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Showing posts from March, 2023

Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented by Oline Eaton: A Book Review

Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented  Author: Oline Eaton Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography  Publisher: Diversion Books  Release Date: January 31, 2023 Pages: 320 Source: This book was given to me by the publicist in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: A brilliant biography of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, casting an era’s biggest “star of life” in a new light for a new generation      In Finding Jackie , Oline Eaton resurrects the Jackie Kennedy Onassis who has been culturally erased, who we need now more than ever—not the First Lady who was a paragon of femininity, fashion, American wifeliness and motherhood, but rather the kaleidoscopic Jackie who emerged after the murder of her husband changed her world and ours. Here is the story of Jackie’s reinvention into an adventurer, a wanderer, a woman and an idea in whom many Americans and people around the globe have deeply, fiercely wanted to believe.      Traumatized and exposed, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy nonetheless built a new li

A Noble Cunning: The Countess and the Tower by Patricia Bernstein: A Book Review

A Noble Cunning: The Countess and the Tower  Author: Patricia Bernstein Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: History Through Fiction  Release Date: March 7, 2023 Pages: 266 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: A Noble Cunning is a novel based on the true story of persecuted Catholic noblewoman Winifred Maxwell, who rescued her husband from the Tower of London with the help of a group of devoted women friends in 1716.             A Noble Cunning is a novel based on the life of Winifred Herbert Maxwell (1680-1749), who became the Countess of Nithsdale in 1699.     Set amidst the 1715 Rebellion against England’s first German king, George I, the novel depicts the ruthless persecution of Catholics and the relentless determination of protagonist Bethan Glentaggart to save the life of husband Gavin after he is captured and condemned to death. Bethan faces down a mob attack on her home, travels alone from the Scottish Lowlands to London through one of the wo

The Librarian Spy: A Novel of WWII by Madeline Martin: A Book Review

The Librarian Spy: A Novel of WWII Author: Madeline Martin Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Hanover Square Press Release Date: 2022 Pages: 401 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London comes a moving new novel inspired by the true history of America’s library spies of World War II.      Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence.      Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.      As the battle in

Blog Tour: A Noble Cunning: The Countess and the Tower by Patricia Bernstein

A Noble Cunning: The Countess and the Tower Author: Patricia Bernstein Publisher: History Through Fiction Release Date: March 7, 2023 Pages: 266 Synopsis: A Noble Cunning is a novel based on the true story of persecuted Catholic noblewoman Winifred Maxwell, who rescued her husband from the Tower of London with the help of a group of devoted women friends in 1716.            A Noble Cunning is a novel based on the life of Winifred Herbert Maxwell (1680-1749), who became the Countess of Nithsdale in 1699. Set amidst the 1715 Rebellion against England’s first German king, George I, the novel depicts the ruthless persecution of Catholics and the relentless determination of protagonist Bethan Glentaggart to save the life of husband Gavin after he is captured and condemned to death. Bethan faces down a mob attack on her home, travels alone from the Scottish Lowlands to London through one of the worst snowstorms in years, and petitions an indifferent king for her husband's mercy. As a l

The Invincible Miss Cust by Penny Haw: A Book Review

The Invincible Miss Cust Author: Penny Haw Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark Release Date: 2022 Pages: 320 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Aleen Cust has big dreams. And no one―not her family, society, or the law―will stop her. Born in Ireland in 1868 to an aristocratic English family, Aleen knows she is destined to work with animals, even if her family is appalled by the idea of a woman pursuing a veterinary career. Going against their wishes but with the encouragement of the guardian assigned to her upon her father's death, Aleen attends the New Veterinary College in Edinburgh, enrolling as A. I. Custance to spare her family the humiliation they fear. At last, she is on her way to becoming a veterinary surgeon! Little does she know her biggest obstacles lie ahead.       The Invincible Miss Cust is based on the real life of Aleen Isabel Cust, who defied her family and society to become Britain and Ireland's

Book Blast: The Romanov Heiress by Jennifer Laam

The Romanov Heiress by Jennifer Laam Publication Date: March 20, 2023 Genre: Historical Fiction/Russian Synopsis:  Four sisters in hiding. A grand duchess in disguise. Dark family secrets revealed...an alternate future for the Romanov sisters from Jennifer Laam, author of   The Secret Daughter of the Tsar and The Lost Season of Love and Snow .      With her parents and brother missing and presumed dead, Grand Duchess Olga Romanova must keep her younger sisters safe. The Bolsheviks are determined to eliminate any remaining holdovers from the tsarist regime, hunting down the last Romanovs and putting them to death. Now living in England, the Romanov sisters remain hidden to protect their identities, even as isolation strains their relationships.      But they can’t distance themselves from the world forever.      Olga learns that a peer of the realm has accused the late Empress Alexandra of betraying Russia and her allies during the Great War. Under the spell of the scheming Gr