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Special Feature: THE PARIS SPY (Maggie Hope Mystery #7) by Susan Elia MacNeal
Earlier this year I read the latest Maggie Hope mystery, THE PARIS SPY and was once again hooked on our favorite secretary turned spy! I happened to find this series via the cover. I saw the cover on one of my social media platforms back in 2012 and just knew that I had to read this book…..I was fortunate enough to get my hands on an ARC when it came up and was hooked! I have since read all of the Maggie books and was thrilled to learn that more are planned—I am not ready to say goodbye to my favorite red head just yet. This series has always been…
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Review: The Italian Party by Christina Lynch
Sometimes I feel adventurous and I read books outside of my traditional review genres. I do this for a couple of reasons……sometimes its for my own pleasure, meaning something sounded interesting. Other times it’s for my readers (and me too) so they are exposed to other books besides the normal preference. Then there are times when I’ve been deep in my usual review genre that I just need a break. That’s what happened with this book. I had been reading so many historical mysteries and cozies that I felt like I needed something different with a little more meat. Newly married, Scottie and Michael are seduced by Tuscany’s famous beauty.…
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Review: Agent in Place (Gray Man #7) by Mark Greaney
I’m one of those people that really really really loves government thrillers, military operatives, spy novels, and conspiracy stories. Admittedly I haven’t read a lot of classic ‘spy novels’ but secretly my dream job would be international spy master or CIA operative. Travel the world with unlimited resources and loose rules with no one to report to….it all sounds horribly romantic to me, which I am sure in real life it is anything but. However a girl can dream. In addition to my rose colored view of the world, I also have all the latest spy movies queued up ready to watch at any time. I love espionage and seeing…
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Review: The Lure of the Moonflower (Pink Carnation #12) by Lauren Willig
So this is the book that everyone has been waiting for in this series…..Jane’s romance with maybe the exception of me. I have never really been a fan of Jane in this entire series. Maybe in the beginning she had intrigue and promise but as the series has gone on I just have liked her less and less. But I had to finish the series all the same and Willig is always so good at making me fall in love with her heroines, I tried to keep an open mind. Portugal, December 1807. Jack Reid, the British agent known as the Moonflower (formerly the French agent known as the Moonflower),…
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Review: The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla (Pink Carnation #11) by Lauren Willig
This was the book I was least excited about reading in the series. It sounded completely out of Willig’s usual formula….like so far removed from her usual style that I just wasn’t thrilled about it. Vampires? In this series. No, no, and just no. Plus the heroine, Sally Fitzhugh, is not one that has even been on the fringes of the series up until like the last book and even then it was minimal. However, as I have said before, I am continually impressed with her ability to hook me into a believable romance and prove all my misconceptions wrong. So I tried to keep an open mind when I…
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Review: The Passion of the Purple Plumeria (Pink Carnation #10) by Lauren Willig
I don’t know why but I always seem to go into the later Pink Carnation books with a preconceived notion of the romance. With the last book, I was so not looking forward to it but found it was one of the more enjoyable ones! So one would think that I would keep an open mind. But I didn’t. I was not really looking forward to an ‘old person romance’ in this book…not that I’m a spring chicken mind you but still…something about Miss Gwen and Colonel Reid just didn’t scream sexy to me. In my mind, Miss Gwen is this old lady chaperone with pursed lips and grey hair…
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Review: The Garden of Intrigue (Pink Carnation #9) by Lauren Willig
This year I decided to officially participate in Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon for the first time ever. I had some time on my hands and some good books to start reading so I was eager for an excuse to sit and read undisturbed while my husband watched out little one. I started The Garden of Intrigue almost immediately after completing The Orchid Affair and I’ll be honest, I was supposed to read it for Readathon but I almost finished it before Readathon even started! Again, I’ll be honest and say that I was not looking forward to reading this one. Augustus Whittlesby was the singularly most annoying character in The Orchid…
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Review: The Orchid Affair (Pink Carnation #8) by Lauren Willig
After diving back into the Pink Carnation series with the sixth book, The Betrayal of the Blood Lily, I was eagerly ready to continue reading. I have already read the seventh book so I moved on to The Orchid Affair instead. As with the previous books we meet a likable heroine in a decidedly awkward situation and a headstrong bachelor with the last thing on his mind being love. While many of Willig’s books have a decidedly obvious formula, that has never turned me off to the series. I think what I love most is her ability to make me buy into the romance no matter how odd or challenging…
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Review: The Betrayal of the Blood Lily (Pink Carnation #6) by Lauren Willig
After the fifth Pink Carnation book, I kind of felt like I needed a little break from the Pink Carnation series. And by little break I mean like five years….thats how long it’s been since I read one of the Pink Carnation books. I love the series as a whole but the last book in the series that I read, just left me a little wanting in the uniqueness category. So I abandoned it in favor of other books, though I always knew that someday I would come back to it because lets face it, I am in love with this series, but I needed little time to step away…
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Review: The Paris Spy (Maggie Hope Mystery #7) by Susan Elia MacNeal
The Maggie Hope mystery series is part mystery and part spy….probably heavier on the spy side but it has murder mystery elements woven in for variety. Some might argue that this series isn’t sure what it is….is it spy or mystery but in my opinion, I like the variation. It keeps thing exciting for me, having a character solve murders in one book and then go on a spy mission in another book. I’ve been a fan of this series for some time now and though I haven’t loved every book, I love Maggie as a character and always excited to see where life will take her next. Maggie Hope…