Category: Book Critic

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

Review: Pardonable Lies (Maisie Dobbs #3) by Jacqueline Winspear

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: Pardonable Lies (Maisie Dobbs #3) by Jacqueline Winspear

I have had a love hate relationship with the Maisie Dobbs books over the years. I read the first one and just wasn’t overly impressed but I pressed on and read the second and again felt like I wasn’t connecting with the series in the way that I had hoped.

But I keep pushing myself to read them because not only do I love the covers but I love the time period! I love books set either during the Great War or in the years immediately following in England.

This should be a series that I fell in love with based on the setting but I struggled to really connect with Maisie as a character so I just haven’t loved this series in the way that I hoped. But I am all for foraging through….not indefinitely mind you but I decided that if I read the third book and still didn’t enjoy it then I was going to give up.

I recently binge watched the Miss Fisher Mysteries on Netflix and I was feeling like I wanted to read a mystery with a female detective, maybe a little romance, and set after the Great War…..so rather than read an actual Miss Fisher novel, I settled on the third Maisie Dobbs book….mostly because I was so in love with the Miss Fisher TV series that I didn’t want to change anything by reading one of the books so…..here we are!

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

Review: Where It Hurts (Gus Murphy #1) by Reed Farrel Coleman

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Where It Hurts (Gus Murphy #1) by Reed Farrel Coleman

What struck me as interesting about this novel was that it was set on the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ section of Long Island.

Most people think of the Hampton’s when they think of Long Island and of course all the wealth and privileged that that neighborhood entails.

This book is set on the other side of Long Island. This immediately struck me as a gritty novel that promised almost ‘film noir’ like characters…..maybe ones that were hard boiled and morally questionable so I was drawn to this book for it promised something ‘different’.

When we first meet Gus Murphy, though he is a retired cop, he is living in a run down hotel driving the courtesy van. His son’s death has taken it’s toll on Murphy which lead to the end of his marriage. Basically life is pretty terrible for him.

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

Review: Midnight in St. Petersburg by Vanora Bennett

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One woman and two suitors at the twilight of the Russian empire. This love story follows three very unlikely main characters, a Jewish girl running away from Jew hating South Russia, an Englishman working at famous Faberge shop and a radical Jew wanting to fight to live equally with the people of Russia.

This story starts in Sept 1911, pre-revolutionary Russia. Inna Feldman has fled the pogroms of the south to take refuge with distant relatives in Russia’s capital city. Welcomed by the flamboyant Leman family, she is apprenticed into their violin-making workshop.

Inna begins to feel at home in this very bohemian family but the fires of revolution are strong and things are rapidly changing in the city between the classes, especially among the Jewish people of Russia.

She loves her brooding cousin, Yasha, but he is wild, destructive and devoted to revolution, Horace Wallick, an Englishman who makes precious Faberge creations, is older and promises security and respectability. And, like many others, she is drawn to the mysterious, charismatic figure beginning to make a name for himself in the city: Rasputin.

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Review: Frozen Tides (Falling Kingdoms #4) by Morgan Rhodes

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: Frozen Tides (Falling Kingdoms #4) by Morgan Rhodes

This book was one of the first books I’ve put on pre-order in a long time! I was originally only lukewarm with this series after the first book, but then things started getting really interesting in the following books!

So needless to say I was greatly anticipating the release of this novel!

The last time we were in Mytica, a lot of things were up in the air. Cleo and Magnus are in Limeros trying to figure out what to do now that Magnus has basically committed treason to save Cleo.

Felix and Jonas have parted ways and Felix is back working for the King of Blood while Jonas is fighting to stay alive and keep the rebellion going. Lucia has run off with the fire god and leaving a path of destruction in her wake. And Amara is back in Kreashia coming up with a plan to rule the world.

So basically there is a lot going on and a lot of people to catch up with in this installment. With so many characters to follow up on, for me the beginning of the novel started a little slower than expected.

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Review: A Prisoner in Malta by Phillip DePoy

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Someone is plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth. The Queen’s spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham has changed the nineteen year old Christopher Marlowe with tracking down the truth of this impending threat.

The only thing anyone knows for sure is there is a prisoner who has information about the plot and Walsingham feels sure that Marlowe can rescue the prisoner and discover what there is to know about the threat. Christopher Marlowe has quite the reputation….he’s known as a brawler, womanizer, genius, and social upstart at Cambridge.

His investigation will take him through a treacherous world of Catholic sympathizers, the Spanish government, and double agents…..this isn’t going to be an open and shut case…..it will challenge Marlowe in many ways! But can he solve the case before it’s too late?

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