The Alienist by Caleb Carr

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Title: The Alienist

Author: Caleb Carr
Series: Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Book #1)

Genre: Thriller / Mystery / Historical Fiction

Length: 599 pages

Published: 1994

Publisher: Bantam Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) The year is 1896, the place, New York City. On a cold March night New York Times reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned to the East River by his friend and former Harvard classmate Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a psychologist, or "alienist." On the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge, they view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy, a prostitute from one of Manhattan's infamous brothels.

The newly appointed police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, in a highly unorthodox move, enlists the two men in the murder investigation, counting on the reserved Kreizler's intellect and Moore's knowledge of New York's vast criminal underworld. They are joined by Sara Howard, a brave and determined woman who works as a secretary in the police department. Laboring in secret (for alienists, and the emerging discipline of psychology, are viewed by the public with skepticism at best), the unlikely team embarks on what is a revolutionary effort in criminology-- amassing a psychological profile of the man they're looking for based on the details of his crimes. Their dangerous quest takes them into the tortured past and twisted mind of a murderer who has killed before--and will kill again before the hunt is over.

Fast-paced and gripping, infused with a historian's exactitude, The Alienist conjures up the Gilded Age and its untarnished underside: verminous tenements and opulent mansions, corrupt cops and flamboyant gangsters, shining opera houses and seamy gin mills. Here is a New York during an age when questioning society's belief that all killers are born, not made, could have unexpected and mortal consequences.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

So the plot was excellent. I enjoyed the search for the killer, the use of "new" technology to examine the bodies and the crime scenes, and the use of what we now would call profiling. There were some great little subplots by including political intrigue, sinister crime bosses, and even romance. 

My main issue with the book was that it was slow to develop the story. Things didn't really pick up for awhile and it was hard to get into the book. There were a lot of philosophical type debates that went on and sometimes those would make my eyes glaze over, so I'd find myself having to put the book away for a day or so. Otherwise this was a pretty good read.

You can purchase The Alienist through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Alienist? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Rose of Fire by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

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Title: The Rose of Fire

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Series: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books (Book #2.5)

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 35 pages

Published: 2012 (originally in 2011)

Publisher: HarperCollins

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Set at the time of the Spanish Inquisition in the fifteenth century, “Rose of Fire” tells the story of the origins of the mysterious labyrinthine library, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, which lies at the heart of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s novels The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel’s Game, and now The Prisoner of Heaven.

My Review:

I give this book a 3 out of 5. 

While it was pretty cool to learn some of the origin of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, I felt like the story was lacking. I loved the origin of the plans for the Cemetery, and how they came into the hands of an ancestor of Daniel Sempere. I would have loved to learn about who he found to help him make sense of the plans and build the Cemetery because that's what I thought this story was going to be about. It's free for Kindle on Amazon, so it is worth the read.

You can purchase The Rose of Fire through Amazon in Kindle format. 

Have you read The Rose of Fire? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

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Title: The Prisoner of Heaven

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Series: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books (Book #3)

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 279 pages

Published: 2012 (originally in 2011)

Publisher: HarperCollins

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Barcelona,1957. It is Christmas, and Daniel Sempere and his wife Bea have much to celebrate. They have a beautiful new baby son named Julian, and their close friend Fermín Romero de Torres is about to be wed. But their joy is eclipsed when a mysterious stranger visits the Sempere bookshop and threatens to divulge a terrible secret that has been buried for two decades in the city's dark past. His appearance plunges Fermín and Daniel into a dangerous adventure that will take them back to the 1940's and the dark early days of Franco's dictatorship. The terrifying events of that time launch them on a journey fraught with jealousy, suspicion, vengeance, and lies, a search for the truth that will put into peril everything they love and ultimately transform their lives.

Full of intrigue and emotion, The Prisoner of Heaven is a majestic novel in which the threads of The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game converge under the spell of literature and bring us toward the enigma of the mystery hidden at the heart of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a collection of lost treasures known only to its few initiates and the very core of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's enchanting fictional world.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

This was roughly half the length of the previous two books, and the story moved quickly. Here we learn Fermin's story: how he was arrested and came to be hunted by Fumero, how he escaped prison, and how he met David Martin - the hero of The Angel's Game. The story also leaves off with the reader wondering if there is more to the story - and whether Zafon will write another installment in this series. I've already found that there is a Kindle e-book available which will give us the history on the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, called The Rose of Fire. I will be reading that in the next couple of days and will report back. 

You can purchase The Prisoner of Heaven through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Prisoner of Heaven? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

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Title: The Angel's Game

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Series: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books (Book #2)

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 531 pages

Published: 2009 (originally in 2008)

Publisher: Penguin Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martin, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city's underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner. Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed--a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, and perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realizes that there is a connection between his haunting book and the shadows that surround his home. 

Once again, Zafon takes us into a dark, gothic universe first seen in the "Shadow of the Wind" and creates a breathtaking adventure of intrigue, romance, and tragedy. Through a dizzingly constructed labyrinth of secrets, the magic of books, passion, and friendship blend into a masterful story.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This mainly gets a four because of how slow the book seemed to go. It took forever to get to the point of finally figuring out the mystery. Otherwise I fully enjoyed the story. It is worth the read if you have time to make it through some of the slower, boring parts. Probably the most frustrating part of it to me was that David finds the hole in the wall in the back room early on but doesn't bother to try to open it until near the very end - just has a bad feeling and tells Isabella to stay out of there. There's a surprisingly high death toll in this book, and even in the end the reader is left to wonder whether or not David is mad.

You can purchase The Angel's Game through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Angel's Game? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

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Title: The Shadow of the Wind

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Series: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books (Book #1)

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 487 pages

Published: 2005 (originally in 2001)

Publisher: Penguin Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Bibliophiles will enjoy the mystery of The Shadow of the Wind. Centering around a young boy finding a book that no one seems to know about, this book tells a tale of growing up in post-war Barcelona while intermingling love, danger, and mystery. Daniel finds a book in what is named the Cemetery of Forgotten Books called The Shadow of the Wind, and written by a Julian Carax. When he falls in love with the book and starts looking for more novels by the author, he finds that someone has been systematically destroying the copies of Carax's books for years.

Together with a mysterious man who seems to be on the run from the sinister Inspector Fumero (and who becomes a very good friend), Daniel starts looking for information regarding Julian Carax and trying to find out what has happened to him. In the end nothing is as it seemed in the beginning and Daniel finally learns the truth, with nearly devastating results. 

This book is excellent. I'm getting ready to start reading the second book in the trilogy, The Angel's Game, and I can't wait to report back to you all on whether I enjoyed that one as much as the first. 

You can purchase The Shadow of the Wind through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Shadow of the Wind? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

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Title: The Distant Hours

Author: Kate Morton

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 562 pages

Published: 2010

Publisher: Atria

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WWII. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941. 

Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it. 

Morton once again enthralls readers with an atmospheric story featuring unforgettable characters beset by love and circumstance and haunted by memory, that reminds us of the rich power of storytelling.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This was rather slow going for me. I was fascinated by the story from the beginning, so I believe the slowness was more because I have been distracted with other things and just was momentarily not interested in reading. Once I got over halfway through, I was unable to put it down. 

The story is separated into five parts, each part revealing the cast of the characters, their voices, and another piece of the puzzle. Each part includes what is happening in the present (1992) and what is happening in the past, in 1941 and even earlier than that, as well. While the main character, Edie, is left to come up with her own theory of events, the author gives the reader the chance in Part Five to learn what truly happened on that fateful October night in 1941. Edie's suppositions are not completely wrong, but you'll just have to read for yourself to find out the truth. 

You can purchase The Distant Hours through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Distant Hours? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

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Title: The Forgotten Garden

Author: Kate Morton

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 648 pages

Published: 2008

Publisher: Pan Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, and a mystery. The Forgotten Garden is a captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory from the international best-selling author Kate Morton. 

Cassandra is lost, alone and grieving. Her much loved grandmother, Nell, has just died and Cassandra, her life already shaken by a tragic accident ten years ago, feels like she has lost everything dear to her. But an unexpected and mysterious bequest from Nell turns Cassandra's life upside down and ends up challenging everything she thought she knew about herself and her family. 

Inheriting a book of dark and intriguing fairy tales written by Eliza Makepeace - the Victorian authoress who disappeared mysteriously in the early twentieth century - Cassandra takes her courage in both hands to follow in the footsteps of Nell on a quest to find out the truth about their history, their family and their past; little knowing that in the process, she will also discover a new life for herself.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Wow. I feel like I say this all the time, but this was a book that captured my attention and piqued my interest right from the start. I really loathed those moments when I had to put it down. The story kept jumping in time, which was a bit confusing at first, but each chapter was labeled with where and when it takes place. It was incredible to get the story, not just from Cassandra in present day, but also from her grandmother, Nell, and even further back in time to Eliza Makepeace and both Adeline and Rose Mountrachet as well. 

Bit by bit, Morton draws you further into the story and reveals bits and pieces of the mystery. There were several times where I was like "Oh my gosh, X is what happened!" and I was wrong, so I love that it threw me off a couple of times as I formed theories. Definitely a must read for fans of Kate Morton, or for anyone that enjoys a good family mystery.

You can purchase The Forgotten Garden through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Forgotten Garden? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

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Title: Fever 1793

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Length: 272 pages

Published: 2000

Publisher: Aladdin

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) It's late summer 1793, and the streets of Philadelphia are abuzz with mosquitoes and rumors of fever. Down near the docks, many have taken ill, and the fatalities are mounting. Now they include Polly, the serving girl at the Cook Coffeehouse. But fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook doesn't get a moment to mourn the passing of her childhood playmate. New customers have overrun her family's coffee shop, located far from the mosquito-infested river, and Mattie's concerns of fever are all but overshadowed by dreams of growing her family's small business into a thriving enterprise. But when the fever begins to strike closer to home, Mattie's struggle to build a new life must give way to a new fight-the fight to stay alive. 

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

It only took me a couple of hours to go through this book - one of the benefits of a young adult book. The story follows young Matilda Cook as she deals with the hardships of an epidemic of yellow fever which has hit Philadelphia. I love the way the author developed her from the begrudging child at the beginning of the book to the capable young woman at the end - all over the space of a few months. This was an excellent and quick read.

You can purchase Fever 1793 through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Fever 1793? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir

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Title: Innocent Traitor

Author: Alison Weir

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 400 pages

Published: 2007

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) I am now a condemned traitor . . . I am to die when I have hardly begun to live.

Historical expertise marries page-turning fiction in Alison Weir’s enthralling debut novel, breathing new life into one of the most significant and tumultuous periods of the English monarchy. It is the story of Lady Jane Grey–“the Nine Days’ Queen”–a fifteen-year-old girl who unwittingly finds herself at the center of the religious and civil unrest that nearly toppled the fabled House of Tudor during the sixteenth century.

The child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother, for whom she is merely a pawn in a dynastic game with the highest stakes, Jane Grey was born during the harrowingly turbulent period between Anne Boleyn’s beheading and the demise of Jane’s infamous great-uncle, King Henry VIII. With the premature passing of Jane’s adolescent cousin, and Henry’s successor, King Edward VI, comes a struggle for supremacy fueled by political machinations and lethal religious fervor.

Unabashedly honest and exceptionally intelligent, Jane possesses a sound strength of character beyond her years that equips her to weather the vicious storm. And though she has no ambitions to rule, preferring to immerse herself in books and religious studies, she is forced to accept the crown, and by so doing sets off a firestorm of intrigue, betrayal, and tragedy.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

This novel was incredibly fascinating. It was beautifully written. Drawing on her vast knowledge of this era of history, the author does justice to a very tragic figure: Queen Jane Grey, who ruled for only nine days. 

I couldn't help but love the innocent Jane, feeling horror at the abuse she suffered as a child, the abuse she later suffered in her marriage bed, and every tragic thing that kept befalling her. A victim of her own birth and rank, Jane is trapped by society, her family, and others.

This was definitely an amazing book. It's not often that a fiction novel brings me to tears, but this one did. Definitely recommend it for any fan of the Tudor era. 

You can purchase Innocent Traitor through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Innocent Traitor? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

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Title: When the Emperor Was Divine

Author: Julie Otsuka

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 144 pages

Published: 2003

Publisher: Anchor

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) On a sunny day in Berkeley, California, in 1942, a woman sees a sign in a post office window, returns to her home, and matter-of-factly begins to pack her family's possessions. Like thousands of other Japanese Americans they have been reclassified, virtually overnight, as enemy aliens and are about to be uprooted from their home and sent to a dusty internment camp in the Utah desert.

In this lean and devastatingly evocative first novel, Julie Otsuka tells their story from five flawlessly realized points of view and conveys the exact emotional texture of their experience: the thin-walled barracks and barbed-wire fences, the omnipresent fear and loneliness, the unheralded feats of heroism. When the Emperor Was Divine is a work of enormous power that makes a shameful episode of our history as immediate as today's headlines.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

This was a sad glimpse into a part of American history that many people forget even happened. During WWII, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, many Japanese-Americans were rounded up and shipped to internment camps or arrested as suspected spies. The story follows a mother and her children as they were forced to leave their home and live in one of these camps. Their father is not with them as he was arrested by the FBI sometime prior and living in a prison camp in Texas. Definitely worth picking up!

You can purchase When the Emperor Was Divine through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read When the Emperor Was Divine? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Boleyn Deceit (#2) by Laura Andersen

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Title: The Boleyn Deceit

Author: Laura Andersen
Series: The Boleyn Trilogy (Book #2)

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Length: 368 pages

Published: 2013

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Henry IX, known as William, is the son of Anne Boleyn and now the leader of England, his regency period finally at an end. His newfound power, however, comes with the looming specter of war with the other major powers of Europe, with strategic alliances that must be forged on both the battlefield and in the bedroom, and with a court, severed by religion, rife with plots to take over the throne. Will trusts only three people: his older sister, Elizabeth; his best friend and loyal counselor, Dominic; and Minuette, a young orphan raised as a royal ward by Anne Boleyn. But as the pressure rises alongside the threat to his life, even they William must begin to question-and to fear....

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Let me preface this that I read an advanced, uncorrected proof of this novel that I won through a Goodreads giveaway. 

I really loved the first book in this trilogy, so when I won the sequel as well, I was super excited. And I was NOT disappointed. I could not put this book down. I felt sadness, grief, anger, disappointment, and joy throughout the whole book. There were some very real "oh my gosh!!!" moments, especially towards the end of the novel. 

If you've read the first book (The Boleyn King) and enjoyed it, definitely pick this up and read it. It comes out November 5th, and you can pre-order it through Amazon (as well as other bookshops).

You can purchase The Boleyn Deceit through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Boleyn Deceit? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Boleyn King (#1) by Laura Andersen

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Title: The Boleyn King

Author: Laura Andersen
Series: The Boleyn Trilogy (Book #1)

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Length: 358 pages

Published: 2013

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) The Boleyn King is the first novel in an enthralling new trilogy. Re-imagining history in sumptuous detail, Laura Andersen takes readers back to the deadly intrigue, turbulent affairs, and treacherous passions of Tudor England - and answers the compelling question What if Anne Boleyn had given Henry VIII the son he so desperately wanted?

Just seventeen years old, Henry IX, known as William, is a king bound by the restraints of the regency yet anxious to prove himself. With the French threatening battle and the Catholics sowing the seeds of rebellion at home, William trusts only three people: his older sister Elizabeth; his best friend and loyal counselor, Dominic; and Minuette, a young orphan raised as a royal ward by William's mother, Anne Boleyn.

Against a tide of secrets, betrayal, and murder, William finds himself fighting for the very soul of his kingdom. Then, when he and Dominic both fall in love with Minuette, romantic obsession looms over a new generation of Tudors. One among them will pay the price for a king's desire, as a shocking twist of fate changes England's fortunes forever.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Admittedly I do not know much about the era that Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn lived in aside from the basics: Anne Boleyn failed to bear him a son and she was executed for treason, freeing him to marry another. So when I saw this alternate history on Goodreads as a giveaway, I had to enter to win because the idea that it posed was too fascinating not to explore. Needless to say I was excited to find the copy in the mail sometime later. (Let me add here that I just found out that I won a copy of the sequel, The Boleyn Deceit, and am now anxiously awaiting its arrival.) It's been sitting here waiting for me to read it for a few months and now that I've finally read it, I can't believe I waited this long!

This is an alternate history novel. The "what if" in this instance being "What if Anne Boleyn bore a healthy, living son to Henry VIII and never been executed for treason?". That's what drew me in. Think how different things in England and even throughout the world would be if this had happened. This is why alternate historical fiction novels fascinate me so much.

Once I started reading The Boleyn King, I really could not put it down. The characters were instantly likeable. The four main characters are the children of Anne Boleyn: Princess Elizabeth and King William; as well as Dominic Courtenay and Genevieve "Minuette" Wyatt. Minuette was born within the same hour as William, and both Elizabeth and Dominic are older than the younger pair. Dominic has long been a close friend of William's and the group's destiny has always seemed to intertwine.

Where there is royalty, there is always some devious plot underfoot to take over the kingdom. And so naturally, there is a plot here. The four friends are drawn into a plot which seems to be leading towards the Catholics trying to take over the throne of England and place the dispossessed princess Mary (William and Elizabeth's older half-sister) on the throne. The plot centers around a document called "The Penitent's Confession" which states that William is not Henry's son but a son borne of incest. 

Through all of this, William must find a way to make peace with the French against the Spanish and keep England under his control. Minuette is by far the character whose point of view we see these events from. It is mostly her journal entries which are found throughout the book, and her life that is in danger. And it is her heart and virtue that are laid bare. Because of course, there is romance lacing through this novel of intrigue. 

I really could not recommend this book more. The author weaves a grand tale of royal intrigue and romance that draws together at the end leaving the reader wanting more. Thank goodness there are two more books in this trilogy! 

You can purchase The Boleyn King through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Boleyn King? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

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Title: The Other Typist

Author: Suzanne Rindell

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Length: 357 pages

Published: 2013

Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Rose Baker seals men’s fates. With a few strokes of the keys that sit before her, she can send a person away for life in prison. A typist in a New York City Police Department precinct, Rose is like a high priestess. Confessions are her job. It is 1923, and while she may hear every detail about shootings, knifings, and murders, as soon as she leaves the interrogation room she is once again the weaker sex, best suited for filing and making coffee.

This is a new era for women, and New York is a confusing place for Rose. Gone are the Victorian standards of what is acceptable. All around her women bob their hair, they smoke, they go to speakeasies. Yet prudish Rose is stuck in the fading light of yesteryear, searching for the nurturing companionship that eluded her childhood. When glamorous Odalie, a new girl, joins the typing pool, despite her best intentions Rose falls under Odalie’s spell. As the two women navigate between the sparkling underworld of speakeasies by night and their work at the station by day, Rose is drawn fully into Odalie’s high-stakes world. And soon her fascination with Odalie turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

I won a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. 

I really enjoyed this. The whole book is told from Rose's point of view, starting out with explaining what she does as a typist at the precinct. She introduces the cast of characters one by one, and then Odalie walks in for her job interview. She's immediately mesmerized, fascinated, even obsessed. When Odalie drops a brooch on her way out, Rose picks it up and stashes it in her desk with every intention to return it. 

As the story progresses, Rose watches with jealousy as Odalie makes friends with the other two typists first, before finally going to lunch with Rose. After an altercation with her roommate, Rose ends up moving in with Odalie. From there, things seem to spiral out of control. Rose even makes brief mention of her doctor throughout the story, leaving the reader to wonder exactly what happened to cause her to end up in psychiatric care. 

As the story unfolds, you can't help but get drawn even further into the mystery. Just who is Odalie? Eventually all is revealed. This truly was a brilliant novel and I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction. 

You can purchase The Other Typist through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Other Typist? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

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Title: Slaughterhouse-Five

Author: Kurt Vonnegut

Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Science, & War Fiction

Length: 275 pages

Published: 1976

Publisher: Dell

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Don't let the ease of reading fool you - Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters."

Slaughterhouse-Five is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is also as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy - and humor.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This was...strange. It took me 90% of the book to decide if I liked it or not. The writing was easy to read, which is always great to find. The story was disjointed - but not without reason. The disjointedness of the story was exactly what the author intended. You're following Billy Pilgrim through his life. He becomes unstuck in time and travels back and forth between different eras: WWII, meeting the author Kilgore Trout, time spent in the psychiatric hospital, time spent on the alien planet Tralfamadore, etc. 

I'm going to be reading Galapagos by Vonnegut soon, and I hope I enjoy it as much as I ended up enjoying Slaughterhouse-Five. I definitely plan on picking up more Vonnegut books in the future as well.

You can purchase Slaughterhouse-Five through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Slaughterhouse-Five? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally

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Title: Schindler's List

Author: Thomas Keneally

Genre: Historical, War Fiction

Length: 400 pages

Published: 1993

Publisher: Touchstone

Brief Synopsis:(Taken from Goodreads) Schindler's List recreates the true story of Oskar Schindler, the Czech-born southern German industrialist who risked his life to save over 1,100 of his Jewish factory workers from the death camps in Nazi-occupied Poland. Thomas Keneally's "documentary novel," based on the recollections of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler's Jews), Schindler himself, and other witnesses, is told in a series of snapshot stories. It recounts the lives of the flamboyant profiteer and womanizer Schindler; Schindler's long-suffering wife, Emilie; the brutal SS (Nazi secret service) commandant Amon Goeth; Schindler's quietly courageous factory manager, Itzhak Stern; and dozens of other Jews who underwent the horrors of the Nazi machinery. At the center of the story, though, are the actions and ambitions of Schindler, who comes to Kraków, Poland, seeking his fortune and ends up outwitting the SS to protect his Jewish employees. It is the story of Schindler's unlikely heroism and of one man's attempt to do good in the midst of outrageous evil. The book explores the complex nature of virtue, the importance of individual human life, the role of witnesses to the Holocaust and the attention to rules and details that sustained the Nazi system of terror.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This book was just as good as I'd  heard it was. I can't believe it took me this long to get around to finally reading it. Mr. Keneally draws on the real life of Oskar Schindler and his quest to save his Jewish employees and adds some fictional elements, such as dialogue. It was really hard to believe I was actually reading a fiction novel instead of a biography. 

The ending made me cry. I don't think much can be said about why it made me cry. I wept not only for those that did not survive the horrors of the Holocaust, but also for those that survived.

You can purchase Schindler's List through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Schindler's List? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

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Title: Death Comes to Pemberley

Author: P.D. James

Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction

Length: 291 pages

Published: 2011

Publisher: Vintage

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) The year is 1803, and Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years. There are now two handsome and healthy sons in the nursery, Elizabeth's beloved sister Jane and her husband Bingley live nearby and the orderly world of Pemberley seems unassailable. But all this is threatened when, on the eve of the annual autumn ball, the guests are preparing to retire for the night when a chaise appears, rocking down the path from Pemberley's wild woodland. As it pulls up, Lydia Wickham - Elizabeth's younger, unreliable sister - stumbles out screaming that her husband has been murdered. Inspired by a lifelong passion for the work of Jane Austen, PD James masterfully recreates the world of Pride and Prejudice, and combines it with the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly-crafted crime story. Death Comes to Pemberley is a distinguished work of fiction, from one of the best-loved, most- read writers of our time.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

I did receive a copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway.

I have never read Pride and Prejudice (I do plan on remedying this at some point), so I was really grateful to find that P.D. James had added a brief synopsis in the prologue of Death Comes to Pemberley, explaining who the characters were and their relationships to each other.

I really enjoyed this mystery. The novel starts out with high expectations of the annual ball, only to be cancelled when Lydia Wickham's coach comes barreling to the doors of Pemberley as she screams of murder in the woodland on a night wrought with storms. From there, the police investigation, the inquest as to cause of death, and the subsequent trial form a grand mystery. Why did Captain Denny head out into the woodland instead of along the trail? What secret is Colonel Fitzwilliam keeping?

The truth is revealed in the end, and all of the mysteries resolved. I really enjoyed the story and the fact that everything was neatly wrapped up in the end.

You can purchase Death Comes to Pemberley through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Death Comes to Pemberley? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.