How is it that this is the 60th book and the series is still so freaking5 stars - Futuristic/Crime/Police Procedural/Mystery/Suspense/Thriller/Romance
How is it that this is the 60th book and the series is still so freaking good and addictive?!?! I don't know how Nora Roberts (J.D. Robb) keeps putting out such great reads, but I'm glad she does....more
This is another great read in the series, and I just love all the Will and Sara I can get. Karin Slaughter writes some4 stars - Crime/Mystery/Thriller
This is another great read in the series, and I just love all the Will and Sara I can get. Karin Slaughter writes some very dark books, and this is no exception. It has some seriously disturbing content and characters. I wanted a lot more comeuppance for several of them....more
I mainly read the Shadow and Bone trilogy before this to have a better understanding of the world-building, and I'm gla4.5 stars - Young Adult Fantasy
I mainly read the Shadow and Bone trilogy before this to have a better understanding of the world-building, and I'm glad I did because I think it helped my enjoyment of this book. I thought the Shadow and Bone trilogy was interesting, but it felt too YA for me in some ways. I also didn't like the characters.
That isn't the case at all with Six of Crows. The story is a multifaceted, dark, intriguing, action-packed fantasy with villains, brutal violence, some road-trip buddy moments, a prison break, a heist, and subtle romance. Even though the ages of the main characters make it fall into the YA category, they don't act like typical YA characters and seem much older. They're all complex, brave, strong, and broken or tortured in some way. I loved them all, especially Kaz and Inej. (view spoiler)[And I'm really hoping for a happy ending for them all in the second book. (hide spoiler)]...more
It's hard to believe that this is the 57th (wow!) In Death book, and I still absolutely love this amazing series. I 4 stars - Futuristic Crime/Mystery
It's hard to believe that this is the 57th (wow!) In Death book, and I still absolutely love this amazing series. I can't imagine ever getting tired of these characters, so I hope Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb never gets tired of writing them! And I'm still holding out hope for a TV series or movie someday....more
Wow. What an incredible story of one of the most prominent French resistance leaders and spies of WWII, Nancy Grace A5 stars - WWII Historical Fiction
Wow. What an incredible story of one of the most prominent French resistance leaders and spies of WWII, Nancy Grace Augusta Wake (also known as The White Mouse). She was the Allies most decorated woman during World War II, saving thousands of soldiers and eventually becoming the most wanted person by the German Gestapo in 1943.
Even though this is historical fiction, the author based it on extensive research, biographies written about Nancy Wake, and on Nancy's own autobiography, The White Mouse, and all of the events are real, as are most of the characters in the book.
Ariel Lawhon describes her as "bold, bawdy, and brazen" in the author's note, and Nancy Wake was indeed that. She was also brave, strong, fearless, clever, courageous, compassionate, determined, cunning, stubborn, tough, and fair and had a strong sense of justice. And she risked everything to fight the Germans and to help win the war.
There is a beautiful, romantic, moving, heartbreaking, and tragic love story in this book between Nancy and her French husband, Henri Fiocca. Even already knowing how their story ended, I still wasn't prepared for it.
I listened to the audiobook version, and the narrator, Barrie Kreinik, was fantastic and really brought Nancy and the other characters to life.
I highly recommend this to fans of historical fiction and non-fiction, WWII historical fiction and non-fiction, and even to romance fans. If you don't know about Nancy Wake, you really should. What a truly amazing, remarkable woman she was! 5 stars!...more
This is my first time reading this author, and I enjoyed his writing style. All the Sinners Bleed is an intel5 stars - Southern Mystery/Crime/Thriller
This is my first time reading this author, and I enjoyed his writing style. All the Sinners Bleed is an intelligent, gritty, thought-provoking, and dark crime thriller with an authenticity and importance that is often lacking in this genre.
The author handles the serious subject matter of deep-seated, systemic southern racism and violence with the insight and first-hand knowledge of someone who has witnessed and experienced it's ugly underbelly. Cosby depicts the horrific serial killing of black children in such a way that the reader experiences the monstrous brutality and grief through the eyes of protagonist Sheriff Titus Crown. His character is the intelligent, honorable, strong, flawed, brave, respectful, determined, dedicated, insightful, caring, diligent, and compassionate hero we all need, and the reader knows that Titus will not stop until he brings justice to the lost and forgotten.
All the Sinners Bleed gripped me from the start and never let go, and I finished it in just one day. My only quibble is that I wanted more from the ending and perhaps an epilogue as well. But I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and so impressed with the writing and main character, Titus Crown, that I can't give this less than 5 stars. I look forward to reading more from this author, and I hope we get more of Titus Crown in a future book. I highly recommend this!
I listened to the audiobook, and narrator Adam Lazarre-White did a phenomenal job voicing Sheriff Titus Crown and the nuances of the other characters. I think this book would make an excellent movie or TV series....more
This is such a heartwarming and utterly delightful feel-good romance, and I savored and loved every word of it! It’s basic5 Swoonworthy Romance stars!
This is such a heartwarming and utterly delightful feel-good romance, and I savored and loved every word of it! It’s basically a historical romance remake of the movie Pretty Woman except the heroine is a feisty French ballerina in need of money instead of a prostitute.
I couldn’t get enough of the witty banter and explosive chemistry between outwardly cold-hearted, aloof Lysander and spirited, outspoken Neve. Their romance was absolutely swoon-worthy! I also loved the secondary characters, Lysander’s spinster aunt and the group of friends that take Neve under their wing. I hope we get romances for the other women in the Taming of the Dukes club.
I listened to the audiobook, and Mary Jane Wells’s narration is fabulous and truly brought the book to life. She does such a wonderful French accent for Neve and gives all the characters distinct voices. I truly loved listening to this one.
This was me every single word and every single minute of this book! *dreamy sigh* Big 5 stars!
Wow. I honestly don’t have sufficient words to convey my love for this astounding b5++ stars � Contemporary Fiction/Women’s Fiction/Historical Fiction
Wow. I honestly don’t have sufficient words to convey my love for this astounding book, and I wish there was a way to rate it higher than 5 stars. It’s not only one of my favorite reads of this year, but it’s also one of my favorite books, ever. I ugly cried so hard reading the last chapter that I couldn’t even see the screen and had to stop several times to collect myself. So many feels. And the epilogue is truly soul-stirring.
Winter Garden is more than just a book. It’s an evocative, powerful intergenerational story that takes you on an unforgettable emotional journey. Although this is women’s fiction, for romance readers like me, there are actually multiple love stories in this book, and the one at the heart of the story is epically beautiful and heartrending.
I was intrigued from the very start of the book, but I think some readers might find it slow in the beginning and also feel unsure of the likeability of the characters. But the story reveals itself layer by layer brilliantly, and the evolution of Meredith, Nina, and Anya is part of what makes it such a wonderful read. Hannah captures the complicated dynamics of relationships (mothers and daughters, sisters, husband and wife, and lovers) with authenticity and poignancy. I especially found the depiction of Meredith’s marital struggles after 20 years together relatable and realistic. Women so often put their children, partners, family, home, and work above themselves, and marital relationships can be easily neglected from just the monotony of everyday life.
Winter Garden is an insightful and intimate portrayal of the enduring strength of women, a spellbinding family saga, and an epic love story that is compelling from start to finish. It’s a story of family, country, tragedy, sacrifice, love and loss, human suffering, survival, grief, forgiveness, and hope. It’s moving, lyrically written, expertly paced, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting.
I’ve always been fascinated by Russian language, culture, folklore, food, and history, and I want to learn more after reading this book. I hope I get to see its beauty someday, including the Belye Nochi, White Nights, of St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad, that means so much to Anya in the story. I love that Hannah included some Russian recipes at the end of the book because food, both the overabundance and lack of it, is an integral part of the story as well.
I’ve read about the Soviet Union during WWII, and I knew about the Siege of Leningrad in a generic, factual way. But Hannah provides candid insight into the lives of those, mostly women, children, and elderly, in Leningrad during the siege who were left to struggle to survive the unforgiving, brutally cold winters without heat or food while being constantly bombed by the Germans. The 900-Day Siege resulted in the deaths of roughly one million of the city’s civilians, including more than 700,000 that froze or starved to death. Hannah researched firsthand accounts of survivors as inspiration to create a personalized story to strongly affect the reader by allowing them to experience it.
Winter Garden is a truly remarkable, deeply affecting, and haunting read that will stay with me forever. It gave me all the feels and all the tears but also left me inspired. Winter Garden joins Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale as one of my top favorite reads of the year and most favorite books of all-time. 5++ and all the stars!
“And maybe that was how it was supposed to be, how life unfolded when you lived it long enough. Joy and sadness were part of the package; the trick, perhaps, was to let yourself feel all of it, but to hold on to the joy just a little more tightly because you never knew when a strong heart could just give out.�
“I’d be proud to have your strength. What you’ve been through—and we don’t know the worst of it, I think—it would have killed any ordinary woman. Only someone extraordinary could have survived. So, yeah, I do want to end up like you.�
“If there was one thing she’d learned in all of this, it was that life—and love—can be gone any second. When you had it, you needed to hang on with all your strength and savor every second.�
“We women make choices for others, not for ourselves, and when we are mothers, we...bear what we must for our children.�
(view spoiler)[The engraving from Sasha to Vera on the tombstone made me bawl my eyes out. “Remember our lime tree in the Summer Garden. I will meet you there, my love.�(hide spoiler)]
From the author’s In Her Own Words section at the back of the book: “It is Anya who haunts me. She is a fictional character, obviously, but she is drawn from research. The women who survived the Siege of Leningrad were lionesses, warriors. It’s deeply inspiring to me. And even though it happened a long time ago, I find the story of their courage relevant in today’s world.�
From the Behind the Novel section at the back of the book: “I wanted to give you all this story of survival and loss, horror and heartache in a way that would allow you to experience it with some measure of emotion. I am not a historian, nor a nonfiction writer. My hope is that you leave this novel informed, but not merely with the facts and figures; rather; I want you to be able to actually imagine it, to ask yourself how you would have fared in such terrible times.�...more
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