March 2025 Reading LIst

I only finished 13 books in March, but did a lot of class and non-fiction reading for my writing business, along with magazine articles. Never entire books, just sections that I needed to focus on so I’m not listing them here. I also started and discarded a dozen books. No time to waste on that which doesn’t hold and entertain me.

Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? 2024 by Nicci French

Nicci French is actually an English husband and wife team of writers. Their Freida Klein series, with each book named after a day of the week, is excellent. This is the first standalone by the team that I’ve read.

Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter is a mystery in three parts. A woman’s disappearance on night of her husband’s 50th birthday party sets off the story which spans thirty years. I can’t say anything more without spoiling it. I gave this 5 stars.

The Curse of Penryth Hall 2023 by Jess Armstrong

After the Great War, an American heiress runs a rare bookstore with her elderly employer and housemate. She delivers a box of books to a folk healer in the Cornish countryside where she visits her ex-bestie at Penryth Hall, a gloomy, unsettling place. Her friend’s husband is murdered, the locals blame it on an old curse, and we’re off to solve the murder. I gave this 5 stars.

The Mirror 2024 by Nora Roberts

This is a paranormal romance, the second book in the Bride Trilogy. A young woman inherits a manor haunted by an evil witch who has been killing every bride in the woman’s family on their wedding day for centuries. Normally I would wait for the full trilogy to be published before starting it, but I read the first book (Inheritance) without realizing it was part of a trilogy. This is sort of a romance, but the main plot is the killing of the brides and what to do about it. I gave this book 4 stars.

The Secret of the Three Fates 2025 by Jess Armstrong

The sequel to The Curse of Penryth Hall. The American heiress travels to Scotland with her elderly employer where they attend a séance. There’s a suitably creepy castle, mediums, suspicious characters, death, and a mystery. An excellent follow up to the first book. I gave this one 5 stars.

Fangirl Down 2024 by Tessa Bailey

This was my first Tessa Bailey book and I have been slowly reading through everything of hers I can find after reading this. So far they are all contemporary romances with (warning!) some spicy sex. What I like best about Tessa’s books is how she handles character growth inside the romances. The author is an expert at character arcs.

Fangirl Down is about a has-been golfer and his diehard number one fan. Their story sucked me right in and held me to the end. If you like romance and characters you want to root for, give Tessa a try. I gave this book 5 stars.