Source: Netgalley

The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict

The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict on January 17th, 2023 Genres: Historical Fiction Pages: 352 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads From New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict—she’ll have to choose: her country or her sisters? Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes. Though they’ve weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister’s lead, inciting rumors that she’s become Hitler’s own mistress. Novelist Nancy Mitford is the only member of her family to keep in touch with Diana and Unity after their desertion, so it falls to her to act when her sisters become spies for the Nazi party. Probing the torrid political climate of World War II and the ways that sensible people can be sucked into radical action, The Mitford Affair follows Nancy’s valiant efforts to end the war and the cost of placing loyalty to her country above loyalty to her family.

Posted August 25, 2023
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Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang

Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang Genres: Mystery Pages: 402 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Goodreads Sir Lawrence Linwood is dead. More accurately, he was murdered—savagely beaten to death in his own study with a mediaeval mace. The murder calls home his three adopted children: Alan, an archeologist; Roger, an engineer; and Caroline, a journalist. But his heirs soon find that his last testament contains a strange proviso—that his estate shall go to the heir who solves his murder. To secure their future, each Linwood heir must now dig into the past. As their suspicion mounts—of each other and of peculiar strangers in the churchless town of Linwood Hollow—they come to suspect that the perpetrator lurks in the mysterious origins of their own birth.

Posted July 30, 2023
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Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man

Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man by Emily J. Edwards Series: Girl Friday #1 Published by Crooked Lane Publishers on November 8th, 2022 Genres: Mystery Pages: 288 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads Life as a secretary in New York just got tougher when Viviana Valentine’s boss goes M.I.A in this debut historical mystery, perfect for fans of Susan Elia MacNeal and Frances Brody. New York City, 1950. Viviana Valentine is Girl Friday to the city’s top private investigator, Tommy Fortuna. The clients can be frustrating, and none more maddening than fabulously wealthy Tallmadge Blackstone, who demands Tommy tail his daughter, Tallulah, and find out why she won’t marry his business partner, a man forty years her senior. Sounds like an open-and-shut case for a P.I. known for busting up organized crime—but the next day, Viviana opens the office to find Tommy missing and a lifeless body on the floor. The cops swoop in and Detective Jake Lawson issues a warrant for Tommy’s arrest. Desperate to clear Tommy’s name, Viviana takes on the Blackstone case herself. When she goes out for a night on the town with the heiress, she begins to learn the secrets behind Tallulah’s headline-grabbing life. […]

Posted July 28, 2023
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The Time Trials by Jon & Dayna McConnell

The Time Trials by John McConnell Series: The Time Trials #1 Published by Tiny Fox Press on September 21, 2021 Genres: Historical Fiction, Sci-Fi, Time Travel, Young Adult Pages: 358 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads After the deaths of his parents in a horrific car accident — one that he considers his own fault — Walkman-toting, guitar-playing Finn Mallory would do anything to turn back time…to press “rewind.” When he’s admitted on full scholarship to an elite boarding school, things get more complicated: he becomes an “Unfortunate” in a sea of rich kids whose shoes cost more than his late parents made in a week. An invitation to a boring-sounding history club changes everything, as this team does much more than research and field trips. Well….they do take field trips. Just not the kind you’re thinking. For Finn, the present was already enough to deal with, but now he finds that he also must reckon with the past, in more ways than one. Who doesn’t remember High School and Clubbing? No, I’m not talking about the type of clubbing where you stuff your bedding with make-believe clothing and pillows and then sneak out of the window to […]

Posted March 20, 2023
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The Brilliance of Stars by J’nell Ciesielski

The Brilliance of Stars by J’nell Ciesielski Series: Jack & Ivy #1 Published by Thomas Nelson on November 1st, 2022 Genres: Historical Fiction Pages: 400 Format: ARC Source: Author’s Copy, Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads Amid the chaos of the Great War, two master assassins risk it all for love. Washington DC, 1914. Ivy Olwen knows how to survive on the streets without two coins to rub together. But when she finds herself whisked into a secret society that seeks to maintain the balance of good and evil in the world, she can’t believe there’s more to life than just surviving. In the hallowed and historied halls of Talon, she learns European languages and ballroom dancing, as well as demolitions and sharpshooting—in short, everything a spy and assassin will need to survive in the field. The first day Jack Vale meets Ivy, he knows she is not to be underestimated. The second day, he knows his heart will belong to no one else. Between sparring bouts and constellation gazing, Jack takes Ivy under his wing, and the two form a bond that soon turns to love. While the rest of the world tumbles into war, the two embark on an […]

Posted November 12, 2022
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Fire & Ice by B.T. Polcari

Fire & Ice by B.T. Polcari Series: Mauzzy & Me #2 on August 15th, 2022 Genres: Cozy Mystery Pages: 352 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads After encountering a brief power outage at work, college student Sara Donovan might be allowing her imagination to run wild. The main vault in the Carlton Museum holds the Fire and Ice Exhibit, a collection of rare gems, including the Star of Midnight, a 175-carat diamond. Although all the stones are accounted for, Sara suspects the Star of Midnight was stolen and replaced with a fake. While conducting her own investigation, what Sara uncovers is beyond even her wildest imagination: a coded message, papers with strange characters, and a mysterious set of numbers carved into an office wall. Despite dismissive historians and other experts, she is certain these clues point to a mysterious centuries-old legend. Unfortunately, her colorful history of usually being right, but always being wrong, means she must solve the mystery to prove her theory. What a fun read this was! Truly a gem (no pun intended). I have never heard of the Mauzzy & Me Mystery series and frankly, I’m not a fan of dachshunds, but I am a […]

Posted August 29, 2022
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The Girl with the Whispering Shadow by D.E. Night

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow by D.E. Night Series: The Crowns of Croswald #2 Published by Stories Untold Press on January 3rd, 2019 Genres: Fantasy Pages: 384 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads Even a secret town cannot protect Ivy from a mysterious darkness… Only hours after Ivy Lovely discovers that she is the fulfillment of the Moonsday promise, she is whisked away from her beloved school to Belzebuthe, a secret town for only those with magical blood. Ivy sets out on a mission to uncover the second facet of the Kindred Stone while eluding the Dark Queen’s wrath. But even when she’s supposed to be safe, something is shadowing Ivy. She will need all her natural-born magic and more as she battles to find the rest of the Kindred Stone and return to the Halls of Ivy. Before it’s too late… Whoosh! And we’re back from our latest thrilling visit to the Magical School of Ivy Hall. Our detour trip on the cabby through The Town, Belzebuthe, was quite the experience as well. Once again, a reminder to travel as light as possible. Can you still remember where we ended off in the first instalment, The […]

Posted June 29, 2022
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Close your Eyes: A Fairy Tale by Chris Tomasini

Close your Eyes by Chris Tomasini on May 2022 Genres: Fiction Pages: 256 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley, Reedsy Discovery Buy on Amazon Goodreads Set in early 1400s Europe, Close Your Eyes is a sincere, yet light-hearted and lustful, ode to love. As Samuel, the court jester, struggles to describe why his friends, Agnieszka the cook, and Tycho the story-teller, fled the King of Gora’s service, he learns that love was the beating heart behind everything that happened in the castle. He learns as well that more ghosts than he knew of walked the midnight halls, and that the spirit of Jeanne d’Arc haunted his friend, and once slid into bed with Tycho, daring him to leave – to take to the cold roads of Europe, where he had once wandered orphaned and alone, and find his destiny there. In the Kingdom of Gora, in early 1400s Europe, the King of Gora has assembled a collection of entertainers, scholars, cooks, and others, to care for and educate his young children, the Prince and Princess. Tycho, the children’s storyteller, and Samuel, the court jester, are happy in Gora, yet it becomes apparent that the children’s cook, Agnieszka, was lured to the castle […]

Posted June 23, 2022
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The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill on June 7th, 2022 Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller Pages: 288 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads “The beautifully ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is completely silent one weekday morning, until a woman’s terrified scream echoes through the room. Security guards immediately appear and instruct everyone inside to stay put until they determine there is no threat. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers who had been sitting in the reading room get to chatting and quickly become friendly. Harriet, Marigold, Whit, and Caine each have their own reasons for being in the reading room that morning–and it just happens that one of them may turn out to be a murderer. For readers of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, with shades of The Secret History, THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY is an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most dangerous weapons of all” When was the last time you’ve just finished a book and your first thought is, I should read this again… What a thrilling read this was and I can honestly say […]

Posted May 29, 2022
10 Comments

Weekend Book Friends #31

Hi there you guys! Mareli here, coming from OR Tambo International airport. In case you didn’t know, that is in Johannesburg, South Africa. My home country. I have a quick few minutes to write a weekend post and have a cup of coffee before we depart for Mauritius. Whoo hoo! Of course my Kindle is fully loaded and I even sneaked an extra book in. I won’t share that one with you today, as it’s in Afrikaans and I don’t have time to do a translation as well… So I’ll just share my current kindle/review read with you today. I think it’s quite possible that I might not be the only one reading this one at the moment. We are quickly going to say hi 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. I do like the very first page…. “Open me carefully….” – Emily Dickinson, Intimate Letters Chapter One opens with: Writing in the Boston Public Library had […]

Posted May 13, 2022
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Source: Netgalley

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