Literary Criticism
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Review: The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray
This book has been long awaited. It’s been on so many ‘most anticipated’ lists and receiving a ton of hype which normally would make me a little wary, but not going to lie, I have been excited for this one since I participated in the cover revel last spring! The cover plus the multigenerational story of a stunning French chateau sounded too promising to pass up. I also read Stephanie Dray’s, My Dear Hamilton , a couple of years ago and was impressed with Dray’s historical research and writing. Dray has written a number of historical fiction novels and contributed her skills to other compilations. Some of her stories are…
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Review: Under the Light of the Italian Moon by Jennifer Anton
When I was pitched this book, what sold me was the sensational cover! The cover is a show stopper and so eye catching and promises something exotic and romantic. But then I read the description and I couldn’t wait to read it, especially since it was based on a true story. While it is set during WWII, it’s not set in the traditional countries of France and England, but rather Italy as the title implies. I think Italy often gets overlooked in the WWII historical fiction genre so I was really excited to read about a familiar event in history through a unique pair of eyes. Plus I was super…
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Review: The Girl in the Painting by Tea Cooper
I discovered Tea Cooper through a blog tour with one of my long time friends and book bloggers, Amy over at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, and I fell in love with her book The Woman in the Green Dress! It was well written, beautiful and fun. So when this latest book from Cooper came up for review, it was an easy yes for me! Cooper has written a number of other books but so far these are the only two that I have read and when I picked this one up, I expected the same polish and research that was in The Woman in the Green Dress. While I…
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Review: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
I have only read a handful of Kate Quinn’s books, and while I have enjoyed them, it wasn’t until I read The Alice Network that I really fell in love with her books. After reading The Alice Network, I saw that The Rose Code was coming out and I knew that I had to get my hands on this one. Not only did I love the idea of women code breakers but Quinn’s writing ability has really grown over her books so I was so excited to check this one out! Quinn is a great writer but the polish she put in The Alice Network really shined and I was…
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Review: Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan
This book has been on my radar for months—ever since I was part of the cover reveal I have been counting down the days until this one! I have read a couple of Patti Callahan’s books prior to this one and loved them! But this book sounded like it was going to be one of her best yet! The cover is absolutely captivating and promises a wonderful historical fiction novel contained within, but as we all know, we can’t judge a book by it’s cover—however tempting it might be. Even with that thought in mind, my expectations were high for this one simply based on the cover. But if reading…
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Review: Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson
Sense and Sensibility is one of my favorite Jane Austen novels! Whenever I see Austen re-tellings with a modern flair…..I try to be wary. Some are great but others miss the mark and but yet no matter how great or awful the re-tellings are, I still can’t resist them in any form! When I saw that Lauren Edmondson was writing a modern re-telling of Sense and Sensibility, for good or for bad, I was so excited to read it! But I went into it knowing that nothing will ever live up to the original Sense and Sensibility—nor should it! Austen had her own unique voice and I expected Edmondson to…
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Review: Fatal Fried Rice (A Noodle Shop Mystery #7) by Vivien Chien
I first discovered this series because I was hungry. I was on my lunch break scrolling through Netgalley and saw the first book and was like lured in by the noodle ox on the cover and I have never been so glad to be hungry in all my life! I found such a fun series because I was hungry! This has been such a fun little series to read and I am so happy to see that we are on the seventh book in the series! I am so happy people have loved it as much as I have. Lana Lee is a great amateur detective who has funky hair,…
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Review: Spellmaker (Spellbreaker Duology #2) by Charlie N. Holmberg
I haven’t had very good luck with duologies. I typically find them to feel unfinished. There is something about the trilogy of three books that rounds out a story in a way that two books just doesn’t. So often I tend to pass on them, but then I was pitched Charlie N Holmberg’s Spellbreaker duology. The covers for Holmberg’s books are whimsical and really stand out to me. They are easy to identify and the suggest something historical mixed with fantasy and I couldn’t pass on the first book. It just sounded so good and I did enjoy it so reading the second book in the duology was a no…
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Re-Share Review: Who Speaks for the Damned (Sebastian St. Cyr #15) by C.S. Harris
Sebastian St Cyr is one of my all time favorite detectives. I love all of the books and I am actually currently reading the next book which is great by the way! I loved the series so much that I went back and read the entire series beginning to end last year so that I could get a more complete picture of Sebastian and the secondary characters. I had jumped around in the series when I started the books and while I wasn’t exactly lost, there were times when I could tell that I was missing out one some nuances between the characters and the larger narrative. So I went…
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Review: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
When I saw this book, the cover made it hard to pass on. The cover is so eye catching and colorful that I couldn’t look away! I loved it and was immediately curious what this book was all about! Then I read the back…..ummmm sold after the two rules! I couldn’t wait to check this one out! In the summary the first line is this: Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman. Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register. I mean poison and murder in the late 1700s?! YES! I couldn’t wait to get my…