Review: The Lying Room by Nicci French

I have only read one of Nicci French’s books and that was the 5th book in her popular Frida Klein series. It was about three years ago when I first read that book and I recall feeling like I was missing out on a lot of the behind the scenes friendships and connections by picking up the series midway through.

Which is why I didn’t continue the series after that book. She has written a few other standalone books though and I was excited to see this one come across my desk for review since it was one of her first standalone novels in quite a while!

By picking up this standalone book, I hoped to get more of a feel for her writing rather than trying to sort out how the characters all knew each other. Continue reading “Review: The Lying Room by Nicci French”

Review: The Girl in the Castle (Deverill Chronicles #1) by Santa Montefiore (Audible Edition)

I read one of Santa Montefiore’s standalone novels recently and I couldn’t get enough of it. I loved Secrets of the Lighthouse and I was desperate to get my hands on another one of her novels.

I logged on to Audible and immediately downloaded this book, as the Deverill Chronicles had been highly recommended and is probably one of her most well known books.

Most of Montefiore’s novels are standalone but this book is the first in a series that spans 4 books so I knew it would be more epic in nature just based on the scope of this series and time periods each book covers. Continue reading “Review: The Girl in the Castle (Deverill Chronicles #1) by Santa Montefiore (Audible Edition)”

Review: Campusland by Scott Johnston

My sister works at Harvard as one of their librarians so any time I see a book about an ivy league college, I find myself drawn to it.

The summary of this book promised to include all the things that I find captivating about ivy league schools…..elitism and rich people problems. I couldn’t pass on this one because I was too drawn to the idea of it.

This is a book that I wouldn’t normally pick up in the store or really be drawn to if I’m being honest, but I liked the summary and the fact that this author is also a Yale alum. This is Scott Johnston’s first novel his having attended Yale, I think indicates he has first hand knowledge and even more authenticity to add to a book like this and made me eager to check it out. Continue reading “Review: Campusland by Scott Johnston”

Review: Call Upon the Water by Stella Tillyard

The first thing that went through my mind when I read the summary of this book was it sounded a lot like Philippa Gregory’s latest novel, Tidelands, which I have not read but has definitely been on my radar. I picked up Tidelands from my library but I only got a couple of chapters in before I had to return it.

Since then I’ve been meaning to pick it back up and continue the story but I have other books that have been rather diverting. So when this book came up for review I was eager to read it because it sounded so similar.

Tillyard has written a number of novels and clearly has experience in this time period so I was excited to try out this book and see how it was! Continue reading “Review: Call Upon the Water by Stella Tillyard”

Review: The Vanished Bride (Brontë Sisters Mystery #1) by Bella Ellis

Big big big Bronte fan here! So it’s a given that I have been looking forward to this book for quite a while!

But I will admit I was on the fence about it. This book is a reimagining of the Bronte sisters as lady detectives and for me it could have gone either way. I mean, the sisters wrote romances, not mysteries so I was worried that this book might come across as hokey.

So basically, I had reservations. I worried that I might have a hard time imagining them as detectives but on the other I love all things Bronte and I simply couldn’t pass on the opportunity to find out which way this book was going to go—-all good or all bad! Continue reading “Review: The Vanished Bride (Brontë Sisters Mystery #1) by Bella Ellis”