historical fiction romance

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Historical fiction romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Noelle Salazar
Publisher: Mira Books
Release Date: July 2nd, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A stunning story about the Women Airforce Service Pilots whose courage during World War II turned ordinary women into extraordinary heroes

1941. Audrey Coltrane has always wanted to fly. It’s why she implored her father to teach her at the little airfield back home in Texas. It’s why she signed up to train military pilots in Hawaii when the war in Europe began. And it’s why she insists she is not interested in any dream-derailing romantic involvements, even with the disarming Lieutenant James Hart, who fast becomes a friend as treasured as the women she flies with. Then one fateful day, she gets caught in the air over Pearl Harbor just as the bombs begin to fall, and suddenly, nowhere feels safe.

To make everything she’s lost count for something, Audrey joins the Women Airforce Service Pilots program. The bonds she forms with her fellow pilots reignite a spark of hope in the face war, and–when James goes missing in action–give Audrey the strength to cross the front lines and fight not only for her country, but for the love she holds so dear.

Shining a light on a little-known piece of history, The Flight Girls is a sweeping portrayal of women’s fearlessness, love, and the power of friendship to make us soar.

ABSOLUTELY A NEW FAVORITE.

Read in a day alert. If you’re a historical fiction fan, add to your TBR ASAP. Oh my gosh I’m in a puddle over here, little bird. *cue tears*

I loved the story of Audrey and her cohorts turned closest friends. What a hard life so many of them chose to walk to support the fight in WW2. Not being recognized until long overdue for everything they gave in the fight against Germany. I haven’t learned much about this facet of history and appreciated getting a nuanced story.

THE ROMANCE. Definitely the forefront of this book and it was everrryyything. EVERYTHING. I was begging the author to give me a happy ending. Waiting for this book to make me sob (which tears frequently hit my eyes throughout). Nothing short of miraculous how those final pages went down. Perfect ending. My heart is still feeling all of the emotions Audrey and James love story elicitied.

Seriously, if you’re at least a romance fan. Read this one. It was a stunning book and I can’t believe myself for letting it sit on my shelf for so long.

Overall audience notes:

Historical fiction romance
Language: some
Romance: closed door
Trigger/Content Warnings: war themes (specifically Pearl Harbor), multiple deadly plane crashes, a loved one MIA, PTSD, depictions of grief and depression

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Book Review: Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

August 23, 2022February 18, 2022 GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Gothic Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Dana Schwartz
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: January 18th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A gothic tale full of mystery and romance about a willful female surgeon, a resurrection man who sells bodies for a living, and the buried secrets they must uncover together.

Edinburgh, 1817.

Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry.

Jack Currer is a resurrection man who’s just trying to survive in a city where it’s too easy to die.

When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist’s Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought. Because Hazel has made a deal with Dr. Beecham: if she can pass the medical examination on her own, the university will allow her to enroll. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books – she’ll need bodies to study, corpses to dissect.

Lucky that she’s made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living, then.

But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets. Hazel and Jack work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.

NOT A FAN OF THE ENDING.

I love a good gory and darker YA book. This gave all of those vibes and more. [It is gruesome, please check warnings!]. Great atmosphere and I liked the writing style.

Hazel was a pretty solid YA heroine too. I liked her tenacity and that she refused to give up on her dream of becoming a doctor. Hazel might have taken some unorthodox routes to get there, but hey! I liked her and I’m cool with it.

The love story aspects didn’t really happen until the halfway point? For a smaller book that’s really hard to accomplish well and I thought it was lacking. I wasn’t as invested in the romance as I wanted to be. Hazel and Jack had some sweet moments, but I needed more.

Aaaaand that ending. Throwing in some fantasy aspects all of a sudden had me tilting my head. Seemed like an easy way to fix some of the remaining plot issues and attempt to tie everything up in a neat bow. It didn’t all come together the way I hoped.

Overall audience notes:

YA Gothic Romance
Language: very little
Romance: make-outs
Violence: extremely blood/gore
Trigger/Content Warnings: grave robbing (with use of the bodies in medical fields), kidnapping, organ harvesting, body dissection (with detail)

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Book Review

Book Review: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (Outlander #9) by Diana Gabaldon

March 5, 2022February 12, 2022 GoodeyReads

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Historical Fiction Romance
Length: 902 pages
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: November 23rd, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The past may seem the safest place to be . . . but it is the most dangerous time to be alive. . . .

Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall were torn apart by the Jacobite Rising in 1743, and it took them twenty years to find each other again. Now the American Revolution threatens to do the same.

It is 1779 and Claire and Jamie are at last reunited with their daughter, Brianna, her husband, Roger, and their children on Fraser’s Ridge. Having the family together is a dream the Frasers had thought impossible.

Yet even in the North Carolina backcountry, the effects of war are being felt. Tensions in the Colonies are great and local feelings run hot enough to boil Hell’s tea-kettle. Jamie knows loyalties among his tenants are split and it won’t be long until the war is on his doorstep.

Brianna and Roger have their own worry: that the dangers that provoked their escape from the twentieth century might catch up to them. Sometimes they question whether risking the perils of the 1700s—among them disease, starvation, and an impending war—was indeed the safer choice for their family.

Not so far away, young William Ransom is still coming to terms with the discovery of his true father’s identity—and thus his own—and Lord John Grey has reconciliations to make, and dangers to meet . . . on his son’s behalf, and his own.

Meanwhile, the Revolutionary War creeps ever closer to Fraser’s Ridge. And with the family finally together, Jamie and Claire have more at stake than ever before.

HAPPY TO BE BACK.

Oh how I adore this series. It gets a lot of flack for being long and nuanced, but that’s kind of what I enjoy most. I know what I’m getting into and understand that this is a life story. Practically everything is included and that’s the appeal for me. Especially because I am utterly wrapped up in these characters and their stories.

This was another good read with plenty of action, moments where I swore I was about to throw my book and times where I’d rather hug it instead. I love Claire and Jamie. I always love how much deeper I feel their commitment to each other with each book. It never gets old.

I did miss seeing more of some of the side characters like Ian and Fergus!! I love them dearly and hoped for more of their stories, but I did get a few chapters with them at least. There was more focus on William and Lord John which was excellent in its own right. That part of the plot definitely has more to unleash come book ten.

I felt that this time around that some of the longer aspects of the novel, like traveling, were cut much shorter and I thought that really helped the pacing. A lot more things seemed to happen over time and that CLIFFHANGER ending was was lawless. Hopefully book ten makes it way too us soon-ish.

Overall audience notes:

Historical fiction romance
Language: some strong
Romance: mostly closed door, occasionally brief open
Trigger/Content Warnings: war themes (Revolutionary specifically), death by bear mauling, mentions of rape and sexual assault, PTSD from war, rape, and sexual assault, childbirth, teenage pregnancy, gun violence, life altering injuries, near death experiences; (+ more I may have missed, please research before reading this series!)

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Book Review

ARC Book Review: Beyond the Lavender Fields by Arlem Hawks

January 18, 2022January 18, 2022 GoodeyReads

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Historical Fiction Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Arlem Hawks
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Release Date: February 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

1792, France

Rumors of revolution in Paris swirl in Marseille, a bustling port city in southern France. Gilles Étienne, a clerk at the local soap factory, thrives on the news. Committed to the cause of equality, liberty, and brotherhood, he and his friends plan to march to Paris to dethrone the monarchy. His plans are halted when he meets Marie-Caroline Daubin, the beautiful daughter of the owner of the factory.

A bourgeoise and royalist, Marie-Caroline has been called home to Marseille to escape the unrest in Paris. She rebuffs Gilles’s efforts to charm her and boldly expresses her view that violently imposed freedom is not really freedom for all. As Marie-Caroline takes risks to follow her beliefs, Gilles catches her in a dangerous secret that could cost her and her family their lives. As Gilles and Marie-Caroline spend more time together, she questions her initial assumptions about Gilles and realizes that perhaps they have more in common than she thought.

As the spirit of revolution descends on Marseille, people are killed and buildings are ransacked and burned to the ground. Gilles must choose between supporting the political change he believes in and protecting those he loves. And Marie-Caroline must battle between standing up for what she feels is right and risking her family’s safety. With their lives and their nation in turmoil, both Gilles and Marie-Caroline wonder if a révolutionnaire and a royaliste can really be together or if they must live in a world that forces people to choose sides.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC.

A GREAT READ.

That’s how I feel I can best bottle this one up. It was highly enjoyable and I found myself very much invested by the end hoping for a positive outcome.

I thought this romance was SO DANG SWEET. The way it started out had me laughing and I loved the progression. It’s slow, it’s full of feeling and you can feel Gilles and Marie-Caroline’s connection across the pages. I adored the tender things Gilles did for Marie-Caroline, how Caroline teased Gilles and the way they both protected and pushed each other outside of their confined boxes.

The setting was unique for me in regards to historical fiction and I love a good switch-up! I got to see a bit about the French revolution. I wish there was a bit more of that dynamic on a larger scale, but this small scale version in the seaside town did the trick. I also really liked a lot of the side characters. There’s a few you love to hate, but also people like Gilles father had me absolutely gleeful when they played a bigger role. There were many well thought out and well placed characters.

It’s a slower read, and one I didn’t mind had that facet. The writing is gorgeous and moves the plot along well. I love that this was from the hero’s point of view (with some small pieces from the heroine). Many things made this book unique and I highly recommend for historical fiction fans!

Overall audience notes:

Historical fiction romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Violence: war themes, physical altercations
Trigger/Content Warnings: discussion/use of guillotine, loss of a sibling, mob attacks

About the Author:

Arlem Hawks began making up stories before she could write. Living all over the western United States and traveling around the world gave her a love of cultures and people and the stories they have to tell. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications, with an emphasis in print journalism, and she lives in Arizona with her husband and three children.