Books, Reading

Spotlight Feature: The Violinist of Venice: A Story of Vivaldi by Alyssa Palombo

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Spotlight Feature: The Violinist of Venice: A Story of Vivaldi by Alyssa Palombo

Out now just in time for the holidays come THE VIOLINIST OF VENICE by Alyssa Palombo. This book would be the perfect gift for the music lover, romance reader, or historical fiction aficionado on your list.

This book is a fictional account of 18th century Venetian composer, Vivaldi, and his secret mistress, is at its core, a story of passion. Passion for art, passion for love, and what happens when the two collide.

I have this one to review next month and I have to tell you…..I can hardly wait! It sounds so well written and engaging. Not to mention I am in serious cover lust!

With rich historical settings, forbidden love, and enchanting musical strains, this book has mass appeal for a lot of different readers. Here is the summary to entice readers:

Like most 18th century Venetians, Adriana d’Amato adores music-except her strict merchant father has forbidden her to cultivate her gift for the violin. But she refuses to let that stop her from living her dreams and begins sneaking out of her family’s palazzo under the cover of night to take violin lessons from virtuoso violinist and composer Antonio Vivaldi. However, what begins as secret lessons swiftly evolves into a passionate, consuming love affair.
Adriana’s father is intent on seeing her married to a wealthy, prominent member of Venice’s patrician class-and a handsome, charming suitor, whom she knows she could love, only complicates matters-but Vivaldi is a priest, making their relationship forbidden in the eyes of the Church and of society. They both know their affair will end upon Adriana’s marriage, but she cannot anticipate the events that will force Vivaldi to choose between her and his music. The repercussions of his choice-and of Adriana’s own choices-will haunt both of their lives in ways they never imagined.
Spanning more than 30 years of Adriana’s life, Alyssa Palombo’s The Violinist of Venice is a story of passion, music, ambition, and finding the strength to both fall in love and to carry on when it ends.

Praise for THE VIOLINIST OF VENICE:

Vivid and alive and thrumming with the exquisite strains of violin music, the novel explores the impossible choices between love and duty and the demands of art in the decadent world of early 18th century Venice.”

―Kate Forsyth, international bestselling author of Bitter Greens

About the Author

ALYSSA PALOMBO has published short historical fiction pieces in Black Lantern, Novelletum, and The Great Lakes Review. She is a recent a graduate of Canisius College with degrees in English and creative writing, respectively, as well as a trained classical musician. The Violinist of Venice is her first novel. She lives in Tonawanda, New York. You can find out more about her and her books on her website and be sure to follow her on Twitter!

Where to buy

If you are ready to start reading it immediately, you can purchase your copy on Amazon right now!

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

Review: Médicis Daughter: A Novel of Marguerite de Valois by Sophie Perinot

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: Médicis Daughter: A Novel of Marguerite de Valois by Sophie Perinot

Catherine de Medicis is one of my most favorite queens in history. I’ve read a lot of books on her…..I mean how could you not admire her in some ways? She was about as cutthroat and unapologetic as they come which I kind of admire in some of history’s most famous queens.

Her name is notorious so when this book came across my nightstand for review, I jumped on it. While it is not about Catherine herself necessarily, it’s about the Medicis so that was enough for me! Plus I don’t know much about her children, just about her, so I was really interested in reading this one.

Princess Margot is summoned to the court of France, where nothing is what it seems and a wrong word can lead to ruin.

Margo’s mother, Queen Catherine, is notoriously known as Madame la Serpente. Catherine is a powerful force in a country that is continually devastated by religious war. Margo must learn how to navigate the royal court. Margo is an obedient daughter and accepts that she will likely be a marriage pawn but she doesn’t plan on falling in love.

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Books, Reading

Paperback Release: UNBECOMING by Rebecca Scherm

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Paperback Release: UNBECOMING by Rebecca Scherm

In January, I was lucky enough to get to review UNBECOMING by Rebecca Scherm! It was a complex thriller that had a bit of an edgy, gritty side which I loved!

Now this wonderful read is out in paperback just in time for the holidays! If you are needing to pick up a last minute gift for the reader on your list this would be a good option!

Here is a little bit about the novel: UNBECOMING is a novel of literary suspense about a small-town girl who dabbles in self-forgery even before being swept into the world of international art fraud—but then makes herself at home in a dangerous, dare-devil milieu far from everything she once knew. Scherm’s delicately nuanced heist novel has echoes of Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith, and earned wide praise and comparisons to Gillian Flynn and Donna Tartt.

On the grubby outskirts of Paris, Grace restores bric-a-brac, mends teapots, and re-sets gems. She calls herself Julie, says she’s from California, and slips back to a rented room at night.  Furtively, she checks her hometown newspaper online. Back in Garland, Tennessee, two young men have been paroled and Grace knows that once they are free, her life will not be her own.

Riley Graham was the charming, favored small-town son who made Grace his when the two were very young.  Embraced by Riley’s family, especially his mother,  Grace polished her role as surrogate daughter and idealized girlfriend.

But she stumbles over a dark passion for Riley’s best friend, and flees Garland for Manhattan, NYU, and a seedy job with an art appraiser to pave her way into the competitive social scene. This leads only to dropping out and landing back home, broke and shaken.  There, using her new skills and a knack for re-invention, Grace begins methodically to plan a robbery of a local historical museum with Riley and his friends.

The heist goes bad—but not before Grace is on a plane to Prague with a stolen canvas rolled in her bag, a new haircut, and a new name.  And so begins a cat-and-mouse waiting game as Grace’s web of deception and lies unravels. Which part of her past will catch up with her first?

UNBECOMING is a major debut novel of literary suspense about a small-town girl who dabbles in self-forgery even before being swept into the world of international art fraud—but then makes herself at home in a dangerous, dare-devil milieu far from everything she once knew.

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

Review: The Conqueror’s Wife: A Novel of Alexander the Great by Stephanie Thornton

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: The Conqueror’s Wife: A Novel of Alexander the Great by Stephanie Thornton

This book was among my most anticipated novels of 2015. I adore Thornton’s novels because they are so unique.

One of the things I love best about Thornton is she writes about both famous and obscure women in antiquity….women that you may or may not have heard of but who have powerful stories.

I love that she has discovered an untapped market in historical fiction. There are shelves of books on the Tudors but not many on Alexander the Great’s Wife, Empress Theodora, or the Queens of Genghis Kahn!

So needless to say, having read so many of Thornton’s books, then I saw this one I was eager to start it!

The ancient world has been turned upside down……330s, B.C.E., Greece: Alexander, a handsome young warrior of Macedon, begins his quest to conquer the ancient world. But he cannot ascend to power, and keep it, without the women who help to shape his destiny.

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

Review: The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) by Philip Pullman

by The Lit Bitch4 Comments on Review: The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) by Philip Pullman

After reading Up To This Pointe earlier this month, I was dying to read something else set in the ‘north’ or in the ‘cold’.

The Golden Compass has been on my TBR shelf forever and now seemed like the perfect time to read it since it features the Northern Lights and the north pole as well as a host of other things!

Lyra Belacqua has been raised at Oxford’s, Jordan College, most of her young life. It is here that two very important people come to visit. the first is her uncle, Lord Asriel, who is an explorer and who has just returned from the north with some dangerous findings.

Lord Asriel suspects that there is an alternative universe on the Northern Lights which he believes he can access. Lord Asriel intends to venture back to the north to continue his research, immediately.

The other visitor is Mrs Coulter, who is put in charge of Lyra. Mrs Coulter is cultured, rich, and charismatic…..she too is an explorer and has a scientific operation in the north. Mrs Coulter intends to take Lyra to the north with her but not before she ‘grooms’ Lyra and gets her accustom to London society.

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