Book Critic
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Review: Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova
Sherlock Holmes blew Victorian England’s mind with his powers of deduction in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective novels! Who hasn’t wanted to know how to be as observant as Sherlock Holmes? Well after reading Mastermind, you might have a few new tips and tricks to help you be more observant! Sherlock Holmes has been and will continue to be one of literature’s most popular characters. His wit and intelligence being two of the driving forces behind that popularity. His abilities aren’t super human–meaning anyone of us could learn his trademark deductive skills. So needless to say that’s why I picked up this book for review. Who wouldn’t want to…
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Review: The Time Regulation Institute by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
Set in post-Ottoman Turkey, we meet a host of colorful and eccentric characters struggling to adjust in a rapidly developing modern world. This book is full of allegorical references and presents a colorful and unique view of Turkish culture and society. The book describes the setting up of the modern bureaucratic state. At the center of the story itself is our charming antihero, Hayri Irdal. He has been described as infectiously charming and be becomes entwined with some interesting people–a television mystic, a pharmacist who dabbles in alchemy, a dignitary from the lost Ottoman Empire, a clock whisperer-at the Time Regulation Institute. The Institute it self is described as a “vast organization…
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Review: The India Fan by Victoria Holt
Blackmail. Murder. Scandal. Lies. Deceit. Romance. Adventure. This book has it all! Growing up, I loved Victoria Holt but sadly I haven’t read her in a number of years…..nor have I read many of her novels. But she is the queen of a genre that calls to me–the gothic romance genre. When I saw The India Fan on Amazon, I knew it was time to it up this talented authoress again and see if she could still seduce me with her tales of suspense. Drusilla Delany is the rectors daughter and has always grown up in the shadow of Framling House and the Framling family. Fabian Framling has always been…
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Review: Helen Keller in Love by Rosie Sultan
Many of you know Helen Keller as the ‘miracle’. The def/blind/mute that graduated from the prestigious Radcliffe College in Cambridge Massachusetts. Keller toured the country telling the story of her life, giving lectures, and motivational speeches to thousands. But the story we didn’t get to hear was the one of how she fell in love. In this fictional account of Keller’s love affair with her secretary Peter Fagan, the audience is treated to a unique world of people with disabilities who struggle to live normal lives. Keller first meets Fagan when her long time companion, Annie Sullivan, grows ill on a tour. Fagan is dispatched to be Keller’s secretary but after…
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Review: Belle Cora by Phillip Margulies
Arabella Goodwin has grown up in a life of privilege. In the sheltered streets of New York City 1838, she enjoys luxurious clothing, reading fancy books, and imported toys. Her life is already planned out for her, she will be a lady who marries and has a husband and family of her own like any other society girl. That is until the death of her mother and soon after, her father. With their deaths, her life changes forever. She and her other siblings are sent to live with their wealthy grandparents. She hopes her life will continue much how it was before. But that is not the case. At that…
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Review: Tiger’s Destiny (The Tiger Saga #4) by Colleen Houck
Kelsey Hayes life has been one wild roller coaster ride over the last two years. She has embarked on an impossible mission to break an ancient curse placed on the two brothers that she loves: Ren and Kishan. She’s fought flying monkeys, krakens, sharks, dragons, and evil sorcerers but yet the brothers remain in tiger form! She has one last task to complete but this task will come at a huge cost. The goddess Durga has one remaining gift The Rope of Fire, hidden on a volcanic island in the Bay of Bengal. Once Kelsey and the brothers retrieve the rope, they will face an epic battle between good and…
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Review: City of Lost Dreams (City of Dark Magic #2) by Magnus Flyte
Vienna and Prague are world renowned as cities full of music and the arts….and maybe even a little magic. It is here in the magical city of Vienna that we find musicologist Sarah Weston. Sarah lives in a world where alchemy, science, and magic all exist together and create a wonderfully rich story….not to mention you throw in all the time travel through the beautiful streets of Prague and Vienna and you have a lyrical read! Sarah is in Vienna looking for a cure for her friend Pollina who is on death’s door while her other friends, Max and Nico are also searching for a cure. Nico is looking for an ancient…
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Review: The Tenth Saint (The Sarah Weston Chronicles #1) by D.J. Niko
Sarah Weston is in the middle of the biggest dig of her career as an archaeologist in Ethiopia, when she is approached by a local claiming he has ‘rare artifacts’ to show her. Sarah is skeptical, she knows that most locals are simply out to make a buck but the artifacts have all the authentic markers. She asks the man to show her where he found the artifacts and what she discovers will change the direction of her exposition. She finds a sealed tomb with inscriptions in an obscure dialect. When the director of the exposition hears that Sarah has basically gone on a wild goose chase, he sends in…
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Review: Tiger’s Voyage (The Tiger Saga #3) by Colleen Houck
Kelsey Hayes is once again heartbroken. Her beloved Ren doesn’t remember who she is….at all. In fact her very presence repulses him and makes him physically ill. Kelsey agrees to continue helping Ren and his brother Kishan try and break the tiger’s curse. This time their journey takes them to the Indian Ocean and the dragons that inhabit a parallel world that Ren, Kishan, and Kelsey must navigate in order to break another part of the curse. In the last novel, Tiger’s Quest, Kelsey begins to have stronger feelings for Kishan…stronger than she cares to admit. In this book, she learns that Ren has actually broken the bond that they…
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Announcement: A Divided Inheritance by Deborah Swift
And the winner of A Divided Inheritance by Deborah Swift is….. Rosanne L (tweeted about the giveaway) The winner will be notified via email. Thank you to everyone who entered and a huge thank you to HFVBTand the publisher for making this giveaway possible! Be sure to check out the other tour stops for more giveaways and author interviews as well as reviews!