Tag: historical fiction

Book Review: Playing it Safe (Electra McDonnell #3) by Ashley Weaver

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Mystery
Length: 272 pages
Author: Ashley Weaver
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Release Date: May 9th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

As the Blitz continues to ravage London, Ellie McDonnell—formerly a safecracking thief, but currently determined to stay on the straight and narrow to help her country—is approached by British Intelligence officer Major Ramsey with a new assignment. She is to travel under an assumed identity to the port city of Sunderland and there await further instructions. In his usual infuriating way, the Major has left her task as vague and mysterious as possible.

Ellie, ever-ready to aid her country, heads north, her safecracking tools in tow. But before she can rendezvous with the major, she witnesses an unnatural death. A man falls dead in the street in front of her, with a note clutched in his hand. Ellie’s instincts tell her that the man’s death is connected in some way to her mission.

Soon, Ellie and the major are locked in a battle of wits and a race against time with an unknown and deadly adversary, and a case that leads them to a possible Nazi counterfeiting operation. With bombs dropping on the city and a would-be assassin shadowing their every move, it will take all of Ellie’s resourcefulness and Major Ramsey’s fortitude to unmask the spymaster and avert disastrous consequences—for England and for their own lives.

THE GASP I GUSPED.

Trying to run and listen to this audiobook during the action filled ending made it HARD TO BREATHE. These books are insanely well balanced. I love getting all the aspects, the romance, the mystery, the war, the family and friends. It’s all there and I continually feel like I get enough of it all to complete each book (though I wouldn’t mind more kissing!!).

I loved the new setting and how each time I feel intensely attached to Electra and her journey. The mystery always leaves me guessing and wondering what those final reveals will hold. I am not even a little bit tired of these stories and already have the next one downloaded. This series is criminally underrated.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Mystery
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: war themes (WW2), gun violence, loss of life, murder

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Book Review: The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Fiction + Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Noelle Salazar
Publisher: MIRA
Release Date: October 3rd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The discovery of a hidden label on a famous gown unearths the story of a talented young seamstress in this glittering novel of family, love, ambition, and self discovery by the USA Today bestselling author of The Flight Girls.

2023, The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American A costume conservator is preparing an exhibition featuring movie costumes from the 1920s to present day. As she gingerly places a gown once worn by Greta Garbo on a mannequin, she discovers another name hidden beneath the designer’s label, leaving her to wonder—who is Zora Lily?

1924, Poverty-stricken Zora Hough spends her days looking after her younger siblings while sewing up holes and fixing hems for clients to bring in extra money, working her fingers to the bone just to survive. But at night, as she lies in the bed she shares with one of her three sisters, she secretly dreams of becoming a designer like Coco Chanel and Jeanne Lanvin.

When her best friend gets a job dancing in a club downtown, Zora is lured in by her stories of music, glittering dresses and boys. She follows her friend to the underground speakeasies that are at once exciting and frightening—with smoke hanging in the air, alcohol flowing despite Prohibition, couples dancing in a way that makes Zora blush and a handsome businessman named Harley. It’s a world she has only ever imagined, and one with connections that could lead her to the life she’s always dreamed of. But as Zora’s ambition is challenged by tragedy and duty to her family, she’ll learn that dreams come with a cost.

LOVING THIS AUTHOR.

This is my third book by Salazar and I can easily say I have genuinely enjoyed everyone of her historicals. I loooove that this was set in the 1920’s. The speakeasy’s, Hollywood, and all of the design content was amazing.

I was very much attached to the slow burn romance and watching it unfold. I adored Zora and Harley. They were this match you weren’t expecting but had fantastic chemistry and conversation from the get-go. I do wish I could have seen a little more conversation between them in those closing chapters so I felt like I had some deeper understanding of the third act.

Watching Zora find her place and get the things she had worked so hard for was inspiring. She was a fantastic main character and one that you wanted to see shine. I love the side characters and friends, I loved her big family and the story really kept me captivated.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fiction
  • Language: low
  • Romance: fade to black
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: racism, illegal alcohol consumption, loss of a sibling, depictions of alcoholism

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Book Review: Curses and Other Buried Things by Caroline George

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary/Historical Mystery
Length: 384 pages
Author: Caroline George
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: October 10th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Blood holds all kinds of curses. Seven generations of women in Susana Prather’s family have been lost to the Georgia swamp behind her house. The morning after her eighteenth birthday, she awakens soaked with water, with no memory of sleepwalking. No matter how she tries to stop it, she’s pulled from her safe bed night after night, haunted by her own family history and legacy. Now, the truth feels it’s only a matter of time before she loses her mind and the swamp becomes her grave. Unless she can figure out how to break the curse. When she isn’t sleepwalking, she’s dreaming of her great-great-great-great-grandmother, Suzanna Yawn, who set the curse in motion in 1855. Her ancestor’s life bears such similarity to her own that it might hold the key she seeks. Or it might only foretell tragedy. As Susana seeks solutions in the past and the present, family members hold secrets tighter to their chests, friends grow distant, and old flames threaten to sputter and die. But Susana has something no one else has been able to the unflagging belief that all curses can be broken and that love can help a new future begin. Based on her own family history, award-winning novelist Caroline George’s latest novel is a staggeringly beautiful work of hope.

OH SO SLOW.

The themes in this book were really good. I liked the commentary surrounding trauma, grief and breaking generational barriers and cycles that are harming those present. When there was finally some communication, those conversations were great.

My issues are with the pacing. Good heavens I felt like this book never went anywhere. Every little bit was some progression but otherwise it was like I was reading this day in the life that I wasn’t all that interested in.

I don’t really have much else to say. This one just wasn’t for me and I’m not going to spend anymore time on it.

Overall audience notes:

  • Mystery
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses; low innuendo
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: lynching, loss of loved ones, racism, mental health struggles, mentions of teen pregnancy and rape

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Book Review: A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Historical Fantasy Romance
Length: 360 pages
Author: June Hur
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: May 14th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

June Hur, bestselling author of The Red Palace, crafts a devastating and pulse-pounding tale that will feel all-too-relevant in today’s world, based on a true story from Korean history.

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever seen:

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

UNDER RATED.

At present, I am the only person I know of who has read this book and I think y’all need to get on this too! It is a standalone young adult historical fiction/fantasy with some enemies to lovers/oh wait we both hate the same guy romance that I loved listening to.

Now this book does NOT shy away from the atrocities committed by the king in question. I learned a lot from this book and from the author’s note at the end about this point in time. I love when books broaden my knowledge of time periods I knew little of. I do think some of the historical aspects and characters got lost in the shuffle of trying to create this as a standalone but that was my only issue.

I loved that this was dual POV and that both characters were people you wanted to root for. There were so many scenes that gutted me and so many scenes that pulled at my heart. I loved the intensity and how things came together in the end. It’s a fantastic book.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Historical fiction / fantasy / romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: high
  • Content Warnings: mentions of rape and abuse, war themes, animal violence, sexual abuse, misogyny, kidnapping of women and girls, incent (mentioned), suicide (mentioned), infanticide (mentioned), panic attacks — the author does have a full trigger warning page at the beginning of the book; because I listened to the audiobook I might have missed something else to note here

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