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Special Feature: The Yellow Bird Sings by Jennifer Rosner
This book has been popping up all over my social media—and I can see why! That cover! It gives me all the heart eyes for sure and I am so excited to share some details about the book with all of you guys today as well! Holocaust historical fiction novels have been really popular lately and my own personal theory is that this genre and time period is ripe with untold stories of families, sisters, friends, brothers, lovers, individuals and everyone in between. This book in particular is going to focus on a mother and daughter fleeing the Nazi’s. Shira, the daughter, is a piano prodigy and she must stay…
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First Impression Review: Children of the Stars by Mario Escobar
There are so many WWII books out that focus on female relationships and bonds during the war. Often it’s a sister or two best friends who grew close during the war. I haven’t seen any books featuring two boys, in this case brothers, during the war for quite some time which is why this book stood out to me. I am only a couple of chapters in and have yet to finish it, but the novel touches on many heavy hitting themes, especially because the two boys are Jews during the Holocaust. This book shows promise in a number of areas. The writing is solid and emotional, packing am emotional…
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Review: The King’s Justice (Maggie Hope #9) by Susan Elia MacNeal
When I first stumbled on Maggie Hope, it was early 2012. I was one of the first people to read and review Mr Churchill’s Secretary and I fell head over heals for Maggie right then and there! I have adored many of the books in the series thus far and I can’t believe we are on the 9th book already! Obviously when this book came up for review, I was thrilled to be reading more about Maggie’s journey and checking in with many of my favorite characters in the series. After the last book, I had high hopes for this one as well!
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Special Feature and Excerpt: Fair Weather Enemies by Sawyer North
Fair Weather Enemies by Sawyer North Publication Date: February 10, 2020 Entangled Publishing/Scandalous Paperback & eBook; 270 Pages Genre: Historical Romance The Hancocks and Ashfords have had a long-standing feud between their families long before Miss Jane Hancock couldn’t stand the sight of gentleman farmer Adam Ashford. But after both families fall on hard times and an unscrupulous creditor forces Jane and Adam to sign a devil’s bargain, they’ll finally understand the true meaning of keeping your enemies close at hand. The terms of this bargain? Locate a lost treasure shrouded in deception and mystery. The catch? Only one can claim it to win…the loser is left to…
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Review: The Winter Companion (Parish Orphans of Devon #4) by Mimi Matthews
To say that I have been eager to read this final installment of the Parish Orphans of Devon series is a gross understatement. I absolutely loved all of Mimi Matthews books and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one! Of all the orphans, Neville was probably to most mysterious character for me and the one we never seemed to get to know, beyond the basic back story told by the other characters. I was excited to see how Neville’s love story as well as his character unfolded in this book. There was so much discussion in the other books about how Neville’s accident as a child had…
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Special Feature and Giveaway: Paperback Release for The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr
The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr Paperback Publication Date: February 18, 2020 Atria Books Hardcover & eBook; 336 Pages Genre: Historical/Gothic/Mystery The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr is now out in paperback! In it, a post-mortem photographer unearths the dark secrets of a famed poet’s marriage in this “sensual, twisting gothic tale…in the tradition of A.S. Byatt’s Possession, Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale, and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights” (BookPage). Blurring the line between the past and the present, truth and fiction, and ultimately, life and death, The Lost History of Dreams is “a surrealist, haunting tale of suspense where every prediction turns out to…
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Take Two Review: Why Kill the Innocent (Sebastian St. Cyr #13) by C.S. Harris
When I first read this book, it was only the third book I had read in this series. I read book 1 and then book 12 before reading this one and that was it. I went into this one feeling a little lost in the series in regards to the principle characters, but tried to keep my focus on the mystery itself. Then back in Dec, I decided to bit the bullet as it were and read the entire series again from beginning to end as it was intended and what I have discovered is this series is positively unputdownable! While I might not love every book in the series,…
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Take Two Review: Where the Dead Lie (Sebastian St. Cyr #12) by C.S. Harris
I was first approached to read this series in 2017. At that time I hadn’t heard of Sebastian St Cyr and was hesitant to read the twelfth book in the series, so I read the first book with the intention of reading the series before this one, but sadly that was overly ambitious and I only had time for book 1 and then moved right into this one. At that time I enjoyed the mystery and didn’t feel lost in the mystery itself, but definitely felt lost with some of the other plot points threaded through out the series. As a result, I felt that it was a worthy while…
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Review: Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau
This author has written a variety of historical fiction novels that I have enjoyed over the years. And when I say variety, I mean variety. She’s written books about Tudor era mysteries with nuns and eighteenth century porcelain collectors and now here we are moving across the pond to Coney Island in the early 1900s. That’s a pretty impressive spread! All of her books have been well researched and incredibly detailed so I was more than happy to check this one out as well. There aren’t many books set in Coney Island and for me, it conjures romantic, carefree, and quirky images of by gone days so I was absolutely…
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Review: The Borgia Confessions by Alyssa Palombo
I have been a fan of Alyssa Palombo since her very first book. I think she is absolutely a fresh voice in historical fiction and I am always down to read one of her new books. Last year her book on Katrina Van Tassel was so fun and I was eager to see where her next story might take place. When I saw that it was in Italy featuring one of the most notorious families in history, I was so here for it! Palombo always does a marvelous job researching her novels so that they please history fans but they also have enough character development and intrigue to satisfy fans…