My February 2026 reads

Another great month in books.

I started my month in the post-war years in London, with a war-weary population trying to claw their way back to regular life. And what better than the fledgling passenger airline industry to add a touch of glamour to lives on hold for too long. One young woman trains as an airline hostess – and brings us along as flies on the wall to enjoy those early days of passenger flight.

Next, I travelled to beautiful Savannah, where one young woman is shocked to learn of the death of a beloved aunt – and aunt she was told had died years earlier. Returning to Savannah to close the estate, she revisits her magical year as a child living in that elegant southern city. And finally, I journeyed to Italy’s Lake Garda to a cooking school where love was on the menu.

Book reviews here below.

The Airline Girl

Lizzie Page

It’s 1947 and Britain is slowly, painfully, building back after the tragic war years. When nineteen-year-old Audrey loses her job at the pharmacy and her mother’s medical bills multiply, she is desperate to find a new position. Chance leads her to a new airport being constructed outside of London, and the offer to become an airline hostess.

For a naturally shy and risk-averse young woman, the choice is odd. Her fiancé and his family are adamantly against Audrey’s new opportunity. Initially, Audrey sees the well-paid position as a way to pay off medical debt and to pass time before she marries. But gradually, she falls under the spell of her new, exciting world, and its seductive promises of innovation, technology and travel.

This was a highly enjoyable coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of the early days of commercial flight. The glamour and excitement of this new mode of transportation are enticing to the war-weary British public ready to embrace peacetime normalcy and progress. It is also a moving story of one young woman’s efforts to free herself from the fear and uncertainty she endured during the war years, and to discover if she possesses the courage to break free from her narrow world and to shape her own future. A highly recommended read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy – all thoughts are my own.

One Beautiful Year of Normal

Sandra K. Griffith

“Savannah will let you leave, but she’ll never let you go.”

August Caine is living a quiet, lonely life in Paris when she receives a call that causes her world to crash in around her.

Her aunt, her father’s sister, has passed away in Savannah, Georgia. The problem is, she’d been devastated by news of the loss of her aunt fifteen years earlier. August races back to Savannah, where she tries to make sense of her world.

The story unfolds as a dual timeline narrative, both in the present and a retelling of the magical year she lived with her aunt in Savannah eighteen years earlier.

This main segment of the book is rich with imagery and emotions, as August works through the web of lies she’s been told and comes to grips with all she’s lost. I was fully invested in this painful and beautiful coming-of-age story. In contrast, the ending and the complicated family mystery felt rushed and heavy-handed. But the main story itself of a young girl maneuvering a difficult home life, and her determination in the present day to break free from her painful past make this a highly recommended read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy – all thoughts are my own.

The Italian Lakes Affair

Rachel Barnett

Amy is a personal assistant for a demanding, self-centered British food influencer. But one of the perks of her job is international travel to luxurious locales, such as her current trip to Lake Garda, in Italy’s Veneto region.

Amy’s current assignment has her boss following a cooking class at the lakeside hotel, where Amy finds herself increasingly drawn to Tad, the hotel’s handsome Scottish chef and instructor.

This novel worked as a romance, but I would have enjoyed more character development. I had a hard time connecting to the protagonist and, therefore, was never fully drawn into the story. One of the aspects of the story, which I would have enjoyed had it been more developed, was the pressure of working for such a demanding an unreasonable boss. But I was left with the uncomfortable realization that Amy didn’t really do much work on this holiday, while simultaneously being exhausted and stressed and wanting time off. I also didn’t have much of a sense of place in this novel, which was a shame, since Lago di Garda is so beautiful. The romance element worked and the novel included recipes of the dishes prepared in the cooking course.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy – all thoughts are my own.