Cannonball Read 12

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The first book in a historical romance series set during the Scottish Enlightenment.

Provoked (Enlightenment, #1) by Joanna Chambers

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I should have read this so much sooner! I’ve owned a Kindle version for years now. I guess I was thinking this was more like your standard “historical” romance, with the focus mostly on the romance, and where history often takes a backseat, or gets a bit imaginary (cough Tessa Dare cough). And don’t get me wrong, I enjoy those types of books often when done well. They are a fluffy good time. But there’s something about the style this book is written in, which […]

Mediocre offering in a good series

Edinburgh Midnight by Carole Lawrence

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The Ian Hamilton Mysteries is a historical mystery series set in Edinburgh, Scotland in the late 1800s. It focuses on the work and personal life of fictional Detective Inspector Ian Hamilton. Each novel involves Hamilton and his partner Detective Sergeant Dickerson investigating a heinous murder. They are often helped by a street urchin named Derek McNair, Ian’s doctor-in-training brother, Donald, and Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, really). I loved the first two novels, Edinburgh Twilight and Edinburgh Dusk, when I read them a few years ago. […]

Slow build up to a crazy bananapants ending

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Mexican Gothic is the story of Noemí Taboada, a 22 year old socialite in 1950s Mexico City. Noemí’s life is filled with parties, shopping, concerts, and a rotating cast of beaus. Despite having a sharp mind, no one except her father looks past her beautiful face. Noemí’s cousin Catalina married an English man named Virgil Doyle and moved to his family’s estate in the mountains the previous year. Catalina has sent Noemí’s father a disturbing letter claiming her husband is trying to poison her and […]

“It is difficult, after the passage of more than a century, to understand the extent to which the train robbery of 1855 shocked the sensibilities of Victorian England.” #CBRBingo – Money!

The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton

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I would love to see the movie version of this, which Crichton also wrote and directed. Sean Connery as Edward Pierce, the mastermind behind the robbery that threw Victorian England for a loop. He really was a smart guy. It’s obvious Crichton did his research about the period (apparently he became obsessed with the Victorian criminal underworld). The book is chock full of criminal slang. You catch the meaning eventually, and it certainly lends an atmosphere. This was a bit hard to get into at […]

”My name, since you raise the topic, is Arthur Aloysius Kimberley de Brabazon Secretan. What would you do in my place?” “Leave the country … You poor bastard, you never stood a chance.” #CBRBingo – The Roaring 20’s

Slippery Creatures (The Will Darling Adventures, #1) by K.J. Charles

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I loved everything about this. K.J. Charles is honestly spoiling me for other historical romance authors. There’s just something about her style (very detailed, historically accurate, flawed but compelling characters) that gets me right in the pleasure center. She also doesn’t just write in one time period or keep it to straight-up romance. She’s always messing around with spy fiction or mystery or golden age pulp (here and Think of England) or jewelry heists or homages to Georgette Heyer regency fiction. Sometimes many of these […]



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