romance

‘The Shippers’ by Katherine Center is the ultimate shipboard romcom

/ Pamela Kramer

Katherine Center has cleverly titled her newest rom-com, “The Shippers.” The setting is a cruise ship, so in that sense the title is logical. But I learned a new term: “ship” is slang for relationship. To be specific, the verb means wishing for two people to be together; the noun is the actual romantic pairing. In this novel, the romantic couple that is being “shipped” appears to be clear from the start, but as we know, things in fiction (and real life) are not always what they appear to be.

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‘The Last Letters of Sally and Walter’ by Cammie McGovern is about family, relationships, and Scrabble

/ Pamela Kramer

When we think of letters, and perhaps especially “last letters,” we think of heartfelt correspondence between people sharing ideas and emotions. We don’t usually think of the board game Scrabble and the letters we use when playing that game. The main characters in “The Last Letters of Sally and Walter” meet at an independent living community when Sally decides to try attending the Scrabble club one evening.

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‘No One Knew’ is the second in the ‘Noelle Marshall’ series by Kendra Ellliot

/ Pamela Kramer

“No One Knew” is a thriller that grabs you from the first page, wherein a lonely teenager finds a dead body. Author Kendra Elliot knows the central Oregon setting well, and through her capable descriptions, we feel the bitter cold of winter as main character Noelle Marshall, along with her coworkers and FBI boyfriend, try to figure out who is behind the murder of that man and two other dead bodies that appear in succession and why the FBI is getting whispers about something big being planned by domestic terrorists.

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‘Dog Person’ by Camille Pagán is a love story: to dogs, to people, to bookstores, and to books

/ Pamela Kramer

“Dog Person” is Camille Pagán’s ultimate love story. It’s a story about all kinds of love, and maybe, most of all, it’s a love story about the love we feel for our dogs and what they bring to our lives. But it’s not “just” a dog story (funny thing, when I was typing this review, without thinking, I wrote “Dog Story” as the title). This lovely, heartwarming, heartbreaking, beautifully conceived novel is about love in all its permutations; a mother’s love, our love for our animal companions, our love for our partner, our love for our parents (or not), our love for our friends and family, and our love of reading and finding safe spaces in which to read.

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‘Moonlight Runner’ by Karen Robards is historical fiction at its best

/ Pamela Kramer

Karen Robards’ brilliance lies in her ability to take historical events, add fictional characters, and wring us dry emotionally as her strong, independent female protagonists march through important historical events risking everything to follow their beliefs. “The Moonlight Runner” takes us to Ireland in 1918. The Great War, as they called World War I, has just ended, but instead of being felled by a German-speaking enemy, people are being killed by an invisible organism known as the Spanish flu. Living in a small Irish town on the coast is Rynn Carmichael.

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‘Bloodlust’ by Sandra Brown is a sexy thriller

/ Pamela Kramer

In Sandra Brown’s new novel “Bloodlust,” the action is set in the same Louisiana town as her previous novel with “blood” in the title, “Blood Moon.” And while the main characters from “Blood Moon” appear in this novel, it’s not a sequel. The similarities, though, are hard to ignore. In the new novel, it’s Detective Mitch Haskell who sits stage center, with therapist Dylan Reede taking an important, but secondary, role. The main characters from “Blood Moon” are supporting characters, and it definitely helps to have read “Blood Moon” first, but this is certainly a stand alone novel as well.

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‘How Simi Got Her Groom Back’ by Sonali Dev is a delightful story of love and family…and finding justice

/ Pamela Kramer

In “How Simi Got Her Groom Back,” author Sonali Dev uses a cute and clever title to draw us in and make this novel appear to be a delicious romcom. And it is a romcom, but like many wonderfully written novels in that genre, it’s so much more than “just” a romantic comedy. While we read about Simi and her sister Rupi, we are reading about their really tragic childhood, their sisterly bond, human trafficking, the difficulties of immigration, the perils of life in India, and the wonders of a loving family.

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‘Missing Sam’ by Thrity Umrigar is a powerful novel about love and our differences

/ Pamela Kramer

All married couples have arguments. But what happens when shortly after that spat, your spouse disappears? That’s the beginning of acclaimed author Thrity Umrigar’s newest novel, “Missing Sam.” Aliya and Sam (short for Samantha) have been married for years and live a comfortable life in their Cleveland suburb. But after a party brings past irritations to the surface, they argue. And the next morning, Sam goes for a run and doesn’t come back.

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‘The Naysayers’ by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke is about listening (or not) to that little voice in your head

/ Pamela Kramer

You know that little voice in your head that sometimes feeds your insecurity? The voice that whispers maybe you aren’t good enough? In “The Naysayers,” authors Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke explore that concept by creating an alternate world in which people are paid to literally whisper negative thoughts into the heads of those who reside in the “Real World” and are in “danger” of being too happy and secure in their lives.

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‘Don’t Let Him In’ by Lisa Jewell is a truly twisty terrifying mystery

/ Pamela Kramer

During Bookreporter.com’s end of the year event, a fellow reviewer named “Don’t Let Him In” by Lisa Jewell as one of his top two picks for 2025 — high praise indeed. I decided that I wanted to make sure to include this one in my 2025 book reviews, and boy, am I glad that I did. This novel is a masterpiece of suspense, and using different points of view and different narrators to provide us with significant insight into the characters. Her choice to make Nick Radcliffe, the man at the center of the novel, tell his story in first person narrative is brilliant as his narrative, at first seemingly rational, becomes more and more unhinged as the novel progresses.

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