True Love Experiment

 The True Love Experiment- Christina Lauren

Simon & Schuster Publisher

Release Date: May 16, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.

Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.

The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in The Soulmate Equation. But when the lights come on and all eyes are on her, it turns out the happily ever after Fizzy had all but given up on might lie just behind the camera.

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An unapologetic love letter to romance books and the people who love them, The True Love Experiment may be my favorite Christina Lauren book yet! 

Felicity "Fizzy" Chen is having major writer's block and freaking out. She's past her deadline, fans are waiting, and she has lost her faith in love. romance, and maybe herself. When Connor Prince asks her to do a dating reality show in the tone of voice that tells her he's not only never read a romance or watched a reality show, but looks down on both (and those who read/watch them), she realizes it's a challenge she needs to accept. And maybe rediscover her joy in life and romance while she's at it. 

What happens when you put a romance writer in charge of deciding the kinds of guys she'll date on reality tv? Fizzy challenges Connor to cast all the major romance types- and somewhere between wanting to strangle each other and one-up the other, they discover a friendship full of humor, honesty, and dangerously sizzling chemistry. 

I loved Fizzy. She's so full of life and willing to be herself in any situation. She accepts challenges and starts them, comes at problems with confidence she may not always feel but always knows how to fake, and isn't willing to change to please anyone-not her parents, and not a guy. If they can't handle her as she is, they can get out of the way. I loved how Christina Lauren lets Fizzy passionately defend romance as a writing genre when she has to, saying what any romance reader will agree with, but never gets to the "preaching to the choir" point. And her vulnerability when she realizes she's lost her belief in romance or the joy of it enough to get past her writer's block is completely real. She's got to be one of my all-time favorite characters.  Connor is tougher to pin down until you realize he's exactly Fizzy's Mr. Darcy. They start off on the wrong foot, but once they let themselves try again, he turns out to be pretty great. He listens, he's open to admitting when he's wrong and changing his mind, and he can match Fizzy's sense of humor.

The True Love Experiment is exactly what I want in my romance: humor, friendship, two people clearly meant to be together but trying to deny it (they are producing a dating show for her after all!) and with enough chemistry to scorch the pages even when our heroes are just exchanging glances. Add in a dating show paying homage to real-life dating and romance novels? Yes, please! This one is a must read! 

I don't think you need to have read The Soulmate Equation to enjoy The True Love Experiment, but you'll enjoy it.

American Roommate Experiment

 The American Roommate Experiment- Elena Armas

Atria/Simon and Schuster

Release Date: September 6, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Rosie Graham has a problem. A few, actually. She just quit her well paid job to focus on her secret career as a romance writer. She hasn’t told her family and now has terrible writer’s block. Then, the ceiling of her New York apartment literally crumbles on her. Luckily she has her best friend Lina’s spare key while she’s out of town. But Rosie doesn’t know that Lina has already lent her apartment to her cousin Lucas, who Rosie has been stalking—for lack of a better word—on Instagram for the last few months. Lucas seems intent on coming to her rescue like a Spanish knight in shining armor. Only this one strolls around the place in a towel, has a distracting grin, and an irresistible accent. Oh, and he cooks.

Lucas offers to let Rosie stay with him, at least until she can find some affordable temporary housing. And then he proposes an outrageous experiment to bring back her literary muse and meet her deadline: He’ll take her on a series of experimental dates meant to jump-start her romantic inspiration. Rosie has nothing to lose. Her silly, online crush is totally under control—but Lucas’s time in New York has an expiration date, and six weeks may not be enough, for either her or her deadline.

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The sequel to The Spanish Love Deception, The American Roommate Experiment is a cute rom-com about New Yorker Rosie, who quit her job as an engineer to be a full time romance writer and is now panicking over writer's block and a manuscript deadline. When the ceiling of her apartment falls in she moves into her best friend's apartment- only to find her friend's cousin Lucas is also staying there. Lucas, who Rosie has had a secret Instagram crush on for over a year. In a one bedroom apartment. This can't get awkward, right? 

Rosie is a great, realistic character- trying to keep it all together because that's what she's always done, never letting anyone see when she needs help because that's not what she does. Even when she gets annoyed at others for not asking for help she doesn't think to ask for it and is surprised when Lucas offers. She's stressed and awkward, questions her choices and rarely goes for what makes her feel good because she takes care of everyone else first. Lucas, I was disappointed in. On the surface he's a great romantic hero- has all the right moves, says all the right things. But I never felt like I knew him below the surface and that was disappointing. It was only the last 20 pages of so where his issues actually got spelled out and I wanted more development for him than that. 

This was a super slow burn; a "I'm not good enough for the person I have a crush on"; a forced proximity; fake date trope book that worked really well. Full of humor and energy, if a little slower than I'd have liked in some spots, and the only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars what that I was really hoping for more character development for Lucas. 

Definitely a book romance readers will enjoy!

I received an ARC from Atria in exchange for an honest review

It Girl

 

The It Girl- Ruth Ware

Simon and Schuster/Gallery

Release Date: July 12, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder.

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In this new psychological thriller Ruth Ware introduces us to an unlikely group of friends at an Oxford college, all orbiting around "It Girl" April- rich, beautiful, intelligent, and talented who seemingly has it all. Yet by the end of their second term April is dead, murdered in her rooms. A decade later it comes out that maybe the man sentenced for the murder didn't actually do it- which naturally makes you wonder, if not him, who did kill April?

This is the second Ruth Ware book I've read (One by One was the other) and I definitely liked this one more than I expected to. The book is split into alternating "Before" and "After" chapters (as Hannah's life is divided into 'before April's murder' and 'after April's murder'), introducing us to narrator Hannah, "It Girl" April, and their friends Will, Ryan, Hugh, and Emily, as well as building them up over the course of their college experiences. In the "After" sections it is ten years later, Hannah and Will have moved to Edinburg and are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April dies in prison. They are pushed back into the trauma of the murder and the media circus surrounding the murder and the trial and you get a really good sense of how traumatizing both events were for Hannah, Will, and the others- and how they reacted to it in very different ways. But you also see, before she does I think, that while Hannah might see herself as weak, she is anything but- when the idea comes up that Neville might have been innocent Hannah does face it and does start to confront the memories surrounding that time period, asking herself what she might have gotten wrong and who might have killed April if not Neville. She's a far better friend, in life or death, then April probably deserves, because she doesn't let it go. It effects her marriage and her health, but she feels like she owes it to April and to Neville, a man who sexually harassed her at college, to find out the truth. Is she naive, innocent, and in over her head? Yes. Is that annoying? Yes, often. But it somehow makes her the character you've read a hundred times before and at the same time someone you can pull for the whole way because you see something new through her eyes. You want her to understand that April is a vicious, nasty piece of work while at the same time hoping that Hannah was somehow making April a better person. You want Hannah's innocence to remain intact while knowing it won't, which makes you worry about what will be left when the dust settles- because you care about her and her marriage and her friends through the spell that Ware casts page by page.

There are well-written descriptions of Oxford and what the college and college life are like; wrenching psychological cases of survivor's guilt and looks into our morbid cultural fascination with "it" murders and what they do to the people left behind in the cases; tension weaves through the pages even before anything happens without you able to quite identify why; red herrings leap like spawning salmon; excellent twists and turns getting to the 'who', 'how' and 'why'; and friendships and relationships that will haunt you to the last page.

A must read summer psychological thriller for the mystery lover!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

House of Ghosts

A House of Ghosts- W.C. Ryan 
Simon & Schuster
Release Date: October 1, 2019

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Winter 1917. As the First World War enters its most brutal phase, back home in England, everyone is seeking answers to the darkness that has seeped into their lives. At Blackwater Abbey, on an island off the Devon coast, armaments manufacturer Lord Highmount has arranged a spiritualist gathering to contact his two sons, both of whom died at the front.

Among the guests, two have been secretly dispatched from the intelligence service: Kate Cartwright, a friend of the family who lost her beloved brother at the Somme and who, in the realm of the spiritual, has her own special gift; and the mysterious Captain Donovan, recently returned from Europe. Top secret plans for weapons developed by Lord Highmount’s company have turned up in Berlin, and there is reason to believe enemy spies will be in attendance. As the guests arrive, it becomes clear that each has something they would rather keep hidden. Then, when a storm descends, they find themselves trapped on the island. Soon one of their number will die. For Blackwater Abbey is haunted in more ways than one . . . .

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During the darkest days of World War I no one is unaffected.  A house party at the island home of armaments manufacturer Lord Highmount is arranged to attempt to contact the spirits of those they've lost to the war.  But the party has another purpose- copies of Highmount's weapons designs have appeared in Berlin and both Highmount and the government want to flush out the spy. Highmount family friend Kate Cartwright and government agent Captain Donovan are sent in to identify the traitor. Soon, in a house with a reputation for being haunted, the living have as much to fear from each other as from any ghost.  

A House of Ghosts is a wonderful mystery novel, well-written and full of twists and turns, red herrings, and surprises.  It's a book that instantly calls up comparisons with Agatha Christie mysteries: an isolated Devon island home, a trapped house party, everyone at the party has secrets and hidden agendas, and there may or may not be a murderer among the guests.  W.C. Ryan makes A House of Ghosts unique with strong leading characters and a touch of the supernatural.

Kate and Donovan surprise themselves (but not the reader!) by becoming excellent partners, each with their own special skills. Kate's been stuck in Room 40 (the World War I precursor to the more famous Bletchley Park of World War II) breaking codes on weather reports, so when the mysterious C asks her to help with this case, she's happy to do so- even though it involves a haunted house with bad memories for her and pretending that her newly ex-fiancé is still her current fiancé.  She's an excellent blend of innocent and eager, with no naïveté about her, an intelligent woman who wants to do her part for the war effort and discover how her brother died.  

 Donovan is the hardbitten, mysterious agent who thinks he's jaded beyond saving, and suffers from PTSD from years at the front.  He's surprised to discover how much he enjoys working with Kate, and soon comes to think of her in far more than professional terms.  I was very happy that, even as Donovan and Kate's personal relationship develops, Donovan never treats Kate as less than his partner.  He may worry over the danger she's in, but he doesn't deny her the right to her part of the action and trusts that she can handle herself.

The supernatural angle was, I thought, particularly well-done here.  House of Ghosts never becomes a horror novel.  The book balances the rational skepticism of people like Donovan with Kate and her mother- who can see ghosts and even, occasionally, more with the help of a family artifact.  Seances  would have been common during the war and the two supposed psychics on the island are treated like  gifted people trying to help the grieving parents of soldiers.  Whether they are in fact genuinely trying to help or have a scam in mind is only one of the tangles facing Donovan and Kate. But the supernatural angle is treated so matter-of-factly that people who don't want ghosts with their mysteries should still enjoy House of Ghosts without too much skepticism.  And those of us who like a bit of supernatural to add to the drama are well rewarded. 

The Brothers York

The Brothers York: A Royal Tragedy- Thomas Penn
Simon & Schuster
Release Date: June 16, 2020

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: In 15th-century England, two royal families, the House of York and the House of Lancaster, fought a bitter, decades-long civil war for the English throne. As their symbols were a red rose for Lancaster and a white rose for York, the conflict became known as the Wars of the Roses.

During this time, the house of York came to dominate England. At its heart were three charismatic brothers—King Edward IV, and his two younger siblings George and Richard—who became the figureheads of a spectacular ruling dynasty. Together, they looked invincible.

But with Edward’s ascendancy the brothers began to turn on one another, unleashing a catastrophic chain of rebellion, vendetta, fratricide, usurpation, and regicide. The brutal end came at Bosworth Field in 1485, with the death of the youngest, then Richard III, at the hands of a new usurper, Henry Tudor, later Henry VII, progenitor of the Tudor line of monarchs.

Fascinating, dramatic, and filled with vivid historical detail, The Brothers York is a brilliant account of a conflict that fractured England for a generation. Riven by internal rivalries, jealousy, and infighting, the three York brothers failed to sustain their power and instead self-destructed. It is a rich and bloody tale as gripping as any historical fiction.

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For history lovers looking to read a definitive book on an English monarch or their era (such as Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him or Good Queen Anne), in my opinion the book to read for King Edward IV's reign is The Brothers York: A Royal Tragedy by Thomas Penn.  Encompassing not only Edward IV's life and times, The Brothers York weaves together the stories of the battles between the Lancasters and the Yorks, Nevilles, Percys, Woodvilles, Rivers, and more.  More importantly, it also puts into context the lives of Edward's brothers George, the Duke of Clarence, and Richard, who would become King Richard III.  

What the average person knows of this family is probably little to nothing, and then their 'knowledge' is based on Shakespeare's evil King Richard destroying his family.  In Penn's Brothers York we meet the ambitious Edward and his advisor Warwick "the Kingmaker", the fascinating politics behind how Edward rewarded his favorites, and his unusual (and questionable) ways of constantly increasing the royal coffers.  Edward focused on the image of the royal family as a united front, heads above everyone else, and Penn argues that if Edward and his brothers had been able to remain united, there is probably little they couldn't have done.  But politics and personalities interfere and jealousy and the lures of ever increasing power were too much to keep the brothers united.  But the fractures didn't occur the way you think they did.

This is not your Shakespearean family, but a well-researched, well-written, neutral, and detailed account of Edward IV's reign, the multiple betrayals by the spoiled Clarence, and the warrior brother Richard, who was loyal to his elder brother until Edward's death- but not beyond.  The Brothers York is a fascinating history of brothers seeking to end conclusively the "Wars of the Roses", written in a casual, story-telling style that, combined with the drama and larger than life personalities involved, makes the pages fly by. An absolute must read for history lovers!       

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The Honey-Don't List

The Honey-Don't List- Christina Lauren
Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Release Date: March 24, 2020

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Carey Douglas has worked for home remodeling and design gurus Melissa and Rusty Tripp for nearly a decade. A country girl at heart, Carey started in their first store at sixteen, and—more than anyone would suspect—has helped them build an empire. With a new show and a book about to launch, the Tripps are on the verge of superstardom. There’s only one problem: America’s favorite couple can’t stand each other.

James McCann, MIT graduate and engineering genius, was originally hired as a structural engineer, but the job isn’t all he thought it’d be. The last straw? Both he and Carey must go on book tour with the Tripps and keep the wheels from falling off the proverbial bus.

Unfortunately, neither of them is in any position to quit. Carey needs health insurance, and James has been promised the role of a lifetime if he can just keep the couple on track for a few more weeks. While road-tripping with the Tripps up the West Coast, Carey and James vow to work together to keep their bosses’ secrets hidden, and their own jobs secure. But if they stop playing along—and start playing for keeps—they may have the chance to build something beautiful together…

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Designer Carey Douglas has worked for Melissa and Rusty Tripp for ten years, from a small town shop to HGTV megastardom.  Her ideas are the heart of the show and she gets no credit, she works 24 hour days for Melissa and gets nothing but stress.  She's looking forward to a well earned weeklong vacation as the married couple travel the West Coast to promote their book on how to have a happy marriage.  The problem? The couple can't be near each other without fighting.  Now Carey is stuck on the tour with engineer/assistant James to try and keep the reno world's favorite couple from killing each other, and their brand.

Remember the movie America's Sweethearts? In public, John Cusak and Catherine Zeta-Jones were the world's perfect couple.  In private, they were a disaster and it was up to Julia Roberts and Billie Crystal to keep the fiction going.  Take that idea and blend it with HGTV renovation shows with cute married couples and you have an idea of The Honey-Don't List.  Only worse.  Poor Carey Douglas has been working for the Tripps since she was 16 and pretty much sees them as her second family.  But now Rusty is an alcoholic womanizer who doesn't seem to care if he gets caught and ruins the brand image, and Melissa is a tightly wound, abusive perfectionist.  Carey is loyal despite the insane hours, the constant stress, and the fact that all the ideas and designs are hers and Melissa is taking all the credit.  That's what you do for family, right?  It takes newcomer James McCann to make her confront the situation as it really is- and to look at the changes she might want to make so she can actually have a life. 

James came onto the show as an engineer and was instantly made Rusty's assistant.  Great job if that means working on projects, lousy job when it means picking up his dry-cleaning.  He resents the role and sees it (and Carey) as beneath him- until he's forced by the show's Powers That Be to join the Tripps' road tour and realizes just how much work Carey does as Melissa's assistant. It's the first time the two have really been around each other and they go from not really liking each other to very definitely liking each other.  I enjoyed how their relationship moved very naturally- there was no insta-lust, no I-hate-you-now-love-you. It was two people locked in a stressful situation working together to contain the complete dumpster fire that is their bosses' marriage, and discovering each other, and themselves along the way.  Having worked in stressful jobs with abusive bosses, I have to say that I thought Christina Lauren hit the nail on the head with Carey's conflicted relationship with her job (and Melissa).  At what time do you have to emotionally disconnect from something you built, knowing the situation will never get better?  When do you acknowledge that you owe yourself something before the job and the people doing nothing but taking from you?  James helps Carey allow herself the confidence to stand up for herself, which was both sweet and empowering.  Of course he messes things up too, and there isn't smooth sailing for Carey and James, but where would be the fun in that?

The Honey-Don't List has the humor, wit, and occasional wackiness I've come to look for from Christina Lauren (The UnHoneymooners).  It's a sparkling, fun read and perfect to lift your mood at any time! A must-read! 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Unhoneymooners

The Unhoneymooners- Christina Lauren
Gallery Books/Simon and Schuster
Release Date: May 14, 2019

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis: Olive Torres is used to being the unlucky twin: from inexplicable mishaps to a recent layoff, her life seems to be almost comically jinxed. By contrast, her sister Ami is an eternal champion . . . she even managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a slew of contests. Unfortunately for Olive, the only thing worse than constant bad luck is having to spend the wedding day with the best man (and her nemesis), Ethan Thomas.

Olive braces herself for wedding hell, determined to put on a brave face, but when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. Suddenly there’s a free honeymoon up for grabs, and Olive will be damned if Ethan gets to enjoy paradise solo.

Agreeing to a temporary truce, the pair head for Maui. After all, ten days of bliss is worth having to assume the role of loving newlyweds, right? But the weird thing is . . . Olive doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, the more she pretends to be the luckiest woman alive, the more it feels like she might be.

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Olive Torres is the unlucky twin, the pessimist, the one who looks for how it can all go wrong and plan accordingly. But she doesn't consider the possible downsides of her twin's wedding being funded exclusively through a series of free contest wins.  This means a lime green bridesmaid dress and a huge seafood buffet that she can't eat because she's allergic to shellfish.  What she also doesn't consider is: do you really want to eat free seafood? Halfway through the wedding toasts the answer to that is: no when the entire seafood eating wedding party gets violent food poisoning.  Ami wants Olive to pretend to be her and take the free Maui honeymoon, Ami's husband Dane says the same to his brother Ethan.  Is a free ten day trip to Maui worth pretending to be married to someone you hate?

The Unhoneymooners is a fast paced comedy that hits the ground running with Ami's wedding and shows right off all the differences between the twins. Ami is organized, Olive goes with things as they need to happen; Ami is focused on winning things for free, Olive prefers not to wear a hideous bridesmaid dress just because it is free.  Olive believes she has bad luck- crazy things always happen to her instead of others, she was laid off two months ago and still hasn't gotten a new job, and now she's paired with Ethan Thomas in the wedding party.  She's convinced Ethan hates her, which is a problem since he's her new brother-in-law.  The two bicker and snark at each other constantly.  But neither are willing to turn down a free trip to Maui just because they have to pretend to be married. The fake honeymoon is like the wedding: a comedy of errors and a series of problems that end up showing Olive and Ethan that whatever they feel for each other, it isn't hate.  But can they keep the vacation romance going when they're home and surrounded by real life?

This was my first book by Christina Lauren, but certainly won't be my last. It was laugh out loud hysterical (don't read this book in public!), touchingly sweet and romantic, and heartbreakingly sad all in turns.  Even assuming Olive and Ethan will get over the fight at the end, you hurt for Olive having to go through it- although I was also super proud of Olive for pointing out to Ethan during his big gesture apology that he had hurt her and that wasn't something a ridiculously romantic moment could fix, and equally happy with Ethan for agreeing with her. Both of them grow throughout the book and are surprised by it, which I liked, and even the secondary characters like Ami and Dane had enough character and depth to make them real and impactful (which not all authors can/will do).  

A bit of a Pride and Prejudice comedy of errors, The Unhoneymooners is sweet and sassy, fun and funny, and an absolute must read!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Ten Caesars

Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine- Barry Strauss
Simon & Schuster
Release Date: March 5, 2019

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Barry Strauss’s Ten Caesars is the story of the Roman Empire from rise to reinvention, from Augustus, who founded the empire, to Constantine, who made it Christian and moved the capital east to Constantinople.

During these centuries Rome gained in splendor and territory, then lost both. The empire reached from modern-day Britain to Iraq, and gradually emperors came not from the old families of the first century but from men born in the provinces, some of whom had never even seen Rome. By the fourth century, the time of Constantine, the Roman Empire had changed so dramatically in geography, ethnicity, religion, and culture that it would have been virtually unrecognizable to Augustus.

In the imperial era Roman women—mothers, wives, mistresses—had substantial influence over the emperors, and Strauss also profiles the most important among them, from Livia, Augustus’s wife, to Helena, Constantine’s mother. But even women in the imperial family faced limits and the emperors often forced them to marry or divorce for purely political reasons.

Rome’s legacy remains today in so many ways, from language, law, and architecture to the seat of the Roman Catholic Church. Strauss examines this enduring heritage through the lives of the men who shaped it: Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Diocletian and Constantine. Over the ages, they learned to maintain the family business—the government of an empire—by adapting when necessary and always persevering no matter the cost. Ten Caesars is essential history as well as fascinating biography.

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A concise, yet detailed, history of the Roman Empire and its emperors in one book seems like it would be impossible.  Yet in Ten Emperors: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine Barry Strauss manages the feat.  Structuring his book around ten of the most influential of the Roman emperors (Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Diocletian, and Constantine) Strauss provides readers with a comprehensible, detailed view of the Roman Empire: its rise, its fall, and everything in between.

Each chapter provides a biography of an emperor, examines the larger world he grew up in, how he came to the throne, and the impacts he had on the empire- whether for better or worse.  Strauss also explores the sources this information comes from and reminds us that many of the more famous stories (like Nero fiddling while Rome burned) were written by people with their own agendas and not a recording of unbiased facts.  Whether today we can believe what is generally "known" about many of these figures is often up for debate and Strauss does not hesitate to say so.

Another excellent highlight of Ten Caesars is Strauss' crediting the powerful women involved in the empire.  Mothers, sisters, and wives of emperors get their due here as influential people- even if women technically played no part in Roman politics.  Strauss is upfront about the idea that Roman society itself often felt threatened by powerful women, and so stories of women poisoning their emperors husbands, fathers, brothers, etc abounded.  The reality probably involved far less poisoning.  Although since women around the emperors were used as pawns to strengthen dynastic alliances, and those alliances often involved the emperors than murdering the men their women married, one can see the temptation.

Although often repetitive, Ten Caesars is well-researched, well written, and maintains a steady pace.  Whether novice or expert on the Roman Empire and its emperors, any reader will enjoy Strauss' Ten Emperors and come away from it with a more detailed understanding of this fascinating and complicated period of history, and the men and women who influenced it.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Risk of Rogues

The Risk of Rogues (Sinful Suitors novella)- Sabrina Jeffries
Simon & Schuster
Release Date: July 2, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Lady Anne is shocked when Captain Lord Hartley Corry—her former fiancé who left for India after her father forbade their marriage—returns to England and acts as if everything is all water under the bridge. He never fought for her hand or eloped with her as he promised and he thinks she’d still be willing to marry him? Not a chance.

Hartley is equally shocked to literally run into his past love upon arriving at his brother’s house. Though he yearns to take advantage of this second chance to woo his beloved, he can hardly admit that he is secretly a spy—at least not until he can be sure he trusts her. But convincing Lady Anne to let him prove his sincerity by courting her respectably all over again might be his undoing. Because all he wants is to show her how much of a rogue he can be when the right woman is in his arms…

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Lady Anne is known for her unique hats, and Captain Hartley "Hart" Corry is known as a gambler, a wastrel, and a rogue.  While Anne knows her reputation for hats is well earned, she's not sure about Hart's reputation.  If true, she should steer clear of the man she once hoped to marry.  If not, she needs to find out why he never eloped with her as promised and if they can still have a future.  Hart has to convince Anne they are still right for each other without telling her any of his past actions of future plans- all of which revolve around spying.  Can he balance both worlds and come out the winner?

Readers to Jeffries' Sinful Suitors series will recognize Hart and Lady Anne as secondary characters from the other books and be thrilled that they get their own story.  And Jeffries works her usual magic, bringing humor, heart, and happy endings to even a quick novella.  While I'm not usually a fan of second chance romance, Rogues is the perfect kind of second chance story- two people who were kept apart because their parents disapproved, but who were both too young to be ready for marriage at the time- even if they didn't realize it.  Both have lived and grown and discovered themselves as people, and now get to meet again for the first time.

Anne is a practical woman trying to look after herself and her mother, and no longer the romantic, lovestruck teen that Hart knew, so he's both surprised and suspicious when she asks practical questions about things like his future plans and money.  I loved how Anne stood up for herself, refusing to be swept along by passion and chemistry (which was instant and electric) and insisting that she was right to try to get to the truth of Hart's life and reputation before agreeing to marry him.  Both of them were smart enough to recognize that they weren't necessarily the same people they had been eleven years ago and they needed to get to known each other again- but Hart especially was also smart enough to know that the kind of chemistry they had was not something that should be ignored.  Readers can look forward to some truly romantic grand gestures as each works to prove their love to the other, and a most satisfying happy ending in true Sabrina Jeffries' style: discovering the true risk of rogues!

Sabrina Jeffries couldn't finish off her Sinful Suitors series (The Secret of Flirting) without giving us Lady Anne and Captain Hartley's story, and here it is! A short novella, The Risk of Rogues gives readers either the final helping of Jeffries' Suitors characters or, if this is your first taste, a delightful sample of what's in store when you read the rest of the series.  

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Secret of Flirting

The Secret of Flirting (Sinful Suitors #5)- Sabrina Jeffries
Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster
Release Date: March 27, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis: The moment spymaster Baron Fulkham meets the stunning Princess Aurore of Chanay, he's positive her royal persona is a ruse and that she's actually Monique Servais, the mysterious actress he met three years before in Dieppe. But as he pursues his suspicions, he uncovers a plot of attempted assassination and betrayal that could very well destroy his career, expose his own secrets...and ruin the woman he's rapidly coming to love.

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When Baron Gregory Fulkham and actress Monique Servais first meet he's condescending and she's insulted.  Three years later he's helping hold the international conference that will choose the first ruler of an independent Belgium and she's playing the role of a lifetime: her nearly twin cousin Princess Aurore of Chanay and a strong contender for Belgium's throne. Fulkham is almost sure its the same woman, but why is the Chanay contingent calling her a princess? He needs to discover Monique's secrets, try to protect his own, prevent an international incident, and an assassination attempt all without falling for a woman who, as a princess or an actress, is completely wrong for a wife. And that's before things get complicated!

From the very beginning Monique defies all conventions- society's and those of a stereotypical actress. She doesn't want to meet rich and titled English lords who fall for her beauty on stage.  She wants to work hard and take care of her ailing grandmother.  When Fulkham, both rich and titled, claims tragedies are the only real theater after she's just professed to enjoy comedies (and just acted in one!) she doesn't keep her opinions to herself but lets him have it with no hesitation. When her great-uncle appears claiming he needs her to do him a favor, she doesn't want his money or connections- she just wants her grandmother taken care of.  Where most actresses would see playing a real life princess the role of a lifetime, she sees a disaster in the making.  Monique is realistic, loyal, brave, and intelligent- everything Gregory Fulkham needs.

Fulkham is the shadowy spymaster friend we've met in previous Sinful Suitors books, but know almost nothing about- and here we find out why.  Fulkham battles demons from his childhood by trying to lock himself away from the world and the potential for being hurt again.  It was delightful to watch Monique get past all his defenses without even trying, and equally delightful to watch him come to grips with his emotions and work out how to save his job and reputation AND have Monique for a wife.  And of course, his friends are more than happy to watch him fall to their level: that of a man deeply in love!

I enjoyed reading about a moment in history I hadn't even considered asking about before: how did Prince Leopold become King of the Belgiums? Even a version with a bit of a romantic fictional twist to it was more than I'd ever thought of before and definitely makes me interested to learn more about it.  But even if you don't care about the history, or haven't read any of the rest of the Sinful Suitors series before, you'll love The Secret of Flirting.  Fast-paced, with sparkling dialogue, plenty of wit and delightful characters, Jeffries' newest succeeds in keeping you glued to the page from first to last!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review 

Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: and their race to save the world's most precious manuscripts- Joshua Hammmer
Simon & Schuster
Release Date: April 19, 2016

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis:  In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that were crumbling in the trunks of desert shepherds. His goal: to preserve this crucial part of the world’s patrimony in a gorgeous library. But then Al Qaeda showed up at the door.

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the incredible story of how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist and historian from the legendary city of Timbuktu, became one of the world's greatest and most brazen smugglers by saving texts from sure destruction.  With bravery and patience, he organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 377,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali. This real-life thriller is a reminder that ordinary citizens often do the most to protect the beauty and imagination of their culture.  It is also the story of a man who, through extreme circumstances discovered his higher calling and was changed forever by it.

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The diverse and beautiful history of Western Africa- Timbuktu in particular- and its influential role in science, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and music is little known to the Western world. But the role of Timbuktu both past and present is celebrated here in Joshua Hammer's outstanding The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu.  This is the story of Abdel Kader Haidara, who becomes obsessed with the manuscript legacy of Mali and Timbuktu in particular.  From the 1980s on he worked to convince local families who had, for generations, guarded treasured, fragile manuscripts that it is time for the manuscripts to be protected in modern ways. 45 libraries were built in Timbuktu to house and conserve over 377,000 manuscripts written on goat, sheep, even fish skin.  Some are loose pages while others are bound and decorated with gold and illustrated in vividly colored geometric designs. From the twelfth century onwards, these manuscripts contain generations of writings on Sufism, music, law, astronomy, and history.  Haidara works with professionals from across the globe to perfect conservation methods for these texts and almost single handedly helps revitalize the cultural and scholarly importance of Timbuktu.

But then in 2012 came Al Qaeda: Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, Iyad Ag Ghali and their jihadi extremists. Timbuktu is taken and becomes a center for their push to control all of Mali and develop a modern day caliphate.  Everyone knows what Al Qaeda does to art, manuscripts, and the beauty of past ages that does not line up with their view of the world.  It was only a matter of time, Haidara knew, before the treasured texts were destroyed.

And so begins the story of how Haidara, his co-workers, and everyday citizens of Mali worked to smuggle over 377,000 texts out of the libraries they had built in Timbuktu and to the safety of Bamako in Southern Mali.  Perhaps one of the most dangerous and large-scale modern day smuggling operations used cars, donkey carts, boats, and anything else they could find to rescue this incredible cultural treasure.  Part history, part modern journalism, this book is a brilliant, true-life adventure story celebrating the bravery of ordinary citizens who believe passionately in doing the right thing- and that protecting beauty and history is worth overcoming all odds.  It is a triumph of good over evil,  while reminding us that these dangers are still very much present.

Hammer's familiarity with the region through multiple trips helps him bring to life Timbuktu's colorful story.  This brilliantly written, fast-paced page turner lives up to its name and will keep readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish, leaving them both thrilled and inspired by this group of devoted librarians, who are truly bad-ass in the best sense fo the word.