Bookish Gift Guide 2017: Historical Fiction Reads

This is the week where everyone is hustling and bustling trying to finish their holiday shopping. If you need a few quick gifts for family or a friend, check out my Bookish Gift Guide series. Although I love historical fiction, I selected only a few of my top favorite historical fiction novels that I've read in the last few years.

1. Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal is a coming-of-age novel set in 1960's in New Orleans. Ibby moves in with grandmother, Fannie, at a young age. Over the course of four year intervals, readers learn more about Ibby, Fannie, Queenie and Doll. The four women bond over good and tough times regarding family and segregation.

2. Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee is a wonderful western historical fiction. Join two girls traveling out West on the Oregon Trail while they meet new friends and battle the rough terrain. What I love about this book is the diversity between the group of five friends. Their knowledge and acceptance of each other leads to their survival.

3. Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley is set in 1959 in Virginia. Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend all-white Jefferson High School. There she meets Linda Hairston, daughter of town's most vocal opponents of school integration. In this novel, star-crossed lovers must hide their feelings for one another in order to protect each other.

4. Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee is set in 1906 in San Francisco. Mercy Wong is determined to break from the poverty of Chinatown and creates a new persona as a wealthy heiress who gains entry into a boarding school for wealthy white girls. But then a historic Earthquake strikes! Pick up this book to find what happens to Mercy.

5. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See focuses on mother and daughter relationships. Li-Yan lives in a village of the Akha people of Yunnan China until she is forced to abandon her daughter. Throughout the novel, Li-Yan separates from her mother and daughter but finally reconnects with them by the end of the book. Her mother stays in the village while Li-Yan seeks for a better education. Li-Yan's daughter is adopted by an American couple who live in California. This novel is a story about tradition, culture, family, love, loss, sacrifice, perseverance, new beginnings and origins.

Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal

Title: Dollbaby
Author: Laura Lane McNeal
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication date:  July 3, 2014
Pages: 377
Source/format: Purchased, hardcover

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

A big-hearted coming-of-age debut set in civil rights-era New Orleans—a novel of Southern eccentricity and secrets

When Ibby Bell’s father dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1964, her mother unceremoniously deposits Ibby with her eccentric grandmother Fannie and throws in her father’s urn for good measure. Fannie’s New Orleans house is like no place Ibby has ever been—and Fannie, who has a tendency to end up in the local asylum—is like no one she has ever met. Fortunately, Fannie’s black cook, Queenie, and her smart-mouthed daughter, Dollbaby, take it upon themselves to initiate Ibby into the ways of the South, both its grand traditions and its darkest secrets.

For Fannie’s own family history is fraught with tragedy, hidden behind the closed rooms in her ornate Uptown mansion. It will take Ibby’s arrival to begin to unlock the mysteries there. And it will take Queenie and Dollbaby’s hard-won wisdom to show Ibby that family can sometimes be found in the least expected places.

For fans of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and The Help, Dollbaby brings to life the charm and unrest of 1960s New Orleans through the eyes of a young girl learning to understand race for the first time.

By turns uplifting and funny, poignant and full of verve, Dollbaby is a novel readers will take to their hearts.

My Thoughts:

Dollbaby is definitely my favorite book I've read this year. Laura Lane McNeal has a way with words. The character development is amazing and there are so many twists in this novel.

This is an amazing coming of age story about Ibby. She moves in with her grandmother, Fannie, after her father passes away in an accident and her mother abandons Ibby on Fannie's doorstep. Ibby is introduced to Queenie and Doll. The four become very close overtime and are family to one another. I loved reading about Ibby as a 12-year-old, a 16-year-old and as a 20-year-old. Reading the characters in 4 year intervals really shows how the characters matured.

Fannie has many secrets to tell and I loved the way McNeal shows some of these secrets through mini flashbacks. I felt bad for Fannie. She went through so much throughout her lifetime, losing many of her loved ones but she was still able to regain her family through Queenie, Doll and Ibby.

The more I keep reading this book, the more I fell in love with the characters. I've grown attached to the characters and I am sad that I finished the book but it's definitely a book that I will recommend to everyone.