Reading
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Special Feature: Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman
This is author, Ella Burman’s, second novel and at first glance it looked like it was going to be more women’s fiction. The cover implied a carefree summer with friends. But then upon reading the summary I was like—-oh—-not that. This book promises some fun carefree summer of innocence but it also promises to have that illusion dispelled with a mystery! This book will follow three friends who have a life changing experience on a Greek island in their teens. The tragedy will follow them into adulthood and readers will get to explore what kind of impact that tragedy has on them. I loved the sound of this one. It…
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Special Feature: Bayou Beloved (Butterfly Bayou #6) by Lexi Blake
Lexi Blake is a new to me author but I see that she has a well established fan base and multiple romance series under her belt! Some seem more steamy than others but all have a lot of devoted fans. So when this one came across my desk for review, all I saw was this sweet dog on the cover and was instantly intrigued. But since this was a new to me author, I did some research on her background before deciding to feature this book. Which is how I found all her various romance series. It is clear she is an established author with quality books which made me…
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Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J Maas (Audible Edition)
I am 100% late to the party on this one. This series has been on my radar for YEARS. I would have to be living under a rock not to have heard of it or seen it’s massive cult following all over the internet and book world platforms! I have had the books on my shelves for years with the intention of reading them ‘next book’ but I just haven’t been able to bring myself to read them. My number one fear was I would just want to binge the series and I just wasn’t ready to dive into another series to binge after binge reading a number of other…
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Review: Well Traveled (Well Met #4) by Jen DeLuca (Audible Edition)
This series was my favorite obsession last year. I binge read the books and loved them all in their own ways and had no idea that Renaissance Fair romance was even a thing that I would be into but here we are. I honestly thought the third book would be the last as most of the reoccurring characters had indeed met their matches but then this one came up as Dex’s story. If you have read the previous books you will remember Dex as the Ren Fair Romeo who has a ‘girl at every fair’ that he hooks up with. So I thought this one sounded like it would be…
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Review: Murder in PostScript (A Lady of Letters Mystery #1) by Mary Winters
When I see books with any mention of “Bridgerton-like’ in the summary or taglines, I am at once skeptical and yet can’t pass up on said book based on hope of finding another wonderful series that is indeed like Bridgerton! I often get asked what books would I recommend for Bridgerton fans, and that is such a hard question because there are so many historical romances out there that have a Bridgerton feel but aren’t necessaitly Bridgerton like if that makes sense. So sometimes when I see this statement on books, I become skeptical because there is nothing like Bridgerton but yet like so many others I can’t resist finding…
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Special Feature: Her Lost Words: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley by Stephanie Marie Thornton
I discovered Stephanie Marie Thornton years ago when she was writing about ancient women and their untold stories. I have LOVED all of her ancient women novels and am still waiting for a Boudicca story! But in recent years she has moved more toward the stories of more modern women like Alice Roosevelt and spy Elizabeth Bentley. She always does an amazing amount of research in all of her novels but truth be told, I do miss the ancient women stories as they were so different and made me feel like I was reading something truly unique and new in a historical fiction world that focuses on marketable and well…
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Review: Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller
I first discovered Diana Biller when her first novel, The Widow of Rose House, was released back in 2019. I absolutely loved it and thought Biller had an elegant prose that sucked me into the story right away. Plus the romance was sensual, sweet and a little spicy. It was a wonderful mix and I just recall how much that debut has stood out to me over the years. I often recommend it to friends and family, so naturally when I saw this new release, I had to jump on it! This is Biller’s fourth novel and while I have missed the other two (though they are on my book…
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Review: Hell Bent (Alex Stern #2) by Leigh Bardugo
When this book came out, it promoted me to go back and read Ninth House so I could be ready to read this one. I had this whole drama around why I didn’t read Ninth House until now and you can read all about it in my review of Ninth House here. Bottom line, I suspected that I wouldn’t be able to read this latest Leigh Bardugo book before reading the first book in the series and that is absolutely correct. Do not read this book without first reading Ninth House. This book is basically an extension of the first book and it will leave readers disorientated within this book…
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Review: Midnight Duet by Jen Comfort
Growing up, I was a massive Phantom of the Opera fan. In fact as I write this review, I am currently listening to the soundtrack. I love the whole forbidden romance set to music. It’s truly one of my favorite soundtracks and stories of all time. So whenever I see something come up that is a Phantom retelling or something similar I have a hard time passing up on it. That’s how this one landed on my TBR and review pile! I couldn’t resist a retelling though as the weeks passed between review acceptance and time to actually read it, I had sort of forgotten it. I had it on…
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Special Feature: Two Wars and a Wedding by Lauren Willig
You only need to say the name Lauren Willig to get me hooked! I am a huge Lauren Willig fan and have read almost all of her books. She writes such well crafted historical fiction with some romance and I simply cannot pass on any of her books. Though her Pink Carnation series is still my favorite, I have enjoyed may of her standalone books and collaborations as well! Seeing this latest novel from her got me so excited to get back to reading more of her books! Initially I thought this was going to be a WWI historical fiction but I see now that it’s set during the Greece-Turkey…