Book Critic
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Review: Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman
I have read all of Sara Ackerman’s books and I haven’t been disappointed once! I love how her books are set in WWII but they always seem to feel different than the usual WWII books that I have read. I think location really plays a part here. All of her books are set in Hawaii, not only does that add an exotic feel to the books, but it makes them feel fresh—like I am reading something totally new! While her books might have similar themes and settings, I always feel like I am reading something different each time I pick up one of her books. I know that the author…
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Review: Three Words for Goodbye by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
Veteran authors, Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, really are a winning team if you ask me! I have loved many of their novels and when I saw this one was coming out I just knew I had to get my hands on it! Each author has their own unique voice and style but at the end of the day, they blend together so well that their books never feel disjointed or confusing. Sometimes with multiple authors, it can be hard to marry the two different voices to create a well written story, but I have never felt like that with Gaynor and Webb. I have read their own independent novels…
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Re-Share Review: The End of Her by Shari Lapena
If you love Shari Lapena, you will not doubt have seen this book and most likely read it already! But if you haven’t it is out now in paperback and I am so excited to re-share my review with all of you guys today! I read it when it first came out last year during all of my extensive COVID reading and found that his book was a wonderful mystery that kept my interest and while I have only read a few books by Lapena, I found that this one was one of my favorites so far! Shari Lapena is such a talented writer and she consistently churns out well…
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Review: For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing
I absolutely loved Samantha Downing’s first novel, My Lovely Wife. In fact, I even read it twice because I thought it was such a great read and my book club loved it too! Her second novel He Started It, just didn’t grab me like the first one. I haven’t read it yet but the description just didn’t sound as exciting or interesting as My Lovely Wife sounded when I first heard of it. But when I saw this one was coming out—her third thriller—the description sounded so excellent and I just couldn’t pass up! I love novels about darker academia and this book sounded like it would be a perfect…
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Review: The Devil and the Heiress (The Gilded Age Heiresses #2) by Harper St. George
After reading The Heiress Gets a Duke earlier this year, Harper St George was on my ‘one to watch’ list. I immediately preordered this book and was eager to find out what happened to the more reserved Crenshaw sister, Violet. In the first book, August was more headstrong and a little more bold than her sister so I was eager to see how Violet’s character was explored in this one. Not only do St George’s novels boast fantastic covers but they boast non conventional heroines and dashing heroes with an edge. If you love historical romances I would highly recommend checking this new series out. I found that this book…
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Review: John Eyre: A Tale of Darkness and Shadow by Mimi Matthews
Mimi Matthews is an auto buy author for me. I love all of her books and always make room for them on my calendar. She never disappoints and when I saw she was going to write a novel that was a little darker and more gothic than her standard feel good historical romances made me elated! I couldn’t say yes fast enough to this one! I know that some times when an author branches out of their typical genre to try something new, there is always hesitation that it won’t be well received, but she is such a talented writer that I knew this was going to be another outstanding…
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Review: The Stranger Behind You by Carol Goodman
Carol Goodman is an author after my Gothic heart. I haven’t read any of her other books before this one, but when this one came up for review I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it because it had this decidedly Gothic feel. Not to mention a lot of fans have called her the modern day Daphne du Maurier. I love books with a Gothic feel, especially murder mysteries so I was super excited to read this one. Goodman has written other novels that by all accounts are atmospheric and moody so I was really looking forward to this one. I also loved that it had a modern component…
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Review: The Girls from the Beach by Andie Newton
I have read all of Andie Newton’s books so far and not once have I been disappointed! She is an amazingly talented writer and her historical research and detail is always spot on. Plus she has a wonderful prose and creates interesting characters. So when this one came up for review there was zero question if I would read it or not! Not only is the cover to DIE for but I loved the sound of this plot…..American nurses tasked with a secret mission go missing and infiltrate the Nazi regime. It couldn’t sound more compelling if it tried! Spies and Nazis are a hot ticket right now. There are…
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Review: The Ice Swan by J’nell Ciesielski
I have read three of J’nell Ciesielski’s novels and each one has been absolutely fantastic! I love how well she writes romance as well as historical fiction and I always seem to breeze through her books because I am so captivated. When I saw this one was coming out, I knew it was going to be an easy ‘yes’ for me. I mean—take one look at that cover and tell me you would pass? No. The author as well as this cover are truly sunning! This one is set in Russia which I thought brought some variance to the historical fiction genre. The last novel I read by Ciesielski was…
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Review: The Hollywood Spy (Maggie Hope #10) by Susan Elia MacNeal
I fell in love with Maggie Hope long ago and watching her journey through these last 10 books has been so fun as a reader. We have seen her go from nervous secretary, to spy, through PTSD, and heartache. As we enter the 10th book in the series ,she is in many ways unrecognizable from the first book. As a reader you really get a sense of how the war changed her character and I think that’s what really makes this series shine. I haven’t always loved the direction that Maggie’s character has taken or choices that she has made but for me that’s what makes her so real and…