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...

  Click here to buy from Amazon I picked this book up not knowing a whole lot about the subject matter and under a deadline to read it in ten days before returning it to the library. Add in a very busy  July 4th weekend and I only had a few days to read it.  I wasn't sure I'd make it, but happily the story grabbed my attention and I've spent the last few nights reading about an amazing librarian: Belle da Costa Greene.   Belle became the personal librarian of JP Morgan in 1906. JP Morgan had built an impressive private library to house his already impressive collection of manuscripts and rare books. Belle was hired to organize and develop his collection. What JP and everyone around Belle didn't know was that Belle was an African American woman who passed as white. Her secret would drive her career and personal choices for the rest of her life.  Belle's family history was definitely one that kept her conflicted about her choice to follow her...

Click here to order from Amazon I looked at Katherine St. John's previous summer thriller The Lion's Den   but I just never had my interest peaked enough to grab it and read it. Now that I've devoured her second novel, The Siren , I'm going to have to go back and read it. This is a novel that surprised me completely. The cover certainly gives it a certain, shall we say, Jackie Collins vibe? So I was expecting something frothy and over the top. Instead, I got a novel about the underside of fame and a whole lot of surprises, all taking place on a jewel of a tropical island.  Hollywood has come to the island of St. Genesius to film The Siren , a thriller of a movie that reunites ex-spouses Cole Power and Stella Rivers. Cole is a HUGE Hollywood power star, while Stella is seen as a has-been. A child star who became famous for her short marriage to Cole and her public meltdowns after, Stella is desperate for a job.  Cole's son Jackson is the director of the film, but...

  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...

I finally got off my duff and concentrated on a book long enough to finish it. I've been bouncing between 3-4 books since August 1st and not making headway in any of them. However, Home Before Dark  took over and the more I read, the more invested I got in the story and couldn't put it down. And since today is National Book Lover's Day, I thought it was appropriate to have a relaxing Sunday and read all morning.  Home Before Dark is the first book I've read by author Riley Sager, and I'm happy to say I'll definitely be reading more. This was a blend of thriller, ghost story, and mystery all rolled into one. I honestly didn't know where the story was taking me until the very end.  Maggie Holt's life has been ruled by her father's infamous haunted house memoir, published when Maggie was around six years old. In it, her father tells the story of their experience living for just a few short weeks in Baneberry Hall, an old estate in the Vermont woods. Hi...

Heather Webber has written more than twenty-five novels-most of them are cozy mysteries and light romances. However, she has found her sweet spot in her previous novel Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe , and her newest novel, South of the Buttonwood Tree. I can't say it strongly enough how much I enjoy novels imbued with magical realism.  This is not a sequel, but a stand alone novel about Blue Bishop and the people she calls family. Set in the small town of Buttonwood, Alabama, Blue is a children's author and illustrator, and has a series of books about a bunny that have made her famous. However, her family name has made her infamous in her hometown. Blue and her sister, Persy are the only two left in the Bishop family; her brothers all died tragically and under unhappy circumstances, her father left the family and died; her mother Twyla willed herself to death after losing her sons and husband. Growing up with little money, the family did what it could to survive-ofte...

Summer. It's here. It took me a few months to get back into my reading groove, and I think I'm almost there again, thankfully.  The world is a hurting place, and I, along with so many others, are self-reflecting on my place in it, and my responsibility towards living a life of peace and love. I have always looked to the stories that books tell-whether they are fiction or non-fiction-to help me understand where the world was, and how we came to be where we are now. How others live; their cultures, the barriers they face, and the ugly and brutal things we do to each other out of fear and just plain ignorance.  I will continue to read stories, memoirs, and history books that will help me understand the beautiful, magnificent, deeply troubled and damaged world we live in and call our home. And I hope I can, in some way, make it better. I may not be out protesting, but I will vote for change, and donate to causes I feel are important. We all do what we can.  I saw a quote...

A very cool, windy, and gloomy Sunday gave me the chance to read the e-book of Someone We Know , and I discovered Shari Lapena.  This was a quick read, and that's a good thing, because I couldn't put it down. I've read quite a few domestic thrillers, and I'll admit, I was a bit burnt out. However, I had never read Shari Lapena's novels, and once I started reading, I quickly got over my blahs about domestic thrillers. I've even made plans to read the rest of her books over the summer. And I've already told my sister she needs to read them. It's been a busy Sunday. 😀😀 Anyway-back to the story. Raleigh is a sixteen year old boy who gets a thrill out of breaking into neighboring homes and hacking into people's computers. He doesn't do it to find information, but to hone his skills as a hacker. Unfortunately, a friend leaves a text that his mom finds, and all hell breaks loose. And this is the tip of the iceberg in a neighborhood where a missing wif...

I've read so many husband-wife thrillers over the past few years it was refreshing to read a thriller that took place in a work environment; one that is between a female executive and her personal assistant. Office power struggles take on a whole new meaning in The Secretary .   Told from the perspective of Christine Butcher, PA to Mina Appleton, we are looking back with Christine over the past 18 years of her life working for Mina. What started out as a seemingly innocent opportunity for a full-time job with great pay and benefits turned into a nightmare for Christine. A nightmare that cost her her marriage and her family, and left her completely reliant on Mina and her job as the only things that mattered in her life.  You, as the reader, know from the beginning that something bad has happened, and Christine spends most of the novel giving you  plenty of foreshadowing. Mina is a manipulative, conniving, horrible woman who--you guessed it--puts on a face for th...

The Other Woman joins the genre of relationship thrillers that started with Gone Girl. This one has a twist, however:the dread of every woman who meets her boyfriend's parents: a mother who doesn't like you.   Emily meets Adam in the bar of a London hotel after attending a work conference. She's  reluctantly attracted to the tall, dark, handsome Adam after he rudely jumps in line ahead of her for drinks. He charms her, and soon they are dating. Emily quickly falls for Adam, and a few months go by before he agrees that it's time to meet his mother. Emily is really looking forward to it, but oh boy, she is in for a surprise.  Pammie (this name just drove me nuts!) certainly seems like a lovely woman, and her sons Adam and James fuss over her. But she's not very welcoming to Emily-and only Emily sees it. Criticism masquerading as compliments, deliberate miscommunication, "accidental" texts sent to Emily that are critical. Emily feels like she can't win, a...

Well.  I told myself I wouldn't read anymore of the husband/wife/marriage/insanity/thriller genre that has become so dominant since Gone, Girl (which I haven't read, but I know the story).  I read a few last year that were pretty good, but I was satisfied with those few and decided that there wasn't much more that could be done that would surprise or even interest me. Enter The Wife Between Us .  I seriously underestimated this novel.  While I did figure out one of the big twists early on, there were a few other twists that I didn't figure out, and when they were revealed, I looked like this:  via GIPHY The story is told through alternating voices:  Vanessa and Nellie.  Vanessa is a mess.  She's divorced from Richard, living with her Aunt Charlotte in New York City, and is an alcoholic.  She works as a personal shopper at Saks and struggles to get to work on time and actually be present while she's there.  Her l...

1952 New York City must have been a pretty cool place.  Certainly it was a lure to those who wanted to make it on their own, or make it big.  It was a place for young women to escape their hometowns and experience freedom, within the confines of 1950's ideals, of course.   The Dollhouse was certainly a refreshing break from my usual historical fiction.  Yes, this is a dual-history novel; it takes place in 1952 and 2016.  I usually don't read much about mid-twentieth century history; it's just not a time that appeals to me.  But I was intrigued by the idea of a women's hotel in 1952, and I'm glad I read this novel. I had no idea where the story would take me, and it definitely surprised me. Darby McLaughlin is a young woman from Ohio, sent to New York City by her mother to live at the Barbizon Hotel, a place where young women stayed while attending modeling school, secretarial school, or other suitable educational avenues for a young woman in 1952. Of ...

Black Rabbit Hall was a spur of the moment reading choice for me, and I buzzed through it in a few days (even though I've had it checked out of the library for almost 3 weeks).  My "due back" notification had everything to do with my rush to read this, but I'm so glad I didn't just return it unread to the library.  It was just what I needed to read this week.   This is a novel told in two voices:  Amber Alton, a fifteen year old girl in 1968; and Lorna Dunaway, over thirty years later. Amber's family owns Black Rabbit Hall in Cornwall, and the family spends holidays there.  Amber's parents are madly in love, and she has a twin brother Toby, a younger brother Barney, and a little sister named Kitty.  They are a very happy family, and the heart of the family is Amber's mother, Nancy.    There's something about Black Rabbit Hall that speaks to Amber and her whole family.  It's wild, it's crumbling; it's full of creaks and groans and sits ...