Literary Criticism
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Take Two Review: Why Kill the Innocent (Sebastian St. Cyr #13) by C.S. Harris
When I first read this book, it was only the third book I had read in this series. I read book 1 and then book 12 before reading this one and that was it. I went into this one feeling a little lost in the series in regards to the principle characters, but tried to keep my focus on the mystery itself. Then back in Dec, I decided to bit the bullet as it were and read the entire series again from beginning to end as it was intended and what I have discovered is this series is positively unputdownable! While I might not love every book in the series,…
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Review: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia #2) by C.S. Lewis (Audible Edition)
Even though I was a big reader as a child, this book just never made it on my to be read list. I wasn’t into fantasy as a kid and thus this book never appealed to me. I was way more into the American Girl books than Narnia and I even went to a Catholic school…..the Narnia books are practically required reading at Catholic schools! But for whatever reason, I just by passed this entire series until now. As an adult I have absolutely fallen in love with fantasy and magical novels and now that I have a little boy, I can’t wait to share the Narnia books with him…
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Take Two Review: Where the Dead Lie (Sebastian St. Cyr #12) by C.S. Harris
I was first approached to read this series in 2017. At that time I hadn’t heard of Sebastian St Cyr and was hesitant to read the twelfth book in the series, so I read the first book with the intention of reading the series before this one, but sadly that was overly ambitious and I only had time for book 1 and then moved right into this one. At that time I enjoyed the mystery and didn’t feel lost in the mystery itself, but definitely felt lost with some of the other plot points threaded through out the series. As a result, I felt that it was a worthy while…
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Review: Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau
This author has written a variety of historical fiction novels that I have enjoyed over the years. And when I say variety, I mean variety. She’s written books about Tudor era mysteries with nuns and eighteenth century porcelain collectors and now here we are moving across the pond to Coney Island in the early 1900s. That’s a pretty impressive spread! All of her books have been well researched and incredibly detailed so I was more than happy to check this one out as well. There aren’t many books set in Coney Island and for me, it conjures romantic, carefree, and quirky images of by gone days so I was absolutely…
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Review: The Borgia Confessions by Alyssa Palombo
I have been a fan of Alyssa Palombo since her very first book. I think she is absolutely a fresh voice in historical fiction and I am always down to read one of her new books. Last year her book on Katrina Van Tassel was so fun and I was eager to see where her next story might take place. When I saw that it was in Italy featuring one of the most notorious families in history, I was so here for it! Palombo always does a marvelous job researching her novels so that they please history fans but they also have enough character development and intrigue to satisfy fans…
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Review: When Falcons Fall (Sebastian St. Cyr #11) by C.S. Harris
Now that I have completed this book, I am caught up with the series however I decided to keep reading and re-read the other books in this series so that I could read the later books with a more complete view of the larger narrative. I was excited for this one because it was going to take us out of London and into the country with the promise of finding out more about Sebastian’s history. That was the big draw for me with this book, but I have to admit, I sort of missed foggy old London. If you haven’t read this series, this would be a difficult book to…
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Review: An Everyday Hero (A Heart of a Hero #2) by Laura Trentham
Let me just put this out there right now, I don’t read a lot of military fiction or romances. While I love military history and have family that have served and continue to serve in the military, it’s just not a genre that I ever think about picking up to read. Ever. No real reason why, I just simply don’t think of it. So why now? Here is the shallow answer—I loved the cover. Sure the cover lured me in, but I have to admit I was intrigued by the summary and I love Southern fiction and thought this one might be a diverting read. Plus, I love romances what…
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Review: Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
Jess Kidd is an author who keeps flying around in my radar but yet I just never seem to have the time to fit in her books. That and I just wasn’t completely sold on the fact that I would love this author. I mean some of her books sound good—but quirky. I love quirky as much as the next person, but I need to be in the mood for quirky and I just haven’t been lately, but then this book started popping up on my radar and I started to rethink that decision. This book caught my eye because it was set in the Victorian era and the word…
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Review: The Light After the War by Anita Abriel
Post WWII era books have become rather popular lately and while I haven’t read too many of them, I thought it would be good to get a few under my belt. I have read a lot of post WWI era books which I love, but I haven’t read too many post WWII era books and this one sounded like it would provide and interesting glimpse of life after the war and I thought I would enjoy seeing how these characters navigated the post war period. I liked that the story was based on real events as the author’s mother was a Holocaust survivor so I thought this book would really…
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Review: Sanditon: Official ITV Tie-In Edition by Kate Riordan and Jane Austen
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a big Jane Austen fan. I love her novels with my favorite being Persuasion. I have read most of her popular novels but confess I haven’t had a chance to read her unfinished works such as Sandtion. With the show being released finally here in the US, I thought this would be prime time for me to check out this unfinished novel by Austen, that Kate Riordan picked up and completed. The show looks fantastic, plus Theo James need I say more. I haven’t yet watched it (I am so behind on my shows!) but I love period dramas and with an…