Month: January 2021

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Lana’s War by Anita Abriel

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: Lana’s War by Anita Abriel

Last year I read Anita Abriel’s debut novel, The Light After the War, and it was good for a debut novel. I don’t know that I loved it, but I enjoyed it and was looking forward to seeing how her writing evolved in future books.

The author’s mother was a Holocaust survivor so it’s not surprise that the author drew in real events and personal history not only with her first novel but with this one as well. With having the first book under her belt, this was one I was really looking forward to exploring and seeing how things evolved from the first book to the second.

The author’s books aren’t a series, but there are clearly themes in both books that are similar and clearly close to her heart. This book was really up there on my anticipated list because the plot sounded dangerous. The main female character works as a spy to infiltrate the Nazi organization. While perhaps not unique in historical fiction, the way the story was described, promised tension and danger which made me really eager to read it.

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Bridgertons #4) by Julia Quinn

by The Lit Bitch4 Comments on Review: Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Bridgertons #4) by Julia Quinn

Something about the Bridgerton books is compelling me to binge read them all. When I read The Duke and I last spring, I had no idea that I was going to eventually binge all of the books once the show came out. Obviously I love the show and I couldn’t wait to get more of the Bridgerton’s and to be honest, Colin and Penelope’s romance was one I was eagerly anticipating!

So far The Viscount Who Loved Me is my absolute favorite in the series, as I am a huge fan of enemies to lovers and that book was hands down my fav troupe! But I also wouldn’t pass up a friends to lovers troupe either and Colin and Penelope have been favorite fringe characters for me in the previous books so I couldn’t wait to watch them fall in love.

Especially in the third book, Quinn set up their romance perfectly when Colin insults Penelope in the third book, I was like dear god hurry up and get done so I can start on Colin and Penelope’s story already! These books don’t need to be read in order but I personally prefer them in order as there are little Easter eggs and set ups in each book for the next one.

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Books, Reading

Special Feature: The Canterbury Murders (Stanton & Barling #3) by E.M. Powell

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Special Feature: The Canterbury Murders (Stanton & Barling #3) by E.M. Powell

Publication Date: November 12, 2020
Crosshaven Press

Series: Stanton & Barling, #3
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

A fire-ravaged cathedral. An ungodly murder.

Easter, 1177. Canterbury Cathedral, home to the tomb of martyr Saint Thomas Becket, bears the wounds of a terrible fire. Benedict, prior of the great church, leads its rebuilding. But horror interrupts the work. One of the stonemasons is found viciously murdered, the dead man’s face disfigured by a shocking wound.

When King’s clerk Aelred Barling and his assistant, Hugo Stanton, arrive on pilgrimage to the tomb, the prior orders them to investigate the unholy crime.

But the killer soon claims another victim–and another. As turmoil embroils the congregation, the pair of sleuths face urgent pressure to find a connection between the killings.

With panic on the rise, can Barling and Stanton catch the culprit before evil prevails again—and stop it before it comes for them?

THE CANTERBURY MURDERS is the third book in E.M. Powell’s Stanton and Barling medieval murder mystery series. Combining intricate plots, shocking twists and a winning–if unlikely–pair of investigators, this series is perfect for fans of Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael or C. J. Sansom’s Shardlake.

Available on Amazon

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Meet Me in Bombay by Jenny Ashcroft

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: Meet Me in Bombay by Jenny Ashcroft

I absolutely love seeing more and more exotic locations in the historical fiction genre. Most historical fiction novels are set places like England or America with the occasional France thrown in for fun-sies. But there are many compelling stories coming out of exotic locations recently and I am so excited to read those stories. One of my new favorite settings in historical fiction is Bombay.

In the fall I read Murder in Old Bombay and it felt like such an exotic treat for me and when I saw this one was coming out I jumped on it, mostly for the location, but also because I never met a WWI romance that I didn’t love. While not exclusively a romance, this book has a strong romantic storyline and I couldn’t wait to read something new feeling.

I know that some readers did not enjoy the setting of this book and some felt that the setting was just another glorification of white colonization of the Indian people. But for me, it was a novel with great stories and a new setting that wasn’t just another novel set in England. Though the setting drew me in, it was the characters and the plot won me over.

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: An Offer From a Gentleman (Bridgertons #3) by Julia Quinn

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: An Offer From a Gentleman (Bridgertons #3) by Julia Quinn

After binge watching the Netflix series, Bridgerton, I renewed my promise to read all the Bridgerton books immediately! I read The Duke and I when word of the show started circulating. I didn’t love The Duke and I but I liked it enough to consider reading the other books in the series, but I wanted to wait and see how the show was before I went back to reading the Bridgerton books.

Well I swooned for the series and quickly nabbed a copy of The Viscount Who Loved me (Anthony’s story) which was incredible. Anthony Bridgerton will probably reign for a while as as favorite romantic hero of mine. Before I was even done with the second book though, I had downloaded all the rest of the Bridgerton novels and vowed to read them in rapid sucession.

And read them I did! This book is Benedict’s story and while the show depicted him as sexually ambiguous at this point, in the book he is very much a heterosexual man, though probably the least memorable of the Bridgerton clan. But I was looking forward to his story all the same because I love a Cinderella romance too!

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