Song From the Sea is what vacation reading is all about. It almost, but not quite, reaches Windflower levels of wonderful absurdity. The heroine has AMNESIA! (that’s how I type ‘amnesia’ as a matter of principle) and sings with a “clear, high voice” and communicates with animals. Remember the animated Cinderella? That’s our girl. By page 36 she’s in the home of a brooding hero, being fed broth by a motherly housekeeper as she recuperates … Continue reading Song From the Sea by Katherine Kingsley →
It’s been too damn hot to cook, so I thought I would give you my thoughts on something you can do, sitting in the air conditioning, drinking a cool beverage of your choice. A few weeks ago, I discovered a new show on Netflix, and it was clearly perfectly aligned to my interests that I have to assume that Raidió Teilifís Éireann and Mind the Gap Films created a show just for me. Lords and … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Lords and Ladles →
BigStock reached out to us about featuring their portfolio in our entries, and we had so much fun exploring, we wanted to share some entertaining collections of images. There are some seriously talented photographers at work in stock imagery, too. There’s also a lot of gold to be mined when it comes to stock photos. Every month, we’d love to share with you some great, beautiful, or downright silly things we’ve come across on BigStock. … Continue reading Adventures in BigStock: Men for All Seasons →
Today I’m chatting with Darcie Wilde, author of the Rosalind Thorne mystery series. Rosalind is the heroine of the series, and in the first book, A Useful Woman, she finds herself in reduced circumstances after her father ruins the family and runs off, taking Rosalind’s sister with her, and leaving Rosalind to care for her mother and figure out a way forward for herself. Rosalind’s story is heavily based in Regency history and in research, … Continue reading 306. Historical Gossip and Useful Women: An Interview with Darcie Wilde →
Homeward Bound by Emily Matchar is 99c! This is a nonfiction book that has some great discussions on feminism and domesticity. I also remember it making a big splash when it came out. Some readers didn’t find the book very enlightening, while others felt the book highlighted a lot of things about themselves they never realized.
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Welcome back to Unlocking Library Coolness, where I take everyone on a tour of the nifty-sweet features that may be part of your local library. We’ve covered Libby, and language learning options, but now, it’s summer in the northern hemisphere, so how about magazine reading! If you’re traveling and take a tablet with you, you can read a metric wagonhaul of magazines through your local library. I know from all the advertisements on the podcasts … Continue reading Unlocking Library Coolness: Magazines! →
Mary Shelley is on iTunes and Amazon, so I finally got to watch it. It’s not great. The casting is perfect but the history is inaccurate, even though the historical truth is so scandalous that it begs to be made into a movie. Seriously, any Mary Shelley movie that doesn’t show her losing her virginity to Percy Shelley on her mother’s grave is a waste of time and talent. That really happened. It’s a true … Continue reading Movie Review: Mary Shelley →
To everyone in the U.S., we hope you have a safe and happy Fourth of July! Wear sunscreen and keep an eye on your pets during the fireworks. To anyone not celebrating the holiday and not in the U.S., we want you to have a great day, too! I will be grumpily be eating my weight in hot dogs because 1) I hate the summer and socializing in the heat 2) but boy, do I … Continue reading Links: Convention Advice, Bones, and Gorgeous Grandmas →
An Affair with Mr. Kennedy by Jillian Stone is 99c! And no, it’s not that Mr. Kennedy. This is a historical romance with some opposites attract elements. Readers say the mystery element is rather predictable, but others found this to be a great debut to a new series.
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The always-reliable K.J. Charles outdoes herself with The Henchmen of Zenda, a retelling of the 1894 pulp classic The Prisoner of Zenda from a secondary character’s point of view. It looks like a m/m romance, and to a certain degree it is, but it has a more unconventional ending than most romances (I’ll address that in more detail later). On the way to the ending there is swashbuckling, double and triple crossing, intrigue, a moat, a castle, … Continue reading The Henchmen of Zenda by K.J. Charles →
