Novelas Romanticas Gratis

  To purchase from Amazon, click here Hester Fox returns with a novel that combines history, museum work, magic, and tragedy. It's an interesting combination that all comes together and left me trying to decide if I sympathized with charming and mysterious Margaret Harlowe.  There are two stories, with chapters either labeled Margaret or Augusta, so it is not difficult to switch between the two characters or time periods. Margaret is the only daughter of the wealthy Harlowe family in Tynemouth, Massachusetts in 1876. She's beautiful and restless. She also possesses magical abilities and on the side helps women in town who seek her assistance late at night in the woods. She's got her eye on the handsome Jack Pryce, a shopkeeper's son who can't take his eyes off Margaret. Is it love or lust between the two?  Present day in Tynemouth, Augusta gets her dream job as curator for the Harlowe House Museum. She's got an eating disorder, is in a failed relationship, and f...

  First off, a big thanks to HarperCollins and Avon for a copy of this book. I entered a giveaway and won! This was a fast read and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially just a few days before Halloween.  Vivienne Jones lives in the small Georgia town of Graves Glen with her Aunt Elaine and cousin Gwyn. They are all witches. Elaine and Gwyn even own and operate a "witchy" store that keeps them busy with tourists. They are all good witches, of course, and the most Vivienne has done with her magical ability is reheat her tea and set a spell on her student's papers to alert her to any that are plagiarized. She's a professor of history at Penhallow College, a unique place where magic is taught as well as normal college subjects.  It's the anniversary of the founding of Graves Glen, and Rhys Penhallow of Wales has been ordered by his father to return to Graves Glen to recharge the ley lines that keep the magic flowing peacefully around town. It's also the place wh...

  The Montoya family is an interesting group of people; their matriarch Orquidea Divina is especially interesting and different. She's quite magical, too. Appearing in Four Winds decades before as a very young woman, she created an oasis out of nothing, leaving the townspeople to whisper about her and send the sheriff out on occasion to try to get her to leave.  However, Orquidea stayed. She never left her little oasis, where food was always plentiful, the weather was beautiful, and there was a definite other-worldliness about it.  Now Orquidea is calling her children and grandchildren back to Four Winds because she is dying and it's time to leave each of them an inheritance. When her family arrives, they are shocked to see Orquidea is not only dying, but is slowly transforming into a tree. Questions abound! Now it's seven years later, and two of her grandchildren and one great-grandchild have gifts that are definitely odd: Rey, Marimar, and Rhian...

I decided to review two books in one post this week. I was cruising along, reading at a good clip and somehow over the weekend hit a snag. However, some time at home (and I'll confess, a few late nights) had me finishing two books on my September list.  First is Aria's Traveling Book Shop by Rebecca Raisin. This is a sequel to Rosie's Traveling Tea Shop (read my review here ), but definitely isn't really necessary to read it before this one.  We find Aria and Rosie getting ready to take their campers to France so travel the fete and festival circuit. Aria's camper is chock full of books to sell, while Rosie (a former chef), creates delicious British treats to sell, along with specialty teas that often compliment Aria's books.  Aria is a young widower, and has firmly shut her heart to any possibility of ever falling in love again. She had her true love, and no one can match it. However, there is Jonathan; a quiet, handsome, and bookish ...

  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...

  Buy Here:  https://amzn.to/3m1SPH3 I knew I'd love this book when it first was out in hardcover last year (2020) and it was getting so many great reviews. It took me a year but I finally bought it in paperback and vowed I would read it this month. This is a sweet, special story.  Linus Baker is living a life as dull and grey as the weather in London. He is in his early forties and every day he works at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He travels to orphanages and checks to make sure the magical children at each location are being properly cared for--and he takes his job very seriously. He's been doing the same job for seventeen years. His routine is the same every day: get up, go to work, come home and feed his cat, eat a sad salad, and listen to records. No friends, nothing. He's fully aware his life is not the best, but he's just too tired to do anything about it.  He gets a special assignment from the Extremely Upper Management--a case that i...

  This novel has my vote for the most gorgeous cover of 2021. I can't stop staring at it!  The Lost Apothecary    was one of the books I've most eagerly awaited this year, and it didn't disappoint. It moves back and forth between 1791 and present day London, and I found both settings equally interesting.  Caroline Parcewell has arrived in London alone-on what was supposed to be a tenth wedding anniversary trip with her husband James. Instead, she fled Ohio after finding out James was having an affair. Heartbroken and disillusioned, Caroline decides to come to London herself, to have time to think. Her first day there, she takes a last minute mud-larking trip to the Thames River, and finds a small glass bottle with an intriguing bear mark on it.  Mud larking, by the way, is when people actually walk along the banks of the River Thames and search the mud for artifacts the river has left ashore. People have been doing this for centuries (some made their livin...

  So far in December I've read a few books that have nothing to do with this holiday season. I found this book when I was looking at new paperbacks at B&N and it certainly gave me the winter feels. The blurb on the cover says "A novel of a small town, love, luck, and one extra-special fox...". Sealed the deal for me. I absolutely love reading about small towns. This small town is in Maine; Fox Crossing has a population of 713. It's also the last stop before people start back on the Appalachian Trail, so it definitely sees a lot of hikers from all over the country.  Annie Hatherley works and manages her family's outfitting shop-Hatherley's Outfitters. She's an experienced trail guide and works as an extractor-someone who goes out to find people in trouble on the trail and returns them to safety. She's a prickly one, is Annie. She routinely gets angry at customers who come into her store, naively thinking they are ready to hike the 100 Mile Wildernes...

  I've read a few Garth Nix novels over the years and he remains one of my favorite YA and children's authors. This novel got me just by the title. I was a bookseller for 25 years, and those many years sharing my love of reading and books gave me some of the best memories and made me feel like I made some impact, however small it might have been. Have you ever heard of a runner's high? That thing that happens when you hit a time during a run where it feels effortless and magical and you could run for hours? Well, I would  get that feeling at work when I talked to people about books. Not all the time, but boy, when it did happen, it was pretty awesome. I'd actually come home exhausted and feeling pretty drained from all of it. I still get that feeling sometimes when I talk to people about what I've read, or what I'm reading. It fills me up when I'm running low.  Anyhow, back to this novel. It took me a few weeks to read it, and I wish I'd just kept...

It's been many years since I've read Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles series, so I was delighted to see he has returned to that world with this new series. I absolutely love contemporary fantasy that mixes in old magical elements, along with a sense of humor that makes me laugh as I read.  Set in Glasgow, with a few stints in Edinburgh and other places, this novel stars the charming Al MacBharrais, a sixty-something sigil agent who is caught up in a mystery involving the Fae.  A sigil agent works between the human world and the Fae world, making contracts that help keep both worlds apart, yet allow for some contact between the two when necessary. Sigils are handwritten symbols of magic, made with specially created inks. It requires years of apprenticeship and there are only 5 sigil agents around the world. Al owns a publishing house, and uses it as a front for his magical work. I loved the cast of characters and can't wait to read about future adventures. A ...

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 recently read advanced review copies of two novels that helped me kick my book blockage. Neither is out just yet, so you'll have to make sure you add them to your TBR list for later.  The Cookbook Club by Beth Harbison is about three women who come together through a cookbook club. Margo has just been dumped by her husband--he's moving to San Francisco without her. She's really annoyed because she's been unhappy for a long time, but felt like she couldn't rock the boat and leave the marriage. And then her husband dumps her! Aja is in a relationship with an older, wealthy businessman who doesn't treat her very well. And, she's got a secret she won't be able to hid much longer. Finally, there's Trista, who left her lawyer job and bought a bar. She's got a lot of work to do to make the bar a success and may be in over her head.  A trio of unlikely friends, yet their monthly cookbook club has all three women indulging in their love of food and dev...

If the beautiful cover art of this novel doesn't grab you, the story inside will certainly do the trick. I've had my ins and outs with this novel, but I've finally finished it, and it was worth the struggle.  I know, and yet I do it probably every month: spend weeks reading a book that I really should read in a matter of days. Taking too long to read a novel ensures my interest will wane, even if it's a wonderful story. That's what happened with Ten Thousand Doors. Yet somehow, a Thanksgiving miracle happened at the last moment and turned it all around.  I've been pecking at this novel since early November. I'd read glowing reviews, blurbs, and of course saw the cover, so I was prepared to be wowed from the get go and not be able to put it down.  I was wrong-partly. I got about 100 pages in, and was stuck. Knowing it was my last book to read and review this month was weighing on me, and I knew I had to dive in and finish it. I dove back in the other night, ...

Oh, it took me a while to get through this novel. I made the mistake of reading some of the reviews about it, and that influenced me (I admit this reluctantly!). There were a few times when I was ready to just throw in the towel, but I persisted and finished the book, and I'm glad I did, even if I do have mixed feelings.  So. Ivy is a private investigator in San Francisco. She's your stereotypical PI: just barely hanging on, investigating cheating spouses and small time criminal activity, and likes the bottle. She's called on to investigate a murder at an unusual place: The Osthorne Academy, a secret school for witchcraft and wizardry. This is no run of the mill murder, either; it's rather gruesome. Sylvia, a teacher at the academy, is found in the library, literally split in two, head to toe. The school wants to know what exactly happened--this is big, big magic--the kind of magic that isn't actually possible. So did Sylvia try something, and it went horribly wrong...

It's unseasonably cool for August in Iowa. Freakishly cool. I wasn't in a frame of mind for the conveniences of summer to be over just yet-no coats, slip on sandals, and lots of fresh basil for the picking just outside my kitchen door. But this past week has really kicked in the Fall feels for me and I think everyone else  in Cedar Rapids. It doesn't hurt that college football started yesterday, too.  As per my usual reading habits, I always love to dive into my creepy, spooky, thriller-ghosty stories as the nights get longer and Halloween approaches. I'm going to be good this season and not eat bags of Brach's pumpkins. It's going to be tough! I know Halloween is still 8 weeks away, but the thrill of it is the build up to it, so I'm starting now.  My picks for September are a mix of library books (I've got to read them STAT!), new buys, and a few that I've had on my shelves at home: It's been sitting on my bookcase for 4 years. Shame on me. Read...

I read as fast as I could, but I didn't quite get all my August reads done before midnight last night. However, I did finish this novel last night at 11:30! Wahoo! I managed to finish 7 out of 11 books, with one extra tossed in, and I'm part way through The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis. I've spent the last few days staying home and reading, and reluctantly folding laundry.  This is Katherine Howe's follow up to The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane . A few things made this read a little more of a struggle than it should have been, and they were absolutely my fault. It's been a number of years since I read Deliverance Dane, and I forgot a lot of the book. I know I enjoyed it, and it was really good, but I couldn't remember much of the plot. When I started this sequel, it was taking me a lot of time to remember what had happened, and where the characters were now. As a rule, I don't go back and re-read books, but it probably would have been smart to do in this ...

In my desire to read so many books this month, I soon found myself in a book glut. I think I had six books going all at once, and I wasn't making headway on any of them. Argh!  But, I'm seeing a bit of light, and I sat down and finished this novel yesterday after mowing, yard work, and putting up a video on my Bookalicious Babe Facebook page. Now I'm still a bit in the weeds, with less than a week to go before September hits, but I'm going to do my best to power through my remaining August books. If only I could get by on 4 hours of sleep each night, I'd be caught up and reaching for more books.  So. Back to this novel, which I first saw a few months ago and became intrigued because it was so very different than my usual reads. I don't expand my reading universe nearly enough to include more diverse unique authors, cultures, and settings, and shame on me. But this novel, oh, it had me at first glance. Mayan mythology and 1920's Mexico? A heroine who is one ...

Well, this book was charming for me. A quick read that hopefully is the beginning of a series of tales about the people in Dove Pond, North Carolina.  Karen Hawkins is a romance author, and when I first saw this book, I knew her name was familiar to me-probably because I shelved her romances for years while I worked at B&N! But, fear not. Yes there is some romance in this novel, but it most definitely isn't a romance novel. More of a feel good, Sweet Home Alabama-Reece Witherspoon-ish kind of novel. Yes, it could find a place on the Hallmark Channel. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of Hallmark movies, in that they just are a little too perfect. The folks in Dove Pond, and the two lead female characters, most definitely aren't perfect.  Sarah Dove comes from a long line of women who have special talents. Sarah's talent is one that I think every book lover would wish for themselves: the books talk to her and tell her who they should go to next. Sarah hears them,...

I was pretty excited to read one of my favorite genres of books: magical realism, with a dash of foodie thrown into the mix. This delightful novel didn't disappoint and I loved everything about it.  Natalie returns to her mother's apartment in San Francisco's Chinatown after learning her mother has died. Guilt-ridden at leaving home in anger years before, she's grieving over her lost relationship with her agoraphobic mother and isn't sure what her next move will be. A failure at cooking school, her desire is to open a restaurant just like her grandmother, Qiao. Her grandmother's restaurant was a pillar of the community, and when she died, Natalie's mother refused to keep the restaurant going. Over the years, a part of the Chinatown community started to die off, and now a greedy real estate agent wants to buy out the remaining families and turn it into a new hipster community.  Natalie learns that she has inherited the apartment and restaurant below; her tas...