Cinders and Sapphires (At Somerton #1) by Leila Rasheed

Synopsis from Goodreads.com: Rose Cliffe has never met a young lady like her new mistress. Clever, rich, and beautiful, Ada Averley treats Rose as an equal. And Rose could use a friend. Especially now that she, at barely sixteen, has risen to the position of ladies’ maid. Rose knows she should be grateful to have a place at a house like Somerton. Still, she can’t help but wonder what her life might have been had she been born a lady, like Ada.

For the first time in a decade, the Averleys have returned to Somerton, their majestic ancestral estate. But terrible scandal has followed Ada’s beloved father all the way from India. Now Ada finds herself torn between her own happiness and her family’s honor. Only she has the power to restore the Averley name—but it would mean giving up her one true love . . . someone she could never persuade her father to accept.

Sumptuous and enticing, the first novel in the At Somerton series introduces two worlds, utterly different yet entangled, where ruthless ambition, forbidden attraction, and unspoken dreams are hidden behind dutiful smiles and glittering jewels. All those secrets are waiting . . . at Somerton.

Number of pages: 389

My review: Want to hear the shortest review ever of this book? If you love Downton Abbey you will love this book.

BAM! Done! But seriously, if you like Downton Abbey then this is the perfect book for you. Cinders and Sapphires has just as much drama as Downton along with the switching viewpoints of the upstairs house guests and the downstairs staff (which can I just say I love that concept so much).

There is a huge variety of people to keep track of, and I have to admit that at first I was a little confused, but after a short while you really start to figure out who's who, and start to enjoy the novel for all that it is worth  The two main characters that you really follow though, are Lady Ava (upstairs) and her personal maid, Rose (downstairs). Both characters get into all sorts of shennanigans and mishaps and it truly feels like you're going on a fast paced adventure while you're reading this. 

I loved almost all the characters and felt for them when they got into trouble or some sort of scrape. However, I felt the so-called "villains" or protagonists could have been meaner or somewhat more spiteful. I just felt a little...sympathetic towards them I guess. Their passion for their evil deeds could have run a little deeper, and I felt that if/when the next book comes out they could be persuaded easily to become a better person again. I guess we'll have to wait and see though!

Also, I really hate the cover of the U.S. version. It doesn't seem accurate somehow for they type of things girls in that time would wear (especially the way their hair is styled). And it just looks so incredibely fake and posed.

I completely recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction, romance, adventure, and of course, Downton Abbey. This book definitely made me go through Downton Abbey withdrawls (in the U.S. we have to wait a whole more year before we see our beloved characters again!) Definitely check this out, it's super easy reading and if there is a next book coming out (I could see how there might be since the ending could definitely lead the way to another novel) I will definitely be picking it up!

See you soon!

P.S. This picture pretty much sums up the whole book nicely (for the rest of that review click here!)

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The Husband List by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly

Synopsis from Goodreads.com: Based on the family from the bestselling Love In A Nutshell, the story of an heiress longing to marry for love or not at all

From The New York Times bestselling writing duo Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly, comes the story of a young woman’s search for true love. Caroline Maxwell would like nothing more than to join her brother, Eddie, and his friend, Jack Culhane, on their adventures. While Jack and Eddie are off seeing the world, buying up businesses and building wildly successful careers, Caroline's stuck at home frightening off the men her mother hopes will ask for her hand in marriage.  When her mother sets her sights on the questionable Lord Bremerton as a possible suitor, Caroline struggles with her instincts and the true nature of her heart.  She longs for adventure, passion, love, and most of all . . . Jack Culhane, an unconventional Irish-American bachelor with new money and no title. A completely unacceptable suitor in the eyes of Caroline's mother. But Caroline's dark hair, brilliant eyes and quick wit have Jack understanding just why it is people fall in love and get married.

Set in New York City in 1894, The Husband List is an American gilded age romantic mystery. It evokes memories of the lavish lifestyles and social expectations of the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers—a time when new money from the Americas married Old World social prestige and privilege. Dresses by Worth, transcontinental ocean voyages, lavish parties, a little intrigue, and a lot of romance await in, The Husband List.

Number of pages: 309

My review: When I read the synopsis of this, I thought it would be something along the lines of The Luxe series (they sound a LOT alike) but once I started reading I realized just how wrong I was. 

While The Luxe series has good quality writing, and plot and character build up, The Husband List completely lacked in all aspects. It was just so bland. What surprised me most was I typically really like historical fiction, especially stories like these, but it just had no build up. From the very beginning it was so boring and I kept thinking, "Just keep reading it will get better." It didn't. 

Do I feel that everyone would dislike this book? No. I think people who really enjoy Harlequin romances would like The Husband List extremely. Me on the other hand? It just wasn't working. And even my mom read the book and I asked her a couple of times if it would ever get better and she kept saying no that it stays the same and is so predictable. 

To be honest, I didn't even read the whole book. I got to about page 60 and gave up and read the last couple of chapters and pretty much pieced the rest of the story together myself. My mom called the middle of the book "fluff." It was only there to make the story longer and to attempt to make it more interesting. 

This is considered an adult book (or I guess now it would be "New Adult," a name which I just abhor, but that's something I'll save for another post) but I can still see older teens reading this and maybe enjoying it. It all really depends on your different tastes and preferences. 

So I would say try it for yourself and see but don't put a lot of faith in it.

See you soon!

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Rumors by Anna Godbersen

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 423
This was such a great sequel to The Luxe! Once again Anna Godbersen fills her books with suspense, romance, back stabbing, and beautiful descriptions of New York, and all the people in it, during the year 1899. 
Just when you think one thing is going to happen there is a major plot twist and the story turns in a completely different direction. Not many authors can do this very well, but Anna Godbersen succeeds and her stories have, so far, kept me on my toes. 
There's not many times when I'm reading a book and I want to rush all the way through just to see what is happening next. It has to be a VERY good book for that to happen, and I found myself doing that with this series. The books are long, but they so easy to read and so much fun to read that you don't even notice how long they are.
In this second installment in The Luxe series, we follow all the same main characters, as they either fight for there way to the top of the social ladder or try to overcome forbidden love. Anna Godbersen writes her stories in such a fresh way, that you are never sure which characters are going to succeed or not, and there are a few times when your loyalties to certain characters change, due to their actions throughout the story.
Often times when there is a plot twist that is not good for a character I found myself rooting them on and hoping that everything would be all right for them. That's when you know a book is good; when the characters almost seem life-like and you support them like you would any of your best friends. 
In the first book, I said that I didn't like how the characters didn't seem to be talking in a way that would have fit for 1899, but in this book the conversations and thoughts of the characters seemed to fit more with the vernacular of people who actually lived in 1899 (maybe more research was done on Ms. Godbersen's part). Nevertheless the story is still excellent either way! This time around it just seemed more believable. I hope the next book also has flawless speech like this one did, but is also easy to read. Anna Godbersen has the ability to incorporate both into her novels, which is also a hard feat to master.
As usual, this book ended on a complete cliff-hanger and I can't wait to see what will happen in the third book! I'm going to my local library to pick it up so my questions about the different characters can be answered and I can stop wondering what will happen next!
See you soon!
Paige

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The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 433
I think I tried reading this book once a couple years back and for some reason I could never get into it. So, I decided to try picking it up for a second time and I'm so glad I did! I don't know why I didn't like this book the first time because it was such a fantastic read this time around!
I flew through this book and was constantly picking it back up again because it was so good! There was always so much suspense and I wanted to know what would happen next. Every time I thought something would be resolved, a new problem or situation occurred that added more complexity to the plot and added even more depth to the characters.
This had equal parts suspense and romance set in New York in 1899. Elizabeth Holland is doomed to marry a man she does not love but she is forced to do it for circumstances beyond her control. She feels deeply conflicted, not only because her best friend Penelope is in love with the man she is going to marry, but because Elizabeth loves another man, whom she cannot marry due to societies regulations. 
This book has a massive love triangle er...more like a pentagon. Be ready to be kept on your toes for who loves who, who hates who, and who is bound by which circumstances. This is a book that you really have to concentrate on, but it won't seem like a chore because the plot is so intense and captivating that you'll remember all the characters special foes and woes from the very beginning.
The one thing I didn't like about this book was the language. No, there wasn't any cursing, but this book is set in 1899 and the vernacular was a little too...loose too be believable. The narration sort of made up for it however, by throwing around words like "abhorrent" here and there but the characters never would have talked like that in 1899.
I guess I can see why the writer, wrote it that way however, because it is so much easier to understand and young adults would not have to struggle with the reading. This leads to a lower reading level, but a much faster read too.
I loved this book and I cannot wait to read the second one (which I just picked up at my brand new library today!!!) Hopefully the second book will be as jam packed with suspense, love, and adventure as this first one was!
(And I absolutely LOVE the cover! Usually YA books have girls in pretty dresses on the covers for no reason but this one actually makes sense! It's so beautiful and elegant!)
See you soon!
Paige

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The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 298
This being the second novel I've read by Syrie James I think I can safely say I love her writing even more now! She writes impeccably and the twist that she added to the way of writing as Jane Austen instead of about her or her books was simply fantastic!
How did Syrie James do this you ask? Well here's what happens in the book; Ms. James writes as Jane Austen writing her diary about her life (the interactions and basic things that happen are made up, but the places she went and the people she met are real!). Jane's life parallels many of her stories and we can see from this fictional piece of work perhaps how Jane got the ideas for her stories (any true Jane Austen fan will notice the similarities between her stories, and Syrie James helps out along the way by adding footnotes that make the whole story a lot more adorable than it already is).
Jane accounts her daily life and how she feels about moving homes, meeting new people, dealing with her family, and the struggles she encounters with her writing. Now, I don't know if this is true or not but it's written in the story, Jane often feels she should give up her writing because she isn't good enough, or because she's a woman, etc. Thankfully for me er the world, she continues to persevere and write her stories with the push and support from her sister Cassandra and Jane's love interest Mr. Ashford (who sounds absolutely charming!).
I love the way this story was written (can't say I loved the ending though...not because of how it was written but because...well you have to go read it! I don't want to spoil it!). There are only so many ways authors can switch up, flip around, and totally change the worlds that Jane Austen has created, but to create a story where Jane Austen herself is put into a slightly fictional world, well, let me just say that it TOTALLY worked! I loved this story from beginning to end and Syrie James' writing always grabs me from the beginning and begs me to read what happens next as quickly as possible.
I would definitely recommend this to any true Jane Austen fan who has read most/all of her works (like me!) because it is such a cool way to view the world of Jane Austen, literally through her eyes, and the way England was in the early 1800's. 
5 out of 5 stars for me! I will definitely be reading this again (if I ever find the time...)!
See you soon!
Paige

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Distant Waves by Suzanne Weyn

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 330
Such an amazing book! I really like historical fiction novels and this was a very interesting take on the sinking of the Titanic. I thought the book would start out from being on the Titanic and then a long, drawn out story of the sinking, but it wasn't like that at all!
The book centers around Jane, the second oldest of 5 sisters and her life in a town called Spirit Vale. Her mother, and everyone else in the town, are people who can summon, or talk too, the dead. There are a lot of different circumstances that lead to her ending up on the Titanic (but I don't want to give too much away) and then the sinking is described in about a paragraph. I can't say why though! You have to read and see for yourself!
Like I said it was a totally different take on the tragedy of the Titanic, but I loved it! It wasn't a sappy romance about being abroad the ship either which I liked *cough cough James Cameron cough cough* and it wasn't completely action filled with racing to find a way off the ship.
The whole story flowed really well! (As my English teacher would say; the flowing of the story is like the flowing of the ocean where the Titanic was on its voyage)
I would definitely recommend it! I don't usually find a lot of well written historical fiction books, and it was nice to find that this was one of the few that was extremely well done. I also liked that Suzanne Weyn added a sort of "What's real?" at the end of the book. You get your own personal, short and sweet, history lesson!
Very good book! Check it out!
See you soon!
Paige

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To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 230
*Insert sigh of happy content here*...That's the reaction I had when I finished this book. It was such a cute love story that had a ton of action from the get-go!
I was actually surprised how much action and fighting there was in this story but it totally worked and I loved every minute of it! Think of this book as Pirates of the Caribbean but amplify the romance by 75%
Such a good book!!! I loved that the main character, Anna, was a captain of her own ship, because that was unheard of during those times. (About 1720)
Typical, chick lit teen book but it was so good! I totally give this a Paige-Turn and if you like books by Rachel Hawthorne or Kate Brian you will LOVE this book!
See you soon!
-Paige

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Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Schecter

Read a synopsis here!
How much it cost me: $4.50 (purchased at Scholastic Warehouse)
Retail price (paperback): $8.99
Number of pages: 351
I loved this book! I'm a sucker for historical fiction and it's so hard to find one's that are written so well. Cleopatra's Moon topped the charts for me! I mean just look at some of these sentences, "I stared up, squinting into the brilliant blue of the sky as waving palm fronds skewered fluffy white clouds. The intermittent calls of shipmen and merchants drifted in from the Royal Harbor." That's how the whole book is! It's beautifully written.
The story itself is amazing and one of triumph and you find yourself really rooting for all the right characters. Reading the Author's Note and The Facts Within the Fiction at the end really helped me understand the story even more too.
Another thing I found helpful was the List of Characters at the beginning, because with all those old names and so many of them, I got confused in the beginning and found myself backtracking to check and see who was who.
The reading itself was fairly easy. Not as easy as some books like the Gossip Girl series and other likenesses but it was very enjoyable! I wholeheartedly give this book a Paige-Turn! So if you're looking for a really good historical fiction pick this up! It doesn't feel like you're getting a history lesson while you're reading it and it's soooo good!
See you soon!
-Paige

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