Last week, I was in desperate need of serotonin so I painted my nails and yellow and coincidentally hauled a couple of yellow books. Let’s talk about them!
Tabitha Carvan was a new mother, at home with two young children, when she fell for the actor Benedict Cumberbatch. You know the guy: strange name, alien face, made Sherlock so sexy that it became one of the most streamed shows in the world? The force of her fixation took everyone–especially Carvan herself–by surprise. But what she slowly realized was that her preoccupation was not about Benedict Cumberbatch at all, as dashing as he might be. It was about finally feeling passionate about something, anything, again at a point in her life when she had lost touch with her own identity and sense of self.
Honestly, I never knew this book was a thing until I was in a bookstore and saw it in the booksellers recommendation shelf. The title and Benedict’s little face on a pin made me chuckle but after reading the rest of this book’s title, I knew that it would be something I’d enjoy. This book in full is titled, “This is not a book about Benedict Cumberbatch. The joy of loving something – anything – like your life depends on it”. This book looks like it’s going to be a short, quirky book that’ll be uplifting for creative and passionate people and as someone who gets passionate about things, I have a feeling I’ll really like it.
When Viola Caroll was presumed dead at Waterloo she took the opportunity to live, at last, as herself. But freedom does not come without a price, and Viola paid for hers with the loss of her wealth, her title, and her closest companion, Justin de Vere, the Duke of Gracewood.
When I heard that this book features a trans character, I knew I had to get it. First of all, I’m so glad that historical romance is getting the hype it deservers ever since Bridgerton came out as a Netflix Series. It’s such a fun genre. From what I’ve gleamed from this book’s premise, this features a set of characters who were friends, lost each other, and are reunited. I love myself a good friends to lovers story and I feel like I haven’t read many in historical romances that I’ve really loved.
The Bahamas, 1941. Newly-widowed Leonora “Lulu” Randolph arrives in Nassau to investigate the Governor and his wife for a New York society magazine. After all, American readers have an insatiable appetite for news of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, that glamorous couple whose love affair nearly brought the British monarchy to its knees five years earlier. What more intriguing backdrop for their romance than a wartime Caribbean paradise, a colonial playground for kingpins of ill-gotten empires?
I’m a huge fan of historical fiction books, not just those that are romances. I think that historical fiction stories carry this cozy yet deeply impactful aura to them that contemporary fictions lack. If done right, I feel like historical fiction novels always have a cast of unforgettable characters. Beatriz Williams is an author I’ve seen pop up a lot in the historical fiction community and “The Golden Hour” is a cover I’ve seen a ton in the genre recommendation lists. I’m excited to dig into this book. I honestly don’t know much about it other than it takes place in the Bahamas in 1941 and that it’s a deceptively big book. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long, expansive story and that’s the perfect book to get lost in during a stormy Florida Summer.