Tomorrow is the release of Natalie Jenner's fourth novel, Austen at Sea. While this book continues her theme of Austeneque historical fiction, it goes back farther in time, to 1865, and features people who knew Jane Austen in her lifetime. It follows two sisters who begin corresponding with Sir Francis Austen, brother of the famous... Continue Reading →
The Ghost Woods
Yesterday the U.S. finally got to see the release of C. J. Cooke's novel, The Ghost Woods. It originally came out in 2022, the final in a trio of books she wrote surrounding themes of motherhood (the other two being The Nesting and The Lighthouse Witches). This Gothic novel follows two timelines, Mabel in 1959... Continue Reading →
First Impressions: Hazardous to a Duke’s Heart
Hazardous to a Duke's Heart by Sabrina Jeffries has been on my radar for sometime, and I greatly enjoyed this brief preview of the prologue and first two chapters. It begins in April 1814 when Jon, a détenu trapped in France for the past decade, is finally freed and able to return home to England.... Continue Reading →
Early Review: Austen at Sea
We're only three weeks away from the release of Natalie Jenner's fourth novel, Austen at Sea. While this book continues her theme of Austeneque historical fiction, this one goes back farther in time, to 1865, and features people who knew Jane Austen in her lifetime. It follows two sisters who begin corresponding with Sir Francis... Continue Reading →
The Sirens
Two years after releasing her first novel, Emilia Hart is back with her second book, The Sirens. Set mainly in Australia in alternating timelines between 1800, 1999, and 2019, it follows pairs of sisters grappling with what makes them different and the otherworldly rumors surrounding their communities. Why I Chose This Book: Though I haven't... Continue Reading →
Early Review: The Man Made of Smoke
Alex North has become one of my favorite authors in the past few years, so I was excited to read his forthcoming book, The Man Made of Smoke. It's due out in May, but I was lucky to receive a physical arc this month. The Man Made of Smoke has many of the themes that... Continue Reading →
I Would Die for You
Tomorrow is the release day Sandie Jones's new thriller, I Would Die for You. Bouncing between 1986 and 2011, it follows two sisters and their involvement with a wildly popular band... and the repercussions haunting one of them 25 years later. Why I Chose This Book: I first heard about this book in the Minotaur... Continue Reading →
A Gamble at Sunset
In just a few days, Vanessa Riley will release her second Betting Against the Duke book... but I still had to read the first! A Gamble at Sunset came out last year, and at long last I've made time to read it. Kicking off the series, this one focuses on a fake engagement scheme between... Continue Reading →
The Paris Express
Emma Donoghue has a brand new book out today: The Paris Express, set in 1895 and inspired by a shocking train crash at the Montparnasse station. With a wide cast of characters drawn from real historical figures, this book is at once a snapshot of people on one seemingly normal day of life, and a... Continue Reading →
A Gentleman’s Gentleman
Happy book birthday to TJ Alexander's A Gentleman's Gentleman! This has been one of my most anticipated books this year, and it absolutely lived up to my expectations. Set in Regency England, Lord Christopher Eden has been living a quiet, solitary life on his estate, but before his upcoming birthday, he's required to marry in... Continue Reading →
Scot and Bothered
Happy book birthday to Scot and Bothered by Alexandra Kiley! This is the followup to Kilt Trip, this time following older brother Jack Sutherland and his second chance with Brooke Sinclair. They connected back in college, but a friendship-turned-romance ended badly. So badly that Brooke's dreams of being an author have crumbled. Now she's a... Continue Reading →
The Mysteries of Pendowar Hall
Last weekend, Syrie James released her new Gothic novel, The Mysteries of Pendowar Hall. This is the first in her series, The Audacious Sisterhood of Smoke & Fire. Blending suspense with a love story, this novel follows Diana Taylor as she begins working as governess for fifteen-year-old Emma... and investigates the circumstances around Emma's father's... Continue Reading →
Something in the Walls
There's something about folkloric horror and thrillers that always captures my immediate interest. Such was the case when I first heart about Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce. Set in a small English town in 1989, it follows a recently graduated child psychologist, Mina, and her first patient, a teen girl named Alice who... Continue Reading →
Early Review: Gabriela and His Grace
For the past couple of years, I have been loving Liana de La Rosa's Luna Sisters series. Following Ana María and The Fox in 2023 and Isabel and The Rogue in 2024, the trilogy now comes to an end with the fiery youngest sister in Gabriela and His Grace. I have been impatiently waiting to... Continue Reading →
Upon a Starlit Tide
My most anticipated book this week was Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods. If the title and cover aren't already enough to entice you, here's more: Unfolding like a fairytale, this novel is set in 1750s France, where Luce, adopted as an orphan, has always felt loved but like something is missing. She longs... Continue Reading →
Early Review: Eliza and the Duke
To celebrate Valentine's Day this year, I indulged in reading the forthcoming novel by one of my favorite authors, Harper St. George. Following last year's The Stranger I Wed, this June the Doves of New York series continues with the youngest Dove sister in Eliza and the Duke. Contrary to the title, the "duke" here... Continue Reading →
A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke
All too soon, Adriana Herrera's Las Leonas trilogy has come to its spectacular end. Following A Caribbean Heiress in Paris and An Island Princess Starts a Scandal, now the final book is here: A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, in which Doctora Aurora Montalban Wright gets her whirlwind romance with Apollo César Sinclair Robles, now... Continue Reading →
Victorian Psycho
One week ago, Virginia Feito released her horror novella, Victorian Psycho. The title actually works as a succinct but sufficient summary: In Victorian-era England, a psychotic governess, Winifred, is bent on revenge and murder, and she narrates her evils over the course of three months leading up to Christmas. A word of warning: She does... Continue Reading →
An Island Princess Starts a Scandal
Two years ago, Adriana Herrera putout her second Las Leonas novel, An Island Princess Starts a Scandal. Manuela is going to be married in a few months to a man she can't love, but before the wedding, she wants to spend her time in Paris with women of a similar inclination. She enlists Cora, a... Continue Reading →
Earl Crush
Following Ne'er Duke Well last summer, Alexandra Vasti is back with the second book in her Belvoir's Library trilogy, Earl Crush. Wallflower and heiress Lydia Hope-Wallace has been secretly writing radical political pamphlets for years, and has been corresponding with a like-minded Scottish earl. She's now shown up at his estate in Scotland to propose... Continue Reading →
An Age of Winters
Two months ago, Gemma Liviero's new novel An Age of Winters was released. It had been on my radar for some months, and I was excited to get it as an Amazon First Reads selection. I also was lucky to get the audiobook version from NetGalley, and with winter now upon us here in the... Continue Reading →
The Liberty Scarf
After joining forces on their 2023 novel, The Castle Keepers, authors Aimie K. Runyan, J'nell Ciesielski, Rachel McMillan are back with another collaborative book, The Liberty Scarf. Mainly set during the final year of World War I, we follow three different women working within the war, finding love along the way, and united by a... Continue Reading →
Christmas Is All Around
I loved Martha Waters's entire Regency Vows series, and though I knew I'd read anything she put out, I was surprised when she announced her next book: a contemporary holiday romance called Christmas Is All Around. It's such a different style of novel, starting with it not being set 200 years in the past. And... Continue Reading →
The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right
After reading three of Suzanne Allain's books, I'm happy to say that her newest release is my favorite so far. The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right is out today, and it's the perfect balance of whimsical and scintillating. Since being orphaned at only three years old, Arabella Grant has lived with her sweet cousin Isabelle... Continue Reading →

