The Last Camellia

Title: The Last Camellia
Author: Sarah Jio
Source: from a friend
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: While the plot was fascinating and the writing well done, this book was missing that special something which makes me fall in love with a book.

An apparently innocuous English estate, home to the last of a much-prized variety of camellia, becomes the site of mystery, murder, and intrigue across the years. Right before the beginning of WWII, Flora is convinced by a ring of thieves to take a job as a nanny in order to locate the camellia. Falling in love complicates her plans substantially and puts her in great danger. Over fifty years later, Addison moves into the manor in an attempt to escape her past. Now both her past and that of the manor are catching up to her and if she doesn’t solve the mystery of what happened to Flora, she might be in grave danger as well.

Gracianna

Title: Gracianna
Author: Trini Amador
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: Although the beginning was a bit choppy, by the end I was completely engaged in the story and had a hard time putting it down.

Gracianna is a fictionalized account of the life of the author’s great-grandmother. Inspired by his discovery of a loaded German Luger in her house when he was only four years old, Trini learned all he could of her life from his relatives. He filled in the gaps with a gripping tale of a courageous woman recruited into the French resistance during the Nazi occupation of Paris and forced to make some very difficult choices.

The Girl You Left Behind

Title: The Girl You Left Behind
Author: Jojo Moyes
Source: from publisher for SheReads book club
Rating: ★★★★★
Review Summary: This book was so well written and so intriguing that I couldn’t put it down, even at the end of Dewey’s 24 hour read-a-thon.

In 1916, French artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his wife Sophie to fight at the Front. When her town falls into German hands, his portrait of Sophie stirs the heart of the local Kommandant and causes her to risk everything – her family, reputation and life – in the hope of seeing her true love one last time. Nearly a century later and Sophie’s portrait is given to Liv by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. Its beauty speaks of their short life together, but when the painting’s dark and passion-torn history is revealed, Liv discovers that the first spark of love she has felt since she lost him is threatened… (from Goodreads)

Bookends About Dark Triumph

Title: Dark Triumph
Editor: Robin LaFevers
Source: bought at Rochester Teen Book Festival
Rating: ★★★★★
Review Summary: The perfect sequel to Grave Mercy, with the same strengths – strong protagonist, constant action, and fascinating setting.

For those of you who read Grave Mercy, you’ll recognize our new protagonist Sybella from her encounter with Ismae at the convent. In this book, Sybella is forced to face the dark events that chased her to the convent for refuge in the first place. We learn a lot about her past and the reasons she has such a drive for revenge. We also share her discovery that revenge might not be enough and, as with Isame, learn more about the mythos surrounding the nuns position as servants of the god of death.

Bookends About Jane Eyre

Title: Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Brontë
Source: library
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: The plot was a little boring and unbelievable but the writing was so gorgeous I didn’t even mind!

Today I’m going to be sharing with you the goodreads summary of the book because I think it does a great job explaining not just the action of the plot, but the character development that is the most exciting part of the story. Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead, subject to the cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity.  She takes up the post of governess at Thornfield, falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman’s passionate search for a wider and richer life than Victorian society traditionally allowed.

Bookends About The Perfume Collector

Title: The Perfume Collector
Author: Kathleen Tessaro
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: Although the ending didn’t tie things up quite as neatly as I would have liked, this was still an amazingly enjoyable read. Very well written with characters who were so real I couldn’t stop reading until I found out what happened to them.

Grace Monroe is an incredibly intelligent young woman, struggling with both her marriage and her expected role as a society wife in 1950’s London.  When she mysteriously inherits a fortune from a French woman she’s never met, it seems like the perfect time to escape to Paris. Once there, she begins unraveling the dark and romantic secrets of her benefactor’s past and of her own.