Review: Victoria by Daisy Goodwin

I am going to preface this post by saying that Queen Victoria is absolutely my favorite queen! I’ve had my eye on this book for MONTHS waiting for it to come out.

When this came up for review I literally jumped for joy. So I was already geared up to love this one but my biggest fear was that because I was so excited to read it that I didn’t want to be let down if it wasn’t good.

Well my fears were entirely unfounded! This was an excellent read!

Less than a month after her eighteenth birthday, a young Alexandrina Victoria is roused from bed with the news that her uncle has died and she is now Queen of England.

The men who run the country have doubts about whether this sheltered young woman can rule the greatest nation in the world. Surely she must rely on her mother and her adviser, Sir John Conroy, or her uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, who are all too eager to relieve her of the burdens of power.

She has very definite ideas about the kind of queen she wants to be, and the first thing is to choose her name.

Everyone keeps saying she is destined to marry her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, but Victoria found him dull and priggish when they met three years ago. She is quite happy being queen with the help of her prime minister, Lord Melbourne, who may be old enough to be her father but is the first person to take her seriously.
Continue reading “Review: Victoria by Daisy Goodwin”

Review: At the Edge of Summer by Jessica Brockmole

A couple of years ago I read Jessica Brockmole’s debut novel, LETTERS FROM SKYE and it was one of my most favorite books! I loved it! So when her follow up novel AT THE EDGE OF SUMMER came out, I was eager to read it and see if it too had the same magic as her first novel.

Luc Crépet is accustomed to his mother’s bringing wounded creatures to their idyllic château in the French countryside, where healing comes naturally amid the lush wildflowers and crumbling stone walls.

Yet his maman’s newest project is the most surprising: a fifteen-year-old Scottish girl grieving over her parents’ fate. A curious child with an artistic soul, Clare Ross finds solace in her connection to Luc, and she in turn inspires him in ways he never thought possible.

Then, just as suddenly as Clare arrives, she is gone, whisked away by her grandfather to the farthest reaches of the globe. Devastated by her departure, Luc begins to write letters to Clare—and, even as she moves from Portugal to Africa and beyond, the memory of the summer they shared keeps her grounded.

Years later, in the wake of World War I, Clare, now an artist, returns to France to help create facial prostheses for wounded soldiers. One of the wary veterans who comes to the studio seems familiar, and as his mask takes shape beneath her fingers, she recognizes Luc.

Continue reading “Review: At the Edge of Summer by Jessica Brockmole”

Review: Romancing the Inventor (Supernatural Society #1) by Gail Carriger

In the Parasol Protectorate books, one of my most favorite characters was the unconventional Genevieve Lefoux.

So when a short story was presented about the inventor I was totally on board.

I am a huge fan of Gail Carriger’s books and even though I don’t read a lot of short stories nor have I read any LBGTQ literature, I couldn’t help but want to read about the fascinating character that is Madam Lefoux.

Continue reading “Review: Romancing the Inventor (Supernatural Society #1) by Gail Carriger”

Review: Christmas in Paris by Anita Hughes

Isabel had made a huge decision to call off her wedding one week before the nuptials. Career minded and independent, the thought of giving up her lucrative career in finance for life on a farm is unprecedented.

She does the only sensible thing….calling it off as she knows she won’t be happy. Her ex-fiance suggests that she take their honeymoon tickets to Paris to clear her head and figure out where her life is going.

As she stand on the balcony of the elite Hotel Crillon, admiring the city of lights, she realizes she is locked out on her terrace.

Continue reading “Review: Christmas in Paris by Anita Hughes”

Special Feature: Triple Love Score by Brandi Megan Granett

 

triple-love-score-coverWhat happens when you stop playing games?

Miranda Shane lives a quiet life among books and letters as a professor in a small upstate town. When the playing-by-the-rules poet throws out convention and begins to use a Scrabble board instead of paper to write, she sets off a chain of events that rattles her carefully planned world.

Her awakening propels her to take risks and seize chances she previously let slip by, including a game-changing offer from the man she let slip away. But when the revelation of an affair with a graduate student threatens the new life Miranda created, she is forced to decide between love or poetry.

Publisher: Wyatt-Mackenzie – Sept. 1, 2016

Continue reading “Special Feature: Triple Love Score by Brandi Megan Granett”