London Tales is a collection of short stories through time that all have a central London theme. There are a range of styles and some are more snippets of action rather than full tales.
I enjoyed the first few stories and I particularly liked the third one about Wat Tyler because it was told from the point of view of the peasants as well as the lords.
The story of Holly and the girl who fell through the ice in 1814 was fun to read during an ice cold day in my town. It made me glad to have heat and warm socks!
I thought that the build up to the story set during the London Blitz was good, but the ending left me a little disappointed.
There are several other stories in this collection but they were less appealing to me and overall the book was okay, but not as good as I had hoped.
I picked this one up when I was out shopping before Christmas as it sounded intriguing and the cover was enticing. I enjoyed it immensely and read it in one day.
A ten day camping/hiking trip gone wrong for the protagonist ends up affecting her whole life when she meets up with various strangers on the trail.
It is a fast paced story that keeps you on your toes. I figured out some stuff early on but didn’t figure out one of the main things until pretty late in the tale. Which I love since I usually figure out solutions easily. A book that keeps me guessing is always a joy.
This one has a cool premise and the author executed it to perfection. She writes in a way that keeps the tension going but also gives the reader a bit of a rest in spots so it’s not a frantic read, but rather a story that has ebbs and then spurts of high action. A veritable roller coaster ride of a story. I can’t say much more than that due to the risk of spoilers but I can say it’s in your interest to go grab a copy if you like suspense as it’s well worth immersing yourself in the ups and downs of this one.
It was a quick read even though it was a densely packed almost 300 pages.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
Jolene Garcia is a reporter for a television station who is sent to a radio station to cover the scene of a death of one of their talk radio hosts. Jolene is ambitious and wants to get the scoop on the story.
When another reporter, one who scooped her on an Emmy award the year before, grabs an interview with the man everyone wants to talk to and the same woman later breaks the news that there might be poison involved, Jolene is on an even more urgent quest to get the story first.
Initially, I liked Jolene as she seemed klutzy and quirky. As the book went on, I started to dislike her. She was definitely ambitious and didn’t hesitate to be unkind or rude when she was stressed or jealous. Her back story explained some of her behavior but her alienation of colleagues and friends was annoying and made her dislikable.
The story itself was great. Lots of mystery and wondering how the talk show host died. A plethora of suspects were woven into the story and made the book fully rounded and a good read.
The obligatory detective friend who gets annoyed at the amateur sleuth and the obligatory bone-headed move by the same amateur sleuth was true to the tropes of the genre.
Overall, I liked the story and it was well worth the read. I just wish the protagonist was a bit more pleasant and a little less jealous and unkind.
This is a follow up book from Bloomsbury Girls which I read and reviewed for Rosie’s Book Review team. I appreciate St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book for me to read and review.
The story is set in the 1950s and is the continuation of the life of one of the women who worked at the bookstore in Bloomsbury, London. Vivien, in addition to working in the store, is also a playwright and chose to leave for Italy for a period of time when her success as a playwright was called into question. She took a job working at a film studio in Rome and worked on rewriting some of the screenplays being filmed there. Rome is still recovering from WWII and all the various issues that time period caused in Italy.
While there, she has to deal with the censorship of the Vatican as they have full control of what is acceptable or not in what film audiences are allowed to see.
Vivien also meets some interesting people and forms friendships with them. As well, she forms a romantic entanglement with an older man.
The story is richly layered with individual characters who are uniquely drawn and have multi-faceted personalities.
Vivien is a character we grew to admire in Bloomsbury Girls and this book finds this reader still rooting for her and hoping she gets resolution of a matter that has haunted her since the war. One of the young men she meets while working at the studio also has an interesting story line about events that happened to him during the war. Both of them were characters this reader grew attached to and hoped for the best outcome.
The author is very talented and the prose is beautifully written. The flow of the story is well done as well. This book does not have to be read after Bloomsbury Girls as the story is complete without it being necessary to know the events of the other book. Some of the characters are recurring, but it’s not vital to know those back stories. I do love how real life famous people are woven into the tale. Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner even make appearances. Such fun to addition to the story.
What a fun book this was. I read it on a car trip back in September and kept thinking I’d already reviewed it when I realized the other day that I hadn’t posted the review. I did receive this book from Kensington Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a light read that made a long car ride very enjoyable.
When your first date with someone ends in a prophecy about you as well as the death of an old lady, you wonder what else might go wrong in the potential relationship. No matter how interesting the date was, is there an inherent risk in trying to go out again with this person?
This book was written by a husband and wife team. The husband was a real life child star and was one of the two brothers in the Pete and Pete show that was popular on Nickelodeon Channel. The male protagonist in the story was also a child star and that forms part of the challenges he has in the dating world. Wondering if he’s liked for himself or for his former role and fame. His older brother is a big movie star now and our hero, Rudy, also has some angst about that success of his brother—making for an edgy relationship between them.
The female protagonist, Lucy, is witty, klutzy, and has a plethora of crazy date stories and failures. She works at odd jobs which find her in all kinds of scrapes. I have to confess, I wasn’t too sure about this book in the first chapter as she seemed so over the top and silly. I wasn’t convinced I was going to like her but I pushed on and, after Chapter one, I found her to be quite a charming character and someone I could root for.
This was such a cute story and read. It also had some deep messages about forgiveness and finding ways to make life work when expectations don’t quite come to fruition.
Humorous and engaging, yet full of wisdom. I recommend this one.
This book will be released on February 20, 2024- Mark that date on your calendar as you are going to want this one. Many thanks to History Through Fiction for the pre-release copy in exchange for an unbiased review.
When most of us initially think of 1492 and Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, we think of Christopher Columbus and his journey to the new world (which is a whole other problematic tale). We might also think about their daughter Katherine of Aragon who married two Tudor princes. What we might not think about is the edict this king and queen sent out in 1492 to require all the Jewish citizens of Spain to leave the country or convert to Catholicism. Under penalty of death.
The story of Vidal and his family, South of Sepharad, by Eric Z. Weintraub, takes us past these better known happenings affecting Spain in 1492 to something sinister and evil. The expulsion of a whole population of people from the country of Spain.
I had heard of the horror of the Inquisition, of course, and seen films and read other books about it. This story from Mr. Weintraub was so well-written and had characters so vividly drawn that the absolutely horrific events were brought home in a way that, while hard to read, made the journey of these Jewish people who had to leave with what few possession they could haul on a wagon really hit hard. They didn’t do anything wrong to warrant expulsion except practice their religion.
I’ve always been shocked and saddened at the number of deaths and amount of torture inflicted on others in the name of God. And this story didn’t shy away from the Inquisition and what those so-called holy men were capable of. If they wanted you dead, they would plant words in the mouths of the person they were interrogating. They would also twist what the person said to match their own agenda.
This book hit all the harrowing parts of the journey out of Spain for the Jewish people. From having to sell homes that had been in their families for generations, and selling their possessions and heirlooms, to leaving people behind, and the way their feet hurt and boots became full of holes on that journey. It also covered the food shortages and lack of water. I felt as if I was on the journey with them.
Even the few who stayed behind and converted to Catholicism weren’t really safe as they were always suspected of converting for purposes that weren’t sincere. And it was a forced conversion so how sincere could it have been? To betray the religion of your people must have been very difficult to decide to do. In short, these poor people were in a no win situation.
This book is an important one for us to read in these times. This horror of disliking or even hating people of other religions seems to have never gone away, but it seems to be coming back to the forefront of being acceptable to treat those who do not share certain beliefs as less than human.
The story in this book is obviously fiction and it’s well told. The author has a beautiful way with prose. Even though it’s hard to read in places, it’s an important and captivating tale (with moments of heartbreak) of one family’s life and the changes they are forced to make by a king and queen who were absolutely vile human beings.
The author did meticulous research and immersed us in the world of Spain in 1492. He gives some excellent resources at the end as well. The cover is so vivid and attractive too.
Just imagine…Imagine if the twelve days of Christmas weren’t about Christmas at all. What if the Partridge in a pear tree was actually a chef named Otto Partridge who found a pear orchard to pick some fresh pears for his restaurant? Imagine the two turtle doves as a pop duo? What if the eleven pipers piping were bakers on a baking challenge show? And what if the six geese a-laying were sassy birds full of advice for a young girl looking to earn money for a prom dress?
A mixture of stories sure to appeal to a variety of readers. Some are set in historical times, some are modern, some fantasy and some romantic. All of them fun and mostly light-hearted. Something for everyone. And none of them Christmas…except for the last one, which involves the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade… the traditional kick off for Christmas festivities.
I have been working on my NaNoWriMo novel so have not been posting any reviews this month.
I was browsing at Sam’s Club on Black Friday when I was in the store to pick up a new television for my dad and made my way to the book section, because of course I did. 🙂 I saw this one and the cover appealed to me as well as the back blurb.
This was super fun and I gobbled it down. This was the first book I have read by this writing team but it is definitely not the last. I loved the way they made the characters so appealing. A large cast of characters, but so well done that there was no issue keeping them all straight. All the characters were supportive of each other no matter the circumstances and it was great to not have even one nasty character in the story. It shows that books can be entertaining and have conflict without meanness and, in our times, I love that so much.
The heroine was very witty and the interaction between her and the guy she had a crush on was super fun. They bantered with some of the best banter I’ve read in a book. So clever and never dull at all. Creativity abounded in this story.
This was a story with elements of the movie “Groundhog Day” as well as a great tale of family and lasting friendships. It was a great read and so appropriate for the time of year. I highly recommend it.
New Orleans. Mardi Gras. The Garden District. Two half-brothers, estranged. Families with issues. A private school. A murder. A perfect storm of ingredients that lead to a great read full of mystery, danger, and anxiety for the protagonists.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House Children’s Books in exchange for an impartial review.
Marcel and Amir are half-brothers who share a father and not much else. Marcel is the elder of the two and his father cheated on his mother with Amir’s mother. This led to their father leaving Marcel’s mother and his subsequent marriage to Amir’s mother. Family dynamics have been problematic since that time. The boys are now in high school and don’t communicate with each other.
Until the fateful night of Amir’s 16th birthday party when Marcel shows up at the invitation of Amir’s best friend, Chloe.
He and Chloe eventually leave the party and head to her house. A few hours later, Marcel wakes to the horrifying sight of Chloe’s lifeless body. Her room ransacked and her being stabbed panics Marcel and he runs. A Black young man found in the home of a dead white girl is always going to go sideways.
And indeed it does when he’s seen on a security camera leaving the house via the front door.
From this point, the story moves into trying to resolve the question of who really killed Chloe.
Amir is sure his brother is innocent and he’s on a quest to clear his brother’s name.
Along the way, we meet a cast of characters who all have something to hide. The family dynamics of several of the characters enter into the story. There’s also the discovery of a reprehensible game being played online at the private school. That part of the book absolutely turned my stomach and made my blood boil.
Amir and Marcel’s family dynamics are also an integral part of the story and I was rooting for a good resolution to that part of the story as well as the solving of the murder.
I loved this book. Lots of twists and turns and some parts kept me guessing which I love. The growth of the characters is super well done by the author.
Throughout the days as I was reading this, I found myself thinking about getting back to the story of Marcel and Amir when I should’ve been focused on other things. These characters were both well drawn and they seemed very real to me.
The New Orleans setting also appealed. It’s one of my favorite cities and I could picture all the places in the book which added to my enjoyment of this story.
Set in Switzerland in the era of WWI and up to the mid-1920s, we first meet Seraphine where she lives in the Alps. Her life is hard. She’s the illegitimate child of an unwed mother who has found a husband and given birth to two other children. The two children (sons) suffer from cretinism (congenital hypothyroidism) and the daughter (as well as the mother) has a goiter condition.
The daughter has the burden of caring for the family with her work tending the sheep as well caring for her brothers. The father is off patrolling the borders and the mother is clearly depressed and doesn’t do much other than sit at the house. The only break Seraphine gets is when she’s at school.
We’re then introduced to Bastian, a young man who was in medical school but conscripted into the army during the war. Eventually, he is mustered out and returns to school in Zurich. We meet his friends and learn about his life.
The chapters alternate with the two main characters and also include newspaper articles of the era detailing the Russian revolution and the Swiss workers’ strikes, as well as letters between a number of people that help move the story along.
Eventually, Bastian comes to the Alps to assist a doctor who is working on a cure for cretinism and goiters and the two main characters meet.
The book is called Salt of the Earth for a reason as this doctor, among others, believes these conditions are caused by a lack of iodine in the diet. It’s especially important to not have an iodine deficiency in the preconception stage. The doctors’ work focuses on helping the people of the Alps and concentrates as well on the pregnant population to try to stop these conditions from manifesting in the infants and children.
Intrigued by the story and the iodine component, I took a deep dive into the history of this disease and who started the research into a cure. The author used the real history in the story, even naming the doctor, H. Eggenberger, as a peripheral character, as well as using Otto Bayard as a mentor to the male protagonist.
She also used Anna Heer, a female doctor, who founded the first professional nursing school in Switzerland. The female protagonist also did some work with a real person, Lotte Volger, who specialized in moulaguese. I had never heard of moulages so did a look around online about them as well. They were wax models of how certain conditions manifested themselves on patients. Lot of great innovation happening in Zurich medically in that era and I love how it was woven into the tale without being boring.
I learned a lot reading this story. I love novels that use real events from the past as a jumping off point for the book. When such whets my appetite for more information, that’s even better. The author even worked in a famous murder that occurred in Santis, Switzerland in order to get the male protagonist out of a sticky situation he found himself in. It was quite a clever use of a historical event in the time period.
I’m also curious about the author and why this thyroid condition intrigued her enough to write this book. I guess I’ll never get the answer to that question. Haha.
Historically set with a lot of references to everything that was happening in this era, this is an enjoyable story with characters who speak to the reader with their kindness and concern, not only for their loved ones, but for humanity at large. I liked the characters and the setting as well as how the author wove all the elements together.
A lovely read and beautiful story that I very much enjoyed.
Ramblings of a Writer 