Category: Book Critic

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

Review: A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

Where are my murderionos at? If you like your thrillers with a hefty dose of murder this is for you! It’s been a long time since I have stayed up late into the night reading a thriller. A romance—sure, but my thrillers lately have been really meah to be honest. However this book caught my eye early on when I picked it as my Book of the Month selection a few months back. I love chilling novels that include murder and serial killers and this book sounded right up my alley!

But lately my reading time has been limited so I downloaded this one to listen to at work and running errands. I absolutely loved the narrator, she had a great reading voice and the male voices she did weren’t unbearable to listen to so I count that as a win! I gotta tell you, I found myself driving around randomly just to listen to this one a little bit longer. I really enjoyed it, but that doesn’t mean that I loved everything about it (more on that later).

If you love your thrillers with more murder rather than creepy moodiness, you will defiantly love this book. I find that so many thrillers these days are just about creating a mood or feel and many just focus on making readers feel uneasy without really having much of a story. Theres such a focus on domestic thrillers that really don’t have much to do in the way of murder so lately I just haven’t read many thrillers because of this, however this one was much more murder-y and I was all about that!

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

Review: An Impossible Impostor (Veronica Speedwell #7) by Deanna Raybourn

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: An Impossible Impostor (Veronica Speedwell #7) by Deanna Raybourn

Deanna Raybourn has been one of my favorite historical mystery writers since I first discovered the Veronica Speedwell series. I have since read all of her books and loved each of them, some more than others, but overall her books have been fantastic. The Veronica Speedwell series being my personal favorite of her books and series. Veronica is such a wonderfully non conventional character and her chemistry with Stoker has been solid through most of the series.

However, the last book left me a little disappointed, it was ok but just not my favorite in the series so I was really looking forward to this one and seeing how and if the dynamic of the books changed at all after the last one. If you love historical mysteries that are smart, cheeky, and of course with a hint of romance you will find a lot to love in the Veronica Speedwell series! She is such a great heroine and I have loved this series over all.

I can’t believe we are into the seventh book already! It seems like just yesterday I was discovering Veronica for the first time and now here we are seven books in and so much has changed for both Veronica and Stoker through the books. I went into this one expecting some of that familiar sizzle and chemistry to be rediscovered between Veronica and Soker as well as a smart mystery story and I was not disappointed!

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

Review: The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

If you have poured yourself a bowl of cereal in the last 100 or so years, odds are it was a Post brand cereal! I think most of us are familiar with some uber wealthy names like Vanderbilt, Hearst, Kennedy, and Rockefeller. The name Post doesn’t necessarily ring any bells for me. It sounds like a common name with little attached to it to distinguish itself.

When this book came across my desk for review, I basically thought the cover was pretty and that was about it. The name and title in the book didn’t draw me in or anything, it was purely the elegant cover. I read the blurb and was instantly intrigued. Of course I know the Post name and General Foods brands—-I don’t live under a rock or anything! But I literally never gave much thought to the brand beyond just that—-a food company.

But after reading the blurb I wanted to know all the things about this interesting woman who became the biggest name in food and cereal! She sounded like an interesting figure. There are tons of books on the Vanderbilts, their name just screams ‘romanticism’, the Post name not so much but I was so drawn to this story after the blurb and couldn’t WAIT to read it. I was excited to see a new name and story that promised something different!

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

Review: Ramon and Juileta by Alana Quintana Albertson

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Ramon and Juileta by Alana Quintana Albertson

Am I Hispanic? No. But do I love Hispanic culture and traditions YES! My husband is Hispanic and I love combining our traditions and making something uniquely us so when I saw this retelling of Romeo and Juliet but with tacos, I was absolutely dying to read it! As a teenager, I loved Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet plus the Leonardo DiCaprio film was THE movie of my youth. As an adult, Romeo and Juliet is probably the least favorite of the Shakespeare plays (still love the DiCaprio film though!) but when I saw this book I couldn’t pass on it!

I was so eager to see how this author spun a classic tale and made it not only relevant but feel like something entirely new all at the same time. Needless to say that’s a tall order. This author has written a few other contemporary romance novels, none of which I have read, but this book seems to take on an entirely different tone than some of her other books that she has written previously.

This author has won quite a few awards and currently serves as the president for a couple of respected romance writer guilds. So in my mind that translates into solid writing and storytelling. With some successful romances under her belt and experience, I figured that she this would put her in a solid position to write a retelling of a popular classic and help it to find relevance in the modern age. I wasn’t wrong and I really enjoyed this colorful novel.

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Review: Homicide and Halo-Halo (Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery #2) by Mia P Manansala

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Homicide and Halo-Halo (Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery #2) by Mia P Manansala

I recognized this cover art almost immediately when the book came across my desk for review! The cover art on the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen books are recognizable and stand out with their bold colors and fun graphics. The first book in the series is Arsenic and Adobo which was a Book of the Month selection last year when it first came out. I snatched it up but then basically forgot about it until this follow up book came across my desk.

The pops of color and the cute done on the front inspired me to pick it up and give it a go……regardless if I had read the first book in the series or not. I decided to just dive right in, in my experience it’s pretty easy to jump into a series with only one book proceeding the latest installment as the author tends to set the stage well for new readers and to refresh fans of the previous book so that everyone is on the same page. So I figured it wouldn’t be too lost picking this one up without having rad the first book.

I love cozy mysteries and if it features food so much the better. This book could easily make me a fan of Filipino cooking, everything sounded so great and I was hungry the entire time I was reading this book! But it wasn’t just the food that was a treat but the story too! This one did have some heavier themes that were a little unexpected in a cozy but over all I though it was a solid read with lots to enjoy and while I played catch up at times, overall I didn’t feel too lost in the story to enjoy it.

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