A Potpourri of Opinions

  The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise Colleen Oakley Publication date: March 28, 2023 by Berkley Genre: Women's Fiction, Humor Rating: 5 👢👢👢👢👢 Summary: Twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. Preferably one where she can continue sitting around in sweatpants and playing video games nineteen hours a day. Since she has no credit or money to speak of, her options are limited, so when an opportunity to work as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman falls into her lap, she takes it. One slip on the rug. That’s all it took for Louise Wilt’s daughter to demand that Louise have a full-time nanny living with her. Never mind that she can still walk fine, finish her daily crossword puzzle, and pour the two fingers of vodka she drinks every afternoon. Bottom line -- Louise wants a caretaker even less than Tanner wants to be one. The two start off their living arrangement happily ignoring each other until Tanner starts to notice things—weird things. Like, why does...

Her Lost Words Stephanie Marie Thornton Publication date: March 28, 2023 by Berkley Genre: Historical Fiction Rating: 5 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 Summary: From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to Frankenstein , a tale of two literary legends—a mother and daughter—discovering each other and finding themselves along the way, from USA Today bestselling author Stephanie Marie Thornton. 1792. As a child, Mary Wollstonecraft longed to disappear during her father’s violent rages. Instead, she transforms herself into the radical author of the landmark volume A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , in which she dares to propose that women are equal to men. From conservative England to the blood-drenched streets of revolutionary France, Mary refuses to bow to society’s conventions and instead supports herself with her pen until an illicit love affair challenges her every belief about romance and marriage. When she gives birth to a daughter and is stricken with childbed fever, Mary fears it will be her many ...

  A Noble Cunning: The Countess and the Tower Patricia Bernstein Publication date: March 7, 2023 by History Through Fiction Genre: Historical Fiction Rating: 5 👢👢👢👢👢 Summary:  Based on the true story of Winifred Maxwell, a Catholic in anti-Catholic England. Scotland, 1716 - Traveling alone through a frightful snowstorm, Bethan Glentaggart is desperate to get to London where her husband languishes in the Tower of London. As the date of Gavin's beheading rapidly approaches, Bethan has only her wits and her women friends to support her against King George. Will she be able to free Gavin? Will she even be allowed to see him? My Thoughts: Extraordinary story! Bernstein showcases a keen ability for storytelling in this debut novel. In what seems to be nothing short of unfathomable, Bernstein unveils the true tale of a woman who defied the odds to save her husband from the Tower of London. Although this book could very easily have fallen into a quagmire of facts, Bernstein ensur...

  Strangers in the Night Heather Webb Publication date: March 21, 2023 by Harper Collins Genre: Historical Fiction  Rating: 5 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 Summary: It was the tumultuous romance that scandalized the world: Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner fought, loved, and lived life to the hilt. Now their unbridled story is brought vividly to life by Heather Webb, the bestselling author of Meet Me in Monaco and The Next Ship Home. In the golden age of Hollywood, two of the brightest stars would define—and defy—an era… She was the small-town southern beauty transformed into a Hollywood love goddess. He was the legendary crooner whose voice transfixed the world. They were Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra. Separately they were irresistible; together they were an explosive combination. Ava’s star is rising just as Frank’s career—and public image as a family man—is taking a hit. Gone are the days of the screaming bobbysoxers and chart-topping hits. Ava, however, finds herself gracing the front page of ev...

  Madame Pommery, Creator of Brut Champagne Rebecca Rosenberg Publication date: March 21, 2023 by Lion Heart Publishing Summary: A Champagne Widows Novel Champagne, France, 1860. Madame Pommery, an etiquette teacher and orphanage founder, loses her husband and is forced to support her family. With no experience, the forty-year-old widow decides to make champagne. Her unique vision is to change it from a sweet dessert beverage to a dry, crisp wine to be enjoyed anytime. When champagne makers refuse to teach her their craft, she forges ahead on her own and secretly begins the excavation of champagne caves under the Reims city dump. Soon after, her son and her entire crew are conscripted to fight the Franco-Prussian war, leaving Madame Pommery alone to struggle with her champagne dreams. After Napoleon and a hundred thousand French troops are captured, the Prussians invaded France, and Prussian General Frederick Franz occupies Madame Pommery’s house as his army headquarters. Undaunted...

  Night Flight to Paris  (Kate Rees #2) Cara Black  Publication date: March 7, 2023 by Soho Crime Genre: Historical Thriller Rating: 5 👢👢👢👢👢 Summary: It is once again up to American markswoman Kate Rees to take the shot that just might win—or lose—World War II, in the follow up to national bestseller Three Hours in Paris. Three missions. Two cities. One shot to win the war. October 1942: it’s been two years since American markswoman Kate Rees was sent to Paris on a British Secret Service mission to assassinate Hitler. Since then, she has left spycraft behind to take a training job as a sharpshooting instructor in the Scottish Highlands. But her quiet life is violently disrupted when Colonel Stepney, her former handler, drags her back into the fray for a dangerous three-pronged mission in Paris. Each task is more dangerous than the next: Deliver a package of penicillin to sick children. Assassinate a high-ranking German operative whose knowledge of secret invasion pla...