reading_historical_romance's reviews
451 reviews

I don’t get all the hateful reviews this book is receiving, especially those who are saying it is boring.  I really enjoyed this and read the entire novel in just three sittings. My guess is that the typical thriller reader is not prepared to read a character study.  This book is more of a character study than a thriller.  

I found the psychology of Crissy’s life’s work as a Diana Spencer impersonator fantastic, and Betsy and Marisa served as a huge part of Chrissy’s character development in the narrative.  I also really enjoyed the Las Vegas setting and that the thriller aspect of the story was corruption in the cryptocurrency market. 

I thought this story was really unique and fun. I’ve never read this author before and I really like his style. It was so refreshing to read a contemporary mobster crime thriller without being deafened by profanity.

He was, not to put too fine a point on it, a right prick most of the time. Bored by others’ attempts at cleverness. Irritated beyond measure by almost every person he met. Hell, everyone knew he didn’t like people. But he wanted Julia Addison –which was not at all, in his mind, the same sort of thing.

Especially not when longing was more than half motivated by her refusal to admit, even to herself, that she wanted him too.

Graham McKay leads a double life as the reclusive Earl of Dunstane and the satirist playwright Ransom Blackadder. Blackadder’s harshest critic is the anonymous Miss on Scene, a columnist for the scandalous Mrs. Goode’s Magazine for Misses. Graham’s plan to expose the reviewer’s identity is disrupted when he meets a modest ladies' companion, Julia Addison, clergyman’s daughter and fellow theater buff. Graham quickly discovers that Julia is a force of nature with the power to unearth his secrets and uproot his notions of success.

This was my first Susana Craig read and it did not disappoint! I enjoyed this battle of razor-sharp wit between the grumpy Darcy-esque introvert, Graham, and the fiery, fearless Julia. I love that the imperturbable Graham is full-on gobsmacked by Julia immediately and didn’t know what to do with his feelings. It was fun to watch him flail a bit as he tried to calculate his best way forward in their acquaintance. I love that Graham and Julia are the ideal intellectual foils to one another. I think that Graham was better developed as a character than Julia, and that he was the lifeblood of the novel.

I liked the underlying premise of the series being an underground, anonymous periodical designed to inform and provide practical advice to high society young women about topics they would not normally be exposed to. In fact, I wish there had been more time devoted to the inner workings of the paper and the writers.

I also loved the character of the older Mrs. Hayes, Julia’s aunt by marriage and her employer. She is so shrewd, and I enjoyed watching her pull strings with perfect subtlety. I’m glad that Julia has her in her corner.

I do think the novel is a bit too long as it starts to lose momentum at about 50% and doesn’t really pick up again until about 75%. I think it suffers from the fact that all of the story lives on the surface of the narrative. An interconnected or adjacent subplot with other characters would have worked well and given the novel some much needed depth in order to more fully explore its main themes, including the purpose of ambition, the price of success, and the inherent vulnerability of allowing oneself to be known.

Tropes: grumpy x sunshine, hidden identity, bluestocking x rake, age gap (19, 29)

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own.

 

 “Her breath snagged when their eyes met, as surely as though she’d been dropped a few inches from a height. The force of his personality was so undiluted in his gaze. Perhaps one would need to learn to build up a tolerance to it, as with ratafia, or anything else that inebriated a little.”

When Catherine Keating arrives at the Grand Palace on the Thames for her first London season, she is immediately and veritably accosted by her fellow boarding house guest, the politically powerful, devastatingly handsome, and wickedly intelligent rake, Lord Dominic Kirke. Her quiet, genteel life in rural Northumberland hasn’t prepared the innocent Catherine to navigate the ton, or to realize how dangerous even the slightest association with Dominic can be to a gently bred debutante’s reputation.

For the longest time, my review was one word: SCREAMING!!! Because for the love of Delacorte’s donkey races, how can I possibly articulate how much I loved this one?

I make no secret of the fact that I am a huge fan of Julie's writing, and she continues to get better and better. There are only a few authors who have honed their craft in the historical romance space to the level of Lisa Kleypas and Mary Balogh, and Julie is one of them.

My Season of Scandal made me an emotional wreck in all the best ways, especially because of how soft and vulnerable Dominic really is beneath his mask of impeccably correct high society manners. Dominic is a good man, and his earnest, tender gentleness with Catherine from the outset made me feel that I was in on a sweet, precious secret.

This is a 5-star read in all matters of execution, to include ideal pacing, meaningful plot and character development, sensual romance, and rich, metaphorical prose. Julie's dialogue shines brighter than ever here, as does her witty sense of humor. One aspect of her books that I personally find to be one of the most satisfying is the MCs’ declarations of love to each other. True to form, Dominic’s heartrending admissions of his feelings for Catherine hit me so hard right in the feels, I got teary-eyed.

Additional highlights for me are the evenings spent in the cozy sitting room as chess is played, stories are read, and pence are lost to the epithet jar; and the ongoing battle between Dot and the solid, no nonsense footman Ben Pike about whose job it is to open the front door.

Tropes: age gap, slow burn, friends to lovers, mutual pining, rake and wallflower

Thank you Netgalley and Avon for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own. 

 

The Dove sisters are illegitimate daughters of a New York high society business scion who are shipped off to London to secure aristocratic marriages. The oldest is highly independent Cora, a passionate proponent of women’s rights. When she is literally and figuratively bowled over by handsome, powerful Leo Brendon, Earl of Devonworth, she warily agrees to a marriage of convenience to further both of their political careers. Cora’s only non-negotiable term to the arrangement is that the marriage must remain “in name only” for a period of two years.

This novel was enjoyable and an easy, quick read. There is nothing wrong with it in terms of plot or execution, and there is nothing wonderful about it either. It is a solid, middle of the road historical romance. There is no question that the author fulfilled her end of the contract, leaving me as a reader and reviewer with not much to say other than this book is just fine. The cover art is fine. The characters are all fine. The meet-cute is fine. The dialogue is fine. The chemistry and romantic tension are all fine. The pacing is fine. The ending is fine.

If you are looking for a safe, predictable genre read, this will check all of the genre boxes, and that’s not a bad thing! 3-stars is fine! It’s just…perfectly, absolutely, fine. And I've forgotten all the details by the time I started writing this review.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own. 

 “Ah, the deception of it all. That was life, though – the stories you tell yourself, and the stories you present to onlookers. Rarely did the two match. We’re all of us a combination of romance novels, humorous tales, and tragedies, depending on what angle we show the world.

Me, I preferred adventure stories. Tolerated a romance now and then.”

Inquiry agent Peter Driscoll has earned a reputation for his uncanny ability to find anyone and anything. When he’s hired to locate a long-lost sapphire with reputed mystical properties, he is only temporarily taken aback when he finds the jewel strung from a necklace worn by a mysterious film actress, Lily Temple. Peter decides that the most efficient way to learn how Lily came to be in possession of the gem is to request her assistance in a missing person case. Peter soon learns that Lily’s true identity is only a small piece of a much larger puzzle as he uncovers a series of criminal indictments against innocent people.

This genre-bending novel is set in 1903 in the English seaside resort town of Hove. Part historical mystery, gothic romance, and spy adventure, this beautifully crafted work of Christian literary fiction explores the relationship between our mortal human nature and our eternal spirit as we navigate through life’s journey.

The Elusive Truth of Lily Temple is a story about a story. The narrative is whimsical, and has an almost dreamlike quality. The tone and mood of the story is reinforced by the chapter headings which feature quotes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and the fairy tales of Charles Perrault and Hans Christian Andersen. Lily Temple is a first person narrator, and she tells Peter Driscoll’s story in third person. However, the reader is frequently reminded that Lily is not to be trusted to disclose the entire truth.

This is not a fast-paced read. It requires the reader’s patience (perhaps the better word would be faith) that Lily’s and Peter’s individual stories will weave together in the way that all great fairy tales deserve. I found both Lily and Peter to be fabulous characters, and their intense chemistry makes for a truly satisfying slow burn. I also loved how the story gradually unfolded, so that I was often left with more questions than answers, and that Lily layered each element of the story over the other until the entire picture was revealed.

The author's prose has a delicate, earnest quality which was perfectly suited to the themes of the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and the author’s writing style so much that I intend to read more of her work.

Thank you Austenprose, Netgalley, and Revell for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own.