Book Critic
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Interview and Giveaway: The Chalice by Nancy Bilyeau
I recently had the pleasure of The Chalice as part of The Chalice Virtual Book Tour thanks the the lovely Amy over at Historic Fiction Virtual Book Tours! The Chalice is the second book in The Crown series, and though it is part of a series, this book could easily be read as a stand alone. Joanna is a nun in the Tudor period who is fighting against a deadly prophecy that implies she is the ‘one who will come after’ and restore the Catholic faith in England. Will Joanna embrace her destiny or continue to fight against it and what will happen to those that she loves? Will she destroy everything she holds dear…
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Review: The Chalice (The Crown #2) by Nancy Bilyeau
Henry VIII changed the face of England when he broke with the Catholic Church to marry his great love, Anne Boleyn. This decision was felt by all those at court and those in the monastic sects. Joanna Stafford was once both a noble and a novice nun in training. Once King Henry made the choice to split from the church, Joanna struggles to make a common life for herself in the small village of Dartford. As the world around her takes shape based on the whims of a tyrannical king, Joanna and those closest to her, feel King Henry’s decisions acutely. All Joanna really wants is to start her tapestry…
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Review: The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma
How do you trust someone who lies for a living? Don’t all writers lie to some degree or another? In Kristopher Jansma’s debut novel The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, we follow one man’s quest to become a writer, but his is a story told through a bunch of short stories with one very unreliable narrator. We never learn what the narrator’s real name is, but there are two things we know for sure: he has lost every novel he has ever written and he follows Emily Dickens famous advice to the letter, ‘tell all the truth but tell it slant’. In the first short story the narrator is a teenager whose…
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Review: Oleanna by Julie K. Rose
Nestled away in the fjordlands of Norway lies a little farm, home to Oleanna and her family–but Oleanna’s family is about to change. After already trying to come to grips with the recent tragic deaths of her mother and sister only a few months before, Oleanna and her sister Elisabeth are losing their brother, John, to the American dream! Not only will Oleanna be responsible for Elisabeth and Elisabeth’s son, Torjus, but it will be up to them to make the farm thrive. Though both sisters are angry at John for leaving they are, in their own individual ways, jealous that he is getting to have his own adventures. Neither…
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Review: Seduction (The Reincarnationist #5) by M.J. Rose
Complex, exotic scents bring this novel alive! This isn’t just a tale of historic fiction– it’s a novel with a unique blend of the paranormal, romance, mystery, and psychology. In 1843 the renowned author Victor Hugo discovers that his beloved daughter, Didine, has drowned. In his grief he turns to the occult in hopes of communicating with his daughter. His wife, family, and friends all being having séances and they soon discover they can communicate with the dead. Soon the séances turn into something more….Victor fears he has open an unwanted door to the spirit world when he starts being visited by the Shadow of the Sepulcher (the devil) who…
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Review: Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare
The Infernal Devices are without pity. The Infernal Devices are without regret. The Infernal Devices are without number The Infernal Devices will never stop coming. Tessa Grey is preparing for what should be the most joyous day of her life…..her wedding to Jem. Tessa loves Jem without question but there is still part of her that loves Will. Though she tries to shut out her feelings for Will, it is hard to section off a part of your soul that only one other person can touch but somehow Tessa does it. All the Shadowhunters at the London Institute are preparing for the wedding to take place when Gabriel Lightwood shows…
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Guest Post: Fresh Mint with Lemon by Monika Zgustová
After reviewing the book, Fresh Mint with Lemon recently, I had the opportunity to have the author do a feature guest post for my readers! If you haven’t checked out the book yet, please do. It’s a unique, artistic love story which you don’t want to miss out on. Without further ado please welcome author Monika Zgustová to The Lit Bitch! From the Author Describe the book in your own words. Fresh Mint with Lemon is a story of a love triangle. The three main characters, a man and two women, are extremely sensitive and full of regard for one another, and it’s hard for them to make decisions. For that…
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Review: Fresh Mint with Lemon by Monika Zgustová
Russian art critic, Vadim, sees a beautiful woman in a café one day and is immediately captivated by her beauty and sparkling aura. There is something about her that draws him in– he soon discovers she is a well known artist, Patricia Pavloff, whose art he has long admired. Every day he goes to the museum where her art work is on display. He is haunted by one specific painting, red tulips with black pistils that look like eyes. In that painting there is an element of intrigue that he can’t ignore and he longs to meet the intoxicating beauty behind the art. One day he gets his wish, he…
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Review: As Sweet as Honey by Indira Ganesan
On a tiny island in the Indian Ocean a young woman prepares for a wedding. Meterling is about to do something completely against the social grain and break all kinds of traditional culture….this young Indian woman is going to marry an older Englishman. On the day of her wedding, Meterling’s husband dies….right there during their first dance! Just as Meterling begins to deal with the death of her husband, she finds out she is pregnant. Ostracized by the village for already being too tall, she is now a widow and having a baby out of wedlock. Meterling’s husband, Archer, originates from England and he comes to the island of Pi…
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Review: And Only to Deceive (Lady Emily #1) by Tasha Alexander
Lady Emily Ashford is not in love with her new husband, the Viscount Philip Ashford. In fact she hardly knows him. So when she receives word that her husband died on safari in Africa, she can hardly morn a man she barely knows. Emily married Philip to escape the constraints of her family and hoped that marriage would provide that. Now that she is a widow, she finds she has even more freedom than she did as a wife. All of London society can’t stop singing the praises of Lord Ashford to Emily which makes her uncomfortable, but in an effort to at least try and morn the stranger she…