Books
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Review: Marlene: A Novel by C.W. Gortner
C.W. Gortner has been putting out some great reads this last year or so! Gortner always does a fantastic job at profiling historical female figures…..most of which are famous queens etc but lately he’s been branching out to historical pop culture icons like Coco Chanel and now Marlene Dietrich. I was really intrigued by this novel because I don’t know much about Marlene Dietrich and with Gortner’s fantastic story telling abilities, I was really excited to read this one! Maria Magdalena Dietrich dreams of a life on the stage. When a budding career as a violinist is cut short, the willful teenager vows to become a singer, trading her family’s…
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Review: The Pursuit of Pearls (Clara Vine #4) by Jane Thynne
In the spring of 1939 war is on the horizon. Clara Vine is living in Nazi Germany working as an actress but that’s not the only thing she’s doing. She is also there to spy on the personal lives of top Nazi leaders for British intelligence. Each day that Clara remains in Berlin is a day closer to war and should she be caught, she would be in grave danger. Suddenly, someone close to Clara is found murdered. The victim is Lottie Franke, an aspiring costume designer and student at the prestigious Faith and Beauty finishing school that trains young women to become the wives of the Nazi elite. While the…
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Review: 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad
This book came across my desk for review a couple of months ago and initially I passed on it for review and agreed to do a special feature instead. I wasn’t sure that I could fit it into my review schedule and I wasn’t sure it was something that I really wanted to read. However when I did the special feature, I completely rethought my decision! After reading the discussion questions of the feature, I was intrigued. This book sounded like it was going to be raw, honest, and dark but yet poignant and meaningful. This book was all of these things and more! This book is set up with…
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Review: On a Desert Shore (John Chase/Penelope Wolfe Regency Mysteries #4) by S. K. Rizzolo
Protecting an heiress should be an easy job for experienced Bow Street Runner John Chase. But the heiress in question isn’t just any heiress. She is the illegitimate daughter of wealthy merchant Hugo Garrod and his Jamaican slave. Unlike many illegitimate children of wealthy English merchants, Marina is educated and positioned to marry well in English high society but yet she excludes herself and has essentially failed to integrate as successfully as her father had hoped. Hugo Garrod seems to think that he has discovered why Marina is acting so strange and isolating herself from English society. Someone has been playing tricks on the young Marina. And those tricks recall her…
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Book Blast: A Pressing Engagement (Lady Darby Mystery #4.5) by Anna Lee Huber
A Pressing Engagement (Lady Darby Mystery #4.5) by Anna Lee Huber Publication Date: May 17, 2016 InterMix eBook; 83 Pages Series: Lady Darby Mysteries Genre: Historical Mystery In this delightful novella from the national bestselling author of A Study in Death, Lady Kiera Darby has one last mystery to solve before she can walk down the aisle… Scotland, 1831. With her wedding to fellow investigator Sebastian Gage only a day away, Kiera is counting down the hours. But just when matrimonial jitters threaten to consume her, Kiera receives a welcome distraction in the form of a mysterious gold necklace. The Celtic torc, thought missing for decades, was directly…
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Review: The Judgment by D.J. Niko
I’ve really enjoyed Niko’s Sarah Weston series over the years and was eager to learn she was writing a new novel…..though not a Sarah Weston novel, this book caught my eye for a number of reasons. First of all, I love the cover art, and second Niko does ancient, Middle Eastern history so very well that I couldn’t wait to see what this novel was about. The year is 965 BCE. Upon the death of his father, Solomon has been appointed king of the united monarchy of Israel and Judah and charged with building the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. He travels to Egypt to negotiate with Pharaoh Psusennes II…
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Review: The Rivals of Versailles (The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy #2) by Sally Christie
The first book in this series, The Sisters of Versailles, hooked me. Five sisters, four of which were all mistresses to the same king? Sounds intriguing right?! So when this one came up for review I was excited because Christie adds such wonderful, rich historic detail to her story that I was eager for more in this installment. This book is less about the Nesle sisters and more about the infamous Marquise de Pompadour. The year is 1745. Marie-Anne, the youngest of the infamous Nesle sisters and King Louis XV’s most beloved mistress, is gone, making room for the next Royal Favorite. Enter Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a stunningly beautiful girl from the middle classes.…
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Guest Post: The Judgement by D.J. Niko
965 BCE Upon the death of his father, Solomon has been appointed king of the united monarchy of Israel and Judah and charged with building the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. He travels to Egypt to negotiate with Pharaoh Psusennes II for gold for the temple and to improve relations between the two nations. There he falls in love with the pharaoh’s beautiful daughter, Nicaule, and the two kings agree to an arranged marriage. Against her will, for she loves another, Nicaule follows her new husband to Israel. Forty years later, Solomon’s empire is on the verge of collapse. Power has made him arrogant, permissive, and blind to the…
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Review: Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner
This is a novel that I liked so much more than I expected to. I love when books do that! I’ve read a ton of books this year that have been set in the 1920s and 1930s eras, some with the glitz and glamour of old Hollywood as a backdrop. So many books in fact that I am getting a little tired of the era. So when I picked up this book, I wasn’t sure what to expect and how I was going to feel about it. As soon as I started the book and found out the backdrop was not just old Hollywood but also had hints of the…
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Review: The Rose and the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn #2) by Renee Ahdieh
This book has been on my Amazon pre-order for months…..as soon as I finished reading the first book, I had this one on pre order and it was one of my spring ‘most anticipated’ novels! In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse—one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set…