Month: December 2022

Hello Bookish Babes

Welcome to my stop on the incredible Book Tour for

All the Lost Places by Amanda Dykes

#bookreview #happypubday

All the Lost Places: A Novel

Author: Amanda Dykes

• Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Inspirational Fiction

• Publisher: ‎Bethany House Publishers (December 13, 2022)

• Length: (400) pages

• Format: Hardcover, Trade paperback, & eBook

• ISBN: 978-0764239502

• Tour Dates: December 5 – December 19, 2022

PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | BOOKSHOP | GOODREADS

SUMMARY

When all of Venice is unmasked, one man’s identity remains a mystery . . .

1807
When a baby is discovered floating in a basket along the quiet canals of Venice, a guild of artisans takes him in and raises him as a son, skilled in each of their trades. Although the boy, Sebastien Trovato, has wrestled with questions of his origins, it isn’t until a woman washes ashore on his lagoon island that answers begin to emerge. In hunting down his story, Sebastien must make a choice that could alter not just his own future, but also that of the beloved floating city.

1904
Daniel Goodman is given a fresh start in life as the century turns. Hoping to redeem a past laden with regrets, he is sent on an assignment from California to Venice to procure and translate a rare book. There, he discovers a city of colliding hope and decay, much like his own life, and a mystery wrapped in the pages of that filigree-covered volume. With the help of Vittoria, a bookshop keeper, Daniel finds himself in a web of shadows, secrets, and discoveries carefully kept within the stones and canals of the ancient city . . . and in the mystery of the man whose story the book does not finish: Sebastien Trovato.

REVIEW

From the desk of Gwendalyn

This book was received from the Author, and Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a non spoiler review, because you as reader need to read this book. Also, I feel sometimes I have in the past gave away to much of the plot line. This has diminished the pleasure for would be readers.

All the Lost Places by Amanda Dykes Is Truly Amazing Historical Fiction

Amanda Dykes powerful elegant prose will have you completely captivated. Told in dual periods, we follow 1904 San Francisco, Daniel Goodman, who longs for redemption. Sebastien Trovato, abandoned as a baby and taken in by artisans in early 1800s Venice, seeks to know the mystery of his origins.

The story of these men unfolds beautifully through the author rich imagery and vivid characterization. Even though they are centuries apart they are centered around the magical city of Venice, and tethered to a book called the Book of Waters.

Spellbinding and poetic, Amanda Dykes use of metaphors, and her ability to bring the lushness of the enchanting Venice to life, will leave you breathless. Longing and Beautiful, the characters and their struggles will draw you in, and the little romance and a mystery add so much to the book. A novel that will stay with you a very long time after you finish reading it. Longing and Beautiful, the characters and their struggles will draw you in. All the Lost Places is moving thought provoking tale that I truly can’t even write a review to even give this books justice. This is one stunning piece of historical fiction, I have to say it’s the best HF out of all the books I have read in 2022. If there is one book that I would recommend for historical fiction readers, it would be this book

A must read, seriously buy this book!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR AMANDA DYKES

ADVANCE PRAISE

• “This lyrical dual-narrative historical from Dykes (Set the Stars Alight) dives into the histories of Venice, Italy, and Venice Beach, California.”— Publisher’s Weekly

• “Introspective, surprising, and achingly beautiful.”— Booklist starred review

• “Dykes’s pen is fused with magic and poetry. Every word’s a gentle wave building into the splendor that is All the Lost Places, where struggles for identity and a place to belong find hope between the pages of a timeless story.”— J’Nell Ciesielski, bestselling author of The Socialite

• “Luscious writing, authentic characters, and an ending that satisfies to the core of the spirit, this novel is another winner from Amanda Dykes.”— Heidi Chiavaroli, Carol Award-winning author of Freedom’s Ring and Hope Beyond the Waves

AUTHOR

Amanda Dykes’s debut novel, Whose Waves These Are, is the winner of the prestigious 2020 Christy Award Book of the Year, a Booklist 2019 Top Ten Romance debut, and the winner of an INSPY Award. She’s also the author of Yours Is the Night and Set the Stars Alight, a 2021 Christy Award finalist.

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Hello Lovelies

Welcome To My Stop On The Blog Tour For

Under A Veiled Moon By Karen Odden

QUICK FACTS

• Title: Under a Veiled Moon

• Series: An Inspector Corravan Mystery (Book 2)

• Author: Karen Odden

• Genre: Historical Mystery, Detective Mystery, Victorian Mystery

• Publisher: ‎Crooked Lane Books (October 11, 2022)

• Length: (336) pages

• Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook

• ISBN: 978-1639101191

• Tour Dates: November 14 – December 19, 2022

BOOK DESCRIPTION

In the tradition of C. S. Harris and Anne Perry, a fatal disaster on the Thames and a roiling political conflict set the stage for Karen Odden’s second Inspector Corravan historical mystery.

September 1878. One night, as the pleasure boat the Princess Alice makes her daily trip up the Thames, she collides with the Bywell Castle, a huge iron-hulled collier. The Princess Alice shears apart, throwing all 600 passengers into the river; only 130 survive. It is the worst maritime disaster London has ever seen, and early clues point to sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who believe violence is the path to restoring Irish Home Rule. 
 
For Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Corravan, born in Ireland and adopted by the Irish Doyle family, the case presents a challenge. Accused by the Home Office of willfully disregarding the obvious conclusion and berated by his Irish friends for bowing to prejudice, Corravan doggedly pursues the truth, knowing that if the Princess Alice disaster is pinned on the IRB, hopes for Home Rule could be dashed forever.

Corrovan’s dilemma is compounded by Colin, the youngest Doyle, who has joined James McCabe’s Irish gang. As violence in Whitechapel rises, Corravan strikes a deal with McCabe to get Colin out of harm’s way. But unbeknownst to Corravan, Colin bears longstanding resentments against his adopted brother and scorns his help.
 
As the newspapers link the IRB to further accidents, London threatens to devolve into terror and chaos. With the help of his young colleague, the loyal Mr. Stiles, and his friend Belinda Gale, Corravan uncovers the harrowing truth—one that will shake his faith in his countrymen, the law, and himself.

ADVANCE PRAISE

• “[An] exceptional sequel . . . Fans of Lyndsay Faye’s Gods of Gotham trilogy will be enthralled.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

• “Victorian skulduggery with a heaping side of Irish troubles.” —Kirkus Reviews

• “Charismatic police superintendent Michael Corravan is back in a gripping sequel about the mysterious sinking of the Princess Alice. Odden deftly weaves together English and Irish history, along with her detective’s own story, in a way that will keep readers flipping pages long into the night.” —Susan Elia MacNeal, New York Times bestselling author of Mother Daughter Traitor Spy and the Maggie Hope series.

REVIEW

Under a Veiled Moon: An Inspector Corravan Mystery by Karen Odden is an exceptional historical crime fiction!

The second installment in the Inspector Corravan Mystery, Under a Veiled Moon is an exceptional historical crime fiction! Set to the backdrop of when the Princess Alice, a pleasure steamer, who in the September made her daily trip along the Thames and collided with a huge iron hulled collier. A devastating disaster, hundreds dead, some say that the Irish Republican Brotherhood might be behind catastrophe.

Michael Corravan is acting superintendent of the Wapping River Police. With his Irish background and connections, others feel he might not be able to stay completely unbiased. Irish born, and taken in and cared for by the Doyle family from White Chapel. Corravan must navigate through the upheaval political intrigue, and corruption.

Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden, sets the bar that few will be able to follow. This is one book that will keep you up way into late hours of night. Once I started reading I found myself unable to set the book aside.

The back alleyways and gritty docks of Victorian England, comes alive through incredible details and rich rewarding prose. This page turner of a read will not only captivate you with its dynamic main character, you will also be fully immersed within its rich details. Michael Corravan, is a no-nonsense realistic character, that is incredibly easy to fall for. Odden shines through,with Corravan methodical police investigating techniques. The twist and turns, make for a rewarding reading experience.

Karen Odden is one of my all time favorite historical crime writers, and Under a Veiled Moon is a phenomenal historical fiction.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

• Read an exclusive interview with author Karen Odden

PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | BOOKSHOP | GOODREADS

AUTHOR

Karen Odden earned her Ph.D. in English from New York University and subsequently taught literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has contributed essays to numerous books and journals, written introductions for Victorian novels in the Barnes & Noble classics series and edited for the journal Victorian Literature and Culture (Cambridge UP). Her previous novels, also set in 1870s London, have won awards for historical fiction and mystery. A member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime and the recipient of a grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Karen lives in Arizona with her family and her rescue beagle Rosy.

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