Category: Book Critic

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

Review: The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms

While the title didn’t resonate with me for this one—the second I saw the cover I was interested in reading it.

I’m not sure why, but the title just didn’t stand out to me , I mean it totally should have because it was a fun little library play on words, but for some reason it just didn’t.

Thank god for interesting cover art! This cover totally caught my eye and made me excited about reading it even if the title didn’t. I picked this book up on a random sunny day and instantly fell in love with Amy Byler. Continue reading “Review: The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms” →

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

Review: Naughty in Nice (Royal Spyness #5) by Rhys Bowen

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: Naughty in Nice (Royal Spyness #5) by Rhys Bowen

Slowly I am binging this entire series and I hope you have been following along with my reviews on each book. I have no stranger to Rhys Bowen’s books, but this series was one that just kept flying under my radar.

My mom gifted me the first book in this series at least 4 times and I did give in and read the last book in the series—-first, like an idiot. But I decided to finally remedy the situation and started this series from the beginning.

As I said, I am slowly binging the series so that I can be nice and caught up for the new book being released later this summer.

The books are super quick reads and I can usually hammer out one a week in between my other reading commitments, so here we are with number 5! Continue reading “Review: Naughty in Nice (Royal Spyness #5) by Rhys Bowen” →

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

Review: The Great Pretenders by Laura Kalpakian

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: The Great Pretenders by Laura Kalpakian

I decided to review this one because I have zero impulse control when it comes to pretty historical fiction book covers.

I love the eye catching teal and yellow color pallet in this cover and it so clearly screams 1950s Hollywood glamour and as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to read it. I didn’t even really read the pitch all the way through, I just eagerly agreed!

This author has written a number of other books but none that I have read or really heard of but she has won a number o literally awards. This book seems to be kind of her ‘break out’ novel in my opinion. Kind of more mainstream and widely appealing.

I also see she lives in the Pac NW (though I don’t know where, does anyone else know?) and one of her son’s, Bear McCreary, is responsible for the outstanding Outlander sound track so I was immediately interested in reading this book for the cover but ultimately my curiosity about the author and her exceptionally talented family drew me in and made me all the more excited to read this book! Continue reading “Review: The Great Pretenders by Laura Kalpakian” →

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

Review: One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan

This author is a new author to me and sadly I haven’t heard of any of her other books, and she has written an extensive amount of books!

So I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of her before. When this one came up for review, I almost passed on it. It sounded a little on the heavy side….divorce, heart break, loss…..it says it all right there in the summary and I just didn’t think I was ready for a novel with some heavy content.

But I also thought the cover was pretty and I’ve been on a huge women’s fiction kick lately so I thought why not give it a try. Her experience alone basically implies  a well written novel with substance, so I decided to read it and familiarize myself with her writing! Continue reading “Review: One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan” →

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

Review: The Southern Side of Paradise (Peachtree Bluff #3) by Kristy Woodson Harvey

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: The Southern Side of Paradise (Peachtree Bluff #3) by Kristy Woodson Harvey

I discovered Kristy Woodson Harvey by chance…..or maybe she discovered me by chance—and I am so glad that we connected. When she approached me to review one of her books a three years ago, I was skeptical but yet oddly intrigued.

At that time I was just getting into women’s fiction and hadn’t really read a lot of ‘beach reads’ thinking that maybe it wasn’t my genre—at least not yet. But then here came this sweet blonde southern belle who wanted me to read one of her books and I was like well, why not?

What I discovered in the pages of the first book I read by her, Lies and Other Acts of Love, was so beautiful and well written that I knew I had found a new favorite author! Since then I have read all of her books except one, her first—Dear Carolina.

Her Peachtree Bluff series is probably her most well known and loved, and this book is the last installment, but hopefully not the last book that she writes! Continue reading “Review: The Southern Side of Paradise (Peachtree Bluff #3) by Kristy Woodson Harvey” →