So even though we technically have until the third week in September before summer is officially over, we have reached the end of summer as we traditionally think of it. Looking back over my reading this summer I am pleased with my reading. I hit upon several 5 star reads (check out my post 5 star reads of 2023), but there were a few that while good, weren’t quite 5 star reads, and several other books that I have read since then. So here is my end of summer round up for 2023 of some of the books that I slipped in around the edges!
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
I saw this one was one of the most anticipated books of 2023 and since I’m always down for a good historical fiction title I couldn’t wait to read it! This is the story of a woman named Rachel, an enslaved person living on a plantation in Barbados in 1834. In this year all enslaved people are emancipated- except not really. They are all to serve 6 more years as indentured servants to pay for their freedom, meaning that nothing will change. For Rachel, who has had every child born to her ripped away and sold into slavery elsewhere, this is the last straw and she decides to run.
But what to do with her new freedom? What does freedom mean to her? What does freedom mean at all? Rachel decides freedom means finding her beloved children and she sets off to find them, a journey filled with heartbreak, and joy, and a journey that takes her into the depths of the Caribbean jungles, and to the door of white people who could return her back into slavery.
The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen
This is not a new book but I read it this summer and really enjoyed it! There’s nothing particularly summer-y about this book- it would make a great start for your fall reading! The Secrets of Mary Bowser is based off the true events in the life of Mary Bowser, the daughter of an enslaved father and a free mother, who was able to gain an education and a woman who helped in the underground railroad, and who acted as a spy for the Union during the civil war- in President Jerrerson Davis’s own home! This book kept my attention for its entirety!
Brave the Wild River by Melissa L. Sevigny
This book is a new release and is the true story of two women botanists who were the first to woman botanists to make it down the Colorado river in the Grand Canyon, collecting samples as they went. Though this book reads as more of a history book than affliction (it is based on fact, and is only fleshed out with the facts we have from these women’s writings) it is still a very good read, full of unexpected setbacks, and dangerous turns that happened along the way!
Midnight at Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webb
This is not a new title, and not historical fiction but this was a delicious summer read, set in the south. Anna Kate’s grandmother has just passed away and has left Anna Kate her cafe- Blackbird Cafe. Anna Kate plans only to stay to finish out the busy summer season so she can return to Boston to finish becoming a doctor; something she promised her dying mother she would do several years earlier.
Natalie has returned to her parents home and is trying to carve out a path of her own for herself and her daughter after her husband’s death. This is a heartwarming book about loss, love, and forgiveness- filled with vivid descriptions of pies cooling in the kitchen and small town life in the American south. I loved this book!
The Glass Ocean
As 3 passengers set out on the Lusitania there is a lot more going on beneath the surface for 3 of the passengers. Caroline can’t figure out why her husband seems so distant. Robert knows his father doesn’t want him to come home, but is going anyway, and Tess is done with her life as a con artist. She has one last heist to pull off and then she will be free from this life of crime for forever, but the stakes are higher this time than they have been before and – isn’t sure she can go through with this one last deal…
It’s modern day New York and Sarah Blake had runaway success with her first book but is now scrambling to try to come up with a story for her second book, something she desperately needs to do to provide for her ailing mother. When She opens a box from her great grandfather that has been kept locked for all her life she thinks she has discovered just the fodder for her next story. She travels to England to try to learn more about her family’s past and ends up having to gain the trust of a handsome, but reticent politician who is recovering from a scandal of his own…
This book was a page turner that will suck you right in as it tells you some of the hidden past around the circumstance of World War 1, but readers should be warned there are a few instances of harsh language.
Lady of the Eternal City by Kate Quinn
Kate Quinn wrote several books before the Alice Network hit the best seller lists. Lady of the Eternal City is one of her earlier works but it is just as gripping as her latest books have been! Against the backdrop of the Roman Empire circa AD 130 we see the story of an empire at its apex, and the cut throat nature of being a member of the imperial household. Told from the point of view of 4 revolving characters you will be pulled into ancient times. Sabina, empress of Rome is hiding a deadly secret from her dearest friend and her husband. Annia, niece of the Emperor, doesn’t know her world is a lie. Vix doesn’t know his son’s secret. Antinous just wants to love, and be loved- what does he have to do to earn the love of his step father?
Readers should be warned there are a few instances of harsh language in this title also.
Disclosure
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If you are looking for just a few more books to savor the last bits of summer I hope these titles help to inspire your reading life and serve to lengthen out your summer- even if just a little bit!
Other Posts You May Enjoy:
End of Summer Historical Fiction Round 2021
Books to Finish Up Your Summer with in 2022
Books I Have Been Enjoying This Fall