Category: Books

Books, Reading

Spotlight Feature: THE BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN by Jeanne Mackin

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Spotlight Feature: THE BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN by Jeanne Mackin

02_The Beautiful AmericanThe Beautiful American
by Jeanne Mackin

Publication Date: June 3, 2014
NAL/Penguin Group
Formats: eBook, Paperback, Audio
352 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

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As recovery from World War II begins, expat American Nora Tours travels from her home in southern France to London in search of her missing sixteen-year-old daughter. There, she unexpectedly meets up with an old acquaintance, famous model-turned-photographer Lee Miller. Neither has emerged from the war unscathed. Nora is racked with the fear that her efforts to survive under the Vichy regime may have cost her daughter’s life. Lee suffers from what she witnessed as a war correspondent photographing the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.

Nora and Lee knew each other in the heady days of late 1920’s Paris, when Nora was giddy with love for her childhood sweetheart, Lee became the celebrated mistress of the artist Man Ray, and Lee’s magnetic beauty drew them all into the glamorous lives of famous artists and their wealthy patrons. But Lee fails to realize that her friendship with Nora is even older, that it goes back to their days as children in Poughkeepsie, New York, when a devastating trauma marked Lee forever. Will Nora’s reunion with Lee give them a chance to forgive past betrayals, and break years of silence?

A novel of freedom and frailty, desire and daring, The Beautiful American portrays the extraordinary relationship between two passionate, unconventional woman.

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: The Determined Heart: The Tale of Mary Shelley and Her Frankenstein by Antoinette May

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: The Determined Heart: The Tale of Mary Shelley and Her Frankenstein by Antoinette May

Mary Shelley was the daughter of the iconic feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and her husband William Godwin. She has not had a normal childhood….she’s been exposed to all kinds of brilliant literary and philosophical figures.

But she has also suffered tragedy, Mary never knew her mother. Her mother died shortly after giving birth to Mary, so the only family she has ever known was her half sister Fanny and her father. Well, Mary’s life is about to get more complicated and uncomfortable when her father remarries. William has only ever really loved one woman, Mary Wollstonecraft, so when he remarries his neighbor Mary Jane Clairmont she is pretty jealous of Wollstonecraft’s memory.

Mary Jane brings her daughter Claire to the household and it’s clear that Mary’s life is going to now include a jealous step mother and a spoiled step sister both of whom bring constant conflict to the family dynamics.

At a very young age, Mary meets a romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she falls deeply in love with. They elope and the fallout from that elopement will define Mary’s future. Mary and her new husband soon find themselves destitute, in constant debt, ostracized by society, and worst of all, Mary is embroiled in a torturous love triangle as Percy takes Mary’s stepsister Claire as a lover.

Continue reading “Review: The Determined Heart: The Tale of Mary Shelley and Her Frankenstein by Antoinette May” →

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: The Mystery of the Lost Cezanne (Verlaque and Bonnet #5) by M. L. Longworth

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: The Mystery of the Lost Cezanne (Verlaque and Bonnet #5) by M. L. Longworth

This book combined three of my favorite things…..art, France, and mystery. Judge Antoine Verlaque is enjoying his life and work in the small town of Aix-en-Provence. Provence was once home to the art worlds most famous painters, Paul Cezanne.

A friend in Judge Verlaque’s cigar club asks him to visit René Rouquet, a man who not only lives in Cezanne’s old apartment, but thinks he found a previously unknown Cezanne portrait. When the Judge and his friend arrive at Rouquet’s apartment, they are shocked to find him dead…..and the canvas is missing.

After tracking down the canvas, the Judge and his girl friend Marine Bonnet, begin looking into the canvas’s authenticity. The woman in the portrait is clearly not Madam Cezanne, so the natural question is ‘who is the women in the portrait’?

Continue reading “Review: The Mystery of the Lost Cezanne (Verlaque and Bonnet #5) by M. L. Longworth” →

Books, Giveaway, Reading

Giveaway: THE SECRET CHORD by Geraldine Brooks

by The Lit Bitch6 Comments on Giveaway: THE SECRET CHORD by Geraldine Brooks

Peeling away the myth to bring David to life in Second Iron Age Israel, Brooks traces the arc of his journey from obscurity to fame, from shepherd to soldier, from hero to traitor, from beloved king to murderous despot and into his remorseful and diminished dotage. Brooks’ primary narrator is David’s counselor and friend the prophet Natan who sets down the best and worst of David: the light and the dark, the betrayals, deaths, kindness, baseness, and soaring above all, the unparalleled music that he created.

THE SECRET CHORD provides new context for some of the best-known episodes of David’s life while also focusing on others, even more remarkable and emotionally intense, which have been neglected.  We see David through the eyes of those who love him or fear him—from the prophet Natan, voice of his conscience, to his mother, Nizevet, his wives Mikal, Avigail, and Batsheva, and finally to Solomon, the late-born son who redeems his Lear-like old age and who will eventually be crowned King himself—but not without fratricide and treason.

Thanks to the publisher, this week’s bitchin’ giveaway is for a copy of THE SECRET CHORD by Geraldine Brooks for your enjoyment!

Giveaway runs 9/28/15 to 10/5/15

Winners will be announced 10/6/15.

(how to enter)

On this blog you must leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway.  Your comment MUST include your email so I can contact you….if you do not enter an email in the comments your entry will be void. Winners will be notified by email the day after the giveaway closes and have five days to respond, it not another winner will be chosen. 

(GIVEAWAY OPEN TO US ONLY AND NO PO BOX)

Make sure you note if you have done the following for more chances to win: Tweet about the giveaway (+1), share on Facebook (+1), like The Lit Bitch on Facebook (+1), follow The Lit Bitch on Twitter (+1), subscribe to The Lit Bitch’s blog (+1). Tweet/RT about the giveaway (+1). Share about the giveaway (+1).

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Paris Time Capsule by Ella Carey

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: Paris Time Capsule by Ella Carey

Cat Jordan is about to get the surprise of her life when she opens a mysterious letter from Paris. Cat has been working as a photographer and basically lives a very bohemian lifestyle.

She has a boyfriend, Christian, who she has been with for a while who is much different than she is…..his family is very wealthy and he is very traditional. Basically they are complete opposites but it seems to be working….ish.

Well Cat finally decides to open the mysterious letter, only to find that she has inherited something…..from a woman she has never heard of! Side note, why can’t this sort of thing happen to me?!

Cat calls the lawyer in Paris who has written the letter and he explains that it is indeed true and she is to come to Paris immediately to claim her inheritance. He doesn’t tell her what it is but her letter came with a key so she suspects if must be something of value…..especially if she needs to fly to Paris to claim it.

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