Book Review

  • Review: At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen

    Maddie has not idea that New Years Eve 1942 is going to be a day where everything in her life changes The belle os the ball and Philadelphia society is married to Ellis and lives a life of shelter and privilege. While there is a war raging across the pond, Maddie and her husband Ellis aren’t really that in touch with it. Ellis and his best friend Hank should be enlisting in the war like all the other men their age but they both have medical conditions and aren’t allowed to join. Ellis’s father is beyond ashamed of his son’s inability to enlist and reminds Ellis of it on a…

  • Review: Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo

    Ravka has fallen and now the Darkling rules and the people look to Alina, the Sun Summoner for liberation. Alina has taken refuge in the tunnels below the city where the Apparat and his zealots treat her like a saint. But deep below the ground Alina is weakened. She can’t summons her power and she continues to grow weaker. After months below ground, her loyal friends help free her and they continue on their quest to bring together the three amplifiers. Without all three amplifiers they don’t stand a chance against the Darkling. In order to gain an upper hand, Alina must learn as much about the Darklings past as she…

  • Review: Once Upon a Crime (A Brothers Grimm Mystery #2) by P. J. Brackston

    Gretel (yes, that Gretel) is a plump 35 year old woman, still living with her brother Hans and working as a private investigator. She has just received a new case….while it’s nothing glamorous, it is still a case. Gretel is charged with finding three abducted cats. Not three missing cats….three stolen kitties! Her client assures Gretel that the cats would never just run away, someone must have taken them but she has no idea why. Reluctantly Gretel accepts….she feels that her skills would be better suited for something better, but she takes the case anyway. In the mean time, the small Bavarian town of Gesternstadt is about to be rocked to its foundations by…

  • Review: Siege and Storm (The Grisha #2) by Leigh Bardugo

    Alina and Mal have been forced into hiding across the True Sea. Alina is haunted by her memories of what happened on the Fold while Mal is eager to put as much distance between the girl he loves and the Darkling, as possible. The Darkling is now more powerful than ever and has a plan that will test the boundaries of the world as they know it unless Mal and Alina can find a way to destroy him. While she can’t be sure….Alina senses that if she brings all three amplifiers together, she will hopefully be powerful enough to defeat him. But how does one find ancient, mythical items? The Darkling…

  • Review: The Ambassador’s Wife by Jennifer Steil

    This book made me want to quit my job and apply at the U.S. Embassy immediately! I really enjoyed reading this one! It was a nice break from some of the books I’ve been reading lately. I thought this book was going to be much different than it was….for one I thought it was going to be set in like the 1940’s or something but it’s not….it’s actually a modern novel. I don’t read a lot of contemporary fiction but I do make exceptions when the book or premise sounds unique and different and this fit the bill. Artist Miranda is living in Mazrooq where she instructs Muslim women on painting….the…

  • Review: Enchantress of Paris: A Novel of the Sun King’s Court by Marci Jefferson

    Marie Mancini was destine to disgrace her family. The stars foretold her shame and for most of her life, her family has kept her closest at a convent to avoid said ‘disgrace’. Ignoring the stars and horoscopes, Marie’s uncle and guardian, Cardinal Mazarin along with her other sisters call her to court where she catches the eye of King Louis XIV. Even though the King is sharing his bed with Marie’s sister Olympia, he is clearly captivated by the studious and witty Marie. With the death of one of Marie’s sisters, the Cardinal wants her to return to the convent and become a full fledged sister. Upon hearing of Marie’s scheduled departure, the…

  • Review: Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms #3) by Morgan Rhodes

    The King of Blood continues to rule over the kingdom of Mytica with an iron fist. His son and heir, Magnus, is married to the former princess, Cleo, against both of their wills. Cleo and Magnus know that the King searches for the legendary Kindred  in hopes of gaining absolutely power through their magic. The King plans on using Magnus’s sister, Lucia, a powerful sorceress, to find the Kindred but her magic threatens to consume her. The King looks for witches who can tutor her and teach her to temper her powers but so far, there have been none. From across the sea comes two visiting royals, Ashur and Amara who also seek…

  • Review: Rebel Spring (Falling Kingdoms #2) by Morgan Rhodes

    After a bloody siege, Auranos has been defeated and the young queen, Cleo, is a captive in what was once her home and kingdom. The three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now unwillingly united as one country called Mytica with the King of Blood as their ruler. At the heart of this conflict though is the quest for magic. Four brave young people search for that magic and the power it promises. For Cleo,  the magic would enable her to reclaim her royal seat. In Jonas’s hands, it frees his nation, and in Lucia’s, it fulfills the ancient prophecy of her destiny. And if the magic were Magnus’s, he would finally prove…

  • Review: The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach by Pam Jenoff

    With war on the horizon, Adelia Monteforte’s parents send her away from Italy to America in hopes of saving her from the Nazi invasion. When she arrives in America, she is clearly an outsider. Her aunt and uncle take her in, they have no children of their own so they try their best with the teenage Adelia. In hopes of distracting Adelia from her alienation and loss of her parents, they take her to the shore over the summer where she meets the Connally family. The four brothers welcome her with open arms and nickname her Addie. They make her feel like a normal girl though she is a foreigner and a…

  • Review: Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1) by Morgan Rhodes

    In the kingdom of Mytica, magic had been forgotten until three three very different rulers look for what was once lost. In the north where Prince Magnus lives, the King of Blood rules and longs for power and unlimited magic. In the middle region, which is full of rebels lives Jonas…and there the people are ruled by a chief claiming to have magic but none have seen it, and in the south a prosperous region exists where Princess Cleo lives in a wonderfully naive world where magic is the stuff of myth and legend. When a man is murdered in cold blood by Princess Cleo’s friend, his death sparks a…