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Spotlight Feature: LOVING ELEANOR by Susan Wittig Albert
Loving Eleanor By Susan Wittig Albert Publication Date: February 1, 2016 Persevero Press; Thorndike (Large Print) Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Large Print Genre: Historical Fiction/Biographical Fiction When AP political reporter Lorena Hickok—Hick—is assigned to cover Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the wife of the 1932 Democratic presidential candidate, the two women become deeply, intimately involved. Their relationship begins with mutual romantic passion, matures through stormy periods of enforced separation and competing interests, and warms into an enduring, encompassing friendship that ends only with both women’s deaths in the 1960s—all of it documented by 3300 letters exchanged over thirty years. Now, New York Times bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert recreates the fascinating story…
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Review: The Tsarina’s Legacy by Jennifer Laam
The book begins with flashbacks to the Empress Catherine of Russia, and the relationship she had with Grigory ‘Grisha’ Potemkin. Grisha is in love with Catherine, and is trying to win back her heart. Unfortunately, Catherine has a new lover named Platon Zubov. Platon is a threat to Grisha, not only because he is Catherine’s lover, but also because he tries to influence Catherine. He is determined to preserve Catherine’s legacy he must save her from Zubov’s dangerous influence and win back her heart. Veronica Herrera receives news that she is an heiress to the Romanov throne, and receives an invitation to go to Russia. Seeking purpose, Veronica agrees to act…
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Review: The Girl from the Paradise Ballroom by Alison Love
Soho, 1937. When struggling Italian singer Antonio meets the wife of his wealthy new patron he recognizes her instantly: it is Olivia, the captivating dance hostess he once encountered in the seedy Paradise Ballroom. Olivia is afraid that Antonio will betray the secrets of her past, but little by little they are drawn together, outsiders in a glittering world to which they do not belong. At last, with conflict looming across Europe, the attraction between them becomes impossible to resist – but when Italy declares war on Britain, the impact threatens to separate them for ever… That’s the description of this latest historical fiction novel and to my surprise…..the description…
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Review: The Winemakers by Jan Moran
Caterina Rosetta has got some big time choices to make in her life but her options are limited. She’s had a daughter out of wedlock with a man who she thinks has abandoned her….and since it’s the 1950’s, having a child out of wedlock basically means social suicide. She hasn’t told her mother about the baby because she knows her mother will basically disown her so she needs to give the baby up for adoption…..but she can’t bring herself to do that either. Her mother basically raised her all on her own, so why can’t she raise her daughter by herself? Caterina is an accomplished sommelier who has grown up in a…
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Review: Waging War (The Immortal Descendants #4) by April White
For the last couple of years I’ve been a big fan of the Immortal Descendants series! It’s been really fun watching the series evolve and mature over the years! I love the main characters and the premise for the story so when Waging War came out I naturally agreed to review it! In the previous books, Clocker Saira Elian, time travels through multiple different periods to save friends, family, of course stop the Mongers from gaining power. This book is no different….this time we find Saira time traveling to WWII to try and stop a brutal massacre. Saira and her friend Ringo, travel back to WWII Bletchley Park to team up…
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Review: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
This has been the year of Jane Eyre inspired literature and this latest Jane Eyre revisitation was something quite unexpected. Any book that has the passage ‘reader I murdered him’ so eloquently stated and matter-of-factly, instantly holds a special place in my heart! When we first meet Jane Steele she is living with her mother in a small cottage on the grande estate of Highgate House. All her life Jane is told she is to inherit Highgate House but when her mother dies unexpectedly Jane’s evil aunt purposes to send her away to a school where she will learn to be a governess. After first hearing this news, Jane runs…
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Review: The Arrangement by Ashley Warlick
M.F.K. Fisher is American’s most well known food writer. Her writing abilities created a new literary genre all about food….that’s some pretty impressive writing! What isn’t known about this interesting woman, is much about her personal life. That’s what writer Ashley Warlick plans to do……create a more or less fiction account of a factual figure. When we meet Mary Frances, she is young, restlessly married, and returning from her first sojourn in France……she is hungry, and not just for food. She begins writing to impress friend and neighbor Tim, who seems to understand her better than anyone. Mary Frances and her husband, Al, no longer share the things that once bound…
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Review: The Song of Hartgrove Hall by Natasha Solomons
Over the last few years, I have seen Natasha Solomons’ books come up on my recommended reading lists quite a bit. Her signature style seems to be books about great houses and family scandals set in war time or post war England……sort of reminiscent of Downton Abbey. The books opens on New Year’s Eve, 1946. Candles flicker, a gramophone scratches out a tune as guests dance and sip champagne— for one night Hartgrove Hall relives better days. Harry Fox-Talbot and his brothers have returned from the war determined to save their once grand home from ruin. But the arrival of beautiful wartime singer Edie Rose tangles the threads of love…
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Review: In Another Life by Julie Christine Johnson
Historian Lia Carrer has finally returned to southern France, determined to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. But instead of finding solace in the region’s quiet hills and medieval ruins, she falls in love with Raoul, a man whose very existence challenges everything she knows about life–and about her husband’s death. As Raoul reveals the story of his past to Lia, she becomes entangled in the echoes of an ancient murder, resulting in a haunting and suspenseful journey that reminds Lia that the dead may not be as far from us as we think. Steeped in the rich history and romantic landscape of rural France, In Another…
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Book Blast: BANISHED (Forbidden #2) by Kimberley Griffiths Little
Banished (Forbidden #2) by Kimberley Griffiths Little Publication Date: February 2, 2016 HarperCollins Hardcover & Ebook; 416 Pages Series: Forbidden, Book #2 Genre: YA/Historical/Romance She thought she�d lost everything . . . After spending months traveling the harsh, unforgiving Mesopotamian desert, Jayden reunites with a broken, injured Kadesh. Although everyone was convinced the violent and unpredictable Horeb, Jayden�s betrothed, killed the handsome prince, Jayden knew in her heart that her love was alive and safe. But their reunion is short-lived, as they learn Horeb is on their trail and determined to take back the girl he has claimed. Soon, the two star-crossed lovers are on the run toward…