The Best of 2024 – Maggie’s List
Another year has come and gone! 2024 marked my 14th year as a reviewer and my 24th+ year as a reader at AAR .I’ve found many, many great romances here. These are my favorites published in 2024:
The London Bookshop Affair by Louise Fein.
A dual-time story taking place in London during the 1940s/1960s this lovely tale features a fantastic heroine in Celia and an interesting mystery that spans decades.
The Foxhole Victory Tour by Amy Lynn Green
This lovely novel takes us on a journey through the non-celebrity entertainment offered for the enlisted troops during WWII. It provides two fantastic heroines – the feisty Maggie and clever Catharine – as a focal point for that trip. Romance, adventure, and fascinating history combine to make this an entertaining and enlightening look at WWII.
Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin
Aleida and Hugh find romance against the backdrop of the London bombings in this angsty story of love and loss.
The Partner Plot by Kristian Forest
This charming, funny tale is one of the few contemporaries that uses the marriage of convenience plot well. High school sweethearts Xavier Wright and Violet Greene parted ways during their college years but reconnect when they meet by chance in Vegas. Long story short, a fake Vegas wedding results in them being publicly linked in a very real way. Spending time together to resolve the situation leads to love. So, so fun.
The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan
Ms. Ryan is one of my favorite authors, and this is a lovely, if slightly twee, tale of friendship, romance, and making the best of bad situations. There are two wonderful HEAs and a miraculous reunion that make the story a joy to read.
Tomorrow is for the Brave by Kelly Bowen
A fabulous WWII mix of mystery, women’s fiction, and romance. This captivating novel combines spies, love, adventure, and found family to give us a riveting tale of one woman’s path to independence and happiness.
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
While this book had a few flaws that kept it from being a DIK for me, it is a narrative rich in history with lovely writing that highlights the difficulties women faced in the early post-war years. If you love British history at all, this is a must-read.
Pardon My Frenchie by Farrah Rochon
This fantastic story is funny, sweet, delightful, and every other superlative you can think of. Ashanti Wright and Thad Sims are a wonderful couple. It is easy to root for them, and the story’s focus on life, priorities, and unexpected love is touching and insightful.
Truth Be Told by Patricia Raybon
This is the third book in the historical murder mystery series starring Annalee Spain, former theologian turned detective. Set in Denver in the early 1920s, the books chronicle the hold the Klu Klux Klan has on the state of Colorado, the dangers faced by the Black community of the time, and how one woman is fighting to ensure justice is done for all against incredible odds. There is a lovely slow-burn romance that runs throughout all three novels.
The Booklover’s Library by Madeline Martin
This is a definite your mileage may vary recommendation. If you love twee books set in London about WWII, you will definitely want to pick this up. Emma’s story takes a fascinating look at the life of young widows during these years, and the tale contains several HEAs showcasing love and joy amid hardship and sorrow. If you don’t enjoy the time period or tales a bit on the schmaltzy side, this may not be for you, but fans of the era will enjoy the look at romance, made family, and history.
A whopping seven of my books are WWII era novels, a historical period I love and which I think writers are doing an outstanding job with right now. We need to remember that horror can be overcome, good can triumph, and that heroes will rise up when we need them. Do you enjoy that era? Do you have any recommendations for me?
Amazing milestones here at AAR Maggie! I’m so glad you reviewed Pardon My Frenchie; one the strength of your review, I picked it up and loved it too! And I have an autographed print copy of Kelly Bowen’s Tomorrow is for the Brave as I went to a bookshop signing that she had. WWII historical fiction is still very popular obviously and not just on your list.
I’m so glad you liked Pardon My Frenchie. Thanks for letting me know!
One other thing that unites these books is their gorgeous covers! Thanks for the list!
The historicals really do have gorgeous covers lately.
Every one of these books is on my TBR list – which is unfortunately not shrinking. I do love reading books set during WW2, I find that most of them are well researched.
I agree re the research. The WWII books seem to have more detailed, accurate history than the average historical romance.
I’ll have to try some of these. I’ve generally steered clear of WWII-era books because I’m old enough to have been around in the 1940s and the books I have read seem to get too much stuff just plain wrong. Not historical events but attitudes, behavior, and minor details of everyday life.
I think the ones on this list have the attitudes and behaviors fairly true to the times. The only two I would be iffy about are the Hazelbourn and Tomorrow is for the Brave. I thought the London Bookshop Affair was outstanding in being true to the times, as was the Foxhole Victory Tour. I am not old enough to have been around back then, so I’m guessing on this.
They have to be accurate as these books will be within living memory of some readers or other readers have heard secondhand from mums or grandmothers. Fluffing would be glaringly obvious.
Some of these are still on my TBR; some great HF recs here.
Thanks! I hope some of our readers pick up the Rayboun books. They offer a glimpse of American history that most of us are taught little about.
I read and enjoyed the Hazelbourne Ladies book after I saw your review last spring. Thank you for the many reviews you’ve written over the years!
Two of my favorite belated reads last year came from your reviews – Bride and The Fake Mate. I recommended them to my sister, and she loved Bride. I plan to add a few from your list to my TBR this year. Thanks for your terrific lists and reviews.
Thank you for your list! There are several on it that I’m going to look into, including The London Bookshop Affair, and The Hazelbourne Ladies.
By the way, there is no link for The Partner Plot, which also looks good.
Oops! I’ll fix that asap.
The Partner Plot is really cute; I strongly recommend it. I hope you get a chance to read The Hazelbourne Ladies and The Bookshop Affair. The history in those two is fabulous.
I just read an extraordinary WWII novel which comes out next year. It’s about this which I knew nothing about and found fascinating.
WWII books tend to showcase a time when people came together, where community often trumped self. Reading books set in that era make me long for a time where we defined ourselves as part of a larger whole.
It’s telling that the foreign diplomats were housed in luxury while across the country Japanese American’s were housed like prisoners of war. I knew about the Greenbriar from having lived in WVA plus from having a family member stay there who took the Bunker Tour.
Well, the US immediately after Pearl Harbor had to negotiate with the Axis powers who were holding our diplomats. It was important to show that Axis diplomats were not prisoners of war so that they’d be able to be swapped for ours.
That’s not really my point. That part is fine, it’s the treatment of our own citizens that’s the problem.
Oh. I misunderstood.
America has a long history of problematic treatment of certain of our citizens, starting with the original inhabitants of this land. Many of them were forced to live like PoWs in their own country for hundreds of years. While not covering Native American issues, Patricia Rayboun’s books deal with some of the politics of racism and have introduced me to a history I knew nothing about.
I was looking at that book, too. I generally enjoy mysteries, so I’ll check it out!
All That is Secret is the first book in the series and really lays the groundwork for the presence of the KKK in politics. It’s a good story in its own right and I loved how it showed how dangerous racism in government is.
Just to be clear, The Listeners is not about our mistreatment of our citizens. It’s more about how seeing things in black and white doesn’t usually work for those who make and enforce policy.
This book sounds really intriguing. I think part of the issue you would have in dealing with diplomats is separating the person from the country they represent. I can remember reading about the Japanese diplomats, how hard they worked to get their country NOT to bomb Pearl Harbor and how they struggled returning home to support a government they disagreed with. I can’t remember the title of the book frustratingly enough but it was a fabulous read.
It was Bridge to the Sun by Gwen Terasaki. It’s a memoir of an American woman married to a Japanese diplomat during that era.
Yes–the issues everyone faces in the book are nuanced.
That looks absolutely fabulous. I’ve read other works by this author in her paranormal series, but this seems like her first adult historical. Can’t wait to read it!
I’d be happy to do a PB with you. I LOVED it.
I’d love to!