Modern Mrs Darcy Summer Reading Guide 2025

Oct 06, 2025

Legend:
❤️ Loved
🔥 Really enjoyed

Picks:

The Correspondent - Virginia Evans ❤️

• Why picked? Epistolary, one woman's letters to everything
• What worked? Protagonist in her 70s, letters!!
• What didn't? n/a

Julie Chan is Dead - Liann Zhang

• Why picked? Woman takes identity of rich influencer twin (rags to riches)
• What worked? Social media, insights into influencer lifestyle
• What didn't? Blackmail¹

Detective Aunty - Uzma Jalaluddin 🔥

• Why picked? Mystery, unlikely detective
• What worked? Aunty who's a detective, Golden Crescent community
• What didn't? n/a

Can't Get Enough - Kennedy Ryan

• Why picked? Career woman, billionaire
• What worked? Caring for mother with Alzheimer's, no to having kids but yes to being the fun rich aunty
• What didn't? Sex scenes²

The Art Spy - Michelle Young

• Why picked? Art, Paris³
• What worked? Rose Valland and her colleagues' efforts in saving artworks during WWII; not something I thought about despite the WWII fiction I've read
• What didn't? A little impersonal re: Rose, but figured that there wasn't enough information

Run for the Hills - Kevin Wilson 🔥

• Why picked? Kevin Wilson, The Shu Box recommendation, abandoned half siblings
• What worked? Found family, road trip
• What didn't? Slightly unbelievable 'reason' for the abandonment

The Phoenix Pencil Company - Allison King

• Why picked? Pencils (!!) and writing, WWII Shanghai, magic realism
• What worked? Chinese civilian experience during WWII period
• What didn't? Squeamish about how the pencil magic works

The Other Side of Now - Paige Harbison ❤️

• Why picked? Alternate reality, redo chance
• What worked? Atmosphere, theme of drama/acting⁴, climax scene between Meg and Aimee
• What didn't? n/a

The Ghostwriter - Julia Clark

• Why picked? Ghostwriting, famous writer father, mystery
• What worked? Poppy
• What didn't? Sexual abuse¹

Typewriter Beach - Meg Waite Clayton

• Why picked? Hollywood, scriptwriting
• What worked? Interesting...revelations
• What didn't? Treatment of women in Hollywood¹, love interest (I'm probably just cynical)

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping - Sangu Mandanna ❤️

• Why picked? Cosy fantasy
• What worked? Found family and cosy magic VIBES, especially when I read this at the end of September. Reminded me of A Marvellous Light which I also enjoyed for the feel
• What didn't? Love interest (but not much of an issue), power-hungry Albert (but he's the antagonist, so)

Footnotes:

#Modern Mrs Darcy Summer Reading Guide #books