books I'm reading

Partially visible behind a gold satin curtain, a young Chinese woman in traditional dress holds a fan in her right hand; cover of Bo Wang's The Chinese Lady

Interview with Bo Wang

Interview with Bo Wang, whose debut historical novel about the first Chinese woman in the United States will appear with HarperVia in September 2026

cplesley

Sep 45 min read

A woman and a man in simple early twentieth-century dress (white shirts and gray skirt or pants) walk across green mountains beside a beautiful sorrel horse. Cover of Elizabeth Letts's novel Fallen for France

Interview with Elizabeth Letts

Interview with author Elizabeth Letts, whose latest novel, Fallen for France, came out in August 2026 with Bantam Books

cplesley

Aug 285 min read

Mountains covered in scarce grass against a cloudy sky, a castle visible against a lake; cover of Rhys Bowen's The Castle in the Glen

New Books Network Interview: Rhys Bowen

New Books Network interview with Rhys Bowen about her latest standalone historical novel, The Castle in the Glen, recently released by Lake Union Publishing

cplesley

Aug 142 min read

A two-story house sits on an open book against a backdrop of flowers; cover of Kelly Rimmer's The Story Keeper

Interview about The Story Keeper

Interview with Kelly Rimmer, author of The Story Keeper and other historical novels

cplesley

Jul 243 min read

A dirt road winds among moss-covered hills seen against the backdrop of a cloudy sky. Off to one side, a castle stands at the edge of a lake; cover of Rhys Bowen's The Castle in the Glen

Bookshelf, Summer 2026

Historical fiction and one contemporary mystery on my bookshelf in Summer 2026

cplesley

Jul 103 min read

Two women's faces; one European with a 19th-century hairstyle and the other Asian are partially visible beyond images of branches, one with a bird and butterfly, the other with a red fruit; cover of Marian Yee's 4 Janes

Interview with Marian Yee

Interview with the author Marian Yee, whose magical realist novel explores east-west connections through a reimagining of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

cplesley

Jun 267 min read

Drawing of a red-haired man in Regency clothing, shown against an elaborate wallpaper background, facing a woman in simple brown dress and long robe against a background of plain stripes; cover of Shana Galen's A Shop Girl's Guide to Wooing a Lord

New Books Network Interview: Shana Galen

New Books Network interview with Shana Galen, author of the historical romance A Shop Girl's Guide to Wooing a Lord, set in Regency England

cplesley

Jun 192 min read

A man in Regency dress and a woman in modern clothing look at each other; they are both standing on an old-fashioned grandfather clock at different levels; cover of Samantha Silva's Sometime This Century

Interview with Samantha Silva

Interview with author Samantha Silva about her latest historical romance, Sometime This Century, a contemporary take on Jane Austen's world

cplesley

Jun 125 min read

A man in a caped coat and top hat, seen from the back, stands among bare trees; cover of Murder in Bloody Weald

Borrowed Books

Books borrowed from Kindle Unlimited that I plan to read—historical mysteries, Tudor fiction, a novel set in the Ottoman Empire, and a cat detective

cplesley

Jun 53 min read

A red-haired man in fashionable Regency dress, drawn against a fancy background, looks at a brunette in a plain brown floor-length dress covered with an equally plain coat, all portrayed against a pattern of stripes; cover of Shana Galen’s first Heiress Hunters novel, A Shop Girl’s Guide to Wooing a Lord

Interviews of Early Summer

Two forthcoming New Books Network interviews and two blog Q&A's, all scheduled to run between May and July 2026—historical romance, 1960s fiction, contemporary women's fiction, and historical/contemporary fantasy

cplesley

May 223 min read

A woman runs in silhouette in front of a group of old-fashioned town houses, the London skyline dimly visible behind them and a pair of ravens in the sky; cover of Kristen Perrin's How to Cheat Your Own Death

Interview with Kristen Perrin

Interview with dual-timeline historical and contemporary mystery novelist Kristen Perrin, whose latest Castle Knoll mysteries has just come out with Kensington Books

cplesley

May 15 min read

A brown-haired woman in a bright blue 18th-century style dress, seen from the back, holds a basket of ripe fruit and stands in a meadow, facing a city on a hill; cover of Stephanie Dray's and Laura Kamoie's A Founding Mother

Bookshelf, Spring 2026

Novels on my bookshelf in the spring of 2026, by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, Shana Galen, April Howells, Kristen Perrin, Caitlin Shetterly, and Marian Yee

cplesley

Apr 33 min read

A woman's face tilted back so she's looking at the sky slowly bleeds in blue ink into the jade green background; cover of The Fountain by Casey Scieszka

Interview with Casey Scieszka

Interview with the author Casey Scieszka, whose magical realist novel The Fountain was published by Harper in March 2026

cplesley

Mar 204 min read

A young, dark-haired woman in a floor-length crimson gown stands in a garden, looking at a large gray mansion with only a few lighted windows; cover of Janie Chang's The Fourth Princess

Interview with Janie Chang

Author interview with Janie Chang, whose latest historical novel, The Fourth Princess, came out in early February 2026 from William Morrow.

cplesley

Feb 125 min read

A young woman with short, blonde hair, dressed in rose pink, holds a jar of daffodils while another woman pushes a pram in the garden outside; cover of Rhys Bowen's From Cradle to Grave

Historical Mysteries, Part 3

Historical mystery series I love, part 3, featuring novels by Rhys Bowen, Dianne Freeman, Alison Goodman, Darcie Wilde, and P. Srigley

cplesley

Feb 64 min read

A woman in Elizabethan dress, including a large ruff and cut off above the nose; cover of Jennifer Ashley's Eloise and the Queen

Bookshelf, Winter 2026

Novels, mostly historical fiction, on my Winter 2026 bookshelf, by Jennifer Ashley, Janie Chang, Sandra Freels, Kaoru Mori, Casey Scieszka, and Linda Wilgus

cplesley

Jan 24 min read