Category: Literary Criticism

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Under the Light of the Italian Moon by Jennifer Anton

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on 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 excited to see that there was a romance in it. I love war time romances. The backdrop of the war adds so much tension and drama to war time romances so I was really looking forward to this one. I picked it up on the first day of spring break and devoured it in a matter of days! There was a lot to love in this one!

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: The Girl in the Painting by Tea Cooper

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on 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 was not at all disappointed in this one, I have to admit I still love The Woman in the Green Dress the best, but I think that’s because it was my first ‘experience’ with her novels!

I love that her books are set in Australia. They have a distinct, exotic feel for me because of that element. So many historical fiction novels are set in England, France, or occasionally New York./East Coast of the US. But having this book set in Australia gave it a new, refreshing feel that I was craving!

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on 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 eager to check this one out and I have also bought a copy of The Huntress to read soon!

Quinn has a wide range of historical novels that she has written, some are set in ancient Rome, some during the Borgia era, and of course now WWII. Clearly she loves history and all of her novels have been well researched but her WWII era novels seem to have a little something extra special about them which is why I was so thrilled to read The Rose Code!

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Review: Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on 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 Becoming Mrs Lewis taught me anything it’s that Callahan is a superb writer and does a wonderful job with her research. So naturally my expectations were high for this one—gorgeous cover or not. I sat down with this one on a quiet Sunday morning and it simply did not let me go for the next couple of days. I was lost in the story and adored it!

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Review: Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on 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 have her own voice as well, but what I did hope was that Edmondson did justice to the Dashwood sisters and the spirit of the original novel.

It’s hard to do a good retelling which is why I have been wary but try and I might, I just can’t resist reading another and another and another to see how well or how poorly it was executed. This one however I think did a nice job at recreating the Dashwood sisters as modern women. While not with out some flaws, the story overall was fun, modern, and a cheeky nod to Sense and Sensibility!

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