Books
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Special Feature: The Heart Keeper by Alex Dahl
Last year I read the debut thriller by Alex Dahl, The Boy at the Door, and though it was pretty good! The author has a unique story telling style and really captures the darkness of Scandinavian thrillers. Now this summer Dahl is back with another new thriller and I am ecstatic to share all the details with you guys and I also have a giveaway up on my Instagram this week so be sure to get our entries in for this book as you don’t want to miss it! This book promises the same dark and psychological twists that this author is known for plus some intense emotions and very…
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Review: Crescendo: The True Story of a Musical Genius Who Forever Changed a Southern Town by Allen Cheney and Julie Cantrell
This was a book that I debated and debated and debated about. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to read it since it’s a non-fiction book. But then I also kept seeing so many great reviews about it that I felt like I was missing out on something wonderful. I kept putting it off and ultimately decided to wait and see how my July reading shaped up and promised myself that if I had some time, I would try and squeeze this one in. My mom is a pianist and its always such treat to hear her play so I felt like in a way, I owed it to her…
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Re-Post Review: Vox by Christina Dalcher
Last summer I had the pleasure of reading Vox and I can’t tell you how disturbing it was. I loved the book, but even now I remember with such clarity how uncomfortable it was to read because of the current political climate. Dalcher is a powerful writer and with Vox she has captured a new and more modern look at society but with the same unease and terror as the classic dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. I thought about this book long after I was done with it, and still think about it even a year later after reading it! Now it is out in paperback and I am re-sharing…
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Review: Milady by Laura L. Sullivan
When I was barely coming into my adolescents, I discovered the swashbuckling adventures of The Three Musketeers. Albeit on the big screen and not the Dumas novel, but swashbuckling adventure all the same! I loved the 1993 film version, even if I did hate Charlie Sheen and Chris O’Donnell in it, it was still exciting and as a young girl who longed for grace adventures, it had everything I could hope for. Sword fights, friendship, and of course a bad ass femme fatale! Oh how I loved Milady de Winter! She was one of the first female characters that stands out in my mind. She wasn’t a maid in need…
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Review: A Family of Strangers by Emilie Richards
This is a book that I was looking forward to for quite some time. I was really interested in the family dynamics in this summary, especially since I am the oldest sister and my younger sister and I are in constant completion with each other. I thought this one would yield interesting family relationships and dynamics as well as present a fascinating mystery with lots of things to question and debate. Plus this author has written a number of books, most of which are women fiction or romance, sprinkled with a few mysteries. This one sounded like it was going to be a little darker and more complex than her…
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Review: Death in a Desert Land (Agatha Christie #3) by Andrew Wilson
I would venture to say that most people have heard of the great mystery writer Agatha Christie. She’s written so many classic mysteries and I would be hard pressed to meet someone who hasn’t heard of at least one of her books in one way or another. Because she is so recognizable and such a classic mystery writer, I was thrilled to see that someone had turned her into her own fictional sleuth. My first thought when I saw that someone had done this, was that it sounded hokey. Agatha Christie is such an icon and to mess with that and turn her into a fictionalized detective sounded trite…..but at…
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Interview: ACROSS THE RIVER by Richard Snodgrass
Civil War buffs, this is a novel you might want to put on your radar! In the summer of 1863, Judson Walker, a captain of Morgan’s Raiders, and Jonathan Reid, a young engineer, come to Furnass to appropriate two of Colin Lyles’ steam-powered road engines. The purpose is to outfit the engines with iron plate and the newly developed Gatlin Guns, and, with Morgan, deliver the war engines to General Lee’s army in Central Pennsylvania. Amid Walker’s growing involvement with Lyle’s wife Libby, deserting soldiers, and Reid’s own agenda, Walker learns Morgan isn’t coming. The novel reaches its climax with Lyle trying to sabotage the war engines. Walker must decide…
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Review: Murder in the City of Liberty (Van Buren and DeLuca Mystery #2) by Rachel McMillan
When this book popped up for review, I was thrilled! I haven’t read the first book in the series, but it has been on my radar. Then this one came up and I was eager to dive in. I am absolutely in love with the cover and can’t get enough of the colors and the gorgeous art deco details in the background. I felt like the cover absolutely captures the time period and would make readers excited to pick this one up……I know I was excited! With this being the second book, I was hopeful that I hadn’t missed too much of the character back stories and that I wouldn’t…
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Review: Crashing the A-List by Summer Heacock
Last spring, I was completely obsessed with the royal wedding and as a result looked for a number of books on the royals and a-listers. Sadly I didn’t get to read as many as I wanted but I adore modern fairy tale type books with a basically unknown female meeting a huge star or royal, and having it turn into a romance. So when this book came across my desk many months later, I was so excited to read something kind of in that same vein. I thought this one sounded like a feel good, romance which was just what I needed to read! Though it doesn’t feature the royals,…
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Review: Last Summer by Kerry Lonsdale
This was a book that I completely forgot about. I honesty couldn’t remember how it ended up on my review calendar but some how it did. But as I went combing back through my emails to find out how this book ended up on my calendar, it started coming back to me. My March self said yes to this one and now here I was, my July self, and I wasn’t even sure I was in the mood to read this book. Not to mention that I’ve been reading a TON of women’s fiction lately, I almost felt like I needed a break from women’s fiction but as I said,…