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The Complete Love Mark Box Set by Linda Kage
8.0
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All Five Books in the Fantasy Romance Love Mark Series It all starts with a little tattoo. ...
Fantasy Romance Epic Fantasy Box Set
Merissa (12781 KP) created a post
Jun 1, 2022
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post
Aug 14, 2022
Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power
9.0
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Sixteenth-century Europe: Renaissance masters paint the ceilings of Florentine churches, kings...
Non-fiction France Spain Scotland England 16th Century Europe
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Wife List in Books
Jun 3, 2024
109 of 220
Book sirens Arc
The Wife List
By J.A. Schneider
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Has a group of men conspired to murder each other's wives - figuring their perfect alibis will save them? That is what Beth Kemp starts to suspect, but is she losing her mind? Her husband says he fears so...
I'll give this marriage one more try, Beth Kemp thinks. She is a successful crime writer in New York City, who regrets that tension has crept into her relationship with her husband, Brad. He too is a writer who, after early success, finds his career fading.
Brad urges that a move to the country would make them happy again - and safe, especially Beth, to avoid the city's stress that triggers her severe asthma attacks. Beth wavers, until her close friend is murdered and the friend's husband has a perfect alibi. She finally accepts that the city with its surging crime has become too hard for her.
The Kemps move to beautiful Sheffield, Connecticut, so perfect it seems too good to be true. It is. When one new friend cries in fear about her husband, and another has a bruise under her eye, Brad tells Beth that she's overimagining. But when she hears of another wife's unsolved murder and yet another friend dies mysteriously, Beth suspects the husbands of covering for each other. Brad tells her she's getting crazy, paranoid.
Then Beth stumbles onto the most devastating shock of all, one she never imagined...
This was a decent read of not a little to predictable. Well written and a good story.
I do like this writers style but like I said it was very predictable.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Book sirens Arc
The Wife List
By J.A. Schneider
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Has a group of men conspired to murder each other's wives - figuring their perfect alibis will save them? That is what Beth Kemp starts to suspect, but is she losing her mind? Her husband says he fears so...
I'll give this marriage one more try, Beth Kemp thinks. She is a successful crime writer in New York City, who regrets that tension has crept into her relationship with her husband, Brad. He too is a writer who, after early success, finds his career fading.
Brad urges that a move to the country would make them happy again - and safe, especially Beth, to avoid the city's stress that triggers her severe asthma attacks. Beth wavers, until her close friend is murdered and the friend's husband has a perfect alibi. She finally accepts that the city with its surging crime has become too hard for her.
The Kemps move to beautiful Sheffield, Connecticut, so perfect it seems too good to be true. It is. When one new friend cries in fear about her husband, and another has a bruise under her eye, Brad tells Beth that she's overimagining. But when she hears of another wife's unsolved murder and yet another friend dies mysteriously, Beth suspects the husbands of covering for each other. Brad tells her she's getting crazy, paranoid.
Then Beth stumbles onto the most devastating shock of all, one she never imagined...
This was a decent read of not a little to predictable. Well written and a good story.
I do like this writers style but like I said it was very predictable.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The Ballad of Mary Kearney
Book
"I am dead, my Mary; the man who loved you body and soul lies in some dishonorable grave." In...
Historical Fiction Irish History Women's Fiction
Sutton and Ethan Montclair had the ideal life--a beautiful marriage, a gorgeous house, successful writing careers, and a beautiful baby son. But with the death of their baby, Dashiell, things started to crumble. Peering into the cracks, it was clear that Ethan's career isn't going well and Sutton was depressed and broken after Dashiell's death. So when Ethan wakes up and finds a note from Sutton telling him that she's left and not to look for her, he doesn't know what to think. Did she really run off, leaving her phone, laptop, credit cards, and ID behind? Or did something more sinister happen? As for Ethan and Sutton's friends--and the police--they quickly start to wonder if the something sinister is Ethan.
So in the years since [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276] has come out, I've seen so many books compared to that juggernaut and felt that so little truly were similar (and keep in mind that I wasn't one of those that *adored* the novel). However, reading LIE TO ME, I felt like this book really deserved the plot comparison to GONE GIRL -- wife missing, volatile marriage, husband under suspicion, unreliable narrators, etc. For a while, I was curious how [a:J.T. Ellison|1311949|J.T. Ellison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1450824118p2/1311949.jpg] would differentiate her novel from GONE GIRL, but she pulled it off (more on that later).
<i>This novel was compulsively readable</i>; I read it basically in two sittings. I stayed up until midnight to finish it, which is no small feat considering my small children don't care how late I stay up! It slowly builds suspense with the unknown, dropping little hints as to bits and pieces of the story. We start with Ethan's piece of the story, eventually switch to Sutton, and then finish with both of them. Interspersed are various portions where an unknown "narrator" speaks directly to us, the reader, as well as the police. All of this <i>creates suspicion and tension</i> and lets us know that we certainly have unreliable narrators in both Ethan and Sutton. Who do we believe? Even the police--called in to investigate Sutton's disappearance--are confused. <i>I was completely hooked and, honestly, madly flipping the pages. </i>
The Sutton portion slowed things down slightly, but things rapidly picked back up. I won't lie (ha), I worked out some of the plot, but it certainly didn't diminish my enjoyment of the novel, and I definitely didn't figure out everything. <i>The book's a little crazy, with a slightly wild plot, but it's a fun and thrilling read.</i> The supporting cast is interesting--especially a policewoman itching to become a detective, and some of Sutton and Ethan's friends. As I mentioned, the plot is a little insane, but fun crazy, and Ellison weaves together all the pieces quite effectively.
This is my second novel by Ellison and I'm finding that I just enjoy the suspense and escapism of her novels. (You can read my review of her novel, NO ONE KNOWS, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1460145588?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1">here</a>;). The book isn't always perfect, but it's a really enjoyable thriller, hence the 4-star rating--which makes it higher than GONE GIRL for me. Sacrilege for some, but I just enjoyed this one more.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 09/05/2017.
<center><a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/">Blog</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.instagram.com/justacatandabook/">Instagram</a>; </center>
So in the years since [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276] has come out, I've seen so many books compared to that juggernaut and felt that so little truly were similar (and keep in mind that I wasn't one of those that *adored* the novel). However, reading LIE TO ME, I felt like this book really deserved the plot comparison to GONE GIRL -- wife missing, volatile marriage, husband under suspicion, unreliable narrators, etc. For a while, I was curious how [a:J.T. Ellison|1311949|J.T. Ellison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1450824118p2/1311949.jpg] would differentiate her novel from GONE GIRL, but she pulled it off (more on that later).
<i>This novel was compulsively readable</i>; I read it basically in two sittings. I stayed up until midnight to finish it, which is no small feat considering my small children don't care how late I stay up! It slowly builds suspense with the unknown, dropping little hints as to bits and pieces of the story. We start with Ethan's piece of the story, eventually switch to Sutton, and then finish with both of them. Interspersed are various portions where an unknown "narrator" speaks directly to us, the reader, as well as the police. All of this <i>creates suspicion and tension</i> and lets us know that we certainly have unreliable narrators in both Ethan and Sutton. Who do we believe? Even the police--called in to investigate Sutton's disappearance--are confused. <i>I was completely hooked and, honestly, madly flipping the pages. </i>
The Sutton portion slowed things down slightly, but things rapidly picked back up. I won't lie (ha), I worked out some of the plot, but it certainly didn't diminish my enjoyment of the novel, and I definitely didn't figure out everything. <i>The book's a little crazy, with a slightly wild plot, but it's a fun and thrilling read.</i> The supporting cast is interesting--especially a policewoman itching to become a detective, and some of Sutton and Ethan's friends. As I mentioned, the plot is a little insane, but fun crazy, and Ellison weaves together all the pieces quite effectively.
This is my second novel by Ellison and I'm finding that I just enjoy the suspense and escapism of her novels. (You can read my review of her novel, NO ONE KNOWS, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1460145588?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1">here</a>;). The book isn't always perfect, but it's a really enjoyable thriller, hence the 4-star rating--which makes it higher than GONE GIRL for me. Sacrilege for some, but I just enjoyed this one more.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 09/05/2017.
<center><a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/">Blog</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.instagram.com/justacatandabook/">Instagram</a>; </center>
Louise (64 KP) rated When Dimple Met Rishi in Books
Jul 2, 2018
*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
I do love myself a good YA contemporary, and this delivered. ‘When Dimple met Rishi’ has everything that you could want in a coming of age novel, it was diverse, there was romance, families, friendships and the difficulties of growing up.
I couldn’t believe this was Sandhya Menon’s debut novel as the characters felt so real and the writing was amazing.
Dimple Shah is 17 and looking forward to the prospect of college, she has enrolled for a course for computer programming and has so many ideas buzzing around her brain. Her mother has always wanted Dimple to get married and find the IIH (Ideal Indian Husband) than become a student. Dimple also wants to attend a summer camp where she can show off her programming skills and start making a name for herself, the course costs $1000 and is shocked when her parents allow her to go but what she doesn’t know is that they have other plans.
Rishi Patel wants to follow in his parents footsteps with his own arranged marriage. He too is to go to the same Summer camp where he is to meet his future bride, however when they come face to face he realises that Dimple’s parents have failed to mention the arrangement to her. Her future of computer programming seems to be slipping from her grasp at lightening speed.
This book was great it is told in dual perspective and the chapters are just the right length. The writing is easy to read and with the dual narrative you don’t get bored.
Going in to this book I had very little knowledge of Indian culture and arranged marriages as it’s not something that I have read about. This is a positive light on arranged marriages rather than the awful experiences that you hear about. I felt the impact that their culture had on these individuals to carry on with the traditions as expected of them.
I loved the characters Dimple and Rishi,they were different yet so right for each other. Dimple was head strong, determined to make a future out of something she loved and living her life as she wanted rather than expectations. She found her mother over-bearing at times as she was forceful in her suggestions. I loved that Dimple was a nerd, nowadays it’s cool to be one and be different from others and I see that now that I am older but not necessarily when I was a teenager.
Rishi was adorable, he was funny,nerdy and also really talented. He wanted to please his parents by doing what they thought best in his school work but when it came to LOVE, Rishi wanted to follow his culture, have an arranged marriage and children. This was firmly his decision and he such passion when he talked about his culture and the times he visited India.
There were a couple of reasons that I didn’t rate this book a 5 stars and they were; I didn’t really like Ashish’s storyline. The plot was a little predictable, it had great feels in the middle but then it fizzled out as I was getting frustrated with Dimples stubbornness.
This book was great it’s a perfect summer/beach read, I loved the characters, the feels that I got from Menon’s writing and the fulfillment of learning something new. I hope this isn’t the last we see from her as she can only continue to get better.
I rated this 4 out of 5 stars
I do love myself a good YA contemporary, and this delivered. ‘When Dimple met Rishi’ has everything that you could want in a coming of age novel, it was diverse, there was romance, families, friendships and the difficulties of growing up.
I couldn’t believe this was Sandhya Menon’s debut novel as the characters felt so real and the writing was amazing.
Dimple Shah is 17 and looking forward to the prospect of college, she has enrolled for a course for computer programming and has so many ideas buzzing around her brain. Her mother has always wanted Dimple to get married and find the IIH (Ideal Indian Husband) than become a student. Dimple also wants to attend a summer camp where she can show off her programming skills and start making a name for herself, the course costs $1000 and is shocked when her parents allow her to go but what she doesn’t know is that they have other plans.
Rishi Patel wants to follow in his parents footsteps with his own arranged marriage. He too is to go to the same Summer camp where he is to meet his future bride, however when they come face to face he realises that Dimple’s parents have failed to mention the arrangement to her. Her future of computer programming seems to be slipping from her grasp at lightening speed.
This book was great it is told in dual perspective and the chapters are just the right length. The writing is easy to read and with the dual narrative you don’t get bored.
Going in to this book I had very little knowledge of Indian culture and arranged marriages as it’s not something that I have read about. This is a positive light on arranged marriages rather than the awful experiences that you hear about. I felt the impact that their culture had on these individuals to carry on with the traditions as expected of them.
I loved the characters Dimple and Rishi,they were different yet so right for each other. Dimple was head strong, determined to make a future out of something she loved and living her life as she wanted rather than expectations. She found her mother over-bearing at times as she was forceful in her suggestions. I loved that Dimple was a nerd, nowadays it’s cool to be one and be different from others and I see that now that I am older but not necessarily when I was a teenager.
Rishi was adorable, he was funny,nerdy and also really talented. He wanted to please his parents by doing what they thought best in his school work but when it came to LOVE, Rishi wanted to follow his culture, have an arranged marriage and children. This was firmly his decision and he such passion when he talked about his culture and the times he visited India.
There were a couple of reasons that I didn’t rate this book a 5 stars and they were; I didn’t really like Ashish’s storyline. The plot was a little predictable, it had great feels in the middle but then it fizzled out as I was getting frustrated with Dimples stubbornness.
This book was great it’s a perfect summer/beach read, I loved the characters, the feels that I got from Menon’s writing and the fulfillment of learning something new. I hope this isn’t the last we see from her as she can only continue to get better.
I rated this 4 out of 5 stars
Finally got round to reviewing my most recent read. Graceling is the first book in the Graceling Realm Trilogy, it is also my first experience of Kirstin Cashore. I must say that when I started this book I definitely felt like the author had very little imagination, at least in regards to the naming of the Kingdoms (Nander, Estill, Sunder, Wester and Middluns). I literally rolled my eyes at this poor attempt to rename north, south, east, etc. Personally I found it hard to take seriously and nearly made me put the book down. Luckily this is one of the only things that bothered me. The rest of the book, the concept, characters and plot were all really good and I easily found myself routing for the characters.
This is a fantasy world were Gracelings are known by their differently coloured eyes. Their Graces can show themselves in any number of ways some could be graced with cooking skills, numeracy whilst others have graces for fighting. Enter the main character Katsa, who is being used by her Uncle Randa the King of the Middluns. All Gracelings are owned by their kings and are used by them unless their graces are not that important or useful. Katsa is unfortunate that her Grace is exceptional. She is almost unbeatable in a fight, is skilled at archery and sword fighting and can kill a man before he realises what is happening. But Katsa is unwilling to be just a hired hand, used to deal out Randa’s often unfair idea of justice. So she has formed a secret council, a network of people who aim to help those who cannot help themselves and deal out a better form of justice where they can. All under the noses of the kings from all the kingdoms. It is on one of these very missions that Katsa rescues a Lienid, Prince Tealiff, and runs into another Graceling with exceptional skills. After knocking him out, and leaving him at the castle she has rescued Prince Tealiff from Katsa is surprised when he turns up at her home and turns out to be Prince Tealiffs grandson, known to everyone as Po. After the Po tree of lienid whose leaves grown silver and gold to match Prince Po’s eyes. Together to two embark on a mission which changes who Katsa believes she can be.
I completely loved the character of Po. Personally, I wish the author didn’t have so much against marriage, because I just feel like their love story was lacking something. Some sort of final closure, especially since I have found out these characters are not even to be used in the other books. I loved the way Po was able to bring out the best in Katsa and but I would have liked to have seen more of Po developing from Katsa influence. Because she most definitely had an influence on him. This is a very fine YA fantasy with the only negative being some odd and awkward naming of places and characters was a very enjoyable read. The views of the author on marriage and women’s independence does come through pretty strongly, with no wavering of the opinion. This for me was too strong for the story, I am not saying it needed to turn into an all mighty lovey dovey fest, but, there may have been some value in creating a symbiotic relationship were they are both equal in the relationship and committed without getting married. It sort of felt, if not said, that one day she would just pack up and move on and he needed to be ready to except that. Taken at face value I did enjoy this book just felt some of the themes came on a little strong for my liking.
This is a fantasy world were Gracelings are known by their differently coloured eyes. Their Graces can show themselves in any number of ways some could be graced with cooking skills, numeracy whilst others have graces for fighting. Enter the main character Katsa, who is being used by her Uncle Randa the King of the Middluns. All Gracelings are owned by their kings and are used by them unless their graces are not that important or useful. Katsa is unfortunate that her Grace is exceptional. She is almost unbeatable in a fight, is skilled at archery and sword fighting and can kill a man before he realises what is happening. But Katsa is unwilling to be just a hired hand, used to deal out Randa’s often unfair idea of justice. So she has formed a secret council, a network of people who aim to help those who cannot help themselves and deal out a better form of justice where they can. All under the noses of the kings from all the kingdoms. It is on one of these very missions that Katsa rescues a Lienid, Prince Tealiff, and runs into another Graceling with exceptional skills. After knocking him out, and leaving him at the castle she has rescued Prince Tealiff from Katsa is surprised when he turns up at her home and turns out to be Prince Tealiffs grandson, known to everyone as Po. After the Po tree of lienid whose leaves grown silver and gold to match Prince Po’s eyes. Together to two embark on a mission which changes who Katsa believes she can be.
I completely loved the character of Po. Personally, I wish the author didn’t have so much against marriage, because I just feel like their love story was lacking something. Some sort of final closure, especially since I have found out these characters are not even to be used in the other books. I loved the way Po was able to bring out the best in Katsa and but I would have liked to have seen more of Po developing from Katsa influence. Because she most definitely had an influence on him. This is a very fine YA fantasy with the only negative being some odd and awkward naming of places and characters was a very enjoyable read. The views of the author on marriage and women’s independence does come through pretty strongly, with no wavering of the opinion. This for me was too strong for the story, I am not saying it needed to turn into an all mighty lovey dovey fest, but, there may have been some value in creating a symbiotic relationship were they are both equal in the relationship and committed without getting married. It sort of felt, if not said, that one day she would just pack up and move on and he needed to be ready to except that. Taken at face value I did enjoy this book just felt some of the themes came on a little strong for my liking.
Deborah (162 KP) rated The White Queen (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #2) in Books
Dec 19, 2018
Not quite sure why I decided to read this as the only other book I've read by Gregory was The Other Boleyn Girl, which I thought was pretty dreadful. I suppose I find it difficult to keep away from anything connected with The Wars of the Roses; I certainly found that I'd read almost every book listed in the bibliography and could have recommended a few more that might have been beneficial for the author to have perused.....
While not the worst book I've ever read I know I won't be reading this again and as to The Red Queen - well, I'd probably want to strangle Margaret Beaufort before the first chapter was out, so let's leave it at that shall we.
I do read a lot of historical novels and in general I find that it is much harder for a novel to work well when it is written in the first person, as this is. With a single viewpoint you are restricting yourself and that shows here at several points where the author has to break out of the Elizabeth Woodville narrative to give us a chunk of what is going on elsewhere. I've never found EW a particularly sympathetic historical character and I'm not sure she comes across that well here, either. Certainly in the latter half of the book it's difficult to see what motivation Gregory is ascribing to her.
The family of EW's mother did believe themselves descended from a water goddess and it was not unusual for powerful women to be accused of witchcraft, to discredit either them or their husbands (see Eleanor Cobham). I daresay that mixing of love potions and use of figures and all that sort of thing would have gone on, but the whistling up of storms was going just a bit too far for me. I also thought that the Foreshadowing element of the story was a bit overdone - although that may be because I know too much about the period!
There were also a number of glaring errors and oddities which should have been picked up somewhere down the line. Looks like the favourite one is the anachronistic use of the word 'numpty'! In other places George of Clarence is described as a duke one moment and his wife, Isabel as a countess the next (she would have had that as a subsidiary title, but she was the duchess of Clarence!), an execution was said to have taken place by the axe when the person in question is known to have been hanged, the Parhelion (three suns)are said to have been at Towton when it was in fact at Mortimer's Cross (Towton took place in a snowstorm - I doubt they could see one sun, let alone three!) and Gregory needed to study her history of Barnet a bit more closely as she had her battle lines completely mixed up!
Obviously there are some big gaps in our knowledge, which is grist to the fiction writers mill! I thought her Princes in the Tower solution was interesting and glad to see that she acknowledged that Richard III would have had little to gain from their deaths at this point. Not sure if Lambert Simnel is 'explained' in one of the other books in this series, as EW's part is certainly interesting. Also interesting that although the name of Eleanor Butler is mentioned early on and the anullment of the marriage on grounds of Edward's previous marriage come into play later, the two are never linked by the author and she chooses to offer no comment on this piece of the puzzle.
While not the worst book I've ever read I know I won't be reading this again and as to The Red Queen - well, I'd probably want to strangle Margaret Beaufort before the first chapter was out, so let's leave it at that shall we.
I do read a lot of historical novels and in general I find that it is much harder for a novel to work well when it is written in the first person, as this is. With a single viewpoint you are restricting yourself and that shows here at several points where the author has to break out of the Elizabeth Woodville narrative to give us a chunk of what is going on elsewhere. I've never found EW a particularly sympathetic historical character and I'm not sure she comes across that well here, either. Certainly in the latter half of the book it's difficult to see what motivation Gregory is ascribing to her.
The family of EW's mother did believe themselves descended from a water goddess and it was not unusual for powerful women to be accused of witchcraft, to discredit either them or their husbands (see Eleanor Cobham). I daresay that mixing of love potions and use of figures and all that sort of thing would have gone on, but the whistling up of storms was going just a bit too far for me. I also thought that the Foreshadowing element of the story was a bit overdone - although that may be because I know too much about the period!
There were also a number of glaring errors and oddities which should have been picked up somewhere down the line. Looks like the favourite one is the anachronistic use of the word 'numpty'! In other places George of Clarence is described as a duke one moment and his wife, Isabel as a countess the next (she would have had that as a subsidiary title, but she was the duchess of Clarence!), an execution was said to have taken place by the axe when the person in question is known to have been hanged, the Parhelion (three suns)are said to have been at Towton when it was in fact at Mortimer's Cross (Towton took place in a snowstorm - I doubt they could see one sun, let alone three!) and Gregory needed to study her history of Barnet a bit more closely as she had her battle lines completely mixed up!
Obviously there are some big gaps in our knowledge, which is grist to the fiction writers mill! I thought her Princes in the Tower solution was interesting and glad to see that she acknowledged that Richard III would have had little to gain from their deaths at this point. Not sure if Lambert Simnel is 'explained' in one of the other books in this series, as EW's part is certainly interesting. Also interesting that although the name of Eleanor Butler is mentioned early on and the anullment of the marriage on grounds of Edward's previous marriage come into play later, the two are never linked by the author and she chooses to offer no comment on this piece of the puzzle.