✬✬✬ The magic in the stories was enchanting when combined with real life. This book, however, was slow. I never grew to love Coralie and the other characters did not engage me. Read it until the end and left feeling unsettled.

✬✬✬✬ Cornwell writes great characters easy to identify with making the history of the stories accessible to a modern reader. Fictional characters in a historical context make the time period come alive. And nobody writes medieval battles better. Balancing strategy and action, it’s easy to feel as though you knew someone who was there.

✬✬ A story that should be interesting— set in one of the most turbulent periods of China’s history and focusing on a talented and driven young woman who defies the odds— is in this book incredibly dull. I could barely get myself through to the last page.

✬✬✬✬ I enjoyed reading this book. The captivating story is excellently narrated with so much ease by the author!

✬✬✬✬✬ Jon Krakauer goes into great depth describing this young man’s life and adventures. He is able to weave in a wide range of similar events into the narrative, including some he has experienced in his own life. The storyline is engaging.

✬✬ I was drawn into this book by the gorgeous cover and reviews promising me an atmospheric family mystery, but it did not live up to my expectations. There is an interesting story at its core and this kept me reading, wondering how things would all turned up.

✬✬✬✬ This book was provided free by the author for an honest review. A poetry book having a collection of poems all categorized through age and the year, each shares a thoughtful story. I found it to be motivating, touching and detailed, some were about love and friendship, and were just lovely to read. I recommend it to everyone that enjoys poetry and literature.

✬✬✬✬ The Empress is a poetic tale that gives one an in-depth look into the life of Empress Wu. The ruthless tactics used on the throne may shock one, but the author constructs the novel so that one understands the culture of the time. This book can get tedious at times with detail, but the overall story is strong and a person interested in Chinese history will enjoy the vivid descriptions!

✬✬✬ Enjoyable enough read, but a little repetitive with the superstitious natives.

✬✬ This book was like two stories in one, which was quite confusing. The before and after of WW2 for the main character. Something kept me reading though, I wanted to find out what happened. But the main character annoyed me.

✬✬✬ I wanted to like this book more since there was so much hype surrounding it. However, I found it was very dry and long. It took me a long time to get through it and at times I almost abandoned it. It had good parts towards the end but the beginning drags on.

✬✬ I found this novel extremely boring. While struggling to get through the colorless characters, aimless storyline and dull dialogue, I tried to figure out what the fuss is all about.

✬✬✬✬ This story is a well-written and intricately plotted and while it takes time to start up in the beginning, it becomes fascinating to visit the past with Dick and to read how his life becomes corrupted by the time travel.

✬✬✬ An eye-opening a sometimes tragically sad read, but I would have liked it better had it not been so disjointed—one story from the other.

✬✬ This book really disappointed me. The only parts that were not too bad were the chapters where Jacob was an old man. But the circus stuff was flat. No spark to the writing.

✬✬✬ The story of family conflict and rivalry though I did not think the book was that well written. It struck me as melodramatic - which wasn’t necessary since the story itself holds enough drama. There were long passages of Elizabeth describing her own angst, which became repetitious and tedious. This is a good way of learning about another important woman lost in history, but overly long and wordy.

✬✬✬✬ Jean Plaidy  brings to life these royal personages, political intrigues, and historical events, weaving them into a well-written tapestry of historical fiction. Set amidst the political turmoil of fourteenth-century England, laced with names of those who would have a lasting historical impact, it is an entertaining, and informative, a treasure of historical facts that are merged together into a most enjoyable book.

✬✬✬✬✬ This is one of the most moving biographies I have ever read. The reader is by turns drawn to this affectionate, gifted intellectual and exasperated by her irrational, impulsive actions. Rosemary Sullivan’s portrait is beautifully written. The drama and emotion are at times unbearable. And so was the burden of living a life as Josef Stalin’s daughter.

✬✬✬ This was quite the quick read and was easy to understand and enjoy. I am glad I gave the book a chance and read about this woman and the rest of Napoleon’s family. It would have been nice to have a little more substance, but it is a good read if you are looking for quick and entertaining.

✬✬✬✬ This was a fascinating book. It is set in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia and is about the Japanese occupation of Malaysia during WWII. Beautifully written. Shifts back and forth in time, which I found to be a kind of confusing sometimes. However, I learned about a lot of things I hadn’t known too much about before, especially the way how Malaysians were treated by the Japanese.

✬✬✬✬ It shows here Kateryn Parr as a strong, smart and a very likable person. I loved that the author made the unusual choice to show Kate’s love for Thomas Seymour as an actual love story rather than a woman used and deceived by a manipulative man. I also congratulate the author for making Will Sommers, the court fool, such a great character. I only hoped that Gregory had shown us some of those great religious conversations in the Queen’s court, rather than just telling us they happened. It’s nice to know Kateryn Parr was smart and clever and forward thinking, but I wanted to hear her speak, and judge for myself.

✬✬ This novel gives a strong portrayal of the vast inequities between the entitled rich and the poor, the working class in India, but beyond that, the plot is loose and unwieldy. I wasn’t left wanting more, but it felt like something was missing.

✬✬ Falling Angels was a disappointment—I realized after about 60 pages I had no real interest in the story or characters, all of whom came across like twentieth-century retreads of Edwardian stereotypes.

✬✬✬ The Illuminator is a tale about love, loss, and letting go. It is about injustice and courage and acceptance. The storyline is an intriguing one. While I enjoyed this book, I found the plot to progress at a snail’s pace, with much repetition and many pages on which little happens.

✬✬✬✬ A great read. Based on a historical event, this novel is about one of the greatest love affairs of ancient times. This is a gripping tale of love, of war and the fall of the city of Troy.

✬✬✬ Though there are other novels of the Tudor period which have far more depth and originality, the book is not without its strengths. The author captures something of the perils of the time, and Anne Boleyn’s always uncertain position. It’s a clever ‘take’ to place this from Madge’s perspective.

✬✬✬ The story held my interest enough for me to want to finish the book for the resolution. I like the way the main character told the story. I wasn’t very satisfied with the ending.

✬✬  I found this book to be poorly written and full of shabby research. It bore me with it after reading only a couple of chapters. I had such high hopes, but this book felt forced, the writing didn’t flow, and I reread passages because they made little sense.

✬✬ The book had all the ingredients to make it a book I could love: art, history, Italy, mystery, small towns. Writing is good. Yet, it did not all come together for me. There was just nothing to hold it all. I was having a hard time identifying with any of the characters. They lacked the warmth. Art and history provided just some fragments of the background, never being explored enough to become interesting.

✬✬✬ Mary Anne was not what I expected! Much of it was very slow-moving and tiresome. After reading many of this author's other books, I find this the least-liked one.

✬✬✬✬ Interesting twists on historical facts. Both were entertaining. Love that the author gives both. More than your usual romance novel, but there's still plenty of romance.

✬✬✬✬ Barnes’ story of Richard II is beautifully written and approaches being a psychological study of why the young king went from being popular with his subjects but became a tyrant who was deposed by his cousin. You  find yourself wish you could change history.

✬✬ I love historical fiction, but I can’t say about this book. While there were some exciting points scattered here and there, it was slow and boring with characters I didn’t care about. I had to force myself to keep reading