Genre: Historical Fiction

Blog Tour and Review: Dolly Considine’s Hotel by Eamon Somers

Blog Tour and Review: Dolly Considine’s Hotel by Eamon Somers

Dolly Considine’s Hotel by Eamon Somers on July 8th 2021 Genres: Historical Fiction Pages: 320 Format: ARC Source: Travelling Pages Tours Buy on Amazon Goodreads Dolly Considine runs a late-night drinking establishment catering to the needs of thirsty politicians and theatricals in Dublin’s legendary drinking area, the Catacombs. Julian Ryder (aka Paddy Butler) is an eighteen-year-old aspiring writer in need of shelter from his bullying older brother. As the new live-in lounge assistant at Dolly Considine’s Hotel, Julian soon embroils himself in the shebeen’s gossip – and the guests’ bedsheets – and turns Dolly’s entourage into fodder for his literary ambitions. Reality quickly becomes difficult to separate from fantasy… Set against the run-up to the Pro-life Constitutional Amendment of September 1983 and moving fluidly between the 1950s of Dolly’s youth and Julian’s Summer of Unrequited Love, the hotel becomes a stage for farce and tragedy. Between Julian’s fictions, Dolly’s Secrets, and narrow party politics – and featuring a papier-mâché figure of Mother Ireland giving birth and clashing sword-wielding dancers – this rich cocktail threatens to blow them, and even Ireland itself, wide apart. Greetings! Welcome to our stop on the blog tour for Dolly Considine’s Hotel by Eamon Somers. This tour is […]

Posted June 11, 2022
4 Comments
Drawn by the Current by Jocelyn Green

Drawn by the Current by Jocelyn Green

Drawn by the Current by Jocelyn Green Series: The Windy City Saga #3 on February 1st , 2022 Genres: Historical Fiction Pages: 384 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads A birthday excursion turns deadly when the SS Eastland capsizes with Olive Pierce and her best friend Claire on board. Hundreds perish during the accident, and it’s only when Olive herself barely escapes that she discovers her friend is among the victims. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Olive returns to her work at an insurance agency and is soon caught up in the countless investigations related to the accident. But with so many missing, there are few open-and-shut cases, and she tries to balance her grief with the hard work of finding the truth. Is she just overwhelmed, or is someone trying to impede her investigations? When clues surface that impact those closest to her, how deep will she dig? Newspaper photographer Erik Magnussen begins helping Olive with her cases, and they develop a fast friendship. Just when Olive begins to unravel the secrets, more setbacks arise. It will take everything she’s got to find the truth and stay ahead of those who want to sabotage her progress. […]

Posted May 2, 2022
6 Comments
Library Card April 2022 & Weekend Book Friends #28

Library Card April 2022 & Weekend Book Friends #28

Greetings you guys! Where did March go? When I searched for my Library Card now, I’ve realized we never did a Library Card for March. Good grief! Our last one was for February. No idea how this happened. I am at least very proud to report back that we have completed our February Library Card with only one book that ended up being a DNF. April has quite a few public holidays coming up and we have quite a few books to get through so we are very grateful for the upcoming public holidays. My Mommy had Book Club on Wednesday night and she brought the follow books back for this month’s reading: Book Club The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper is actually still my Mommy’s book and it should go out of Book Club in July. She hasn’t read it yet though and we don’t want it to just disappear onto the shelf again. The Maid by Nita Prose is a brand new addition to the Club and yes, my Mommy called first deps. Very excited for this one due to all the brilliant reviews. The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak finally came home with her. I do hope that […]

Posted April 8, 2022
25 Comments
Weekend Book Friends #27

Weekend Book Friends #27

Greetings you guys! It’s Friday and my Mommy is officially on holidays! Whoo hoo! The fact that it’s only the second time this whole year that we get to our Weekend Posts, does give you an indication of how the term went. It wasn’t bad at all, just busy. Luckily we can now relax and just read a bit. So what will we read this weekend? This one might be a bit on the heavy side, but it’s a carry over from last month and we really want to read it. There will still be enough time for the lighter holiday reads. For our first stop, we will pay a visit to @ Reading is my Super Power for First Line Friday and to Gilion @ Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings.  Every Friday you can link up and share the first sentence of your current read (or the one you plan to devour over the weekend), as well as your initial thoughts and impressions. Songbirds open with a very short, but powerful chapter. One day, Nisha vanished and turned to gold. The turned to gold in the eyes of the creature that stood before me. She turned to gold in the […]

Posted April 1, 2022
39 Comments
Lucifer’s Game by Cristina Loggia

Lucifer’s Game by Cristina Loggia

Lucifer’s Game by Cristina Loggia Published by Lume Books on October 14th, 2021 Genres: Historical Fiction Pages: 340 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads Rome, 1942. Cordelia Olivieri is a young, determined hotel owner desperate to escape Mussolini’s racial persecution. But as Fascist leaders gather in Rome, Cordelia is suddenly surrounded by the world’s most ruthless and powerful commanders. In an effort to keep her Jewish heritage a secret and secure safe passage out of Italy, Cordelia forms a dangerous alliance with the British army who want to push the Axis out of North Africa once and for all. Going undercover, Cordelia begins obtaining and leaking military intelligence to a British agent, hoping the intel will secure her freedom. But the more Cordelia uncovers, the greater the risks – especially for one handsome German Afrika Korps officer. How far must Cordelia go to protect her identity and secure passage out of Rome? Spies, military secrets, and a personal crusade for freedom… don’t miss this utterly gripping World War II thriller. Italy 1942. The world is at war and not even the ancient city of Rome and its citizens are spared from the fear and devastation. Cordelia Olivieri, a […]

Posted March 28, 2022
6 Comments
The Other Side of Silence by Dodie Bishop

The Other Side of Silence by Dodie Bishop

The Other Side of Silence by Dodie Bishop Series: Silence and Shadow #1 Published by Next Chapter on January 19th, 2022 Genres: Historical Fiction Pages: 328 Format: ARC Source: The History Quill Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads Against a backdrop of murder and intrigue at the dissolute court of King Charles II, can Susannah and Raphael save their friend and find each other along the way? After a three-year absence mired in anxiety and trapped by her lack of speech, portrait miniaturist Susannah Gresham gathers her courage and returns to Whitehall Palace and her godfather, the King. Encountering Florentine jeweller Raphael Rossi, who appears to her just another court libertine, she is not immune to his appeal. With help from his patron, King’s mistress the Duchess of Richmond, Raphael sets out to win her. When Susannah’s closest friend Sam Carter is sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit, Susannah and Raphael must race against time to uncover the real killer. But nothing is as it seems, for Sam has dangerous enemies who are determined to see him die… Content Warnings: Swearing Blasphemy Adult Content (if you are an innocent white kitten like myself, you will blush […]

Posted March 18, 2022
7 Comments
Love and Retribution by Catherine McCullagh

Love and Retribution by Catherine McCullagh

Love and Retribution by Catherine McCullagh Published by Big Sky Publishing on January 5th, 2022 Genres: Historical Fiction Pages: 400 Format: ARC Source: The History Quill Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads It’s July 1943 and the world has been at war for almost four long years. One morning, young widow Emmy Penry-Jones discovers two men washed up on the beach below her house on the west coast of Cornwall. Emmy is used to rescuing washed-up sailors, the deadly Battle of the Atlantic exacting a heavy toll on shipping. But these men are not like the shipwrecked sailors she has rescued before and Emmy is soon drawn into a web of intrigue that will test both her ingenuity and her patriotism. Rocked by accusations of war crimes against a man she knows to be innocent, Emmy launches a bid to defend him, all too aware that the accusers could turn on her. The trial marks a turning point and Emmy is drawn further into a deadly cycle of post-war retribution from which only one man can save her. If Historical fiction is one of your favorite genres, what is it that draws you to it? “The more you know about […]

Posted January 15, 2022
5 Comments
Six Degrees of Separation – Rules are meant to be broken

Six Degrees of Separation – Rules are meant to be broken

Happy New Year! What better way to kick the new year off than with Six Degrees of Separation.  This monthly fun meme is hosted by Books are my Favorite and Best: On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Books can be linked in obvious ways, for example: same authors, same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or you might choose to link them in more personal ways: books you read in the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend or books that remind you of a particular time in your life. The choices are endless here!  We are definitely making progress here as our starting point this year and month, is not only a book we’ve actually heard of before, it’s also a book that is actually on our TBR shelf and by an author we’ve read before. My Mommy is a real little Miss Goody Two Shoes. A 43 year old one who loves rules and sticking to them. I think this year my only new year’s resolution is to get her to break some rules and stop worrying […]

Posted January 1, 2022
22 Comments
The Automobile Assassination by M J Porter

The Automobile Assassination by M J Porter

The Automobile Assassination by M J Porter Series: Erdington Mysteries #2 Published by M J Publishing on November 25th, 2021 Genres: Historical Fiction, Suspense Pages: 253 Format: ARC Source: The History Quill Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads A 1940s mystery Erdington, September 1944 As events in Europe begin to turn in favour of the Allies, Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is once more prevailed upon to solve a seemingly impossible case. Called to the local morgue where a man’s body lies, shockingly bent double and lacking any form of identification, Mason and O’Rourke find themselves at Castle Bromwich aerodrome seeking answers that seem out of reach to them. The men and women of the royal air force stationed there are their prime suspects. Or are they? Was the man a spy, killed on the orders of some higher authority, or is the place his body was found irrelevant? And why do none of the men and women at the aerodrome recognise the dead man? Mason, fearing a repeat of the cold case that dogged his career for two decades and that he’s only just solved, is determined to do all he can to uncover the identity of […]

Posted December 4, 2021
6 Comments
Weekend Book Friends #24

Weekend Book Friends #24

Greetings Humans! First order of business today – it’s my adoption anniversary! Yea to me! And to Mommy for coming to my rescue from that horrible orphanage where we could never, ever get some more. No matter how nicely we asked. Oh, I’m such a Drama Queen. The pet shelter was actually lovely, but not a place any kitten would want to stay forever. My Mommy is at home today and I hope she will spend some time here on the blog, we’ve been a bit absent the last two weeks. The weather outside is however begging her to just take her book and go read. I am not going to complain about that. Snuggle time! My Mommy is very eager to start reading the following book later today: If you know my Mommy and read our blog regularly, you will know that this book might as well have been written for her. We are going to have a wonderful weekend! Let’s see who we can share it with: For our first stop, we will pay a visit to Gilion over at Rose City Reader to share our Book Beginnings.  Every Friday you can link up and share the first sentence of […]

Posted November 12, 2021
24 Comments