Happy Tuesday! Today I just was not feeling the TTT topic — bucket list books. I have done a couple of these posts and didn’t really want to do the research on books and destinations, so instead I am sharing the latest additions to my NetGalley Shelf. A few of these have already released, so I need to get going on my reading. There is also a good mix of genres — I hope you find one to love.
Happy Tuesday and happy St. Patrick’s Day! Today TTT bloggers are sharing books with green covers. I am hitting the review archives and my TBR shelves to bring books featuring greens of all shades. Some of the covers have more green than others, but I felt that green is what first strikes the eye.
Today’s topic is fitting not only for the holiday, but because my yard is GREEN! It’s cold today (for central Georgia) but flowers are in bloom and the trees are full of new leaves. Such a beautiful day! I hope you have one too, plus some reading inspiration.
Today’s TTT topic, Ordinal Numbers in book titles, looks easy on the surface. It proved harder than I thought though. There are lots of books with first and second in the title, but beyond that there are not many others. Plus, I wanted to include books that I have either read or that I want to read. I ended up adding a few books that my husband has enjoyed (the Joel Rosenberg titles) as well. I hope you find a book that interests you!
Happy Tuesday! TTT‘s topic today is bookish quotes. I regularly participate in First Line Friday hosted by Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower. What a great way to introduce new books to readers! So today, I am including some of the best first lines from the past few months. I hope you find a book to pique your interest.
I deeply regret to confirm that your son Lance Corporal Mark James Taylor died in Vietnam 1 November 1968.
All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee
Viola Chambers had always wondered at what point in the dying process a person understood they weren’t long for this world, and now she’d give anything to unlearn it.
The Bitter End Birding Society by Amanda Cox
“The sea never gives back what it claims . . .”
Deadly Currents by Elizabeth Goddard
A shrill sound pierced the night, sweeping through the house like the unearthly wail of a banshee.
Dragonfly Ashes by C. C. Warrens
Lizbeth Bennet clutched the handle of the wicker basket with hope.
The Heart of Bennet Hollow by Joanne Bischof DeWitt
No one knew that Carol Langstrom hated Christmas.
Once Upon a Christmas Carol by Melody Carlson
Natasha shifted uncomfortably on the rock floor of the icy cave, shoving her gloved hands under her armpits to keep warm.
Queen of Hearts by Heather Day Gilbert
Death had always been fashionable.
Specters in The Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright
Pandemonium has broken out in the streets of New York City.
Under The Tulip Tree by Michelle Shocklee
When I was eight, I watched my mother disappear in fading pixels.
Happy Tuesday! Today TTT is featuring book covers with interesting typography. What is typography, you may ask? From Google AI —
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and visually appealing.
There were a lot of different directions to go with this topic, but I finally narrowed it down to titles with two or more fonts. While some are more subtle than others, the visual interest really grabbed my eye. What do you think?
My book club absolutely loved AllWe Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee. Although it wasn’t what I would call an easy read it was full of heart and emotion. It also brought to light new details of 2 eras we thought we knew. This Christy Award Book of The Year is a definite must-read. If you liked it too, here are a few more books to read. Enjoy!
All Manner of Things by Susie Finkbeiner (available on Kindle Unlimited)
When Annie Jacobson’s brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he hands her a piece of paper with the address of their long-estranged father. If anything should happen to him in Vietnam, Mike says, Annie must let their father know.
In Mike’s absence, their father returns to face tragedy at home, adding an extra measure of complication to an already tense time. As they work toward healing and pray fervently for Mike’s safety overseas, letter by letter the Jacobsons must find a way to pull together as a family, regardless of past hurts. In the tumult of this time, Annie and her family grapple with the tension of holding both hope and grief in the same hand, even as they learn to turn to the One who binds the wounds of the brokenhearted.
Author Susie Finkbeiner invites you into the Jacobson family’s home and hearts during a time in which the chaos of the outside world touched their small community in ways they never imagined.
The Last Year of The War by Susan Meissner
In 1943, Elise Sontag is a typical American teenager from Iowa—aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity.
The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences.
But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her.
The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who we’ve always been is called into question.
The One True Love of Alice-Ann by Eva Marie Everson
Living in rural Georgia in 1941, sixteen-year-old Alice-Ann has her heart set on her brother’s friend Mack; despite their five-year age gap, Alice-Ann knows she can make Mack see her for the woman she’ll become. But when they receive news of the attack on Pearl Harbor and Mack decides to enlist, Alice-Ann realizes she must declare her love before he leaves.
Though promising to write, Mack leaves without confirmation that her love is returned. But Alice-Ann is determined to wear the wedding dress her maiden aunt never had a chance to wear—having lost her fiancé in the Great War. As their correspondence continues over the next three years, Mack and Alice-Ann are drawn closer together. But then Mack’s letters cease altogether, leaving Alice-Ann to fear history repeating itself.
All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee was the 2025 Christy Award Book of The Year, and I can see why. This dual timeline novel told from 3 points of view is excellent! It covers hard topics with sensitivity and grace. I loved it!
She was so sure she knew her family’s story . . . Now she wonders if she was wrong about all of it.
1969. When Mattie Taylor’s twin brother was killed in Vietnam, she lost her best friend and the only person who really understood her. Now, news that her mother is dying sends Mattie back home, despite blaming her father for Mark’s death. Mama’s last wish is that Mattie would read some old letters stored in a trunk, from people Mattie doesn’t even know. Mama insists they hold the answers Mattie is looking for.
1942. Ava Delaney is picking up the pieces of her life following her husband’s death at Pearl Harbor. Living with her mother-in-law on a secluded farm in Tennessee is far different than the life Ava imagined when she married only a few short months ago. Desperate to get out of the house, Ava seeks work at a nearby military base, where she soon discovers the American government is housing Germans who they have classified as enemy aliens. As Ava works to process legal documents for the military, she crosses paths with Gunther Schneider, a German who is helping care for wounded soldiers. Ava questions why a man as gentle and kind as Gunther should be forced to live in the internment camp, and as they become friends, her sense of the injustice grows . . . as do her feelings for him. Faced with the possibility of losing Gunther, Ava must choose whether loving someone deemed the enemy is a risk worth taking, even if it means being ostracized by all those around her.
In the midst of pain and loss two women must come face-to-face with their own assumptions about what they thought they knew about themselves and others. What they discover will lead to a far greater appreciation of their own legacies and the love of those dearest to them.
Michelle Shocklee is the author of several historical novels including ALL WE THOUGHT WE KNEW, the 2025 Christy Award Book of the Year; APPALACHIAN SONG, a 2024 Christy Award Finalist; COUNT THE NIGHTS BY STARS, winner of the 2023 Christianity Today Book Award in Fiction; and UNDER THE TULIP TREE, a Christy Award & Selah Award finalist. As a woman of mixed heritage–her father’s family is Hispanic and her mother’s roots go back to Germany–she has always celebrated diversity and feels it’s important to see the world through the eyes of one another. Learning from the past and changing the future is why she writes historical fiction. With both her sons grown and happily married, Michelle and her husband make their home in Tennessee. She loves to hear from readers, so please connect with her at: http://www.MichelleShocklee.com.
My Impressions:
All We Thought We Knew is a historical novel set in America in the WWII and Vietnam-eras. It is told through the first person voices of Ava (1940s), her daughter Mattie (1960s), and the third person experiences of Gunther, a German student imprisoned as an alien enemy during WWII. Shocklee takes these complex times and fills them with personal perspectives and experiences that tell a whole, sometimes, painful story. Mattie is very opinionated about the role America should play in Vietnam. When her brother is killed there, she is filled with anger at just about everyone around her, but especially her father. She runs away from her grief, but is called home when her mother who is dying of cancer needs her. The second story set in WWII is an unveiling of her mother’s life and the secrets that the family has kept for so long. Wow, this book was hard to read at times. It took me longer than usual, but the emotions are raw, the issues are full of gray areas, and I needed time to process. I flew through the final quarter of the book though, as I grew invested in each character’s story. It was the best kind of reading experience. I learned a lot, a cried a bit, and I was encouraged by the growth that Mattie went through, the peace that Ava found, and the dignity that Gunther came to achieve. All We Thought We Knew is my book club’s first selection of 2026. I look forward to a great discussion.
Highly Recommended.
Great for Book Clubs.
Audience: Adults.
(I purchased this book from Amazon. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
Happy Tuesday! 2026 has already been one long year and we aren’t even half way through January. If you’ve noticed I’ve been quiet here on the blog, it’s because my MIL fell and suffered a subdural hematoma on the 3rd. She is back at her care facility and is receiving excellent care, but I would appreciate any prayers you lift up. She is 97 years old and the toll of the injury has really impacted her. I will probably be in an out of the blogosphere for the foreseeable future.
But today I have a bit of free time and listing my most anticipated books of the first half of 2026. I long to get lost in a good book! What books are you looking forward to?
Christmas with The Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb was the last book I read in 2025. I set for myself a goal of reading all the holiday-inspired novels during December. This historical fiction set in the first years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign was the perfect ending to the season. There’s great historical detail, plausible fictional interactions between the Queen and Prince Phillip, and a satisfying second-chance-at-love relationship between the two main characters, Olive and Jack. There are even some characters who make cameo appearances from Gaynor and Webb’s previous books. I completely enjoyed my reading time spent in 1950s England, a time of optimism for the future and relief from the hard days of WWII. I think this book could be enjoyed at any time of the year, but was especially nice read in the days leading up to Christmas.
Recommended.
Audience: adults.
(I purchased this book from Amazon. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
December 1952. While the young Queen Elizabeth II finds her feet as the new monarch, she must also find the right words to continue the tradition of her late father’s Christmas Day radio broadcast. But even traditions must evolve with the times, and the queen faces a postwar Britain hungry for change.
As preparations begin for the royal Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk, old friends—Jack Devereux and Olive Carter—are unexpectedly reunited by the occasion. Olive, a single mother and aspiring reporter at the BBC, leaps at the opportunity to cover the holiday celebration, but even a chance encounter with the queen doesn’t go as planned and Olive wonders if she will ever be taken seriously.
Jack, a recently widowed chef, reluctantly takes up a new role in the royal kitchens at Sandringham. Lacking in purpose and direction, Jack has abandoned his dream to have his own restaurant, but his talents are soon noticed and while he might not believe in himself, others do, and a chance encounter with an old friend helps to reignite the spark of his passion and ambition.
As Jack and Olive’s paths continue to cross over the following five Christmases, they grow ever closer. Yet Olive carries the burden of a heavy secret that threatens to destroy everything.
Christmas Day, December 1957. As the nation eagerly awaits the Queen’s first televised Christmas speech, there is one final gift for the Christmas season to deliver…
Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, Irish Times and internationally bestselling author known for her deeply moving historical novels which explore the defining events of the 20th century. A debut author recipient of the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award, her work has since been shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Gold Crown Award, the 2020 RNA Awards, and the Irish Book Awards in 2017, 2020, 2023 and 2025. WHEN WE WERE YOUNG & BRAVE was a national bestseller in the USA and THE LAST LIFEBOAT was a Times of London historical novel of the month and a 2024 Audie winner for Best Fiction Narrator. Her co-written historical novels with Heather Webb have all been published to critical acclaim. Hazel’s latest novel, BEFORE DOROTHY, became a USA Today bestseller and is shortlisted for the 2025 Irish Book Awards. Her work has been translated into twenty languages and she is published in twenty-seven territories to date. She lives in Ireland with her family.
Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of eleven historical novels, including Queens of London, Strangers in the Night, The Next Ship Home, and Christmas with the Quenn. In 2015, Rodin’s Lover was a Goodread’s Top Pick, and in 2018, Last Christmas in Paris won the Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. In 2019, Meet Me in Monaco was selected as a finalist for the 2020 Goldsboro RNA award in the UK, as well as the Digital Book World’s Fiction prize. To date, Heather’s books have been translated to seventeen languages. Check her website for more details on release dates and book club visits.
This month my book club chose All We Thought We Knew, the Christy Award-winning novel by MichelleShocklee. I finished it last night, and I am excited to discuss it with my group next Tuesday. This dual timeline story focuses on WWII and Vietnam-eras. Difficult issues are explored in thoughtful ways. Have you read it? Let us know what you thought.
Here’s the first line:
I deeply regret to confirm that your son Lance Corporal Mark James Taylor died in Vietnam 1 November 1968.
She was so sure she knew her family’s story . . . Now she wonders if she was wrong about all of it.
1969. When Mattie Taylor’s twin brother was killed in Vietnam, she lost her best friend and the only person who really understood her. Now, news that her mother is dying sends Mattie back home, despite blaming her father for Mark’s death. Mama’s last wish is that Mattie would read some old letters stored in a trunk, from people Mattie doesn’t even know. Mama insists they hold the answers Mattie is looking for.
1942. Ava Delaney is picking up the pieces of her life following her husband’s death at Pearl Harbor. Living with her mother-in-law on a secluded farm in Tennessee is far different than the life Ava imagined when she married only a few short months ago. Desperate to get out of the house, Ava seeks work at a nearby military base, where she soon discovers the American government is housing Germans who they have classified as enemy aliens. As Ava works to process legal documents for the military, she crosses paths with Gunther Schneider, a German who is helping care for wounded soldiers. Ava questions why a man as gentle and kind as Gunther should be forced to live in the internment camp, and as they become friends, her sense of the injustice grows . . . as do her feelings for him. Faced with the possibility of losing Gunther, Ava must choose whether loving someone deemed the enemy is a risk worth taking, even if it means being ostracized by all those around her.
In the midst of pain and loss two women must come face-to-face with their own assumptions about what they thought they knew about themselves and others. What they discover will lead to a far greater appreciation of their own legacies and the love of those dearest to them.
MichelleShocklee is the author of several historical novels including ALL WE THOUGHT WE KNEW, the 2025 Christy Award Book of the Year; APPALACHIAN SONG, a 2024 Christy Award Finalist; COUNT THE NIGHTS BY STARS, winner of the 2023 Christianity Today Book Award in Fiction; and UNDER THE TULIP TREE, a Christy Award & Selah Award finalist. As a woman of mixed heritage–her father’s family is Hispanic and her mother’s roots go back to Germany–she has always celebrated diversity and feels it’s important to see the world through the eyes of one another. Learning from the past and changing the future is why she writes historical fiction. With both her sons grown and happily married, Michelle and her husband make their home in Tennessee. She loves to hear from readers, so please connect with her at: http://www.MichelleShocklee.com
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