Tsarina
By: Ellen Alpstein
I enjoyed the (not really) historical drama The Great earlier this year so when I was offered a chance to read Tsarina as part of a blog tour I was like sign me up! Especially seeing as how the book is about the first Empress Catherine and Peter the Great.
Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the e-arc of the book. It didn’t change by opinion of the book in anyway.
Pretending
By: Holly Bourne
I hate men.
So the novel starts. April goes into far greater detail than I will here but suffice it to say I was a little worried at the start of the book. And I was completely unsure what to expect, as I heard of but never read Holly Bourne before this, and maybe I didn’t get what I thought I would.
But I got a good and interesting read.
I went halfway through season one of Black Sails thinking what kind of idiots would follow these people? As though pirates were some bastion of good decisions. But truth be told by the end I totally would follow Captain Flint and Long John Silver on a search for Spanish treasure.
You just have to get a couple of things clear first.
The Silence of the Girls
By: Pat Barker
Grade: A
“None of that gives him the right to take another man’s prize of honor. It doesn’t belong to him; he hasn’t earned it.”
There was a lot more, but I’d stopped listening. Honor, courage, loyalty, reputation- all those big words being bandied about- but for me there was only one word, one very small word: it. It doesn’t belong to him, he hasn’t earned it.”
It is our narrator Briseis. Actual person. Not it.
The English Wife
By: Lauren Willig
Grade: A-
One reason I picked this up now is because it just screamed winter read (or fall) so I wanted to read it while the mood felt right. Turns out I was right about that. Though I was oh, so wrong about the mystery.
Either way, it was a win.
