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

Review: Snowfall on Lighthouse Lane (Honeymoon Harbor #2) by JoAnn Ross

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: Snowfall on Lighthouse Lane (Honeymoon Harbor #2) by JoAnn Ross

I am a romantic at heart. I love a happy ending and a really good romance. Having it be set during the holidays just sweetens the deal for me.

JoAnn Ross is a new writer to me but it looks like she has written a number of romance series. This isn’t a book that I would normally pick up but I loved that it was set in the Pacific Northwest on the coast. I think the PacNW offers a unique setting for romances—-its a rugged, stormy, unpredictable, and unforgiving coastline so I thought that the setting would add to the story.

Growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, Jolene Harper is forever indebted to the mother who encouraged her to fly—all the way to sunny LA and a world away from Honeymoon Harbor. Although Jolene vowed never to look back, returning home isn’t even a question when her mom faces a cancer scare. Which means running into Aiden Mannion all over town, the first boy she ever loved—and lost—and whom she can barely look in the eye. Continue reading “Review: Snowfall on Lighthouse Lane (Honeymoon Harbor #2) by JoAnn Ross” →

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Excerpt: The Stranger Game by Peter Gadol

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Excerpt: The Stranger Game by Peter Gadol

The latest novel by Peter Gadol is now out and I am thrilled to be able to share a preview with everyone! This is psychological suspense novel is not Gadol’s first book and judging from the preview, you can tell it’s going to be an interesting story.

Rebecca’s on-again-off-again boyfriend Ezra has gone missing, but when she notifies the police they seem surprisingly unconcerned. They suspect he has been playing the “stranger game,” a viral hit in which players start following others in real-life, as they might otherwise do on social media. As the game spreads, however, the rules begin to change, play grows more intense, and disappearances are reported across the country.

Curious about this popular new obsession, and hoping that she might be able to track down Ezra, Rebecca tries the game for herself. She also meets Carey, a player willing to take the game further than she imagined possible. As her relationship with Carey and involvement in the game deepen, she begins to uncover an unsettling subculture that has infiltrated the world around her. In playing the stranger game, what may lead her closer to finding Ezra may lead her further and further from the life she once lived.

A thought-provoking, haunting novel, The Stranger Gameunearths the connections, both imagined and real, that we build with the people around us in the physical and digital world, and where the boundaries blur between them (summary from Goodreads).

Excerpt

Continue reading “Excerpt: The Stranger Game by Peter Gadol” →

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Reading

Review: The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox

by The Lit Bitch5 Comments on Review: The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox

This book has been all over my social media this October. With the word ‘witch’ in the title, its hardly a surprise that it would be trending throughout the most ‘haunted’ month of the year.

Sometimes with books that receive so much hype, it’s hard to decide if it’s worth the read or not. I was intrigued by the combination of historical fiction and fantasy/paranormal.

The early nineteenth century isn’t really my favorite period, but I was interested enough in the mixture of genres that I was eager to read this one and find out of the hype was indeed worth it.

New Oldbury, 1821

In the wake of a scandal, the Montrose family and their three daughters—Catherine, Lydia, and Emeline—flee Boston for their new country home, Willow Hall. The estate seems sleepy and idyllic. But a subtle menace creeps into the atmosphere, remnants of a dark history that call to Lydia, and to the youngest, Emeline. Continue reading “Review: The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox” →

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

Review: Lady of a Thousand Treasures (The Victorian Ladies #1) by Sandra Byrd

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: Lady of a Thousand Treasures (The Victorian Ladies #1) by Sandra Byrd

I’ve read Sandra Byrd before and have loved her, she’s written a couple of different series all with a Christian base. I’ve always enjoyed her stories as they have a little romance and mystery mixed together with a sprinkling of Christian ideology.

This book has been one that I have been looking forward to reading since I heard about it. I love the Victorian era and Byrd’s stories are always well written and interesting. I was asked t review this book by two different tour groups and was excited to start it as soon as I got the copy!

Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers alone.

The death of a longtime client, Baron Lydney, offers an unexpected complication when Eleanor is appointed the temporary trustee of the baron’s legendary collection. She must choose whether to donate the priceless treasures to a museum or allow them to pass to the baron’s only living son, Harry—the man who broke Eleanor’s heart. Continue reading “Review: Lady of a Thousand Treasures (The Victorian Ladies #1) by Sandra Byrd” →

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

Review: Dear Santa by Nancy Naigle

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: Dear Santa by Nancy Naigle

It’s November first and I am in full holiday mode. I’m on of those obnoxious people that starts decorating and shopping for Christmas immediately following Halloween.

I started my holiday reading a little early this year (normally I wait until after Halloween) since there were a lot of holiday books coming out. This is one that I had my eye on, mostly because it sounded like it was going to be an epistolary novel. 

Angela Carson wants nothing more than to be the third-generation to run her family’s holiday store, Heart of Christmas, successfully. They’ve weathered over sixty tourist seasons, major hurricanes, and urban sprawl, in their old decommissioned lighthouse. But the national chain that set up shop in their small North Carolina town of Pleasant Sands may be more than Heart of Christmas can survive. Continue reading “Review: Dear Santa by Nancy Naigle” →