A Match in the Making by Jen Turano - The Matchmakers, book 1

Miss Gwendolyn Brinley accepted a temporary paid companion position for the Newport summer season, believing it would be a lark to spend the summer in America's most exclusive town. She suddenly finds her summer turning anything but amusing when her employer expects her to take over responsibilities as an assistant matchmaker. Tasked with the daunting prospect of attaining advantageous matches for her clients, Gwendolyn soon finds herself in the company of Mr. Walter Townsend, the catch of the Season, but a gentleman Gwendolyn finds beyond annoying. Walter is reluctantly in search of a wife for his unruly motherless children. What he wasn't expecting was Miss Brinley, who turns his quest for a new wife into a complete and utter debacle. The more time they spend together throughout the Newport Season, the harder it is for Gwendolyn to find Walter a wife when she realizes his perfect match might be . . . her. 

Jen Turano certainly knows how to write comedy, especially anything involving animals. The church scene with Rat the guinea pig was so funny. Read this book for that scene alone.

Gwendolyn reminded me a lot of Mary Poppins, if Mary Poppins had turned down the nannying job but couldn't resist taking the kids in hand and fixing their relationship with their father anyway (well, and then marrying said father). She's got the same firm but loving hand, and while she won't hesitate to speak hard truths, she doesn't do it with malice--she still is ultimately trying to help even those who have treated her poorly. Walter was a bit slow on the uptake, but he made it the end; he's pretty disconnected with a lot of things at the beginning--family, feelings, you name it--but he does indeed get his priorities straight. I look forward to the next book!

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

The Matchmakers
1. A Match in the Making
2. To Spark a Match

Hearts of Steel by Elizabeth Camden

Maggie Molinaro survived a hardscrabble childhood in the downtrodden streets of Manhattan to become a successful businesswoman. After a decade of sacrifice, she now owns a celebrated ice cream company, but when she offends a corrupt banker, she unwittingly sets off a series of calamities that threaten to destroy her life's work. Liam Blackstone is a charismatic steel magnate committed to overhauling factory conditions for the steelworkers of America. Standing in his way is the same villain determined to ruin Maggie. What begins as a practical alliance to defeat a common enemy soon evolves into a romance between two wounded people determined to beat the odds. A spiraling circle of treachery grows increasingly dangerous as Liam and Maggie risk their lives and fortune for the good of the city. It will require all their wit and ingenuity to navigate the dangerous waters ahead, but their crusade could cost them everything.

I always enjoy Elizabeth Camden's books. She captures aspects of history and progress that are often overlooked, but I know I can count on a fascinating retelling of even what should be the most mundane subjects--who would ever think to center a plot around summer-time ice distribution? And yet it's a story full of political intrigue and corruption. Liam is his brash self from earlier books in the series, but I liked that though he often fails, he is trying to be a better man and slowly even increases in self control. Maggie is a great example of entrepreneurship and what a person can do when they work heard towards a goal. Not to say she couldn't learn to be a bit less tight-fisted, but she was a smart, relatable heroine.

Before reading the historical notes at the end, I never would have guessed that the villain is not fictional. He's a great scummy weasel of a bad guy who fits perfectly in a novel, but basically everything he did in the story*, both in business and his personal life, is historically accurate--the man was a real-life scoundrel with influence over much of New York City. I love how Camden crafted a story around this larger-than-life miscreant.

*other than directly to our fictional heroes, of course

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

The Blackstone Legacy

1. Carved in Stone

2. Written on the Wind
3. Hearts of Steel

Yesterday's Tides by Roseanna M White

In 1942, Evie Farrow is used to life on Ocracoke Island, where every day is the same--until the German U-boats haunting their waters begin to wreak havoc. And when special agent Sterling Bertrand is washed ashore at Evie's inn, her life is turned upside down. While Sterling's injuries keep him inn-bound for weeks, making him even more anxious about the man he's tracking, he becomes increasingly intrigued by Evie, who seems to be hiding secrets of her own. Decades earlier, in 1914, Englishman Remington Culbreth arrives at the Ocracoke Inn for the summer, but he doesn't count on falling in love with Louisa Adair, the innkeeper's daughter. When war breaks out in Europe, and their relationship is put in jeopardy, will their love survive? As Evie and Sterling work to track down an elusive German agent, they unravel mysteries that go back a generation. The ripples from the Great War are still rocking their lives, and it seems yesterday's tides may sweep them all into danger again today.

This is definitely one of the better dual timeline books out there; the two timelines are closely connected through location, characters, and wartime setting. So often my complaint with dual timelines is that they feel like two completely separate stories mashed together (and rarely with equally interesting storylines), but these two timelines resonate and feel cohesive. I'll be honest, I still wish it had been a two book series instead of a dual timeline; that way we'd get more story and each timeline could have been fleshed out more (for instance, I feel like we still never really know all that much about Sterling, even at the end). But wishing for more story is often how I feel after reading a dual timeline.

The WWI timeline is certainly the more active one, full of name-drops of characters from other series by the author (though I'm not sure how I feel about there being so incredibly many), and it feels like it has much higher stakes, both relationally between Louisa and Rem and physically as action heats up in Europe. The WWII timeline is slower paced, with more to say on grief and healing through it. 

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

All (well, most of) the related books, in chronological order:

The Culper Ring:
1. Ring of Secrets
1.5. Fairchild's Lady (novella)
2. Whispers from the Shadows
2.5. "A Hero's Promise" (short story)
3. Circle of Spies

Edwardian/WWI Era:

Ladies of the Manor
1. The Lost Heiress
2. The Reluctant Duchess
3. A Lady Unrivaled

Shadows Over England
1. A Name Unknown
2. A Song Unheard
3. An Hour Unspent

The Codebreakers
1. The Number of Love
2. On Wings of Devotion
3. A Portrait of Loyalty