Reading
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Special Feature: ENCHANTED AUGUST by Brenda Bowen
Last summer I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing ENCHANTED AUGUST by Brenda Bowen and now it’s coming to paperback this summer! This fun summer beach read, is out in paperback on July 5th from Penguin Books with a gorgeous new cover. A Maine Literary Awards finalist, ENCHANTED AUGUST transports readers to a tiny island in Maine, telling the story of four mismatched people who learn that sometimes—if you’re lucky—a change of scenery can lead you right back to where you belong. Romantic, optimistic, and as refreshing as a summer cocktail, the novel itself is a perfect escape. Mary Kay Andrews agrees—she recently recommended ENCHANTED AUGUST as a summer…
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Release Day Blitz: The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack
Hello, my fellow HistFic lovers! Today, author Gwendolyn Womack’s novel The Memory Painter: A Novel of Love and Reincarnation is out in paperback! The Memory Painter: A Novel of Love and Reincarnation by Gwendolyn Womack Publication Date: July 5, 2016 Picador USA Paperback; 336 Pages ISBN: 978-1250095770 Genre: Historical Fiction/Time Travel/Mystery/Romance Finalist for the 2016 RWA Prism Awards for Best First Book & Best Time Travel/ Steampunk category. Two lovers who have travelled across time. A team of scientists at the cutting edge of memory research. A miracle drug that unlocks an ancient mystery. At once a sweeping love story and a time-travelling adventure, Gwendolyn Womack’s luminous debut novel, The…
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Special Feature: THRILLERFEST XI is coming July 5-9!
CELEBRATING 11 YEARS THRILLERFEST XI RETURNS TO GRAND HYATT NEW YORK JULY 5-9, 2016 Gillian Flynn, Heather Graham, John Lescroart, C.J. Box, Walter Mosley and more! Remember that domestic thriller about a marriage of mayhem that jolted readers with its mind-bending twist? Gillian Flynn, who took the thriller world by storm in 2012 with her New York Times #1 bestseller Gone Girl, takes her deserved place among the ranks of the world’s greatest thriller writers at the International Thriller Writers’ (ITW) ThrillerFest XI July 5-9, 2016 in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. In addition to special guest Gillian Flynn, Heather Graham will serve as the 2016 ThrillerMaster…
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Review: Tides of Honour by Genevieve Graham
Oh how I love war time romances but I especially enjoy them when they are different. This book is set in Canada during the Great War which is what immediately drew me in. I haven’t read any books on the Great War set anywhere other than England or France so this book totally grabbed my attention. Private Daniel Baker is completely unprepared to meet the love of his life in the middle of a war but that’s exactly what happens in the summer of 1916 when he marches off to France as part of Nova Scotia’s 25th Battalion. Audrey Poulin lives alone with her grandmother in the quiet French countryside, where…
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Review: Re Jane by Patricia Park
This is the year of all things Jane Eyre! With it being the 200th anniversary for Jane Eyre, there are TONS of retellings out there right now! Jane Eyre isn’t my most favorite Bronte book but I do admire Jane’s spirit and it’s always fun to read modern retellings of classics! So even though this book sounded a little different….I like different…..so I agreed to read it and see what it’s all about! For Jane Re, half-Korean, half-American orphan, Flushing, Queens, is the place she’s been trying to escape from her whole life. Sardonic yet vulnerable, Jane toils, unappreciated, in her strict uncle’s grocery store and politely observes the traditional…
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Review: The Gilded Cage by Judy Alter
This book sounded like it was kind of ‘off the beaten path’ as far as setting goes, which was why I decided to read this It’s rare for me to read a historical fiction novel that’s set in America, and when I do it’s usually an east coast setting so this whole Chicago setting sounded intriguing and I thought I would try it out! Born to society and a life of privilege, Bertha Honoré married Potter Palmer, a wealthy entrepreneur who called her Cissy. Neither dreamed the direction the other’s life would take. He built the Palmer House Hotel, still famed today, and became one of the major robber barons…
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Special Feature: UNDER THE HARROW by Flynn Berry
This summer has been a major in-house favorite at Penguin Books and it’s also been getting rave reviews from early reviewers! I love a good thriller as much as the next person and I am so mad that I couldn’t fit this one into my review schedule for the summer but I wanted to make my readers aware of this new release that sounds unbelievably chilling and haunting! Claire Messud said, “It’s like Broadchurch written by Elena Ferrante. I’ve been telling all my friends to read it — the highest compliment. Flynn Berry is a deeply interesting writer.” Beneath the mystery of UNDER THE HARROW is a heartbreakingly honest portrait…
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Review: Just Life by Neil Abramson
As a general rule, I typically decline any and all books to do with dogs because they just give me too many feels…..good bad or otherwise! However, there was something about this one that sounded really intriguing…..maybe it was the hint of a scientific type of story line…..I don’t know but something just said ‘read me’ about this book. An unidentified virus is spreading through the New York City neighborhood of Riverside, near Central Park. Despite the desperate need for answers, the medical community can only determine the cause is zoonotic, suggesting birds one day and dogs the next as the possible source. Despite the lack of information, the politically…
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Review: Marlene: A Novel by C.W. Gortner
C.W. Gortner has been putting out some great reads this last year or so! Gortner always does a fantastic job at profiling historical female figures…..most of which are famous queens etc but lately he’s been branching out to historical pop culture icons like Coco Chanel and now Marlene Dietrich. I was really intrigued by this novel because I don’t know much about Marlene Dietrich and with Gortner’s fantastic story telling abilities, I was really excited to read this one! Maria Magdalena Dietrich dreams of a life on the stage. When a budding career as a violinist is cut short, the willful teenager vows to become a singer, trading her family’s…
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Review: The Pursuit of Pearls (Clara Vine #4) by Jane Thynne
In the spring of 1939 war is on the horizon. Clara Vine is living in Nazi Germany working as an actress but that’s not the only thing she’s doing. She is also there to spy on the personal lives of top Nazi leaders for British intelligence. Each day that Clara remains in Berlin is a day closer to war and should she be caught, she would be in grave danger. Suddenly, someone close to Clara is found murdered. The victim is Lottie Franke, an aspiring costume designer and student at the prestigious Faith and Beauty finishing school that trains young women to become the wives of the Nazi elite. While the…