The Ripper’s Shadow A Victorian Mystery by Laura Joh Rowland

This book comes out January 10th 2017

My Review:

This was an enjoyable read, this had everything that I was looking for in a Ripper mystery. The characters were interesting and relatable and I cared about what happened to them. The writing itself was done really well and once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. There are scenes that are full of suspense that had me on the edge of my seat I look forward to more from the author and hope there is more in this Victorian mysteries as I loved Miss Bain and wanted to read more of her adventures.

5 out 5 stars

Description:

The year is 1888 and Jack the Ripper begins his reign of terror.

Miss Sarah Bain, a photographer in Whitechapel, is an independent woman with dark secrets. In the privacy of her studio, she supplements her meager income by taking illicit “boudoir photographs” of the town’s local ladies of the night. But when two of her models are found gruesomely murdered within weeks of one another, Sarah begins to suspect it’s more than mere coincidence.

Teamed with a motley crew of friends–including a street urchin, a gay aristocrat, a Jewish butcher and his wife, and a beautiful young actress–Sarah delves into the crime of the century. But just as she starts unlocking the Ripper’s secrets, she catches the attention of the local police, who believe she knows more than she’s revealing, as well as from the Ripper himself, now bent on silencing her and her friends for good.

Caught in the crosshairs of a ruthless killer, Sarah races through Whitechapel’s darkest alleys to find the truth…until she makes a shocking discovery that challenges everything she thought she knew about the case. Intelligent and utterly engrossing, Laura Joh Rowland’s Victorian mystery The Ripper’s Shadow will keep readers up late into the night.

High Noon The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glenn Frankel

This book comes out February 21st, 2017

My Review:

I love reading about history and especially the history of movies and the behind the scenes of making the movies, and this book does not disappoint. I think it was great that we got backstory about Gary Cooper and about the time period, it really helped to build the story and kept me invested in it. Overall I really enjoyed reading this, I had never seen High Noon before so it was interesting to read about it. I look forward to more from this author as he wrote well and kept me interested.

5 out of 5 stars

Description:

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Searchers, the revelatory story behind the classic movie High Noon and the toxic political climate in which it was created.

It’s one of the most revered movies of Hollywood’s golden era. Starring screen legend Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in her first significant film role, High Noon was shot on a lean budget over just thirty-two days but achieved instant box-office and critical success. It won four Academy Awards in 1953, including a best actor win for Cooper. And it became a cultural touchstone, often cited by politicians as a favorite film, celebrating moral fortitude.

Yet what has been often overlooked is that High Noon was made during the height of the Hollywood blacklist, a time of political inquisition and personal betrayal. In the middle of the film shoot, screenwriter Carl Foreman was forced to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his former membership in the Communist Party. Refusing to name names, he was eventually blacklisted and fled the United States. (His co-authored screenplay for another classic, The Bridge on the River Kwai, went uncredited in 1957.) Examined in light of Foreman’s testimony, High Noon‘s emphasis on courage and loyalty takes on deeper meaning and importance.

In this book, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Frankel tells the story of the making of a great American Western, exploring how Carl Foreman’s concept of High Noon evolved from idea to first draft to final script, taking on allegorical weight. Both the classic film and its turbulent political times emerge newly illuminated.

All the Dead Girls Graveyard Falls, Book 3 by Rita Herron

This book comes out November 22nd, 2016

My Review:

I was a big fan of the first two books of Graveyard Falls, and this book did not disappoint. The characters were great and well-written, and I really enjoyed the world written by Ms. Herron. It’s filled with suspense  that is needed for a good mystery and kept me guessing til the end. Overall this is a great series and I look forward to more of Graveyard Falls and more from Ms. Herron.

5 out of 5 stars

Description of Book:

When a violent storm hits Graveyard Falls, it unearths the unimaginable: skeletons of teenage girls, each dressed in white and holding a candle. It’s clear to FBI agent Beth Fields that this is the work of a long-standing killer—but could it be the one she escaped years ago? She has no memory of the man who held her captive and murdered her friend. But even though someone was jailed for the crime, she’s always feared that the real killer is still out there…waiting and watching.

Ian Kimball never believed his stepfather was guilty of Beth’s kidnapping or the slaying of two local girls. Now Graveyard Falls’s sheriff, he’s determined to catch the true perpetrator. And when more young women go missing, he realizes he needs Beth’s help. She is nothing like Ian expected, and everything he desires. But if they have any hope of finally ending the killer’s reign of terror, Beth and Ian will need to put everything aside, including their past, their mistrust, and their growing attraction…

Black Ice Burning Pale Queen Series, Book 3 by A. R. Kahler

This Book comes out October 25th, 2016

My Review:

Another great book in the Pale Queen series, I’ve totally enjoyed reading this book. I enjoyed the characters from the beginning and the world created. So when the second book ended I looked forward to the third book, and let me tell you it did not disappoint. I’m a little sad that this is the end of the story but I think the way it ended was perfect and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the series.

5 out of 5 stars

Description of Book:

The Summer Kingdom has fallen to the Pale Queen, and it’s Claire’s fault. The Winter Kingdom faces destruction, and it’s her fault. Her mother is dead. Everything is her fault.

Once the designated assassin for Queen Mab, Claire is now nothing more than a humiliated mortal, haunted by her own failures. Abandoned by her former allies and stripped of her magic, Claire is banished to the Immortal Circus.

In place of this once-vibrant show now stands an empty husk. Performers who should be tethered to it for eternity are leaving, negating Winter’s last hold on the Dream. Someone is targeting Winter’s power by weakening its contracts—even Claire’s own. And it’s not hard to guess who’s behind it.

Power or no power, contract or no contract, Claire has an obligation to uphold. And with the fate of the worlds hanging in the balance, she takes on the hit she knows will be her last: the Pale Queen.

Between XX and XY by Gerald N. Callahan

This book comes out November 1st, 2016

My Review:

What a wonderfully researched book, it was captivating from the beginning. I enjoyed 
reading the stories about people who are intersex and the history of it. The pictures
 were helpful and the reading was easy and kept me interested from beginning to end.

5 out of 5 stars

Description of Book:

“On October 10, 1970, the day she was born, she was named Dorothy Maree Alaniz–a baby girl. Curiously, though, no one filled out a birth certificate that day. When the certificate was finally filed on November 5, the name on it was Rudolph Andrew Alaniz. Within less than one month after her birth, this girl became a boy.”

 

Every year in the United States, more than two thousand children are born with an intersex condition or disorder of sex development. What makes someone a boy or a girl? Is it external genitalia, chromosomes, DNA, environment, or some combination of these factors? Not even doctors or scientists are entirely clear. What is clear is that sex is not an either-or proposition: not girl/boy, XX/XY, switching between two poles like an on-off switch on a radio. Rather, sex is like the bass and treble knobs on that radio.

 

Between XX and XY provides a fascinating look at the science of sex and what makes people male or female. There are people born XXY, XXXY, or XXXXY, or with any number of variations in X or Y chromosomes, but those who do not fit into society’s preconceived notions about sex often face a difficult path in life.

 

Dr. Callahan explores why humans are so attached to the idea of two sexes, and examines our obsession with sex and sexual intercourse through the ages.

 

The Romanov Ransom by Anne Armstrong-Thompson

My Review:

I really enjoyed reading this, there was a great level of suspense and I loved the 
setting for the story. The characters were interesting and I loved the idea that
 maybe one of the Romanovs survived.

5 out of 5 stars

Description:

When CIA agent Ward Grant is imprisoned by the Russians deep in the dreaded Lubyanka Prison, he fears he is a forgotten man.

With détente, however, the U.S. Government arranges an exchange to save Grant.

But the Russians will only release him if the United States finds and delivers the priceless imperial treasure that vanished during the Russian Revolution – the twelve Imperial Easter Eggs crafted by Faberge for the family of Czar Nicholas, each lavishly decorated with enamels and jewels, each worth a fortune.

Although their recovery seems unlikely, the CIA assigns agency veteran Henryk Kessel to find them.

He and his assistant, the beautiful Leslie Monroe, try to piece together the vanished past, combing the archives and museums of the world for a clue.

In a hunt that takes them from the elegant drawing rooms of Georgetown to the busy bars of Stockholm, they pursue their mission.

But it soon becomes evident that others, including the KGB, are on the same trail.

As suspicion grows that not all the Romanovs are dead, Leslie quickly becomes target as well as pursuer, while Ward’s life hangs in the balance.

The Romanov Ransom is haunting in its intensity. Complete with danger and romance, it brings novelist Thompson into the front ranks of espionage literature.