Books to Love: #BeatrizBinge

If you look at that banner picture, it seems like the heading should read Booze to Love. However, in light of the subheading- #BeatrizBinge- this photo is pretty perfect, particularly as the books I’m writing about today all take place in the Roaring ‘20s when Prohibition made booze illegal and therefore all the more illicit.

But before I get into the #BeatrizBinge, there’s one item of business that must be attended to.

Whiskers on Kittens has hosted a giveaway, and today it’s my great pleasure to announce the winner.

The winner of a brand-spanking new copy of Beatriz Williams’ newest novel Her Last Flight is:

Heather Talty!

Congratulation! I know you’re going to enjoy this read as much as I did. It’s so full of the stuff of life. And it’s set in such an idyllic setting, too. So, just drop me a line via my email, send me your address, and I’ll have your book in the mail within the next day or two.

Now, if you entered and did not win, there’s no need to be sad. There are a raft of other options to stock up your summer reading list with.

Book Club Girl, a promotional service through HarperCollins Publication, instituted the hashtag #BeatrizBinge some years back to get readers excited for whatever new release Williams would be dropping that year. Luckily with Beatriz Williams, there’s usually two novels released per annum. Book Club Girl encourages you to get creative while you’re reading and post pictures of where you #BeatrizBinge.

This year, the #BeatrizBinge started in January with a Williams’ book read each month leading up to June when Her Last Flight landed on shelves.

However, I find that when I finish whatever new book has hit the shelves, I want more. That is definitely the case with Her Last Flight. I really didn’t want this one to end.

So, when you’ve finished reading Her Last Flight (rental from the library or purchased from your local bookstore- here are a few options to buy local- The Bookmark Shoppe, The Oxford Comma Bookstore, The FoxTale Book Shoppe, and Parnassus Books), here are a few other Beatriz Williams books to check out.

Many of us may not be seeing the beach this summer. However, if you’re a beach-a-holic like I am, and miss the sound of the waves crashing to shore, Beatriz Williams has a solution: her novel Cocoa Beach.

As the title suggests, this book takes place in the developing boom town of Cocoa Beach on the east coast of Florida. But, as Beatriz does so well, Cocoa Beach opens up with a tragedy. A tragedy linked to a mystery.

As I said before, this novel opens up in the early days of Prohibition. However, as is her hallmark, Williams sets this novel in two time periods. While we’re seeing the unfolding mystery surrounding Virginia Fortescue’s husband, Simon, who perished (or did he?) in a fire that burned his Florida estate to the ground, we’re also get to read about the beginning and early progression of their relationship on the battlefields of France during World War I.

Simon Fortescue was a doctor during the war and Virginia was an ambulance driver. That’s how they met. And, nothing kindles passions so well as the prospect of impending death looming over one’s shoulder. In the midst of the chaos that is war, Virginia finds herself falling for the enigmatic Simon. With little knowledge of his history, she marries this man and lets her take him to his ancestral seat in Cornwall. But, once there, she encounters a series of revelations that drive her from the arms of her husband and back to those her family on the Upper East Side of New York City.

Of course, it’s never that easy. Virginia arrives on the shores of America with a little surprise in tow. That would be the budding life of Simon and her daughter in her womb.

While that story unfolds in pieces, it is juxtaposed with the current narrative in June 1922. Virginia has traveled from New York City with her young daughter in tow to find out what really happened to her husband. Sure, they were estranged. Yeah, she hadn’t seen him since she left him in Cornwall in 1919. But that doesn’t mean she stopped caring about him. That she stopped loving him. You don’t just turn something like that off. It’s like an idling engine. It may not be throwing out power to move one way or the other, but its still running.

There’s a really great synopsis of this book on Beatriz Williams’ website that throws out a few more nuggets if your’e interested in learning more. I’ll just tell you the few things I appreciated about this book.

It is a story of redemption and forgiveness. I think we can always use books that center around those themes.

It’s also a novel that is beautifully researched from the politics of the time to the detailed descriptions of the settings. You will definitely feel the humid heat of Florida in June. You’ll find yourself breaking out your cocktail shaker and whipping up an evening cocktail as you greedily turn these pages. It’s a fantastic read to transport you to a different time and place thoroughly. It’s a vacation read, I promise.

And, it ends with another mystery. Three people turn up on Virginia’s doorstep in the middle of the night. Seriously. The book ends there with you asking, who are these people? Where did they come from? Why are they there in the dead of night desperate for help?

Have no fear. While I thought Williams left me hanging there, she actually didn’t. With the arrival of those three persons on an orange plantation in Cocoa Beach, Williams opens up an entire new series.

The Wicked City follows the escapades of Geneva Kelly, known as Gin, which is a far more appropriate moniker for a fiesta redhead living large in the Big City during the Roaring Twenties.

The book also takes place in the more modern context of the 1990s, with Ella Hawthorne, newly separated from her no-good cheating husband. After discovering him in flagrant delecto with a prostitute in the stairwell outside their picture SoHo loft in New York City, Ella packed up those belongings that meant something to her and moved into an apartment in an older building in Greenwich Village. She’s nursing a broken heart; she’s also kicking herself for being so naive and blind to the reprobate ways of her soon to be ex.

And while she would love to get a good night’s sleep, there’s a racket that’s keeping her awake. There’s a Jazz band playing into the wee hours of the morning. That really hot jazz you’d find in a speakeasy. Trouble is that try as she might, Ella can’t find the source of the sound.

That’s because there’s some sort of rip in the fabric of time in this Greenwich Village apartment building. There is certainly a Jazz band playing, but it’s not in 1998. It’s in 1924. You see, next door to the building Ella resides in in the present, there used to be a speakeasy affectionately known as Christopher’s. That’s where we meet Gin Kelly.

What I liked the most about this novel was that Gin Kelly’s voice was an entirely unique one to me. While I highly recommend all of Beatriz Williams’ novels, I’ve never encountered a heroine like this one. Perhaps it’s because Gin Kelly hails from a holler in West Virginia. She’s got herself a Southern accent that you can’t ignore. And while she does have a world weary way about her, she’s also still a down-home girl who knows how to filet a fish and shoot a rifle.

As you can imagine, Gin gets embroiled in the Prohibition politics that dominated New York City in the 1920s, particularly one FBI agent.

You see, Gin is a girl who likes a good time. She’s partial to the libation from which her nickname originates. She has no time for a Prohibition agent who wants to make enforce the laws that make imbibing illegal. But, she’s also got an indomitable sense of adventure. This gets her in trouble, and as The Wicked City shows, Trouble finds Gin more time than not.

When I finished reading The Wicked City, I really didn’t want that to be the end for Gin. She is a character that is so full of life. And thankfully, Beatriz Williams agreed as she wrote a follow-up novel- The Wicked Redhead. This one starts in Florida and then returns to New York City and ultimately takes you to Nova Scotia.

Where The Wicked City has a deep root in history, The Wicked Redhead takes us into a bit more obscure history where the Prohibition era is concerned. I, for one, really love that sort of thing.

Ella Hawthorne’s story is also resolved in this novel, with a tip to another Beatriz book, too. For those of you who have read Along an Infinite Sea, you’ll recognize a few of the characters in this book.

Honestly, for me to give any teasers for The Wicked Redhead, I feel like I’d be giving away The Wicked City. And since I want you to read both, I’ll just tell you that you can’t go wrong by picking these two novels up at your local bookshop or library. They are also available on Kindle and Nook and any other electronic book source you have. There are also audio options as well if you want someone to read it to you as you commute to work or deal with chores around the house.

For me, Beatriz Williams is a staple summer read. Whether it’s her latest novel or a past one that’s a favorite, such as A Hundred Summers or The Summer Wives (follow the hyperlinks to read my posts about those books), you can’t go wrong with her well woven stories. They are rich in history, bountiful in descriptive settings, and satisfying in plot.

So, dear readers, what Beatriz books will be on your binge list? Is there a particular author you associate with summer? What books are one your 2020 Summer reading list? Please leave a comment below with whatever reads you recommend to make the 2020 Summer the best it can be.