Rebecca has been on the to-read list for ages, and thanks to Book Club, it has been marked off (and was much enjoyed)! First, a short and spoiler-free synopsis: Late 1930’s. An unnamed protagonist narrates this story–a young woman training to become a lady’s companion. She meets a mysterious widower in Monte Carlo and before she knows it, she’s a… Read more »
Queen in Waiting opens with Caroline of Ansbach at only 8 years of age leading a difficult life as an outcast in her own home due to her father’s death and step-brother’s disdain. Luckily for her, however, she is accepted into the household of the Electress of Brandenburg where she receives an excellent education and is considered quite a catch… Read more »
The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White This is another book club read, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it included sections that are historical–Great Depression and WWII era. The main character, Merilee, is a recently divorced mother of two trying to make it on her own in a new environment–among the more affluent members of society–due… Read more »
Here’s the first review for my 2021 Reading Goals, which I announced back in November as catching up on my backlog of Kindle books. I added Horton’s Bend by Dave Davis a few years ago when I came across it searching for Horton’s Bend: George Washington Horton and His Kin by Annette Horton Herrington (a genealogy reference book). Davis’s Horton’s… Read more »
For several years now I have refused to focus on number goals for reading. This past year I have read mostly non-fiction reference and research books for work projects, putting fiction on the backburner. Other than a few Plaidy/Holt books, and my book clubs reads, I haven’t read and reviewed historical fiction at all. I’d like to break out of… Read more »
Today being Hedy Lamarr’s birthday, it seems an appropriate time to publish this review! The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict was the pick for my book club last month and I found it a quick and enjoyable read. Although it is not greatly detailed on Hedy’s life as a Hollywood actress or as a budding scientist, these… Read more »
Jan 2020 Release – Amazon Link BOOK DESCRIPTION It’s 1911, and 21-year-old Evelyn Northey desperately wants to become a doctor. Her father forbids it, withholding the inheritance that would allow her to attend university. At the outbreak of World War I, Evelyn disobeys her father, enlisting as an army nurse bound for Egypt and the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. Under the… Read more »
Jan 2020 Release – Amazon Link BOOK DESCRIPTION The Miltons are a powerful old New York family – the kind of family that used to run the world. And in 1935, they still do. Kitty and Ogden Milton seem to have it all: an elegant apartment on the Upper East Side, two beautiful little boys, a love everyone envies. When… Read more »
Jan 2020 Release – Amazon Link BOOK DESCRIPTION A deeply moving and masterfully written story of human resilience and enduring love, The Plum Tree follows a young German woman through the chaos of World War II and its aftermath. “Bloom where you’re planted,” is the advice Christine Bölz receives from her beloved Oma. But seventeen-year-old domestic Christine knows there is… Read more »
Jan 2020 Release – Amazon Link BOOK DESCRIPTION A young widow. A husband she thought she knew. On the picturesque Italian coast of Amalfi lies a chocolatier’s destiny… San Francisco, 1953: Heartbroken over the mysterious death of her husband, Celina Savoia, a second-generation chocolatière, resolves to take their young son to Italy’s shimmering Amalfi coast to introduce him to his… Read more »
Jan 2020 Release – Amazon Link BOOK DESCRIPTION New York, 1910: A city of extravagant balls in Fifth Avenue mansions and poor immigrants crammed into crumbling Lower East Side tenements. A city where the suffrage movement is growing stronger every day, but most women reporters are still delegated to the fashion and lifestyle pages. But Vera Garland is set on… Read more »
Jan 2020 Release – Amazon Link BOOK DESCRIPTION Adored by her parents and pampered by the court, the infant Princess Mary’s life changes suddenly and drastically when her father’s eye is taken by the enigmatic Anne Boleyn. Mary stands firm against her father’s determination to destroy both her mother’s reputation, and the Catholic church. It is a battle that will… Read more »
