#BookReview The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams @FreshFiction @authorbeatriz @WmMorrowBooks

The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives and A Certain Age creates a dazzling epic of World War II-era Nassau—a hotbed of spies, traitors, and the most infamous couple of the age, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

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?

Or so Lulu imagines. But as she infiltrates the Duke and Duchess’s social circle, and the powerful cabal that controls the islands’ political and financial affairs, she uncovers evidence that beneath the glister of Wallis and Edward’s marriage lies an ugly—and even treasonous—reality. In fact, Windsor-era Nassau seethes with spies, financial swindles, and racial tension, and in the middle of it all stands Benedict Thorpe: a scientist of tremendous charm and murky national loyalties. Inevitably, the willful and wounded Lulu falls in love.

Then Nassau’s wealthiest man is murdered in one of the most notorious cases of the century, and the resulting coverup reeks of royal privilege. Benedict Thorpe disappears without a trace, and Lulu embarks on a journey to London and beyond to unpick Thorpe’s complicated family history: a fateful love affair, a wartime tragedy, and a mother from whom all joy is stolen.

The stories of two unforgettable women thread together in this extraordinary epic of espionage, sacrifice, human love, and human courage, set against a shocking true crime . . . and the rise and fall of a legendary royal couple.

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One of my favorite books by Beatriz Williams is ALONG THE INFINITE SEA. Now, I have to admit that I love plenty of her books, but that one just rocked my world as I listened to the audio version. One thing one has to know is that William's books often are connected in some way or another. You can even visit Beatriz Williams' home page to get the Schuyler family tree and the books they each appear in. Anyhow the reason I mention all this is that THE GOLDEN HOUR has connections to ALONG THE INFINITE SEA. I actually had a jaw-dropping moment when I realized towards the end of the book the connection. But, enough about that. What about the story you may wonder?

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

#BookReview The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White @WmMorrowBooks

The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From the New York Times bestselling authors of The Forgotten Room comes a captivating historical mystery, infused with romance, that links the lives of three women across a century—two deep in the past, one in the present—to the doomed passenger liner, RMS Lusitania.

May 2013
Her finances are in dire straits and bestselling author Sarah Blake is struggling to find a big idea for her next book. Desperate, she breaks the one promise she made to her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother and opens an old chest that belonged to her great-grandfather, who died when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat in 1915. What she discovers there could change history. Sarah embarks on an ambitious journey to England to enlist the help of John Langford, a recently disgraced Member of Parliament whose family archives might contain the only key to the long-ago catastrophe. . . .

April 1915
Southern belle Caroline Telfair Hochstetter’s marriage is in crisis. Her formerly attentive industrialist husband, Gilbert, has become remote, pre-occupied with business . . . and something else that she can’t quite put a finger on. She’s hoping a trip to London in Lusitania’s lavish first-class accommodations will help them reconnect—but she can’t ignore the spark she feels for her old friend, Robert Langford, who turns out to be on the same voyage. Feeling restless and longing for a different existence, Caroline is determined to stop being a bystander, and take charge of her own life. . . .

Tessa Fairweather is traveling second-class on the Lusitania, returning home to Devon. Or at least, that’s her story. Tessa has never left the United States and her English accent is a hasty fake. She’s really Tennessee Schaff, the daughter of a roving con man, and she can steal and forge just about anything. But she’s had enough. Her partner has promised that if they can pull off this one last heist aboard the Lusitania, they’ll finally leave the game behind. Tess desperately wants to believe that, but Tess has the uneasy feeling there’s something about this job that isn’t as it seems. . . .

As the Lusitania steams toward its fate, three women work against time to unravel a plot that will change the course of their own lives . . . and history itself.

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THE GLASS OCEAN is a joined project by authors Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White. It's a book about the fate of three women. Two of the women were on board the doomed passenger Line, RMS Lusitania. Although they differ in class. While Caroline Telfair Hochstetter is traveling in first class is Tessa Fairweather traveling in second class. But, both women's lives will intertwine...

Years later bestselling author Sarah Blake breaks her promise to her mother and often the old chest that belonged to her great-grandfather. He died when RMS Lusitania sank after a hit from a German U-Boat in 1915. What she finds makes her travel from the US to England. There she obtains the help from John Langford to find out more about what she found in the chest...

I'm a fan of Beatriz William, have read almost all of her books. So far, haven't I read that many books by Lauren Willig and Karen White. I was, therefore, curious to see how this joint collaboration would work out for me. I would say it's a book that for me felt a bit predictable, and I struggled a bit with the storylines from 1915. It's a risk while reading a book with a dual storyline that you will find yourself more taken with one of them. In this case, there are three women's stories we are following and I found Caroline's storyline to be the one I had the hardest time enjoying. It could be the fact that she suddenly out of the blue started to have feelings for another man while at the same time being in love with her husband. I just couldn't find myself truly enjoying this triangle drama. I found Tess's story, and her character to be more much interesting and engaging to read about. Especially as her story started to mix more and more with Caroline's. And it's Tess interaction with Caroline that makes Caroline a bit more interesting to read about.

Then we have Sarah Blake. Without a doubt was it the modern storyline that I liked the best. I enjoyed her hunt for the truth. Her growing closeness to John Langford. Sarah for me was the character I found I liked so much that I almost groaned when it was time to go back to the 1915s. Although there is one event, one so totally frustrating towards the end of the book. That typical "let's throw in a predictable problem between Sarah and John," that almost made me scream with annoyance. I had myself a face-palm moment there.

 Still, I liked the ending. And, part of me wanted more. I had wanted to learn more about what happened after RMS Lusitania sank, not just snippets at the end. And, I loved that Beatriz Williams threw in a connection to her own books in that there were two ladies on the ship with a familiar surname...

I want to thank William Morrow for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

#BookReview The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams @authorbeatriz @WmMorrowBooks

The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams brings us the blockbuster novel of the season—a spellbinding novel of romance, murder, class, power, and dark secrets set in the 1950s and ’60s among the rarified world of a resort island in the Long Island Sound...

In the summer of 1951, Miranda Schuyler arrives on elite, secretive Winthrop Island in Long Island Sound as a naive eighteen year old, still reeling from the loss of her father in the Second World War. Although a graduate of the exclusive Foxcroft Academy in Virginia, Miranda has always lived on the margins of high society. When her beautiful mother marries Hugh Fisher, whose summer house on Winthrop overlooks the famous lighthouse, Miranda is catapulted into a heady new world of pedigrees and cocktails, status and swimming pools. Isobel Fisher, Miranda’s new stepsister—all long legs and world-weary bravado, engaged to a wealthy Island scion—is eager to draw Miranda into the arcane customs of Winthrop society...

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What I love about Beatriz Williams books are how they are all connected to the Schuyler family, one way or another. This didn't I know when I started to read the books. So, it was with delight that I discovered that the books even when they are not part of a series are in some way connected. I have yet to read Overseas, Fall of Poppies and The Forgotten Room (there is a Schuyler in this one woohoo), but I will get to them soon I hope! Also, I'm dying to read the upcoming book: The Wicked Redhead!

THE SUMMER WIVES have three different storylines, first, we have the 30s with Bianca Medeiro. Then, we have Miranda Schuyler in the 50s and finally Miranda again in the 60s storyline. These three storylines are interwoven in the book, and slowly they will reveal the connection. Bianca Medeiro story is the one that feels a bit like an outsider since both other stories are from Miranda's POV. However, Bianca's story is a vital part of the story.

One thing I truly love about THE SUMMER WIVES are all the characters. Williams always writes such wonderful characters and I'm not even a big fan of romance stories. But, I think her ability to write characters with such depth and also her way of creating a story that engrosses you is the key to her success. You like the characters, they have weakness and are portrayed as human. Every time I finish a book is it with a bit of sadness because I just love the characters. This is why I love it when a Schuyler pops up in another book.

THE SUMMER WIVES is a marvelous book, and I recommend it warmly. To be honest, I recommend all the book by Williams!

I want to thank William Morrow for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

#BookReview Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams @authorbeatriz ‏@PRHAudio #AudioBookReview

Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Each of the three Schuyler sisters has her own world-class problems, but in the autumn of 1966, Pepper Schuyler's problems are in a class of their own. When Pepper fixes up a beautiful and rare vintage Mercedes and sells it at auction, she thinks she's finally found a way to take care of herself and the baby she carries, the result of an affair with a married, legendary politician.

But the car's new owner turns out to have secrets of her own, and as the glamorous and mysterious Annabelle Dommerich takes pregnant Pepper under her wing, the startling provenance of this car comes to light: a Nazi husband, a Jewish lover, a flight from Europe, and a love so profound it transcends decades. As the many threads of Annabelle's life from World War II stretch out to entangle Pepper in 1960s America, and the father of her unborn baby tracks her down to a remote town in coastal Georgia, the two women must come together to face down the shadows of their complicated pasts.

Indomitable heroines, a dazzling world of secrets, champagne at the Paris Ritz, and a sweeping love story for the ages, in New York Times bestselling author Beatriz William's final book about the Schuyler sisters.

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As usual, did I start off reading (or in this case listening) the wrong book in a Beatriz Williams series. I have a tendency to go for the last one published and then go back to the start. Luckily, the books Williams write are all stand-alone(ish).

Along the Infinite Sea is a fabulous book. I have an easy way to determine how good an audiobook is. Since I have work where I can listen to audiobooks do I want to feel that the books captivate me in such a way that after 8 hours of work does it feel like I breezed through the day. Or at least I have been entertained. This one? Well, it was like magic and I loved every single minute of the book. Kathleen McInerney is a fabulous narrator and I could listen to her talk all day long.

As for the story. I'm a big fan of dual storylines and I found myself quite caught up in both Pepper Schyuler's life and problems as well as Annabelle Dommerich story about her youth in Europe in the 40s. I was hooked and captivated by both storylines, although I found myself more taken with Pepper as a person than Annabelle, at least young Annabelle, the older one was far sassier.

I've always like that Williams manage to portray here characters, give them depth and great personalities. She's especially great when it comes to greate strong female characters, and the Schuyler sisters are definitely special. I've just finished book one and Vivian Schuyler is just as brassy as Pepper. I'm looking forward to reading about Tiny next.

#BookReview A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams @authorbeatriz

A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Memorial Day, 1938: New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another placid summer season among the familiar traditions and friendships that sustained her after heartbreak.

That is, until the Greenwalds decide to take up residence in Seaview.

Nick and Budgie Greenwald are an unwelcome specter from Lily’s past: her former best friend and her former fiancé, now recently married—an event that set off a wildfire of gossip among the elite of Seaview, who have summered together for generations. Budgie’s arrival to restore her family’s old house puts her once more in the center of the community’s social scene, and she insinuates herself back into Lily's friendship with an overpowering talent for seduction...and an alluring acquaintance from their college days, Yankees pitcher Graham Pendleton. But the ties that bind Lily to Nick are too strong and intricate to ignore, and the two are drawn back into long-buried dreams, despite their uneasy secrets and many emotional obligations.

Under the scorching summer sun, the unexpected truth of Budgie and Nick’s marriage bubbles to the surface, and as a cataclysmic hurricane barrels unseen up the Atlantic and into New England, Lily and Nick must confront an emotional cyclone of their own, which will change their worlds forever.

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I've spent a lot of time lately going through Beatriz Williams books. Luckily did I have a lot of them available as audiobooks. Like this one. It's a pure joy listening to Williams books.

In A Hundred Summers are we introduced to Lily Dane who has returned to the summerhouse at Seaview, Rhode Island. However, her peaceful summer is interrupted when Nick and Budgie Greenwald arrives. The couple has just married and they are there to restore Budgie's family's old house. Lily and Budgie used to best friends, and Nick was Lily's boyfriend. So, this reunion is hard for Lily. Through the book, we get to know more about Lily's past through flashbacks as the summer progress and Lily try to get used to having Budgie and Nick back in her life.

As usual is the story Beatrix Williams has woven together fabulous. I spent some blissful hours listening to this book while working and I must say that if there is one thing Williams can do is take what seems to be a kind of straightforward story and throw in some twists. The writing is so good that I can easily picture the wonderful oceanfront community of Seaview. As for the story, I was captivated and I enjoyed that I did not always guess right what would happen next, especially towards the ending. What I truly enjoy is how human the characters in the book are, and that the title and the cover may make it seem like a light story, but there are serious events and people aren't always who they seem to be.

A Hundred Summers is a fabulous book and I recommend it warmly!

#MiniReviews A Certain Age, The Wicked City and Cocoa Beach by Beatriz Williams @authorbeatriz @WmMorrowBooks

A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

New York in the Roaring Twenties – a time for love, secrets and scandal…

As the freedom of the Jazz Age transforms New York City, the iridescent Mrs Theresa Marshall of Fifth Avenue – a beautiful socialite of a certain age – has done the unthinkable: she’s fallen in love with her young lover, Captain Octavian Rofrano, a handsome aviator and hero of the Great War. But though times are changing, divorce for a woman of Theresa’s wealth and social standing is out of the question.

When Theresa’s bachelor brother, Ox, decides to tie the knot with the youngest daughter of a newly wealthy inventor, Theresa enlists her lover to present the family’s diamond rose ring to pretty ingénue, Miss Sophie Fortescue – and to check into the background of this little-known family. Yet even as he uncovers a shocking secret, Octavian falls under Sophie’s spell…

Divided loyalties and dangerous revelations lead to a shocking transgression and eventually, Theresa must make a choice that will change them all forever.

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Since A Certain Age, The Wicked City and Cocoa Beach are all connected with each other, but can be read separately will I do some mini-reviews of them all on the same page. I read them all in reversed order, and you can without any problems do as I did or some other orders, but here have I put the reviews in the order the books are published.

Certain Age is fabulous historical fiction with the setting placed in the glamours 1920s. The story is inspired by Der Rosenkavalier and I was totally charmed with this interpretation. For me, was this book extra interesting to read since I have read the other two books that come after A Certain Age, and now I get the full background story to Sophie Fortescue and here sister Virginias life before we once again met Virginia in Cocoa Beach. One thing I really enjoyed about this book is the way Theresa Marshall is written. It was pretty obvious that her young lover, Octavian, become madly in love with Sophie after meeting her, but Theresa who obviously tried to keep her lover never become a villain in this story. To be honest, I liked her. She was the character whose POV I loved the most in the book. I had nothing against Sophie, her POV was also good, but I never truly enjoyed here storyline as much as I enjoyed Theresa's.

The ending is bittersweet and perfect. I truly enjoyed reading this book and it made me eager to someday re-read Cocoa Beach now when I have read this book. 

The Wicked City by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams recreates the New York City of A Certain Age in this deliciously spicy adventure that mixes past and present and centers on a Jazz Age love triangle involving a rugged Prohibition agent, a saucy redheaded flapper, and a debonair Princetonian from a wealthy family.

When she discovers her husband cheating, Ella Hawthorne impulsively moves out of their SoHo loft and into a small apartment in an old Greenwich Village building. Her surprisingly attractive new neighbor, Hector, warns her to stay out of the basement at night. Tenants have reported strange noises after midnight—laughter, clinking glasses, jazz piano—even though the space has been empty for decades. Back in the Roaring Twenties, the place hid a speakeasy.

In 1924, Geneva "Gin" Kelly, a smart-mouthed flapper from the hills of western Maryland, is a regular at this Village hideaway known as the Christopher Club. Caught up in a raid, Gin becomes entangled with Prohibition enforcement agent Oliver Anson, who persuades her to help him catch her stepfather Duke Kelly, one of Appalachia’s most notorious bootleggers.

Headstrong and independent, Gin is no weak-kneed fool. So how can she be falling in love with the taciturn, straight-arrow Revenue agent when she’s got Princeton boy Billy Marshall, the dashing son of society doyenne Theresa Marshall, begging to make an honest woman of her? While anything goes in the Roaring Twenties, Gin’s adventures will shake proper Manhattan society to its foundations, exposing secrets that shock even this free-spirited redhead—secrets that will echo from Park Avenue to the hollers of her Southern hometown.

As Ella discovers more about the basement speakeasy, she becomes inspired by the spirit of her exuberant predecessor, and decides to live with abandon in the wicked city too. . . .

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The Wicked City has a dual timeline story, in the 1920s do we meet Gin Kelly a flapper who frequently visits the Christopher Club until the club is raided and she got an "offer" she can't refuse from Prohibition enforcement agent Oliver Anson who is after her step-daddy Duke Kelly, an infamous bootlegger. Several decades later has Ella Hawthorne moved into the house the Christopher Club used to be housed. At night strange noises can be heard from the basement, clinking classes, jazz piano voices, even though the speakeasy was closed down years ago...

I read this book and thought "wait a minute" could that be the guy from that other book by the author? I know now after reading A Certain Age, The Wicked City, and Cocoa Beach that there are no coincidences. I also know if it feels like there are loose ends in any of the books is it probably a reason for that. A reason that only Beatriz Williams knows. The Wicked City has two different storylines, and although both were enjoyable did I enjoy the present one a bit more, could be Hector, the hot neighbor, could be the strangely haunted basement, or it could be the mysterious discover that Ella did or her awesome Great-Aunt Julie who gave Ella some great advice, when she didn't talk about all the men she slept with. Loved that chapter in the book when Ella was visiting her Great-Aunt, the dialog was cracking.

Cocoa Beach by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The New York Times bestselling author of A Certain Age transports readers to sunny Florida in this lush and enthralling historical novel—an enchanting blend of love, suspense, betrayal, and redemption set among the rumrunners and scoundrels of Prohibition-era Cocoa Beach.

Burdened by a dark family secret, Virginia Fortescue flees her oppressive home in New York City for the battlefields of World War I France. While an ambulance driver for the Red Cross, she meets a charismatic British army surgeon whose persistent charm opens her heart to the possibility of love. As the war rages, Virginia falls into a passionate affair with the dashing Captain Simon Fitzwilliam, only to discover that his past has its own dark secrets—secrets that will damage their eventual marriage and propel her back across the Atlantic to the sister and father she left behind.

Five years later, in the early days of Prohibition, the newly widowed Virginia Fitzwilliam arrives in the tropical boomtown of Cocoa Beach, Florida, to settle her husband’s estate. Despite the evidence, Virginia does not believe Simon perished in the fire that destroyed the seaside home he built for her and their young daughter. Separated from her husband since the early days of their marriage, the headstrong Virginia plans to uncover the truth, for the sake of the daughter Simon never met.

Simon’s brother and sister welcome her with open arms and introduce her to a dazzling new world of citrus groves, white beaches, bootleggers, and Prohibition agents. But Virginia senses a predatory presence lurking beneath the irresistible, hedonistic surface of this coastal oasis. The more she learns about Simon and his mysterious business interests, the more she fears that the dangers that surrounded Simon now threaten her and their daughter’s life as well.

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When I started to read Cocoa Beach did I not know that the previous two books A Certain Age, The Wicked City were loosely connected to this book. I only realized that when I started to read The Wicked City. Do I regret reading them in reversed order? Not at all, although I wish I could read them all again since I absolutely loved reading the books. Coca Beach takes place both in after-war Florida and on the battlefield of France during WW2. It's in France Virginia Fortescue meets the dashing Captain Simon Fitzwilliam who she falls in love with. But, five years later is she living alone with her daughter after leaving Fitzwilliam after marrying him.

Now, there is nothing I love more than a good mystery and here we get several. What really happened to Simon Fitzwilliam in Florida, why did Virginia leave him and could Virginia be in danger?

As much as I enjoyed this book was there moments towards the end of the book when I thought Virginia took things for face-value a bit too much. Honestly, woman, how about not trusting someone you hardly know and believe what he said. Do some investigations yourself instead. However, I do love the twists in the story towards the end of the book and the open ending, well now I know why Beatriz Williams left the story hanging that way...