Literary Criticism
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Review: A Pretty Deceit (Verity Kent #4) by Anna Lee Huber
I have been a long time fan of Anna Lee Huber and I have read every single one of her books. I never miss one of her new releases so obviously I had the next Verity Kent book on my calendar months before its release. When I first started this series it felt different than Huber’s other books not just in time period but in characters too. Verity Kent has a lot more grit and grey area to her than some of Huber’s other heroines. And don’t even get me started on Sidney. I have struggled with Sidney’s character since the first book and have in all honesty never quite…
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Review: A Highlander is Coming to Town (Highland, Georgia #3) by Laura Trentham
Yes I know it’s barely fall and I should be gearing up for all the spooky and mystery reads (don’t worry I am!) right now, but yes this is a Christmas book that you see here today! Every year I always say to myself ‘I am going to wait until Nov 1 before reading any Christmas books’ and every year I manage to squeeze one or two in before all the horror and ghost stories. This book sounded like it would be a quick, easy, and festive read that I could burn through in a day or two and it was exactly that and I finished it feeling satisfied and…
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Review: A Trace of Deceit (Victorian Mystery #2) by Karen Odden
I decided to read the first book in this series before picking this one up. Thinking that as it was a series, I would need to get caught up to speed with the characters before diving into this one. As there was only one book, I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea just to check it out. Well come to find out, I didn’t really need to read the first book in the series before this one, but I am still glad that I did as it gave readers a nice introduction to one of the main characters in this book, Matthew. If you love historical mysteries, then I…
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Review: Before the Crown by Flora Harding
Not only is this cover absolutely breathtaking, but the story sounded excellent as well. But in all honesty, it was the cover that captured my attention and made me want to read this one! Thanks to shows like The Crown, royals and Queen Elizabeth have been getting a lot of attention and focus. In The Crown though we don’t get too much background on the early years of Princess Elizabeth so that’s why this one excited me so much. This book promised to shed some light on the romance between Phillip and Elizabeth and I was absolutely here for it!
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Review: A Dangerous Duet (Victorian Mystery #1) by Karen Odden
Karen Odden is an author I have had on my radar for a while but I just never seem to pick up any of her books. Well that changed when I was asked to read the second book in the Victorian Mystery series. I thought I had better read the first book in the series before jumping into the second book, so I ordered this one and dove right in! As many of you know, I never met a historical mystery that I didn’t like—ok well maybe there were a couple, but by and large, I love historical mysteries and I love discovering new heroines and heroes to admire.
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Review: The Forgotten Kingdom (The Lost Queen Trilogy #2) by Signe Pike
The Lost Queen was one of my favorite reads of last year and I raved about it to everyone I knew. Not to mention I gave it to all my friends and family as a Christmas present too. So it’s easy to say that I had this next book on my TBR the instant I was done with the first book. The second it was available on Netgalley, I downloaded it and started reading. Not going to lie, this one took me a lot longer to read than I was anticipating. Not because it was bad (not at all!) I just started it at a time when I was busy…
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Review: The Night Swim by Megan Goldin (Audible Edition)
I did a special feature on this book when it first came out. While it sounded good I wasn’t sure that it was one that I wanted to move up on my TBR list. Then I started seeing a lot of other people on my Instagram talking about this one and was intrigued by some of their reviews. So I decided to take it to my book club and see what they thought. We had fully planned on reading a different book for our September read, but this one sounded different and it also sounded like it that would generate a lot of great discussion for the book club.
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Review: One Step Behind by Lauren North
I read Lauren North’s debut novel, The Perfect Son, when it came out and I absolutely loved it. I thought she was an exciting author with so much promise and I have been looking forward to this book for quite some time. Plus it features a stalker and nothing raises the hair on the back of my neck quite like a stalker story. I immediately fast tracked this book as a perfect introduction to my creepier fall reading. I had such high hopes for this one. The author, the story and don’t even get me started on that gorgeous cover! But I have to admit, I don’t know that I…
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Review: A Heart of Blood and Ashes (A Gathering of Dragons #1) by Milla Vane
Say hello to my longest read of the year. Not necessarily the longest book in terms of pages, but rather in terms of how long it took me to actually read this one! I started this one at the beginning of July people and here it is September and I am just now finishing it! In fact I finished it last week and to be honest that shocked me. I fully expected to finish this book in only a few sittings and sadly I just didn’t But there are a couple of reasons for that—I had a lot of other books going and this one wasn’t a partner review so…
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Review: The Royal Governess by Wendy Holden
This book popped up on my radar in the early summer and I have been looking forward to it ever since. Like many, I love all things royal and Queen Elizabeth has been such a mysterious figure for me. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her growing up not expecting to be queen only to have the position basically thrust upon her. Which is why this book sounded so interesting. I liked the idea of getting a glimpse into the younger years of Queen Elizabeth, even if it was a fictionalized account of her younger years. This book focuses on Elizabeth’s governess, Marion Crawford, who served…