Genre: Historical

Audio Review ~ Heiress Without a Cause ~ Sara Ramsey

Audio Review ~ Heiress Without a Cause ~ Sara Ramsey

Oh boy did I enjoy Heiress Without a Cause! This is the first installment of the Muses of Mayfair series. Three women, all heiresses, and all essentially on the shelf, have unconventional interests which they engage in. These interests would cause quite the scandal in the ton. 😉 Heiress Without a Cause specifically revolves around Madeleine, who has a love of acting. She’s so talented that she won a role and has been performing on stage under an alias. However, when the theater manager becomes greedy and threatens Madeleine into performing past their agreed timeline, she’s at risk of being ruined. Enter Ferguson, the newly minted Duke of Rothwell. He’s returned to London from exile following his father’s death. He […]

Posted 8 September, 2022 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 2 Comments
Divider

Review ~ Pride and Prometheus ~ John Kessel

Review ~ Pride and Prometheus ~ John Kessel

I’m rather enamored of all things Pride & Prejudice so when I saw Pride and Prometheus on the library shelf, I couldn’t resist. I’m happy I didn’t pass it up. Pride and Prometheus, a mashup of Pride & Prejudice and Frankenstein, was engaging and thought-provoking, and I felt JKessel served both classics honorably. Pride and Prometheus places our story following the end of Pride & Prejudice but during Frankenstein, and has a very gothic feel. While Victor Frankenstein and his monster are main characters, Mary Bennet is the heroine rather than Elizabeth. Victor is on a mission to create a companion for his original creation as his monster is threatening Victor’s loved ones. However, he struggles with the ramifications of […]

Divider

Audio Review ~ A Conspiracy in Belgravia ~ Sherry Thomas

Audio Review ~ A Conspiracy in Belgravia ~ Sherry Thomas

A Conspiracy in Belgravia cemented my opinion: I’m absolutely enamored with this series. The characters are charming, the mystery well-done…I was shocked at the reveals. SHOCKED! And the relationship between Charlotte and Lord Ingram is tender yet building towards something I’m desperately hoping for! The mystery in this installment involved both Lord Ingram’s wife as well as Charlotte’s illegitimate brother. I’m quite certain all the clues were laid out but I was unable to connect the dots for this one. My curiosity was piqued, of course, but the reveal was shocking. I mean, I knew a little but the whole of it left me reeling. LOL Besides the mystery, we have Lord Bancroft renewing his proposal to Charlotte, Livia meeting […]

Divider

Review ~ A Study in Scarlet Women ~ Sherry Thomas

Review ~ A Study in Scarlet Women ~ Sherry Thomas

A Study in Scarlet Women landed on my radar and TBR thanks to Caffeinated Reviewer’s review. I don’t read mysteries much so I decided to include this for COYER’s Outside the Box Read-a-Thon. I’m every so grateful for the RAT since I’m now a huge fan of Lady Sherlock! I will admit that A Study in Scarlet Women got off to a slow start for me. However, it was very necessary to set up the back story and the foundation for the series and this mystery. And after the foundation was laid, the story took off. Lady Charlotte Holmes is a quirky young woman with a talent for what she refers to as discernment. She’s certainly unconventional for the times […]

Divider

Blogger Wife Chat Review: Concrete Rose – Angie Thomas

Blogger Wife Chat Review: Concrete Rose – Angie Thomas

Oh my gosh, Brandee. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely adored Concrete Rose. I love that Thomas used AAVE both for the inner thoughts and for the dialogues, because it made the whole story stand out to me as very authentic and realistic. What did you think of that choice? I can’t imagine anything more perfect than AThomas giving us Concrete Rose. There was more story left after The Hate U Give – it just happened to be the story that came before. And I adored it as well. The fact that AThomas used AAVE for both the inner dialog as well as for the dialogues gave Mav’s story the richness it deserved. Very authentic and genuine. Another […]

Posted 12 August, 2021 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 1 Comment
Divider

Review ~ The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared ~ Jonas Jonasson

Review ~ The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared ~ Jonas Jonasson

What a fun, quirky story! The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is reminiscent of Forest Gump and Allan Karlsson is every bit as endearing and loveable. Steven Crossley, the narrator, who was new to me, made the story that much more entertaining. He was able to convey the wit of Allen’s antics perfectly. Allan, a Swedish man with unique talents (specifically blowing up things), has had a hand in many – possibly every – historical event in his century-long life. Of course, Allan never intended to play a role in any of the events he inadvertently participated in. The only things he truly cared about were having food to eat, vodka to drink, and a place […]

Divider

Review ~ Sing, Unburied, Sing ~ Jesmyn Ward

Review ~ Sing, Unburied, Sing ~ Jesmyn Ward

Sing, Unburied, Sing is beautifully written and emotionally gripping. It’s also thought-provoking and the thoughts aren’t always easy to sit with. This being because the story deals with systemic racism and the lasting repercussions of it. Sing, Unburied, Sing also incorporates grief and guilt, among other things, and the role they play in how we, as humans, live our lives. Sing, Unburied, Sing follows 3 generations of one family. Pop and Mam, their daughter, Leonie, and Leonie’s children, JoJo and Kayla. This family has endured much. Prison, poverty, discrimination, and grief. Lots and lots of grief. JWard deftly portrays life in rural Mississippi. The hardships faced by people still experiencing racism. The culture differences in the population. She also conveyed […]

Divider

Review ~ Kindred – A Graphic Novel Adaptation ~ Octavia Butler, Damian Duffy, John Jennings

Review ~ Kindred – A Graphic Novel Adaptation ~ Octavia Butler, Damian Duffy, John Jennings

I read the graphic novel adaptation of Kindred at the request of my daughter, Berk. She read it at the beginning of her freshman year of college (2019) and was so moved by it she wanted to share. I was equally moved by it and I intend to read the novel now as well. The story told in Kindred – that of a black woman being continually pulled back in time to save her white ancestor – translated well as a graphic novel. The illustrations superbly conveyed the setting, mood, and emotion of the story and characters. I don’t feel qualified to discuss the finer details of a graphic novel since this is only the third one I’ve ever read […]

Posted 23 November, 2020 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 4 Comments
Divider

Review ~ The Only Woman in the Room ~ Marie Benedict

Review ~ The Only Woman in the Room ~ Marie Benedict

The Only Woman in the Room was a book club read and one I’m glad was suggested. I didn’t know much about Hedy Lamarr other than she was an actress. I applaud MBenedict for highlighting all that Lamarr accomplished beyond being a pretty face. While the story was interesting, the prose felt stilted much of the time and there were other quirks in MBenedict’s writing that I found tedious. Those things took away from an otherwise enjoyable read yet I’m still happy to have read it. Highlights Hedy was a rather fascinating woman. She was a stage actress in Vienna and despite the fact she lived in a Jewish neighborhood, she didn’t realize she was Jewish. A few years prior […]

Divider

Review ~ Where the Crawdads Sing ~ Delia Owens #UnearthingaBookishBounty

Review ~ Where the Crawdads Sing ~ Delia Owens #UnearthingaBookishBounty

Where the Crawdads Sing was a marvel. I really have no words. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do this story justice in a review but here’s my first attempt: Where the Crawdads Sing is beautiful, lyrical, emotional, thought-provoking, eloquent, and…just, amazing! A true gem! Kya is a young girl – a little girl – living in a shack in the swamp in 1950’s North Carolina. She’s abandoned by her family, one by one, and the marsh adopts her. This story, her story, is about how capable and resilient Kya is, raising herself with a little help from Mother Nature. Or maybe Mother Earth. She also has some help from a “colored couple.” It’s about loneliness and its effects […]

Divider