Book Critic

  • Review: The Killings at Kingfisher Hill (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries #4) by Sophie Hannah

    Is there really any debate about Agatha Christie being the queen of mysteries? I have only read a couple of her books and have enjoyed them very much but there is also a dated quality about them which was one of the reasons that I was excited to read this ‘New Hercule Poirot’ mystery from Sophie Hannah. I haven’t read any of the ‘new’ Hercule Poirot mysteries before but I am familiar with his eccentric character and was really looking forward to this one. One thing that grabbed my attention was that it had some hints of one of Christie’s classic novels, Murder on the Orient Express, so I was…

  • Review: The Forgotten Kingdom (The Lost Queen Trilogy #2) by Signe Pike

    The Lost Queen was one of my favorite reads of last year and I raved about it to everyone I knew. Not to mention I gave it to all my friends and family as a Christmas present too. So it’s easy to say that I had this next book on my TBR the instant I was done with the first book. The second it was available on Netgalley, I downloaded it and started reading. Not going to lie, this one took me a lot longer to read than I was anticipating. Not because it was bad (not at all!) I just started it at a time when I was busy…

  • Review: The Night Swim by Megan Goldin (Audible Edition)

    I did a special feature on this book when it first came out. While it sounded good I wasn’t sure that it was one that I wanted to move up on my TBR list. Then I started seeing a lot of other people on my Instagram talking about this one and was intrigued by some of their reviews. So I decided to take it to my book club and see what they thought. We had fully planned on reading a different book for our September read, but this one sounded different and it also sounded like it that would generate a lot of great discussion for the book club.

  • Review: One Step Behind by Lauren North

    I read Lauren North’s debut novel, The Perfect Son, when it came out and I absolutely loved it. I thought she was an exciting author with so much promise and I have been looking forward to this book for quite some time. Plus it features a stalker and nothing raises the hair on the back of my neck quite like a stalker story. I immediately fast tracked this book as a perfect introduction to my creepier fall reading. I had such high hopes for this one. The author, the story and don’t even get me started on that gorgeous cover! But I have to admit, I don’t know that I…

  • Review: A Heart of Blood and Ashes (A Gathering of Dragons #1) by Milla Vane

    Say hello to my longest read of the year. Not necessarily the longest book in terms of pages, but rather in terms of how long it took me to actually read this one! I started this one at the beginning of July people and here it is September and I am just now finishing it! In fact I finished it last week and to be honest that shocked me. I fully expected to finish this book in only a few sittings and sadly I just didn’t But there are a couple of reasons for that—I had a lot of other books going and this one wasn’t a partner review so…

  • Review: The Royal Governess by Wendy Holden

    This book popped up on my radar in the early summer and I have been looking forward to it ever since. Like many, I love all things royal and Queen Elizabeth has been such a mysterious figure for me. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her growing up not expecting to be queen only to have the position basically thrust upon her. Which is why this book sounded so interesting. I liked the idea of getting a glimpse into the younger years of Queen Elizabeth, even if it was a fictionalized account of her younger years. This book focuses on Elizabeth’s governess, Marion Crawford, who served…

  • Review: A Rogue of One’s Own (A League of Extraordinary Women #2) by Evie Dunmore

    To say that Bringing Down the Duke was one of my favorite books of 2019 would be a drastic understatement. I bought it for every woman reader in my family for Christmas. I absolutely loved Evie Dunmore’s debut novel and the book hangover that followed was so real! I have been checking Netgalley weekly to see when the next book in the series will be available and the second it was out, I downloaded it. I knew I would be reviewing this one in September so I had plenty of time to read it but I couldn’t help myself! I started reading it in June and was done in 2…

  • Review: The Whisper Man by Alex North (Audible Edition)

    My book club pick for August was The Whisper Man and I was so excited for it because I have had the book from my Book of the Month box for over a year. I often find myself looking at it on my shelves and think, ‘this is the month I am going to read it’ and then something else catches my eye and I forget until the next time my eye wanders that way. This month though I was determined to read it and was thrilled that my book club selected it for August!

  • Review: The London Restoration by Rachel McMillan

    This is one of those books that when I saw the cover, I simply said yes without even pausing to read the summary. As many of you know I am a huge sucker for historical fiction and this cover hit all the historical fiction eye catchers it possibly could! I love the colors and the red hat just drew me right in and I couldn’t wait to check it out and see if the story lived up to the hype of the cover. Basically I went into this one blind since I said yes without even reading the summary and sometimes that works out for me. I didn’t know what…

  • Review: A Class Forsaken (A Matter of Class #3) by Susie Murphy

    Over the last few years I have gotten to know Susie Murphy and her characters in the “Matter of Class” series and not only is she a wonderful person and author, but her saga has only gotten better. More about that in a minute but first I wanted to take a couple of minutes and gush over the beauty of this cover. It is absolutely stunning. Each cover design has been eye catching, memorable, and interesting but this one is my favorite cover design. I think it’s elegant and captures the essence of the saga. Now that I have raved about the cover a bit, let’s talk about how great…