Books, Reading

Cover Reveal: The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Cover Reveal: The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau

The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau

Publication Date: August 10, 2023
Lume Books

Genre: Historical Thriller

There is a certain hour, in the dead of night, when the orchid’s scent can put you under a spell…

“Nancy Bilyeau has created a beautifully layered and utterly seductive tale… and, at its living, tender heart, a strong-willed and magnetic heroine.” – Emilya Naymark, author of Behind the Lie, finalist for the 2023 Sue Grafton Award

Nancy Bilyeau, author of The Crown and The Blue, returns with a tantalizing novel about one woman caught up in a secret nightclub that one can only reach through a certain florist on a cobblestone street.

New York City, 1923. Zia De Luca’s life is about to be shattered. Having lost her husband to The Great War, she lives with her son and in-laws in Little Italy and works at the public library. But when a quiet poetry lover is murdered outside the library, the police investigation focuses on Zia. After a second tragedy strikes even closer to home, Zia learns that both crimes are connected to a new speakeasy in Greenwich Village called The Orchid Hour.

When the police investigation stalls, Zia decides to find her own answers. A cousin with whom she has a special bond serves as a guide to the shadow realm of The Orchid Hour, a world filled with enticements Zia has shunned up to now. She must contend with a group of players determined to find wealth and power in New York on their own terms. In this heady atmosphere, Zia begins to wonder if she too could rewrite her life’s rules. As she’s pulled in deeper and deeper, will Zia be able to bring the killers to justice before they learn her secret?

To be published August 10, 2023, in the U.S., the UK, Canada, and Australia, in original paperback and ebook.

The pre-order is on a special discount for the ebook: geni.us/TOHPre-Order

Continue reading “Cover Reveal: The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau” →
Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft

Normally I don’t like reading books with swindler female leads. I read Pretty Things a few years ago and I didn’t love it. Since then I have been a little gun shy when it comes to books featuring female swindlers but something about this book just kept nudging me to pick it up. Maybe it was the cute title, maybe it was tiger sexy looking cover. Who knows by I finally decided to take a chance and read this one. After all, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover or by other books that might be entirely different than what the current book promises to be.

This is also a debut novel and sometimes those are the best. There are no other works to be compared to, no other expectations to maintain or hit. Just the single book to win readers over and for me there is a certain excitement in that and I was eager to see if Rachel Koller Croft would be a hit for me as a debut novel.

Honestly I wasn’t sure what I was in store for based on the summary. Would it be a murder mystery? A thriller? A psychological thriller? Women’s fiction? Suspense? The beautiful cover suggests a thriller but will it include a murder? I am already intrigued by this book and I have only read the summary and seen the cover—clearly my curiosity was peaked so naturally I had to add this one to my review calendar. I couldn’t wait to see what I uncovered in this one.

Continue reading “Review: Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft” →
Books, Reading

Special Feature: Bright and Deadly Things by Lexie Elliott

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Special Feature: Bright and Deadly Things by Lexie Elliott

Murder in the French Alps? YES PLEASE! That was the first thing that caught my eye about this book. I didn’t need to read much more into the summary to know that this would be a book for my TBR list! This book is set in a remote area of the French Alps and I couldn’t think of a more tantalizing location to set a murder mystery. As we move into what I like to call the longest shortest month of the year (February), I think this is just the book that I need to read! February is always cold, dreary and depressing in the PacNW. It rains, it’s cold and we still have winter storms moving through with snow and ice. Which means we are usually curled up in front of a fireplace with a good book. For me that choice book is usually a murder mystery and this one sounds perfect!

After swooning over the summary, I realized I had read books by Lexie Elliott before! Two in fact and I really enjoyed them so naturally I found myself eager to see what this book was about. I couldn’t fit it in this month’s reading line up but I do have it for next month so I will be sure to share my thoughts with you guys once I am done. This book has been recommended to fans of Ruth Ware and I would say that’s a great author comparison. Elliott writes smart, thought out mysteries that will leave readers hungry for more.

If you love lock room mysteries this is going to be one you want on your radar for this late winter, early spring time. Like with many lock room mysteries, the setting and feel are key and having sampled Elliott’s writing style before, I can say with confidence that she will deliver on this aspect of the mystery. This one is out now and receiving positive reviews, so be sure to get this one on your TBR list and whisk yourself away to the French Alps for a bit of mystery and murder!

Continue reading “Special Feature: Bright and Deadly Things by Lexie Elliott” →
Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Take the Lead (Dance Off #1) by Alexis Daria

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Take the Lead (Dance Off #1) by Alexis Daria

I first discovered Alexis Daria when I snagged a copy of You Had Me At Hola. I loved the premise of the book and the representation of so many Latinx characters and the whole Spanish soap opera angle really hooked me. I thought the stories were good and I loved the romances that bloomed off the pages. So naturally when I saw this new series come up for review, I was all about it! I also liked that this book featured a biracial romance. Overall it wasn’t a hard sell for me to pick this one up! And since today is Valentines Day I think this is an appropriate time to put out my review!

There was only one thing I was a little hesitant with this one. While I liked the idea of an on screen romance in You Had Me At Hola, I was less convinced about the on screen romance of a reality show. I think that is such a hard sell and for me it was a gamble. Daria does write solid romances so I decided not to over think it too much and just see how it played out but I did have some reservations about that part.

Alexis Daria RITA award for her debut novel (You Had Me At Hola) and since then she has written additional installments to that series as well as starting this new one, all of which have rapidly gained a devoted fan following. If you are looking for a hot and upcoming romance writer, then you came to the right place! Alexis Daria has crafted some great reads, that includes this book. The more books I read by Daria, the more excited I am for her to put out the next one! I am so happy to see this is part of a new series, while I was for the next Primas of Power book!

Continue reading “Review: Take the Lead (Dance Off #1) by Alexis Daria” →
Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo

When this book came out, I jumped at it! I have read the Grisha books, specifically the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and while I didn’t love every book, I remember feeling like they had a lot of imagination with ambitious characters and for a YA series, there was a lot to enjoy. But I never really read anything else from Leigh Bardugo after that trilogy. But naturally her books are quite popular and can be found on many shelves around the blog-o-sphere.

When I saw this one was coming out, I wasn’t exactly ready to buy it or even put it on my TBR—-until I started seeing all these posts and reviews about how good it was—-THEN I was jumping to get my hands on it. I even got an autographed copy that’s how excited I was for this one. Then it came and I read the opening prologue and decided it wasn’t for ‘right now’. Keep in mind it came out Oct 2019, so it SHOULD have been a ‘right now’ book for me based on the creepy content, but I had finished reading some other heavy horror books at the time and I just wasn’t up for it. So I put it on my bookshelf. Then COVID hit and I just wanted to read something happy. So there it sat for the next few years.

Until, Hell Bent was released a few weeks ago. I had a renewed interest in The Ninth House, since I ordered Hell Bent. I had no idea this was even meant to be a series, but evidently it is. And it’s an adult series, not YA—though the characters are more ‘new adult’ it’s definitely not YA, it’s geared toward the older reader. So I decided it was time to dust off my copy of The Ninth House and read it so I could read Hell Bent!

Continue reading “Review: Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo” →