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Review: An Inquiry Into Love and Death by Simone St James
Many of you have noticed that I recently became completely obsessed with Simone St James’s novels. I started off with The Broken Girls (her latest novel out in March) and I was completely hooked on her writing style and plots. I ordered all of her books from my library and haven’t looked back. I’ve shamelessly read them all in the matter of days. Some are better than others naturally but all have an interesting plot angles and intriguing mysteries, ghosts, and romances. This book was actually on my radar well before I started reading her works. I love gothic novels, specifically Victoria Holt. This book came up on my Goodreads…
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Excerpt: The Longest Silence (Shades of Death #4) by Debra Webb
Spring reading is coming and with it comes a bunch of exciting new thrillers and mysteries to read over spring break. This latest hot thriller and romantic suspense novel, comes from USA Today best selling author, Debra Webb and I am thrilled to be able to offer a tantalizing excerpt for my readers! It’s due to come out March 1st, so mark your calendars and be on the look out for this new release! Joanna Guthrie was free. She had been for eighteen years–or so she needed everyone to believe. What really happened during the longest fourteen days of her life, when she and two other women were held captive…
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Review: Lost Among the Living by Simone St James
After finishing two of Simone St James novels in less than a week, I was thrilled when this one came into the library and was waiting patiently in the holds section for me to pick up. I had read a lot of great reviews for this book and was eager to see what kind of ghost and romance this story would hold. It sounded a little different than The Haunting of Maddy Clare but still within the same wheelhouse of that style, so I was intrigued. England, 1921. Three years after her husband, Alex, disappeared, shot down over Germany, Jo Manders still mourns his loss. Working as a paid companion…
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Review: The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St James
I discovered Simone St James by happenstance this month. I have her latest novel The Broken Girls to review in March–side note, order this book now, it’s fantastic. After reading The Broken Girls, I was so in love with her prose and style, that I picked up all of her novels to read as soon as possible! The first one to come into my library was The Haunting of Maddy Clare so I picked it up and almost read it in one sitting because it was that good! Sarah Piper’s lonely, threadbare existence changes when her temporary agency sends her to assist a ghost hunter. Alistair Gellis-rich, handsome, scarred by…
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Review: The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen
WWII romances are so my thing, but this book was so much more than just another romance. It’s story about family, loss, children, and life choices. It’s not very often that I find a book set during WWII that is set in some place other than England or France but this was that unique and rare occasion. In 1944, British bomber pilot Hugo Langley parachuted from his stricken plane into the verdant fields of German-occupied Tuscany. Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal. Nearly thirty years later, Hugo’s…
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Review: The Phantom’s Apprentice by Heather Webb
This book has been on my radar since I finished Webb’s cowritten novel, THE LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS. I loved that book and was eager to read more by her. Plus throw in that Phantom of the Opera is indeed one of my favorite films/operas and you have a reader who was EXTRA eager to read this book. This book is told from Christine’s perspective which intrigued me. I have never read the original Phantom of the Opera novel by Gaston Leroux, but I’m curious about how much of the original influenced this retelling. Christine Daaé sings with her violinist father in salons all over Paris, but she longs to…
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Review: Still Me (Me Before You #3) by Jojo Moyes
As many of you know, I have been a huge fan of Jojo Moyes novels for quite some time. I loved the first book in this series, Me Before You, and many of her other books have indeed been my guilty pleasure over the years. So for me, Me Before You did not need a sequel or to be made into a series. For me it ended on a high note and I didn’t think that it needed to be followed up by any more books which is why I didn’t really want to read After You. In fact I didn’t read the second book in this series. Which begs…
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Review: The Pearl Sister (The Seven Sisters #4) by Lucinda Riley
I have been a huge fan of Lucina Riley’s novels for quite some time, although I think I missed one back in 2016, THE SHADOW SISTER, which makes me sad because I love her books. I simply must go back and read that one before the year is out and the next book comes out! That said, I don’t feel like I missed a whole lot by skipping around within the series. Every story is unique and independent of the series as a whole, but that said they are all connected by central characters and other plot points, but again it’s not necessary to read them in order but it…
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Special Feature: A Treacherous Curse (Veronica Speedwell #3) by Deanna Raybourn
The day is finally here…..A TREACHEROUS CURSE is finally out! I had this book on pre-order the instant I was done with the second book. This is one of my all time favorite mysteries and Deanna Raybourn is a fantastic writer of romance and blending it with mystery! If you haven’t read her books, start with the first book in the Veronica Speedwell series….you won’t be disappointed! If you have already discovered this series, then like me you have been waiting for almost a year for the next book and today it is finally available! London, 1888. As colorful and unfettered as the butterflies she collects, Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell can’t…
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Review: Hearts of Resistance by Soraya M. Lane
This if my first official book of 2018….the first one that I read and reviewed this year. I read Lane’s earlier novel, Wives of War, back in June and was really impressed with her ability to write interesting characters and a romance that I was invested in. When Hearts of Resistance came up, it was an easy yes for me to review and I was thrilled to read it and see how Lane’s writing grew in the next book and what sort of romance was in store. At the height of World War II, three women must come together to fight for freedom, for the men they love—and for each…