock fusion of Miles Davis, Gioia covers the music's history and reveals the building blocks of improvisation. A true love letter to jazz by a foremost expert, How to Listen to Jazz is a must-read for anyone who's ever wanted to understand and better appreciate America's greatest contribution to music. (Goodreads)

Buy How to Listen to Jazz at Amazon

3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool by James Kaplan

From the author of the definitive biography of Frank Sinatra, the story of how jazz arrived at the pinnacle of American culture in 1959, told through the journey of three towering artists—Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans—who came together to create the most famous and bestselling jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue

The myth of the 60s depends on the 1950s being the before times of conformity, segregation, straightness—The Lonely Crowd and The Organization Man. This all carries some truth, but it does nothing to explain how, in 1959, the great indigenous art form, jazz, reached the height of its power and popularity, led there by a number of Black geniuses so iconic they go by one name—Monk, Mingus, Rollins, Coltrane, and above all, Miles. 1959 saw Miles, Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the other members of Miles’s sextet come together to record what is widely considered the greatest jazz album of all time, and certainly the Kind of Blue.

3 Shades of Blue is James Kaplan’s magnificent account of the paths of the three giants Miles, Coltrane and Evans to the mountaintop of 1959 and their path on from there. It’s a book about music, and business, and race, and heroin, and the towns that gave jazz its home, from New York and LA to Philadelphia, Chicago and Kansas City. It’s an astonishing meditation on creativity and the strange hothouses that can produce its full flowering. It’s a book about the great forebears of this golden age, particularly Charlie Parker, and the people, like Ornette Coleman, who would take the music down strange new paths. And it’s about why this period has never been replicated, why the world of jazz most people visit is a museum to it.

But above all this is a book about three very different men—their struggles, their choices, their tragedies, their greatness. Bill Evans had a gruesome downward spiral, John Coltrane took the mystic’s path into a space far away from mainstream concerns. Miles had three or four sea changes in him before the end. The tapestry of their lives is, in Kaplan’s hands, an American Odyssey, with no direction home. It is also a masterpiece, a book about jazz that is as big as America. (Goodreads)

Buy 3 Shades of Blue at Amazon

Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song by Judith Tick

A landmark biography that reclaims Ella Fitzgerald as a major American artist and modernist innovator. Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) possessed one of the twentieth century’s most astonishing voices. In this first major biography since Fitzgerald’s death, historian Judith Tick offers a sublime portrait of this ambitious risk-taker whose exceptional musical spontaneity made her a transformational artist.

Becoming Ella Fitzgerald clears up long-enduring mysteries. Archival research and in-depth family interviews shed new light on the singer’s difficult childhood in Yonkers, New York, the tragic death of her mother, and the year she spent in a girls’ reformatory school―where she sang in its renowned choir and dreamed of being a dancer. Rarely seen profiles from the Black press offer precious glimpses of Fitzgerald’s tense experiences of racial discrimination and her struggles with constricting models of Black and white femininity at midcentury.

Tick’s compelling narrative depicts Fitzgerald’s complicated career in fresh and original detail, upending the traditional view that segregates vocal jazz from the genre’s mainstream. As Fitzgerald navigated the shifting tides between jazz and pop, she used her originality to pioneer modernist vocal jazz. Interpreting long-lost setlists, reviews from both white and Black newspapers, and newly released footage and recordings, the book explores how Ella’s transcendence as an improvisor produced onstage performances every bit as significant as her historic recorded oeuvre.

From the singer’s first performance at the Apollo Theatre’s famous “Amateur Night” to the Savoy Ballroom, where Fitzgerald broke through with Chick Webb’s big band in the 1930s, Tick evokes the jazz world in riveting detail. She describes how Ella helped shape the bebop movement in the 1940s, as she joined Dizzy Gillespie and her then-husband, Ray Brown, in the world-touring Jazz at the Philharmonic, one of the first moments of high-culture acceptance for the disreputable art form.

Breaking ground as a female bandleader, Fitzgerald refuted expectations of musical Blackness, deftly balancing artistic ambition and market expectations. Her legendary exploration of the Great American Songbook in the 1950s fused a Black vocal aesthetic and jazz improvisation to revolutionize the popular repertoire. This hybridity often confounded critics, yet throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Ella reached audiences around the world, electrifying concert halls, and sold millions of records. (Goodreads)

Buy Becoming Elle Fitzgerald at Amazon

The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America by Larry Tye

From the New York Times bestselling author of Satchel and Bobby Kennedy, a sweeping group portrait of the pioneers and longtime kings of jazz—Duke Ellington, Satchmo Armstrong, and Count Basie—who, born within a few years of one another, overcame racist exclusion and violence to become the most popular entertainers in America.

This is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro jazzmen who orchestrated the chords that throb at the soul of twentieth-century America.

What is far less known about these groundbreakers is that they were bound not just by their music or even the discrimination that they, like so many black performers of their day, routinely encountered. Each defied and ultimately overcame racial boundaries not by waging war over every slight, which never would have worked in that Jim Crow era, but by opening America’s eyes and souls to the magnificence of their music. In the process they wrote the soundtrack for the civil rights movement.

Based on more than 250 interviews, this exhaustively researched book brings alive the history of Black America in the early-to-mid 1900s through the singular lens of the country’s most gifted, engaging, and enduring African-American musicians. (Goodreads)

Buy The Jazzman at Amazon

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s. (Goodreads)

Buy The Great Gatsby at Amazon

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own.

Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true.

In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld. (Goodreads)

Check out MK's review.

Buy Gods of Jade and Shadow at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

Friday Freebie: Lakehouse Promises by Jodi Allen Brice

2026-05-29T06:30:00.000-04:00

It's Friday in the summertime. If you have weekend plans at the pool, beach, lake, or even your front porch, then you are going to need a good book to read. And a free book is even better.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. The ebook was free at the time of posting. Please check the price before purchasing.

Carolina Johnson had the life everyone wanted. A solid marriage of twenty years. A gorgeous house in the most desirable neighborhood. Friends at the country club. Yet, somehow, she always felt the other shoe would drop.

And drop it did! When she discovered her husband’s affair with a girl half his age. Even more devastating, she’s pregnant.

Now divorced, she has to start over in a lake house with too many issues to list, a neighbor who doesn’t like her and zero friends. To make matters worse, her outrageously rude former mother-in-law shows up and expects to spend a few days.

At forty years of age, Carolina has to start her life over from scratch and draw on the last vestiges of strength she has to make a life for herself.

A new life, new problems, and new relationships…can Carolina find out what matters the most in life and discover what true love really looks like? Or will she refuse to let go of the past and the bitterness that threatens to steal her happiness? (Goodreads)

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If you enjoy this book, there are 4 more books in the Laurel Cove series, but they aren't free.

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn ~ a Review

2026-05-28T06:30:00.000-04:00

by Donna Huber

Marrying above your social class can come with unexpected consequences, as Elinor Coombes discovers when she is swept into a fairy-tale marriage with the son of an aristocratic English family. She soon realizes that it was the appeal of her father’s hard-earned wealth rather than her pretty face that attracted her new husband and his family. Curtailed by rigid social rules that include being allowed to see her nanny-raised infant son for only moments each day, Elinor resigns herself to a lonely future. So a present from her father—tickets for the maiden voyage of a luxurious new ship called the Titanic—offers a welcome escape from the cold, controlling atmosphere of her husband’s ancestral home, and some precious time with her little son, Teddy.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

February 2025; Ballantine Books; 978-0593973035
audio, ebook, print (384 pages); historical fiction

The Lost Passenger has been sitting in my TBR for more than a year so by the time I picked it up to read, I had forgotten what it was about. Within a few pages, I knew exactly what it was going to be about.

Between the title and the mention of the Titanic, I knew that Elinor would use the sinking of the ship to change her identity (like Kate Winslet's character in the movie). If you loved that movie, then you should pick up this book.

I was hoping it would be like the television show Downton Abbey. And in some minor ways, it was.

The Coombes are a titled family with a large estate, but like most old families in the 1920s, they are discovering that they are living beyond their means. Instead of tightening their belts (or better managing the estate), they look for an heiress to marry their son. After all, who wouldn't want to be a Countess one day? Of course, the only ones with money are the ones they would rather not associate with: self-made men of business.

Elinor has grown up as a princess, not in title but in nurturing. Her mother died when she was 15 and her father indulged her, not in a bad way but in a way that didn't prepare her for the realities of 1920s women. The only thing she knows about romantic relationships is what she's read in books by Jane Austen and the Brontes.

Life is awful for Elinor after she marries, but it is so stereotypical that it felt like I was being beaten over the head with how bad it was for women in those times. I was like, "Can I just skip this part?" It wasn't enjoyable to read, and it made the novel feel like it was moving slowly.

I wish I could say it got better when they arrived on the ship. It did get a bit more interesting, but then again, there was so much stereotyping that the book just felt way too predictable.

I really wanted to like this book. Elinor is a sympathetic character. It just wasn't unique enough; it didn't shed light on anything new about the period. The plot was so predictable that I knew how it would end almost from the beginning. I wanted something a bit more original.

There are people plenty of people who love this book. It has a 4.25-star average on Goodreads. It just wasn't the book for me.

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Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

When No One Else Will by Amanda Skenandore ~ a Review

2026-05-27T06:30:00.000-04:00

by Susan Roberts

Based on the true story of an illegal women’s clinic at the center of a high-profile trial in 1940s Chicago and the nurse who risked her safety and freedom to work there, a thought-provoking, powerfully timely novel of courage, sisterhood, and women’s healthcare.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

May 2026; Kensington; 978-1496741707
audio, ebook, print (368 pages); historical fiction

This well-written and well-researched book is about an illegal abortion clinic in Chicago in the 1940s. It’s based on a real clinic of the time, and most of the characters are based on real people. The book is thought-provoking, and even though it’s still a controversial subject, the author does a fantastic job of presenting the truth on both sides of the issue.

Mimi was trained as a nurse and is now the stay-at-home mom of two young children living with her husband and his mother in Chicago. Her husband had been a star baseball player, but an injury ended his career. He keeps hoping for a comeback and refuses to look for any other type of work. She decides that she’ll have to go to work, and even though she has training, hospitals are reluctant to hire married women because, of course, everyone at this time felt that women should stay at home with their families. After no luck finding a job, a friend tells her about a clinic that is hiring. When she finds out that the clinic performs illegal abortions, she doesn’t want to take the job because it goes against her religious beliefs. However, she soon realizes that she needs the job to keep her family from losing their home. As she becomes more involved and gets to know the women who are having abortions, she becomes much more understanding of their plight and their need to end their pregnancies. As the police begin to crack down on illegal clinics, Mimi has to decide if it’s worth risking her family to keep her job and how far she’s willing to go to help women who are desperate for the clinic’s services.

This is a character-driven book, and it was interesting to see the way that Mimi changed throughout the book – from a stay-at-home mom to a woman willing to risk her freedom to help other women. From a woman who felt that she had no choices to a woman who realized that she had the freedom to help other women and that she was stronger than believes herself to be.

The author did an excellent job at presenting both sides of the controversial subject of abortion without coming down strongly on one side or the other. This book is emotional, powerful, and an honest look at an ethical dilemma that still faces many women today. It leaves the reader with a lot to think about on both sides of the abortion issue.

“…we must know our past to fully understand our present, navigate what lies ahead and build a better future.”

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Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west. She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.