It’s been a while since I read Aimee Agresti's Campaign Widows, but with my August 25th release of Favorite Daughters rapidly approaching, I’ve decided to focus most of my reviews on political fiction. Campaign Widows is an excellent way to start! The novel’s protagonist is Cady, who is in a fairly new relationship with Jackson. She uproots her life for him and moves to DC. Everything is great and they’re engaged, and Cady believes she can fit in at the nation’s capital. But then the campaign …
My Book Reviews
My favorite genres are contemporary romance, women's fiction, suspense, and psychological thrillers. I mostly read books on my kindle, and I listen to audio books every morning when I go for my run.
I do NOT love star ratings for novels. For each book review, I give background, my thoughts, and if I would recommend it. Full disclosure: if I'm not into a book, I don't finish it. Since I review books I finish, most of them will be positive.
Was Jane Eyre a Feminist?
There are several lines that could be considered Jane Eyre feminist quotes. I love the novel and I love Jane as a protagonist. But was Jane Eyre a feminist? Consider the following quotes: “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is …
Book Review: Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak
I’ve read reviews that call Anna Pitoniak's Our American Friend fanfiction for Melania Trump. I disagree. This novel does not fawn over the woman who, when visiting children separated from their parents and put into cages at the southern border, wore a jacket that said I really don’t care, do u? And who, when given a chance to call for peace and unity on January 6th, reportedly said no. Perhaps, instead, I’d call this novel fantasy fiction, with a focus on fiction. The main character, Lara, …
Book Review – Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen
Park Avenue Summer, by Renée Rosen, is about Helen Gurley Brown, who became the first female editor of Cosmopolitan magazine in 1965. The book is a novel, but Helen Gurley Brown was real, and she had an amazing, impactful life. Some Helen Gurley Brown quotes: “Cosmo is feminist in that we believe women are just as smart and capable as men are and can achieve anything men can.” “I was mousy on the outside, but inside, I’m this tiger and I have to …
The Brontë Sisters: Anne Brontë and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
“...how cruelly he has trampled on my love, betrayed my trust, scorned my prayers and tears, and efforts for his preservation, crushed my hopes, destroyed my youth’s best feelings, and doomed me to a life of hopeless misery, as far as man can do it, it is not enough to say that I no longer love my husband - I HATE him!” I am a huge Brontë fan. While Charlotte, Emily, and Anne often get lumped together, they had fairly distinct voices. Anne especially has been overlooked or …