Review: Aunt Dimity and the Summer King (Aunt Dimity Mystery #20) by Nancy Atherton

Lori Shepherd loves everything about her quaint town of Finch in the Cotswold country of England.

It’s here that she is raising her twin boys and new baby daughter Bess along side her husband, Bill.

Finch is you typical country town full of country events like the church bake sale and the dog trials. Everyone knows everyone and that also means that everyone knows your business.

Since Lori had her baby, she has been out of the loop on all the town gossip but she has noticed that two Finch cottages are still for sale after months on the market and she just can’t understand why.

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Review: Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas #1) by Charlaine Harris

In the sleepy town of Midnight, TX there is not a whole lot to draw new residents.

It’s literally a one stop light town…..a modern day ghost town. There are few residents, but the residents there are there are an eclectic mix to say the least.

The town and it’s residents are full of suspicious and strange activities….not to mention, secrets.

Manfred Bernardo, psychic extraordinaire, arrives in Midnight hoping to working in private. For him Midnight is the perfect place to come and be ‘anonymous’.

There is an unspoken rule in Midnight……’don’t ask questions’……and Manfred likes this.

But there is a reason that no one asks questions in Midnight…..each town member prefers to keep their skeletons very permanently in the closet.

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Review: Les Miserables: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Victor Hugo

This book is a literally massive. For years I have thought about reading it, and though I am not intimidated by the length or the wordy writing style….I kept putting it off.

Even after seeing the film, I thought…..this is the time I am going to read it…..and then I didn’t. I knew it would take me a while to read and considering that the French translation of ‘Les Miserables’ is ‘the miserable ones’ or the ‘poor ones’….I knew it would be an emotional roller-coaster that I just wasn’t ready for in my reading.

Well no more excuses. When the new Penguin Deluxe edition came out, I was in some serious cover lust so I agreed to review it….no more excuses!

I’ve read The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Hugo and was frankly a little lost and found the writing bland, so I worried that this would be the same. TOTALLY NOT THE CASE!

I will say that it is helpful if you have seen the film or the musical, as it gives the reader an orientation within the story, but it’s not a requirement.

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Review: Longbourn by Jo Baker

Reader beware…..if you love Jane Austen and are looking for something that will give you a new ‘perspective’ about the Bennet sisters, keep on looking.

Sure this novel includes the Bennet sisters and follows the traditional Pride and Prejudice story but that’s about it.

Jo Baker remakes the classic story of Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of the below stairs staff but yet it’s a story all its own and noting close to the Austen classic.

Sarah has been a maid at Longbourn since she was a child. She cleans the chamber pots, scrubs the laundry, polishes the floor and of course waits on the Bennet sisters.

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Review: The Patriot Threat (Cotton Malone #10) by Steve Berry

I’ve read a couple of the books in the Cotton Malone series and really really enjoyed them. Steve Berry has a special talent for merging politics, history, and conspiracy all together so well.

This time, our favorite ‘retired’ agent is recruited by his former boss to find a North Korean who has some top secret Treasury files.

Basically his novel begs the question “what if federal taxes were actually illegal”.

This case is anything but straight forward for Cotton and he finds himself globe trotting, trying to chase down leads and to recover the documents, not to mention wading through convoluted history.

The reader is treated to an array of historic facts (and some speculations), exotic locations, a new love interest for Cotton, and enough red herrings that keep the reader guessing until the end.

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