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Review: Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin
I recently read one of Melanie Benjamin’s books and was really taken by her research and writing abilities. When I saw that she had another book coming out so soon, I was eager to jump on board and see how this one compared. To be honest, I was way more excited about this book than the original book I read, The Girls in the Picture. This one sounded a little more like something I would be into. While I loved the ‘old Hollywood’ vibe in The Girls in the Picture, WWII is more my time period. As with the first book I read by this author, I love the cover…
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Take Two Review: The Seven Sisters (Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley (Audible)
I read this book for the first time back in the summer of 2015 and I remember how much I loved reading this book and especially how it made me fall in love with a new author. Since starting this book, I have continued with the Seven Sisters books and every time marvel at Riley’s story telling abilities. I recently read the latest Seven Sisters novel, The Moon Sister, and was thinking how much I love this series as a whole and will be so sad to see it come to an end. I have all the books but with my review schedule, it’s often hard to fit in rereads…
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Review: The Austen Playbook (London Celebrities #4) by Lucy Parker
I haven’t read anything by Lucy Parker before, but as I was reading the pitch summary, I hopped on to Goodreads to check out some reviews of Parker’s other books in this series to see if this was something I might want to read. It became very apparent that she has a lot of fans and that this series is one to watch. I also liked the title of this book. The title made it sounds like it was going to be a Jane Austen style romance which made me really excited to check it out! The cover was also eye catching. I liked the color scheme and the couple…
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Review: The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson (Audible Edition)
This book has received a huge amount of praise and it’s basically been everywhere I’ve turned in the last few months. Magazines, social media, recommended reading on Goodreads, and staff picks in book stores. Everywhere. I ordered the book when it first came out but then it got lost in all my other reading and largely I have been able to accomplish a lot more ‘reading’ by listening to audiobooks. So I decided to get this book on Audible and see if I could make some headway with it. Obviously this book appealed to me for a number of reasons. First of all, I love all things royal and second…
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Review: The View from Alameda Island by Robyn Carr
I have only recently discovered Robyn Carr’s books and so far I have really enjoyed the nice little escape they provide from day to day life. Carr has written a number of different standalone books and various series, and clearly has a huge following of devoted fans! So far I have stuck with the Sullivan’s Crossing series but I have been interested in checking out some of her other novels. She has been hugely successful and I can clearly see how experienced she is in her writing. Her books are often well written, believable, with interesting characters so when this book came up for review—a standalone—I was eager to try…
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Review: The Key to Happily Ever After by Tif Marcelo
The first thing that attracted me to this book was the title and the bright cover art! I found the title intriguing and it instantly made me think about things that make my own ‘happily ever after’ so special. I also thought the bright robin’s egg blue and yellow on the cover was so eye catching and I was instantly curious about this one and gladly agreed to read it! The summary of the book also sounded interesting. I have been reading a lot of historical mysteries as well as some heavy women’s fiction and frankly I needed something that was going to be more along the lines of a…
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Review: The Summer Retreat (Moonlight Harbor #3) by Sheila Roberts
As a younger reader, I had a really hard time with women’s fiction. I felt too young to relate to any of the characters and like I could never fully understand or realize their struggles. But I also felt like I was too old for the YA genre—at least at that time. Now that I am almost forty, I feel like I can finally appreciate women’s fiction in its entirety so lately I’ve been really open to this genre and enjoying it so much! Sheila Roberts is a fairly well known author to me. I haven’t read any of her books, but I have seen them quite a bit in…
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Review: When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton
I was beyond thrilled to receive this book on my desk for review. I had seen so many reviews for Cleeton’s novel, Next Year in Havana, which I still haven’t read yet—ugh—and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. However, her book wasn’t one that I ever thought to pick up on my multiple trips to my local bookstore. However, when this one magically appeared in my mailbox, I was so thrilled that I would finally be able to sample Cleeton’s writing with her latest novel! The cover looks like summer and the rainy afternoon that I picked this book up, was the perfect time for it.…
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Review: Glory Road by Lauren K. Denton
Southern fiction is a such a fun genre for me to read. I had never really differentiated books set in regional places, until I was in college and read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It was then that I fell in love with Southern fiction. It was very clear that books set in the South have a unique voice all their own and I simply can’t get enough. Whether it’s Southern Gothic (my absolute fav) or Southern romance, Southern beach reads, or Southern Women’s Fiction—I simply love it all, except there just aren’t a ton of books to pick from like there are for larger genres like…
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The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White (Audible Edition)
To say that the three “W” writers are some of my favorites is an understatement. I love all three of these authors and for different reasons. They each tell such a fantastic story and I love that they collaborated on this book together! I knew they all co-wrote another book, The Forgotten Room, but I haven’t yet read that one. When this one came out, I ordered the ebook but they as usual, it got buried in my endless TBR list. Then, I discovered audiobooks and was thrilled to see that this one came up as a suggestion based on my wish list. I knew that it was the right…