Book Review

A book review is a summary of my thoughts, feelings, and impression of a book.

#BookReview A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper @BerkleyRomance @PenguinRandomCA #AProposalToDieFor #MollyHarper #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads

#BookReview A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper @BerkleyRomance @PenguinRandomCA #AProposalToDieFor #MollyHarper #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads Title: A Proposal to Die For

Author: Molly Harper

Published by: Berkley on Apr. 8, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Berkley Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

A fast-paced, witty, and delightful new mystery about a marriage proposal planner whose biggest job yet is threatened by a dead body (or two).

Jessamine Bricker loves a plan. Contingency plans and pros-and-cons lists are her love language, and because of that, her proposal planning business is thriving. But with rent costs rising at her office building, Jess jumps at the chance to plan a proposal between her snobby high school classmate, Diana, and her very wealthy boyfriend, Trenton Tillard…the Fourth.

Roped into joining Diana’s ”pre-bridal” retreat at the exclusive Golden Ash resort, Jess hopes to fade into the background, get some work done, and maybe find some time to unwind. Their first day is anything but relaxing: Diana is furious about the mountain spa’s lack of cell phone reception, the couple next door argues constantly, and Jess swears she just saw a drug deal go down. To top it all off, she’s warned to stay out of the woods by the gruff and sexy chef, Dean Osbourne. Is this a retreat or a horror movie?

As Jess tries to do her job while placating the bride-to-be and her increasingly over-the-top demands, she spends more and more time with the resort owners, finding herself much more in tune with the laid-back Osbourne family than her social climbing “boss.” Between a meditation garden-related drowning and Jess’s discovery of a body in a sauna, it’s clear that deadly secrets abound at the Golden Ash. Now it’s up to Jess to unravel the mysteries here in the mountains—before all her plans are cancelled…permanently.


Review:

Whimsical, engaging, and satisfying!

A Proposal to Die For is a well-paced, amusing murder mystery that takes you into the life of Jessamine Bricker, a young woman who, after a high school classmate she never really liked hires her to plan her engagement proposal, finds her life turned upside down when while at a pre-wedding retreat, more than one person winds up dead.

The writing is playful and light. The characters are inquisitive, clever, and determined. And the plot is a delightful mix of misdirection, deduction, clues, suspects, mishaps, drama, amateur sleuthing, and murder.

Overall, A Proposal to Die For is a humorous, charming, quirky whodunit by Harper that is the perfect choice for anyone looking for a fun, lighthearted read.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Berkley Romance for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Molly Harper

Molly Harper is the author of more than forty paranormal romance, contemporary romance, women’s fiction, and young adult titles. A lifelong romance reader, she graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts from Seton Hill University, focusing on writing popular fiction. She lived in Kentucky for most of her life before recently moving to Michigan with her family…and she’s still figuring out how to choose outerwear and play complicated winter card games.

#BlogTour #BookReview The Sea Witch’s Son by Jade Everhart #TheSeaWitchsSon #JadeEverhart #TheVillainsOfWolfHollowSeries #KindleUnlimited #DarkRomance

#BlogTour #BookReview The Sea Witch’s Son by Jade Everhart #TheSeaWitchsSon #JadeEverhart #TheVillainsOfWolfHollowSeries #KindleUnlimited #DarkRomance Title: The Sea Witch's Son

Author: Jade Everhart

Series: The Villains of Wolf Hollow #1

Published by: Independently Published on Apr. 7, 2025

Genres: Romantic Suspense

Pages: 482

Format: Paperback

Source: Jade Everhart

Book Rating: 10/10

Welcome to Wolf Hollow. Home to the most ruthless criminals of our time and the last place my stepfather should have brought me.
He said it was for work. I said it was an early grave.
My soon-to-be classmates are the heirs to a black throne. The children who have been raised in a town that has no rules, no laws and no heroes.
They are wealthy, powerful and violent. The kind of monsters that sneak into your bedroom at night and leave blood behind.
Marlin Seaborn is the most twisted one of them all. Captain of the swim team. Analytical genius. Master manipulator.
He’s a shark dressed in designer suits and he’s just found himself a new prize.
Me.


Review:

Spicy, gritty, and menacing!

The Sea Witch’s Son is a twisty, sultry tale that takes you on a journey into the life of Melody St. James, a young woman who, after returning to her late mother’s hometown of Wolf Hollow, finds her life turned upside down after she meets the intense and dangerous Marlin Seaborn, the son of the sea witch who is not only broody and seductive but driven by an obsessive need for power, control, and manipulating using one’s fears.

The writing is fervid and intense. The characters are secretive, consumed, and tormented. And the plot is a salacious, ominous mix of twists, turns, temptation, desire, deception, mystique, introspection, sizzling chemistry, palpable attraction, violence, depravity, love, and romance.

Overall, The Son Witch’s Son is a tension-filled, dramatic, darkly sexy thrill ride by Everhart that is a creative, contemporary mix of Disney Easter Eggs and a villain origin story that does a brilliant job of reminding you that sometimes the line between good and evil is often very blurry and happy-ever-after endings are not always simple nor sweet.

This novel is available now in paperback & KINDLE UNLIMITED.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following link.

 

Thank you to Jade Everhart for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jade Everhart

Jade Everhart writes heart-warming romances with flawed characters and laugh-out-loud banter. When she's not using her own terrible meet-cutes as inspiration for her next novel, Jade spends her time listening to loud music and tearing up dance floors from the prairies of Southern Alberta to the glistening beaches of Miami.

#BookReview Remote: The Six by Eric Rickstad @ericrickstad @BlackstoneAudio #EricRickstad #RemoteTheSix #BlackstonePublishing

#BookReview Remote: The Six by Eric Rickstad @ericrickstad @BlackstoneAudio #EricRickstad #RemoteTheSix #BlackstonePublishing Title: Remote: The Six

Author: Eric Rickstad

Series: Remote #1

Published by: Blackstone Publishing on Apr. 8, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 306

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Blackstone Publishing

Book Rating: 9/10

A serial killer is rampaging across the country, tying families to chairs–arranged in puzzling tableaus–then murdering them, without leaving a trace of evidence.

FBI Special Agent Lukas Stark has been hunting the Tableau Killer for eighteen months but is always two steps behind in a maze of dead ends. He has no understanding of why the killer stages the scenes so meticulously or chooses entire families. Burning out, Stark is forced to take on a new partner, Gilles Garnier.

Garnier, an odd loner with a vague past, claims he’s a remote viewer who “sees” people, places, and events far away–remote–as if they’re right in front of him. Stark knows this sort. Cons. Wannabes desperate to worm their way onto a sensational case. Stark dismisses his new partner as a fraud … until Garnier precisely describes a new Tableau Killer crime scene from hundreds of miles away.

As Stark and Garnier track the Tableau Killer across the country, they start to believe they finally have the advantage. But Garnier’s ability to remote view fails him and leaves him ill and weak. Then Stark realizes how the killer has stayed ahead of them all this time. The reason is more terrifying than either man can fathom.

They face a killer who may be unstoppable, and stand at the abyss of a conspiracy so ominous, it shakes their reality to the core.


Review:

Suspenseful, addictive, and twisty!

In this absorbing first instalment in the Remote series, The Six, Rickstad has written a sharp, sinister thrill ride featuring the consumed, relentless FBI Special Agent Lukas Stark and his new strangely talented partner Gilles Garnier as they join forces to hunt a cold, calculating serial killer who has a penchant for reenacting the same heinous crime over and over and somehow always seems to be one step ahead.

The writing is taut and intense. The characters are meticulous, persistent, and tormented. And the plot is an engrossing, eerie whodunit full of twists, turns, obsession, depravity, violence, and murder, all interwoven with a dab of the supernatural.

Overall, Remote: The Six is a fast-paced, tortuous, disturbing tale by Rickstad that not only leaves you eager for me but also spending a little time contemplating the idea of remote viewing and the potentially horrific consequences and evil it could lead to.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Eric Rickstad

Eric Rickstad is the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Not Who You Think I Am, Reap, What Remains of Her, and the Canaan Crime Trilogy, which has sold more than a half million copies worldwide. He lives in Vermont with his wife, daughter, and son.

#BookReview When She Was Gone by Sara Foster @BlackstoneAudio #SaraFoster #WhenSheWasGone #BlackstonePublishing #BlackstoneInsiders

#BookReview When She Was Gone by Sara Foster @BlackstoneAudio #SaraFoster #WhenSheWasGone #BlackstonePublishing #BlackstoneInsiders Title: When She Was Gone

Author: Sara Foster

Published by: Blackstone Publishing on Apr. 1, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Blackstone Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

Rose once walked away from her daughter. Now she may be the only one who can save her.

Former London police officer Rose Campbell has been estranged from her daughter, Lou, for almost a decade. But when Lou disappears from a remote beach in Western Australian–and the police suspect her of kidnapping the two young children in her care–Rose is asked to help bring Lou home.

This is the final case in DSS Mal Blackwood’s illustrious career–and there’s a lot riding on it. The missing children are heirs to the Fisher property empire, and while their multimillionaire grandfather is breathing down Blackwood’s neck, the media storm is intensifying. Faced with a deluge of evidence and accusations, Blackwood doesn’t know who he can trust.

Rose arrives in Australia intent on proving her daughter’s innocence, but how can she be sure of that when she’s no longer part of Lou’s life? Meanwhile, as Blackwood begins to expose the Fishers’ secrets, the investigation takes a dark turn. Shadows of the past gather around the Fishers, and Rose, and soon it’s clear that every hour is critical. What has happened to Lou and the children? And can Rose and Blackwood find them in time?


Review:

Sharp, intricate, and gripping!

When She Was Gone is a well-paced, engrossing thriller that sees former London police officer Rose Campbell heading to Australia when her estranged daughter and two of the children she nannies go missing, but as the investigation unfolds and dangerous secrets start to come to light, it quickly becomes apparent that this case is a lot more sinister and complicated than anyone could have imagined.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are layered, secretive, and persistent. And the plot is an ominous tale full of twists, turns, red herrings, secrets, deduction, revenge, adultery, power, control, mayhem, and manipulation.

Overall, When She Was Gone is a relentless, simmering, eerie tale by Foster that keeps you guessing from start to finish and is a wonderful reminder of the lengths a parent will go to protect their child.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sara Foster

Sara Foster writes page-turning psychological suspense thrillers with strong female leads. Her latest novel, When She Was Gone (2025), begins when an au pair and two small children vanish from a remote Australian beach, and is a race-against-time thriller, exploring themes around misogyny, wealth, power and control.Sara is also the author of the acclaimed dystopian thriller The Hush and seven more bestselling psychological suspense stories: The Deceit (novella), You Don't Know Me, The Hidden Hours, All That is Lost Between Us, Shallow Breath, Beneath the Shadows and Come Back to Me. Two of her novels have been optioned for television, and You Don't Know Me was adapted into a chart-topping drama podcast series by Listnr. Sara has a PhD in creative writing (studying maternal representations in fiction) and lives in Perth, Western Australia, with her husband, two daughters, three cats, Luna the cavoodle and Sunny the bearded dragon

#BlogTour #BookReview The Artist of Blackberry Grange by Paulette Kennedy @OverTheRiverPR @AmazonPub #TheArtistOfBlackberryGrange #PauletteKennedy #lakeunion #OTRPR

#BlogTour #BookReview The Artist of Blackberry Grange by Paulette Kennedy @OverTheRiverPR @AmazonPub #TheArtistOfBlackberryGrange #PauletteKennedy #lakeunion #OTRPR Title: The Artist of Blackberry Grange

Author: Paulette Kennedy

Published by: Lake Union Publishing on May 1, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 351

Format: Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8.5/10

For a young caregiver in the Ozarks, an old house holds haunting memories in a ghostly novel about family secrets, sacrifice, and lost loves by the author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport.

In the summer of 1925, the winds of change are particularly chilling for a young woman whose life has suddenly become unbalanced.

Devastated by her mother’s death and a cruel, broken engagement, Sadie Halloran learns that her great-aunt Marguerite, a renowned artist now in the throes of dementia, needs a live-in companion. Grasping at newfound purpose, Sadie leaves her desolate Kansas City boardinghouse for Blackberry Grange, Marguerite’s once-grand mansion sitting precariously atop an Arkansas bluff. Though Marguerite is a fading shell of the vibrant woman Sadie remembers, Marguerite is feverishly compelled to paint eerie, hallucinatory portraits of old lovers—some cherished, some regretted, and some beastly. All of them haunting.

With each passing night, time itself seems to shift with the shadows at Blackberry Grange. As truth and delusion begin to blur, Sadie must uncover the secrets that hold Marguerite captive to her past before reality—and Marguerite’s life—slips away entirely.


Review:

Dark, creative, and mysterious!

The Artist of Blackberry Grange is an eerie, captivating tale that transports you to Arkansas during 1925 and into the lives of two main characters. Sadie Halloran, a young woman who, after the end of an engagement leaves her on the edge of destitution, decides to take on the role of caregiver for her failing, affluent great-aunt, and Marguerite, an elderly woman who, as she nears the end of her life has an abundance of long-buried secrets to share, including a strange and frightening teether to those in the afterlife.

The prose is tight and gritty. The characters are vulnerable, independent, and troubled. And the plot is a menacing tale about life, loss, tragedy, desperation, lies, manipulation, familial drama, secrets, supernatural phenomena, and love.

Overall, The Artist of Blackberry Grange is an intriguing, gothic, tense novel by Kennedy that does a wonderful job of interweaving historical times and compelling fiction into a suspenseful mystery that is deliciously atmospheric and highly entertaining.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

     

 

 

Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Paulette Kennedy

Paulette Kennedy is the bestselling author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport, The Witch of Tin Mountain, and Parting the Veil, which received the HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. She has had a lifelong obsession with the gothic. As a young girl, she spent her summers among the gravestones in her neighborhood cemetery, imagining all sorts of romantic stories for the people buried there. After her mother introduced her to the Brontës as a teenager, her affinity for fog-covered landscapes and haunted heroines only grew, inspiring her to become a writer. Originally from the Missouri Ozarks, she now lives with her family and a menagerie of rescue pets in sunny Southern California, where sometimes, on the very best days, the mountains are wreathed in fog. As a history lover, she can get lost for days in her research—learning everything she can about the places in her novels and what her characters might have experienced in the past.

#BookReview Finding Flora by Elinor Florence @SimonSchusterCA #Finding Flora #ElinorFlorence #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview Finding Flora by Elinor Florence @SimonSchusterCA #Finding Flora #ElinorFlorence #SimonSchusterCA Title: Finding Flora

Author: Elinor Florence

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Apr. 1, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

A rollicking historical novel set in turn-of-the-century Alberta about a young woman on the run from her abusive husband who uses a legal loophole to claim a homestead in the Wild West—perfect for fans of Outlawed and Giver of Stars.

In 1905, Scottish newcomer Flora Craigie jumps from a moving train to escape her abusive husband. Desperate to disappear, she claims a homestead near Alix, Alberta, determined to start a new life for herself. She finds that her nearest neighbours are also a Welsh widow with three children; two American women raising chickens; and a Métis woman who makes a living by breaking in wild horses.

While battling the harsh environment (and draconian local attitudes toward female farmers), the five women grapple with the differences of their backgrounds and the secrets each struggles to keep. When their homes are threatened with expropriation by the hostile federal Minister of the Interior, the women join forces to “fire the heather,” a Scottish term meaning raising a ruckus. And as the competition for land along the new Canadian Pacific railway line heats up, Flora’s violent husband closes in, and an unscrupulous land agent threatens the lives and livelihoods of the women just as they’re coming into their own.


Review:

Enthralling, moving, and authentic!

Finding Flora is an absorbing tale that sweeps you away to Alberta during the early 1900s and into the life of Flora Craigie, a young Scottish bride who, after discovering her husband’s true nature, jumps from a moving train as it crosses the Canadian prairies and endeavours to start a new life by working the unforgiving land and surviving the harsh weather, in the hopes of ultimately claiming a homestead of her own.

The writing is eloquent and expressive. The characters are resilient, devoted, and strong. And the plot is a harrowing tale about life, loss, hope, family, female friendships, secrets, hardship, trust, violence, murder, and love.

Overall, Finding Flora is a beautifully written, well-researched, atmospheric novel by Florence that reminds us not only of the rugged beauty of this land we call home but also of the extraordinary women who sacrificed to pave the way for the rights and freedoms we have today.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Elinor Florence

Elinor Florence grew up on a Saskatchewan farm and earned degrees in English and journalism. She worked for newspapers in all four Western provinces, spent eight years writing for Reader’s Digest Canada, and even published her own award-winning community newspaper. Her first novel, Bird’s Eye View, was a national bestseller, while the second, Wildwood, was named one of Kobo’s Hundred Most Popular Canadian Books of All Time. Finding Flora was inspired by her own Scottish homesteading and Indigenous ancestors. She is a member of the Métis Nation of British Columbia and makes her home in the mountain resort of Invermere.

Photograph credit Kelsey.

#BookReview Swept Away by Beth O’Leary @BerkleyRomance @PenguinRandomCA #SweptAway #BethOLeary #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads

#BookReview Swept Away by Beth O’Leary @BerkleyRomance @PenguinRandomCA #SweptAway #BethOLeary #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads Title: Swept Away

Author: Beth O'Leary

Published by: Berkley on Apr. 1, 2025

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Berkley Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

Two strangers find themselves stranded at sea together in this epic new love story by bestselling author Beth O’Leary.

What if you were lost at sea…with your one-night stand?

Zeke and Lexi thought it would just be a night of fun. They had no intentions of seeing each other again. Zeke is only in town for the weekend to buy back his late father’s houseboat. Lexi has no time for dating when she needs to help take care of her best friend’s daughter.

Going back home with a stranger seems like a perfect escape from their problems. But a miscommunication in the dark, foggy night means no one tied the houseboat to the dock. The next morning, Zeke and Lexi realize all they can see is miles and miles of water.

With just a few provisions on the idle boat, Zeke and Lexi must figure out how to get back home. But aside from their survival, they’re facing another challenge. Because when you’re stuck together for days on end, it gives you a lot of time to get to know someone—and to fall in love with them.


Review:

Romantic, tender, and sentimental!

Swept Away is a sweet, amusing tale featuring the loyal, dependable Lexi and the patient, contemplative Zeke as they discover over twelve days stranded at sea that there may be a lot more depth to their relationship than just instant attraction, miscommunication, forced proximity, and an unforgettable one-night stand.

The writing is passionate and light. The characters are endearing, awkward, and troubled. And the plot is a delightful mix of life, love, friendship, family, secrets, revelations, light drama, self-discovery, and romance.

Overall, Swept Away is another charming, addictive, compelling tale by O’Leary that was a real treat to read.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Berkley Romance for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Beth O'Leary

Beth O'Leary is an internationally bestselling author whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. Her debut, The Flatshare, sold over a million copies and is now a major TV series. Her subsequent novels The Switch and The Road Trip were instant Sunday Times bestsellers. Beth writes her books in the English countryside with a very badly behaved golden retriever for company. If she's not at her desk, you'll usually find her curled up somewhere with a book, a cup of tea, and several woolly jumpers (whatever the weather).

Photo by Ellen O'Leary.

#BookReview If Tomorrow Never Comes by Allison Ashley @AmazonPub @BookSparks #IfTomorrowNeverComes #AllisonAshley #BookSparks #WRC2025

#BookReview If Tomorrow Never Comes by Allison Ashley @AmazonPub @BookSparks #IfTomorrowNeverComes #AllisonAshley #BookSparks #WRC2025 Title: If Tomorrow Never Comes

Author: Allison Ashley

Published by: Montlake Romance on Apr. 1, 2025

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Pages: 315

Format: Paperback

Source: BookSparks

Book Rating: 9/10

Fate connects two people in life-changing ways in a deeply romantic and emotional novel about hope and second chances by the author of Would You Rather and The Roommate Pact.

Uncertain of what tomorrow brings, Elliott Holland decides to live it up—on the eve of a stem cell transplant to treat her leukemia. It’s destiny when she crosses paths with handsome and charming Jamie Sullivan. The chemistry is magic. So is a beautiful evening that ends with a bittersweet kiss goodbye and no expectations of ever seeing each other again.

One year later, Elliott’s future looks good. Her cancer is in remission. Her career in graphic design is taking off. And she’s finally met Carly, the young woman whose stem cell donation gave Elliott a second chance at life. Then, in a twist of fate both blissful and unfair, she meets Carly’s boyfriend. It’s Jamie, the man Elliott kissed like it was her last day on earth. Neither of them has ever forgotten it.

Now, the most difficult decisions of all lie ahead. Whatever risks there are to the heart, one need wins to grab hold of everything that can make someone feel alive again.


Review:

Thought-provoking, optimistic, and romantic!

If Tomorrow Never Comes is a tender, moving tale that takes you into the life of Elliott Holland, a young woman who, on the eve of a life-or-death surgery, spends one incredible night with a man she will probably never see again until fate intervenes, and one year later she bumps into him only to discover he’s the boyfriend of the woman who saved her life.

The writing is sensitive and sincere. The characters are flawed, genuine, and troubled. And the multi-layered plot is a heartfelt, absorbing tale about life, love, family, friendship, trust, compassion, romance, happiness, destiny, self-reflection, and second chances.

Overall, If Tomorrow Never Comes is an emotional, pensive, heartwarming tale by Ashley that reminds us that life is complicated, things happen for a reason, often the choices we make have consequences, letting people in is never a bad thing, and love is, ultimately, always worth fighting for.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

          

 

 

Thank you to BookSparks for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Allison Ashley

Allison Ashley is a music-loving, coffee-drinking mom of two who loves love stories. She’s an oncology pharmacist and spends her days focused on helping patients through one of the hardest things life can throw at them. Her escape has always been books—specifically books about happiness, love, and laughter—and it was inevitable that she’d eventually write her own. She promises to always write stories with deep romance, intense connection, and humor…but most of all, that coveted happy ever after.

#BookReview The Resistance Painter by Kath Jonathan @SimonSchusterCA #TheResistancePainer #KathJonathan #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview The Resistance Painter by Kath Jonathan @SimonSchusterCA #TheResistancePainer #KathJonathan #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Resistance Painter

Author: Kath Jonathan

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Mar. 25, 2025

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Historical Fiction

Pages: 448

Format: Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

An evocative work of historical fiction, examining the little-known story of Poland’s extraordinary WW ll resistance army and the contemporary lives of two artists, grandmother and granddaughter, inextricably linked by a wartime betrayal.

Warsaw 1939. Irena Marianowska’s dreams of attending art school in Paris are crushed when the Nazis invade Poland. Instead, she joins the Home Army and, together with her resistance cell, risks her life guiding people to safety through the sewers of Warsaw. In 1942, after a harrowing mission, she returns home to learn that her sister, Lotka, has been abducted by the Gestapo. In her search for Lotka, Irena encounters a host of characters who lead her into greater danger.

Toronto 2010. Jo Blum lives in Toronto with her beloved grandmother, a lauded painter of WWII and a decorated war hero. Jo has a budding career creating sculptures for grave sites based on the life stories of her dying clients. Her recorded interviews with Stefan, her new Polish client, unveil an heroic wartime past eerily similar to her grandmother’s. But Jo’s quest to uncover the truth about Stefan and her grandmother opens an explosive Pandora’s box whose shockwaves threaten everything she’s known about her family.


Review:

Immersive, hopeful, and heart-wrenching!

The Resistance Painter is a poignant, dual-timeline tale set in Poland during WWII, as well as Toronto in 2010, that takes you into the lives of two main characters. Irena Marianowska, a young woman who, after her dream of attending art school is destroyed due to German invasion, endeavours to help the Polish Resistance in any way she can, and Jo Blum, a creative grave sculptor who, after a new client’s past seems eerily familiar, is resolved to discover all the details and truth about her own grandmother’s past.

The prose is atmospheric and authentic. The characters are vulnerable, brave, and strong. And the plot is an evocative, vivid tale of life, loss, love, family, friendship, grief, perseverance, selflessness, suffering, art, the unimaginable horrors of war, and the importance of sewers during wartime in transporting people to safety.

Overall, The Resistance Painter is an insightful, emotional, beautifully written debut by Jonathan inspired by real-life familial events that reminds us that survival of any kind often involves heartbreaking choices, moral dilemmas, action, spirit, extreme loss and, beyond all else, unimaginable sacrifice and courage.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kath Jonathan

A resident of Toronto, Kath Jonathan is a poetry, short story, and novel writer. Her work has been shortlisted for the Marina Nemat Award, a finalist for The Janice Colbert Poetry Award, longlisted for the Puritan’s Thomas Morton Memorial Prize for short story, published in a Penguin Random House chapbook and in online literary magazines. Kath holds a Certificate in creative writing and an MA in English literature, both from the University of Toronto.

Photograph by Marion Voysey.

#BookReview The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd @BlackstoneAudio #NatashaBoyd #TheIndigoGirl #BlackstonePublishing #BlackstoneInsiders

#BookReview The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd @BlackstoneAudio #NatashaBoyd #TheIndigoGirl #BlackstonePublishing #BlackstoneInsiders Title: The Indigo Girl

Author: Natasha Boyd

Published by: Blackstone Publishing on Oct. 3, 2017

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 329

Format: Hardcover

Source: Blackstone Publishing

Book Rating: 9/10

An incredible story of dangerous and hidden friendships, ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice.

The year is 1739. Eliza Lucas is sixteen years old when her father leaves her in charge of their family’s three plantations in rural South Carolina and then proceeds to bleed the estates dry in pursuit of his military ambitions. Tensions with the British, and with the Spanish in Florida, just a short way down the coast, are rising, and slaves are starting to become restless. Her mother wants nothing more than for their South Carolina endeavor to fail so they can go back to England. Soon her family is in danger of losing everything.

Upon hearing how much the French pay for indigo dye, Eliza believes it’s the key to their salvation. But everyone tells her it’s impossible, and no one will share the secret to making it. Thwarted at nearly every turn, even by her own family, Eliza finds that her only allies are an aging horticulturalist, an older and married gentleman lawyer, and a slave with whom she strikes a dangerous deal: teach her the intricate thousand-year-old secret process of making indigo dye and in return — against the laws of the day — she will teach the slaves to read.

So begins an incredible story of love, dangerous and hidden friendships, ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice.

Based on historical documents, including Eliza’s letters, this is a historical fiction account of how a teenage girl produced indigo dye, which became one of the largest exports out of South Carolina, an export that laid the foundation for the incredible wealth of several Southern families who still live on today. Although largely overlooked by historians, the accomplishments of Eliza Lucas influenced the course of US history. When she passed away in 1793, President George Washington served as a pallbearer at her funeral.

This book is set between 1739 and 1744, with romance, intrigue, forbidden friendships, and political and financial threats weaving together to form the story of a remarkable young woman whose actions were before their time: the story of the indigo girl.


Review:

Immersive, evocative, and fascinating!

The Indigo Girl is an atmospheric, absorbing tale that sweeps you away to South Carolina during 1739 and into the life of Eliza Lucas, a sixteen-year-old girl who, after her father leaves her in charge of three of his plantations, endeavours to save her family estates through grit, determination and a little help from three others by producing the challenging, yet lucrative indigo dye.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are diligent, brave, and independent. And the plot is an absorbing tale of life, loss, love, friendship, familial drama, injustice, support, passion, betrayal, courage, and the ins and outs of indigo dye-making in the early eighteenth century.

Overall, The Indigo Girl is a compelling, rich, illuminating tale by Boyd that I absolutely devoured and which enthralled, entertained, and informed me!

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Natasha Boyd

Natasha Boyd is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling and award-winning author of contemporary romance, romantic comedy, and historical fiction. After hearing one of Eliza Lucas’s descendants speaking about Eliza’s accomplishments, the need to tell her story became so overwhelming that it couldn’t be ignored, and so The Indigo Girl was born. It was long-listed for the Southern Book Prize, was a SIBA Okra Pick, and a Texas Lariat Award winner. Natasha lives in Atlanta, Georgia.