Category: Literary Criticism

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

Review: The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton

Chanel Cleeton was an author who was on my radar from the release of her very first book. At first I wasn’t really that interested in the time period or Cuban history—but all the reviews of her first book, Next Year in Havana, were overwhelmingly positive and I wanted to check it out.

But many other books came before I finally picked it up and even then it was only recently.

I read When We Left Cuba last year and loved it and when I heard that Cleeton was coming out with a new book this year, I finally read Next Year in Havana and re-read When We Left Cuba so that I could be ready for this one! Continue reading “Review: The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton” →

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

Take Two Review: When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton (Audible Edition)

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Take Two Review: When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton (Audible Edition)

When I first read this book, it was my first time reading anything by Chanel Cleeton. I hadn’t read Next Year in Havana yet so it was my first time reading about the Perez family.

Cleeton has another new book coming out this month and I desperately wanted to be ready for it so I downloaded Next Year in Havana on Audible and listened to it and fell in love!

Then I wanted to go back and re-read this one since I didn’t really have a full understanding of the Perez family and I thought that now having read Next Year in Havana, this one would make a lot more sense and get me all caught up and ready for Last Train to Key West. Continue reading “Take Two Review: When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton (Audible Edition)” →

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

Review: Passing Fancies (Julia Kydd #2) by Marlowe Benn

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Passing Fancies (Julia Kydd #2) by Marlowe Benn

Last year I read the first book in this series and I thought it was a promising start and was eager to see how this book would be. I remember that the first book was a little on the slower side but I loved Julia the heroine and that’s what made me want to read this one.

One of the things that always caught my attention was that one of the featured characters was a black singer, so right away I thought that this book would likely tackle some big issues like race.

At a time like this, I am looking to diversify my reading and while this book isn’t by a black author and isn’t meant to be a book about race, it did have racial issues and themes not to mention white privilege in the story, and I thought it was an interesting mystery. Continue reading “Review: Passing Fancies (Julia Kydd #2) by Marlowe Benn” →

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

Review: The Ancestor by Danielle Trussoni

by The Lit Bitch7 Comments on Review: The Ancestor by Danielle Trussoni

The anticipation I had for this book was undeniable. I haven’t read anything by this author before, but I was in a Facebook group chat with her and won a copy of this book and couldn’t believe how good it sounded.

I have only recently really gotten into the horror genre, I love Gothic fiction (to me there is a big difference) but recently I have opened up to reading more and more traditional horror books and this one sounded like a perfect blend of Gothic and horror.

I was literally watching my mailbox like a hawk waiting for this one to arrive and when it finally did, I tore into it right away! Continue reading “Review: The Ancestor by Danielle Trussoni” →

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

Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #1) by Holly Jackson

by The Lit Bitch4 Comments on Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #1) by Holly Jackson

I stumbled on this book while scrolling through my Instagram feed and since I am my book club dictator—I mean book club host—I thought I would suggest this book for our June read since it sounded fun.

A slight back story here, my book club is small and we all love murder mysteries so we try to read only murder mysteries but we have all read so many murder mysteries so it’s hard to find one we haven’t all read. Since this one just came out, I thought it would be a good pick.

Fortunately everyone else thought the same thing and so it was settled—we would read this book for June. I downloaded a copy on my Kindle since it was on sale—let’s put it this way, I downloaded it late Tuesday night and I was done by Thursday night. Continue reading “Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #1) by Holly Jackson” →