Tantalizing Tales — December 2025 — Part Two

Another round-up column for you, dear readers, catching up with books I still haven’t yet had the time to read this year but really want to! First up is a book co-authored by four amazing thriller writers. In Desperate Deadly Widows, Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan and Vanessa Lillie join forces once more to tell the continuing story of four women linked through the deaths of their partners.

In 1985, a plane carrying four Mafia-affiliated lawyers exploded over the Atlantic. Their widows — all wildly different but all resourceful and determined — joined forces to figure out what really happened and how best to protect each other and themselves. Two years and several changed situations later, the widows reunite. Krystle is still trying to save the law firm, while former model Justine is training to be a lawyer herself. Meredith now owns and operates the strip club where she once danced. And Camille works on the shadier side of the law, orchestrating honey pot schemes for women seeking vengeance.

Worlds collide once more when Camille’s latest target turns up dead in the champagne room. That would be bad enough, but the deceased Mayor Tom was also a well-connected person of influence. And Camille isn’t the only one of the widows implicated in his murder. It’s going to be up to the foursome to untangle a conspiracy that depended on the death of one powerful man. Will their bonds be strong enough to withstand the pressures seeking to turn them against one another? Find out in this wild 80s romp of a suspense thriller!

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Craving even more historical fiction? (Don’t give me that look: I know that to many of you the 1980s doesn’t feel like it should be historical fiction but it was still forty years ago, friends.) Then check out Natasha Lester’s excellently researched The Mademoiselle Alliance, highlighting an obscure figure in European history who deserves to be much better known and celebrated.

Marie-Madeleine Fourcade had always had an adventurous spirit. After growing up exploring Shanghai, she was supposed to become a concert pianist. Instead, she fell in love with a French military officer at the age of 17, married him and moved with him to his posting in Morocco. There she learned Arabic and spycraft, flourishing despite her failing marriage. She returned to France with her two children in the early 1930s and took up rally car racing, airplane piloting and journalism.

It was this last that put her in contact with Georges Loustaunau-Lacau, who would become the leader of Alliance, the French Resistance’s largest spy network under German occupation. As his second in command, she took over the network when he was arrested in 1941, funneling information to MI6 at great personal cost. This novel chronicles both her role in securing the freedom of France and ensuring an Allied victory in World War II, as well as her tumultuous personal life.

It’s truly shocking how little recognition she’s received despite her valor. This novel will hopefully rectify that to no small degree.

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A more modern-day thriller set in Paris is the subject of French American YA author Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau’s debut adult thriller The French Honeymoon.

Taylor Quinn is supposed to be in Paris for her honeymoon. Oddly, she has no plans, no luggage and, perhaps most strangely of all, no husband. What she does have, however, is wads of cash that probably shouldn’t belong to her.

It’s perhaps inevitable that she takes an interest in Cassie and Olivier, newlyweds having the vacation — and relationship — she’s convinced that she should be having. Cassie’s penchant for documenting their honeymoon on social media makes it easy for Taylor’s interest to grow into an obsession, as she stalks their picture-perfect adventures through the City Of Love.

Things begin to spiral, however, when Taylor overhears a heated argument between the couple that suggests that something disturbing is lurking beneath the glossy surface that they’re presenting to the rest of the world. Unable to help herself, Taylor inserts herself into their lives. As the three become increasingly entangled, greed and betrayal enter the fray. They’ve all arrived in Paris with hidden agendas. Will they all be able to survive the city unscathed? (No points for guessing which French classic this novel is based on.)

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Diving beneath a perfect surface to get to the sordid truth is also the theme of our next selection, Hayley Krischer’s You Belong To Me.

Frances Bean (yup, that’s really her name,) is a baby goth and bookworm who’s content to live on the outskirts of her high school’s social life. That all changes when she’s assigned to a class project with rich and popular Julia, daughter of famous beauty and wellness guru Deena Patterson, founder of DEEP (yup, that’s really its name.) While Frances has had a crush on Julia for years, she’s never had much of an interest in the kind of lifestyle DEEP sells: one of “magical” self-care products, healing sound baths and extravagant parties. But the more time she spends with Julia, the more intrigued she becomes.

An exclusive invitation to a DEEP event further turns Frances’ head, as she absorbs not only the luxury of Julia’s world but also vibes with DEEP’s message of empowerment. DEEP and its offshoot for younger consumers, FEMME, want girls to be their truest selves, which is all Frances has ever really wanted too. As she gets more involved with the company and with Julia, she begins to believe that maybe this magical, glossy life can be hers, as well.

The dream turns into a nightmare when one of DEEP’s infamous parties takes a dark turn. Frances will have to figure out who she can really trust as she fights for a future she can call her own.

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I am low-key obsessed with the idea of this next novel, a romantic thriller with strong Desi influences (and not just because dating in the Big 25 is kind of a nightmare, lolsob.) Aisha Saeed’s The Matchmaker stars Nura Khan in the title role. The Atlanta-based 31 year-old is very good at what she does, offering both a vetted app and personalized services honed by years of experience in what’s essentially the family business. It’s a little bit awkward to admit to people that she herself isn’t coupled up tho. Fortunately, her hunky best friend Azar (who just happens to be a doctor) is happy to stand in whenever she needs a plus one.

Admittedly, Nura would prefer it if the romance aspect of their relationship wasn’t pretend, but she doesn’t want to rock the boat either, not after they established the ground rules of their friendship so long ago. Her recent fame after accepting an influencer client — who proceeded to glowingly tell all to Vanity Fair — has been headache enough, as it’s brought out both more demand for her already spread-thin services and a bunch of surprisingly vicious trolls. But when the wedding of one of the couples she brought together implodes, setting off a chain of increasingly terrifying events, Nura realizes that somebody is truly out to get her, and doesn’t care what they destroy in order to take her down. Will Nura be able to fight back and save her business, and perhaps even her own life?

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Finally, we have the second book in the vampire-slaying Bless Your Heart mystery series, Lindy Ryan’s Another Fine Mess. The tragic end of the first novel found Lenore Evans and her granddaughter Luna clinging to each other for dear life, as the last surviving members of their clan.

For generations, the Evans women have covertly protected their corner of southeast Texas from the undead, putting down the newly risen with a vengeance. Running the only mortuary in the area helps them fly under the radar, as does having an ally in new sheriff Roger Taylor. But the full moon brings a brand new monster to town, well before any of them are prepared to deal with it. Lenore, Luna and Roger will have to dig deep into Evans family lore to figure out what new threat they’re facing, and how to put it down before it kills anyone else.

The first book in the series was an entertaining, if occasionally exasperating, romp through Southern small-town vampire-hunting. I’m excited to see how this installment expands on that universe!

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All these books are available now, so let me know if you’re able to get to them before I do, dear readers! I’d love to hear your opinions, and see if that will spur me to push any of them higher up the mountain range that is my To Be Read pile.

And, as always, you can check out the list of my favorite books in my Bookshop storefront linked below!