Novelas Romanticas Gratis

  To order from Amazon, click here  It feels like I've been missing a lot of historical fiction in the past year, when it used to make up a large portion of my monthly reading.  Fiona Davis' The Magnolia Palace got me off to a good start in 2022. I always enjoy her novels, set in New York City and centered around famous New York City landmarks. It's a great combination of fiction and history; you can tell Fiona Davis does her research.  This novel takes us to 1919 New York City--but also 1966 New York City. What links the two periods together? Henry Clay Frick and his family, and art.  The 1919 story centers around Lillian Carter, who is an artist's model that is known as "Angelique". Her face and body are on numerous statues, monuments, and sculptures all around New York City. Lillian's mother has just died, and without her guidance, she's a bit lost--and broke.  Lillian quickly finds herself in trouble with the police and, after spending the nig...

  You know how you wait and wait for something, then it finally arrives, and instead of jumping on it and being happy it's finally here, you dink around and put it off for a bit? That's exactly what I did with this novel, the sequel to 2019's The Book Charmer (you can read my review here ).   I just can't get enough of novels that involve magic. Add in a small town and a family of sisters, and that's pretty much an irresistible trio for me.  Even though I couldn't wait to read this, I started it earlier this month and didn't get far before I got distracted--and thought oh no! I'm not going to enjoy this. That lead me to setting it aside and reading a few other books. This past week I picked it up again and decided I was going to dive in and finish it before I read anything else. So I did, and it didn't take long before I got over my stuck-ness and bam! I was back in Dove Pond with the Dove sisters and right in the thick of things.  This, the second i...

Cozy mysteries are my go-to books when I need something in between heavy books or when I just need something that easily grabs my attention and takes me away for a bit. This series has quickly become a favorite of mine after only two books.  Death of a Wandering Wolf is the second in this series by Julia Buckley. I'm a bit bummed that now I'll have to wait for awhile before I can read the third. I may check out a few of her previous series while I wait.  The Hungarian Tea Shop Mysteries center around Hana, her mother and grandmother. They own and operate a tea shop in the suburbs of Chicago. They are Hungarian, and many of the folks that live in the community are also either first or second generation Americans. Their tea shop is pretty popular, and  a big part of their community. There's also the interesting angle of Hana's grandmother: she reads tea leaves with eerie accuracy. And that little gift of magic has also been passed down to Hana-which she's quickly beco...

I always enjoy a good historical novel in the summertime, and this paperback arrived on my doorstep last month from HarperCollins, as if by magic. Actually the U.S. Post Office, but it felt like magic. If I had come across this at a bookstore, or saw it in a magazine, i would have immediately picked it up or read reviews online--the cover grabbed me pretty quickly. Give me covers with gardens, flowers, food, wine...well, I'm a sucker for them.  The cover drew me in, but the story itself kept me in that "Peacock Summer". Two women-Lillian and Maggie-grandmother and granddaughter tell two stories that are 50 years apart, but ultimately twist together. Lillian is frail and ill, living in the slowly crumbling former glorious estate named Cloudesley, in the English countryside. Maggie, having left Cloudesley the year before after an unhappy relationship, is forced to return to take care of Lillian. When she arrives, she realizes Cloudesley is in danger of falling apart. O...

I'm diving back into reading again with some great historical novels this month. In a previous post, I talked about discovering Nicola Cornick's historical fiction, and checked out all three of her latest paperback novels from the library. The Woman in the Lake is her newest, just published this year.  At first, I was a little confused as I was reading, trying to get all my ducks in a row. It took about 40 pages before I felt on solid ground with this plot. One of my favorite plot devises is dual timelines and this one bounces from 1765 to 2014 and involves spousal abuse, love affairs, murder, and smuggling. And the one thing that links both timelines is a golden gown that has a dark power over anyone who possesses it.  1765: Lady Isabella Gerard has just been viciously assaulted by her husband after refusing to wear his latest gift: a golden gown he had made special for her. Their marriage is downright toxic; he is always parading mistresses and spending m...

I've read plenty of novels set in exotic locations, characters who live the lush life and think nothing of it.  Anita Hughes novels are all about that, and I've read three of her novels. I find myself rolling my eyes and being annoyed at the characters, the writing, and pretty much the whole story. Every. Single. Time.  I picked White Sand, Blue Sea because I thought I'd give her another chance, and it looked like a fun read. I have a book group meeting in June that has the theme of "reading something that we consider a guilty pleasure".  A fun, frolicky, summer novel was perfect, and I knew Anita Hughes would write about a lifestyle that is completely foreign to me.  Fun stuff.  Ugh. This took me way longer than it should have, and mostly because I was annoyed a lot of the time.  A quick recap:  Olivia Miller is almost 25; she's beautiful, in love, and her boyfriend will be proposing to her on her birthday.  She's in St. Bart's, staying...

I've had a few disappointing reads lately, but thankfully Louise Penny put a stop to that.  My library has started a new book group, called Another Round Book Group, which meets in a local lovely bar once a month, and we pick books to read based on a monthly theme.  For our first inaugural "read" we had to pick a debut fiction book from an author.  Aha!  I thought. This is my chance to read one of the many new books I've got at home.   Instead, I jumped at the chance to read Still Life.  I did a little investigating and found that Still Life is Louise Penny's first book. Yahoo!  I've had countless people tell me to read this series, and for years I've nodded, said yes, and then just not read it. Now I had a legitimate reason to start the series. I am so glad I did.  Also known as the Inspector Gamache series, this novel takes place in the small village of Three Pines, located over the border of the U.S. near Montreal. I have to tell...

This memoir had been on my TBR list for quite some time, but I had to be patient and wait my turn at the library.  I had watched Amy's cooking show, Heartland Table  on the Food Network years ago, and was intrigued by her kitchen. It looked small, rustic, and not fancy at all.  No high end, shiny, expensive kitchen gadgets; no gleaming countertops. I liked the way she talked about food, and how she used her garden and what she could find at her local grocery store to make amazing meals.  Her Midwest nature appealed to this Midwest woman.   So with that in mind, I started to read her memoir.  It took me many days (okay, weeks) to get through this memoir, and I'm puzzled as to why.  Amy writes beautifully; if she hadn't made it as a cook, she would find her niche in writing.  Her descriptions of food make your mouth water; her fondness for the food of her Minnesota youth spars with her awakened palate for fine food.   Amy's story begins in Minn...

I always start out a new year with a whole bunch of reading rules in my head.  I look at what I read the year before, see the patterns, and decide I have to pay attention to the genres that didn't get much reading from me.  Chick lit is still one of my favorite genres, but it certainly has gone through a bit of a change since I read Jemima J by Jane Green years ago. I still love my Jenny Colgan, my Jane Green, my Katie Fforde; my fun and frothy novels.  But  I have to say, there's a new chick lit in town, and it's the woman/dysfunctional marriage/drama/maybe someone will die/oh there's a twist   sub-genre .  I think it's still chick lit, but a much darker side.  These novels are definitely written with a female audience in mind: Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, The Woman in Cabin Ten ...you get the picture.  My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry fits into that category, but it is different from the other novels I've mentioned above.  It sounded intr...