Reading Between the Wines

On the first day of vacationing on Prince Edward Island Lucy meets local man Felix and enjoys an unforgettable night with him. When Lucy’s best friend Bridget joins her, B (Lucy) and Wolf (Felix) discover he is Bridget’s younger brother. And definitely not to be pursued. Carley Fortune’s novel published in May 2024 then jumps to the present day. Lucy travels from Toronto to PEI annually and mainta...

This highly-engaging and cleverly-written novel by Ashley Elston follows the complicated life of Lucca Marino aka Evie Porter as she carries out various sketchy projects for a Mr. Smith and his not-so-lawful organization. The storyline takes us through the unsavory projects which Evie was contracted to complete. Evie happens to fall for Ryan, the object of one of her investigations, until doppelga...

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes? Jojo Moyes’ 2023 novel helps answer that question. Nisha Cantor, a wealthy globetrotter, and Sam Kemp, an overly stressed woman with an awful job, accidentally pick up each other’s gym bag. Inside Nisha’s bag was a beautiful pair of 6-inch Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, which makes Sam feel more confident when she wears the...

This intriguing 2022 novel by Nikki Erlick focuses on the age-old question of how much time one has to live. The tale begins when everyone in the world over 22 years of age receives a small wooden box with the message: The measure of your life lives within. Every person found a piece of string in the box correlating to how long they will live. We follow the lives of eight New Yorkers and the reper...

This hilarious novel by Richard Osman was made into a Netflix series with an all-star cast. Elizabeth, Ron, Joyce, and Ibrahim are 80-year olds living at Cooper’s Chase, a retirement village in Kent, who solve cold cases as a hobby. But now, they have a live investigation when Ian and Tony, who are involved in expanding the village, die under suspicious circumstances. As the mystery progresses, th...

In this novel by Nina Simon, we explore a fun whodunit featuring a trio of female amateur sleuths, three generations worth! The storyline has grandmother Lana, mother Beth and daughter Jack Rubicon trying to prove Jack’s innocence when she is suspected in a murder. Enter Hal Rhoads, his children Martin and Diana, Ricardo Cruz and Victor Morales and a land trust. When both Rhoads and Cruz die in th...

Gareth Brown’s 2024 novel brings us a little sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, action, and time travel along with crazy characters and lots of drama. Cassie Andrews, a book seller in New York City, receives a magical book from her favorite customer who happened to die in the bookshop. The doors in this wonderful book take her and her best friend Izzy to wherever they wish. They encounter numerous people w...

Alex Michaelides has again written a complex novel with numerous twists and turns and a crazy ending. Ex-movie star Lana Farrar takes her husband Jason and teen son Leo to her private Greek island for Easter. Also included were friends Elliot and Kate, and housekeeper Agathi. The story is told by an unreliable narrator and unfolds across five acts - like a Greek tragedy. Just wait until the end! W...

Taking us back into 1942 France during the German occupation, this historical novel by Kristin Harmel was published in 2020. Eva Traube and her mother were escaping Poland through France to Switzerland after her father was sent to Auschwitz. Eva assisted a French underground forgery operation by creating new names and papers for children smuggled into Switzerland. Within encoded text, she and fell...

In this 2021 novel by Allison Larkin we follow the story of April Sawicki, a young songwriter and waitress born in a small town in New York. Abandoned by her mother and mistreated by her father, she left her cafe job at age 16 to look for a better life. From New York to Florida to North Carolina, April assembles her own family that she always wanted. We enjoyed a Dr. Konstantin Frank semi-dry Ries...

Chris Pavone’s 2022 novel is an international thriller set in Portugal. Newlyweds Ariel Price and John Wright are combining a honeymoon with his consulting appointments in Lisbon. The storyline centers around Ariel’s desperate search for her husband and the bureaucratic red tape she goes through to be able to provide the ransom. As Ariel uses her past encounters to finance the ransom, some surpris...

Spare gives us an intimate look into the personal life of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. Broken into three parts, his candid self-examination offers insights into the Royal Family and America’s fascination with them. The loss of his mother as a child of 12 deeply affected him. As a “spare” entity to his family, he chose a military path at age 21. His experiences while serving in South Africa were t...

The 2021 novel is the fictionalized story of Belle da Costa Green, a woman of color who “passed” as white in high society in the early 1900s. Serving as J.P. Morgan's personal librarian, Green acquired rare manuscripts and artifacts from around the world, despite her struggles against racial inequality and injustice. Her passion for enriching J.P. Morgan's collection was instrumental in th...

This enjoyable novel’s theme presents the discrepancies and challenges for professional women in the 1950s and 1960s. The main character is Elizabeth Zott, a chemist who is released from her doctoral degree and fired from a scientific institute. Follow her as she negotiates friendships, falls in love, has a daughter, and stars in a television cooking show. We enjoy a 2018 Inglenook Cabernet Franc...

What happened to Agatha Christie during the eleven days she disappeared in December 1926? Writer Nina de Gramont creatively interprets the missing days in her 2022 novel. Agatha leaves home when husband Archie says he wants to marry his mistress Nan O’Dea. Inspector Frank Chilton searches and finds Agatha after she meets Finbarr, who is in love with Nan. Flashbacks take us to Nan’s time in a Catho...

On October 30, 2022, Jen Brotherhood, a successful lawyer living in Liverpool, witnesses her son Todd committing a murder. The Garda are called, and he is arrested. The next morning, Jen finds herself back in time before the murder has happened. She then is able to time-travel back as far as 2002 to gain clues to explain the October 30 circumstances. In the present day, she lives with her husband...

When Jess heads to Paris to meet her half brother Ben, she finds an empty apartment and a building full of neighbors. Antoine is mean, dark and brooding. Jacques and Sophie own a wine distribution business and seem to run the show. Mimi is obsessed with Ben. Nick’s friendship was the whole reason Ben even moved into the apartment in the first place. Where is Ben? Who has reason to want him gone? J...

In 1954, Emmett Watson is rounded up from juvenile detention to take custody of his 8 year old kid brother, Billy, when their dad unexpectedly dies. Two ne’er-do-well juvenile delinquents, Dutchess and Wooly, hide in the trunk and make their escape too. One car and three different ideas of where they should head make for trouble, and Emmett and Billy soon find themselves without their only possess...

Returning to her houseboat, Hannah Hill is met by a high school student she’s never seen who hands her a letter simply reading ‘Protect Her.’ Her husband, Owen, then disappears leaving his daughter Bailey in her care. Why did he run away? Why is a US Marshall poking around? Did Owen commit corporate crimes? Bailey and Hannah travel from Sausalito, CA to Austin, TX in search of answers. When a shad...

Sewanee Chester’s life trajectory changes forever when she loses her eye in an accident. Luckily, her acting skills translated beautifully to audio narration and her eye patch didn’t get in her way. Adaku, Sewanee’s best friend, follows through with their longtime dream to become famous actresses together on her own, with her blessing. When famous author June French’s dying wish is for Swannee to...

Lenni was only 17 when she was brought to Glasgow’s hospital for medically hopeless cases and met Margo, who was 83. They got to know each other in art class, and when they realized they had 100 years between them, they decided to commemorate this fact by creating 100 pieces of art together while telling the stories of their lives. These friends will have you considering what makes a life well liv...

In 1906, Sophie Whalen found an ad seeking a wife and mother and took the chance at a fresh start in San Francisco. Martin, her new traveling salesman husband, and Kat, her silent, step-daughter, abruptly began a life together that soon unraveled when a pregnant woman named Belinda came knocking at their door recognizing Martin’s photo as her husband. Before the matter can be settled, the historic...

Meet Joy and Stan Delaney, parents of 4 adult children and Australian tennis trainers extraordinaire. Everything’s great, except that the kids won’t produce children for their mom to dote on or tennis awards for their dad to be proud of and a mysterious damsel in distress shows up on their doorstep and moves into their lives. The facade slowly caves in on itself while we watch the outbursts, walki...

When Dolly Parton and James Patterson come together to write a novel you might expect a country-western romp with a mysterious back story, and you wouldn’t be disappointed with Run Rose Run. Annie Lee Keys is running away from Louisiana like her hair’s on fire, and she is getting to Nashville by hook, crook or stolen 18 wheeler! Ethan Blake sees her singing for her supper in the Cat’s Paw Saloon a...

Caroline has the misfortune of going on her 10th anniversary trip alone to England, after discovering her husband’s affair. She goes mudlarking, and she soon discovers a centuries old apothecary vial. This vial is from a special apothecary owned by Nella who created tinctures and potions. When Eliza’s boss comes to Nella’s shop, Eliza finds herself with time and curiosity about this tiny apothecar...