The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

The Briar Club  My Rating: 4.8

Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; policeman’s daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare. Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. 

When a shocking act of violence tears the house apart, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: who is the true enemy in their midst? Capturing the paranoia of the McCarthy era and evoking the changing roles for women in postwar America, The Briar Club is an intimate and thrilling novel of secrets and loyalty put to the test.

The Briar Club surprised me in the best way. Going into it, I expected a light, perhaps charming read centered around a group of women living together—but what I found was a novel with real substance and unexpected emotional depth.

Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different boarder at the Briar Club, giving us a rich tapestry of voices, secrets, and personal struggles. These rotating viewpoints not only kept the story fresh, but allowed the reader to connect deeply with each woman’s experience. I especially loved how each chapter closed with a recipe, giving the book a cozy, almost communal feel—like you were part of the club too.

Despite its warm tone and inviting structure, the novel doesn't shy away from serious themes. Set against the backdrop of the 1950s, it explores the oppressive weight of McCarthyism, the paranoia around Communism, and the broader cultural and political tensions of the era. The contrast between the light, personal moments and the heavy historical context made for a compelling read.

The Briar Club is a book that manages to be both accessible and thought-provoking. It offers friendship, mystery, and history in equal measure—and leaves you with a few recipes to try when you're done.

Honor by Thrity Umrigar

 Honor by Thrity Umrigar My Rating: 5.0

The story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide. 

Indian American journalist Smita has returned to India to cover a story, but reluctantly: long ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of Meena—a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and her own family for marrying a Muslim man—Smita comes face to face with a society where tradition carries more weight than one’s own heart, and a story that threatens to unearth the painful secrets of Smita’s own past. While Meena’s fate hangs in the balance, Smita tries in every way she can to right the scales. She also finds herself increasingly drawn to Mohan, an Indian man she meets while on assignment. But the dual love stories of Honor are as different as the cultures of Meena and Smita themselves: Smita realizes she has the freedom to enter into a casual affair, knowing she can decide later how much it means to her. 

In this tender and evocative novel about love, hope, familial devotion, betrayal, and sacrifice, Thrity Umrigar shows us two courageous women trying to navigate how to be true to their homelands and themselves at the same time.

I’ve loved Thrity Umrigar’s writing for years, and Honor is yet another testament to her incredible gift. As with her other novels, India is not just a setting—it’s a character in itself. The throbbing pulse of the city, the clash of modernity with deep-rooted traditions, the painful realities of poverty and the caste system, all unfold beside the country’s undeniable beauty and spirit.

The plot is rich and layered, and the character development is nothing short of stunning. Umrigar has a way of making you feel everything—grief, hope, outrage, and love. I found myself completely absorbed, drinking in every word, eagerly turning each page.

Honor is a heart-wrenching story, but one that’s told with grace and power. It’s a book that will stay with me, and it’s a rare 5-star read from me—fully earned.

Husbands and Lovers by Beatriz Williams

Husbands and Lovers My Rating: 4.7

New England, 2022 Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads—her ten-year-old son, Sam, had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning from a toxic death cap mushroom, leaving him fighting for his life. Now, searching for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, Mallory’s forced to confront two harrowing secrets from her past: her mother’s adoption from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, and her own all-consuming summer romance fourteen years earlier with her childhood best friend, Monk Adams— one of the world’s most beloved singer-songwriters—a fairy tale cut short by a devastating betrayal. 

Cairo, 1951 After suffering tragedy beyond comprehension in the war, Hungarian refugee Hannah Ainsworth has forged a respectable new life for herself—marriage to a wealthy British diplomat with a coveted posting in glamorous Cairo. But a fateful encounter with the enigmatic manager of a hotel bristling with spies leads to a passionate affair that will reawaken Hannah’s longing for everything she once lost. As revolution simmers in the Egyptian streets, a pregnant Hannah finds herself snared in a game of intrigue between two men . . . and an act of sacrifice that will echo down the generations.

At first, I was a little worried this was going to turn into a fluffy romance without much depth. Thankfully, it didn’t go there — or at least it stopped just short. Instead, the book offered two strong and engaging storylines that kept me hooked. Overall, it was a very enjoyable read, and I appreciated that it had more substance than I initially expected. Very enjoyable.

The All Of It by Jeanette Haien

 The All Of It My Rating: 3.0

While fishing in an Irish salmon stream one rainy morning, Father Declan de Loughry reflects on the recent deathbed confession of his parishioner, Kevin Dennehy. I won’t reveal the spoiler, but Kevin’s widow, Enda, shares the deeper story of her life — finally confiding "the all of it."

Haien’s novel is a quiet, intimate exploration of conversations and moral dilemmas. If you go into it expecting a fast-moving plot or deep character arcs, you might be disappointed. The All of It is, at its heart, about two people grappling with secrets, faith, and forgiveness in a series of thoughtful, sometimes meandering conversations.

The beauty of the novel lies in its quietness — the rainy Irish setting, the slow unfolding of Enda’s story, and the way Father Declan wrestles internally with what he hears. It's not a novel of action; it’s a novel of reflection. 

Readers who enjoy a contemplative, dialogue-driven story will find much to appreciate here. I really enjoyed the writing but wasn't invested in the characters. Those looking for a more traditional narrative structure, or a strong sense of character development, may find themselves wanting more. Still, Haien’s careful prose and the novel’s meditative tone make it a memorable (if understated) read. Haien’s intimate novel of conversations and dilemmas

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

The Warmth of Other Suns  My Rating: 3.7

Wilkerson presents a definitive and dramatic account of one of the great untold stories of American history: the Great Migration of six million Black citizens who fled the South for the North and West in search of a better life, from World War I to 1970. 

Wilkerson tells this interwoven story through the lives of three protagonists: Ida Mae Gladney, a sharecropper’s wife, who in 1937 fled Mississippi for Chicago; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, and Robert Foster, a surgeon who left Louisiana in 1953 in hopes of making it in California. 

Wilkerson captures their first treacherous cross-country journeys by car and train and their new lives in colonies in the New World. This captures an “unrecognized immigration” within our own land. 

While I respect the significance of this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and acknowledge the importance of the story it tells, I found the execution lacking in key areas.

Although the core story is powerful and deeply important, the book would have benefited greatly from stronger editing. It wandered into too many side storylines, many of which pulled focus away from the three main characters — characters I wanted to know more deeply. Instead of rich character development, the narrative often got bogged down in excessive backstory, repetition, and meandering detours.

At several points, I found myself slipping into “skim mode,” wishing the story had been told with more conciseness and clarity.

There's no doubt that the events portrayed are horrific and should never be forgotten, but I believe that a more streamlined and focused approach could have made the novel even more impactful. 

Assassin's Fate (Fitz and the Fool #3) by Robin Hobb

Assassin's Fate 

My Rating:  5.0

Fitz’s young daughter, Bee, has been kidnapped by the Servants, a secret society whose members not only dream of possible futures but use their prophecies to add to their wealth and influence. Bee plays a crucial part in these dreams—but just what part remains uncertain. 

As Bee is dragged by her sadistic captors across half the world, Fitz and the Fool, believing her dead, embark on a mission of revenge that will take them to the distant island where the Servants reside—a place the Fool once called home and later called prison. It was a hell the Fool escaped, maimed and blinded, swearing never to return. 

For all his injuries, however, the Fool is not as helpless as he seems. He is a dreamer too, able to shape the future. And though Fitz is no longer the peerless assassin of his youth, he remains a man to be reckoned with—deadly with blades and poison, and adept in Farseer magic. And their goal is simple: to make sure not a single Servant survives their scourge.

Robin Hobb is solely responsible for me spending the past few months utterly consumed by her world. I found myself waking up in the middle of the night thinking about her characters—sometimes even reaching for my Kindle to read “just a few pages” before going back to sleep. Her writing is that immersive.

She made me fall deeply in love with so many characters, only to ruthlessly destroy them (emotionally, physically... sometimes both). And the dread—oh, the dread! That creeping sense of doom she so masterfully builds had me bracing for impact constantly, and yet I couldn’t stop reading.

Now that I’ve finished the series, I find myself in the dreaded book limbo—missing the characters, the world, the emotional rollercoaster... and honestly? I wouldn’t change a single minute of it. If you’re ready to be completely wrecked—in the best possible way—this series is worth every page.

Fool's Quest (Fitz and the Fool #2) by Robin Hobb

 My Rating: 5.0

The harrowing adventures of FitzChivalry Farseer and his enigmatic friend the Fool continue in Robin Hobb’s triumphant follow-up to Fool’s Assassin. But Fool’s Quest is more than just a sequel. With the artistry and imagination her fans have come to expect, Hobb builds masterfully on all that has gone before, revealing devastating secrets and shocking conspiracies that cast a dark shadow over the history of Fitz and his world—a shadow that now stretches to darken all future hope. 

 Long ago, Fitz and the Fool changed the world, bringing back the magic of dragons and securing both the Farseer succession and the stability of the kingdom. Or so they thought. But now the Fool is near death, maimed by mysterious pale-skinned figures whose plans for world domination hinge upon the powers the Fool may share with Fitz’s own daughter. 

Distracted by the Fool’s perilous health, and swept up against his will in the intrigues of the royal court, Fitz lets down his guard . . . and in a horrible instant, his world is undone and his beloved daughter stolen away by those who would use her as they had once sought to use the Fool—as a weapon. 

But FitzChivalry Farseer is not without weapons of his own. An ancient magic still lives in his veins. And though he may have let his skills as royal assassin diminish over the years, such things, once learned, are not so easily forgotten. 

Now enemies and friends alike are about to learn that nothing is more dangerous than a man who has nothing left to lose.

Hobb can build suspense like no one else. I loved, loved, loved this book so much but don't want to write about it to prevent spoilers. Just read it. I am so sad their is only one more book in this series but also can't wait to read it next!