Hidden Figures

RECOMMENDED: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly is $1.99 at Amazon! So far, there’s no price matching and I’m not really sure if this is a Kindle Daily Deal either. Carrie did a Lightning Review of it today, actually, and she gave it an A:
This is a gripping read that keeps its focus on the intelligence and perseverance of the women who helped win the war and who made space flight possible. Its only flaw is that it’s so admiring of the women in question that it never presents them as having any imperfections. Otherwise, this is an entertaining and fascinating look at American history and the overlooked women of color who were a crucial part of it.
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Golden Globe–winner Taraji P. Henson and Academy Award–winners Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner
Set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow South and the civil rights movement, the never-before-told true story of NASA’s African-American female mathematicians who played a crucial role in America’s space program—and whose contributions have been unheralded, until now.
Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of professionals worked as “Human Computers,” calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women. Segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws, these “colored computers,” as they were known, used slide rules, adding machines, and pencil and paper to support America’s fledgling aeronautics industry, and helped write the equations that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.
Drawing on the oral histories of scores of these “computers,” personal recollections, interviews with NASA executives and engineers, archival documents, correspondence, and reporting from the era, Hidden Figures recalls America’s greatest adventure and NASA’s groundbreaking successes through the experiences of five spunky, courageous, intelligent, determined, and patriotic women: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, Christine Darden, and Gloria Champine.
Moving from World War II through NASA’s golden age, touching on the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the women’s rights movement, Hidden Figures interweaves a rich history of scientific achievement and technological innovation with the intimate stories of five women whose work forever changed the world—and whose lives show how out of one of America’s most painful histories came one of its proudest moments.
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READER RECOMMENDED: And I DarkenSquee from the Keeper Shelf by Kiersten White is $1.99! We featured a review of this as part of our series. Reader Fairywine really, really loved this book:
And I Darken utterly blew me away with how damn good it was, and it’s easily equal in quality to my other best favorites of 2016. This is a book that will challenge you, and surprise you, and give you things you didn’t even know you wanted in a book but actually did all along.
This vividly rendered novel reads like HBO’s Game of Thrones . . . if it were set in the Ottoman Empire. Ambitious in scope and intimate in execution, the story’s atmospheric setting is rife with political intrigue, with a deftly plotted narrative driven by fiercely passionate characters and a fearsome heroine. Fans of Victoria Aveyard’s THE RED QUEEN, Kristin Cashore’s GRACELING, and Sabaa Tahir’s AN EMBER IN THE ASHES won’t want to miss this visceral, immersive, and mesmerizing novel, the first in a trilogy.
NO ONE EXPECTS A PRINCESS TO BE BRUTAL. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.
Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, who’s expected to rule a nation, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.
But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.
From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes the first book in a dark, sweeping new series in which heads will roll, bodies will be impaled . . . and hearts will be broken.
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Beauty and the Highland Beast by Lecia Cornwall is $1.99! This is a historical romance with Beauty and the Beast elements. Readers say the book has a great start introducing the hero and the heroine, but there were others who felt a lot of the plot points seemed unnecessary. It has a 3.8-star rating on Goodreads.
Powerful and dangerous highlander Dair Sinclair was once the favored son of his clan, The Sinclairs of Carraig Brigh. With Dair at the helm, Sinclair ships circled the globe bringing home incredible fortune. Until one deadly mission when Dair is captured, tortured and is unable to save his young cousin. He returns home breaking under the weight of his guilt and becomes known as the Madman of Carraig Brigh.
When a pagan healer predicts that only a virgin bride can heal his son’s body and mind, Dair’s father sets off to find the perfect wife for his son. At the castle of the fearsome McLeods, he meets lovely and kind Fia MacLeod.
Although Dair does his best to frighten Fia, she sees the man underneath the damage and uses her charm and special gifts to heal his mind and heart. Will Dair let Fia love him or is he cursed with madness forever?
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We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!A Murder in Time

A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain is $1.99 at Amazon! I’m currently reading this and I’m about 75% done with it. For the most part, I’m enjoying the mystery and I have no clue how things are going to shake out. However, I’m finding some details unnecessary (the heroine is a eugenics baby) and the heroine is a bit hard to relate to, as she’s so…unfeeling. But, I’m super curious how this will end since it’s the first book in a series.
Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.
While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place – Aldrich Castle – but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.
Mistaken for a lady’s maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a young girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there’s some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her twenty-first century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman.
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Yes, Hidden Figures is a KDD today, so I don’t know if other vendors will price match. I’m currently reading it and really enjoying it.
I also read and enjoyed A Murder in Time, and I agree that the H wasn’t always the most relatable (and I had trouble believing anyone would listen to her if she was just a maid!) but the murder mystery was really interesting, along with her trying to use her training but without modern crime labs to help. So I kind of just went with it and enjoyed the story.
I also just finished A Murder In Time and enjoyed it in a general sense. There’s only so many things, however, that can be blown off with “She’s an American”.
Sarah Addison Allen’s The Girl Who Chased the Moon is $1.99 at Amazon right now. I haven’t read her myself, but I think I’ve seen people here expressing their adoration.
All three books in the Paper Magician series by Charlie Holmberg are $1.99 (each) at Amazon. I could have sworn I saw a review of the first one here, but maybe it was only a sale post or a fever dream…
Lovely books you featured today! I read And I Darken, but I haven’t read the rest. A Murder in Time sounds good.
Prime Minister by Ainsley Booth and Sadie Haller is on sale for .99 at Amazon at least. This was mentioned I believe in a post about Canadian romances, but it may have been a Whatcha Reading post. It’s a BDSM book about a prime minister and his intern.
Okay, now I want to read And I Darken. A Murder in Time has a hella pretty cover though.
I’m off to snap up Hidden Figures and And I Darken! Was hoping Beauty and the Highland Beast would be a must-buy, too. But, the fact that the hero needs a virgin to cure him squashed that impulse immediately. Blerg.
You got me on And I Darken. And I basically never read YA, make a point to avoid it actually. But I’m looking forward to this one!
Blaze by Susan Johnson is on sale for $1.99 at Amazon. It’s in my top wish list, so it must have been recommended by someone or a review I trust and it fits my criteria for buying (in my top wish list and $1.99 or under). I’m still gun shy about buying it since it seems way too old school and maybe crazysauce for my taste. Has anyone whose read this give an opinion?
@CelineB, yes, enough crazysauce to dribble down your chin, but in a good way. It’s the start of the Black/Braddock books which just got better as they went. Johnson came along when things were shifting away from virgins and lack of consent issues. Her books are generally sex positive with heroines who own their decisions and their desires.
Not saying there isn’t any of the kidnapping, over the top villains, or other WTFery hijinks that were hallmarks of the genre.
I thought Blaze was great good fun – but that was a long time ago, plus I have a high tolerance for old school shenanigans. I suspect that the writing as well as the plot will seem dated at this point, but I certainly look back on it with nostalgia.
A Murder in Time looked idyllic to me but I found it… fine, I guess.
I am finding myself strangely drawn to And I Darken…
Thanks kkw and DonnaMarie! I figured out why I had it in my list; it was one of NPR’s Top 100 Romances. I enjoy trying to read everything on certain lists. That combined with knowing that her books are sex positive made up my mind to buy it.
I just finished reading And I Darken yesterday so I could return it to the library today. It was awesome, and it combined two catnips for me: positive representations of queer characters and Islam/Muslims.
So excited about And I Darken!!!
@CelineB Thanks for the tip on Prime Minister. I wasn’t sure about it, but the series name Frisky Beavers pushed me over the edge. The book was good.