I enjoyed the time period and setting of this historical fiction story. The three main characters came from different backgrounds yet highlighted the struggles of women in the 1950's. There was a bit of a mystery which kept the plot moving. I enjoyed the book.

📖 ARC Review

PUB Date : Mar 17th 2025

🌹 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 if this book is not on your radar and you like historical mystery fiction , then add this to your TBR!!

Wow , just wow 👏 This book was a pleasant surprise, I had never read this author before but the synopsis caught my eye so I requested it from NetGalley and I’m so thankful for the grant !

This story is about three of the most unlikely woman who find friendship within one another during the most darkest times .

Read this book if you like :
🐈 Historical Fiction
🐈 Mystery
🐈 Smart Dialogue
🐈 Hope
🐈 Political Topics
🐈 Likeable Characters
🐈 Multiple POV
🐈 Strong Women
🐈 Past & Present Timelines
🐈 Vividly Climatic

“Sometimes you belong only to the moment, Eva thinks as they turn to follow the man, and that one singular snippet of time owns your fate. You belong only to that moment and to nowhere else.
And then sometimes the moment belongs to you .”

I don’t want to give too much away but the story bounces back and forth between three strong smart loveable women who are all juggling life in the mid 50’s and dealing with tough circumstances.

As each one holds their cards close to their hearts , slowly over time they revel themselves only to realize that maybe they aren’t so different from one another after and all and maybe just maybe they can navigate this wild fire together?

Will the past comeback to haunt these three women or will they each have a happy ending, you NEED to read this one for yourself to find out what happens !

…and if you need more convincing check out my aesthetic photos 📸

Thank you NetGalley , Berkely Publishing Group & Susan Meissner for this taunting ARC !

This is a compelling read about the lengths we'll go to survive hate and the strength we get when we lean into love. I enjoyed watching unexpected friendships forge, and seeing each character confront the things that were holding her back so that she could move forward. I wouldn't have minded a little more mid-century California (could just be me), but the nature of the story dictated the close setting, which I understand. Overall, a great read.

I received an ARC of this book; opinions are my own.

A good example of a book type: strong female characters in an historical setting that face adversity and succeed. The plot twists were surprising and mostly believable, and the dialogue rang true. Almost everything tied up nicely in the end. I could see this one adapted to screen.

A Map to Paradise Is engulfed In many mystery situations. The characters are secretly holding many unsolved Issues and through these mysteries friendships are developed and lies and secrets revealed that keep the reader riveted to see the plot unfold in this historically based novel. Excitingly stimulating read.

4.5 stars.

✨In true Susan Meissner fashion, this book has it all – mystery, intrigue, love and loss and strong female friendships. All of these elements are set against a historical backdrop in a setting with a vivid sense of place.

✨I so loved the richly drawn cast of characters in these pages. They all have a past they want to keep secret, and the author weaves these stories together masterfully. By the end, all of the puzzle pieces fit, and the ending is perfectly satisfying.

✨ You can’t read a Meissner book without feeling all of the emotions, and this one is no different. Very heartfelt.

🌿Read if you like:
✨Strong female characters
✨Stories of McCarthyism, the Red Scare and Hollywood blacklisting
✨Old Hollywood
✨Historical fiction
✨Malibu settings
✨50s nostalgia

Highly recommend!

My thanks to @berkleypub and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book before its publication date.

This was an entertaining historical women’s fiction read. I enjoyed how the story interwove the story of three unique different women into one book and purpose. Each woman was caught in their own predicament in the late 1950’s in Hollywood and they each dealt with so much. Each woman had a lesson to learn, and their journey on how they did that was interesting. It was on the slower side of pacing, and at time I felt my mind wandering. But each time I was drawn back to the delicate storytelling that was happening, and I was quickly engaged again. I read and adored another book by this author, and I feel that this one was slightly different. The story wasn’t as captivating for me as that one was. The subject matter was quite different, so that could be it, as I did still feel that the author’s writing was good. However, that did take away from my reading experience a little. The mystery element was entertaining, and I enjoyed the reveal.

I love the way Susan Meissner weaves together the stories of three ladies who all have different backgrounds yet come together for one purpose.

I'm a big Meissner fan but have to admit this wasn't my favorite of her books. It's a story about three women, each caught in her own tangled web of misfortune in the Hollywood of the late 50s: Melanie, an actress whose newly blooming career gets cut short when she is put on the communist black list for no more than an association with someone suspected of communist sympathies; Eva a Polish immigrant whose past is absolutely not what describes; and June, the sister-in-law of an ever more reclusive screen writer who retreats further and further into a private grief. I liked the end but I'm afraid I didn't really warm to any of the characters and I found the prose to be repetitive, taking a little too long for the women to learn the lessons that they are clearly meant to learn. I usually learn a lot from Meissner's historical settings but this one not so much. I think this book will appeal to others who are more interested in drama than historical settings or internal insights.

I won't post my review as it is not very positive.

I love this author. Probably not my favorite book by her, but I still enjoyed it. I always like reading about Hollywood stories from the mid 1900s, and this one brough a history lesson as well. I wish we'd known Elwood before his disappearance. It felt like that would have made things a little more meaningful. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

This is an interesting book about the effects of the Cold War in Hollywood. So many stars were blacklisted at this time. I love the way the author brought three strong women together as they searched for their dreams. Each of them were fully developed characters and intriguing as they tried to move forward with their lives. I was fully invested with each of them as the story progressed. Susan Meissner is a go to author for me and this unique storyline delivers!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
#AMapToParadise #SusanMeissner #NetGalley

This was a great read. From my perspective, the ending was a happy one overall, which I found really refreshing and nice.

“ Because there is no map to paradise. There is only the dream that such a place exists, as does the desire to possess it, and the determination to find it again when it’s been lost.”

Melanie is an actress that is being blacklisted from Hollywood because she was seeing someone that had possible Communist leanings. Eva is her Polish housekeeper that has secrets of her own. June is the reclusive next door neighbor’s sister in law. One early morning, Melanie sees June digging up her neighbor’s roses. From there these three women will form an alliance and start a friendship out of an unlikely start.

I loved each woman and their individual stories. I liked how they were able to rise after what eah had endured. Great writing and a wonderful story.