I must admit, after writing three reviews for novels in three genres that I don’t tend to seek out, I was pretty excited to see a novel come up that was not just a Regency-set historical, but one with smugglers and spies and a heroine who runs around in breeches. Sign me up! Alas, while The Smuggler Wore Silk wasn’t a bad book, it didn’t really thrill me. In fact, of all the books I’ve reviewed, … Continue reading The Smuggler Wore Silk by Alyssa Alexander →
Oh, Cold Comfort Farm, where have you been all my life? This classic went completely past my radar and now that I’ve found it I’m actually surprised that it’s not dedicated to me, specifically. Cold Comfort Farm, published in 1932, pokes gentle fun at the sub-genre of novels that dwells on misery and melodrama on English farms. Early versions of this genre include the works of Thomas Hardy and of course Wuthering Heights by Emily … Continue reading Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons →
Previously: Ross Poldark convinced a bunch of guys to open a mine. Some other stuff happened, too. It’s morning. Ross is going over the mine at Wheal Leisure, which looks to be in good repair. He sort of tentatively rings the bell, and workers begin streaming out of their houses and coming to work. THE MINE IS OPEN! “I never thought this day would come! Expectations are high!” says one of the other investors. “Pray … Continue reading Poldark: Episode 3 →
The four initial facts you absolutely need to know about For Such a Time by Kate Breslin are as follows: 1) It is an inspirational romance. God, faith, and the Bible (actually, a ‘magic’ Bible** that seems to show up whenever the main character needs to see it most) make regular appearances. 2) It is set almost entirely in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II, and deals extensively with the horrors of the … Continue reading For Such a Time by Kate Breslin →
Previously: Ross came home from war, everything was terrible. Seagulls in the morning light. Ross is looking over maps and looking at a chunk of ore that has what looks like copper? Jud has a voice over about the vein of copper being the vein of life, blah blah blah, over a montage of workers walking to a mine, and soldiers watching them. Someone nails a notice of closure on the Wheal Reath mine, and … Continue reading Poldark Episode 2 →
I wanted to like Natalie Meg Evans’ book, The Dress Thief, I really did, but I simply couldn’t read the last third of the book and as a result it ended up with a DNF grade. However, just because I couldn’t finish the book doesn’t mean it’s a bad book; there were simply too many tropes in it that I personally do not like. Basically, The Dress Thief is a huge love letter to the old … Continue reading The Dress Thief by Natalie Meg Evans →
TRIGGER WARNING: abuse, date rape Alix Gower dreams of being a couture fashion designer, but those dreams take money she doesn’t have. In the meantime she makes a little extra money by selling sketches of designer clothes to middlemen who export them to be made as cheap knockoffs. Then she gets offered a staggering job—steal an entire collection of clothes. The money will be enough for her to take care of her grandmother and for … Continue reading The Dress Thief by Natalie Meg Evans →
No disclaimers, just a flat out apology for leaving this review until after the deadline and after the excellent review by TheoLibrarian was published. Life just got away from me, big time. My (brief) review: Because TheoLibrarian provided such an excellent review yesterday, my comments will simply add a few additional impressions from a second reader. After a difficult first chapter, where Lord Ian Chance and a multitude of his friends and a relation were … Continue reading My Lady, My Lord by Katharine Ashe →
Welcome to our reviews and recaps of BBC’s Poldark, starring Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson, based on the novels by Winston Graham! lets get started with the angst, shall we? It’s woods, in Virginia, 1781. A party of redcoats are camped in the woods, and two of them are playing cards. One, a ruggedly handsome Aidan Turner without his LoTR dwarf get-up, puts in a ring as his stake, and another man snarks “Gambling again? … Continue reading Poldark, Episode 1 →
I really wanted to love this book. I’ve enjoyed other books by Ashe but this one just didn’t work as well for me. By the time I finished it, I felt “meh” about it. I felt so “meh” about it that I considered not writing this review. But here we are! So let’s do this thing. 1. The set-up: While this book features more noble people from the Regency, the set-up is a little different … Continue reading My Lady, My Lord by Katharine Ashe →
The Gentleman Rogue is a book that uses multiple romance novel tropes and clichés throughout the book but to my surprise does so rather successfully. When we’re introduced to the characters in a tavern (though the heroine would object to it being called as such!) where she is a waitress and he a patron, I got false expectations that it would turn out to be historical without the balls and the soirees, the earls and the … Continue reading The Gentleman Rogue by Margaret McPhee →
