Books
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Review: Beauty and the Beast: Classic Tales About Animal Brides and Grooms from Around the World by Maria Tatar
Be our guest this weekend with the live action Disney, Beauty and the Beast, hitting theaters! The animated Disney film was one of my most favorite movies growing up and even now, I still find myself singing along to all the songs when I hear them! Not to mention, my 7 month only baby LOVES animated Disney and the music, though The Little Mermaid is his all time favorite, Beauty and the Beast is a close second so needless to say I watch the animated Beauty and the Beast about once a week. I am also currently streaming Disney on my Pandora station which is full of Beauty and the Beast…
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Review: The Enemies of Versailles (The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy #3) by Sally Christie
Here we are yet again with another book series reaching its conclusion! On the whole this has been a solid, well written, and interesting series and I was sad to see it coming to an end. I had big expectations for this conclusion and overall I wasn’t disappointed. Jeanne Becu, a woman of astounding beauty but humble birth, works her way from the grimy back streets of Paris to the palace of Versailles, where the aging King Louis XV has become a jaded and bitter old philanderer. Jeanne bursts into his life and, as the Comtesse du Barry, quickly becomes his official mistress. “That beastly bourgeois Pompadour was one thing; a…
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Review: Crystal Storm (Falling Kingdoms #5) by Morgan Rhodes
Yet another book that I pre-ordered and waited anxiously for MONTHS for it to be released. When I started this series, I was not terribly impressed with the first book in the series, but I wasn’t entirely ready to abandon the series all together either. Something kept me reading the series and as the series developed, so did the writing and the plots. I have really enjoyed the subsequent books and read them all in rapid succession. I pre ordered the fourth book and read it rather quickly and it left a few cliff hangers so I was ready for the next book almost immediately. Then of course I had a…
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Special Feature: HIMSELF by Jess Kidd
Released in the UK to glowing praise—“a rollicking tale of a hero’s return… breaking down the barriers between mystery story and comedy of manners, mixing magical realism and crime fiction” (Guardian); a “brilliantly bold debut… Utterly unputdownable” (Sunday Express Magazine)— HIMSELF is the spellbinding tale of a young man who returns to the provincial Irish village where he was born in search of the truth about his long-lost mother. When Mahony returns to Mulderrig, a speck of a place on Ireland’s west coast, he brings only a photograph of his long-lost mother and a determination to do battle with the village’s lies. His arrival causes cheeks to flush and arms…
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Review: The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles #3) by Mary E. Pearson
I had this book on pre-order for quite some time….it just so happened that it was released when I was in labor so I missed out on starting it right away. In all the craziness that comes with a baby and other reviews, this book kind of got buried in my to be read list and then one day I remembered that I had it and was super excited to start reading it. I loved the first two books and was eager to see what the conclusion would be like since the last book left things really up in the air and ended on a climatic note. Lia has survived…
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Review: The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff
I just happened to stumble upon Pam Jenoff’s books. I was part of a book blog tour a couple of years ago and one of the books for review was The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach. I fell in love with her story telling and writing style almost instantly! I have since bought two more books by her! This is one of the reasons I book blog….to find new authors. When I first picked up The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach, I was not really excited about reading it but I thought it sounded marginally interesting so I gave it a go and was so happy when I was hooked…
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Review: Cheating Death (The Immortal Descendants #5) by April White
So here with are with another beloved series coming to an end. I have mixed emotions….I am sad that a series that I have adored for the last few years is coming to an end but happy because it wrapped up in such a wonderfully fitting way that I couldn’t help but be satisfied. An explosion has split Time and Archer has paid the ultimate price, leaving Saira heartbroken and desperate to repair the rupture. But the blast has trapped Saira in an alternate future where Mongers are cornered predators and Death is the ultimate judge. If Saira and her larcenous friend Ringo ever want to see Archer alive, they…
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Special Feature: SHADOW OF WHIMSY: A CAPE COD LOVER STORY by Ann Hymes
Shadow of Whimsy: A Cape Cod Love Story by Ann Hymes Publication Date: June 15, 2016 Secant Publishing Hardcover, Paperback, eBook Genre: Contemporary/Women’s Fiction/Literary Several generations of one family have lived, loved, and lied at Whimsy Towers, a unique oceanfront house in Chatham, Massachusetts. Strong women who refuse to be suffocated by marriage have found excitement and refuge in this house filled with artists and parties. Love surfaces in unexpected ways. The newest owner, Theresa Alston Crandall, has just inherited the property and leaves her too-predictable husband in Virginia to spend time on the Cape and unravel family secrets and history. She swims, reflects, explores, and watches dramatic cloud formations…
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Review: The Wicked City by Beatriz Williams
When I picked up my first Beatriz Williams book, I was completely engrossed and fell in love with her writing style. I wasn’t sure that I would like her books and wasn’t excited to read the first one, but I did and when I began, I was completely sucked in and impressed with her ability to tell a story. So from that point on, she earned a place in my heart as one of my favorite writers. When this latest book came across my desk for review, I was thrilled because I knew the caliber of writing and story telling would be second to none and I wasn’t disappointed in…
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Review: The Dressmakers Dowry by Meredith Jaeger
A popular theme in historical fiction is dual storylines. Typically one is told in the present day and the other in the past. In my latest novel up for review, The Dressmaker’s Dowry, this same theme makes an appearance. San Francisco: 1876. Immigrant dressmakers Hannelore Schaeffer and Margaret O’Brien struggle to provide food for their siblings, while mending delicate clothing for the city’s most affluent ladies. When wealthy Lucas Havensworth enters the shop, Hanna’s future is altered forever. With Margaret’s encouragement and the power of a borrowed green dress, Hanna dares to see herself as worthy of him. Then Margaret disappears, and Hanna turns to Lucas.