Tag: Victorian Lit

Review: The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang

~ The Lit Bitch ~ 2 Comments

This was a book that I was excited about when I got the pitch and then I kind of forgot about it until closer to the review date. I wasn’t entirely excited to read it when the time came to start it, but that slight was rectified almost immediately when I started this one.

This book had a little bit of everything, romance, mystery, fantasy, and history. I loved this one almost from the first word! It made an excellent early fall/Halloween read.

Manhattan, 1850. Born out of wedlock to a wealthy socialite and a nameless immigrant, Cora Lee can mingle with the rich just as easily as she can slip unnoticed into the slums and graveyards of the city. As the only female resurrectionist in New York, she’s carved out a niche procuring bodies afflicted with the strangest of anomalies. Anatomists will pay exorbitant sums for such specimens—dissecting and displaying them for the eager public. Continue reading “Review: The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang” →

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Review: Limelight (Penny Green #1) by Emily Organ

~ The Lit Bitch ~ 3 Comments

Like many other bibliophiles, I subscribe to BookBub. Basically every day I get an email telling me about all the great deals for ebooks in categories that I have selected. This service is free so if you like book and want to hear about good deals on ebooks, subscribe!

So in one of my emails last week there was a special ad feature at the bottom of the email that said ‘have you discovered Penny Green yet?’ with this great foggy London photo in the background.

And in my mind all I could hear was ‘no I have not discovered her yet!’. The first book in this series was on sale for $2.99 to buy or free if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. I was intrigued and had just come off reading a more sophisticated mystery so I was eager for something slightly on the lighter end of things.

I have not heard of this series at all or the author which made me a little nervous because what if I just wasted $2.99 on a book that was terrible?! But I was feeling brave and bought it (no I don’t have Kindle Unlimited….terrible I know).

The premise sounded interesting and I was eager to discover this new Penny Green!  Continue reading “Review: Limelight (Penny Green #1) by Emily Organ” →

Review: The Dante Chamber (The Dante Club #2) by Matthew Pearl

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To say that Matthew Pearl likes literature is an understatement. Many of his books are literary related in some way or another, making them really intriguing to me.

My first experience with Pearl was with the book THE LAST BOOKANEER which was a wonderful read, but more importantly it was different. I have also had THE DANTE CLUB on my radar for the better part of six years, so when this one came up for review I was stoked. So why haven’t I read THE DANTE CLUB you ask…..I have no idea.

Maybe it’s because it’s been on my TBR list for so long that I’ve forgotten about it as I keep adding new books or maybe it’s because I don’t own a copy of the first book. Whatever it is—when this book came up for review, I gave it a solid ‘hell ya’ to review! Continue reading “Review: The Dante Chamber (The Dante Club #2) by Matthew Pearl” →

Special Feature: Madam of My Heart by Gini Grossenbacher

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Madam of My Heart
by Gini Grossenbacher

Publication Date: February 6, 2017
eBook & Paperback; 476 Pages
ISBN-13: 978-0998380605

Series: American Madams, #1
Genre: Historical Fiction/Victorian

 

 

Baltimore, 1849. During a scandalous crisis, the young Irish Brianna Baird flees her home at Fells Point. With little cash and only a seamstress’s trade, she braves the hypnotic streets of New Orleans. The tantalizing Madam DeSalle lures her to her brothel, then sells her to the dashing but questionable gambler, Edward Spina, who falls in love with her. In a tawdry alliance with these two profiteers, Brianna embarks on a journey through the French Quarter’s debauched and glittering Voodoo world. Facing the horrors of slavery, she triumphs by gaining freedom papers for her maid Emma’s enslaved husband and son. Brianna and Edward escape with them to San Francisco. There she becomes one of the most sought after madams in the gold rush parlor house trade. But will her fame and pluck be enough to save Edward from the Vigilante noose? This is the first book in the American Madams series.

“A debut historical novel that chronicles the struggles, loves, and joys of an exceptional madam in 19th-century America. Grossenbacher’s book, the first in a planned series, dramatizes the early life and busy career of a woman named Brianna Baird. Grossenbacher’s prose is both graceful and inventive. She absorbingly limns the various cities Brianna inhabits, from New Orleans and its ‘web of Creole cottages, chaotic marketplaces, and secretive balconies, simmering outside her window, ‘ to the rowdy atmosphere of frontier-era San Francisco. The occasional marvelous metaphor will surprise readers, as when ‘the truth hit Brianna like a badly aimed bowling pin.’ This isn’t just a novel for lovers of history’s more prurient corners; it’s for everyone who likes well-deployed language and intense stories. A seamier side of American history, engagingly told through one woman’s unexpected adventures.” -Kirkus Reviews, A Recommended Review

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Continue reading “Special Feature: Madam of My Heart by Gini Grossenbacher” →

Review: Why Kill the Innocent (Sebastian St. Cyr #13) by C.S. Harris

~ The Lit Bitch ~ 2 Comments

I’ve kind of jumped around in this series. I was first introduced to this series when the twelfth book came across my desk for review. I had never heard of the series before but I was intrigued. So much so that I picked up the first book in the series to read before I jumped in so late in the series.

Yes there are a lot of things that happen between book 1 and book 12 as one might expect and yes I was a little disorientated reading the 12th book after basically missing a lot of character development and plot points. However I love Sebastian St Cyr as a character so much that I was willing to be a little lost within the series.

London, 1814. As a cruel winter holds the city in its icy grip, the bloody body of a beautiful young musician is found half-buried in a snowdrift. Jane Ambrose’s ties to Princess Charlotte, the only child of the Prince Regent and heir presumptive to the throne, panic the palace, which moves quickly to shut down any investigation into the death of the talented pianist. Continue reading “Review: Why Kill the Innocent (Sebastian St. Cyr #13) by C.S. Harris” →