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Review: The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
To say that I was exited to get this book in the mail is an absolute understatement. I actually squealed in excitement when I opened this book up! The cover is magical and haunting and the summary sounded like something I was absolutely going to sink my teeth into immediately! Victorian England, creepy stalkers, and all sorts of disturbing gothic devices were promised in the summary. I could hardly contain my excitement. I was ecstatic to read this one and cracked it open almost immediately and what awaited me in the pages was a dark and disturbing story in addition to creepy dolls.
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Review: The Lost Letter by Mimi Matthews
In my binge reading of Mimi Matthews books, I saved her first book as the last in my binge reading. I loved seeing how her writing evolved over the books and reading this one last was a treat. While her writing might have evolved, all the hallmarks that make me love her books are evident in each and every book from the beginning. Snappy, humorous dialogue, elegant settings, memorable characters, and glorious romantic tension. This book definitely had a Beauty and the Beast feel and I couldn’t get enough of it. Even though it was short (more of a novel length at just over 200 pages), it felt like a…
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Cover Reveal: Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau
Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau Publication Date: January 16, 2020 Endeavor Quill Genre: Historical Fiction The year is 1911 when twenty-year-old heiress Peggy Batternberg is invited to spend the summer in America’s Playground. But the invitation to Coney Island is unwelcome. Despite hailing from one of America’s richest families, Peggy would much rather spend the summer at the Moonrise Bookstore where she works voluntarily, than keeping up appearances with Brooklyn socialites and her snobbish, controlling family. But soon it transpires that the hedonism of Coney Island affords Peggy more of the freedom she has been longing for. For one, she finds herself in love with a troubled pier-side artist…
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Review: The Viscount and the Vicar’s Daughter by Mimi Matthews
I have been being reading all of Mimi Matthews books in the last few weeks. I read her holiday book, A Holiday by Gaslight, last fall/winter and loved it but just didn’t get around to reading her other books. Flash forward to the spring, I was asked by a longtime blogger friend if I would participate in the book tour for Matthews latest book, The Work of Art. I was so glad to put this book on my calendar and looked forward to reading it. I burned through it and then was left wanting more Matthews! Since then I have read the two books in her Parish Orphans of Devon…
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Review: A Modest Independence (Parish Orphans of Devon #2) by Mimi Matthews
Ahhh Mimi Matthews, where have you been my whole life?! Matthews writes such wonderful historical romance of the drawing room variety and she does such a fantastic job. I only recently started reading her books and now I simply can’t stop! As soon as I finished The Work of Art, I started this series and polished it off in a matter of days. Now I am on to her other stand alone books and I absolutely love every single one of them. I don’t know what I am going to read once I am done with her books! I need more authors like her to pick from! Her books are…
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Review: The Matrimonial Advertisement (Parish Orphans of Devon #1) by Mimi Matthews
I read a short story by Mimi Matthews back in December last year and loved it but it was months before I read one of her full novels. In fact, I just read my first full length book by Matthews a couple of weeks ago and I fell even more in love with her writing! So much so, that I knew without a doubt that I needed to read all of her books and the sooner the better. So I binged this book in the space of 24 hours. I started with the Audible edition, but quickly changed to the written form since I read much faster that way and…
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Review: Relative Fortunes (Julia Kydd #1) by Marlowe Benn
I decided to read this book based purely on the cover art. The cover art suggests a fun historical mystery with a quirky and fashionable lady detective. Plus it was the first in a new series and I couldn’t help but get excited to be one of the first people to read Julia Kydd! The 1920s aren’t really my favorite era to read, but I love the art and fashion and have read a few historical mysteries that have been set in that period and loved them so I am typically open to reading more from that time period. I was excited to see that this was the authors first…
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Review: The Work of Art by Mimi Matthews
At Christmas, I had the privilege of reading Mimi Matthews’ holiday novella, Holiday by Gaslight, and absolutely adored it. I read it in like one sitting and often thought about what a great story it was. I wanted desperately to pick up her other books, but that the time I just couldn’t fit them in. Since then she has become a USA Today Best Selling Author, and I continue to see people raving about her books all over my social media. When this book came up for review, I didn’t have room for it, but I knew I just had to work it in somehow. I remembered reading the holiday…
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Re Post Review: The Prisoner in the Castle (Maggie Hope Mystery #8) by Susan Elia MacNeal
When I first discovered the Maggie Hope books back in 2012, I was overjoyed to find another new and exciting sleuth but this time with a new twist, she was more of a spy versus an amateur detective. As time has gone by, I have grown incredibly attached to Maggie Hope and her author, Susan Elia MacNeal. I was one of the first readers of this series and one of the first people to openly love and rave about Maggie to anyone who would listen. Since then, there have been eight books and each one so different from the other. Her character arc has gone in a number of different…
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Review: The Summer Country by Lauren Willig (Audible Edition)
To say that Lauren Willig is a favorite author of mine is the understatement of the year. Everything she touches is like magic for me. She is hands down one of my favorite authors and an author I have on auto-buy. Lauren Willig is historical fiction at its best—plain and simple. When I saw this book was coming out and that it was set in the exotic location of Barbados, I knew it was going to be glorious and I had it on pre-order almost immediately. I was also gifted and early ARC of this book as well, but I knew between the cover and the author, I needed the…