Jayne’s Best of 2024 List
The Excitements by CJ Wray
A brilliant and witty drama about two brave female World War II veterans who survived the unthinkable without ever losing their killer instinct…or their joie de vivre.
Meet the Williamson sisters, Britain’s most treasured World War II veterans. Now in their late nineties, Josephine and Penny are in huge demand, popping up at commemorative events and history festivals all over the country. Despite their age, they’re still in great form—perfectly put together, sprightly and sparky, and always in search of their next “excitement.”
This time it’s a trip to Paris to receive the Légion d’honneur for their part in the liberation of France. And as always, they will be accompanied by their devoted great-nephew, Archie.
Keen historian Archie has always been given to understand that his great aunts had relatively minor roles in the Women’s Royal Navy and the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, but that’s only half the story. Both sisters are hiding far more than the usual “official secrets”. There’s a reason sweet Auntie Penny can dispatch a would-be mugger with an umbrella.
This trip to Paris is not what it seems either. Scandal and crime have always quietly trailed the Williamson sisters, even in the decades after the war. Now armed with new information about an old adversary, these much decorated (but admittedly ancient) veterans variously intend to settle scores, avenge lost friends, and pull off one last, daring heist before the curtain finally comes down on their illustrious careers.
I love how the world (and the Paris police) gets truly schooled about how these nonagenarians aren’t out to pasture. That a piece of German shrapnel is a handy thing to hang onto. That the spirit of Robin Hood isn’t dead. That DNA from Archie overcoming his aversion to spit leads to something wonderful. How Penny and Josephine have each other’s backs. And the outcome of the SOE jump is something I never saw coming. This is a marvelous book which I highly recommend. A
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The Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and the Medical Miracle that Saved a Child’s Life by Rachel Clarke
One summer day, nine-year-old Keira Ball was in a terrible car accident and suffered catastrophic brain injuries. As the rest of her body began to shut down, her heart continued to beat. In an act of extraordinary generosity, Keira’s parents and siblings immediately agreed that she would have wanted to be an organ donor. Meanwhile nine-year-old Max Johnson had been in a hospital for nearly a year, valiantly fighting the virus that was causing his young heart to fail. When Max’s parents received the call they had been hoping for, they knew it came at a terrible cost to another family—in what Clarke calls “the brutal arithmetic of transplant surgery.”
The act of Keira’s heart resuming its rhythm inside Max’s body was a medical miracle. But this was only part of the story. While waiting on the transplant list, Max had become the hopeful face of a campaign to change the UK’s laws around organ donation. Following his successful surgery, Keira’s mother saw the little boy beaming on the front page of the newspaper and knew it was the same boy whose parents had recently sent her an anonymous letter overflowing with gratitude for her daughter’s heart. The two mothers began to exchange messages and eventually decided to meet.
This is the unforgettable story of how one family’s grief transformed into a lifesaving gift. Clarke relates the urgent journey of Keira’s heart and explores the history of the remarkable surgery that made it possible, stretching back over a century and involving the knowledge and dedication not just of surgeons but of countless nurses and technicians, immunologists and paramedics. The Story of a Heart is a testament to compassion for the dying, the many ways we honor our loved ones, and the tenacity of love.
Usually I can manage a certain reading speed but after a few hours of starting this book, I realized I was behind. Then it hit me that I was having to stop and keep wiping away an almost constant trickle of tears. Reading this one hurt at times. But it also lifted me up to see the dedicated staff at many health care facilities all working together to ensure that these families and this gift were taken care of. A
Beneath the searing theater lights, the nursing team washes every inch of Keira. Gentle hands, loving hands, restoring not health but humanity. Together they remove the lines and wires, placing clean white dressings over any visible punctures or incisions. Tenderly, they rub her hands and feet with lotion that smells of flowers. Keira is as cold and pale as marble. She could not be more clearly dead—and the point of the last offices is not to pretend otherwise. What these nurses are returning transcends appearance. This is a change of state, a restoration from surgical donor back to cherished human being. As they ease Keira’s limbs into vivid pink taffeta—the party dress chosen by Joe, and which a porter has delivered from PICU to the theater—they know precisely what these rituals signify. You are loved. You mattered then, and you matter now, and you will matter always, forever.
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Dog vs. Strawberry by Nelly Buchet
A dog and a strawberry find themselves nose to stem in this hilarious picture book that’s perfect for dog lovers. An epic battle ensues—who will come out on top?
Welcome to the Greatest Race of All Time!
Give it up for our reigning champion, the one-and-only DOG!
And let’s have a hand for her opponent: the formidable STRAW-BER-RYYYY!When Dog is handed a strawberry from the fruit bowl, she sizes it up, dances around it, and decides she is going to race the Strawberry–and win. She dashes left, then right, then–oh!– over the couch in an attempt to outrun her opponent. Strawberry doesn’t move, but that doesn’t stop Dog from continuing the race. Eventually, it’s neck-and-neck… until
Spoiler: Show
Kids everywhere will recognize the rivalry at play here, and will laugh-out-loud at the bright, expressive illustrations and ridiculous scenarios from the award-winning creators of Cat Dog Dog.
The way this book is written took me back to the (dark) days of Covid when sports announcers around the world suddenly had no live sports to report on and veered into doing announcements on almost anything they could find. Andrew Cotter with his dogs Mable and Olive, Mark Church and his daughter Isabelle going back to 2005 cricket test matches, as well as Joe Buck play-by-play calling videos sent to him by fans including the famous blue marble race.
You will be on the edge of your seat, eager to see who’s gonna be the winnah! A
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The Seamstress on Cider Lane by Jillianne Hamilton
The Germans pause their bombing raids on London but life on the homefront is certainly far from ordinary. The Seamstress on Cider Lane is a lighthearted and hopeful romance, perfect for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Last Bookshop in London.
Gifted seamstress Nora Archer opens a sewing shop just as clothing becomes rationed and scarce in Britain. London’s fashionable elites soon discover her remarkable talent for giving garments new life and her skills are soon in high demand.
Having lost his flat during the Blitz, Jack Parker is relieved to finally locate a new home. He finds himself living under the same roof as Nora, the spirited and enchanting woman he thought he’d lost, as well as Nora’s protective aunt.
Despite her aunt’s warnings, Nora can’t help falling for Jack. However, the sweet and bookish teacher is from a different world and Nora doesn’t know if she fits in or if Jack might be too good to be true. She can’t deny the intense attraction between herself and Jack—and neither of them wants to.
When a struggling friend’s desperate plea for help lures Nora into the dodgy clothing black market, she risks not only her business and reputation but also her blossoming relationship with Jack.
Will Jack and Nora’s wartime romance survive when Nora’s secrets are revealed?
But even if they talk, that doesn’t mean that things are immediately perfect. Nora admits that she trusts Jack – well, after a time or two when his family keep pushing a young deb at him – but realizes that she’s still a bit fragile and needs time to quell her insecurities which is totally understandable. Jack has family troubles in that he’s a step-son of his wealthy step-father and he knows that his younger brother is the Golden Child. Even after all these years – and Jack is treated well by the family – he knows he’s second best. When Some Things Happen – both to Nora and in Jack’s family – they have to deal with the potential fallout. I was delighted that Jack takes an internal stand for what he really wants out of life.
After the way the War Issue was resolved in book one, I admit to being surprised that this time it is different. The full weight of it will be brought to bear and Nora faces real and lasting consequences. Jack might be forced to act one way but Nora’s Aunt’s reaction startled me as did her quick turnabout. That didn’t seem like the character I’d watched take Nora’s side all along. The way that Jack learns what Nora risked and whom she covered for and then ensures that those people make amends is satisfying.
I’m now looking forward to book three and the set up promises to be sweet payback based on how a character acts in this book. I would love to see a follow up Next Gen book with Marvin and Ginger the Beagle in it. Please? A-
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The Quickest Bedtime Story Ever! by Louise Fitzgerald
Welcome to the quickest bedtime story ever! Your little one will be asleep in seconds.
But wait! There are a couple of things you must do first:
Have you warmed up your reading voice?
And plumped the pillows?
What about the teddy bears? Have you organized them yet?
Getting ready for a story is serious business, I’ll have you know . . .
This hilarious and engaging bedtime story will help to settle down even the most restless readers.
This is one that children and parents will delight in as it invites both readers and listeners an opportunity to take part in the actual book! How cool is that?? The darling illustrations carry out what is being said and (probably) what children listening to the book will actually be doing as they hear it. It’s fun, it’s happy, and it’s a book I bet everyone will want to take part in again and again. A
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I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries. Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text color to white so no one can see. That is until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions.
When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it, but who could resist reading what their coworkers are really saying? And when she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this might just be the key to saving her job. The plan is simple: gain her boss’s favor, convince HR she’s Supershops material, and beat out the competition.
But as Jolene is drawn further into her coworkers’ private worlds and realizes they are each keeping secrets, her carefully constructed walls begin to crumble—especially around Cliff, who she definitely cannot have feelings for. Eventually she will need to decide if she’s ready to leave the comfort of her cubicle, even if that means coming clean to her colleagues.
The humor had me laughing as I really enjoy subtle snark and sarcasm. And now I’ve started looking up all the fantastic sounding food that Jolene and Armin mention in the book. The 1st and 2nd generation immigrant experience is real with both ups and downs honestly portrayed. Just about every character gets put through the wringer and, let’s be real, most of them needed it. But the scenarios are so well done and drawn that I was concerned about almost all of them and happy that several ended up in better places. This is more than a cubical romcom. It’s heartfelt and human and luckily for me this book turned out to be really good. A-
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Good as Goldie: A Breaking Cat News Adventure by Georgia Dunn
This just in: There’s a new cat in the neighborhood and she is all kinds of mysterious!
The Breaking Cat News crew has never met a cat quite like Goldie before. Street smart, wildlife savvy, and determined to solve the mystery of how her People vanished, Goldie is here to turn life in and out of the studio upside down! Along the way they’ll meet trash collecting raccoons, a fork wielding squirrel, and one brave little chipmunk!
Go undercover with Tommy and Beatrix as Goldie gets to the bottom of this case with the help of Lupin’s (stolen) tape recorder. It’s an exciting adventure for the BCN team with friends old and new, and you’re invited!
The fun doesn’t stop there! The “More to Explore” section includes all new paper dolls of Goldie and the wild lands creatures, as well as fun disguises for Beatrix and Tommy, and a tasty applesauce recipe to try.
So yeah at this point do I need to say more than it’s great and go buy it? “Good as Goldie” is the eighth book in the Breaking Cat News comic world and it’s better than ever. What has it got? Well, I’m glad you asked. The Girl’s First Birthday Party celebration complete with cat commentary on who’s wearing what, the cat’s take on the musical “Hamilton” for their 4th of July party, A “choose your own broadcast” adventure, another thrilling episode of the feline soap opera “Our IX Lives” (will Kit Chase manage to keep That Guy Brad from moving in on rich cat Angora whose father Snowball Taggart is [supposedly] at death’s door in the hospital?), a PSA on whisker fatigue (it’s a real thing), and of course, stray cat Goldie (whose awful People moved away and left her – BOO, HISS) joins the BCN crew at the Big Pink House. A
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Home is the Sailor by Lillian Marek
The naval Battle of Copenhagen cost Captain Will Dormer an eye and a leg. The battle to establish himself as Viscount Claremont of Belford Park could cost him his life. He feels completely at sea as owner of an estate, but his father and two brothers managed to kill themselves in a drunken carriage accident.
Along with an estate he had not seen since he was sent into the navy twenty years ago, he has inherited his cousin Frederick (who thinks he should be the viscount), his brother’s penniless widow (a beautiful nitwit), and her bitter mother. Feeling in dire need of help, he marries the orphaned daughter of his naval mentor.
She assumes he needs her to manage a bankrupt manor and is horrified to find that it is instead a magnificent estate. Neither of them feels adequate to this new position, but they must learn and survive attempts to undermine and even kill them.
The villains are obvious from the start but then no effort was made to make them anything else. Yet the means by which they’ve enriched themselves has a great deal of thought and cunning behind it and uncovering it ties in somewhat to the reforms then being enacted by Lord St. Vincent (First Lord of the Admiralty). The main villain just won’t give up but then that villain has wanted something desperately for ages so … yeah, I can believe the lengths to which said villain will go. But yay rah that the people around Will and Maria are intelligent and that a gamekeeper can read tracks.
The story has a solid plot, a lovely slow burn romance, is written well, everything makes sense and I didn’t roll my eyes at any of it. It’s also got a character just begging for a sequel and I hope he gets it. A-
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Woe: A Housecat’s Story of Despair: (A Graphic Novel) by Lucy Knisley
WOE! SCREAM! MEOW! …PURR? Join the hilarious and of course dramatic world of Linney the House Cat, as her webcomic antics are gathered into graphic novel for the very first time! This collection is perfect for cat lovers and Linney fans alike.
What if our cats could talk? Would they ask endless questions about why we haven’t given them wet food…again? Would they scream greetings at the first sign of life before the sun even rises? Linney certainly will.
Have you met Linney yet? If not, prepared to be blessed! Lucy Knisley’s online Linney comics are collected for the very first time in this gifty hardcover featuring the internet sensation, Linney. With all-new comics, this collection shows us just how amazing, and what a true gift, all cats are.
Knisley knew her beloved cat well and has captured what most cat servants have probably seen or experienced at one time. While I think anyone could enjoy this book, I think cat lovers will understand it, and Linney’s actions, best. As the book progresses, it’s mentioned more frequently that Linney is aging. The last part of the story is about Linney being treated for kidney failure. I’ve gone through this myself as well as the ugly crying as I said my last goodbye to a beloved pet. I usually loathe the phrase “I laughed, I cried” but in this case, it’s true. A-
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The Last Gifts of the Universe by Riley August
A dying universe. A search for answers. An adventure at the end of a trillion lifetimes.
When the Home worlds finally achieved the technology to venture out into the stars, they found a graveyard of dead civilisations. What befell them is unknown. All Home knows is that they are the last ones left – and whatever came for the others will one day come for them.
Scout is an Archivist who scours the dead worlds of the cosmos for their last gifts: interesting technology, cultural rituals – anything left behind that might be useful to Home and their survival. During an excavation on a lifeless planet, Scout unearths something unbelievable: a surviving message from an alien who witnessed the world-ending entity thousands of years ago.
Now Scout, their brother and their sometimes-fearless, space-faring cat, Pumpkin, must race to save what matters most.
But what about the romance?, you ask. Well, I didn’t see it coming at all but nonetheless it filled my heart, broke it, and then put it back together. The Last Gifts also act to soften someone’s heart and show that people, no matter who or where they are, care about each other, even people they’ve never met nor ever will meet. This is a very, very character driven story. There are space techie things (as well as some odd references to couch potatoes, vampires, Wi-Fi, and that everyone loves pizza) but that’s not the main focus. Yes, I cried happy tears when I finished it. Great books are a gift. “This is one.” A
“We can make the best of right now. We can serve these people’s memories—the memories of everyone who has lost their life to the Endri and its Remnants. And they wanted us to carry on. Trust me. Even if they died, they wanted us to live.” I look at Kieran. “We can carry them with us into a better tomorrow. We can fight for a better tomorrow, even if we don’t believe it will come. That’s all we can do. For ourselves. And for them.”
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Jayne – I want to thank you for all the fabulous books you have sent my way. I have read four of the books on your list and loved them all. I do hope that Lillian Marek continues to write because I thought that ‘Home is the Sailor’ was quite perfect. Again, my thanks for guiding me to some great reading experiences!
@Mary Beth: Thank you for the compliment. I’m delighted that some of my recs worked for you. Which other of the books have you read?
What a wonderful list, Jayne! Thank you for sharing.
Happy new year to you. I hope that 2025 will bring some great books.
Thank you for this wonderful list Jayne, especially thank you for introducing The excitements to me with your review. I really enjoyed it.
@Kareni: Happy New Year to you, too and I hope we all get great books this year. ☺
@Sirius: I’m glad you enjoyed it!
The description of The Excitements amused me by reminding me of Connie Brockway’s book The Songbird’s Seduction. That was another one about two elderly (and heroic) sisters on a journey to France accompanied by a grand-nephew named Archie. What are the odds? But that one was a romance and this is not, so I’m sure they are very different books.
Home is the Sailor by Lillian Marek looks very interesting. I’ve never heard of this author before, but I went an read your review and it sounds like the sort of thoughftul hist-rom i like. I enjoy when I read best of lists that don’t have the same names I usually see. Thanks
I’ve put I Hope This Finds You Well on hold at my library – thx for the reminder!
@TinaNoir: I had completely forgotten that I tried – and disliked – a book from an earlier Victorian series Marek wrote. Honestly I’m glad I did forget because I never would have tried this one due to that book and my reaction to it. But that series appears to be fairly popular so again I might be the outlier.
@Kaetrin: That’s another one I “got a feeling” that I might like and taking a chance paid off for me. There’s a lot of character growth that happens along with the humor/snark.
@Jayne I have read Home is the Sailor, The Excitements, I Hope This Finds You Well and The Seamstress on Cider Lane – all wonderful reads!
So many great books, I’ve even managed to read at least two (THE EXCITEMENTS and I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL).
And, golly, just the quote from THE STORY OF A HEART had me reaching for a bed sheet to blot a lot of tears. That paragraph is extraordinary in its loving care and kindness.
THE LAST GIFTS OF THE UNIVERSE is in my wish list and I’m delighted with your review. Now I have to look at HOME IS THE SAILOR.
Thank you for everything, Jayne.
@Darlynne: Dr. Clarke’s writing is wonderful. She brings the emotion without going overboard, writes about medical things and makes them understandable. I hope you get and enjoy THE LAST GIFTS OF THE UNIVERSE.
Oh, @Jayne, your review of Dog vs Strawberry squished my heart. I had a darling puppy who behaved the same when given her first strawberry. Startled by the flavor, she spit it out, nosed it, jumped to the other side of her bed, picked it up, tossed it in the air, and dashed around the room. It is one of my sweetest memories.
@LML: Did she ever accept strawberries as food or were they always foe?
@Jayne, only if presented sliced, not whole. She also loved salads – IF they had creamy dressing.
@LML: Hahaha – she wasn’t picky at all, was she? ☺