Review: Lost, Found, and Forever by Victoria Schade

This is my second novel by Victoria Schade and I have absolutely fallen in love with her novels! They are light hearted reading with romance and tons and tons of sweet dogs! The adorable doggies on the cover just get me every time and this one is no different. I jumped at this one because it sounded too cute and that dog on the cover was screaming ‘read me!’.

By Schade’s books are more than just adorable dogs on the cover, I have really loved the romances that are woven into the story. This one was especially tender and adorable. I fell in love with Griffin about as fast as Justine! He was so charming and thoughtful.

If you love romances in the vein of movies like Must Love Dog, this is an author that you absolutely need on your radar! I am 100% a dog person, but anyone who loves animals will enjoy how predominant they are featured in the story. The animals take on roles of their own and I loved learning about dog handling and training throughout the story. Fetch this one on your TBR immediately!

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Review: The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray

This book has been long awaited. It’s been on so many ‘most anticipated’ lists and receiving a ton of hype which normally would make me a little wary, but not going to lie, I have been excited for this one since I participated in the cover revel last spring! The cover plus the multigenerational story of a stunning French chateau sounded too promising to pass up.

I also read Stephanie Dray’s, My Dear Hamilton , a couple of years ago and was impressed with Dray’s historical research and writing. Dray has written a number of historical fiction novels and contributed her skills to other compilations. Some of her stories are more ancient history while her other more notable works are American history, this is her first historical fiction novel set during this period in Europe/France.

But her novel about Eliza Hamilton was wonderful and it stood out as a well researched women’s fiction set in a historical period. That’s what made me even more excited to read this one. I love how Dray gives voice to women in history. She does a brilliant job and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one!

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Review: Under the Light of the Italian Moon by Jennifer Anton

When I was pitched this book, what sold me was the sensational cover! The cover is a show stopper and so eye catching and promises something exotic and romantic. But then I read the description and I couldn’t wait to read it, especially since it was based on a true story.

While it is set during WWII, it’s not set in the traditional countries of France and England, but rather Italy as the title implies. I think Italy often gets overlooked in the WWII historical fiction genre so I was really excited to read about a familiar event in history through a unique pair of eyes.

Plus I was super excited to see that there was a romance in it. I love war time romances. The backdrop of the war adds so much tension and drama to war time romances so I was really looking forward to this one. I picked it up on the first day of spring break and devoured it in a matter of days! There was a lot to love in this one!

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Review: The Girl in the Painting by Tea Cooper

I discovered Tea Cooper through a blog tour with one of my long time friends and book bloggers, Amy over at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, and I fell in love with her book The Woman in the Green Dress! It was well written, beautiful and fun. So when this latest book from Cooper came up for review, it was an easy yes for me!

Cooper has written a number of other books but so far these are the only two that I have read and when I picked this one up, I expected the same polish and research that was in The Woman in the Green Dress. While I was not at all disappointed in this one, I have to admit I still love The Woman in the Green Dress the best, but I think that’s because it was my first ‘experience’ with her novels!

I love that her books are set in Australia. They have a distinct, exotic feel for me because of that element. So many historical fiction novels are set in England, France, or occasionally New York./East Coast of the US. But having this book set in Australia gave it a new, refreshing feel that I was craving!

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Review: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

I have only read a handful of Kate Quinn’s books, and while I have enjoyed them, it wasn’t until I read The Alice Network that I really fell in love with her books. After reading The Alice Network, I saw that The Rose Code was coming out and I knew that I had to get my hands on this one.

Not only did I love the idea of women code breakers but Quinn’s writing ability has really grown over her books so I was so excited to check this one out! Quinn is a great writer but the polish she put in The Alice Network really shined and I was eager to check this one out and I have also bought a copy of The Huntress to read soon!

Quinn has a wide range of historical novels that she has written, some are set in ancient Rome, some during the Borgia era, and of course now WWII. Clearly she loves history and all of her novels have been well researched but her WWII era novels seem to have a little something extra special about them which is why I was so thrilled to read The Rose Code!

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