The Keepsake Sisters

Starred review from February 3, 2020
Bestseller Rollins’s excellent 15th Sigma Force novel (after 2018’s Crucible) marries nail-biting action with a highly imaginative premise. Elena Cargill, an archaeologist and paleoanthropologist, rushes to Greenland at the behest of a friend, Maria Crandall, who’s a member of Sigma, a U.S. government organization that retrains gifted soldiers in various scientific disciplines. Crandall has learned of an amazing find beneath a giant iceberg—an Arab oceanic merchant vessel, apparently shipwrecked in the ninth century. Cargill and two colleagues visit the ship, in which they discover such wonders as a three-dimensional gold map embedded with an astrolabe, before coming under attack from a group of Middle Easterners, who take Cargill hostage. Crandall and other Sigma Force members later embark on a mission to save Cargill and understand the significance of the vessel, which may be connected with the historical basis for Homer’s Odyssey and a lost nation that destroyed three major civilizations between 1100 BCE and 900 BCE. Rollins sprinkles in enough facts and details to make what could have been an over-the-top premise plausible. This is a thoughtful, nonstop thrill ride that’s an exemplar of an escapist page-turner. Author tour. Agents: Russ Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency; and Danny Baror, Baror International.

February 1, 2021
A hurricane, combined with a power outage, short-staffing, and a stillbirth in a small-town hospital leads to the separation of newborn twin sisters. Amelia goes home with the wealthy Brandt family and grows up near Chicago, while baby Anna remains in Texas. Wilde's sequel to The Moonglow Sisters (2020) brings readers back to Moonglow Cove, Texas, to explore the lives of a different set of sisters, identical twins separated at birth and reunited as adults through genetic testing. While they are physically alike, their personalities could not be more different. Anna is quick to embrace her newfound sister despite her husband's concerns about what the stranger might want from her. Amelia is much more reserved; despite her trust fund, she's faced many difficulties and has searched for her long-lost sister to ask for a life-altering favor: a kidney. The sisters slowly get to know each other while uncovering the mystery of their separation, but can Anna save Amelia without sacrificing her marriage and family? Fans of Jill Shalvis and Susan Mallery will relish the complex family relationships Wilde creates.

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March 5, 2021

For 35 years, identical twins Anna and Amelia lived separate lives, each unaware that the other existed. When Amelia finds Anna on a DNA testing website, she travels from Chicago to Moonglow Cove, the small Texas town where Anna has lived her entire life. Amelia's visit is a shock to Anna and her family. And while the twins look alike, their personalities couldn't be more dissimilar. Anna is loving and gregarious, while Amelia is reserved and standoffish. Anna is quick to welcome her newfound sister and excited to get to know her, but the mystery of how they became separated at birth and Anna's family's reservations about Amelia cast a shadow over their reunion. When Amelia reveals the real reason she sought out her twin, it seems that the fears of Anna's relatives are valid. But Anna is determined to keep her newfound sister in her life forever, even if it means risking her own life to do it. VERDICT Wilde's second novel set in Moonglow Cove (after The Moonglow Sisters) is a redemptive story of the healing power of unconditional familial love and the potential to grow through life's struggles. It's sure to please the author's many devoted readers, and fans of similar authors, like Susan Mallery and Kristan Higgins.--Karen Core, Detroit P.L.

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