Hello Gracious Readers

Welcome to my stop on the Book Tour for

The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Publishing date: January 7, 2025

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Rep: LGBT, Sapphic, Lesbian

Synopsis

This searing YA debut follows two teen girls as they fall in love and fight for survival in an abandoned bookstore, just weeks before another cataclysmic storm threatens to bring about the end of the world. Perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Last of Us!

The world is about to end. Again.

Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.

Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.

Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.

As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.

Review

Readers follow Liz Flannery, as she is etching out what’s left of her life after a post apocalyptic Storm that has obliterated the world as she and everyone else has known. Living in abandoned bookstore that she used to work at in post-Storm New Jersey. She trades books for supplies, and people stop by to post letters for loved ones. She journals the coming and going of the people who pass by. As another horrific storm is approaching she finds herself in desperate need of more supplies, also the bookstore needs repairs fast. Her situation changes when the book store is broken in by another teen named Maeve. Liz gives shelter to Maeve and realizes that Maeve just might be what she has needed.

This moving human element storyline completely surprised me. Set to a futuristic post cataclysmic storm, the tender romance was perfectly executed. Through Lily Braun-Arnold narrative I fell in love with the engaging character and the detailed setting.

Author

Lily is currently a junior at Smith College studying English. When she isn’t writing, she can be found working at her local independent bookstore or daydreaming about living in outer space. At Smith, she enjoys playing trombone in her school’s wind ensemble and hosting a late-night radio show. Her first novel THE LAST BOOKSTORE ON EARTH is being published by Delacorte in Spring 2025.

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Hello Gracious Readers

Welcome to my stop on the book tour for

The Matter of the Secret Bride by Darcie Wilde

The Matter of the Secret Bride by Darcie Wilde

Series: A Useful Woman Mystery #8
Publication Date: 12/24/24
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 448

The Matter of the Secret Bride

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Jane Austen meets Fleabag in Regency London, as a resourceful young woman with a talent for helping ladies of the ton with their most delicate and pressing predicaments finds herself facing a task of royal proportions. Literally.

King George IV is petitioning Parliament for a divorce from his queen on the grounds of her adultery. But rumor has it that the king secretly married Maria Fitzherbert—long before he married the queen. Now Mrs. Fitzherbert has been robbed—and she’s frantically calling on Rosalind for help.

Because what those thieves took is proof that she and King George did really marry. That single piece of paper could destroy Mrs. Fitzherbert and her family—or it could prove the king guilty of bigamy.

Rosalind races to investigate. With her is ex-Bow Street officer, Adam Harkness, with whom Rosalind shares a complex and rapidly intensifying bond. But a case of theft soon turns to murder . . .

Josiah Poole, a disreputable attorney specializing in helping debtors—and who was seen entering Mrs. Fitzherbert’s house—is found brutally murdered. Mrs. Fitzherbert has debts. Could she have staged the theft, and employed Mr. Poole to sell the marriage certificate? Or is the truth even more complicated? Mrs. Fitzherbert’s daughters have secrets of their own. And Poole himself had no shortage of enemies.

With suspicious coincidences mounting, and more danger encroaching, Rosalind and Adam must move quickly to unravel a history-making mystery that might just lead them straight to the palace itself . . .

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..

A captivating book, ingrained in real historical events surrounding King George IV secret marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert.

The Matter of the Secret Bride by Darcie Wilde is the eight exciting instamment in the Useful Woman book series. The ton is deeply divided between the Prince of Wales regarding his suing for divorce from Princess Caroline. When the well known Mrs. Fitzherbert requests her presence at her home on Tilney Street. Mrs. Fitzherbert tasked her with the retrieval of a stolen document. A document that implicates the King George IV and his unsanctioned marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert. Rosalind and her love interest, a former Bow Street Runner Mr. Adam Harkness, along with Alice and Amelia must race to uncover the where abouts of this notorious document.

Exciting intrique of courtly drama really kept on my toes in this Regency mystery. The side characters and budding romance greatly enriched this creative storyline. I am excited to read the next book in the fascinating series.

AUTHOR BIO

Darcie Wilde is the award-winning author of stylishly adventurous historical mysteries and romances, including the Rosalind Thorne Mysteries, a Regency-set series inspired by the novels of Jane Austen, as well as the Regency Makeover Trilogy. She has also written, under the name Sarah Zettel, Locus and Philip K. Dick Award-winning novels, including Fool’s War, a New York Times Notable Books of the Year selection. She lives in Michigan and can be found online at DarcieWildeRomance.com.