Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

I have a love-hate relationship with book series. Part of me loves the continuity, the bond established between the reader and the characters from book to book, the story taking me on a journey and coming back full-circle.

But, I also hate when the series ends. To me, after I’ve invested so much time with these characters, and being part of their lives for 3, 4, or more books, I just don’t want it to end. I don’t want to go and have to make new friends in a new series, and learn all about them and their lives, and just abandon my friends from the other series.

I remember reading Capture the Flag (Scholastic Press, 2012) by Kate Messner the summer of 2017, just before I was going to teach 6th grade literature for the first time. I just loved that book so much. And, then, I found out it was just one of three books in a series called the Silver Jaguar Society Mysteries. I hurriedly grabbed Hide and Seek (book 2, Scholastic Press, 2013) and Manhunt (book 3, Scholastic Press, 2014). I loved all three of the books, and I became a devoted fan of Kate Messner from that summer on.

When Kate came to the DC area on book tour, I moved mountains to get to the DC bookstore from my suburban K-8 school just so I could see her in person. When it came to Q&A, I asked, “Will there be more books in the Silver Jaguar series?” That’s when I first learned about how the whole series thing works. Kate responded that since there were three children featured in the books, and each child took center stage in one of the three books, well, that was it for that series.

I guess I had never thought about how series work, or the careful planning behind creating a world with characters who would return in subsequent books.

And, so it is with the Emmy Lake Chronicles. The series begins with Dear Mrs. Bird (Scribner, 2018) in London in 1940, the start of WWII. It continues with Yours Cheerfully set in 1941 London (Scribner, 2021). Next up is Mrs. Porter Calling (Scribner, 2023), which jumps ahead to 1943 London. And now, sadly for readers of this delightful series, Dear Miss Lake (Scribner, 2025) closes out the series (really?) in 1945.

I have read the first three books of this series (lovingly referred to in a review as “Bridget Jones of the Blitz”) and they are among my favorite books ever in the historical fiction genre. When I recommend them to friends and say that it is a series about London during WWII but it is so uplifting and lovely, they look at me as though I am crazy, but these books really are uplifting and lovely from start to finish.

I finished Dear Miss Lake by AJ Pearce in the wee hours of this morning, when I should have been fast asleep, not sobbing softly in my dark bedroom illuminated only by my Kindle’s back screen. This is not a spoiler, as my crying is over the beauty of this series, not the resolution of book 4 (and the end of the series, really?). So, there I was, almost 2:00 AM, no one to talk to, no one to discuss the ending, and not just because it was 2:00 AM, but because it was an ARC provided to me by Edelweiss and Scribner. I’m slightly jealous of all of you who get to read it for the first time later this summer!

Thank you to Edelweiss and NetGalley and publisher Scribner for providing me the ARC to read ahead of the August 2025 publication date. Since the first news of the publication date several months ago, I was hoping and praying I would get an early copy.

But, the biggest thanks of all goes to AJ Pearce. Thank you for the story of Emmy Lake, her friends and family, and her “get it done” attitude that prevails in her personal life and in her professional life as a journalist. The farther away we get from the bookend dates of WWII, the fewer people there are who can remember what life during this crippling time was like for the people in Europe and the UK. As an American with an uncle who helped liberate France by parachuting into Nazi-occupied areas and working with the Resistance, I felt this story to my very core.

AJ Pearce, you have a fan for life! You once called me your fan from Mary-Land on a zoom book chat, and I remember that moment fondly. I read your newsletters, which have just recently migrated over to Substack, and I stalk follow you on social media. I wait rather impatiently (sorry) for your next book. If by chance you feel the need or desire to give us more of Emmy Lake on the written page, I would happily read it. Although, you could publish your grocery list and I will gladly buy that and read it, too. Best of luck with your next one! May it be as great as Emmy Lake!