Victorian Lit – Page 21

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Silent in the Grace (Lady Julia Grey #1) by Deanna Raybourn

August 2, 2016by The Lit Bitch7 Comments

Lady Julia’s husband has literally just dropped dead in the middle of her dinner party.

After being in failing health for most of their marriage, Lady Julia knows he isn’t long for this world but she is shocked when the impertinent Nicolas Brisbane suggests that it might have been foul play.

Brisbane is a private investigator who was hired by Lady Julia’s husband because he believed someone wanted him dead. Brisbane plans on continuing the investigation if Lady Julia would like….but she is reluctant to believe him and dismisses him after the funeral.

A year later, a chance discovery changes her mind and she reaches out to Brisbane for help in solving the crime. Reluctantly he agrees and they begin and unconventional investigation which takes then into a number of alternative lifestyles to try and flush out the murderer.

But somewhere in between their investigating and power struggling, a flicker of attraction sparks between the two and Lady Julie begins to wonder if there could be more to their relationship than just a dead body or two.

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Review: Poison or Protect (Delightfully Deadly #1) by Gail Carriger

July 14, 2016July 12, 2016by The Lit Bitch5 Comments

I have been a huge fan of Gail Carriger since reading Soulless way back in 2011! Carriger has a wonderful whit that translates so well onto the pages of her stories.

When this short story came across my desk for review, I was thrilled to read another book set in the same world that Carriger has crafted so well!

Over the years she has written the Parasol Protectorate series which is more of an adult read, and then the Finishing School series which is more of a YA read but both are set in the same world that the PP series begins.

This latest novella is also set in the same world…..a steampunk universe full of manners, spies, and of course the supernatural not to mention a few familiar characters from the other books.

Lady Preshea Villentia, the Mourning Star, has four dead husbands and a nasty reputation. Fortunately, she looks fabulous in black. What society doesn’t know is that all her husbands were marked for death by Preshea’s employer. And Preshea has one final assignment.

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Review: The Secret Language of Stones: A Novel (The Daughters of La Lune #2) by M.J. Rose

July 12, 2016July 12, 2016by The Lit Bitch2 Comments

When I read the first book, The Witch of Painted Sorrows, I had no idea that it was going to end up being an actual ‘series’. It read so well as a stand alone book that I was surprised to see it would be becoming a series.

So when this one came across my desk, I was thrilled to review it and see how the ‘series’ was going to develop as there were some loose ends that weren’t exactly completely tied up in the first book.

This book was right up my alley, WWI France. I love books set in this time period not to mention a little hint of the super natural and some romance which made for a unique read all around!

The Romanov dynasty reaches its sudden, brutal end, a young jewelry maker discovers love, passion, and her own healing powers in this rich and romantic ghost story. Nestled within Paris’s historic Palais Royal is a jewelry store unlike any other.

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

March 24, 2016March 14, 2016by The Lit Bitch3 Comments

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 onto the estate to weep and is accompanied by her cousin Edwin who proceeds to try and sexually assault her……but rather than let it happen Jane fights back and suddenly Edwin is dead by Jane’s hand.

Suddenly boarding school doesn’t sound so bad so off she goes. From there we follow Jane through not only a tedious childhood but often uncertain adulthood full of little lies and of course…..a few murders!

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