It is still summer in the city, a perfect time to have some lazy days in the park curled up with a book, and in this review, we will look at four novels perfect for the occasion: In a League of Her Own, by Kaia Alderson; Close Knit, by Jenny Colgan; Love Lessons, by Sidney Halston; and The Last Time She Saw Him, by Kate White.
In a League of Her Own
By Kaia Alderson
William Morrow; paperback, $18.99; available today, Tuesday, August 6th
Kaia Alderson is a women's historical fiction author with a passion for discovering "hidden figures" in African American women's history. she is the author of Sisters In Arms, the largely unknown story of the 6888, the first American, all-Black woman WWII Army battalion, and Anderson's specific areas of interest are women's military history, popular music, women in sports, upper-middle-class African American society, and women's international travel.
In a League of Her Own is a novel based on Effa Manley, who owned her very own Negro League baseball team, and to this day, the only woman who has ever been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Set in 1930s New York, the story is about how a driven Harlem woman's husband, Abe, upended her social climbing when he bought a Negro Leagues team and appointed Effa as the team's business manager. Overnight, Manley goes from being a civil rights champion of 125th Street and being an interloper in the boys' club of professional baseball.
Effa has to navigate a world full of gentlemen's agreement contracts, the very public and flirtatious antics of superstar Satchel Paige, and a sports world that would much rather see this women retreat back into her place at home. She does such a masterful job that her team, the Newark Eagles, becomes Negro Legaue Champions in 1946.
The next question is, how long will Effa get to enjoy the fruits of her success before Major League Baseball rips it all apart?
In this excerpt, Alderson writes of Opening Day 1946, and what Effa was dealing with beyond the field: "Ruppert Stadium hummed with anticipation as the first pitch was thrown out. The boys who had not donned the Eagles uniform for the past three years were back. Except now they were full-grown men, having survived a war in which so many others had perished. A few were still on their way. Second baseman Larry Doby was waiting for his military discharge papers who he could come back to his civilian life. Back to Newark Eagles baseball.
Effa say in the owners' box, just as tense and grouchy as ever. She always got that way on opening day, the first game of the season, where all things were possible. But this year, there was an extra knot in her stomach. Not just because it was a new season or because the war was over, but because there was a new battle looming. One that in some ways had already begun. And her intuition had sounded the alarm that she would not come out as victorious as she had in the past.
'Play ball!' the umpire yelled from behind the plate. Leon Day settled himself into a crouch on the pitcher's mound before unleashing the first pitch.
The biggest surprise was waiting in the bullpen. Despite Abe's wrath driving him from the Eagles all those years ago, Terrance McDowell was back. Effa had no idea what had been said between her husband and Terrance before the pitcher returned to the team. But ever since the team came back from spring training, Terrance had steered clear of her, and she had made no attempts to speak to him. Abe had handled the contractual end of things. All Effa did was sign the man's paychecks.
She watched as Leon leaned forward with his hands on his knees, reading the catcher's signals. Behind him, the reassembled 'Million-Dollar Infield' dug in the dirt and beat their fists against their gloves. Her Eagles were back. Noe the only question was whether they still had the goods after three years away.
The next inning, the announcer called out Monte Irvin's name as the next hitter up to bat. Effa watched the young man walk toward the plate as the crowd cheered for him. She was grateful that Irvin was still with them on the team, taking a few practice swings before stepping into the batter's box.
Monte was no longer the teenager fresh out of high school who was still wet behind the ears with gangly arms and legs and an almost skeletal body. From the owner's box, Effa could see even better how he had filled out during his time away in the military. He was a man who couldn't be so easily swayed by the tough negotiating tactics she sometimes employed.
She'd been thinking about the anonymous phone call she had received with the tip that that damned Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers had talked to Monte directly about signing with them to make his Major League debut. If it was true. then Rickey was not acting in good faith. Yes, finally integrating the Major League was a good thing. But deliberately going behind the backs of the Negro League owners to poach their talent was not.
Effa's eyes strayed to their bullpen and the empty seat next to Terrance where Don Newcombe should have been sitting. That no-good Rickey had already stolen one of the top players from her roster. She'd be damned if she'd let him have the satisfaction of snatching another one away. The weeks leading up to today's season opener had been a scramble to get everyone's contracts signed and a winning lineup secured, not just in time for the new season but also before white baseball general managers got their grubby little hands on the talented players who were still her property."
In addition to Effa Manley, Alderson deftly works in the other names from that era of baseball that should be familiar to fans who know the history of the game, and if not, as Alderson intended, it is an introduction to a period of time that was on the brink of history.
Close Knit
By Jenny Colgan
Avon Books; paperback, $18.99; available today, Tuesday, August 6th
Jenny Colgan is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Christmas Bookshop, The Bookshop on the Corner, Sunrise by the Sea (please click here for our review from June 2021), Little Beach Street Bakery, Studies at the School by the Sea (our review from March 2024) and Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe.
Close Knit is Colgan's newest work, and it is set in the picturesque, windswept Scottish Northern Isles. where a string of little islands in the North Sea stretches towards Norway. It is the kind of town full of whitewashed cottages in which everyone knows everyone.
There, we meet a young woman named Gertie MacIntyre, who is a proud island girl by birth, with a tight social circle of family and friends, particularly in her knitting circle. The ladies in that group know more than most, and in a place with long dark winters and geographical isolation, the knitting circle provides a source for gossip, home, laughter, and comfort for everyone.
Gertie is also plotting the rest of her life, and she develops a crush on Callum Frost, who owns the local airline. Ready to break away from the comforts of what she has always known, she dares herself to dream of a life of adventure as an air stewardess on the little plane that serves the local islands.
Though it was terrifying at first, the sixteen-seat puddle jumper offers the first taste of real freedom Gertie has had. Will her future lie in the skies, or will she need to go further a field to find the adventure that has eluded her?
Love Lessons
By Sidney Halston
Avon Books; paperback, $18.99; available today, Tuesday, August 6th
Sidney Halston is the USA Today bestselling author of The Valentine's Hate, the Panic series, the Worth the Fight series, and the Iron-Clad Security novels. She was born in Miami, to Cuban parents, and she worked as an attorney before picking up a pen when she was thirty years old to write something other than legal briefs.
Love Lessons is Halston's latest, and it is about two dueling kindergarten teachers whose sparring turns into something that's a lot more passionate.
Valerie Marquez is quirky and free-spirited, and she likes to make sure her kinfergarten class has fun while learning. Andrew Wexler, on the other hand, is allergic to fun, and he gets a migraine from listening to loud music, which makes it a nightmare when he shares a wall with the other kindergarten teacher that loves to blast music all day.
It all culminated with the end-of-school year party, as their shared tension morphed into a night of wild sex. What neither expected was the surprise that came out of it would be a baby.
If sharing a wall with her nemesis wasn't tough enough, they are now sharing a classroom while she's hormonal and hungry. It turned out that co-teaching wasn't the hardest thing they'll have to overcome, as she found it much harder to try not to fall in love with her baby daddy.
It is a story of rivals who turn into lovers, as a one-night stand turned into a nine-month lesson in love.
The Last Time She Saw Him
By Kate White
Harper Paperbacks/HarperCollins Publishers; paperback, 304 pages; $18.99
Kate White is a former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan Magazine who is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of ten standalone psychological thrillers, including this new suspenseful work. She also is the author of eight Bailey Weggins mysteries, including Such a Perfect Wife, which received a nomination for an International Thriller Writers Award. White also edits The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook, and has authored several bestellers on career success.
White's new thriller, The Last Time She Saw Him, asks the compelling questions, Can we ever completely know someone we love?
Set in the summertime in New York City, Kiki Reed recently broke off her engagement to Jamie Larsson, who was a great guy, but ultimately wasn't "the one." Even though she knows this, she still feels guilty for hurting him. Soon after, she accepts an invitation to go to a party at a friend's country house in Connecticut, and she knows Jamie will also be there.
Kiki decides it's best to get their first interaction over with, and when they come face to face, their exchange is brief and pleasant, and she is relieved. Then, with the party winding down, a shot rings out. The remaining guests run outside and find Jamie inside his car - dead from a gunshot wound.
Understandably shocked and grieving, Kiki hears that the police are considering ruling it a suicide. However, she knows Jamie was moving on from their breakup, and truly doubts he would take his own life.
In a quest to find out the truth, Kiki rents a house in the area to search for the missing link that will get the police to take her seriously. As she uncovers the layers of this mystery, she finds out something fat more sinister than she ever imagined. She might be the next one with her life on the line.
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