Category: 9/10

#BookReview The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey @kristywharvey @uplitreads #theweddingveil #kristywoodsonharvey #uplitreadscampaign

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#BookReview The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey @kristywharvey @uplitreads #theweddingveil #kristywoodsonharvey #uplitreadscampaign Title: The Wedding Veil

Author: Kristy Woodson Harvey

Published by: Gallery Books on Mar. 29, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 416

Format: Hardcover

Source: Uplit Reads

Book Rating: 9/10

“Four women. One family heirloom. A secret connection that will change their lives—and history as they know it. 

Present Day: Julia Baxter’s wedding veil, bequeathed to her great-grandmother by a mysterious woman on a train in the 1930s, has passed through generations of her family as a symbol of a happy marriage. But on the morning of her wedding day, something tells her that even the veil’s good luck isn’t enough to make her marriage last forever. Overwhelmed and panicked, she escapes to the Virgin Islands to clear her head. Meanwhile, her grandmother Babs is also feeling shaken. Still grieving the death of her beloved husband, she decides to move out of the house they once shared and into a retirement community. Though she hopes it’s a new beginning, she does not expect to run into an old flame, dredging up the same complicated emotions she felt a lifetime ago.

1914: Socialite Edith Vanderbilt is struggling to manage the luxurious Biltmore Estate after the untimely death of her cherished husband. With 250 rooms to oversee and an entire village dependent on her family to stay afloat, Edith is determined to uphold the Vanderbilt legacy—and prepare her free-spirited daughter Cornelia to inherit it—in spite of her family’s deteriorating financial situation. But Cornelia has dreams of her own. Asheville, North Carolina has always been her safe haven away from the prying eyes of the press, but as she explores more of the rapidly changing world around her, she’s torn between upholding tradition and pursuing the exciting future that lies beyond Biltmore’s gilded gates.

In the vein of Therese Anne Fowler’s A Well-Behaved Woman and Jennifer Robson’s The Gown, The Wedding Veil brings to vivid life a group of remarkable women forging their own paths—and explores the mystery of a national heirloom lost to time.”

Review:

Enchanting, sentimental, and heartfelt!

The Wedding Veil is a a captivating, uplifting tale that takes you on a journey to the early 1900s, as well as present-day, and into the lives of four main characters, Edith Vanderbilt, a young widow and mistress of the exquisite Biltmore Estate, Cornelia Vanderbilt, a mother of two with seemingly everything but who yearns for something more, Babs Carlisle, a grandmother extraordinaire with a lot of spunk and a heart of gold, and Julie Baxter, a soon-to-be bride with a beautiful locale, a family veil with a mysterious past and a history of its own, and a fiancé who unfortunately can’t seem to keep his hands to himself.

The prose is charged and intriguing. The characters are independent, kind, reliable, and supportive. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel effortlessly into a charming tale of drama, emotion, secrets, loss, duty, heartbreak, familial dynamics, self-reflection, passion, tradition, taking chances, moving on, and finding new love.

Overall, The Wedding Veil is an evocative, moving, nostalgic tale with compelling characters that I devoured from start to finish. As most people know, I’m a huge fan of Kristy Woodson Harvey’s writing, and now with this first exceptional endeavour into my favourite genre, historical fiction, I might have become an even bigger fan if that’s even possible.

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

 

Thank you to Uplit Reads for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kristy Woodson Harvey

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the USA TODAY bestselling author of six novels, including Feels Like Falling, The Peachtree Bluff series, and Under the Southern Sky. A Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s school of journalism, her writing has appeared in numerous online and print publications including Southern Living, Traditional Home, USA TODAY, Domino, and O. Henry. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. Her work has been optioned for film and television, and her books have received numerous accolades including Southern Living’s Most Anticipated Beach Reads, Parade’s Big Fiction Reads, and Entertainment Weekly’s Spring Reading Picks. Kristy is the co-creator and co-host of the weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction. She blogs with her mom Beth Woodson on Design Chic, and loves connecting with fans on KristyWoodsonHarvey.com. She lives on the North Carolina coast with her husband and son where she is (always!) working on her next novel.

Photo by Jay Ackerman.

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#BookReview Pleading the Fish by Bree Baker @BreeBakerBooks @PPPress #PleadingtheFish #SeasideCafeMysteries #BreeBaker #inkedinpoison

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#BookReview Pleading the Fish by Bree Baker @BreeBakerBooks @PPPress #PleadingtheFish #SeasideCafeMysteries #BreeBaker #inkedinpoison Title: Pleading the Fish

Author: Bree Baker

Series: Seaside Café Mystery #7

Published by: Poisoned Pen Press on Mar. 29, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Paperback

Source: Poisoned Pen Press

Book Rating: 9/10

In the seventh and final book of Bree Baker’s critically acclaimed Seaside Café Mystery series, Pleading the Fish, Everly Swan’s wedding plans are upended by a dead body. She’ll have to run her teashop, find a dress, and catch a murderer all before she can walk down the aisle!

Café owner and amateur sleuth Everly Swan, like every Swan woman before her, is cursed in love. The only problem? Her fiancé Detective Grady Hayes has something to say about it—he doesn’t believe in magic and is determined to prove the curse wrong so they can spend their lives together. Everly wishes it could be so simple!

It feels like a sign when a historian looking into Swan history is found dead in an antique wishing well, and Everly fears the curse is spreading. Grady takes the case, looking to find justice and prove the curse wrong, while Everly does a bit of investigating on her own. Big change is coming for Everly and her friends, but with mysterious strangers lurking about and someone leaving increasingly threatening messages for the happy couple, Everly’s not sure she’ll get her happily-ever-after!

Review:

Lighthearted, quirky, and highly entertaining!

In this latest novel in the Seaside Café Mysteries, Pleading the Fish, we head back to Charm, North Carolina, and into the life of tea shop owner Everly Swan as she once again finds herself unexpectedly tied up in a local murder and dividing her time between baking treats, investigating who killed the local historian and why, and working on overcoming her fears about the infamous Swan curse and finally marrying the man she loves the handsome, patient Detective Grady Hays.

The writing is smooth and sweet. The characters are sharp, supportive, and rash. And the plot is a delightfully whimsical whodunit full of misdirection, amateur sleuthing, suspicious personalities, small-town living, community, romance, and decadent delights.

Overall, Pleading the Fish is another playful, mysterious, charming read by Baker, and even though it’s a little bittersweet to say goodbye to all the characters I’ve come to know and love over the past seven novels, it is nevertheless a superb ending to a fabulous series that I will undoubtedly miss and highly recommend.

 

This novel is available on March 29, 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 Bree Baker

Bree Baker is a Midwestern writer obsessed with small-town hijinks, sweet tea, and the sea. She’s been telling stories to her friends, family, and strangers for as long as she can remember, and more often than not, those stories feature a warm ocean breeze and a recipe she’s sure to ruin. Now she’s working on those fancy cooking skills and dreaming up adventures for the Seaside Café mysteries. Bree is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Romance Writers of America.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview The Tsarina’s Daughter by Ellen Alpsten @EAlpsten_Author @StMartinsPress #TheTsarinasDaughter #EllenAlpsten #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Tsarina’s Daughter by Ellen Alpsten @EAlpsten_Author @StMartinsPress #TheTsarinasDaughter #EllenAlpsten #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Tsarina's Daughter

Author: Ellen Alpsten

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Mar. 15, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 512

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Born into the House of Romanov to the all-powerful Peter the Great and his wife, Catherine, a former serf, beautiful Tsarevna Elizabeth is the envy of the Russian empire. She is insulated by luxury and spoiled by her father, who dreams for her to marry King Louis XV of France and rule in Versailles. But when a woodland creature gives her a Delphic prophecy, her life is turned upside down. Her volatile father suddenly dies, her only brother has been executed and her mother takes the throne of Russia.

As friends turn to foes in the dangerous atmosphere of the Court, the princess must fear for her freedom and her life. Fate deals her blow after blow, and even loving her becomes a crime that warrants cruel torture and capital punishment: Elizabeth matures from suffering victim to strong and savvy survivor. But only her true love and their burning passion finally help her become who she is. When the Imperial Crown is left to an infant Tsarevich, Elizabeth finds herself in mortal danger and must confront a terrible dilemma–seize the reins of power and harm an innocent child, or find herself following in the footsteps of her murdered brother.

Hidden behind a gorgeous, wildly decadent façade, the Russian Imperial Court is a viper’s den of intrigue and ambition. Only a woman possessed of boundless courage and cunning can prove herself worthy to sit on the throne of Peter the Great.

Ellen Alpsten’s stunning new novel, The Tsarina’s Daughter, is the dramatic story of Elizabeth, daughter of Catherine I and Peter the Great, who ruled Russia during an extraordinary life marked by love, danger, passion and scandal.

Review:

Vibrant, informative, and highly entertaining!

The Tsarina’s Daughter is an insightful, enthralling tale set in eighteenth-century Russia that tells the story of Elizabeth Petrovna Romanov, the second-eldest daughter of Tsar Peter the Great and Catherine I, whose life seemed to have been fated by the dark prophecy predicted by a woodland spirit when she was a child and who after bearing tragedy after tragedy, loss after loss, and survived in a world in which friends easily turned to foes, and calculated manoeuvres and political advancement were always higher on the agenda than love, became the Empress of Russia in 1741, at the age of thirty-one, and ruled until strokes led to her death in 1762.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are willful, ruthless, and cunning. And the plot is an alluring tale of life, loss, scandal, sacrifice, desires, passion, heartbreak, opulence, corruption, treachery, rivalry, and tumultuous relationships.

Overall, The Tsarina’s Daughter is another fascinating, absorbing, immersive saga by Alpsten that does a spectacular job of once again highlighting her incredible knowledge and impeccable research into the infamous House of Romanov and the remarkable life of this last direct Romanov to ever reign in Russia.

 

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 providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Ellen Alpsten

ELLEN ALPSTEN was born and raised in the Kenyan highlands. Upon graduating from L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, she worked as a news anchor for Bloomberg TV London. Whilst working gruesome night shifts on breakfast TV, she started to write in earnest, every day, after work and a nap. Today, Ellen works as an author and as a journalist for international publications such as Vogue, Standpoint and CN Traveller. She lives in London with her husband, three sons and a moody fox red Labrador. Tsarina is her debut novel.

Photograph by Andreas Stirnberg.

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#BookReview Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu @MelissaLFu @littlebrown @HBGCanada #PeachBlossomSpring #MelissaFu #HBGCanada

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#BookReview Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu @MelissaLFu @littlebrown @HBGCanada #PeachBlossomSpring #MelissaFu #HBGCanada Title: Peach Blossom Spring

Author: Melissa Fu

Published by: Little Brown and Company on Mar. 15, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: Hardcover

Source: HBG Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

“Within every misfortune there is a blessing and within every blessing, the seeds of misfortune, and so it goes, until the end of time.”

It is 1938 in China and, as a young wife, Meilin’s future is bright. But with the Japanese army approaching, Meilin and her four year old son, Renshu, are forced to flee their home. Relying on little but their wits and a beautifully illustrated hand scroll, filled with ancient fables that offer solace and wisdom, they must travel through a ravaged country, seeking refuge.

Years later, Renshu has settled in America as Henry Dao. Though his daughter is desperate to understand her heritage, he refuses to talk about his childhood. How can he keep his family safe in this new land when the weight of his history threatens to drag them down? Yet how can Lily learn who she is if she can never know her family’s story?

Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring is a bold and moving look at the history of modern China, told through the story of one family. It’s about the power of our past, the hope for a better future, and the haunting question: What would it mean to finally be home?

Review:

Rich, poignant, and affecting!

Peach Blossom Spring is an intimate, absorbing, multi-generational story, spanning eight decades, that takes you into the life of Meilin, a young widow who, after fleeing war and communistic oppression in the Hunan Province of China in 1938, escapes to Taiwan with her four-year-old son where she toils and struggles to make a good life until 1960, when Renshu, now grown, heads to graduate school at Northwestern University in America where he stays, marries, and raises a family as an immigrant who never quite feels at home due to ongoing encounters of political unease, awkwardness, racism, and the enduring effects of his childhood trauma.

The prose is expressive and fluid. The characters are layered, vulnerable, and resourceful. And the plot is a moving tale about life, love, familial relationships, heartbreak, loss, desperation, estrangement, courage, hope, regret, and culture.

Overall, Peach Blossom Spring is a compelling, evocative, immersive tale by Fu that I thoroughly enjoyed and which has just the right amount of intrigue, colourful history, and palpable emotion to be more than pleasing to lovers of the historical fiction genre.

 

This novel is available now.

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

           

 

 

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

 

About Melissa Fu

Melissa Fu grew up in Northern New Mexico and has lived in Texas, Colorado, New York, Ohio and Washington. She now lives near Cambridge, UK, with her husband and children. With academic backgrounds in physics and English, she has worked in education as a teacher, curriculum developer, and consultant. She was the 2018/19 David TK Wong Fellow at the University of East Anglia. Peach Blossom Spring is her first novel.

Photo courtesy of grandcentralpublishing.com.

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#BookReview Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron #ReadForever #ReadForeverPub #ReadForever2022 #KamilaKnowsBest #FarahHeron

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#BookReview Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron #ReadForever #ReadForeverPub #ReadForever2022 #KamilaKnowsBest #FarahHeron Title: Kamila Knows Best

Author: Farah Heron

Published by: Forever on Mar. 8, 2022

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 368

Format: Paperback

Source: Forever

Book Rating: 9/10

Kamila Hussain’s life might not be perfect, but, whew, it’s close. She lives a life of comfort, filled with her elaborate Bollywood movie parties, a dog with more Instagram followers than most reality stars, a job she loves, and an endless array of friends who clearly need her help finding love. In fact, Kamila is so busy with her friends’ love lives, she’s hardly given any thought to her own . . .

Fortunately, Kamila has Rohan Nasser. A longtime friend of the family, he’s hugely successful, with the deliciously lean, firm body of a rock climber. Only lately, Kamila’s “harmless flirting” with Rohan is making her insides do a little bhangra dance.

But between planning the local shelter’s puppy prom, throwing a huge work event, and proving to everyone that she’s got it all figured out, Kamila isn’t letting herself get distracted—until her secret nemesis returns to town with an eye for Rohan. Suddenly, it seems like the more Kamila tries to plan, the more things are starting to unravel—and her perfectly ordered life is about to be turned upside down.

Review:

Heartwarming, witty, and romantic!

Kamila Knows Best is a charming, playful tale that transports you to Toronto, Canada and into the lives of the responsible, handsome Rohan Nasser and the spirited, intelligent Kamila Hussain as they discover that even though they’ve known each other forever and are the best of friends perhaps there’s a little something more underneath all that innocent flirting and casual embraces than they’ve ever cared to admit.

The writing is humorous and light. The characters are kind, supportive, and genuine. And the plot is an entertaining mix of friendship, family, snappy banter, shameless flirting, red-hot chemistry, tender moments, responsibilities, community, and culture.

Overall, Kamila Knows Best is a sexy, sweet, uplifting tale by Heron with a whole cast of characters I couldn’t help but fall in love with, an inclusive, diverse storyline that kept me engaged from start to finish, and a happy-ever-after ending that made me swoon.

 

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Farah Heron

After a childhood raised on Bollywood, Monty Python, and Jane Austen, Farah Heron wove complicated story arcs and uplifting happily ever afters in her daydreams while pursuing careers in human resources and psychology. She started writing those stories down a few years ago, and never looked back. She writes romantic comedies and women’s fiction full of huge South Asian families, delectable food, and most importantly, brown people falling stupidly in love. She lives in Toronto with her husband, two children, and a rabbit named Strawberry. She is considering getting a cat.

Photo by James Heron.

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#BookReview The Texas Job by Reavis Z. Wortham @ReavisZWortham @PPPress #TheTexasJob #ReavisZWortham #TexasRedRiverMysteries #inkedinpoison

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#BookReview The Texas Job by Reavis Z. Wortham @ReavisZWortham @PPPress #TheTexasJob #ReavisZWortham #TexasRedRiverMysteries #inkedinpoison Title: The Texas Job

Author: Reavis Z. Wortham

Series: Texas Red River Mysteries #9

Published by: Poisoned Pen Press on Feb. 15, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 272

Format: Paperback

Source: Poisoned Pen Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Some men are destined for danger

Texas Ranger Tom Bell is simply tracking a fugitive killer in 1931 when he rides into Kilgore, a hastily erected shanty town crawling with rough and desperate men―oil drillers who’ve come by the thousands in search of work. The sheriff of the boomtown is overwhelmed and offers no help, nor are any of the roughnecks inclined to assist the young Ranger in his search for the wanted man.

In fact, it soon becomes apparent that the lawman’s presence has irritated the wrong people, and when two failed attempts are made on his life, Bell knows he’s getting closer to finding out who is responsible for cheating and murdering local landowners to access the rich oil fields flowing beneath their farms. When they ambush him for a third time, they make the fatal mistake of killing someone close to him and leaving the Ranger alive.

Armed with his trademark 1911 Colt .45 and the Browning automatic he liberated from a gangster’s corpse, Tom Bell cuts a swath of devastation through the heart of East Texas in search of the consortium behind the lethal land-grab scheme.

Review:

Astute, sinister, and immersive!

The Texas Job is an absorbing, highly authentic western that takes you into the life of Texas Ranger Tom Bell during 1931, as he heads to Pine Top, Texas to hunt a fugitive wanted for murder in a town bursting with oil, booming with riffraff, and home to a group of men who have happily made their bed with the devil and will do whatever it takes, even murder, to acquire prestige, power, and riches.

The prose is vivid and descriptive. The characters are rugged, intimidating, and resolute. And the plot, including all the subplots, seamlessly intertwine and unravel into a gripping tale full of deception, manipulation, community, greed, corruption, profiteering, mayhem, violence, and murder.

I’m not usually a huge western mystery type of gal, and yet every time I read a Wortham novel, I’m blown away by how much I love the characters and the atmosphere, and The Texas Job is no exception. In fact, it’s probably one of my favourites. It’s suspenseful, gritty, and downright thrilling, and I can’t do anything other than highly recommend it.

 

This novel is available now.

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 Reavis Z. Wortham

Spur Award winner Reavis Z. Wortham retired in 2011 and now works harder than before as the author of the critically acclaimed Red River historical mystery series. Kirkus Reviews listed his first novel, The Rock Hole, as one of their Top 12 Mysteries of 2011. True West Magazine included Dark Places as one of 2015’s Top 12 Modern Westerns. The Providence Journal writes, “This year’s Unraveled is a hidden gem of a book that reads like Craig Johnson’s Longmire on steroids.” Wortham’s new high octane contemporary western series from Kensington Publishing featuring Texas Ranger Sonny Hawke kicked off in 2017 with the publication of Hawke’s Prey. The fourth Sonny Hawke thriller, Hawke’s Fury, was published in June 2020. In 2019, the Western Writers Association presented Hawke’s War with the Spur Award in the WWA Best Mass Market Paperback category. The next Red River Mystery, Laying Bones, will be published in January 2021.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview Where I Can’t Follow by Ashley Blooms @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #WhereICantFollow #AshleyBlooms #bookmarkedbylandmark

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#BookReview Where I Can’t Follow by Ashley Blooms @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #WhereICantFollow #AshleyBlooms #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: Where I Can't Follow

Author: Ashley Blooms

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Feb. 15, 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Women's Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 9/10

Walk through the door and leave all your problems behind…but you don’t know what’s on the other side. And once you leave, you’ll never come back. Will you go through?

Maren Walker told herself she wouldn’t need to sell pills for long, that it was only means to an end. But that end seems to be stretching as far away as the other side of Blackdamp County, Kentucky. There’s always another bill for Granny’s doctor, another problem with the car, another reason she’s getting nowhere.

She dreams of walking through her little door to leave it all behind. The doors have appeared to the people in her mountain town for as long as anyone can remember, though no one knows where they lead. All anyone knows is that if you go, you’ll never come back.

Maren’s mother left through her door when Maren was nine, and her shadow has followed Maren ever since. When she faces the possibility of escaping her struggles for good, Maren must choose just what kind of future she wants to build.

From critically acclaimed author Ashley Blooms, Where I Can’t Follow explores the forces that hold people in place, and how they adapt, survive, and struggle to love a place that doesn’t always love them back.

Review:

Heart-wrenching, thought-provoking, and memorable!

Where I Can’t Follow is an incredibly moving novel that takes us to small-town Kentucky where emotions run high, tragedy seems to strike, poverty is the norm, opioid addiction is rampant, hope appears futile, and the door to an easier, happier place always seems to be floating nearby.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are raw, fragile, and conflicted. And the plot is a sobering, compelling tale of life, love, loss, family, friendship, addiction, mental illness, suicidal ideation, socioeconomic depression, desperation, self-preservation, survival and a touch of magical realism.

Overall, Where I Can’t Follow made me think, made me feel, and resonated with me long after the final page. It’s a unique, emotional, absorbing tale by Blooms that is an excellent reminder that thorns can prick, roots can turn rotten, growth requires nurturing and love, and believing you’re worthy goes a long way when the road ahead seems hopeless and daunting.

 

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 providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Ashley Blooms

Ashley Blooms is the author of Where I Can’t Follow, which was named a Most Anticipated novel by Good Housekeeping, Gizmodo, and Tor.com, among others. Her debut novel, Every Bone a Prayer, was long-listed for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize. She’s a graduate of the Clarion Writer’s Workshop and received her MFA as a John and Renee Grisham Fellow from the University of Mississippi. Her fiction has appeared in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Strange Horizons, among others.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview The Damaged by Tijan @TijansBooks @smpromance @StMartinsPress #TheDamaged #Tijan #TheInsidersTrilogy #smpromance #smpinfluencers

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#BookReview The Damaged by Tijan @TijansBooks @smpromance @StMartinsPress #TheDamaged #Tijan #TheInsidersTrilogy #smpromance #smpinfluencers Title: The Damaged

Author: Tijan

Series: The Insiders #2

Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on Feb. 8, 2022

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Young Adult

Pages: 320

Format: Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

No longer an outsider, Bailey has a family and love that she never could’ve imagined.

Used to living in the shadows, Kash will now do anything to protect his family and his woman.

They will take on the world together…

In the meantime, stunning motives, lies, and explosive secrets continue to unfold.

1. Quinn is in jail, awaiting trial.

2. Friends might actually be enemies.

3. And what is Calhoun plotting? More importantly, will Kash discover it before it’s too late?

Everything will come to a head as passion and danger ignite in The Damaged.

Review:

Provocative, rousing, and edgy!

The Damaged is a dramatic, seductive tale that picks up right where The Insiders left off, taking us back into the lives of Bailey and Kash as their relationship strengthens and grows and their need to support, protect, and love each other becomes even more important when danger and ruthless enemies swirl all around them.

The prose is tight and steamy. The characters, including a great cast of supporting characters, are impulsive, multilayered, and consumed. And the plot is a deliciously tortuous tale filled with temptation, desire, deception, mystique, familial drama, palpable attraction, and malicious intentions.

Overall, The Damaged is a sultry, intriguing, suspenseful tale by Tijan that kept me invested, engaged, and on the edge of my seat from the very first page, and with its shocking teaser of an ending undoubtedly left me counting down the days until the third and final novel in this trilogy becomes available, and the battle between good and evil finally comes to a head.

 

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 Tijan

Tijan is a New York Times bestselling author who writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing later in life and once she started, she was hooked. She's written multi-bestsellers including the Carter Reed Series, the Fallen Crest Series, and Ryan's Bed among others. She is currently writing to her heart's content in north Minnesota with an English Cocker Spaniel she adores.

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#BookReview How to Deceive a Duke by Samara Parish @SamaraParish @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForeverPub #ReadForever2022 #HowtoDeceiveaDuke #SamaraParish #RebelswithaCauseSeries

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#BookReview How to Deceive a Duke by Samara Parish @SamaraParish @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForeverPub #ReadForever2022 #HowtoDeceiveaDuke #SamaraParish #RebelswithaCauseSeries Title: How to Deceive a Duke

Author: Samara Parish

Series: Rebels with a Cause #2

Published by: Forever on Jan. 25, 2022

Genres: Historical Romance

Pages: 364

Format: Paperback

Source: Forever

Book Rating: 9/10

Fiona McTavish is an engineer, a chemist, a rebel—and no one’s idea of a proper lady. She prefers breeches to ballrooms, but her new invention—matches—will surely turn as many heads. There’s just a little matter of her being arrested for a crime she didn’t commit. And the only person she can turn to for help is the man who broke her heart years ago.

Edward Stirling, Duke of Wildeforde, will do anything to restore his family’s name and put his father’s scandalous death behind them. But when Fiona needs his help getting released from prison, he can’t deny her—even though it means she must live with him as a condition of her freedom. With the desire between them rekindling as fast as the gossip about their arrangement is spreading among the ton, Edward will have to choose what matters most to him—his reputation or his heart.

Review:

Enticing, passionate, and amusing!

How to Deceive a Duke is set in London during the early eighteenth century and features the feisty, intelligent Fiona McTavish who, after being arrested and conditionally released, must live for a month under the same roof as the one man she hoped to never see again after he professed his love and then broke her heart five years ago, the devilishly handsome Edward Stirling, Duke of Wildforde.

The prose is passionate and alluring. The characters are fiery, stubborn, and loyal. And the plot is a delightfully scandalous blend of familial drama, societal expectations, regency traditions, friendship, desire, yearning, gossip, tricky situations, duty, and palpable attraction.

Overall, How to Deceive a Duke is a steamy, engaging, highly entertaining tale that I absolutely adored. It is the second title in the Rebel with a Cause series by Parish that, in my opinion, keeps getting better and better and is one I definitely wouldn’t want to miss.

 

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 Samara Parish

Samara Parish has been escaping into fictional worlds since she was a child. When she picked up her first historical romance book, she found a fantasy universe she never wanted to leave and the inspiration to write her own stories. She lives in Australia with her own hero and their many fur-babies in a house with an obscenely large garden, despite historically being unable to keep a cactus alive. How to Survive a Scandal is her debut novel.

Photo by Amanda Hardwick.

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#BookReview Antoinette’s Sister by Diana Giovinazzo @DianaGauthor @GrandCentralPub #AntoinettesSister #DianaGiovinazzo #GrandCentralPub

Published on by Zoe1 Comment
#BookReview Antoinette’s Sister by Diana Giovinazzo @DianaGauthor @GrandCentralPub #AntoinettesSister #DianaGiovinazzo #GrandCentralPub Title: Antoinette's Sister

Author: Diana Giovinazzo

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Jan. 11, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 9/10

As Marie Antoinette took her last breath as Queen of France in Paris, another formidable monarch—Antoinette’s dearly beloved sister, Charlotte—was hundreds of miles away, in Naples, fighting desperately to secure her release from the revolutionaries who would take her life. Little did Charlotte know, however, that her sister’s execution would change the course of history—and bring about the end of her own empire.
 
“You are the queen. You are the queen that Antoinette wanted to be.”
 
Austria 1767: Maria Carolina Charlotte—tenth daughter and one of sixteen children of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria—knows her position as a Habsburg archduchess will inevitably force her to leave her home, her family, and her cherished sister, Antoinette, whose companionship she values over all else. But not yet. The Habsburg family is celebrating a great triumph: Charlotte’s older sister, Josepha, has been promised to King Ferdinand IV of Naples and will soon take her place as queen. Before she can journey to her new home, however, tragedy strikes. After visiting the family crypt, Josepha contracts smallpox and dies. Shocked, Charlotte is forced to face an unthinkable new reality: she must now marry Ferdinand in her sister’s stead.
 
Bereft and alone, Charlotte finds that her life in Naples is more complicated than she could ever have imagined. Ferdinand is weak and feckless, and a disastrous wedding night plunges her into despair. Her husband’s regent, Tanucci, a controlling and power-hungry man, has pushed the country to the brink of ruin. Overwhelmed, she asks her brother Leopold, now the Holy Roman Emperor, to send help—which he does in the form of John Acton, a handsome military man twenty years Charlotte’s senior who is tasked with overseeing the Navy. Now, Charlotte must gather the strength to do what her mother did before her: take control of a country.
 
In a time of political uprisings and royal executions and with the increasingly desperate crisis her favorite sister, Queen Marie Antoinette, is facing in France, how is a young monarch to keep hold of everything—and everyone—she loves? Find out in this sweeping, luxurious tale of family, court intrigue, and power.

Review:

Rich, fascinating, and informative!

Antoinette’s Sister is an alluring, compelling tale set in Europe during the late 1700s that tells the story of Maria Carolina Charlotte, a young, Habsburg archduchess who not only became the powerful Queen of Naples and Sicily and a loving mother after her reluctant marriage to the immature King Ferdinand IV but also remained a stalwart, unwavering supporter of her closest and dearest sister, Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.

The prose is seamless and vivid. The characters are intelligent, ruthless, and bold. And the plot is an insightful, sweeping tale of the struggles, sacrifices, hopes, fears, entangled relationships, love affairs, schemes, and treachery that surrounded one of the most powerful families of the time.

Antoinette’s Sister is, ultimately, a story about life, loss, politics, power, family, desires, sacrifices, love, and war. It’s an immersive, absorbing, well-written tale by Giovinazzo that does a beautiful job of highlighting her incredible research and considerable knowledge into the life of Maria Carolina of Austria and both her undeniable love for her infamous sister and her long-lasting influence on Naples and European history.

This novel is available now.

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

           

 

 

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

 

About Diana Giovinazzo

Diana Giovinazzo is the co-creator of Wine, Women and Words, a weekly literary podcast featuring interviews with au­thors over a glass of wine. Diana is active within her local literary community as the president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Women’s National Book Association. The Woman in Red is her debut novel.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

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