3 Mini-Reviews || Historical Fiction

It's time for another round of mini-reviews! I was combing through my Goodreads shelves recently, and found three historical fiction books that I never got around to reviewing here on my blog. Since none of these novels elicited strong long-review-worthy emotions, I thought I would write how I felt about them briefly:


A Defense of Honor by Kristi Ann Hunter || Era: Late 1800s (?)

When Kit fled the high society of London she never thought she would return, and she never thought she would be able to bury her crushing regret. Instead she focused her life on helping those that society would cast out and trying to make amends for a careless mistake she made in her youth that had far reaching consequences. 

What I thought: overall it was a cute story. The plot was, at times, a little cliche (love at first sight? ew) but even so it was an enjoyable story. I loved how the author wove in the characters' faith without feeling heavy-handed. It was a nice little read. Also can we talk about how gorgeous that cover is??



A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd || Era:WWI

After getting wounded, Bess has a brief respite from her duties as a nurse in WWI. However she feels driven to deliver the cryptic last words of a dying soldier to his family, and to uncover the true story of what happened years before. 

What I thought: This story fell a little flat for me. The plot was mildly interesting but I never felt connected with the main character so it was hard to get too involved. There are far better historical fiction/mystery novels out there in my opinion.




The Substitute Bride by Linda S. Glaz || Era: 1800s

When Becca arrives after a train accident in a little middle-of-nowhere frontier town she can't remember where she is, why she is there, or really even who she is. But Jake Callahan, who greets her as she steps off, knows exactly who she is: his mail-order bride. 

What I thought: this is not a novel that will win awards; it's not a novel you would brag to your friends that you read. However! It is a cute little romance novel with a plot that is a bit predictable but nonetheless enjoyable. It was the perfect fluffy romance story to read over my vacation.


That's it for me! What about you? Have you read any great historical fiction novels recently? 

Horror or Rom-Com? || The house on foster hill: Review

The House on Foster Hill by Jamie Jo Wright

Genres: Mystery, Lite-Horror, Romance, Historical Fiction

One Two sentence book summary: After the death of her husband, Kane moves to the middle of nowhere to restore a dilapidated old house, but the ghost of her past refuse to die. A hundred years prior another woman, Ivy, is caught up in the mystery when a dead girl appears in a hollowed out tree outside of the house on Foster Hill.

One sentence review: The author tries to fit every genre into one story and fails at doing any of it justice; she goes for shock value over authenticity and there are better books out there.

Let me explain! ((Get ready for a lot of caps because I have ALL the FEELINGS))

The biggest fault I found with this book is its oscillating and unstable tone. The author can't figure out what type of book she wants to write. Romance? Horror? Murder mystery? She tries her hand at all of them at once and the result is a splattered mess with rom-com lines that follow horror scenes. The genres crash together like dissonant notes as she struggles to find her voice.

Instead of crafting a story it feels more like the author is throwing SUPER SAD things in to make it a SUPER SAD story because it's SAD couldn't you tell by the SAD THINGS? It felt like I was being hit over the head with the SADNESS and not actually getting to know the characters in an authentic manner.

The plot is a little sketchy and at times pretty unbelievable. Once again I felt like the author was going for shock value as opposed to something authentic. One thing that I did like was how seamlessly the author melded the character's faith into the story. Often times if a character is Christian then once they pray EVERYTHING works out PERFECTLY because GOD and while yes, that is a possibility, there is also the possibility that your prayers will go unanswered and that is where the true test of faith lies.

This romance iS ~pRoBlaMatIc~. The author wants it to be cute but it is NOT HEALTHY. Basically you have this super traumatized woman dating her therapist (who, by the way is a PERFECT character who does EVERYTHING RIGHT all the time and could we be more boring) and that's supposed to be okay? Also we're dealing with some love at first sight and personally that always bugs me. Like. No.





At this point you might be wondering "wait...why did you keep reading it?" and yes, this novel has its flaws, but that doesn't mean it was a horrible reading experience. The writing felt choppy and sometimes read like the first draft of my novel-- lots of telling with no showing, if you've ever received that writing advice it is the HARDEST and most important piece of advice ever.

And yes the romance was PROBLEMATIC but also like, it had its cute moments. And the plot was a bit eye-roll inducing, but hey, I did want to figure out what explanation she was going to pull at the end (even if I knew it wouldn't be satisfying).

Overall: This was an okay book. It wasn't a bad reading experience but...it wasn't a great one either. If you love murder mysteries or lite-horror then maybe give this a go? I hate to say don't read a book because this is just my opinion but honestly there are better books out there.


What about you? Have you read this book? Do you also hate it when the author tries to fit every genre into one story?

Looking to travel to Medieval Italy? | Mini-review of The Scribe of Siena

I'm a sucker for time-slip romances. You know, the books where a character is thrust out of their modern, comfortable life into an impossible past, full of antiquated customs and a lack of medical knowledge. And all seems crazy and horrible but at the same time irresistibly interesting and other and then they meet a significant other who, even though they are from such a foreign time something ethereal seems to transcend the time barrier.

(*cough*Outlander*cough*)

The Scribe of Siena is one of those time-slip romance novels; a neurosurgeon finds herself in Siena, Italy right before the Plague-- yes the Plague-- is going to deal its horrible blow. I called this a mini-review not because I'm 100% certain of my shorter review theory but because I honestly don't have much to say about this novel.

It felt extremely well researched, but the problem is that sometimes it came across as a dry info dump instead of an engaging narrative. It had technical success-- interesting plot, interesting characters-- but it lacked a soul. And since soul-searching is such a personal endeavour, I can not say that someone else wouldn't just adore the novel, not seeing any of the holdups I experienced.

I was disappointed by the way the author decided to deal with the Plague-- after all, that was the main reason I picked up the novel; such an interesting, horrible time period to write about!

Even with the tendency of info-dumping, it was not a difficult read; sure it was a bit slow at times, but the plot did keep moving. Overall, it was an interesting novel with a cute romantic plot and while it didn't exactly live up to my high standards, it was an enjoyable read. 

TTT: 5 novels with beautiful relationships

This post brought to you by the Top Ten Tuesday series over at its new location at That Artsy Reader Girl! 

It's mid February which means it is time for the obligatory romance-y post so this week I'm bringing you five of my favorite romance novels! 

 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: Years ago I decided I wanted to read a romance book--but a good one. So I googled 'best romance novel' and Outlander popped up and man was I not disappointed.

Into The Wilderness by Sara Donati: This is a beautiful atmospheric novel set in the wilderness of New York in the late 1700s and I just adored it and the two main characters (who of course fall in love because have you read the title of this post).

The Stars for a Light by the Morris people: I have mixed feelings about this series. Yes the plots can be cliche, yes it is a little predictable, yes they refused to even look at a map when they wrote the one that took place in Arkansas. However there is something to be said about watching a romance evolve between two people over like fifteen books. It isn't drawn out (miraculously) and I just love getting that long-term view of characters.



The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord: Was this a bit derivative? Yes. Was it a bit predictable? Sure. Did I adore almost every minute of the relationship between the two characters? YES.

The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Clarke: This is a beautiful, heartbreaking novel featuring a beautiful, heartbreaking relationship.

That's it for me! What about you? What are you favorite bookish relationships??

4 Mini Reviews: romance, fiction, nonfiction

Today I am trying something a little different! Sometimes when I finish a book I don't feel like writing an entire post devoted solely to that one book-- but I still want to let you know what I thought about it! Thus I have four short reviews for you to peruse:

To Whisper Her Name by Tamera Alexander

This is a historical fiction romance set in the South just after the Civil War. I thought the time period sounded really intriguing-- I mean imagine living in the defeated South right after the war ended! When I first started reading the book the romance felt wayyy too predictable. However the author avoided this by very quickly ending the will they/won't they troupe by focusing instead on the difficulties of a relationship between two people from very different backgrounds.
Something I loved about this novel was that it felt well-researched; there were plenty of facts thrown in that weren't necessary to the plot but they worked to create a rich atmosphere.



The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil

This is one of those novels where you start to think like the author speaks after a while-- it has a very distinctive voice and a very strong tone. Now if you like the fast paced witty voice-- as I did-- then great but it is definitely something that could cause someone to put the book down completely.
Overall: a charming read about a single mother trying to breath life into a knitting store while navigating the complexities of dating and raising two little boys and all the mess and beauty that goes into that. It is a fun, quick read.




The Darkling Bride by Laura Anderson

Ahh and now we come to my first DNF ARC which is a bunch of letters to disguise the fact that I did not like this book given to me for review. At all. It tried to encompass way too many genres and did not do any of them justice, every single character had mother issues (odd coincidence), and really life is just too short to finish a book you do not like. It has promise-- it wants to be sort of a modern Victorian gothic but it also tries to be everything else and....did not work for me!





Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food by Megan Kimble

And straight from my least favorite to my most favorite! This was an incredibly engaging nonfiction book about the author's search for authenticity in her food. From figuring out what she even meant by 'unprocessed' to interviewing countless small farmers, ranches, wheat enthusiasts, beer brewers-- the author manages to pack in a ton of interesting information in a easy to read format.
I never read nonfiction but this was so engaging I had no issue making my way through it. It inspired me to shop locally-- I can't wait for summer when more produce is locally available-- and showed me the cost of a society which demands ALL the fruits/veggies at ALL the times. It walked a delicate line of being informative without being judgemental. I also loved reading about her struggles through the year of trying to make almost everything-- from bread to chocolate-- herself.


That's it! What did you think of this mini-review format? Like it? Hate it? Couldn't care less? Let me know! 

Review: The Bookshop on the Corner

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan 

Genre: Fiction, Romance

Rating: 7 / 10

Nina is a librarian at a time when libraries are downsizing and people are losing their jobs left and right. When the inevitable rolls around she decides that she can still pursue her love of matching the perfect book for each person, and she opens a traveling bookshop.

So.

This book. It was a disappointing but not overly bad read. First off, Nina learns that she needs to stop READING books and instead LIVE her LIFE because apparently those two things are mutually exclusive?

As every bookworm loves hearing, this book ironically rambles on about how REAL LIFE is so wonderful why would one bury oneself in READING? Of course the point the author is trying to make (I suppose) is that there needs to be a balance between life and reading. However, it mainly came across as a long story about a woman whose life became so much more FULFILLING once she put those darn books down. [[Seriously. There's an entire scene where the best friend comments on how much better Nina is doing now that she no longer carries books around with her]]

If you ignore the recurring theme which insults the reader (why aren't you LIVING your LIFE already??) the book was a pleasant read. The romances didn't really make sense-- they didn't really click with my understanding of the main character.

It was cute to read someone live out what I'm sure is many of our dream-- living in the beautiful countryside selling books? Sign me up! Once again, the book was a bit heavy handed on how absolutely AWFUL cities were-- so crowded and dark and dank and horrible and smelly and why in the world would anyone choose this?-- and how AMAZING the Scottish countryside was. Like. Okay. I get it. You don't have to hit me over the head with how horrible my city-dwelling life now is and how much improved it would be if I moved to the countryside.

Overall: a cute, slightly disappointing read. Good for a quick read but it would not be the first book I recommended to a friend looking for a light romance featuring  a bookish character.

Hm. That sounds interesting though. Let me know: what is your favorite light romance featuring a bookish character?

Review: The Oyster Catcher

The Oyster Catcher by Jo Thomas

Genre: Romance, Contemporary

Rating: 8/10

Fiona Clutterbuck was having a bad day. Crashing her rental van, which turned out to be technically stolen, she had a rocky start at a new life in the middle of nowhere Ireland where it rained more than should be physically possible. Oh, and add on the fact that she harbors a deep fear of water and just somehow agreed to work on an oyster farm?

The Oyster Catcher is a delightful, light hearted romance that had a well-rounded comfortable plot. It is not a typical romance novel, as the main character faces trials and tribulations both inside and outside the romantic plot. Perhaps that's what made it so enjoyable to read, even at 400 pages it didn't feel boring because the author crafted an enjoyable story full of romance and friendship and oysters and festivals and barflies (because apparently that's a word?).

I knew I had something special when, less than halfway through, the author references Dr Who. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Whovian references! That being said, this book is not that old-- 2014-- but the use of technology felt a little dated (who even has a cyber cafe anymore?). Nothing that totally dated the story, but definitely something that nagged at me.

What I loved about this book was that it was simple without feeling boring, heart-warming without feeling cheesy and comfortable without feeling simple. 

My only negative was the ending-- it felt horribly rushed, which was odd, as I don't think this book needed to be any longer than it was. It was a tapestry that, while pretty, had odd trailing ends that awkwardly knotted themselves together.

However, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a nice romance read. This would be a great book to bring on a vacation; get lost for a few days in a rainy Irish coastal village with a lovesick donkey and you'll be charmed before you know it.

What about you? Have you ever read The Oyster Catcher? If so, what did you think of it?

ARC Review: The Medievalist

The Medievalist by Anne-Marie Lacy

Genre: Historical Fiction, Time-slip, Romance

Rating: 7/10

Expected Publication Date: Oct 31st 2017

"I nodded, pretending to agree with him, but it was too cold and unforgiving to be beautiful."

The Medievalist is a time-slip novel, featuring a historian who gets what every historian secretly dreams of-- she gets to go back in time and meet the man she has studied for years: Richard III. (If you have no clue who that was, never fear, neither did I!) She is ripped out of the twenty first century and wakes up surrounded by the mostly gritty sometimes beautiful trappings of the 1400s. 

The Medievalist is a good novel, featuring a well-researched plot line, and a main character who grows and learns as the novel progresses. Character development might sound like a given, but believe me, it is not. A couple reviews ago, I complained about the romanticized version of the past in The Secret. The Medievalist does not suffer from this fault; it does not shy away from the dangers that women faced in this time period. Women could gain status from birth, marriage, or being the mistress of a powerful man, but without men, for the most part, they lacked power and protection. Jayne is thrown from a world of academia, into a cut-throat world where she must decide what she is willing to do for that protection. 

The chapters oscillate from being told from Jayne's perspective to King Richard's perspective-- something that I could have done without. The Jayne chapters were written well, but Richard's suffered from a stilted voice that never quite sounded right. 

Parts of this novel dragged, and sometimes I couldn't convince myself to care about the plight of the characters. However, parts of the novel flew by as I flipped the pages, eager to find out what happened next. Inconsistency, and the 'romance' kept this novel from being better. The author wrote lust better than she wrote love, which left me with two characters who did not have any reason to love each other-- there had been no time or space for a relationship to develop-- so lust was thrown in as a proxy.

I don't know much about the 1400s, but this novel felt well researched and believable-- which you kind of have to do if you make your main character a historian whose area of research was the 1400s. That being said, I might have enjoyed this novel more if I knew anything about King Richard III before going in. Even so, I was never overly confused about the political intrigue.

The Medievalist was a good--not great, but enjoyable, novel that fans of the time-slip genre should try. If you enjoy well researched historical fiction, then you might like The Medievalist.

What about you? Have you read the Medievalist? What is your favorite time-slip novel??

Dear Sunday: Dollar Tree Finds

Dear Sunday is my weekly post participating in the Caffeinated Book Reviewer series. This week I'm also doing a brief Stacking the Shelves and have also linked up with  tyngas reviews. 

Hello everyone! There is no exciting news to detail, no changes in my life as it quietly hurtles itself through the semester. I'm excited it's almost October mainly because the temps here have been solidly unabashedly summer temperatures, not the beautiful temperate chill that fall promises. 

I've also kind of sort of decided to officially do NaNoWriMo this year! National Novel Writing Month takes place every November where the goal is to write 55,000 words in one crazy caffeine-fueled fourth-wall-destroying month. I did it all through high school but went on a wise hiatus through college. Last year, a couple weeks before November, I had all but forgotten about NaNo until a blogger announced she was going to do it and suddenly it hit me. I have way more free time in grad school than in college-- and what else to do with that free time but clean cook write a blog  watch YouTube write a novel?! I won last year and I'm looking forward to participating this year! It's still a bit early but I really need to get some planning done. Are you doing NaNo?? If so be sure to befriend me and maybe we can cheer each other on :) 

This year will mark ten years since my first NaNo and my first novel! Like...what?! 

The Oyster Catcher by Jo Thomas

I picked this up when I was in my local Dollar Tree buying more candles that I'll never light (but they're just a dollar!). The cute cover drew me in and the cute story made this an enjoyable read. Stay tuned for my review! 

• Dear Sunday: My New Project
• Top Ten Tuesday: My Fall TBR Picks
• Review: A Curious Beginning

• Top Ten Tuesday 
• ARC Review: The Medievalist 
• ARC Review: Sing A New Song 

That's it for me! How was your week? Do you want to write one novel in one month?? Join me in my craziness :)

ARC Review: The Woolly Hat Knitting Club

The Woolly Hat Knitting Club by Poppy Dolan

Genre: Romance

Rating: 8/10

Expected publication date: Sept 25th 2017

Dee-- or Delilah if you aren't her friend thankyouverymuch-- is a classic workaholic. She's good at what she does, and she crams work into nearly every hour of every day. But when her little brother breaks his wrists and needs help running his knitting shop, Dee's life starts to change. 

The Woolly Hat Knitting Club is a delightful easy-to-read romance novel which, while light on the actual romance, is a funny, enjoyable read. While I wish there had been more time devoted to romantic relationships, I do love the relationships that the book did focus on. Dee is very close with her brother, and I loved seeing their relationship grow and develop. Another relationship that was fun to see was the one between Dee and her highschool mate. How can I complain that time was devoted a female friendship instead of a romantic relationship, when most books are the opposite? 

"If I hear one more investor who's put a million in a tech start-up that they don't really understand use the description, 'It's the Uber of...' I will book myself an Uber to the dark side of the moon and never come back."

The Woolly Hat Knitting Club is very much a book of the now. I rarely read recently published books; most of the books I read wisely avoid any mention of technology in order not to age the book. This novel was the exact opposite, reveling in all of the minute things that make 2017 2017. While it was fun to read something that referenced very relevant things-- such as Instagram and Facebook live videos-- it did make me worry about the shelf life of the story. In ten years, will people remember the pink hats women wore while marching in protest of the Trump presidency? Will people know what Facebook live videos are? It feels almost disingenuous to write a story without reference to the ever-present technology in our lives, but this novel sacrifices some timeless quality by doing so. 

Dee is a feisty independent business woman I instantly fell in love with. Her actions, both good and bad, made sense, because I felt like I understand who she as a character was, which takes talent. I laughed out loud several times while reading this novel and if that isn't a sign of a funny book then I don't know what is. 

Overall, this is a fun, light hearted romance novel. While I did want more of the actual romance, I loved reading this novel. It was also very British and while some of the idioms went over my head, I felt very cool when I understand what they meant when they were 'chuffed' or used other British slang that I've picked up on YouTube.  

What about you? Did I convince you to give this novel a go once it's published? Have you read anything by Poppy Dolan before?

Stacking the Shelves: My first ARCs!

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly series created by tyngas reviews where I talk about the books I've recently added to my ever growing bookshelf.

It's happened y'all.

Ever since I started blogging (many moons aka 3 months ago) I've seen advanced readers copy books pop up on almost every book blog I perused. If you're like me and are slightly out of the loop, ARCs are advanced digital or print editions of books that are sent out pre-publication in order to drum up publicity and awareness. This is helpful for any book but especially for books from small publishing companies or by new authors.

Since I almost exclusively read library books, the idea of getting free books didn't really hold any special appeal, and so I never applied for digital ARCs.

Until now.

Too much free time at work (I'm at a weird point hovering in between projects right now) meant that I finally got around to figuring out how NetGallery (big site to get digital ARCs) worked, and applying for my first ARCs.

And to my massive shock and surprise, I was approved, and several digital ARCs found their way onto my Kindle! Like. What?

The Woolly Hat Knitting Club by Poppy Dolan

A feel good romance featuring a feisty main character and tons of knitting references. I'm enjoying it thus far!

The Medievalist by Anne-Marie Lacy

A time slip novel (aka one of my favorite genres). We'll see if it meets my high expectations. 

Sing a New Song by Lydia Brownback

A Christian study of one of my favorite parts of the Bible, the Psalms! I never read through study books on my own, so I'm excited about this one. Also can we talk about how gorgeous this cover is??

That's it! Since three books magically appeared on  my Kindle (seriously though technology is amazing) AND I still have two library books that need to be read, I didn't pick up any more books.

What about you? Are you a fan of ARCs or like me have just started reading them??

Review: The Secret by Julie Garwood

The Secret by Juile Garwood

Genre: Romance

Rating: 6 / 10

When I first heard about this historical fiction romance novel, set in Scotland in the 1100s, I was so excited. It sounded like exactly my type of book, and I eagerly waited for my library hold to come in. When it did, and the electronic book was automatically put onto my Kindle, I tore into it, only to be sorely disappointed. 

You see, The Secret is not a bad novel. My problem was that I was constantly judging it for something it was never supposed to be. I went into this novel hoping to recapture the magic of Outlander, an amazing time-slip novel which weaves romance and intrigue and historical fiction into a captivating tapestry. The Secret was not that. 

The Secret is a fluffy, quick-read romance novel which, while entertaining, left me wanting more. The plot was overly simplistic, but the main characters were charming. The romance was cute, even if the heroine was perfect and lacked the interest of flaws. I was frustrated by the way every guy in the book would bow to her wishes because, well, she was pretty and charming so hey, why not. Like, you guys, she basically gets women the right to vote. In the 1100s. Because she askes for it. Like. No. 

But this was never meant to be a hard-hitting historical fiction novel, which explored the gritty realities of living amongst warring Scottish tribes. Instead, it was meant to be a feel-good, fun, light romance and I'll admit, it did do that. I just couldn't help but want more from it, even if that's not really fair, to ask a novel to be something it is not. 

If you are looking for a quick (it took me two days), easy to read steamy romance novel, then you might enjoy The Secret-- just make sure you go into with the right mindset (unlike me!). 

What about you? Have you ever read The Secret? Did you like it?