Literary Criticism
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Review: Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
If you have followed my blog for a while you will know that I love mysteries. I went through a big mystery/thriller phase a while back and then took a break and read more historical fiction/romance but lately I’ve been reading more thrillers and I was super excited to see this book from Mary Kubica in my review queue. One of my favorite shows on ID Discovery Channel was Disappeared and all I could think of when I was watching the show was, people just don’t disappear, someone knows something. And when I saw that this was practically the tagline for this book, I was super excited to read it!…
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Review: The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley (Audible Edition)
I am a big big big Lucinda Riley fan. I have read almost all of her books and have loved many of them. This book is probably one of her most popular books and the reviews have consistently been strong, but it’s one of the few books I haven’t read by her. So I thought it was time to rectify that and start reading it—well listening to it. Sadly, this one felt like a chore for me. I kept listening and listening and listening hoping that it would get better but for me it just fell flat. I had very high hopes for this one but it just wasn’t up…
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Review: Isabelle and Alexander by Rebecca Anderson
I have really enjoyed the ‘proper romance’ books from Shadow Mountain publishing over the years and their covers are so great. Every time I see one of them I know that I am instantly going to enjoy the book. Some more than others of course, but generally their proper romances are all great reads and for me, they read very quick. When this one came up for review, I knew it was an easy yes. It sounded so great, an arranged marriage and two characters that ultimately fall in love against all odds. I had read a couple of other reviews before picking this one up and saw that many…
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Review: Mrs Boots Goes to War by Deborah Carr
Last year I read the first book in the ‘Mrs Boots’ books, titled Mrs Boots. I loved it and couldn’t wait to read the next book but then somewhere along the way I must have missed the second book. This one then came up for review (this third book) and I instantly realized that I must have missed book two (I thought this one was book two). I should have probably set this one down and gone back to read the second book so that I could fully understand the scope of the story and all that had happened from book one until now, but I didn’t. It took me…
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Review: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
I absolutely loved Emily Henry’s novel Beach Read last year and I couldn’t wait to see what she came up with next. With any big hit, there is always pressure to recreate the magic and produce an even better second novel so while I had high expectations, I also tried not to get too excited as Beach Read was fantastic and topping that would be a tall order. Normally I am not a huge fan of the friends to lovers troupe, I generally prefer enemies to lovers but in some cases the friends to lovers troupe works out well. Beach Read was more enemies to lovers where as People We…
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Review: The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton
I have been a big fan of Chanel Cleeton for a while now. I have loved all her books and whenever I see that she has a new book coming out, I fan-girl pretty hard! But this book in particular made me really fan-girl. Most of Cleeton’s have a strong historical fiction component but it’s mostly 1930s or 1950s/60s time period, which is fine but its truthfully not my favorite time in history. Don’t get me wrong, I love Cleeton’s books but historically, the modern era isn’t my fav, but when I saw this book was coming out and it was set at the end of the 19th century, I…
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Review: The Newcomer by Mary Kay Andrews
Can it even be summer without a new Mary Kay Andrews book? The answer is no—no it cannot! I started reading some of MKA’s books a couple of years ago and they are always good as a beach read or a quick read on a plane on the way to your latest vacation destination! I picked this one up and read it in a matter of days which is what I expect when I pick up any of her books. This book featured both a romance and a little bit of a murder mystery and I just loved that combo. If you love beach reads you no doubt have read…
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Review: It Had to Be You by Georgia Clark
Any book that has a similarity between Love Actually noted in the title gets a yes from me to read! I love that movie and when I saw that this book featured a similar braided narrative that also included a wedding planner and all the best parts of various rom-coms, well I simply needed to make room on my review calendar for it. Lately I have had good luck with some well done rom-coms and this one was just begging for me to read it. It looked so so good and I loved the cover. I haven’t read anything by this author before, but after checking out some of her…
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Review: I Thought You Said This Would Work by Ann Garvin
This is my first ever Ann Garvin book but I have certainly seen her other books on best seller lists and I was interested in checking this one out. I also belong to the Tall Poppy Bloggers group and I love getting Ann’s email newsletters. They are always so funny and well written so I was excited to get this book to read knowing her humor would shine through! To be honest I was worried this book would be a little heavy and that Ann’s great humor would be overshadowed by some of the heavier topics in the novel, but I wanted to read one of her novels so much…
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Review: The Social Graces by Renee Rosen
Renee Rosen is an author who has been on my radar for years but one of her books just hasn’t found it’s way onto my nightstand yet! Last spring I was part of the cover reveal for this one and ever since then I have been dying to read this one. That cover is absolutely stunning and I love a well done historical fiction novel. The historical fiction genre is flooded with books set in WWII and the Tudor period so a book like this one stands out as unique simply for the time period it’s set in. Plus the lush backdrop of the uber rich promises something entirely different…