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Review: The Dressmakers Dowry by Meredith Jaeger
A popular theme in historical fiction is dual storylines. Typically one is told in the present day and the other in the past. In my latest novel up for review, The Dressmaker’s Dowry, this same theme makes an appearance. San Francisco: 1876. Immigrant dressmakers Hannelore Schaeffer and Margaret O’Brien struggle to provide food for their siblings, while mending delicate clothing for the city’s most affluent ladies. When wealthy Lucas Havensworth enters the shop, Hanna’s future is altered forever. With Margaret’s encouragement and the power of a borrowed green dress, Hanna dares to see herself as worthy of him. Then Margaret disappears, and Hanna turns to Lucas.
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Review: Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1) by Cassandra Clare
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Special Feature: Excerpt from THE ORPHAN’S TALE by Pam Jenoff
I am excited to announce that I will be reviewing this book in March but I couldn’t wait to share a little teaser of this book with you my Dear Readers! Pam Jenoff won me over with her novel THE LAST SUMMER AT CHELSEA BEACH which was fantastic. So seeing this latest book about to hit the shelves made me really excited! If you love dramatic, elegant writing and first rate story telling, then this is an author you don’t want to pass up! I am thrilled to have an except from THE ORPHAN’S TALE, Jenoff’s latest book for you to check out today! But first here is a little…
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Review: Love and Gravity by Samantha Sotto
There is something about time travel books that hold a place near and dear to my heart! I guess it’s because I love the thought of me myself being able to just fall into a new time period. I think it’s romantic and exciting so whenever new books come up with time travel as a theme, I am almost always on board with reviewing them. I don’t know much about Isaac Newton but I thought this book sounded compelling and I was anxious to review it based on the time travel component. Andrea Louviere is seven years old the first time he appears. While she’s alone in her bedroom, practicing…
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Review: Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1) by Cassandra Clare
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Review: Stolen Beauty by Laurie Lico Albanese
What are the odds that the first few books that I’ve reviewed this month have all been so good? That rarely happens to me but for some reason the stars have aligned and this month has been a fantastic kick off to the new year book-wise! The last few novels have all been set during war time and I love love love the drama and romance that comes from a war era novel. This novel was full of beautiful language and writing. From the dawn of the twentieth century to the devastation of World War II, this exhilarating novel of love, war, art, and family gives voice to two extraordinary…
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Review: Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1) by Cassandra Clare
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Review: No Man’s Land by Simon Tolkien
So an embarrassing full literary disclosure….I have never read any of The Lord of the Rings books so I have no first hand knowledge of JRR Tolkien’s writing abilities but the popularity of the series speaks for itself. Many have praised this debut novel by Simon Tolkien (JRR’s grandson), as worthy of the Tolkien name in the literary world. When this novel came across my desk for review, the last name of course immediately captured my attention and I was eager to see what the novel was about. Obviously the Tolkien name carries a lot of clout in the literary world but I wondered if this new author would be…
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Review: The Fire by Night by Teresa Messineo
2017 has started off as a very good year for me when it comes to reading choices! This book, THE FIRE BY NIGHT, sounded so full of potential and interesting that I couldn’t pass it up. This is the story of two nurses who meet during WWII. In war-torn France, Jo McMahon, an Italian-Irish girl from the tenements of Brooklyn, tends to six seriously wounded soldiers in a makeshift medical unit. Enemy bombs have destroyed her hospital convoy, and now Jo single-handedly struggles to keep her patients and herself alive in a cramped and freezing tent close to German troops. There is a growing tenderness between her and one of…
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Special Feature: LEOPARD AT THE DOOR by Jennifer McVeigh
Jennifer McVeigh burst onto the literary scene in 2013 with The Fever Tree, an exquisite novel that earned rave reviews (see below) and elicited comparisons to Gone With the Wind, The Thorn Birds, and Out of Africa. McVeigh now delivers on the promise of that debut with LEOPARD AT THE DOOR, a sweeping saga and January 2017 IndieNext Pick that spotlights East Africa in all its fierce beauty. McVeigh offers an unforgettable portrait of life in mid-twentieth-century Kenya, a British colony in violent transition with political and racial tensions erupting against the fading backdrop of the British Empire. Kirkus Reviews raved, “Readers who want a story that keeps them on…
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Book Blast: Marlene: A Novel of Marlene Dietrich by C.W. Gortner
Marlene: A Novel of Marlene Dietrich by C.W. Gortner Paperback Release Date: December 13, 2016 William Morrow, Harper Collins ISBN: 9780062406071; 432 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction/Contemporary Women/Biographical Marlene Dietrich’s femme fatale persona defined her, but behind the glitz of 1930s Hollywood was a remarkably modern woman, determined to live by her own terms. A rebellious girl, Marlene’s genteel family expectations curtail her until Germany’s defeat in the Great War gives rise to the decadence of Weimar Berlin. Here, Marlene finds her niche as a cabaret actress. With her sultry beauty, smoky voice, and androgynous tuxedo, she performs to packed houses and has a series of stormy love affairs that push…
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Book Blast: You’re the Cream in My Coffee by Jennifer Lamont Leo
You’re the Cream in My Coffee by Jennifer Lamont Leo Publication Date: September 15, 2016 Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas eBook & Paperback; 292 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction/Christian In 1928, Chicago rocks to the rhythm of the Jazz Age, and Prohibition is in full swing. Small-town girl Marjorie Corrigan, visiting the city for the first time, has sworn that coffee’s the strongest drink that will pass her lips. But her quiet, orderly life turns topsy-turvy when she spots her high school sweetheart–presumed killed in the Great War–alive and well in a train station. Suddenly everything is up for grabs. Although the stranger insists he’s not who she thinks he is,…
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Book Blast: The Semper Sonnet by Seth Margolis
The Semper Sonnet by Seth Margolis Publication Date: April 19, 2016 Diverson Publishing eBook & Paperback; 374 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery/Thriller READ AN EXCERPT. In this stunning thrill ride, perfect for fans of Dan Brown and Steve Berry, a long-lost manuscript, written for Elizabeth I, holds the key to unlocking the past—and to eliminating the future. Lee Nicholson is ready to take the academic world by storm, having discovered a sonnet she believes was written by William Shakespeare. When she reads the poem on the air, the words put her life in peril and trigger a violent chase, with stakes that reach far beyond the cloistered walls of…
