Monthly Archives: June 2026

Book Review: A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery by Kate Khavari

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Saffron Everleigh Mystery #5

Published June 9, 2026 by Crooked Lane Books

Saffron Everleigh is newly engaged and full of optimism as she sets off on the adventure of a lifetime for any a research expedition. She sails to newly formed Turkey, with her fiancé, Alexander Ashton, and a bevy of fellow researchers under the watchful and reformed eye of Dr. Henry. With only two other women on board, Saffron soon finds she is right back in the same infuriatingly misogynistic environment that marked the earliest days of her career. Only this time, Saffron is determined to show everyone, including Alexander, that she can handle the trials of an expedition.

And trials she has in spades. Before the expedition team has even arrived, Saffron has managed to find an enemy in historian Joseph Clark, who frequently torments the assistant that Saffron has taken under her wing, Martin Neill. But when Martin unexpectedly dies, Saffron is targeted as the main suspect.

Falling ruins, venomous snakes, and mysteriously blocked passages are the least of Saffron’s worries. With unexpected help from a familiar face, Alexander and Saffron have to work fast to prove not only that Saffron is innocent, but that they both have nothing to do with a larger conspiracy at play among the expedition crew.

My Thoughts:

A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery is the fifth installment of Khavari’s Saffron Eveleigh Mystery series, and I am delighted I chose to pick this one up. When I read that Saffron Everleigh was finally going on her first expedition and sailed to the newly formed Turkey, I knew the story would be good. I’m fascinated with the history of the land and the archaeological discoveries, and with the blend of a murder mystery makes it all the more mysterious!

The story builds slowly in the beginning-in a good way- and half way through things really picked up and I couldn’t put this book down!  

I really enjoyed all the characters in this story, including the detective Polat, even though he was a thorn at Eveleigh’s and Alexander’s side. Polat was determined to get his man-if you will-with really only speculation to go on.

This story had a wonderful blend of culture, elements of suspense, social constraints that added depth to the mystery and the possible motives of who murdered the young man, Martin Neill. I must confess, I was sad that it had to be him. I really felt his loss in this story.

Stephanie

I obtained an ARC from the publishers through NetGalley for an honest review.

Book Review: A Wartime Promise for the East End Girls by Jean Fullerton

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The East End Girls #3

Published  May 29, 2026 by @Bookouture

East London, 1943: As air raid sirens wail, can the East End Girls join forces to protect their city and the people they love?

Nell Reilly’s blonde curls and piercing blue eyes might look angelic, but she is ready to fight with everything she has for a better future. Brought up in London’s tough East End, she is fiercely determined to keep the promise she made to her little sister Jo to build a new life for them one day. Until a chance meeting changes everything…

Absorbed in her work with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, the last thing Nell is looking for is love, but tall, broad-shouldered Tom Hunter stops her in her tracks. Tom is her wayward brother Frank’s new right-hand man in his black-market operations, and Nell knows from bitter experience the risks of falling for a man like that. But when she witnesses his unexpected kindness and sees how he cares for Jo, she realises that Tom has made an impression she can’t forget, no matter how hard she tries…

But Tom has a secret, one he’s finding harder and harder to keep. And when Nell finally discovers that he is an undercover police officer, she also learns something that makes her heart his cover is blown and he’s in terrible danger.

As London prepares for another night of air raids, Nell races through the blackout to find Tom and warn him. Can she reach him in time to save his life? And as bombs crash down over the East End, will their love survive to fight another day?

My Thoughts:

I was delighted the author included the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in her story! They were part of British Royal Air Force during the Second World War and their supportive roles across the British Empire is fascinating to read about.

A Wartime Promise for the East End Girls also centers around the black market in East London during the war and Nell’s family is caught right in the middle of it. Nell doesn’t approve of her family’s criminal activities and wants a better life for her sister and herself. Nell and Jo’s situation is precarious and the sisters must make a decision that could break their family apart.

Jean Fullerton certainly did her research for this book, and it shows through her use of the unique dialect during that era.

There was also a little romance in this story and it was well balanced for the story and was heartfelt to read about.

The style of language, the well-researched historical elements really put me in the time and place. I enjoyed this story so much and I was fully engaged in the character’s lives.

A wartime story for the ages!

Stephanie

I obtained a review copy from the publishers through NetGalley for an honest review.

Reader’s Log 073: Book Highlights

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There are two fiction stories I wanted to highlight today, and I thought I would share how it is going.

The two books are “A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery” by Kate Khavari and “Dear Missing Friend” by Susan McGuirk. I am enjoying the corresponding format of “Dear Missing Friend” a lot more than I thought I would. That is not to say I haven’t enjoyed the letter written style of telling a story before, it’s just that sometimes, I feel I’m not getting the whole picture-if you will, and the bouncing back and forth can feel a bit disjointed at times. That said, I’m glad I chose this story to read and review. I like Susan McGuirk’s writing style.

Yesterday, I started “A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery” and previously I read and reviewed the first book “A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons,” and I was a bit critical of some of the elements in the story, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. Skipping a few books in the series, I’m hoping I will enjoy this story I’m currently reading. I will probably state in my review that I’ve only read two books in the series to be fair with my critic.

Below are the two books I will be starting next and I can’t wait to read and review them!

Be sure to read my latest review “The Last Fatal Hour” by Jan Matthews!

What are the books you are currently reading and expecting to get to next?

Stephanie

The Museum of Lost Dreams by Christine Nolfi

Expected Publication June 23, 2026 by Lake Union Publishing

When Bess Rollins’s parents die in a tragic accident, she is forced to abandon her dream job overseas. After three years away, she returns to her family’s estate in the Finger Lakes, a veritable monument to her brilliant late grandmother, and a reminder of the wreckage Bess left behind.

There’s the guilt over leaving her younger twin siblings, Casey and Caleb, and she struggles to rebuild a bond that may be irrevocably broken. Amid the grief, resentment still looms toward her reckless and self-indulgent mother and father. And then there’s Luke Monticelli, the devoted man Bess walked out on but never stopped loving.

Haunted by her regrets at every turn, Bess soon realizes that the past is far more complicated than she ever knew. With each secret that she uncovers about her family, Bess comes closer to healing their wounds, seizing a second chance at love, and fulfilling dreams that can lift them all—right here at home, where she belongs.

The Museum of Second Chances by Jo Leevers

Expected Publication July 1, 2026 by Lake Union Publishing

Every morning, Evelyn Silver walks the shoreline before the rest of Portheast wakes, gathering what the tide leaves behind. Broken cups. Lost trinkets. Objects others have discarded. In her small Museum of Maritime Curiosities, each one earns its place—because to Evelyn, every forgotten thing deserves to have its story told.

At the heart of the museum lies her most precious a fragment of Cornish lace, found pinned to her blanket when she was abandoned as a newborn. For over sixty years, she has kept it close, hoping someone might one day recognize it and tell her who she really is.

So, when the local council threatens to close the museum, Evelyn stands to lose far more than her livelihood. Forced out of her solitude, she rallies the community around the museum’s curious collection—and as the objects begin to give up their secrets, lives start to intertwine in ways nobody expected.

Because sometimes, the most precious things aren’t lost at all. They’re simply waiting to be claimed.

Book Review: The Last Fatal Hour by Jan Matthews

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Published April 7, 2026 by Coffee&ink Press

For Leona Gladney, former woman soldier of the Union Army, life goes on despite the echoes of the battlefield in her heart. Now a suffragist and budding socialite in Brooklyn Heights, she yearns for a literary life and family. But her husband’s business partner embezzles their money and disappears.

The society matrons of Brooklyn Heights turn a gimlet eye on Leona after the suspicious death of a wealthy friend. Leona will do anything to find justice for her friend and clear her own name, but she finds only secrets, seances and murder.

My Thoughts:

Leona Gladney discovered her dear friend Daphne Van Wyn has died under suspicious circumstances and Leona became a suspect. Despite the lead detective and her husband warning to stay out of the investigation, she was determined to find out who murdered her dear friend. Furthermore, Leona was quickly shunned by Brooklyn society, which made it all the more difficult for her to solve her friend’s death and she found herself in serious danger.

There is so much more to this story, including her husband’s claim that his business partner has stolen their money, which added to the plot. There was also great character development and each character added so much depth and intrigue. Including Leona’s grandfather who was a renowned poet. Leona was also a writer and she preferred to write anonymously, which was usually common in those days.

What first captured by attention about this story was that Leona was a former union soldier in the American Civil War. Historically, women were known to have fought in the civil war and they disguised themselves with the uniforms and used male aliases. There were many reasons for them to do so including staying close to their love ones, escaping from whatever life they were running from and so on… I was intrigued to see how Jan Matthews would explore the aftermath of a female soldier’s life post war. Did Leona experience post-traumatic stress? What were the battles like for her? I wanted to know and Matthews portrayed Leona’s experience with vivid realities of war and the struggle of overcoming such a traumatic time.

A wonderfully written historical mystery with many elements weaved in that takes you to time and place. A truly atmospheric mystery.

Stephanie

I received a review copy from the publishers through NetGalley for an honest review.