Category: Book Critic

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

Review: The Rivals of Versailles (The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy #2) by Sally Christie

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: The Rivals of Versailles (The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy #2) by Sally Christie

The first book in this series, The Sisters of Versailles, hooked me. Five sisters, four of which were all mistresses to the same king? Sounds intriguing right?!

So when this one came up for review I was excited because Christie adds such wonderful, rich historic detail to her story that I was eager for more in this installment.

This book is less about the Nesle sisters and more about the infamous Marquise de Pompadour.

The year is 1745. Marie-Anne, the youngest of the infamous Nesle sisters and King Louis XV’s most beloved mistress, is gone, making room for the next Royal Favorite.

Enter Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a stunningly beautiful girl from the middle classes. Fifteen years prior, a fortune teller had mapped out young Jeanne’s destiny: she would become the lover of a king and the most powerful woman in the land. 

All too soon, conniving politicians and hopeful beauties seek to replace the bourgeois interloper with a more suitable mistress. As Jeanne, now the Marquise de Pompadour, takes on her many rivals, including a lustful lady-in-waiting, a precocious fourteen-year-old prostitute, and even a cousin of the notorious Nesle sisters.

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

Review: Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner

This is a novel that I liked so much more than I expected to. I love when books do that!

I’ve read a ton of books this year that have been set in the 1920s and 1930s eras, some with the glitz and glamour of old Hollywood as a backdrop. So many books in fact that I am getting a little tired of the era.

So when I picked up this book, I wasn’t sure what to expect and how I was going to feel about it. As soon as I started the book and found out the backdrop was not just old Hollywood but also had hints of the movie Gone with the Wind, I was immediately caught up in this story!

Flash forward to modern day Los Angeles. When an iconic hat worn by Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind  ends up in Christine McAllister’s vintage clothing boutique by mistake, her efforts to return it to its owner take her on a journey more enchanting than any classic movie…

The books then takes us back to Los Angeles, 1938.  Violet Mayfield sets out to reinvent herself in Hollywood after her  dream of becoming a wife and mother falls apart, and lands a job on the film-set of Gone With the Wind.

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

Review: The Rose and the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn #2) by Renee Ahdieh

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: The Rose and the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn #2) by Renee Ahdieh

This book has been on my Amazon pre-order for months…..as soon as I finished reading the first book, I had this one on pre order and it was one of my spring ‘most anticipated’ novels!

In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan.

She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse—one that might keep them apart forever.

Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid’s empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan.

While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn’t yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love.

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Review: Midnight in Berlin by James MacManus

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Midnight in Berlin by James MacManus

I am a sucker for war romances…..and that’s sort of what I thought I was getting with this book.

While it does have elements of romance, it’s more of a book about the beginning days of WWII and what was going on behind the scenes with diplomatic discussions etc.

Berlin, 1938. Newly-appointed diplomat, Noel Macrae and his wife Primrose arrive at the British Embassy in Berlin.

Prime Minister Chamberlain is intent on placating Nazi Germany, but Macrae is less so.

Convinced Hitler can be stopped by other means than appeasement, he soon discovers he is not the only dissenting voice in the Embassy and finds that some senior officers in the German military are prepared to turn against the Fuhrer.

Gathering vital intelligence, Macrae is drawn to a Nazi bordello and its enigmatic Jewish hostess Sara Sternschein. Sara is a treasure-trove of knowledge about the Nazi hierarchy in a city of lies, spies and secrets.

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Review: A Fine Imitation by Amber Brock

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: A Fine Imitation by Amber Brock

The 1920s seem to be a very popular period in literature at the moment.

I’ve read a lot of books lately set in this time period which is fun because it’s a period that often gets passed over in historical fiction.

The Regency, Tudor, and Victorian era always seem to garner the most literary action when it comes to historical fiction.

In this book we meet young New York socialite Vera Bellington who passes her days with champagne-soaked socializing and then at night she waits for her less than attentive husband to come home to her, which basically never happens.

Her life is lonely to say the least and she is longing for some kind of excitement…..anything to break up the monotony in her life.

Then along comes French artist, Emil Hallan who moves into her building. He is mysterious and his art work is also a mystery to Vera so she is soon intrigued and curious about this young, handsome painter. Somehow she finds herself drawn to Emil’s warmth and passion but yet she is suspicious about him.

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