Books

  • Review: The Girl from Berlin (Liam Taggart & Catherine Lockhart #5) by Ronald H. Balson

    I needed little convincing when this one came up for review. The cover is beautiful and it’s set in pre war Italy. It was an easy yes for me. I didn’t know that this book was part of a series when I agreed, and honestly I don’t think that it mattered too much with this one. Sure there is a backstory between Liam and Catherine, but the heart of the book is the mystery and the historical details of Ada’s plot line. An old friend calls Catherine Lockhart and Liam Taggart to his famous Italian restaurant to enlist their help. His aunt is being evicted from her home in the…

  • Review: The Lost Queen (The Lost Queen Trilogy #1) by Signe Pike

    I only needed to see this book marketed as a cross between Outlander and an Arthurian legend and I was immediately excited about reading and reviewing this one. This book is a debut novel and what a debut it is! I was blown away by the story and you need to immediately move this one up on your TBR list, the hype for this book is real. I was torn between devouring the book to find out what happened and slowing down because I didn’t want the magic to end. Intelligent, passionate, rebellious, and brave, Languoreth is the unforgettable heroine of The Lost Queen, a tale of conflicted loves and…

  • Special Feature: The Petticoat Letters (Rebels of the Revolution) by Kelly Lyman

    The Petticoat Letters (Rebels of the Revolution) by Kelly Lyman Publication Date: November 6, 2017 Blue Tulip Publishing Paperback & eBook; 349 Pages Genre: Historical Romance     At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, Nora Bishop’s home is burned to the ground—along with her dreams, plans and all her family members except one. At 20-years-old and still unmarried, she moves to Manhattan to live with her Loyalist uncle, hoping to find her brother who has joined the Patriot cause against her late family’s wishes. But, battle breaks out and she finds herself at the mercy of one American ranger, Alex Foster, who is the only person in a position…

  • Review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

    Every year my sister and I pick two scary books to read. This year we went with two horror classics, The Haunting of Hill House and Frankenstein. Neither of us have read these two books so we thought it would be fun to do a buddy read all month and discuss them. So we started Frankenstein first. It’s been on my list to read for so long. It’s like the classic horror story and everyone says how amazing this book is. Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only nineteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells…

  • Review: The Game of Hope by Sandra Gulland

    It’s been forever since I read a YA novel. I kind of go through phases with YA novels. Sometimes I end up reading like 5 or 6 at a time, and then I don’t read any for like months. Currently I’m in the ‘I haven’t read any YA for months’ phase. So when this book came up for review, I was about to pass until I read the summary. I love Napoleon and the French Revolution and when I saw that this book was about Napoleon’s step daughter, Hortense, I was excited to read it….YA or not. For Napoleon’s stepdaughter, nothing is simple — especially love. Paris, 1798. Hortense de…

  • Cover Reveal: BAGGING ALICE by Laura Barnard

    Cover Reveal – Bagging Alice by Laura Barnard How gorgeous is the cover for Bagging Alice from Laura Barnard?!  This book releases on 1st November but is already available for pre-order – mybook.to/BaggingAlice   Synopsis: Alice is used to taking photographs for a living – not having intimate pictures of herself posted for all the world to see, thanks to a disgruntled ex-boyfriend. Now her clients are cancelling appointments, and she’s almost out of cash. What else could go wrong? Oh yeah, her room mate has scarpered leaving Alice completely out of luck. Enter Tom ‘man whore’ Maddens. Having disappointed his father one time too many, he moves to Brighton, ready…

  • Review: Believe Me by J.P. Delaney

    This book seemed like it was going to be outside of my comfort zone, so I almost passed on it. I mean, I like a darker psychological thriller as much as the next person, but so many people use the Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train comparisons that sometimes I start to question the validity of these claims and I’ve read a lot of thrillers lately and I just felt like I needed a little bit of a break from the pace of said novels. While this book didn’t carry the “the next Gone Girl”  endorsement, I did see some reviews that compared it to other darker psychological…

  • Review: The Pint of No Return (A Sloan Krause Mystery #2) by Ellie Alexander

    I only recently discovered Ellie Alexander when I read the first Sloan Krause mystery last year. Since then I have read one of her Bake Shop Mysteries and I absolutely adore her mysteries. There is nothing like mixing food (especially pastries!) with murder. Being from Oregon myself, I have a soft spot for all things Pacific Northwest as well as local authors. I got in on the Sloan Krause series from the very beginning and I was thrilled to be asked to read the next book! No other festival compares to Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, Washington. The whole town is buzzing with excitement over this year’s activities and eagerly awaiting Nitro’s…

  • Special Feature: Lady of a Thousand Treasures by Sandra Byrd

    Lady of a Thousand Treasures by Sandra Byrd Publication Date: October 9, 2018 Tyndale House Publishers Hardcover, Paperback, & eBook; 480 Pages Series: The Victorian Ladies Series, #1 Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance     Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers alone. The death of a longtime client, Baron Lydney, offers an unexpected complication when Eleanor is appointed the temporary trustee of the baron’s legendary collection. She must choose whether…

  • Review: Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan

    Full disclosure, I haven’t read the Narnia books and I know next to nothing about C.S. Lewis’s life beyond the fact that he wrote the Narnia books. Now I have seen the Narnia movies and I love the story and when my boy is old enough, I plan on reading the Narnia books together with him. So it didn’t take much convincing—–ok any convincing—-for my to read this book about Lewis’s wife. I didn’t even need to read the review pitch, the title told me everything I needed to know. From New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan comes an exquisite novel of Joy Davidman, the woman C. S. Lewis…