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?

Traveling through time Austen-style || The Jane Austen Project

I'm a sucker for time travel novels. I love watching characters get thrown into a completely new world; struggling to understand how daily life actually occurred in a time so drastically different than their own.

So when I heard of The Jane Austen Project, a novel that promised to combine both Jane Austen and time travel, I knew I had to give it a try.

The Jane Austen Project is an interesting, fast paced novel about two people who are sent back in time with one goal: to meet Jane Austen. In the present time, a unfinished novel of hers was just discovered, and the time travelers are tasked with the difficult prospect of befriending Jane Austen and discovering how the book ended.


The narration was precise and almost clinical at times-- and seeing how the narrator was a doctor, that made sense. It was interesting to watch the characters struggle to blend in, worrying that with any misstep they would be exposed as frauds.

The way the author dealt with the subject every time traveler writer fears-- paradoxes-- was...interesting but not really logical. The way she dealt with the possibility of paradoxes was a paradox in and of itself.

But that didn't really detract from the book itself. Overall, the novel was a fun, easy read perfect for fans of Jane Austen. 

What about you? Have you ever read The Jane Austen Project? 

5 Star Reads I Found Through Other Blogs

Today I thought I would talk about one of the things I love most about book blogging: discovering amazing reads through other blogs. When I first started this blog I expected mainly to shout my love of literature into the void and...well that would be that. However literally from day one I found myself immersed in this vibrant, active community of other book lovers and I couldn't be happier about that.

So without further ado, here are five 5 star books I found from reading other people's blogs!

What: Long way to a small angry planet by Becky Chambers

Where: Greg's Book Haven

Why: This amazing sci-fic novel blew me away. I love how the author imagined all the complexities of the interaction between various alien cultures. This is also, coincidently, perhaps the only book I've ever convinced my friends IRL to give a go (and they loved it as much as I did!).












What: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Where: I Wish I Lived in a Library (I think?)

Why: This lyrical book is everything I ever want from magical realism. I can't believe it took me so long to try! I bought it at a thrift store a year ago, but it was only after reading rave reviews that I decided to finally give it a try.

What: The Witches of New York by Ami Mckay

Where: Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Why: I adored this historical fiction novel with a magical twist. It was inventive, it featured the strength of female relationships, and it was just overall brillant.
















What: The darkest part of the forest by Holly Black

Where: A Magical World of Words (I think?)

Why: *sigh* Ahhh, this book. Dramatic. Lyrical. Novel. It was kind of amazing. And by kind of I mean TOTALLY.

What: The lost city of Z by David Grann

Where: Port Jericho 

Why: One of the most surprising things that has happened this year is my new found love of nonfiction! Back at the beginning of the year I decided to participate in the Nonfiction Reading Challenge and let me tell you, I was not looking forward to having to make my way through one nonfiction book a month. Ew. However something completely unexpected happened as I began to seek out NF books-- I found some really amazing ones! This book, review pending, is a gripping tale of a 19th century English explorer who, towards the end of his life, mysteriously disappeared into the Amazon. It was a page turner and not only was it engaging it was clear just how much research the journalist author put into this tale. Seriously. Go read this.

That's it for me! What are some of your favorite novels you've discovered through other blogs?

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. 

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! 

ARC Review: The Beautiful Ones

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Genre: Literary Fiction, Romance, (slightly) Fantasy
Rating: 7/10
Expected Publication Date: Oct 24th 2017

This book.

I don't even know how to explain how I feel.

At times, it was as interesting as an unbuttered piece of toast and the only reason I kept reading was that I had received this eARC in return for a review.

At other times, it held me rapt with its sumptuous lyrical prose and the dark and deep characters.

The Beautiful Ones is a historical fiction novel, set in an alternate world. It's basically France in the early 1900s only with all the names changed (whyyyy?). It is a character driven novel which follows a young woman with a strange talent as she enters her first season as a eligible woman with a good name.

The Beautiful Ones is, on some pages, a beautifully written story, but its inconsistency held this novel back from being one of my favorite reads this month. The characters were beautifully constructed and while most of them had really interesting arcs where they changed and grew, the main villain was never given this luxury. She ended the novel feeling like a stale archetype; luckily the other characters were the opposite.

The lyrical writing was captivating at times, but overused some of the impactful metaphors. The first time you read it it is fascinating...the tenth time the same metaphor is used? It loses its luster.

The magically aspect of this novel was not used to its full potential, and felt like a toss away plot line. This is probably what upset me the most. I love well-thought out interesting magic; magic was used here infrequently, and almost as a crutch to build up characters.

But even as I was rolling my eyes in boredom, I kept reading-- partly out of obligation, and partly because I couldn't see exactly where the plot was going, and that kept me interested. By the end of the novel I was hooked, and even teared up (y'all this never happens and made me reconsider my initial boredom). With all my complaints, some of the character development was really well done and that is one of the things that I look for in novels.

I would recommend this book if you are looking for a literary fiction novel set, basically, in the early 1900s. I went into this book expecting a far stronger magically element, and thus couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

How about you? Have you read The Beautiful Ones? Did you also cringe when they said 'the beautiful ones' approximately 200 times?

ARC Review: This Side of Murder

This Side of Murder by Anna Lee Huber 

Genre: Historical Fiction, Murder Mystery

Rating: 7/10 

Expected Publication: September 26th 2017

Anna Lee Huber is the author of one of my favorite Victorian murder mystery series (Lady Darby Mystery series) so when I saw the first book of her new series pop up on Netgallery, I quickly hit the request button. To my continual surprise my requests have been granted on Netgallery and before too long, the ebook magically appeared on my Amazon fire. 

I'm torn. 

Most bloggers write a disclaimer, about how getting a book for free will not affect their review. Considering I almost exclusively read library books, the idea of getting a book for free is so natural, I don't feel the need to write such assurances of my lack of bias. However, I can't ignore my bias towards this author. Am I harsher with her because I love her other books so much? Am I expecting more from her than is reasonable? 

This Side of Murder is a well researched murder mystery with a slightly confusing plot staffed by characters who were fell a little flat. The plot could be called intricate, but to me it had just one too many turns. It was fast paced and easily held my attention, even when I was frustrated by the characters. I never felt like I knew them-- they never seemed to be fully alive. 

But the downfalls of this book were not grave. The plot was interesting, as were the characters. I was just expecting more from this author. The subject matter is much darker than her previous novels, as it details the aftermath of WWI; how soldiers who were lucky enough to return, often did not return whole. 

The style felt a tad too artless for me-- it never clicked with the deep, dark subject matter. This is, of course, personal preference. Just because I felt like it lacked subtlety, doesn't mean that a different reader wouldn't love it. 

Let's move on to what I love, shall we? I loved how well-researched this novel felt. There were so many tidbits the author included merely to help flesh out the world. The novel was very atmospheric; for whatever reason, the novel played out in my head as though it was an episode of Poirot on Netflix as it felt like an unromanticized portrayal of the roaring twenties.  

The plot had so many twists and turns that, while confusing, meant it was a hard book to put down. I finished the book as conflicted as I feel now-- it was a good, not great book, and I won't be looking to pick up the sequel. 

What about you? Have you read anything by Anna Lee Huber? If not you should definitely check out The Anatomist's Wife because I thoroughly loved that book. 

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??

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: Secrets of a Charmed Life

Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: 8 /10

Secrets of a Charmed Life is a historical fiction novel set in WWII London, and tells the story of two sisters as they struggle to survive during the brutal everyday horrors of a war and how they deal with the life-altering choices they both make. 

Secrets of a Charmed Life is a beautiful, heart-breaking at times, well researched novel, but its inconsistency and awkward timing keep it from being a great novel. In order to achieve what the author really wanted-- to watch as one childhood choice effects the person you become years later, to watch as a war long ended can still imprison you-- you would need at least 300 more pages. Instead, the author started out slowly and then tried to wave years away in a sweeping manner which felt inauthentic. I hate to harp on this fact, because in general it was a good book. It starts out great though, which left me feeling sad when it wasn't consistently great. 

While I feel like the author wasn't masterful at huge story arcs, she wrote about the war with a painful beauty. The characters were both interesting and fully fleshed out. They were lovable and frustrating. One of the main characters, a teenager when the novel begins, acts like such an annoying teenager-- which is perfect, because that's who she is. A ready-to-be-grown teenager who feels like every little thing is a now-or-never decision upon which her future hinges.

It was when time start to sped up, years passing by on each page, that the writing fell short. It's always a difficult transition to go from seeing every moment of a character's life to seeing the years flash by, and it didn't always click in this novel. 

Now don't get me wrong-- I'm glad I read this novel (even though it made me bawl. like goodness gracious y'all I never cry at books. and it wasn't even the actual story I cried at, it was a random, small reality of the horrors of the war that people had to go through.) and I think parts of it were really well done. 

I was a little disappointed-- and this is not the author's fault-- at the set-up. To be fair, I think I read the first line of the synopsis before deciding to read this novel because the synopsis always gives away the good stuff. I thought that this would be one of those novels that tell two separate stories separated by time. And it's not. Like not at all. This is a story about two sisters during WWII and the years after. The format of the story is that it's being told to a modern day woman but there is one primary story line. 

Overall, this was a good book-- it was just so close to being a great novel. Still, the author did many things tremendously well: the writing was beautiful, the plot was interesting, I was never bored, and the novel brought to light many realities of what it would be like to live in England during WWII. I would recommend this book to any fan of historical fiction with no reservations (okay except that whole time issue but really it wasn't a major roadblock). 

What about you? Have you ever read Secrets of a Charmed Life? If so, what did you think? Did you enjoy the second half of the book as much as the first half?