Review: Hench
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
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Review: A Rogue of One's Own
A Rogue of One's Own by Evie Dunmore My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: The Hidden Moon: A Lotus Palace Mystery
The Hidden Moon: A Lotus Palace Mystery by Jeannie Lin My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Giving Thanks in Difficult Times
As the shadows lengthened, the men began gathering around the tables like wasps drawn to sweet fruit, cozying up to their women, and trying to talk them out of some of the food before the feast officially began. Ma Ivey ruled her dirt yard like an empress and wasn’t above slapping a reaching hand with a wooden spoon when they drew too close. Finally though, the last of the cane was put through the mill and the syrup cooked down, and as the night sky filled with stars the feast began to a chorus of tree frogs and crickets serenading the workers. They lined up before the platters of roast pig and venison, quails, turkey, and doves. Even a possum or two joined the potatoes in the smoldering coals. There was fish stew and slow-cooked turtle, gator tail and fresh bass, and plenty of home-brewed ale and scuppernong wine to wash it down. The ever present corn was there, too, as meal, mush, bread, pone, grits, and “roasenears,” cooked in the hot coals. Julia grinned to herself. There wou...
Review: The Happy Ever After Playlist
The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: Murder on Cold Street
Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: Every Day Above Ground
Every Day Above Ground by Glen Erik Hamilton My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: The Book of Lost Friends
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: Hard Cold Winter
Hard Cold Winter by Glen Erik Hamilton My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: A Duke by Any Other Name
A Duke by Any Other Name by Grace Burrowes My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
New French Edition--Coeurs au large
My newest French edition, Coeurs au large ( Castaway Dreams [High Seas #2]) is now available for pre-order from J'ai Lu pour elle . I have so much love for this beautiful cover! It captures the spirit of my romance about three castaways on a desert island, two free spirits and one curmudgeon. No, Pompom isn't the hero...or maybe he is...but this adorable doggy on the cover dancing with Daphne is exactly what I envisioned when I wrote this book. Coeurs au large will be on sale 3 November, but you can purchase the first book in the "Tourmentes" series, A la merci du corsaire ( Sea Change [High Seas #1)] and the English editions are available in ebook and print from all the usual vendors. Merci beaucoup !
Review: A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes
A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes by Eric Jay Dolin My rating: 5 of 5 stars I would recommend this book to everyone in the US who's living in an area that could be impacted by a hurricane, which would be all of the East Coast, the Gulf Coast and inland areas in the path of storms. Which is to say, most of the eastern and southern US. I've been through my share of hurricanes, lived on the Florida coast and now inland Florida. I take these storms seriously...and they're only getting worse. Eric Jay Dolin has written a fast paced, readable, informative book that explains why these storms are predictable...to a degree...and why we can't rely on those predictions 100% of the time to assume we're out of harm's way. View all my reviews
Review: The Duke Who Didn't
The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan My rating: 5 of 5 stars Delightful romance involving childhood friends, hidden identities, loving families, and one of the best "Black Moment" scenes I've ever run across. "Posh Jim" is the half-Chinese duke who hides his identity so he can spend time in Wedgeford, the village where he's accepted by the assorted residents who don't fit in with typical British communities. But the villagers don't realize "Jim" is the duke who owns the property they're squatting on, and he wants to put off the day of reckoning as long as he can. Chloe is a loving daughter who wants her beloved father's umami "secret sauce" to succeed and sweep the marketplace, shaking up the bland cuisine. She has lists and check-marks and the man she's loved since she was a little girl is only a distraction, especially when he asks her to make a list to help him find the perf...
#NationalCoffeeDay
“Your eyes are like pecans, Julia. Brandy brown, and like the nuts, you’re hard on the outside, but buttery on the inside. It’s a chore getting to that good stuff, but that’s part of the fun, workin’ your way past the shell to the rich meat. And when you crack a pecan and the nut comes out whole, have you ever noticed how it’s like two lips, plump and tasty and just waitin’ for the right someone’s mouth to enjoy all the pleasure trapped within?” A faint smile at that one. “Better, but not quite Byron.” “How ’bout this then?” He moved in even closer, and released her hand, running his finger along her eyebrow down to the outer corner of her eye, where he feathered it over the soft skin at her temple, a touch as light as a moth’s wing passing in the night. The hand behind her back pulled her in until she was standing between his legs, and could feel how seriously he was taking this wordplay. “Your eyes are the smoky bronze of coffee, rich and deep. It settles in your belly and warms ...
Review: The Vanishing Half
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: Houdini: The Elusive American
Houdini: The Elusive American by Adam Begley My rating: 3 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: Someone to Romance
Someone to Romance by Mary Balogh My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: The Golden Cage
The Golden Cage by Camilla Läckberg My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: You Had Me at Hola
You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
The Burning of the Capital Remembered
The next afternoon Captain Fletcher told Mr. Bryant to muster the crew and Charley joined them, standing apart from the ranks of seamen. When they were all assembled, he looked out over the assortment of Yankee privateers and their British doctor and said, “Men, I have news from home.” He waited for the murmurs to die down. “I received correspondence on St. Martin that I wish to share with you. Last August, while we were at sea fighting for the rights of sailors and free Americans, the British burned our nation’s capital, Washington City.” Now the mutters from the men were angry as they shifted their feet and looked at one another. The Americans had burned York in Canada, and Great Britain might be justified in saying it’s tit for tat to burn the Americans’ capital, but Charley just scratched her ear and wisely refrained from pointing that out. Plus, Captain Fletcher was still speaking. “But take heart, men, just as your countrymen did! America cannot be frightened into submission!” H...
Review: Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman
Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman by Abby Chava Stein My rating: 5 of 5 stars I read this powerful biography in one sitting over Shabbat. Stein tells a story that's all too real, of someone who comes close to losing her religion, but finds solace and companionship with an understanding community of Jews who are open and accepting. She portrays a Hasidic community that's both beautiful in its celebrations and family connections, and ugly in its rejection of those who don't fit in. It could have been a tale of any closed religious community and belief system, whether in Williamsburg or Wyoming or Iran. All communities are multi-faceted and multi-layered, and kudos to Stein for telling her story with love and an appreciation for what she had, what she left behind, and the life she's created for herself now. View all my reviews
Thank you for #voting
“If I climbed I could gather more gourds, and some fruit also.” He looked at her sternly. “There will be no climbing.” Daphne stopped smiling and straightened her sore back, because she had been thinking about this all day. “I am not sure I should have to always do what you tell me to do, or not to do, Dr. Murray. I know you are a natural philosopher and learned, but in America they let men vote equally, the stupid ones as well as the clever. Not that I am stupid, I am just not as learned as you are. While we are here on this island, just the two of us, we should be voting as equals, don’t you think?” He looked at her in astonishment, setting down the gourd. “I am amazed, Miss Farnham, that a properly brought-up Englishwoman would take the riff-raff in America as her model for appropriate behavior. No, this is not a situation calling for some anarchic form of democracy. Your vote is not equal to mine. “Our situation here is akin to being aboard ship where there is a commander. I am he....
Review: The Beast of Blackmoor
The Beast of Blackmoor by Milla Vane My rating: 3 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today
America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today by Pamela S. Nadell My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: Stages of the Heart
Stages of the Heart by Jo Goodman My rating: 3 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Happy #CoastGuardDay!
Fifteen hundred dollars worth of coffee coming in duty free meant a tidy profit. A simple plan, but one that worked all too well given the poor state of the Revenue Marine. The revenue cutters couldn’t begin to cover all of the coast, not when the ships were spread thin with surveying, rescue operations, and winter cruising between Charleston and Key West. Underfunded, understaffed, looked down on by the regular navy, despised by the merchants who paid the tariffs, the Revenue Marine was no one’s darling. Well, except maybe Alexander Hamilton. He’d loved his revenue cutters that brought money into the Treasury, but look what happened to him, Rand thought. Irritate the wrong people and there you are, worm food. --SMUGGLER'S BRIDE The United States Coast Guard, aka the Revenue-Marine, aka the Revenue Cutter Service was founded on this day in 1790 by US Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Happy Birthday, Coast Guard! You can read more about the role of the Revenue Marine in Territ...
Summertime...and the living is sweaty
He handed her a shovel and they began to dig, and as the afternoon wore on and the heat rose, so did tempers. The allure of treasure was one thing. The actual back-breaking work of digging in the hot sun, sweat pouring off her body and blisters rising on her hands was another. But she didn’t give up, and if the occasional raw word slipped out, it was only to be expected. She wiped her hand across her wet face, not caring she left dirt and sand in its wake. Thunder rumbled to the west and a breeze sprang up, whipping the tree branches. Sophia paused to let the cooler air flow across her. “We have to stop, it’s going to rain.” “We cannot stop yet, Jack, there is still daylight!” “Sophia, I am not going to stand here and get soaked—” His sentence was punctuated with the plop! of a large drop of water at his feet. A moment later one hit Sophia on the nose, and then in the next instant while she looked at Jack, the sky opened and the squall came down in torrents, soaking them where they st...
Review: Close Up
Close Up by Amanda Quick My rating: 4 of 5 stars A perfect choice for lounging in a hammock on a hot summer afternoon--mystery, romance, glamorous 1930s California, and the snappy writing and dialogue that's a hallmark of Amanda Quick. I gobbled it up and would recommend any of the Burning Cove books for a stay-at-home summer getaway. View all my reviews
Review: The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: A Murderous Relation
A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raybourn My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Happy #IndependenceDay!
Charley didn’t know anything about guns, but the sailors and Mr. Silas Stuart, the mate, seemed impressed with the speed of the “Cannies” at their stations. Naturally, they placed bets on whether the next shot would hit the barrel floating off the starboard bow. “They’re fast, but accuracy counts,” Stuart said. “Now, if you want to see real accuracy, watch the Americans. ‘Cousin Jonathan’ is so skinflint about outfitting ships I suspect the cost of each ball that doesn’t hit its mark is deducted from the sailors’ pay!” “Those Yankees cannot stand against our big Navy guns,” the cook said with a grin. --Sea Change (High Seas #1) The cook aboard the Lady Jane was wrong. The United States Navy was able to stand against the Royal Navy's guns in war, not once, but twice within 40 years. Each time, the young nation proved itself a force to be reckoned with. We normally would celebrate our hard-won independence this weekend as John Adams said we should: "It ought ...
Review: The Regency Years: During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern
The Regency Years: During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern by Robert Morrison My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Review: The Legacy and Other Stories: Four Regency Romance Novellas
The Legacy and Other Stories: Four Regency Romance Novellas by Edith Layton My rating: 3 of 5 stars A pleasant "palate cleanser" between much weightier books. One of the things I love about Regency era romance is how sometimes all I want is a story that will take me away for a few moments, not change my life. While Ms. Layton wrote Regency fiction that's now classic in the genre ( The Duke's Wager ) these were lighter little sweet and savory tidbits. View all my reviews