Literary Criticism
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Review: The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham
I have been a long time fan of Genevieve Graham and honestly, she hasn’t written a bad book yet in my opinion! She writes with such authority and knowledge on her topics that it’s always an easy yes to read one of her books! She is a Canadian author and her books are mostly set in Canada which isn’t exactly the first place I think of when I think of historical fiction. The most obvious choices are England or France so whenever I pick up one of her books I know I am going to be reading something totally different when it comes to setting. Her latest release is less…
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Review: Who Rescued Who by Victoria Schade
Is it even possible to walk by this book and not be completely drawn to it?! I mean look at those big brown puppy dog eyes! I was done for when I saw this cover and knew it was a must read. Can you tell that I like dogs? Well yes I adore dogs and this cover spoke to my dog lover heart and when I saw that it was written by a dog training professional I was intrigued. I mean it’s not every day that one goes from training dogs to writing books and I thought this would be a fun quick way to spend a few days during…
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Review: The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home (Welcome to Night Vale #3) by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor
This book was a huge shot in the dark for me. I hadn’t heard of the series before, and the fact that it was the third in a series so I had no idea what I was getting myself into….and it’s categorized as sci-fi which I usually don’t read much of. I thought the title sounded interesting and I loved the promise of a creepy old woman haunting people and the cover is quirky and eye catching, so in the end I thought…..why not. It’s rare that I read a ‘shot in the dark’ book, I usually try and stick within my favorite genres while occasionally trying something ‘new to…
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Re-Share Review: Becoming Mrs Lewis by Patti Callahan Henry
I couldn’t be more excited to re-share my review of this wonderful book in celebration of it’s release in paperback today! This was the first book I had read by this author and I absolutely loved it! I first read it back in the fall of 2018 and I have often thought of it since then, especially when I see a Narnia book! When I read this book originally, I hadn’t read the Narnia books yet but thanks to this fun novel, I was inspired to read the first one at least and I loved it. If you are looking for a wonderfully charming read that will stay with you…
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Review: Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel
This novel has been getting a lot of hype on social media. It’s Stephanie Wrobel’s debut novel and it sounds dark and addicting. Which is exactly why I wanted to review it. I mean, I am not going to lie, the main character’s name was Rose Gold and that was made clear in the summary and all I could think of was ‘gag me!’ I honestly wasn’t sure I could get past the name situation but I was eager to read this one all the same because it had all the complicated mother/daughter issues mixed with some psychologically thrilling elements so I was willing ot at least try and look past…
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Review: The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James
By all accounts this book was practically guaranteed a five star review. It had all the things I love in a Gothic tale…..the wild Cornish coast with foggy/misty mornings, a broken hero, a dark secret, an innocent but curious heroine, and so much atmosphere. It sounded like a modern Victoria Holt novel and I just couldn’t wait to crack it open! I have read only one other book by this author, Sweet Damages, but it was so long ago that I read it, that I can’t quite recall all the details but I remember that it was more of a modern Gothic tale. This book mixes modern Gothic with classical…
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Review: Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen (Audible Edition)
I have been a long time fan of Rhys Bowen, especially her Royal Spyness series, but I also love many of her stand alone novels as well. When I saw this one was coming out, I almost put it on preorder until I saw that it was going to be an Audible Escape option. As a subscriber to Audible Escape, that means I get to read any of the romances that are marked as Escape in their catalogue. This book was one of them. I started it and was ready for it to be full of romance….I mean, it’s in the romance catalogue after all so I went into it…
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Review: Once Upon a Sunset by Tif Marcelo
I read Tif Marcelo for the first time last year, The Key to Happily Ever After, and thought it was super fun and a very satisfying read! I was obviously eager to get my hands on her latest release to see if the magic continued going strong! I was especially eager to ‘travel’ to an exotic location in this one. The author is Pilipino and since this book is set in the Philippines, I thought her culture and experiences would really shine in this book. I also really liked the idea of a closely guarded family secret that the main character embraces the adventure of those secrets so obviously this…
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Review: A Murderous Relation (Veronica Speedwell #5) by Deanna Raybourn
Deanna Raybourn is one of my go to authors when I am looking for a solid historical murder mystery. I fell in love with the Veronica Speedwell books form the very beginning and have loved watching this series evolve. I actually read this one way back in November when my ARC arrived. Like the day after it arrived. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and start reading. I have heard that the author has signed on to do another three I believe and I actually kind of wondered if the author found this out in the middle of writing this one because it felt a little like…
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Review: The Proposal (The Survivors’ Club #1) by Mary Balogh
I love romance novels but to be honest, sometimes the covers are tacky and embarrassing to be toting around the lunch room, am I right? Well, thank the lord of Kindle because most of my romances I read now are on Kindle. For Valentine’s Day, my mom sent me a hard copy of this book…..tacky cover and all. I couldn’t stop laughing when I opened it and then read the card. The card said ‘skip the sex parts’. Gotta love moms! She hounded me for a few days to read this one so I finally relinquished and read it. I have never read anything by this author before, but my mom…