Five Fall Favorites
2026
The Blessings of Life
Day 1
Community/Neighborhood
This is the first book in the Hidden Springs Mystery series. Small town life has a unique charm and Hidden Springs is no different. How they react to the shattered illusion of their perceived safety and tranquility is about to redefine them. This is a town where everyone knows everything about everyone and what they don't know they make up and embellish. I like how Hidden Springs has a weekly local paper where the news is old news by the time it comes out. Living in a small town myself I know how true this is - the big news events always happen the day after the paper comes out.
This is the fourteenth book in the Fairacre series, but it was the first book I read in the series when my grandma shared it with me when I once again was without a new book to read. This book and series are centered around the community of Fairacre, the village school, and village schoolteacher Miss Read. I will admit this is one of her heavier reads as the story features a violent, troubled child from a dysfunctional family, but that being said this book is most definitely centered on the community of Fairacre. This book and series harken back to the simplicity of the 1950s and village life in England.
This was such a fun read as the surprising number of books ordered for Christmas nearly overwhelms a small publishing company. With a coming together the staff manages to fulfill every order that comes pouring in. While at the same time a young woman - Tatiana Eliasdottir, who is secretly a writer, connects with Anders Johannsson - a fellow writer (and her editor - she knows who he is, but he's in the dark) over her young niece and the scurry of making Iceland's readers happy with a book-filled Christmas during the trying days under the threat of war (WW2 - 1944).
These are my picks for books that
best represent Community/Neighborhood.
This is the first book in the Hidden Springs Mystery series. Small town life has a unique charm and Hidden Springs is no different. How they react to the shattered illusion of their perceived safety and tranquility is about to redefine them. This is a town where everyone knows everything about everyone and what they don't know they make up and embellish. I like how Hidden Springs has a weekly local paper where the news is old news by the time it comes out. Living in a small town myself I know how true this is - the big news events always happen the day after the paper comes out.
I really enjoyed my visit to Hidden Springs and am looking forward to a future visit - which is hinted at in the back of the book. Though it has a contemporary setting Murder at the Courthouse doesn't read like a contemporary fiction. The mystery element is strong throughout and should please clean mystery fans (though there is a bit of blood sullying things up a bit).
About the Book:
After a few years as a police officer in Chicago, Michael Keane has no trouble relaxing into the far less stressful job of deputy sheriff in his small hometown. After all, nothing ever happens in Hidden Springs, Kentucky. Nothing, that is, until a dead body is discovered on the courthouse steps. Everyone in town is a little uneasy. Still, no one is terribly worried--after all the man was a stranger--until one of their own is murdered right on Main Street.
As Michael works to solve the case it seems that every nosy resident in town has a theory. When the sheriff insists Michael check out one of these harebrained theories, his surprising discovery sends him on a bewildering search for a mysterious killer that has him questioning everything he has ever believed about life in Hidden Springs.
This is the fourteenth book in the Fairacre series, but it was the first book I read in the series when my grandma shared it with me when I once again was without a new book to read. This book and series are centered around the community of Fairacre, the village school, and village schoolteacher Miss Read. I will admit this is one of her heavier reads as the story features a violent, troubled child from a dysfunctional family, but that being said this book is most definitely centered on the community of Fairacre. This book and series harken back to the simplicity of the 1950s and village life in England.
About the Book:
When a white robin comes to the quiet village of Fairacre, it becomes the focus of nationwide attention.
Nicknamed 'Snowboy’, 'Snowball’, 'Snowflake', the villagers adopt him as their own. But their pride is short-lived and their hopes brutally dashed to the ground when tragedy strikes. However, bitterness does not last in the hearts of those at Fairacre, and it is not too long before their patience and their faith are rewarded.
This is a standalone title that is set during WW2 and it centers around the town library and the book club that was created to save it during a time when anything considered frivolity was deemed expendable. Avis Montgomery has never been a recreational reader, her reading has always leaned toward the educational - magazines that help her be the perfect housewife. But a promise made to her brother when he went to war finds her in charge of the library in his stead.
About the Book:
An impulsive promise to her brother before he goes off to the European Front puts Avis Montgomery in the unlikely position of head librarian in small-town Maine. Though she has never been much of a reader, when wartime needs threaten to close the library, she invents a book club to keep its doors open. The women she convinces to attend the first meeting couldn't be more different--a wealthy spinster determined to aid the war effort, an exhausted mother looking for a fresh start, and a determined young war worker.
At first, the struggles of the home front are all the club members have in common, but over time, the books they choose become more than an escape from the hardships of life and the fear of the U-boat battles that rage just past their shores. As the women face personal challenges and band together in the face of danger, they find they share more in common with each other than they think. But when their growing friendships are tested by secrets of the past and present, they must decide whether depending on each other is worth the cost.
Most everybody is familiar with Jane Austen's matchmaking meddler, Miss Emma Woodhouse, who is determined to help all her friends and acquaintances find love. Most of her attempts are mishap laden disasters that try the patience of her oldest friend Mr. Knightly, who as Emma is fond of saying "likes to find fault with her." Emma is an exploration of community as Emma pops in and out of the lives of her friends and neighbors in Highbury.
Emma has been spoiled by those nearest her but not to the point that she is past the place of redemption. The book is vastly superior to any theatrical presentation you may have come across. Emma is a study of a life and its effect on those around it and theirs upon hers.
About the Book:
Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen's most captivating and vivid characters. Beautiful, spoilt, vain and irrepressibly witty, Emma organizes the lives of the inhabitants of her sleepy little village and plays matchmaker with devastating effect.
This was such a fun read as the surprising number of books ordered for Christmas nearly overwhelms a small publishing company. With a coming together the staff manages to fulfill every order that comes pouring in. While at the same time a young woman - Tatiana Eliasdottir, who is secretly a writer, connects with Anders Johannsson - a fellow writer (and her editor - she knows who he is, but he's in the dark) over her young niece and the scurry of making Iceland's readers happy with a book-filled Christmas during the trying days under the threat of war (WW2 - 1944).
In this story, the publisher Tatiana and Anders work for is a small, self-contained community of co-workers who pull together to ensure no reader is disappointed during the Christmas season. Along the way new friendships are forged and the seeds for romance are planted, sprout, and bloom.
About the Book:
In this charming World War II historical romance novella inspired by Iceland’s Christmas Book Flood, an author falls in love with a man who doesn’t know he is her editor.
Iceland. December 1944. Tatiana Eliasdottir is looking forward to welcoming her niece Elea for Christmas. She’s determined to give the little girl a joyful holiday and take her mind off troubles at home. Soon, however, the publishing house where Tatiana works is flooded with orders thanks to the first issue of a seasonal book catalog. With the war causing so many shortages, Icelanders are eager to give their loved ones something that isn’t rationed, and books are the perfect solution to their dilemma.
Anders Johannsson is an editor who shares Tatiana’s love for stories. While he wishes to know her better, he’s never dared pursue more than friendship. They are first and foremost colleagues. But when Tatiana’s attempts to cheer Elea fail, Tatiana recruits him to help, a plea he can’t refuse. He is, after all, not only an editor but a beloved children’s book author and devoted uncle to his adoring nieces and nephews.
As the two creatively bring Icelandic Christmas traditions to life for Elea and frantically work to meet the demands of the publisher’s holiday rush, Tatiana finds herself increasingly drawn to kind, thoughtful Anders. But if a love is to grow between them, she will need to reveal her closely held she is the mysterious author of a popular new novel . . . and Anders is her editor.
Be sure to visit all of the
Team Mouse sites for more
book recomendations
Meagan @ Blooming With Books (you are here)
and the FFF hosts for daily freebies
Katja @ littleblossomforjesus.wordpress.com
and
Kate @ onceuponanordinary.wordpress.com
Be sure to enter the giveaway and visit all the sites daily for bonus entries when you comment.
Comments must be made under or signed off with the same name people use to enter the giveaway; otherwise bonus entries are null & void because they cannot be matched to a giveaway entry.
Giveaway runs September 21 to 26, 2026 (11:59 pm est)
The winners will be selected using a random name picker;
Katja and Kate will reach out by email to each after the party.
The prizes:
One international and one U.S. prize.
The U.S. prize is a copy of A Dream of Flight by Kate Willis (paperback for the continuous U.S. only) and either a $15 USD cash prize via PayPal or an Amazon gift card (winner’s choice).
The international prize is a copy of A Noble Comfort by Katja H. Labonté (paperback for a Canadian address, ebook otherwise) and a $15 USD cash prize via PayPal or an Amazon gift card (winner’s choice).
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