Books
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Review: The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons #2) by Julia Quinn
Like everyone else in the world, I binged watched Bridgerton on Christmas Day. It was incredible and I absolutely loved it. Even my husband watched with me and immediately wanted to know where the second season was (as did I!). Earlier in 2020, I read The Duke and I in anticipation of the upcoming show and to be honest the book was only ok for me. The show was so much better! While I had adored the book to start with, as it went on, something about it started to draw me down and I just didn’t love it by the end of the first book. I wasn’t exactly dying…
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Special Feature: A Deadly Fortune by Stacie Murphy
A Deadly Fortune by Stacie Murphy Publication Date: January 5, 2021 Pegasus CrimeGenre: Historical Mystery A historical mystery in the vein of The Alienist, in which a young woman in Gilded Age New York must use a special talent to unravel a deadly conspiracy. Amelia Matthew has done the all-but-impossible, especially for an orphan in Gilded Age New York City. Along with her foster brother Jonas, she has parleyed her modest psychic talent into a safe and comfortable life. But safety and comfort vanish when a head injury leaves Amelia with a dramatically-expanded gift. After she publicly channels an angry spirit, she finds herself imprisoned in the notorious insane asylum…
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Special Feature: The Perfect Guests by Emma Rous
A couple of years ago, Emma Rous’s debut novel, The Au Pair, was my first read of 2019. I thought it was a wonderful novel and showed such promise for a new writer. It was a five star book for me and I couldn’t wait to see what she came up with for her next book! Well this is the next book, The Perfect Guests. It is out now and early reviewers are enjoying this one just as much as the first book! The Perfect Guests promises twists, thrills, Gothic atmosphere, and family secrets. I can hardly wait to read this one. Not only is Rous a marvelous writer but…
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Special Feature: Our Italian Summer by Jennifer Probst
I don’t know about anyone else, but the coronavirus and all the lockdowns have left me with major wanderlust! I literally have a list of places that I have researched throughout the lockdowns and it’s titled ‘places I’m traveling to when COVID f*cks off’. Italy is at the top of this. I have long dreamed of traveling to Italy, starting at Lake Como and traveling all the way down to Sicily. So when I saw this book was coming out I knew it would be perfect for all those people who are also struggling with wanderlust like me! Books are so great, they give us somewhere to go when we…
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Special Feature: Oranges and Lemons (Bryant & May: Peculiar Crimes Unit #17) by Christopher Fowler
I randomly stumbled onto this series a few years ago while I was browsing for books at a local used book store. I read the first couple of books and thought they were really fun and unique. A little Sherlock Holmes meets the modern era with detectives Bryan and May. But like so many long standing mystery series, the task of keeping up can feel overwhelming. When I started the series it was already about 10 books in, and while I enjoyed the books, other books also caught my eye. Now flash forward a couple of years and the series is now publishing the 17th book! I am so pleased…
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Review: A Deadly Fortune by Stacie Murphy
This was a book I was really looking forward to. I loved The Alienist and this book was recommended for fans of that book so I was eager to check this one out. The Alienist was probably one of the more dark and twisted historical mysteries that I have ever read so putting that as a ‘recommended for fans of The Alienist’ was a pretty tall order. This is also Stacie Murphy’s debut novel, so I wasn’t sure what to expect beyond something with occultist undertones that was a darker mystery. I was still coming off the Christmas/holiday reads hangover so something with a little more meat to the story…
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Special Feature: Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson
This book had me at ‘do you want to read something funny?’. What kind of question is that even!? Yes of course I want to read something funny—especially right now I think we could all use a little humor. Which is exactly why I want to share this book with you guys today! This book is technically a historical fiction novel and it’s one that isn’t set during WWII. Shocking right? So many historical fiction novels are written in that time period that something set in Reno of all places in the 1930s sounds positively unique! Add in the humor and some women’s fiction elements and you have a novel…
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Special Feature: The Last Queen: Elizabeth II’s Seventy Year Battle to Save the House of Windsor by Clive Irving
There has been a bright spot in the pandemic, I have finally had an excuse to get caught up on some of my favorite Netflix shows, one of which is The Crown. I absolutely love anything related to the monarchy and I was so excited to finally have some time to catch up on one of my favorite shows! I have read a lot of fiction based on the Windsor monarchy, but I hadn’t read too many non fiction novels though. In general I am not a big non fiction reader but I have enjoyed some memoirs and other non fiction works, I mean I am a historian after all,…
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Review: Not My Boy by Kelly Simmons
It’s a new year and this is my first official book review of 2021 and I must say, I was thrilled to start the year off with a bang when it came to my first read of the new year! I have read only one other book by this author and it was pretty good so I was looking forward to picking up another by her! While I loved the cover (the little boy with a red coat is just so eye catching), I think it was the summary the truly sold me on this one as a potential read. Whenever a review pitch comes across my desk I always…
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Review: A Princess by Christmas (A Royal Wedding #3) by Julia London
Well friends, this is it—my last review of 2020! I wasn’t sure that I would finish it before the New Year but I finished it just in time and with one day to spare. I was really looking forward to this one, I had it up for a special feature and excerpt when it first came out back in October. I also loved the dress on the cover (I know I am easily distracted) so I was eager to check out this holiday read! I haven’t read anything by this author before and I noticed that this was the third in a series but I didn’t think that would be…
