Category: Reading Challenges

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

Review: Princess Elizabeth’s Spy (Maggie Hope Mystery #2) by Susan Elia MacNeal

by The Lit Bitch7 Comments on Review: Princess Elizabeth’s Spy (Maggie Hope Mystery #2) by Susan Elia MacNeal

Being a spy sounds so much cooler and glamorous without all the physical training doesn’t it? That’s exactly what’s running through Maggie Hope’s mind while she’s at Camp Spook.

After helping uncover a terrorist cell and cracking some difficult codes is the first book, Maggie has been recruited to work for MI5….an opportunity she simply can’t pass up there’s only one problem….the biggest muscle in Maggie’s body is her brain.

But when she arrives at Camp Spook, she wasn’t counting on all the drills and exercises. It is quickly apparent that she is not cut out for MI5’s spy academy. After only a couple of weeks, her supervisor calls her in and tells her he is pulling her from Camp Spook.

At first Maggie is crushed, but there is still some Hope to be had….MI5 is going to reassign her.

Continue reading “Review: Princess Elizabeth’s Spy (Maggie Hope Mystery #2) by Susan Elia MacNeal” →

Book Challenges, Books, Monthly Meme/Discussion Outlander, Reading, Reading Challenges

Discussion # 5: Outlander Reading Challenge 2012

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Discussion # 5: Outlander Reading Challenge 2012

The fifth discussion post for the Outlander Reading Challenge is up! As noted, I will be posting monthly meme’s/discussions for both reading challenges I am hosting, Outlander and Game of Thrones.These are meant purely for fun and by no means required to participate in the challenges. I will post five questions for you all to mull over and I will answer one of the questions myself to start off the discussion. I also invite you to post your favorite quote or passage from the book as well.

Remember to link your responses or reviews back to your blog using the Mr Linky on the corresponding Monthly Meme page or you can simply leave your response in the comments. The goal is to have some fun discussions and talk about the books.

Challenge participants I hope you are all making progress in the series, but if not no worries we do have all year. No matter where you are in the book or series, you are more than welcome to discuss the book right along with us…. Continue reading “Discussion # 5: Outlander Reading Challenge 2012” →

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Reading, Reading Challenges

Review: A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell #2) by Laurie R. King

by The Lit Bitch6 Comments on Review: A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell #2) by Laurie R. King

A game’s a foot and Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are on the case!

In Sussex, Mary Russell is about to turn 21 and come into her sizable inheritance. On a whim one night, Mary sneaks away to London in search of her long time friend and mentor, Sherlock Holmes.

When she meets up with Holmes on that dark London night, she nearly puts her foot in her mouth, but before she can cause herself too much embarrassment, Holmes cuts her off. But in doing so, he mistakenly insults her and she storms off into the night, anxious to be out of an uncomfortable situation.

Come morning, Mary finds her way into a tea shop where she runs into an old Oxford acquaintance, Veronica Beaconsfield.

Veronica has been working for the New Temple of God, a group whose mission is helping the poor and unfortunate women of London. Veronica convinces Mary to come to some of the Temple’s meetings and since she is in want of something to distract her mind, she agrees. Continue reading “Review: A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell #2) by Laurie R. King” →

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

Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

by The Lit Bitch20 Comments on Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Trapped in a love less marriage to a man with good social standing, Anna Karenina does the unthinkable–she enters into a doomed, passionate love affair with another man.

Society will torment her, her husband will ridicule her, but her own guilt will drive her to the breaking point.

With one of the most memorable opening scenes in western literature, Anna Karenina is a literary masterpiece about life, passion, and love.

This lengthy novel is spread over eight parts featuring two alternating protagonists, Konstantin Levin and Anna Karenina.

The elegant and proper Anna, is married to a high-ranking government official, Alexei Karenin. For the past eight years they have maintained a fragile facade. On the outside their marriage appears amiable but in the absence of love, there is nothing but respect and understanding to fill the missing pieces.

Continue reading “Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy” →

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

Review: The Unruly Passions of Eugenie R. by Carole DeSanti

by The Lit Bitch6 Comments on Review: The Unruly Passions of Eugenie R. by Carole DeSanti

With a lush, enticing cover The Unruly Passions of Eugenie R. by Carole DeSanti can’t help but catch the eye. The cover conjures images of a romantic work of historic fiction, filled with extravagance and richness.

The novel does deliver in that way. France is ushering in a new era, set in the years immediately before the Franco-Prussian War era (1870’s), the book follows the life of Eugenie Rigault who was born in the foie gras country region of France.

There she meets a gentleman that she falls in love with and gives him her heart and body. They soon make plans to move to Paris where the man promises to ‘take care of her’. When she arrives in Paris a few weeks later, he has all but abandoned her. Eugenie holds out hope that her ‘prince’ will come and take her away from the Paris gutters but at long last she must accept that he will never come for her. Continue reading “Review: The Unruly Passions of Eugenie R. by Carole DeSanti” →