Reading
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Review: A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers
This book has been on my radar for months and I was so excited to start reading it. I planned to read it when I had COVID but I couldn’t focus on anything and I ended up setting it aside and then I sort of forgot about it. Then when I was on my way to Cabo I thought this would be a great book to read on the plane so I picked it up on my way to the airport and was so glad I had it in my bag! I was hooked from the very beginning! I love gothic tales and ghost stories and this book promised both…
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Review: Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
When I was asked to review this book, I was beyond excited! I haven’t read anything by Ali Hazelwood before but I was well aware of her STEM romance bestseller, The Love Hypothesis. I have The Love Hypothesis on audiobook as well as a hard copy and have been meaning to read it. Then I saw this one was coming out and I instantly added it to my review calendar because I just KNEW I would love this book! I love that the author features women in academia and STEM, I mean there really isn’t anything out there like that and when you throw in a hot romance with book…
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Review: The Codebreaker’s Secret by Sara Ackerman
I have adored Sara Ackerman’s books over the years. She writes such interesting novels about WWII that are set in Hawaii. Her passion for the island and its history really shine under her pen plus there is always a little bit of romance to entertain readers. I really enjoyed reading all of her books and find that each has been between a 4 and 5 star rating for me. When I saw this one was coming up, I made room on my review calendar for it. I hadn’t actually planned on reading it as soon as I did but I knew I would read it before the summer was out.…
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Review: The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams, Karen White, and Lauren Willig
I have read all of Lauren Willig’s book and many by both Beatriz Williams and Karen White. All of their books have been some of my most favorite reads. Then they started to team up and write collective books together and I devoured those books so incredibly fast! I love how well written each book is and not just independently but as a writing team. When I saw this book was coming out, I knew I had to read it. I love how in all of their collective books, there are characters that make appearances in other collective books. For example in this book we meet Prunella who has been…
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Special Feature: The Secret of Bow Lane (Kat Holloway #6) by Jennifer Ashley
I picked up the first book in this series when it very first came out and I was going through some major Downton Abbey withdraws! I loved the upstairs/downstairs elements of the story and thought it was a solid start to a new mystery series. But then I never really continued with the series. As with so many readers, there are so many books but not enough time and I got distracted by other series. But this series hasn’t been far from my mind. Author, Jennifer Ashley, has written a number of romances (historical and some cowboy romances!) and also developed this beloved character in Kat Holloway. I am so…
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Review: The Forgotten Cottage by Courtney Ellis
I read Courtney Ellis’s debut novel last summer, At Summer’s End, and good lord was it ever good! I devoured it and it was one of my favorite reads last year. So naturally when I saw this one coming up for review I was thrilled! This one has a great dual timeline aspect which I know is often overdone in historical fiction, but for me it never gets old! I love readling dual timeline books! This book promises long buried family secrets and complex characters rich in historical detail. And it certainly had all of those things! Ellis write beautiful historical fiction with lots of historical details and heart and…
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Review: Evil in Emerald (Harriet Gordon Mysteries #3) by A. M. Stuart
I think it’s safe to say that I cannot WAIT for the next book in this series. I have devoured this series over the last week and have loved every single book and this one ended on quite the cliffhanger and I NEED the next book! The series has such wonderfully written characters and each one stands independently strong in the story. Meaning neither character is fully dependent on the other if that makes sense. Curran and Harriet are both strong leads and watching their friendship evolve through the series has been so great, they don’t need each other to shine but they choose each other which makes this series…
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Special Feature/Excerpt: The Codebreaker’s Secret by Sara Ackerman
I have never wanted to visit Hawaii so much! Whenever I read one of Sara Ackerman’s books set in Hawaii, I simply want to go there instantly! I have never been to Hawaii but I feel like I have simply by reading her books! Her love of Hawaii resonates in every book she writes and I always come away from one of her books feeling like I just took a vacation. Not only is her love for the island evident, her history is interesting and the stories and characters always well done. It’s been a while since I read one of her books and I am actually currently reading this…
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Special Feature: Mademoiselle Revolution by Zoe Sivak
I love seeing all these new historical fiction books featuring characters of color and of the LGBTQ community! It’s exciting and refreshing to see a new side of history told from a new perspective. I am always eager to check out books that have substance and a rich historical backdrop and interesting locations. I have said this often enough, a lot of historical fiction is set in England and France—-familiar landscapes for readers. But if you read a lot of historical fiction, you will likely grow board of these locations. This is why this book appealed to me so much—it is set in Haiti and then moves to France. I…
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Review: Revenge in Rubies (Harriet Gordon Mysteries #2) by A. M. Stuart
The binge reading continues with the second book in the Harriet Gordon series. I loved the first book so much that I downloaded the next two in the series and read them each in a day! This is a wonderful series and I cannot believe it took me this long to discover it—-ok rather not discover it since I have had the first book sitting on my shelf for a couple of years—-but read it! There is so much to love in this series. Complex characters with their own unique stories and history, who don’t try to control or overly protect each other. They are independent and self assured without…