Tantalizing Tales — November 2026 — Part One

Happy November, dear readers! This has been SUCH a year, with my health making it super hard for me to stay on top of my work schedule and emails, to the point that this may very well be the only Tantalizing Tales column this month. And this is not at all a bad thing! I might finally find the time to read all these brilliant books I now own instead of just briefly discussing them, beginning with this latest novel from the author of one of my favorite historical what-ifs.

Nina de Gramont’s Peregrine Hill is set in Gilded Age New York, where the newly widowed Isabelle Bishop is still reeling from the loss of half her family. She’s determined to preserve and provide for her teenage daughter Mariah and her elderly mother, however, so is thrilled when she captures the attention of the highly eligible and wealthy John Whitten. While Isabelle still believes in love, she knows that survival doesn’t come cheap and that money solves a myriad of problems.

Whitten, however, is more interested in eighteen year-old Mariah, who is herself still recovering from a disastrous — and scandalous — romance. After he discovers the secret that mother and daughter have been trying to keep buried, he uses it as leverage in pressing his suit. Isabelle reluctantly urges Mariah to accept his proposal, even as she fears for her daughter’s well-being once bound in matrimony to the older man.

But Mariah isn’t entirely without her resources. With the help of her ambitious lady’s maid Hetty, she begins to evade Whitten’s strictures and carve out her own path. Soon, the women prepare to risk everything as they strive to claim the agency and power that society would otherwise deny them.

The superlative The Christie Affair was one of my favorite novels of 2022, and I’m so thrilled that Ms de Gramont is back with what’s sure to be another amazing historical novel!

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If you’re looking for another book about the complexities of motherhood and liberation, but from a non-fiction perspective, check out Amy Irvine’s Almost Animal: A Memoir Of Motherhood, Wildness, And The American West.

From the enthralling publicity materials:

“A descendant of Utah’s earliest Mormon inhabitants, Amy Irvine spent her young adulthood rebelling against the patriarchy that was her inheritance. She sought adventure outdoors, climbing granite walls, skiing backcountry powder, and fighting wildfires. She tested every limit imposed on her. But after the birth of her daughter, Irvine found herself in a situation uncannily similar to those of her pioneer forebears: isolated on a remote Colorado mesa, with a husband who was often gone, a child who was frequently and mysteriously ill, and a once remarkable life that was growing smaller and smaller.

“After a case of postpartum depression so intense it resembled zoochosis, the madness of a trapped animal, Irvine began the process of coming back to the world and unearthing a deeper connection with her child. Over the years that followed, encounters with animals–wild and domestic, predator and prey–led her forward, from a horseback showdown with a mountain lion to a more intimate run-in with the misunderstood black widow. And searching for guidance, she looked to the women who came before her: the tough, complicated ancestors whose lives, Irvine learned, are a testament to the freedom, loneliness, and mythmaking of the American West.”

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Break from reality entirely with Alexandra Vasti’s new paranormal mystery-romance Swipe Bite. In a world where vampires are real, entire industries exist to ensure that vampires and humans can peacefully coexist. Corporate heiress Sophronia Vega may be a vampire and an ice queen, but she isn’t frozen in the past. She knows that changing times require new technology, even — or perhaps especially — when it comes to interspecies dating apps.

And so she leads the development of Stokr, an app that matches lusty vampires with horny humans whom they can’t accidentally kill during the throes of passion. At first, the app is a roaring success. But when people start dying due to disastrous pairings, Sophronia will have to do a lot of damage control in order to preserve her family’s legacy.

That includes working closely with human software engineer Casey Amato, who’s certain that the sudden algorithm collapse is no glitch. Someone is deliberately sabotaging the app, and it can only be a member of Sophronia’s inner circle. Sophronia is understandably resistant to this idea… and to the growing attraction between her and Casey. Will they be able to successfully team up and put a stop to a saboteur determined to destroy the peace between vampires and humans, and perhaps find a love of their own in the process?

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Finally, we have a collection of short stories from the author who was, astonishingly, able to get me to enjoy Mozart with his brilliant novella of music and mystery, Allegro.

The Chilean American Ariel Dorfman’s What She Saw: Stories of Love And Resistance brings together eight luminous tales of human connection despite the odds. Spanning centuries and the globe, this is a book that grapples with what it means to keep love alive even in the most perilous times.

From a witchcraft trial during the Hundred Years War to a dispute with undocumented immigrants in the modern-day USA, from a husband agonizing over whether or not to reveal a damning truth to his wife as they travel to where she will testify against the Pinochet regime to a bullet narrating the experience of a firing squad, these tales are smart, soul-searching and inventive, showcasing Mr Dorfman’s trademark sensitivity and wit. Tho all the books on this list are amazing and high-priority reads for me, this is by far the one I’m most looking forward to diving into.

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All of these books are either available or available for pre-order 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!