Reviews of physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks personally read or listened to by me! booksbydorothea - Instagram; booksbydorothea - Threads; Books by Dorothea - Goodreads
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Wednesday, July 12, 2023
DNF - Flirting with Danger
I will not be finishing Flirting with Danger by Janet Wallach. This just wasn't the right book for me at this time!
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
REVIEW - The Spectacular
OVERVIEW
This book was AMAZING!! I knew absolutely nothing about the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall, New York City, or New York City history. This is the second book in a row that I knew NOTHING about the premise of the book. YES!! Fiona Davis delivered a strong, interesting, and well-written novel!!
I was so happy to continue reading historical fiction! The premise of this novel is the story of a Rockette and her unfortunate involvement in the murder spree of a bomber in NYC. The main characters were Marion, a Rockette; Peter, a psychiatry resident; and New York City. There are a lot of secondary characters including Marion's family, Peter and Marion's friends, and the Roxette organization. It was a historical novel that had it all including a big mystery, romance, and family dynamics!! I love it!
Since the story primarily takes place in 1956 (there are some flashbacks to 1992), the societal issues that were foisted upon women and the somewhat negative view of Rockettes by some were very integral to the novel. There were some men who were way beyond their time seeing women as equals, but they were in the vast minority. Additionally, the strength and power of strong female relationships and friendships were hugely featured which I loved! I thoroughly enjoyed the description of the Rockettes, costuming, and dancing as I have never attended one of their shows. It sounds AMAZINGLY wonderful.
I loved the descriptions of some of the historically important dancers and choreographers who I was somewhat familiar with and how they impacted dance and choreography from 1956 until now. This was the beginning of the era of major productions on Broadway and an important point in dance and choreography!!
This was a really great read. Now, I want to deep dive more into the dancers/choreographers of that time period!! It is such fascinating stuff!
REVIEW: 4.5 stars
Writing: 4.5 stars
The Spectacular was a well-written historical novel with beautiful descriptions of New York City, the Rockettes, and all of the locations within the book. Fiona Davis wrote a strong and powerful book with so many layers of interest that I will be thinking about this novel for a long time. This is another well-researched historical novel and it really shows, but the descriptions and details did not bog down the ease of reading. So well done!
Character development: 4.5 stars
There were a lot of unimportant characters in this book due to the scope of the places involved, but the primary characters of Marion, Peter, and New York City were fully developed. They were fictional characters (except New York City), but I could picture them all which makes the books so much enjoyable.
The many characters were needed for the story to make sense. Marion was a Rockette and Peter was a psychiatry resident which involved a lot of people. Of course, New York City was highlighted and it was done beautifully. So the main characters were fully explored which is what I enjoy in ANY novel, period. This is my kind of book!
Storyline: 4.5 stars
As this was historical fiction, the storyline was loosely based on a true story Even though the basic storyline is based on a historical incident and fictional characters were developed around it, it was fascinating! I knew absolutely ZERO about this historical incident.
Book cover: 4.0 stars
Very pretty!
Book title: 5.0 stars
Perfection! The book title is right on point!
Gut feeling: 4.0 stars
I felt that I would like it, but I loved it!
Definite RECOMMEND
INFORMATION/LINKS
The Spectacular by Fiona Davis
368 pages
3 days to read it (I inhaled about half of it today)
Read it as a LAPL (Los Angeles Public Library) ebook
Release date of 06/13/2023
https://www.fionadavisbooks.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5616401536
https://www.penguin.com/dutton-overview/
Happy reading,
Dorothea π
Monday, July 10, 2023
REVIEW - The Mitford Affair
This is the third book by Marie Benedict that I have read and I have enjoyed all of them. This one was special because I had heard the name of the six Mitford sisters and that they were English, but that was it. So I went into this historical novel with NO back story which is the way that I like it!!
I have read a lot of contemporary fiction lately so it was great to go back to my absolute favorite genre of historical fiction!! There were six sisters and a brother in the Mitford Family. The main characters are Nancy, Diana, Unity, and Hitler - yes, Hitler!! Secondary characters are fascism and the looming threat of war!
The Mitford family dynamic was very dysfunctional with favorite children being a huge issue by pitting the siblings against each other. The siblings naturally settled into paired sets with one leftover who became the outlier. Additionally, the family had a title and land so the children were expected to marry well (i.e.: someone with money and power) and that added to the chaos in the family. Additionally, the family was political as the father was a member of the House of Lords. The majority of the novel takes place in Germany and England pre-WWII. It was fascinating to see how the Treaty of Versailles really caused all of the mess that created the perfect vacuum for Hitler to rise to power. But, fascinatingly, he had followers in England as well.
There was some name-dropping (most of the Lords and Ladies were meaningless names to me), but there were a few biggies and they were integral to the plot. They were not just there to add color, but were important to the whole storyline!
This was a great historical novel as it makes me want to learn more! That is the sign of a well-written story!
REVIEW: 4.5 stars
Writing: 4.0 stars
The Mitford Affair was a well-written novel. Marie Benedict seems to become a better and stronger writer with each book that I have read of hers. This was also well-edited. I really liked that it wasn't overly populated with SAT words that I had to constantly look up and ruin the flow of the story. There were some German words sprinkled throughout, but most of them could be figured out through the context. It was obvious that this book was well-researched and it showed!!
Character development: 4.5 stars
This novel had a lot of characters, but the four main characters Nancy, Diana, and Unity Mitford have historical information such as letters and published books while the other main character Adolph Hitler has massive amounts of historical information.
Unfortunately, the Mitford parents created the dynamic that allowed Unity to become obsessed with Hitler's power and charisma which then pulled Nancy and Diana into this Nazi chaos finally ending in a stunning finale.
Even the secondary characters of fascism and the threat of war were fully fleshed out as well as the tertiary characters of the rest of the family.
Storyline: 4.5 stars
Truth is stranger than fiction, for sure! Even though the basic storyline is based on historical truth, it was mind-blowing. The difference that this family could have had in history could have been catastrophic as they were well-connected socially and politically. I was gob-smacked (to steal a Mitfordism).
Book cover: 5.0 stars
Gorgeous!
Book title: 4.5 stars
It was RIGHT on the money!
Gut feeling: 4.0 stars
I knew that I would like it, but I was thrilled that I loved it!
Definite RECOMMEND
INFORMATION/LINKS
The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict
377 pages
5 days to read it (I had a hard time putting it down today)
Read it as a LAPL (Los Angeles Public Library) ebook
Release date of 01/17/2023
https://www.authormariebenedict.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5656747437
Happy reading,
Dorothea π
Sunday, July 9, 2023
Saturday, July 8, 2023
THREADS?!?!
Thursday, July 6, 2023
DNF - How to Keep House While Drowning AUDIOBOOK
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
"33 Best Selling Books of 2023"
So far in 2023, these are the "33 Best Selling Books of 2023":
32. I Will Teach You To Be Rich
31. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
30. The Housemaid
29. Happy Place
28. Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea
27. Maybe Someday
26. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
25. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
24. Fairy Tale
23. Oh, the Places You'll Go!
22. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
21. It Ends with Us
20. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
19. Verity
18. Diper ΓverlΓΆde
17. November 9
16. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
15. Icebreaker
14. The Last Thing He Told Me
13. Reminders of Him
12. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
11. Ugly Love
10. The Covenant of Water
9. The Silent Patient
8. Where the Crawdads Sing
7. It Starts with Us
6. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
5. I’m Glad My Mom Died
4. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
3. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
2. Spare
1. Lessons in Chemistry
Tuesday, July 4, 2023
Happy 4th of July!!!
I celebrate each and every one of these individuals who came in search of a better life, land, futures for their children, and FREEDOM to worship in whatever manner they chose (and not dictated by the State).
I consider myself spiritual rather than religious. But it is amazing to see the marriage, christening, and deaths noted in different documents that were written in Latin or another language (Google Translate helps). It makes me proud that these people made ME!
Thank you to so many who came before me to allow my family and me to have FREEDOM in the United States!! Please celebrate your family that came to the United States for FREEDOM!
My family has been here for a very long time, but if your family came one generation ago or are immigrants, CELEBRATE them and you!!! We are ALL Americans regardless of WHEN we arrived!
Stepping off my soapbox. Now back to your regular programming...