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Review: The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley (Audible Edition)
One night I was browsing for a new audiobook on Audible and the book The Light Behind the Window by Lucinda Riley popped up as a recommended read. I was so excited because I thought it was a new Lucinda Riley book so I downloaded it immediately. Then I realized that it wasn’t a new Lucinda Riley book but rather the UK title for The Lavender Garden. Which was actually ok because I have had The Lavender Garden on my TBR since 2013 so I thought it must have been a sign that it was time to read it. I started listening to it in my car while driving my…
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Review: A Pretty Deceit (Verity Kent #4) by Anna Lee Huber
I have been a long time fan of Anna Lee Huber and I have read every single one of her books. I never miss one of her new releases so obviously I had the next Verity Kent book on my calendar months before its release. When I first started this series it felt different than Huber’s other books not just in time period but in characters too. Verity Kent has a lot more grit and grey area to her than some of Huber’s other heroines. And don’t even get me started on Sidney. I have struggled with Sidney’s character since the first book and have in all honesty never quite…
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Review: Before the Crown by Flora Harding
Not only is this cover absolutely breathtaking, but the story sounded excellent as well. But in all honesty, it was the cover that captured my attention and made me want to read this one! Thanks to shows like The Crown, royals and Queen Elizabeth have been getting a lot of attention and focus. In The Crown though we don’t get too much background on the early years of Princess Elizabeth so that’s why this one excited me so much. This book promised to shed some light on the romance between Phillip and Elizabeth and I was absolutely here for it!
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Special Feature and Excerpt: The Woman Before Wallis by Bryn Turnbull
Wallis Simpson is the woman that I love to hate. Having read some books about her over the years (non fiction and fiction), I have jut formulated my opinion of her and I came to the conclusion that I just don’t like her—she seemed like an opportunist. But at the same time there is something terribly romantic about a king giving up his throne—the thing he had devoted his entire life to—just to marry the woman he loves. There is power in that story for sure. This novel isn’t just another Wallis Simpson story though. Before Wallis there were surely women that caught the future king’s eye and this is…
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Review: A Stroke of Malice (Lady Darby Mystery #8) by Anna Lee Huber
2019 wasn’t even over yet before I sunk my teeth into this one on a cold December afternoon. I adore this series and couldn’t resist picking this one up well before the official release date to see what adventures Gage and Lady Darby get up to this time around! I am sure a huge fan of Anna Lee Huber, I have read every single book she’s written and while some are better than others, both her Lady Darby and Verity Kent series are solid and tried and true favorites of mine and I would gladly clear my calendar for any of her books! I picked this one up on a…
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Review: Many Rivers to Cross (Inspector Banks #26) by Peter Robinson
This series has obviously been a long standing with. With 26 books in the series, it’s clear that people love Inspector Banks. I was thrilled to review this one when I was approached, but at the same time I was worried that being 26 books in, that I would be lost in the larger story. But if I have learned one thing about well known, longstanding thriller/mystery series, it’s that the authors usually try to keep things simple or at least explain the back story more for a new audience. After some debate, I decided to give this one a try and see how it went. I obviously wasn’t going…
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Review: Why Mermaids Sing (Sebastian St. Cyr #3) by C.S. Harris
This mystery series has been one that I have read and enjoyed but wouldn’t consider a favorite….until now. I picked up the later books in the series but hadn’t gone back to read the earlier books. While I didn’t always feel out of place or lost in the plot, there were clearly nuanced relationships between the characters within the larger narrative that left me feeling not as invested in the series as I had hoped. I read the first book a few years ago and thought it was good and at the time had planned to read the series in order, but I just didn’t have it in my reading…
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Review: When Gods Die (Sebastian St. Cyr #2) by C.S. Harris
I was approached a few years ago to read the Sebastian St Cyr series and at that time it was on book 12! I decided to give it a go, but I wanted to read the first book before I started book 12—so I did. I read the first book and I thought it was really good but I didn’t have a desire to go back and read the series from beginning to end so that I could read book 12. So read book 1 and then started book 12. Since then I have read books 12-14 with book 15 coming out later this spring. As I was approaching the…
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Review: 25 Days ‘Til Christmas by Poppy Alexander
As we headed into the holiday season, this book was all over my social media and the adorable cover had my name all over it! It sounded so great and I wanted to read it. I had it on hold at my library but at as December loomed closer, it became clear that I would likely not get this book until some time next spring. One of my favorite IG bookstagramers, Saturday Nite Reader, happened to post a photo of this book and I comment on in and like a Christmas miracle, she gifted me this book! I was to thrilled and started it immediately when it arrived!
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Review: Death and Other Happy Endings by Melanie Cantor
Sometimes persistence pays off. This book was pitched to me at least four times for review and each time I passed. Not because I didn’t want to read it, I just didn’t think I could fit it in anywhere close to the review date. It wasn’t until the book physically arrived at my house that I took some real stock of my review calendar to see if I could accommodate this book. The publicist for this book raved about it with such passion that I felt compelled to work it in. I hate missing out on great books simply for calendar purposes so I made it happen. I snuck in…