Category: Book Critic

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

Review: Marlene: A Novel by C.W. Gortner

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Marlene: A Novel by C.W. Gortner

C.W. Gortner has been putting out some great reads this last year or so!

Gortner always does a fantastic job at profiling historical female figures…..most of which are famous queens etc but lately he’s been branching out to historical pop culture icons like Coco Chanel and now Marlene Dietrich.

I was really intrigued by this novel because I don’t know much about Marlene Dietrich and with Gortner’s fantastic story telling abilities, I was really excited to read this one!

Maria Magdalena Dietrich dreams of a life on the stage. When a budding career as a violinist is cut short, the willful teenager vows to become a singer, trading her family’s proper, middle-class society for the free-spirited, louche world of Weimar Berlin’s cabarets and drag balls.

With her sultry beauty, smoky voice, seductive silk cocktail dresses, and androgynous tailored suits, Marlene performs to packed houses and becomes entangled in a series of stormy love affairs that push the boundaries of social convention.

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

Review: The Pursuit of Pearls (Clara Vine #4) by Jane Thynne

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: The Pursuit of Pearls (Clara Vine #4) by Jane Thynne

In the spring of 1939 war is on the horizon. Clara Vine is living in Nazi Germany working as an actress but that’s not the only thing she’s doing.

She is also there to spy on the personal lives of top Nazi leaders for British intelligence. Each day that Clara remains in Berlin is a day closer to war and should she be caught, she would be in grave danger.

Suddenly, someone close to Clara is found murdered. The victim is Lottie Franke, an aspiring costume designer and student at the prestigious Faith and Beauty finishing school that trains young women to become the wives of the Nazi elite.

While the press considers Lottie’s death the act of a lone madman, Clara uncovers deeper threads, tangled lines that seem to reach into the darkest depths of the Reich—and to a precious discovery that Hitler and his ruthless cohorts would kill for.

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

Review: 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

This book came across my desk for review a couple of months ago and initially I passed on it for review and agreed to do a special feature instead.

I wasn’t sure that I could fit it into my review schedule and I wasn’t sure it was something that I really wanted to read. However when I did the special feature, I completely rethought my decision!

After reading the discussion questions of the feature, I was intrigued. This book sounded like it was going to be raw, honest, and dark but yet poignant and meaningful. This book was all of these things and more!

This book is set up with 13 different chapters, each of which reads like a short story. Initially I thought that each chapter was a short story about different women, but it was short stories about one main character, Lizzie (AKA Beth, Liz, Elizabeth).

Lizzie has never liked the way she looked. She has struggled with low self esteem and body images as well as a host of other issues when it comes to her weight. Each chapter addresses different aspects of her weight struggles. In some chapters she dates men online and trying to feel accepted by friends and boys, while others are a little more humorous such as when she talks about counting her almonds while trying to diet.

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

Review: On a Desert Shore (John Chase/Penelope Wolfe Regency Mysteries #4) by S. K. Rizzolo

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: On a Desert Shore (John Chase/Penelope Wolfe Regency Mysteries #4) by S. K. Rizzolo

Protecting an heiress should be an easy job for experienced Bow Street Runner John Chase.

But the heiress in question isn’t just any heiress. She is the illegitimate daughter of wealthy merchant Hugo Garrod and his Jamaican slave.

Unlike many illegitimate children of wealthy English merchants, Marina is educated and positioned to marry well in English high society but yet she excludes herself and has essentially failed to integrate as successfully as her father had hoped.

Hugo Garrod seems to think that he has discovered why Marina is acting so strange and isolating herself from English society. Someone has been playing tricks on the young Marina. And those tricks recall her island heritage of Obeah.

Fearful for his daughter, Garrod hires John Chase to determine whether Marina is indeed a victim—or is herself a delusional and malicious trickster.

If it isn’t Marina herself then who would do such a thing to Marina? Could it be her rejected suitor and cousin Ned Honeycutt? His demure sister? Their devoted aunt who acts as the Garrod housekeeper? A clergyman friend?

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

Review: The Judgment by D.J. Niko

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: The Judgment by D.J. Niko

I’ve really enjoyed Niko’s Sarah Weston series over the years and was eager to learn she was writing a new novel…..though not a Sarah Weston novel, this book caught my eye for a number of reasons.

First of all, I love the cover art, and second Niko does ancient, Middle Eastern history so very well that I couldn’t wait to see what this novel was about.

The year is 965 BCE. Upon the death of his father, Solomon has been appointed king of the united monarchy of Israel and Judah and charged with building the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.

He travels to Egypt to negotiate with Pharaoh Psusennes II for gold for the temple and to improve relations between the two nations. There he falls in love with the pharaoh’s beautiful daughter, Nicaule, and the two kings agree to an arranged marriage. Against her will, for she loves another, Nicaule follows her new husband to Israel.

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