historical fiction

Book Review – An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

books, reviews

Rating: 2 out of 5.

I was surprised by how into Bridgerton that I got. Okay, so it’s essentially just a sexy soap opera set in Regency-era London. I knew it would be a pretty casual watching experience but I didn’t think it would be my thing. I’ve never been a lover of romance novels, so didn’t think I’d care about all of those same tropes being dusted off again. I won’t pretend that I’m a huge fan but I binged watched both series 1 and 2 pretty quickly recently. An act that made me curious about the novels the show was adapted from. I had no illusions that I’d ever undertake reading the whole series but I did at least want to give one a try. Why start with book 3? Well, it made sense after finishing season 2 of the show, even if the next season is based on book 4. I also think that Benedict is the most interesting of the siblings, so was interested to see how he came across in the books. Also, I had to see if the Cinderella elements were as awful as they sounded. So, without having any belief that I’d enjoy this book, I set about reading it. How bad could it be?

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Book Review – The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

books, reviews

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

I’m pretty sure that I bought a copy of this on my first holiday after Covid. I picked it up on a whim when I was in Waterstones. Mostly so we could take advantage of their special offer. It wasn’t something that I knew a lot about before I walked into the shop. It was just one that they happened to be recommended. I don’t even think I properly looked at the cover before I bought it. I just went in blind. It’s definitely the kind of book that appeals to me though, so no doubt I would have picked it up anyway. As ever, it sat on my shelves for ages without being read. Somewhere along the way, I also bought an audiobook copy of it. No doubt it was part of an Audible daily deal or something. One of the many reasons that I’m glad I don’t have a subscription anymore. As I’m trying to reduce the number of unread books on my Audible account, I decided to listen to it last week. As the book is about a Roman brothel, it probably wasn’t the most appropriate choice for work but never mind.

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Book Review – A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin

books, reviews

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

I’ve been going a bit mad on NetGalley again and requesting loads of books. Just what I need when I already have an unending list of stuff to read. But it’s just what we do, right? When this book came out, I was so close to buying it. Obviously, I wanted the Waterstones exclusive edition but it sold out before I could get it. So, I put off getting it. Then it became available as an audiobook on NetGalley. When I was struggling to read last week, I decided it was a good time to take a look. It’s not my usual thing but what harm could it do?

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Book Review – Secret Suffragette by Barbara Mitchelhill

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

So, my week’s holiday is over and, after an initial success, my reading went downhill pretty rapidly. Meaning I was in an all too familiar situation for this week’s second book review. I had nothing. Thankfully, my first day back was full of repetitive and dull tasks which allowed me to listen to a quick audiobook. After my previous read, I was in the mood for something that didn’t set women back several decades and one that elevated women. So, this feminist historical novel seemed perfect.

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Book Review – The Mystery of Love by Andrew Meehan

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I’d started reading The Mystery of Love in February for LGBTQ+ history month. Although, I didn’t really get very far. I just wasn’t in the mood for it and I had plenty of other books to finish first. So, I decided that Pride month was the perfect time to finish it. I ended up listening to the audiobook on my lunchbreaks so it took a few days to actually get to the end but I managed it just in time for the end of June. I actually think getting the audiobook made a big difference to how easy this was to read. Whether it was the narrator, the book or both, The Mystery of Love was the perfect thing to listen to.

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Book Review – The Hellion by Harriet Young

books, reviews

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

I first found out about this book because of Instagram. I’d been following Harriet Young (thesenovelthoughts) for a while so I had been aware that she was writing her first novel. When she was looking for funding on Unbound, it didn’t take a lot of persuasion for me to preorder it. I was fascinated by the story and the history of the Pendle witch trials. I’ve been waiting to read this one for a long time and, when it arrived last moth, I couldn’t wait to start reading it. Of course, it was just a huge coincidence that it also crossed off one more letter on my Spell the Month Challenge.

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Book Review – The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Am I the only one that seems to miss out on all of the bookish drama? It wasn’t until I finished reading this book that I realised there was a load of controversy around it. When looking on Goodreads, it became apparent that people were taking issue with the title of the book and the effect it might have on children in the care system. I understand that you have to be careful about these thing but it’s clear that most of the people making a fuss haven’t actually bothered to read it. After all, the more you know, the harder it is to complain about everything. You might say that, as someone without any connection to the adoption community, that I’m not qualified to comment on the argument. However, it’s clearly an opinion shared by Adoption UK as they’ve published a positive review of Hana Tooke’s book. I’m sorry a bunch of Karen’s are miffed but this isn’t fair to a good children’s book.

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