Book Critic
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Review: Beautiful Exiles by Meg Waite Clayton
I watched this absolutely wonderful HBO miniseries called Hemingway and Gellhorn in 2012. I had major movie hangover after watching it. IMBD users didn’t seem to like it as much as I did, but for whatever reason this movie just resonated with me and I was fascinated by this couple I knew nothing about. I knew that Hemingway was moody and an all around asshole but that he wrote beautifully. Full disclosure, I haven’t read a single Hemingway book—-but I’ve read enough Hemingway quotes to discern that he’s a brilliant writer. The person I didn’t really know much about though was Martha Gellhorn. In the film she seemed like a…
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Review: A Class Apart (A Matter of Class #1) by Susie Murphy
When I first started book blogging (almost 10 years ago!), I used to read a ton of indie and self published books but now that I have been blogging for so long, I tend to read a lot more books from publishing groups or established authors. One of the things that I liked most about reading these self published or indie books was so that I could give constructive criticism. I hate when I read a book review and it just says something like ‘your book sucks’. Why not offer some suggestions to help guide them or praise where praise is due? Most of the self published or indie books…
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Review: Competence: Custard Protocol (The Custard Protocol #3) by Gail Carriger
I came upon Gail Carriger in 2011 when I had entered a Steampunk reading challenge. She was an author I would never have picked up on my own but as soon as I read the first book, I was completely hooked and so thankful that I had stumbled upon both the reading challenge and her books! Since then I have read just about everything she has put out, with the exception of The Custard Protocol series. When this book came up for review, I was a little worried because it’s the third in the series…..a series which I haven’t even read though the world sounded the same and Carriger’s writing…
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Review: The Prisoner in the Castle (Maggie Hope Mystery #8) by Susan Elia MacNeal
I first discovered Maggie Hope back in 2012 when the first book came across my desk for review. The cover was initially what drew me in and I was never once sorry for judging a book by its cover! Over the years, Maggie’s character has gone in a number of different directions and none of them were directions that I saw coming. For me, that’s one of the things that keeps this series exciting. You have this American typist how somehow ends up becoming a super high-level spy…..I love it! Thought the series she has tracked down murders, saved the queen, broke codes, parachuted into France, and had her heart…
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Review: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
This book was on my radar well before the Golden State Killer’s capture in April 2018. My sister had listened to the audiobook when it first came out in February 2018 and raved about it to me. But like a big sister, I listened and promised to read it soon. But honestly, I had no real intention. I love true crime, but Ann Rule is the true crime queen for me, and no one can come close. Basically, I haven’t branched out to any other true crime authors so my intention of reading this book was minimal. Then the news hit in April that he had been arrested and this…
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Review: The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna by C.W. Gortner
I have been a fan of C.W. Gortner for quite a few years. He always writes about interesting women in history. Though he writes historical fiction, his novels have just the right amount of fiction and history to make them both readable and realistic. Not to mention every single one of his book covers are to DIE for. Whoever his cover artist is, has a fantastic eye for color, detail, and mood. When THE ROMANOV EMPRESS came up for review, this was a no brainer—100% yes. Even from behind the throne, a woman can rule.
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Review: Boardwalk Summer by Meredith Jaeger
About a year ago, I read Meredith Jaeger’s book, THE DRESSMAKERS DOWRY, which was her debut novel. For a debut novel, it was good but needed a little more polish to shine. When this book came up for review, not only was I in love with the cover, but I was eager to see in what ways her writing had grown. The other reason I decided to review this novel was the location. As a teenager, I was fascinated by California beach culture. I loved the carefree, unstructured romanticism that made the west coast so appealing. It was like to ultimate endless summer so this book seemed to promise that…
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Review: From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein
This is not your grandma’s White House biography. Non fiction is not a genre that I read a whole lot of. Non fiction—especially biographies etc—aren’t not my thing, but ever once in a while a non fiction book comes up that captures my eye and this was one of those books. The summary promised the most random story—a woman lands a job at the White House via Craig’s List. Yes you read that right. Craig’s List. The White House. Stenographer for the President. Yes—THE POTUS. What the actual *&%????? Sold. I was absolutely onboard with this book! In 2012, Beck Dorey-Stein was just scraping by in DC when a posting…
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Review: The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay
Tatiana de Rosnay writes beautiful novels, usually set in Paris, that capture the hearts and minds of readers. I read Sarah’s Kay back in 2011 and wasn’t terribly as impressed as I had hoped. I find that I am in the minority when it comes to this opinion. But since then I’ve seen a number of her books climbing the bestseller lists with speed—though I haven’t read any others. Could it have been the mood I was in at the time that made me not love her book? Sure. So while I kept an open mind about her other books, I wasn’t moved enough by their descriptions to pick any…
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Review: Eagle & Crane by Suzanne Rindell
This was a book that I wasn’t really that excited to read when it initially came up for review. In my mind all I kept thinking was….ugh another WWII book. Don’t get me wrong, WWII is one of my favorite periods to read about, but lately I’ve read a lot of WWII books and I just wasn’t in the mood for another when it was time to review this one. But this one set itself apart with the Japanese interment camps angle. Everyone is so focused on the holocaust that they forget that Japanese interment camps were yet another unfortunate by product of a very ugly war. My brother in…