Tag: Romance

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: What the Mountains Remember by Joy Callaway

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: What the Mountains Remember by Joy Callaway

I love the Edwardian era. I love the hats, the dresses, and the history! There aren’t that many books set during that time period so when I see one come up for review, I usually jump on it! This particular author is a new to me author and while I have heard of some of her books, I haven’t read any of them yet! So when I saw this book up for review, I was eager for the time period/setting and because I love discovering new to me authors!

To be honest though, this setting didn’t really appeal to me—a new hotel, the Grove Park Inn in the North Carolina mountains, seemed a little basic and uninspiring. However when I started reading about the hotel, the setting grew on me. The Blue Ridge Mountains feel more rugged and robust to me so when I started reading this book I was thinking it would be more like roughing it camping rather than ‘glamping’. Ultimately I ended up really enjoying the setting which was surprising! I thought it added an interesting change for readers!

If you are a historical fiction fan, I hope this one is on your radar! It’s a lovely novel and I think readers will find something refreshing in the pages! I know I did! I am now eager to read more books by this author! I know she has written a number of other historical fiction books set during similar time periods with promising stories that offer new and untold narratives! I cannot wait to check out some of her other books as this one was wonderful!

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Special Feature and Excerpt: These Tangled Threads by Sarah Loudin Thomas

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Special Feature and Excerpt: These Tangled Threads by Sarah Loudin Thomas

This author is a new to me author which is one of the reasons why I wanted to check this book out! I love discovering new to me authors! Often I have authors that I already know and love or maybe a good friend or family member recommends someone to me, but overall I have kind of my ‘set go to’ authors. Which is all well and good but one of the reasons I started book reviewing is because I wanted to find new authors. This author has written quite a new books so she is not new to the writing world but new on my radar!

This book is a standalone and fits into a couple of genres, historical fiction, Christian Fiction, and Romance. So basically a little something for everyone! Lately I have been really scaling down my book reviews, I love book reviewing but I have come to a point where I need to be more selective with my reading calendar at times which has been good but also sometimes it sucks when books like this come along and I really want to read it! For this particular book, I opted to do an excerpt and before I knew it, I was looking at my calendar for later this spring to see if I could work this one in!

It sounded so good and I really enjoyed the excerpt I am sharing today! It’s rare that I make room on my review calendar but for this one, I am looking into late May for a review. It sounded so good and had so much to recommend it. If you love historical fiction with a little romance then I think this will be a book you will want to get on your radar. Keep reading below for all the details and of course a great except!

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: The Love Remedy (The Damsels of Discovery #1) by Elizabeth Everett

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: The Love Remedy (The Damsels of Discovery #1) by Elizabeth Everett

I always love a good historical romance novel especially when it’s part of a new series! I was super excited to read this one and knowing it was by an established author made me even more excited to read it. But I have to admit—I have been having a really hard time getting into Everett’s other series The Secret Scientists of London. By all accounts, the Secret Scientists of London should be a series that is 100% up my alley but I have tried reading the books and they just haven’t held my interest.

Now I know I am in the minority with readers of that series. But just because I couldn’t get into that series doesn’t mean that I was fully ready to write her off as an author. When this book came up for review, I was like ok here we go a fresh slate something new and different to try. This book is similar to the Secret Scientist series as it too has a STEM and science-y feel to it which has been a hot trend lately and I think that Victorian London really worked well as the setting for this book.

If you love historical romances, especially books with a STEM/science feel, then I think this book will be an exciting start to a new series. I think there are a few little things to figure out but overall I enjoyed this one more than I liked the other Secret Scientist books. Reading new series is one of the reasons I LOVE book blogging because I don’t know if I would have picked this one right right away had it not been floating around the blogosphere!

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: A Noble Scheme (The Imposters #2) by Rosanna M White

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: A Noble Scheme (The Imposters #2) by Rosanna M White

This author is a new to me author but I am already looking into the other books in this series! From the review pitch, I could see this was part of a series but that it could be read as a standalone which I completely agree with—it can easily be a standalone. But it was so fun and I quickly got sucked in and started looking into the series as a whole! While I know this book is only the second one, I see a third book is planned for November which I am excited to check out!

While this is a new to my author, I could see that she has written a number of successful historical fiction novels, and I really liked the sound of this book. I liked the time period the book was set in and I loved the idea of a second chance romance with the catalyst for the romance being a kidnapping. It suggested a little mystery and intrigue to go hand-in-hand with the romance parts. And let’s just take a minute to appreciate the cover of this novel! Outstanding cover design and it accomplished its task and made me want to read it!

Beautiful cover, interesting storyline, proven author—all the boxes were ticked for me when I decided to read it. I am so glad I said yes to this one, it was just the book I needed right now! Something light but not frivolous (this book had substance but wasn’t overly heavy IMO) and a book that held my interest that got me excited to pickup a new series! I cannot wait to read the first book in preparation for the upcoming third release in November!

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Murder in Masquerade (A Lady of Letters #2) by Mary Winters

by The Lit BitchLeave a Comment on Review: Murder in Masquerade (A Lady of Letters #2) by Mary Winters

I absolutely adored the first book in this series! I loved the idea of an advice column as a catalyst for a murder investigation (which is how the first book starts!) and while I didn’t think I would like reading the advice columns at the beginning of each chapter—it grew on my and now I love it! A cozy mystery with some romance was just what I needed going into the long winter months. I started this book in early January and was done with it in a matter of days and naturally I am anxious for the next book in the series to come out and sadly I am going to have to wait another year I bet!

I know the reading market is somewhat saturated with historical cozy mysteries/romances, but for me this one stood out for the advice column as a way to get readers ‘in the door’ as it were—it had a little overtones of Bridgerton with the advice column—but readers will stay for the charming characters and mystery! That’s how this series got me, I liked the idea of the story, but fell in love with Amelia and Simon and now I have a new favorite series on my list!

While this is only the second book in this series, I hope that it will be a long running one! This one can be read as a standalone, but there are some elements that readers won’t fully appreciate unless they read it in order. Since this is only book two you obviously don’t have to go back and read a ton of books. So if you are new to the series, sure read this one but also go back and read the first book. You wont’ regret it!

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