The Ivory City: Review

About the Book:

Title: The Ivory City

Author: Emily Bain Murphy

Publisher: Union Square and Co.

Release Date: November 4, 2025

Pages: 352

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance

Synopsis:

THE IVORY CITY is a historical mystery that explores the lush and vibrant St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904, where a miniature city of palaces and pavilions becomes a backdrop for romance, betrayal, and murder.

Grace and Lillie are cousins and have been best friends since birth, despite Grace’s inferior social status. When Lillie invites Grace to the biggest event of the century—the legendary World’s Fair, also known as “The Ivory City”—Grace doesn’t hesitate.

Then: a murder. A young woman at the fair is brutally killed, and suspicion quickly falls on Grace’s cousin Oliver.

Grace has to help prove Oliver innocent before he is jailed and her beloved cousin’s family is ruined forever. And along the way, discover whether the city’s wealthy elite—not least of all Oliver’s handsome, irritable friend Theodore—aren’t quite who they first appeared to be.

Because a killer is still on the loose, and all the glitz, glamor, and magic of the Ivory City is about to become a lot more dangerous to behold.

Review:

*I received an e-arc via Netgalley and the publisher for review. Thank you for the opportunity. All thoughts are my own*

The Ivory City was REALLY good! I have read almost all of Emily’s books, so I had to read this one of course. You could tell that this book was well researched and that a lot of love was poured into the story. It’s a murder mystery set at The World’s Fair in St. Louis, featuring all of the glitz and glamour, and a slow burn romance. I instantly felt transported to 1904! I also loved how Emily explored the darker side of the time period, the differences between classes, and some of the inhumane ways that people were treated at the World’s Fair.

The romance was *chefs kiss* I won’t say more, as I don’t want to spoil anything.

I definitely recommend!

 

About the Author:

Emily Bain Murphy is a critically acclaimed author of books for adults and young adults. She was born in Indiana and raised in Hong Kong and Japan. She graduated from Tufts University and has also called Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California home.

Murphy is the author of the YA fantasies The Disappearances, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and Splinters of Scarlet, which received starred reviews from School Library Journal and Bookpage and was nominated for the MASL Truman Readers’ Award. Both are available now from HarperCollins.

Murphy’s adult historical mystery Enchanted Hill is available now from Union Square and Co./Hachette. The Ivory City, a standalone adult historical mystery set at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, will be published in November 2025 from Union Square and Co./Hachette.

Murphys’s debut middle grade fantasy trilogy Lightseekers will be published in March 2026 from WaterBrook Multnomah/Penguin Randomhouse.

Murphy is represented by Peter Knapp at Park, Fine & Brower Literary and Media. She currently lives in the St. Louis area with her husband, three children, and a rescue bunny. Find her online at Instagram @emilybainmurphy and Facebook @emilybainmurphy.

Snowbound Regency Christmas: A Forced Proximity Historical Romance

About the Book:

Title: Snowbound Regency Christmas

Authors: Carla Kelly, Joanna Johnson, Samantha Hastings

Publisher: Harlequin Historical

Release Date: November 25, 2025

Pages: 272

Genre: Christmas, Historical Romance, Regency

Synopsis:

Three heart-warming forced proximity romance novellas to cosy up with this festive season

Three snow-kissed Regency romances

In one festive volume!

In A Christmas Houseguest   by   Carla Kelly, when a snowstorm stops their mail coach, Rosie offers a fellow passenger sanctuary at her farm. War-weary from the navy, Andy will find his Christmas angel hard to leave…

In Their Yuletide Reunion by Joanna Johnson, rejecting Lieutenant Fitzjames’s proposal is Jane’s greatest regret. Now, her future is in peril. Until an unexpected Christmas invitation leads to a second chance!

In The Christmas Husband Charade by Samantha Hastings, Devin finds himself snowed in with Julia—the woman who jilted his brother! When he is forced to masquerade as her husband, their mutual hatred evolves into an irresistible connection…

From Harlequin Your romantic escape to the past.

Review:

*I received a complimentary copy for review. Thanks to the author and publisher for the opportunity. All thoughts are my own*

Snowbound Regency Christmas is another collection of three stories that I really enjoyed and that got me in the holiday spirit. Each story revolves around a different couple that find love in the most unexpected of ways.

In A Christmas Houseguest, stuck on a mail coach, a soldier war-weary from the Navy is offered sanctuary on a farm during a snowstorm. There he meets a wonderful and caring family, including Rose, who may just save him. I really liked how PTSD was explored in this one.

The Yuletide Reunion was a story about second chances. Jane’s greatest regret has been rejecting Lieutenant Fitjames’s proposal. Her future is currently in peril, until an unexpected Christmas invitation may just change her life. Such a sweet story!

The Christmas Husband Charade finds Devin snowed in with Julia, the woman who jilted his brother! When Devin is forced to masquerade as Julia’s husband, their mutual hatred begins to evolve into something more. Enemies to lovers is my favorite trope, so I really loved this one!

All in all, a fun collection of heartwarming Christmas stories. I recommend!

About the Authors:

Carla Kelly-

Although Carla Kelly is well known among her readers as a writer of Regency romance, her main interest (and first writing success) is Western American fiction—more specifically, writing about America’s Indian Wars. Although she had sold some of her work before, it was not until Carla began work in the National Park Service as a ranger/historian at Fort Laramie National Historic Site did she get serious about her writing career. (Or as she would be the first to admit, as serious as it gets.)

Carla wrote a series of what she now refers to as the “Fort Laramie stories,” which are tales of the men, women and children of the Indian Wars era in Western history. Two of her stories, A Season for Heroes and Kathleen Flaherty’s Long Winter, earned her Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America. She was the second woman to earn two Spurs from WWA (which, as everyone knows, is all you need to ride a horse). Her entire Indian Wars collection was published in 2003 as Here’s to the Ladies: Stories of the Frontier Army. It remains her favorite work.

The mother of five children, Carla has always allowed her kids to earn their keep by appearing in her Regencies, most notably Marian’s Christmas Wish, which is peopled by all kinds of relatives. Grown now, the Kelly kids are scattered here and there across the U.S. They continue to provide feedback, furnish fodder for stories and make frantic phone calls home during the holidays for recipes. (Carla Kelly is some cook.)

Carla’s husband, Martin, is Director of Theatre at Valley City State University, in Valley City, North Dakota. Carla is currently overworked as a staff writer at the local daily newspaper. She also writes a weekly, award-winning column, “Prairie Lite.”

Carla only started writing Regencies because of her interest in the Napoleonic Wars, which figures in many of her Regency novels and short stories. She specializes in writing about warfare at sea, and about the ordinary people of the British Isles who were, let’s face it, far more numerous than lords and ladies.

Hobbies? She likes to crochet afghans, and read British crime fiction and history, principally military history. She’s never happier than talking about the fur trade or Indian Wars with Park Service cronies. Her most recent gig with the National Park Service was at Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site on the Montana/North Dakota border.

Here’s another side to this somewhat prosaic woman: She recently edited the fur trade journal of Swiss artist Rudolf F. Kurz (the 1851-1852 portion) and is gratified now and then to be asked to speak on scholarly subjects. She has also worked for the State Historical Society of North Dakota as a contract researcher. This has taken her to glamorous drudgery in several national archives and military history repositories. Gray archives boxes and old documents make her salivate.

Her mantra for writing comes from the subject of her thesis, Robert Utley, that dean of Indian Wars history. He told her the secret to writing is “to put your ass in the chair and keep it there until you’re done.” He’s right, of course.

Her three favorite fictional works have remained constant through the years, although their rankings tend to shift: War and Peace, The Lawrenceville Stories, and A Town Like Alice. Favorite historical works are One Vast Winter Count, On the Border with Mackenzie and Crossing the Line. Favorite crime fiction authors are Michael Connelly, John Harvey and Peter Robinson.

And that’s all she can think of that would interest anyone. Carla Kelly is quite ordinary, except when she is sometimes prevailed upon to sing a scurrilous song about lumberjacks, or warble “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” in Latin.

Joanna Johnson-

Joanna Johnson lives in a little village with her husband and too many books. After completing an English degree at university, she went on to work in publishing, although she’d always rather, she was working on her own books rather than other people’s. This dream came true in 2018 when she signed her first contract with Harlequin and she hasn’t looked back, spending her time getting lost in mainly Regency history and wishing it was still acceptable to write a manuscript with a quill.
Samantha Hastings-
Samantha Hastings has degrees from Brigham Young University, the University of Reading (Berkshire, England), and the University of North Texas. She met her husband in a turkey-sandwich line. They live in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she spends most of her time reading, eating popcorn, having tea parties, and chasing her kids. She writes cozy mysteries under Samantha Larsen.

The Heir (A Young Queen Victoria Mystery #1): Review

About the Book:

Title: The Heir

Author: Darcie Wilde

Publisher: Kensington Books

Release Date: August 26, 2025

Pages: 361

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Synopsis:

Destined for a life beyond her wildest dreams, born fifth in succession to the throne, and determined to get to the bottom of a most foul puzzle. The future queen becomes a rebellious sleuth when she vows to solve the mystery of a dead man scandalously discovered on the grounds of Kensington Palace—by her.

The young Victoria remembers nothing but Kensington Palace. Arriving as a baby, she has been brought up inside its musty, mold-ridden walls. Others may see the value of Kensington’s priceless artifacts and objets d’art, but the palace is a jail cell for young Victoria. Raised with an incredibly strict regimen to follow, watched at all times by her mother, the controlling, German-born Victoire, and Victoire’s prized advisor, the power-hungry Sir John Conroy, the bright 15-year-old is allowed no freedom at any time—except that which she steals or wheedles for, always in the company of Conroy’s resentful daughter, Jane.

But one fateful afternoon, Victoria slips away from her mother to ride out on her beloved gelding, Prince. With reluctant Jane in tow, the princess gallops out from the palace green. But what would normally be an uneventful trot around very familiar terrain presents the mutinous princess with a most bewildering sight—a dead man, and on the grounds of the palace, no less.

Determined to get to the bottom of the inscrutable puzzle, young Victoria is met with shocking disrespect and any number of obstacles. Sir John lies to her, her uncles and aunts join with her mother to stonewall her questions and curtail her movements. But Victoria will not be deterred. With Jane Conroy as a tentative and untrustworthy ally, Victoria’s first “case” is underway . . .

Review:

*I received an arc from the publisher, Netgalley, and @austenprose for review. Thank you for the opportunity. All thoughts are my own*
As a fan of the PBS show Victoria, I was excited for the opportunity to read a mystery starring a young Queen Victoria. This was my first book by the author Darcie Wild, and I am happy to say it did not disappoint! I am fascinated by Queen Victoria and the Victorian Era, so it was such a fun read. The author had to take some liberties of course, but I thought she did really well and that the book was thoroughly researched. If you like historical fiction, court intrigue and mystery I think you will enjoy this one!
The young Victoria remembers nothing about Kensington Palace. She was brought there as a baby and brought up within its dilapidated walls. The palace is basically a prison cell for Victoria as she has a very strict routine to follow on a daily basis. Her mother is overbearing and watches her at all times, and her mother’s advisor Sir John Conroy is power hungry and controlling. The fifteen-year-old has no freedom except what she steals or barters for, and always in the company of Sir Conroy’s resentful daughter, Jane.
One afternoon, Victoria sneaks off to ride her horse with the reluctant Jane in tow. As Victoria gallops ahead of Jane, she comes across the body of a dead man on the green, on palace grounds.
Victoria is determined to solve the mystery, although she is faced with many obstacles along the way. Sir John lies to her; her mother and other family members stonewall her questions and watch her movements. With Jane Conroy as her tentative and untrustworthy ally, Victoria will not be deterred from solving her first “case.”
Victoria is portrayed just as I pictured her, spirited and determined to gain whatever freedom she can get from the monotony of palace life. She truly shines as she faces these challenges. I loved watching her friendship blossom with Jane, and her relationship with her governess, Lehzen.
I am excited to read more in this world, as it looks like it will be a series. Can’t wait to see what Victoria will be up to next!
Definitely recommend! This book releases on August 26, 2025.

About the Author:

Darcie Wilde is a pseudonym for Sarah Zettel, author of mysteries, science fiction, romance and Young Adult fiction, including the New York Times Notable Book Fool’s War and the bestselling Rosalind Thorne mysteries A Useful Woman. She also writes under the names Delia James, Sarah Zettel, Jennifer Hawkins C. L. Anderson and Marissa Day.

Darcie writes her classically styled (not to mention stylish) mysteries as well as adventurous romances from a university town in a certain northern-midwestern state that has been known to bear some passing resemblance to a mitten. When not writing, she’s reading, cooking, hiking, swimming, climbing things, embroidering other things, raising her rapidly growing son and trying to convince her cat — Buffy the Vermin Slayer — not to do any further damage to the furniture.