Tag: British Lit

Review: A Murderous Malady (Florence Nightingale Mystery #2) by Christine Trent

~ The Lit Bitch ~ 1 Comment

Christine Trent is an author I have had on my radar forever it seems like. When her Lady of Ashes series first came out, I tried to win a copy for months to no avail.

Then as always seems to happen….I was on to another book. But I did continue to see her Lady of Ashes series pop up all over the place….my library, bookstores, social media. But then the timing just never seemed right.

Now she has a new series out, The Florence Nightingale Mysteries, and I was eager to try and work this latest book into my review schedule. It is the second book in a series, but I wasn’t too worried about being ‘lost’ because the series basically just started so how much could I really be missing by picking up book 2?

So I decided to give it a shot and see if this new series would appeal to me! Continue reading “Review: A Murderous Malady (Florence Nightingale Mystery #2) by Christine Trent” →

Review: Who Slays the Wicked (Sebastian St. Cyr #14) by C.S. Harris

~ The Lit Bitch ~ 3 Comments

This is another series that I came into way late in the game. I read the first book in the series and then skipped a head to books 12 and 13. And of course now, here we are at book 14.

I love Sebastian, AKA Viscount Devlin, though so I couldn’t pass up this book when it came up for review. I will get into how jumping around in the series effected my reading experience later on in my review, but for now I want to talk a little bit about why this series appealed to me.

When I was pitched the 12th book, I hadn’t heard of this series before so I figured I better go back and read the first book before I even start the 12th book. I immediately fell in love with the Viscount Devlin and felt that this series was a little gritty compared to some of the other amateur detective novels I had read up until that point.

I will say though, that I don’t know what happened with the cover art here. The last few books have moved away from the more colorful style and changed to more black and white. I am not sure that I care for the black and white covers as much as the more colorful options. The colorful ones stand out to me! Continue reading “Review: Who Slays the Wicked (Sebastian St. Cyr #14) by C.S. Harris” →

Review: The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen

~ The Lit Bitch ~ 3 Comments

I stopped reading the review pitch once I saw ‘WWI’ in the description, which was basically the first line in the summary. I have read a lot of stand alone novels by Bowen and have been impressed with her writing and historical research.

Her stand alone books have mostly been set in WWII, but WWI is truly my favorite period in historical fiction, so seeing that this book was set during that time earned this book and instant and enthusiastic, ‘yes’ from me.

I have consistently enjoyed reading Bowen’s books, whether they are one of her historical mysteries or her stand alone novels. She as an incredible gift for writing vastly different content and managing to keep all of her heroines fresh and interesting. Continue reading “Review: The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen” →

Review: One Day in December by Josie Silver

~ The Lit Bitch ~ 1 Comment

One of my absolute favorite holiday movie is Love Actually. I watch it every year and it never gets old no matter how cheesy and unrealistic is it.

My favorite couple David (Hugh Grant) and Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) followed closely by Juliet (Kira Knightly) and Mark (Andrew Lincoln). So when I saw this book so heavily compared to Love Actually and the Juliet/Mark couple, I was eager to read it.

It was my December Book of the Month pick and truth be told I almost passed on all the books for December on BOTM but, I saw so many excellent reviews about this one and decided at the last minute…..why not?

Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic…and then her bus drives away. Continue reading “Review: One Day in December by Josie Silver” →

Review: Hall of Mirrors (Bryant & May #15) by Christopher Fowler

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I happened to pick up the first book in the Bryant and May series a couple of years ago at my local used book shop. The first thing that caught my eye was the interesting and quirky cover.

In a sea of mystery novels the early Bryant and May covers really caught my eye. I would probably have never picked up the books had I not seen these lovely covers.

When I read the first book, the one thing that stood out head and shoulders above the rest was the dead pan banter between the two detectives—they had so much chemistry and it made the story fun to read and the shifting between the younger Bryant and May characters and the now older Bryant and May.

As soon as I was done I went out and bought the next four books in the series because not only did I love the covers but I loved the two detectives. But sadly that’s where things ended for me. I got caught up in other books and other series and just didn’t make my way back to this one for some reason.  Continue reading “Review: Hall of Mirrors (Bryant & May #15) by Christopher Fowler” →