Dona's Book Blog

Thank you to the author Peter Malone Elliott, publishers Level Best Books, and Get Red Book Tours, for an advance paperback copy of BLUE RIDGE. Thank you also to NetGalley for an accomanying widget. All views are mine. My feelings on this book are lukewarm. I loved the concept and storyline; I'm a sucker for both domestic thrillers and warring twins. But the book needed fleshed out; another 50 pages of description would have done this one some good! Three (or more) things I loved: 1. The descriptions of Virginia are lovely. Tinged with shades of blue, purple, and green, I always say the majestic, rolling landscape of the Blue Ridge is nature's equivalent to the music of Patsy Cline-- an inexplicably perfect cocktail of sumptuous beauty, haunting melancholy, and dark-edged mystery.... Loc.49 2. Like many thrillers with clarity issues, this book has an excellent premise. Part political thriller, part domestic thriller, BLUE RIDGE abounds with tension and intrigue. I w

Thank you to the author Heather Morris and publishers St. Martin's Press for a complimentary hardback copy, and also to NetGalley for a complimentary digital copy of SISTERS UNDER THE RISING SUN. All views are mine. I didn't enjoy my listen to this audiobook, but it could be mode more than method in this case. I loved the beginning, but the audiobook narrator had some glaring issues, which made me lean toward a reread from the start. I may come back for it in a different format. I have a paperback of this author's most famous work, THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ, and I'll probably read that before I try this one again.  Three (or more) things I loved: 1. This story is harrowing almost from the outset. I can't imagine being trapped on a ship when war breaks out in the international waters around me! Three (or less) things I didn't love: This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love&q

Thank you to Libby for an ebook of THE HAPPY LIFE OF ISADORA BENTLEY  Opening quote: Turns out, smiling is hard. Three (or more) things I loved: 1. That birthday party scene is completely epic. I would never have imagined a jar candle sinking through the center of a birthday, but Loesch did, and it is glorious! Three (or less) things I didn't love: This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof. 1. The first person narration is very witty! So are many of the characters. Incidentally, I don't find full casts of witty characters to be accessible-- I need at least a token casually awkward conversationalist.  2. The depiction of social isolation as supposedly experienced by the fmc feels inauthentic to me, at best. The descriptions are too pat to feel real. 3. This character/narrator navel gazes overly much. A great deal of the narrative is composed of inter

Thank you to the author Jess Armstrong, publishers Minotaur Books, and SMPI, for an advance digital copy of THE CURSE OF PENRYTH. Thank you also to NetGalley for the complimentary copy. All views are mine. I read this book twice! I loved the settings, and the mouthy female lead and her irascible senior roommate. Certain things about the mystery, I found deliciously Gothic, which I adore. The killer's methods delighted me and grossed me out! But unfortunately, I read this book twice because the plot lost me. Both times. Beyond the details, I couldn't connect with characters or plot because it was all too convoluted. Three (or more) things I loved: 1. I adore this mouthy female, what, detective? Inspector? A dire cynic smack in the middle of a supernatural tale. Excellent protagonist.  2. The dynamic between the first person narrator, Ruby, a young woman, and her irascible roommate, friend and benefactor(?), the older, disabled, and greatly resourced Mr. Owen, is v

Thank you to the author Lex Croucher, publishers Wednesday Books and St. Martin's Press, and SMPInfluencers, and NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of GWEN & ART ARE NOT IN LOVE. All views are mine. Opening Quote: [It's] not so much a silver lining as it is just silver all the way down. Loc785 Three (or more) things I loved: 1. There is actually quite a bit of European military history in the outset of the book. It's quite interesting.  2. I love the woman knight. That she is an object of derision makes her smile truer and a more believable character for me. I'm really looking forward to more of her! 3. This is definitely not my usual genre, but I'm loving this author's brand of historical realism slash romantasy.  4. I'm typically not a fan of retelling, but this is fantastic, in which Gwen and Arthur are a marriage of convenience to cover each other's queer identities.  5. I a-DORE that the merlin refers to Gwen's irasci