First Impressions: The Vatican Princess by C.W. Gortner is an intriguing narrative of the Borgias. There is drama, backstabbing and poison all tied up in one neat package. I was immediately entranced. What I Liked: The pacing of the novel was fantastic. I was on the edge of my seat waiting upon the next conniving […]
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead held great promise. The novel had an interesting idea of the Underground Railroad being an actual railroad, unfortunately, that is where it ends. The Underground Railroad was an undeveloped idea that never turns from a cocoon into a butterfly. The characters were rather dull and, despite all they had […]
Mischling by Affinity Konar is a historical fiction novel on a subject that is rarely touched in this genre — Josef Mengele. The Holocaust is filled with many, unimaginable horrors but “the zoo” in Auschwitz is repulsive. The “experiments” preformed were enough to make one ill. However, the main story is not of blindness but […]
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Kobo Review I am always looking for one more historical fiction author who can transport me to another time and Sally Christie has filled that slot. With The Enemies of Versailles she has taken me to a time a place that is not typically on my […]
The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff could easily have been yet another novel about surviving WWII. At first, I was nervous as it seemed to mirror Water for Elephants and while that in itself is a good story I found the ending to be disappointing. Therefore, I hoped for a different result. Fortunately, I was […]
I am a lover of true crime and have reread the disturbing true crime novel Helter Skelter several times. Therefore, when The Girls by Emma Cline was released I knew I had to read it. I will admit, that I was a bit skeptical at first as both of Cline’s parents are in the publishing […]
The first thing that came to mind upon starting Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon was the 1997 film Titanic. Both are media based on an iconic means of travel that ended in disaster and chronicle the last days of the passenger’s lives. Fortunately, Flight of Dreams delivers an amazing look at the occupants onboard […]
Outside of Emily Blunt’s performance of Queen Victoria she is a monarch I know very little about. Daisy Goodwin has created a tapestry in sharing this young Victoria’s early reign. At first, her ascent to the throne read like something out of a Tudor novel with constant conniving and scheming to reach the top and […]
I first read The Devil’s Arithmetic in sixth grade. I remember being amazed not only by the subject matter but also by the way Jane Yolen laid out impending events. Even at eleven years old I was astounded by the atrocities that occur in the book and left an impression on me. Twenty years later […]
Impressions on Relationships The Velvet Hours by Alyson Richman is first and foremost a love story. It is not the kind that proclaims “love means never having to say you’re sorry” because let’s face it, who knows what that means. This is a story that transcends time. The relationship between Marthe and Charles was so […]