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#BookReview Murder on Mustique by Anne Glenconner @Mobius_Books @HodderBooks #MurderonMustique #AnneGlenconner #MobiusBooksUS

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#BookReview Murder on Mustique by Anne Glenconner @Mobius_Books @HodderBooks #MurderonMustique #AnneGlenconner #MobiusBooksUS Title: Murder on Mustique

Author: Anne Glenconner

Published by: Hodder And Stoughton Ltd. on May 18, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: Mobius Books US

Book Rating: 7.5/10

A storm. A disappearance. A race against time . . .

Mustique is in a state of breathless calm as tropical storm Cristobal edges towards it across the Atlantic. Most villa owners have escaped the island but a few young socialites remain, unwilling to let summer’s partying end. American heiress Amanda Fortini is one such thrill-seeker – until she heads out for a morning swim and doesn’t return.

Detective Sergeant Solomon Nile is just 28 years old and the island’s only fully trained police officer. He quickly realises he needs to contact Lord and Lady Blake, who bought the island decades ago and have invested time, money and love creating a paradise. Jasper is in St Lucia designing a new village of luxury villas but Lady Veronica (Vee to her friends) catches a plane immediately. Her beloved god-daughter, Lily, is on the island and this disappearance has alarming echoes of what happened to Lily’s mother many years ago. Lady Vee would never desert a friend in need, and she can keep a cool head in a crisis.

When Amanda’s body is found, a murder investigation begins. Nile knows the killer must be an islander because flights and ferry crossings have stopped due to the storm warning, but the local community isn’t co-operating. And then the storm hits, and someone else disappears . . .

Review:

Sinister, atmospheric, and engaging!

Murder on Mustique is a menacing tale that sweeps you away to the Caribbean and into the life of Lady Vee who, after heading to the idyllic island of Mustique to prepare an extravagant twenty-first birthday party for her goddaughter, Lily, becomes embroiled and a little sidetracked in an investigation with the islands only trained police office Detective Sergeant Solomon Nile, when Lily’s childhood friend, socialite Amanda Fortini goes missing and other rich, young residents suddenly start turning up dead.

The prose is tense and fluid. The characters are resourceful, impulsive, and vulnerable. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel into a mysterious tale of mischief, mayhem, coercion, corruption, criminal behaviours, dangerous endeavours, deduction, lies, and murder.

Overall, Murder on Mustique is a solid, entertaining, quick read by Glenconner that was better than I ever expected with its front-row seat into some of the decadence, lifestyle, luxuries, and scandalous behaviour the rich and famous can often get up to.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to Mobius Books US for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Anne Glenconner

Lady Glenconner was born Lady Anne Coke in 1932, the eldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Leicester, and growing up in their ancestral estate at Holkham Hall in Norfolk. A Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation, she married Lord Glenconner in 1956. They had 5 children together of whom 3 survive. In 1958 she and her husband began to transform the island of Mustique into a paradise for the rich and famous. They granted a plot of land to Princess Margaret who built her favourite home there. She was appointed Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret in 1971 and kept this role - accompanying her on many state occasions and foreign tours - until her death in 2002. Lord Glenconner died in 2010, leaving everything in his will to his former employee.

She now lives in Norfolk, England.

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#BookReview Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting @helenahunting @smpromance @StMartinsPress #StarryEyedLove #HelenaHunting #SparkHouseSeries #smpromance #smpinfluencers

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#BookReview Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting @helenahunting @smpromance @StMartinsPress #StarryEyedLove #HelenaHunting #SparkHouseSeries #smpromance #smpinfluencers Title: Starry-Eyed Love

Author: Helena Hunting

Series: Spark House #2

Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on May 10, 2022

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Charming, hilarious, and emotional, Starry-Eyed Love is Helena Hunting at her very best!

Having just broken up with her boyfriend, London Spark is not in the mood to be hit on. Especially not when she’s out celebrating her single status with her sisters. So when a very attractive man pays for their drinks and then slips her his number, she passes it right back to him with a ‘thanks, but no thanks’. As the business administrator for their family’s event hotel, the Spark House, London has more important things to worry about, like bringing in new clientele.

As luck would have it, a multi-million-dollar company calls a few months later asking for a meeting to discuss a potential partnership, and London is eager to prove to her sisters, and herself, that she can land this deal. Just when she thinks she has nailed her presentation, the company’s CEO, Jackson Holt, walks in and inserts himself into the meeting. Not only that, but he also happens to be the same guy she turned down at the bar a few months ago.

As they begin to spend more time together, their working relationship blossoms into something more. It isn’t until their professional entanglements are finally over, that London and Jackson are finally ready to take the next step in their relationship. But between Jackson’s secretive past and London’s struggle with her sisters, London must question where she really stands – not just with Jackson, but with the Spark House, too.

Review:

Captivating, charming, and romantic!

Starry-Eyed Love is a cosy, heartwarming tale that takes you into the life of the ambitious, overworked London Sparks as she juggles her job as an administrator for the family business, her Etsy store that’s her true passion, a sister who’s determined and extremely stubborn, and a new partnership with a handsome CEO who she unfortunately happened to turn down once and is entirely too irresistible for his own good.

The writing is warm and tender. The characters are professional, genuine, and considerate. And the plot is an enchanting, push-pull tale of life, love, drama, friendship, self-discovery, familial dynamics, miscommunication, jealousy, dreams, goals, secrets, and finding a positive work-life balance.

Starry-Eyed Love is the second title in a series that, for me, just keeps getting better and better. It’s an amusing, sweet, adorable read by Hunting with characters I couldn’t help but root for and a swoon-worthy ending that left me smitten, satisfied, and ecstatic that there’s Harley’s story still to come!

 

This book is available now.

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

           

 

 

Thank you to SMP Romance – St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Helena Hunting

Helena Hunting is the author of The USA Today and NYT bestselling PUCKED Series. She lives on the outskirts of Toronto with her incredibly tolerant family and two moderately intolerant cats. She writes everything from romantic sports comedy to new adult angst.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill @PPPress #TheWomanintheLibrary #SulariGentill #inkedinpoison

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#BookReview The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill @PPPress #TheWomanintheLibrary #SulariGentill #inkedinpoison Title: The Woman in the Library

Author: Sulari Gentill

Published by: Poisoned Pen Press on Jun. 7, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 288

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Poisoned Pen Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In every person’s story, there is something to hide…

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers sitting at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.

Review:

Devious, intense, and full of surprises!

The Woman in the Library is an intricate, twisty, complex thriller featuring Hannah, a successful writer who is writing her latest mystery about four strangers, Freddie, Cain, Whit, and Marigold, who accidentally meet one day as they all share a table in the Boston Public Library and after they hear a woman scream subsequently work together to not only identify who the slain woman was but who out of the four of them, as impossible as it may seem, actually murdered her.

The prose is complex and tight. The characters are multilayered, secretive, and consumed. And the plot builds nicely to create just the right amount of tension and suspense as it unravels all the different personalities, questionable motivations, duplicitous actions, and relationships within it.

Overall, The Woman in the Library is a compelling, sly, creative tale by Gentill that, with its story within a story, is a clever, unique, addictive whodunit that certainly kept me guessing from start to finish.

 

This book is available June 7, 2022.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sulari Gentill

Once upon a time, Sulari Gentill was a corporate lawyer serving as a director on public boards, with only a vague disquiet that there was something else she was meant to do. That feeling did not go away until she began to write. And so Sulari became the author of the Rowland Sinclair Mysteries: thus far, ten historical crime novels chronicling the life and adventures of her 1930s Australian gentleman artist, the Hero Trilogy, based on the myths and epics of the ancient world, and the Ned Kelly Award winning Crossing the Lines (published in the US as After She Wrote Hime). In 2014 she collaborated with National Gallery of Victoria to write a short story which was produced in audio to feature in the Fashion Detective Exhibition, and thereafter published by the NGV. IN 2019 Sulari was part of a 4-member delegation of Australian crime writers sponsored by the Australia Council to tour the US as ambassadors of Australian Crime Writing.

Sulari lives with her husband, Michael, and their boys, Edmund and Atticus, on a small farm in Batlow where she grows French Black Truffles and refers to her writing as “work” so that no one will suggest she get a real job.

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#BookReview Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird @sarahbirdwriter @StMartinsPress #LastDanceOnTheStarlightPier #SallyBird #StMarinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird @sarahbirdwriter @StMartinsPress #LastDanceOnTheStarlightPier #SallyBird #StMarinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Last Dance on the Starlight Pier

Author: Sarah Bird

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 12, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 432

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

Set during the Great Depression, Sarah Bird’s Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a novel about one woman—and a nation—struggling to be reborn from the ashes.

July 3. 1932. Shivering and in shock, Evie Grace Devlin watches the Starlite Palace burn into the sea and wonders how she became a person who would cause a man to kill himself. She’d come to Galveston to escape a dark past in vaudeville and become a good person, a nurse. When that dream is cruelly thwarted, Evie is swept into the alien world of dance marathons. All that she has been denied—a family, a purpose, even love—waits for her there in the place she dreads most: the spotlight.

Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a sweeping novel that brings to spectacular life the enthralling worlds of both dance marathons and the family-run empire of vice that was Galveston in the Thirties. Unforgettable characters tell a story that is still deeply resonant today as America learns what Evie learns, that there truly isn’t anything this country can’t do when we do it together. That indomitable spirit powers a story that is a testament to the deep well of resilience in us all that allows us to not only survive the hardest of hard times, but to find joy, friends, and even family, in them.

Review:

Hopeful, heartwarming, and atmospheric!

Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is an intriguing tale that sweeps you away between Chicago and Texas during the early 1930s and into the life of Evie Grace Devlin, a young woman who yearns to become a registered nurse, but who after her past as a Vaudeville performer comes to light and she is denied graduation, ends up in the world of competitive dance competitions until tragedy strikes, and she must rethink what’s truly important and where, what and who she’d truly like to be.

The prose is smooth and expressive. The main characters are spirited, resilient, and hardworking. And the plot is a compelling, emotional tale about life, loss, self-discovery, familial drama, social injustices, political unrest, poverty, inequality, heartbreak, courage, romance, and friendship.

Overall, Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a sweet, entertaining, sentimental tale by Bird that was a pleasure to read with a setting I don’t often get a chance to read about and a unique storyline that was informative as well as refreshing.

 

This novel is available now.

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

           

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sarah Bird

Sarah Bird’s novel, Above the East China Sea, was long-listed for the Dublin International Literary Award. A Dobie-Paisano Fellowship helped in researching Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen. Raised in an Air Force family on bases around the world, Sarah is the child of two warriors, a WWII Army nurse and an Air Corps bombardier, who met at a barn dance in North Africa. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Photo by Sarah Wilson.

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#BookReview The Night Shift by Alex Finlay @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #TheNightShift #AlexFinlay #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Night Shift by Alex Finlay @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #TheNightShift #AlexFinlay #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers Title: The Night Shift

Author: Alex Finlay

Published by: Minotaur Books on Mar. 1, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. Y2K is expected to end in chaos: planes falling from the sky, elevators plunging to earth, world markets collapsing. A digital apocalypse. None of that happens. But at a Blockbuster Video in Linden, New Jersey, four teenage girls working the night shift are attacked. Only one survives. Police quickly identify a suspect who flees and is never seen again.

Fifteen years later, in the same town, four teenage employees working late at an ice cream store are attacked, and again only one makes it out alive.

Both surviving victims recall the killer speaking only a few final words… “Goodnight, pretty girl.”

In the aftermath, three lives intersect: the survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who’s forced to relive her tragedy; the brother of the original suspect, who’s convinced the police have it wrong; and the FBI agent, who’s determined to solve both cases. On a collision course toward the truth, all three lives will forever be changed, and not everyone will make it out alive.

Review:

Devious, sinister, and propulsive!

In this latest novel by Finlay, The Night Shift, he transports you to Linden, New Jersey, a small town where tragedy seems to strike, secrets and gossip are rampant, and a mass murder of multiple teens at a local ice cream shop that is eerily similar to an unsolved crime that happened at the Blockbuster fifteen-years before on New Year’s Eve triggers strong emotions, tragic memories, and finally uncovers more suspects and skeletons buried within the community than anyone could have imagined.

The writing is intricate and tight. The characters are tormented, complex, and secretive. And the plot told from multiple perspectives keeps you on the edge of your seat as it submerges you into a menacing tale full of twists, turns, secrets, deception, manipulation, deduction, deviance, mayhem, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Night Shift is another adrenaline-pumping, twisty, highly satisfying page-turner that had just the right amount of suspense, tension, and nostalgia to keep me engaged, invested, and guessing until the very last page.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Alex Finlay

ALEX FINLAY is the pseudonym of an author who lives in Washington, D.C. His 2021 breakout thriller, Every Last Fear, was an Indie Next pick, a LibraryReads selection, an Amazon Editor’s Best Thriller, as well as a CNN, Newsweek, E!, BuzzFeed, Business Week, Goodreads, Parade, PopSugar, and Reader’s Digest best or most anticipated thriller of the year. Alex’s work has been translated into more than a dozen languages and optioned for film and television.

Photo by Kristina Sherk.

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#BookReview The Last Summer by Karen Swan @KarenSwan1 @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheLastSummer #TheWildIsleSeries #KarenSwan #PGCBooks

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#BookReview The Last Summer by Karen Swan @KarenSwan1 @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheLastSummer #TheWildIsleSeries #KarenSwan #PGCBooks Title: The Last Summer

Author: Karen Swan

Series: The Wild Isle #1

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 3, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 496

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

When the residents of St Kilda ask to be evacuated from their remote island home in the summer of 1930, it’s in search of a better life on mainland Scotland compared to the scratch existence on their mountain in the sea.

For eighteen-year-old tomboy Effie Gillies, it’s a bittersweet departure. She’s the best young climber on the island, as skilled and brave as any of the men. But it is Effie’s expansive knowledge of local bird life that leads her to take up a position as curator of Dumfries House’s ornithological collection – and back into the arms of Lord Dumfries’ son and heir, Sholto.

During her last summer on St Kilda, Effie had been Sholto’s guide, and their attraction had seemed irresistible. But, in the glamorous polite society of Ayrshire, it is clear they are worlds apart. When a body is discovered on the island, soon after the evacuation, a scandal erupts as Effie is implicated. Sholto knows she’s keeping secrets – but are they even her own?

The Last Summer is the first in an epic, sweeping historical series by Sunday Times bestseller Karen Swan, set in and around the Scottish island of St Kilda.

Review:

Enthralling, mysterious, and romantic!

The Last Summer is an absorbing tale that sweeps you away to 1930 and into the life of Effie Gillies, an eighteen-year-old girl who, along with her family and closest friends, is one of thirty-six inhabitants of the isolated St. Kilda archipelago who is content with her isolated existence, living a simple life amongst the birds and the cliffs, until things start to get a little more complicated and she falls for a man way above her station, the government decides to evacuate the island villagers to the mainland, she takes on a new job curating the ornithological collection of Lord Dumfries, the father of the man who stole her heart, and the deserted island is left with more than just empty dwellings and whispered secrets, but the body of a man who wasn’t all that kind or liked and had more than one person who wished him dead.

The writing is eloquent and vivid. The characters are hardy, resilient, and brave. And the plot is an alluring tale of life, loss, family, friendship, community, intrigue, mystery, drama, expectations, angst, social division, heartbreak, and love.

Overall, The Last Summer is a beautifully written, incredibly atmospheric, brilliant start to a new series by Swan that I absolutely devoured, highly recommend, and is hands down one of my favourite reads of the year.

This book is available now.

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

           

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Karen Swan

Karen Swan began her career in fashion journalism before giving it all up to raise her three children and a puppy, and to pursue her ambition of becoming a writer. She lives in the forest outside Sussex, England, writing her books in a treehouse overlooking the Downs.

An internationally bestselling author, her numerous books include The Rome Affair, The Paris Secret, Christmas Under the Stars, and The Christmas Secret. 

Photograph by Alexander James

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#BookReview The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheBookWomansDaughter #KimMicheleRichardson #bookmarkedbylandmark

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#BookReview The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheBookWomansDaughter #KimMicheleRichardson #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: The Book Woman's Daughter

Author: Kim Michele Richardson

Series: Book Woman of Troublesome Creek #2

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on May 3, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 9/10

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek!

Bestselling historical fiction author Kim Michele Richardson is back with the perfect book club read following Honey Mary Angeline Lovett, the daughter of the beloved Troublesome book woman, who must fight for her own independence with the help of the women who guide her and the books that set her free.

In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good.

Picking up her mother’s old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn’t need anyone telling her how to survive. But the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren’t as keen to let a woman pave her own way.

If Honey wants to bring the freedom books provide to the families who need it most, she’s going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women who run the hills and hollers can make all the difference in the world.

Review:

Raw, atmospheric, and insightful!

The Book Woman’s Daughter is an incredibly descriptive, moving novel that takes us to small-town Kentucky in 1953 and into the life of sixteen-year-old Honey Lovett, a young girl stricken with methemoglobinemia who, after her parents are arrested for miscegenation, takes up her mother’s old job as Pack Horse Librarian transporting books to the houses located in the hills outside Troublesome Creek in order to keep herself safe and out of the hands of the authorities from Knott County who would like nothing better than to lock her up in the Kentucky House of Reform until she’s twenty-one.

The prose is vivid and expressive. The characters are spirited, vulnerable, independent, and driven. And the plot is a heart-tugging, compelling tale of life, love, loss, family, friendship, poverty, misogyny, prejudice, racism, community, courage, desperation, self-preservation, survival, and emancipation.

Overall, The Book Woman’s Daughter is a rich, gritty, absorbing tale by Richardson that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the feelings, lives, and personalities of the characters you can’t help but be enthralled and invested from start to finish.

 

This book is available now.

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

           

 

 

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kim Michele Richardson

The NEW YORK TIMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling author, Kim Michele Richardson has written five works of historical fiction, and a bestselling memoir, The Unbreakable Child.
Her latest critically acclaimed novel, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was recommended by Dolly Parton in People’s Magazine and has earned a 2020 PBS Readers Choice, 2019 LibraryReads Best Book, Indie Next, SIBA, Forbes Best Historical Novel, Book-A-Million Best Fiction, and is an Oprah's Buzziest Books pick and a Women’s National Book Association Great Group Reads selection. It was inspired by the real life, remarkable "blue people" of Kentucky, and the fierce, brave Packhorse Librarians who used the power of literacy to overcome bigotry and fear during the Great Depression. The novel is taught widely in high schools and college classrooms.
Her forthcoming fifth novel, The Book Woman’s Daughter is both a stand-alone and sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and will be published May 3, 2022. Kim Michele lives with her family in Kentucky and is the founder of Shy Rabbit.

Photo by Leigh Photography.

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#BookReview Truly, Madly by Stephen Galloway @GrandCentralPub #TrulyMadly #StephenGalloway #GrandCentralPub

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#BookReview Truly, Madly by Stephen Galloway @GrandCentralPub #TrulyMadly #StephenGalloway #GrandCentralPub Title: Truly, Madly

Author: Stephen Galloway

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Mar. 22, 2022

Genres: Nonfiction

Pages: 416

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In 1934, a friend brought fledgling actress Vivien Leigh to see Theatre Royal, where she would first lay eyes on Laurence Olivier in his brilliant performance as Anthony Cavendish. That night, she confided to a friend, he was the man she was going to marry. There was just one problem: she was already married—and so was he.

TRULY, MADLY is the biography of a marriage, a love affair that still captivates millions, even decades after both actors’ deaths. Vivien and Larry were two of the first truly global celebrities – their fame fueled by the explosive growth of tabloids and television, which helped and hurt them in equal measure. They seemed to have it all and yet, in their own minds, they were doomed, blighted by her long-undiagnosed mental-illness, which transformed their relationship from the stuff of dreams into a living nightmare.

Through new research, including exclusive access to previously unpublished correspondence and interviews with their friends and family, author Stephen Galloway takes readers on a bewitching journey. He brilliantly studies their tempestuous liaison, one that took place against the backdrop of two world wars, the Golden Age of Hollywood and the upheavals of the 1960s — as they struggled with love, loss and the ultimate agony of their parting.  

Review:

Scandalous, informative, and dramatic!

Truly, Madly is the intriguing, candid biography of two of the most famous actors of the 20th century, Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, and their volatile relationship that started in 1937 with a whirlwind love affair and ended all too suddenly in tragic heartbreak.

The writing is expressive and smooth. The characters are talented, tormented, and driven. And the novel is a poignant tale of one couple’s personal and professional successes and heartaches both on and off the screen, including a marriage grounded in love yet littered with insecurity, jealousy, depression, miscarriages, mental illness, and infidelity.

Overall, Truly, Madly is a captivating, descriptive, sobering tale by Galloway that highlights that loving someone means loving them in the good, the bad, and the ugly, and is an important reminder of just how unfortunate and detrimental our lack of knowledge and treatment of mental illness in the last century truly was.

 

This book is available now.

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

                

 

 

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

 

About Stephen Galloway

Stephen Galloway is the dean of Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Prior to joining Chapman in 2020, he was for many years the executive editor of The Hollywood Reporter.

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#BookReview Never a Duke (Rogues to Riches #7) by Grace Burrowes @GraceBurrowes @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForeverPub #ReadForever2022 #NeveraDuke #GraceBurrowes #RoguestoRichesSeries

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#BookReview Never a Duke (Rogues to Riches #7) by Grace Burrowes @GraceBurrowes @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForeverPub #ReadForever2022 #NeveraDuke #GraceBurrowes #RoguestoRichesSeries Title: Never a Duke

Author: Grace Burrowes

Series: Rogues to Riches #7

Published by: Forever on Apr. 26, 2022

Genres: Historical Romance

Pages: 383

Format: Paperback

Source: Forever

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Despite having humble origins and a criminal past, Ned Wentworth has learned to dress, waltz, and express himself as elegantly as any lordling. When Lady Rosalind Kinwood’s maid goes missing, her ladyship turns to Ned, precisely because he still has friends in low places and skills no titled dandy would ever acquire, much less admit he possesses.

Rosalind is too opinionated and too intelligent, and has frequently suffered judgment at polite society’s hands. In the quietly observant Ned Wentworth, she finds a man who actually listens to her and who respects her for her outspokenness. As the search for the missing maids grow more perilous, Rosalind and Ned will have to risk everything—including their hearts—if they are to share the happily ever after that Mayfair’s matchmakers have begrudged them both.

Review:

Enticing, adventurous, and fun!

Never a Duke is a passionate, compelling tale that sweeps you away to London and into the life of Lady Rosalind Kinwood, an intelligent young woman who embarks on a mission to do whatever it takes to find her missing lady’s maid, even if it means befriending and asking for help from the banker with old friends in low places and a scandalous past of his own, the handsome, dependable Ned Wentworth.

The prose is amusing and light. The characters are protective, independent, and resourceful. And the plot is an arousing combination of family, friendship, secrets, adventure, societal expectations, wicked intentions, devious behaviour, tender moments, and unconditional love.

Overall, Never a Duke is an entertaining, intriguing, satisfying read by Burrowes that was a pleasant surprise with its exceptional character development, swoon-worthy ending, and twisty, action-packed storyline that’s not always seen in this genre.

 

This novel is available now.

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

                 

 

 

Thank you to Forever & Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Grace Burrowes

Grace Burrowes grew up in central Pennsylvania and is the sixth of seven children. She discovered romance novels in junior high and has been reading them voraciously ever since. Grace has a bachelor's degree in political science, a bachelor of music in music history (both from the Pennsylvania State University), a master's degree in conflict transformation from Eastern Mennonite University, and a juris doctor from the National Law Center at George Washington University. Grace is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes Georgian, Regency, Scottish Victorian, and contemporary romances in both novella and novel lengths. She enjoys giving workshops and speaking at writers' conferences.

Photograph courtesy of read-forever.com.

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#BookReview That Cowboy of Mine by Donna Grant @donna_grant @smpromance @StMartinsPress #ThatCowboyofMine #DonnaGrant #smpromance #smpinfluencers

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#BookReview That Cowboy of Mine by Donna Grant @donna_grant @smpromance @StMartinsPress #ThatCowboyofMine #DonnaGrant #smpromance #smpinfluencers Title: That Cowboy of Mine

Author: Donna Grant

Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on Apr. 26, 2022

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Is he an enemy?

Dillon Young is proud that she inherited her aunt’s ranch. The problem: someone is trying to run her off and is willing to do whatever it takes. Strange, dangerous things keep happening. Dillion suspects her no-good neighbor and fellow wealthy rancher Hank Stephens. Never a man to get his hands dirty, he sends others to get the job done. So, when the irresistible Cal Bennett is found passed out drunk on her property, Dillion is on high alert. Until someone takes a shot at her and Cal springs to her rescue. When the hard-bodied, no-nonsense-talking cowboy points out that she may need some help, Dillion is inclined to reluctantly agree.

Or a lover?

Waking up on a stranger’s property with a shotgun in his face is not Cal Bennett’s idea of a good time. Never mind that the woman on the other end of the barrel is one of the most fiercely beautiful women he has ever seen. Things get more interesting when he finds himself shielding her from flying bullets. It’s clear that this smart, savvy woman could use a hand and he is all too happy to lend any part of his body she requires. His proposal: pose as lovers until they find out who is after her ranch. As the danger rises and secrets are revealed, the passion explodes between them. There is no turning back.

Review:

Gripping, menacing, and taut!

That Cowboy of Mine is a riveting, seductive tale that takes us to Hill Country, Texas and into the life of the strong, confident Dillion Young who, after inheriting her Aunt Dolly’s ranch and deciding to stay, quickly discovers that someone desperately wants her to leave and figuring out the good guys from the bad is going to be a lot harder than she originally expected, especially when it comes to the ruggedly handsome, bull rider Cal Bennett who suspiciously turned up just when she needed him.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are complex, wary, and intriguing. And the plot is a passionate tale filled with twists, turns, secrets, red herrings, lies, danger, sexual attraction, mayhem, betrayal, corruption, and steamy romance.

Overall, That Cowboy of Mine is an action-packed, twisty, satisfying standalone by Grant that kept me on my toes, warmed my heart, and certainly left me eager for more.

 

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to SMP Romance – St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Donna Grant

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Donna Grant has been praised for her “totally addictive” and “unique and sensual” stories. She’s written more than thirty novels spanning multiple genres of romance including the bestselling Dark King stories, Dark Craving, Night’s Awakening, and Dawn’s Desire. Her acclaimed series, Dark Warriors, feature a thrilling combination of Druids, primeval gods, and immortal Highlanders who are dark, dangerous, and irresistible. She lives with her two children, a dog, and four cats in Texas.

Photo by Yvette Michelle Portraits LLC.

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