She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb (Book Beginnings & Friday56)

 

Title: She Walks These Hills

Author: Sharyn McCrumb

Publication: 1994

Format: paperback

Publisher's Weekly Description

(because Amazon's was pathetic)

In 1779, Katie Wyler, 18, was captured by the Shawnee in North Carolina. The story of her escape and arduous journey home through hundreds of miles of Appalachian wilderness is the topic of ethno-historian Jeremy Cobb's thesis-and the thread which runs through the third of McCrumb's ballad novels (after The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter). As Cobb begins to retrace Katie's return journey, 63-year-old convicted murderer Hiram (Harm) Sorley escapes from a nearby prison. Suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome, he has no recent memory: old Harm is permanently stuck in the past. Hamelin, Tenn., police dispatcher Martha Ayers uses the opportunity to convince the sheriff to assign her as a deputy. One of her first duties is to calm a young mother who, angry at her inattentive husband, is threatening her baby with a butcher knife. Ayers and the sheriff must also warn Harm's ex-wife Rita that he has escaped. Acting as a kind of narrative conscience is a local deejay, a "carpetbagger from Connecticut,'' who sees Harm as a folk hero from another era. Deftly building suspense, McCrumb weaves these colorful elements into her satisfying conclusion as she continues to reward her readers' high expectations. 

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

If you're looking for a simple, fast, easy read ... stay away from Sharyn McCrumb's ballad novels. They are complex. They should be savored. They might even make you think. Even though I have read this multiple times in the past 28 years since its release, it still takes my breath away.

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As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader

Games in a Ballroom by Jentry Flint (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

 

Title: Games in a Ballroom

Author: Jentry Flint

Publication: 3 May 2022

Format: Kindle eARC via NetGalley & Shadow Mountain

Amazon Description

She was forbidden to love him. He only wanted her heart. Can a childhood game bring them together?

London, 1815

Olivia Wilde has resigned herself to never finding a love match. Her father has insisted she marry a man with a title, but the men her father deems acceptable are either boring or are only interested in increasing their own diminishing coffers. With her future looking dismal, Olivia vows to enjoy the last few months of freedom with her childhood friends, including Emerson Latham. His devilish smile and flirtatious teasing stirs up feelings she knows she cannot entertain.

Emerson is struggling to rise to his responsibilities after his father's death. Though he is still learning his place, one thing he knows for certain is that he wants Olivia Wilde to be his wife. Emerson had long ago fallen in love with her quick wit, beauty, and passionate heart. Yet, without a title, he will never be permitted to court Olivia openly. But he has a plan that may give him a chance to court her in secret.

As the Season kicks off, Emerson proposes a playful game of tag. Olivia's friends are delighted by the idea, though Olivia is wary. After all, the game must be played in secret as they tag each other at dinners and balls. As the romance builds between Olivia and Emerson, so does the risk of being discovered. Not only are their reputations at stake, so is their safety if they are caught by Olivia's strict father.

Can their love find a happily ever after before the game ends?

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

There are plenty of times when I want a steamy romance. The bodice ripper. The one that I shouldn't read in public because things might happen that probably shouldn't in public. A lot of the time, though, I actually prefer a slow burn. After all, it took 25+ years to get my first kiss from the one I fell for my freshman year of high school. 

This was such a fun read and I sincerely hope that it ends up being the first of a series because I so desperately need to see more of the Reckless Redhead and Brooding Baron and Arabella. I know. If you haven't read the book you don't know who they are and the book isn't even out until May. Trust me, though. Those are stories that need to be told. And read. And probably re-read. And, of course, I would very much love to see the HEA from the winners of the game. I think I deducted a star just because of the angst that I feel not knowing that I'll have more to look forward to. 

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As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader

Notorious by Mae Thorn (Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday)

 

Title: Notorious

Author: Mae Thorn

Publication: 11 March 2022

Format: Kindle eARC via NetGalley & Dragonblade Publishing

Amazon Description

Revenge is best served heartbroken, but love bleeds justice.

Welcome to book 1 in the exciting new series Poisonous Passions by bestselling author Mae Thorn!

During the Revolutionary War in New York City, Delia Wolcott blames the British for her brother’s death. In retaliation, she becomes the traitorous poisoner, Foxglove, rescuing rebels from His Majesty’s grasp. She will stop at nothing to find justice for those abandoned by General Washington. She spies on officers to gain information about her brother’s murder and leaves no witnesses.

British captain Lord Carrington is sent to New York to hang Foxglove for treason, but little does he know the woman he has fallen for is the murderer he seeks.

He risks treason himself and his family’s future if he fails in his duty.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

I love it when a book completely takes me by surprise with just how very much I enjoy it. I expect to enjoy what I read ... otherwise why would I choose to read them, right? But there are times, like now, when I just kind of expect to enjoy the distraction and end up gobmacked. I get so wrapped up in the story and the characters and when the book ends I start to hyperventilate a bit. 

Moreso when it is the first book in the series and has only just been released and there is, as of yet, no more.

I need more Poisonous Passions. I need Mae Thorn to write and write and write and .... you know, write.

It looks like there will be three books in the series. I need them now. 

And then I need more. 

I read a lot of Regency and Victorian and sooooooo much set across the pond. But this book. Oooooh this book.

It's an American Revolutionary War story ... set in my dear New York. 

New York City, of course. Not the center of the dang state like I am, but that's to be expected. Syracuse wasn't Syracuse until 42 years after this story took place. Even then, it wasn't much of anything at all until the Erie Canal. Hmmm ... I would be quite enthralled with some canal romance going on in a book or several at some point ... but now, back to Notorious. 

We have the heroine ... who is also kind of the villain ... but isn't ...

And the hero ... who hates the villain ... but is enthralled with the heroine ...

There are friends and family members and other villains and other heroes and heroines and secrets and lies and and humor and intrigue and hopes and dreams and just the right bit of "just do it already" romance. It pretty much has everything.

Except for pirates.

Or vikings.

Or kilted Highlanders.

Although ... maybe they were in the pages of the book our heroine was reading in Chapter Nineteen. I'll just believe that to be the case.

 

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"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is from the first paragraph or two of a book being read now (or in the future) and is hosted by Socrates' Book Reviews. 

"Teaser Tuesday" at The Purple Booker asks for a random line or two from anywhere in the book currently being read.

I'll Sleep When I've Read... The Mayfair Bookshop by Eliza Knight

Title: The Mayfair Bookshop

Author: Eliza Knight

Publication: 12 April 2022

Format: Kindle eArc via NetGalley & William Morrow

Amazon Description

1938: She was one of the six sparkling Mitford sisters, known for her stinging quips, stylish dress, and bright green eyes. But Nancy Mitford’s seemingly dazzling life was really one of turmoil: with a perpetually unfaithful and broke husband, two Nazi sympathizer sisters, and her hopes of motherhood dashed forever. With war imminent, Nancy finds respite by taking a job at the Heywood Hill Bookshop in Mayfair, hoping to make ends meet, and discovers a new life.

Present Day: When book curator Lucy St. Clair lands a gig working at Heywood Hill she can’t get on the plane fast enough. Not only can she start the healing process from the loss of her mother, it’s a dream come true to set foot in the legendary store. Doubly exciting: she brings with her a first edition of Nancy’s work, one with a somewhat mysterious inscription from the author. Soon, she discovers her life and Nancy’s are intertwined, and it all comes back to the little London bookshop—a place that changes the lives of two women from different eras in the most surprising ways. 

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

Amazon claims that the print edition of this gem of a book is going to clock in at 432 pages. I finished it in just over a day because once I started I did not want to put it down for anything. I have been fascinated with the Bright Young Things and, in particular, the dynamics of the Mitford sisters for years and have several of Nancy's books sitting on my e-Cloud collecting e-Dust. They probably won't be just sitting there for much longer. Eliza Knight did such an amazing job of pulling me in to Nancy's life that I am now itching to read the books that her character talked about writing. 

The current-day storyline? Eh. It was nice and sweet and helped add a little sense of mystery to the tale, but each time a Lucy chapter came up I couldn't help but hope that it would be a short one so I could get back to Nancy and whatever she was dealing with .... and she dealt with quite a lot. That being said, I still actually wouldn't mind this becoming the first of a series of some sort with Lucy and her Mayfair friends and colleagues delving into other literature-based mysteries. I wouldn't mind that at all.

If you want to share whatever has kept you up past your bedtime because you just needed one more chapter ... or the entire book ... please comment! My TBR pile is already toppling, but I can always add more.

 

Silence in the Library by Katharine Schellman

Title: Silence in the Library

Author: Katharine Schellman

Publication: 13 July 2021

Format: Kindle ebook

Amazon Description

Regency widow Lily Adler didn't expect to find a corpse when visiting a family friend. Now it's up to her to discover the killer in the charming second installment in the Lily Adler mysteries.

Regency widow Lily Adler has finally settled into her new London life when her semi-estranged father arrives unexpectedly, intending to stay with her while he recovers from an illness. Hounded by his disapproval, Lily is drawn into spending time with Lady Wyatt, the new wife of an old family friend. Lily barely knows Lady Wyatt. But she and her husband, Sir Charles, seem as happy as any newly married couple until the morning Lily arrives to find the house in an uproar and Sir Charles dead.

All signs indicate that he tripped and struck his head late at night. But when Bow Street constable Simon Page is called to the scene, he suspects foul play. And it isn't long before Lily stumbles on evidence that Sir Charles was, indeed, murdered.

Mr. Page was there when Lily caught her first murderer, and he trusts her insight into the world of London's upper class. With the help of Captain Jack Hartley, they piece together the reasons that Sir Charles's family might have wanted him dead. But anyone who might have profited from the old man's death seems to have an alibi... until Lily receives a mysterious summons to speak with one of the Wyatts' maids, only to find the young woman dead when she arrives.

Mr. Page believes the surviving family members are hiding the key to the death of both Sir Charles and the maid. To uncover the truth, Lily must convince the father who doesn't trust or respect her to help catch his friend's killer before anyone else in the Wyatt household dies.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

I honestly have no idea why some book descriptions have to be soooooooo long. It really takes away from any sort of need to summarize or recap or any of that stuff to tell you about the book in question. Sometimes it's just plain annoying. Other times it's more of an "ooooh ... this means I can just jump right into the whole Read This Book part of the ramble!"

Whoever writes the descriptions for Katharine Schellman? Please do keep being wordy. I have a feeling that I will always want to jump right to read this book.

In case you missed it, I read and adored the first Lily Adler mystery, The Body in the Garden, back in January. Here we see Lily again, as well as her household staff, her husband's best friend Jack, the young Jack-wannabe Jem, and Lily's dear friend Ofelia ... and, much to my great delight, Bow Street constable Simon Page. I do so adore Simon. Jack is nice and rugged and all, plus he has that whole Freddy connection with Lily ... but I'm pulling for Simon ... or a nice, happy, single widowhood for dear Lily. As long as Simon is happy with someone. I really don't care if it's Lily. [I'm choosing to ignore, for now, the other single men Lily has been introduced to now that she is officially out of her mourning period. I kind of hope that she does, as well.]

Schellman has penned another charming mystery full of red herrings and humor and intrigue. I had not figured out whodunnit .... and whodunnit again ... and I love when that happens. It's a nice surprise to be surprised. I am quite glad that I stumbled upon this series when I saw the upcoming third listed on NetGalley. Hopefully I will also see a fourth.

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As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader