A fun Regency era romp featuring a young woman trying to help her ill sister by replacing her as a governess to two young ladies. It should be easy but Emily isn't fond of children and these are too old for a governess anyway. The youngest is good hearted but frail while the oldest is rebellious and not in need of a governess. Emily has another side line that could prove to be just the ticket to get her out of the manor home and back to help pay the medical bills for her sister but she will need to not care. Witty and full of real world situations instead of fluff and tea parties this will appeal to many historical romance reader or not and the author takes a broad approach to sexuality and identity which is marvelous. The audiobook was wonderful. 4 stars
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The most unlikely of friendships began as a job offer of singing coach and blossomed because of two major similarities - fame and being underestimated by the men in their lives. Both exuded talent yet were very insecure and had bad luck with love. Ella Fitzgerald was the undisputed jazz queen and Marilyn Monroe was everyone's idea of a sex symbol yet both of these ladies wanted much more. The story switches back and forth between the two women following their career and encounters highlighting the highs and especially in Marilyn's case, the lows. They had a longstanding friendship that few people knew about and even fewer understood. This is another fine example of behind the scenes in the entertainment industry where the incredibly talented women had to fight for every scrap and the toll that fame took on both their lives. Fans of old Hollywood stories such as THE BRIGHTEST STAR, FINDING DOROTHY, THE GIRL IN WHITE GLOVES and THE QUEEN OF SUGAR HILL will find much to love here. 4 stars
Mary Queen of Scotland has been imprisoned with two of her ladies in waiting in the inhospitable Lochleven castle. Her host family barely take care of her even though she is still a queen and pregnant. Forced to abdicate, suffering from miscarriage and dismal living conditions she is still hopeful that she will regain the crown or escape. Living in the same horrible conditions and worried for their queen Jane, Cuckoo and Lady Seton do whatever they can to help her at great risk to themselves. Even at a time that a very powerful queen sat on the British throne Mary was considered disposable like many women, unless needed to produce an heir. This is a look at not only a slice of Mary Queen of Scotland's life but also one of female friendship, love and loyalty. Fans of Allison Weir and Margaret George will find this debut rewarding. 4 stars
1907 Panama saw promise of a brighter future. The United States was attempting to slice through Panama to join the two mighty oceans allowing ships to remove considerable miles to get their freight to destinations faster. They promised prosperity to those working the project and hire people from Europe, the U.S., the islands and Latin America. Everyone is excited except for the Panamanians who feel like the U.S. is just another country taking control of their country. We see life from a wide variety of viewpoints - the doctor who is eager to cure Malaria, the woman who becomes a spokesperson for her town that will be displaced, the young girl who leaves her island home to find work in Panama to pay for her sister's surgery, and the young Panamanian who doesn't want to become a fisherman. The result is riveting historical fiction that is more than the story of building the mighty canal and instead goes deep into the people and customs of Panama. I listened to the audio which amplified my enjoyment by hearing the myriad of dialects and variety of all the characters. 4 stars
This is not your typical American crime/drama and comparing it would be a big disservice. Just after WWI is over Samson and his father must deal with a new headache - the Red Army. They murder his father and saw off Samson's ear leaving him to bleed in the street. The next thing he knows his house is requisitioned and he takes a job as a policeman because of his good penmanship. Samson takes all of this in stride using all his charm to woe the beautiful Nadezhda and work his first murder case. He does have one thing in his favor. His cut off ear still sends him sounds from the desk drawer allowing him to eavesdrop on the soldiers in his house. Samson is a delight even though this is a gritty crime novel of a violent time in Ukrainian history. Andrey Kurkov interjects bits of humor about how life goes on and the absurdity of life. This debut is the start of a series from a big name in Ukraine. 4 stars
Twyla runs to Nashville with her dad's beat up guitar and dreams of making it big. With no money and no prospects she is lucky to be befriended by Mimi who lets her babysit for room and board. She meets a Nashville golden boy who is also hopeful of a shot at stardom but he takes her down a dangerous path. One mistake and her dreams are shattered. They are crushed further when she hears a song she sang one time being sung and promoted by another musician. The one person who holds everything over Twyla's head. Do you fight for ownership of your song and take the consequences or stay safe and in the background? This coming of age look at the obstacles facing so many young musicians and the heavy price for one mistake. I love the author's honest and tough characters who want so badly to be able to trust but are bruised by the life they have had. 4 stars
Ady is not a free woman nor is her mother but she has been given a long leash that allows her to walk the streets of New Orleans where she is housed at her master's townhouse. At the Mockingbird Inn she finds a group of free women who become friends, family and partners in a spy ring to thwart the growing Confederacy. They become her only outlet from a life of pain and a respite from her master. Told in the third person as well as journal entries and imagined research documents from the future this is a story of a group of brave women who risked everything to outsmart the powerful men who held their future in their hands but not their spirit. A story of the horrors of slavery and the power of community told in authentic language.
4 stars A tale of women who suffer quietly at the hands of powerful men with easily bruised egos. In 1918 two couples are invited to spend the summer at a remote island owned by a recluse. Charles needs to finish his very important book debunking popular science for unnatural events in weather and nature. Anna wants very much to believe going to the island will help but when they get there and discover along with the other couple that they are in rustic shacks for quarantine and there are strange things happening both wives are alarmed. Anna begins to question her sanity and as the two women investigate the deeper into danger they become and believe the island is being run by a madman. Moody, dangerous and written at times like a fever dream this shows how women were taught to believe that they were the fragile, hysterical creatures society deemed them to be. This will appeal to gothic mystery lovers of REBECCA and Sarah Waters. 4 stars
Multi generational trauma from the Sand Creek Massacre to the Indian Schools to recent events and the pain of being forced to not be who you are - a Native American. As soon as the white man pushed entire groups of Native Americans off their land, eliminated the ones who wouldn't go peacefully and took their children to schools where they worked to "kill the Indian". Brutally honest with piercing characters, Tommy Orange once again expresses the hard truth of the damage done. Their land, their children taken away and then stripped of all their culture some escape through drugs and alcohol and some go on to fight to share and preserve their heritage for future generations. They can't take away the stories unless you stop telling them. Masterful writing and a prequel of sorts to THERE,THERE but definitely one that you can read as a standalone. 4 1/2 stars
1924
Bought from an orphanage at little more than a toddler Cecily begins her life in a circus learning how to wow audiences performing acrobatics on a moving horse. While her mentor Isabelle does her best to shield Cecily from the dark side of the circus she still grows up fast yet is innocent to the ways of the world outside the circus. A forbidden love sends her to a home for unwed mothers where she suffers loss. It is only decades later when her great grandchild wants to do a DNA project and the test results will force Cecily to give up the secrets she has kept for so long. This is a fascinating and horrific look at how children were victimized, racism and the seedy side of the circus as well as those institutions who had the power to sterilize women they deemed feeble or unfit but it is also a story of courage, love and family where you find it. For readers of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS and THE LIFE SHE WAS GIVEN. 4 stars |
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