Unpopular opinion alert: I did not finish (DNF) Red, White, and Royal Blue. SO many people have raved about this book by Casey McQuiston, readers and bloggers alike. It was all over bookstagram when it published in 2019, and I'm still seeing it appear in bookstack photos of beloved books. What's Red, White, and Royal Blue about? As a lover of rom-coms, I was eager to read this relatively new member to the genre: a queer...
Tracy Chevalier’s novels are absolutely beautiful, and her latest book, A Single Thread, is no exception. This might be my new favorite title by this author. What's A Single Thread about? The shadow of WWI looms over everything in A Single Thread -- every person, every conversation, every interaction. Main character Violet's life is forever changed when both her fiancé and her brother are killed in WWI. At 38 years old and...
Some of you may remember me gushing about The Royal We in one of my earliest posts on the blog. So, you can imagine how excited I was to find out that Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan were writing its sequel, The Heir Affair! This minute I found out it was publishing, I began chasing down ARCs like kids after an ice cream truck. None made their way to me, so I was forced to wait until the ebook was available at my local library. I have to say...
A friend with whom I regularly chat about books warned me against reading Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. We have similar reading tastes -- she's the one who introduced me to Things You Save In A Fire -- and she said she couldn't get into the book, despite all the positive hype around it. As a result, I delved into Eleanor Oliphant with a slightly closed mind and a heavy bout of skepticism. And, to be honest, I wasn’t greatly intrigued...
If it’s one thing I love about Wendy Webb novels, it’s that they’re incredibly creepy. And her latest book, The Haunting of Brynn Wilder, certainly delivers all the spine-tingling, floor-creaking moments you’d expect with a title like that. That being said… this book is also incredibly heartbreaking, which is something that I did not expect. What originally drew to me to Webb’s novels is this author’s ability to weave a damn...
I really wanted to fall deliciously deep into Rhapsody. But, this book was a DNF for me. I feel extra bad about saying this, too, since author Mitchell James Kaplan sent a personalized note on lovely, thick, cream-colored stationary along with the ARC. But, I'm all about the honest reviews, so....here goes. What's Rhapsody about? Set in Jazz Age NYC, Rhapsody is the story of composer George Gershwin's love affair with Kay...
I completely adored The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the hardest book reviews to write are for the books you love the most. There’s just so much you want to say! And it seems impossible to find the right words to express how much the story means to you. That’s how I feel about The Flatshare. And, I'm completely surprised by this. What's The Flatshare about? I went into The Flatshare...
Well, Tartlets, we're rounding out a year of reading by heading back to Ballybucklebo with another book in the Irish Country Novels series: An Irish Country Family. And, I'm happy to report that I enjoyed this book much more than the last one in the series. Author Patrick Taylor mercifully toned down the in-depth discussion of Irish politics, And, while Barry and Sue's infertility issues continue to plague them, that plotline, too, has...
Christmas Shopaholic may be the best Christmas book I've read in a long time. It might also be the best book in Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series I've read in a long time. On both counts, nothing could have surprised me more. What's Christmas Shopaholic about? This newest installment in the Shopaholic series stars our girl Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood). Becky is a loveably ditzy but well-meaning woman with a slight...
Even though The Merriest Magnolia sounds like a Christmas book, and the beautiful cover makes it look like a Christmas book… it’s not what I would call a true Christmas book. And, I really liked that about it. What's The Merriest Magnolia about? Author Michelle Major’s newest installment of The Magnolia Sisters series kicks off just before Thanksgiving. The Merriest Magnolia ushers us into the Yuletide season by letting...
