Summer is behind us and the crisp autumn air has popped up around the corner. Time to pack away the shorts and tank tops and give those long sleeves and jackets a good shake and airing again. With the fall comes the longer nights to curl up under a blanket with a good book. This month’s theme for the WFWA listing is all about sisters ― their triumphs, joys, pitfalls, fights, tears, laughter, adventures, secrets, estrangement and squabbles whether petty or dramatic.
Boop and Eve’s Road Trip by Mary Helen Sheriff
Boop and Eve’s Road Trip by Mary Helen Sheriff
She Writes Press (coming October 2020)
Boop and her sister Victoria have been squabbling for eighty years. Their relationship comes to a head when Victoria threatens to reveal a long-held family secret and then hires a private investigator to track down Boop and her granddaughter Eve on their road trip. Desperate to see her sister, Boop is aware that sharing the secret that’s haunted her for sixty years might be the one thing that will lessen Eve’s growing depression ― but revealing it will spell the loss of her family and hard-won happiness.
A Summer of Surprises by Judith Keim
A Summer of Surprises by Judith Keim
Wild Quail Publishing (May 2020)
Jill Conroy is tricked by her sister into becoming the housekeeper and cook for the summer at Seashell Cottage, where Greg Campbell and his nephew Brody have been hired to do maintenance projects on the house. Annoyed at first, Jill soon realizes how wonderful it is to be away from New York and the memories of her deceased, emotionally abusive husband. It is not long before Jill decides to remain in Florida permanently and build a new life for herself. Her part-time work at a summer camp, the promise of a new job in the fall, and the magic of a new love make it seem as if her future is set, but a visit from her sister reveals secrets that surprise them all.
Notes of Love and War by Betty Bolté
Notes of Love and War by Betty Bolté
Mystic Owl Publishing (July 2020)
Set during the 1940s against the backdrop of the flourishing musical community in Baltimore, Notes of Love and War weaves together the pleasure of musical performance with the dangers of espionage. Working as a music critic for the city newspaper during World War II, Audrey Harper needs more than home and hearth to satisfy her self-worth. When Audrey uncovers evidence of German spies working to sabotage a secret bomber plane being manufactured in her beloved city, her efforts to protect her city will place her life and that of her sister in grave danger.
Truth be Told by Kathleen Barber
Truth be Told by Kathleen Barber
Pan Macmillan (December 2019)
The only thing more dangerous than a lie … is the truth. Josie Buhrman has spent the last ten years trying to escape her family after her father’s murder thirteen years ago, her mother’s decision to join a cult, and her twin sister’s betrayal. After finally building a happy new life in New York with her fiancé, an investigative reporter’s hit podcast re-examines her father’s case and Josie’s world begins to unravel. The unexpected death of her mother forces Josie to return home, where she must confront the secrets from her past ― and the lies on which she has staked her future.
If You Must Know by Jamie Beck
If You Must Know by Jamie Beck
Montlake Romance (June 2020)
Sisters Amanda Foster and Erin Turner have little in common except the childhood bedroom they once shared and the certainty each feels that her way of life is best. Amanda follows the rules ― at work, in her community ― and is a picture-perfect daughter, wife and mother-to-be. Erin follows her heart — in love and otherwise ― living a bohemian lifestyle on a shoestring budget and honoring her late father’s memory with a passion for music and her fledgling bath-products business. The sisters are content leading separate lives until everything is upended by lies that force them to confront unsettling truths about their family, themselves and each other.
The Road to Bittersweet by Donna Everhart
The Road to Bittersweet by Donna Everhart
Kensington Books (December 2017)
For fourteen-year-old Wallis Ann Stamper and her family, life in the Appalachian Mountains is simple and satisfying, though not for the tender-hearted. While her older sister, Laci — a mute, musically gifted savant — is constantly watched over and protected, Wallis Ann is as practical and sturdy as her name. When the Tuckasegee River bursts its banks, the Stampers begin a perilous journey from their ruined home to the hill country of South Carolina. Wallis Ann’s blossoming friendship with Clayton, a high-diving performer for a traveling show, sparks a new opportunity, and the family joins as a singing group. But Clayton’s attention to Laci drives a wedge between the two sisters. And jealousy and betrayal threaten to accomplish what hardship never could — divide the family for good.
Whisper Me This by Kerry Ann King
Whisper Me This by Kerry Ann King
Lake Union Publishing (August 2018)
Single mother Maisey Addington has always fallen short of her own mother’s expectations — never married, a bit adrift, wasting her high IQ on dead-end jobs. The only thing Maisey’s sure she’s gotten right is her relationship with her twelve-year-old daughter, Elle … until a phone call blows apart the precarious balance of their lives. Back at her childhood home, Maisey must make a heartrending life-or-death decision. Her confused father has destroyed family records, including her mother’s final wishes. Searching for answers, Maisey uncovers one unspeakable secret after another when she stumbles upon a shattering truth: a twin sister named Marley.
