The Adventures of Curtis the Long-Necked Turtle: An Austrailian Wildlife Adventure About Bravery, Friendship, and Standing Up to Bullies by Sturt McEwan

 

The Adventures of Curtis the Long-Necked Turtle: An Australian Wildlife Adventure About Bravery, Friendship, and Standing Up to Bullies by Sturt McEwan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Curtis is setting out to explore the Austrailian Bush. He has so much to learn along the way and meets up with and makes some new friends who help him. He runs across some not so nice bullies along the way too but it's a learning lesson for him as well.

This is a great book to encourage kids to be brave, stand up for themselves, and to be kind to others.

The illustrations in this book are amazing as well!! The cover alone is eye-catching and gorgeous and just wait until you see the rest of the book!


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Her Own Legacy, Her Own Revolution, Her Own War (Château de Verzat #1-3) by Debra Borchert

 

Her Own Legacy by Debra Borchert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the first book in a new series. This author has extensively reseached this time period and it's very evident!! Before we talk about the book though, can we all just take a few minutes and soak in the beauty of the cover? Oftentimes that's why I pick up a book and this was no exception.

Countess Joliette de Verzat would much rather be out and about and managing the family's vineyards and leave all the politics behind. Everyone depends on her for the family's fine wines but she's really got no stake in the inheritance unless her husband dies and leaves her a widow.

The women start to march during the Revolution and it's during this time that the rightful owner of the vineyards is located. Joliette's life is in danger. Can she count on being saved?

Such a great book full of rich history!! I loved every page of this story!!

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Her Own Revolution by Debra Borchert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the second book in this series but it can easily be read as a standalone. Why would you want to do that though when this author has done massive amounts of research to make this story, while still a work of fiction, as historically accurate as possible? Don't cheat yourself out of another good read!

Women's rights are pretty non-existent in this man's world time. Geneviève doesn't care though and bends rules to attend University dressed as a man. Talk about a risky move, but especially when her father is the Prosecutor, responsible for sending people to the guillitine. A man she believes to be innocent is added to the execution list but doesn't stay on there long thanks to the help of Geneviève. Her life is now at risk but how many can she save?


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Her Own War by Debra Borchert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The amount of research that has gone into creating and writing this series is phenemonal!! It's one reason that this author stands out in her genre of historical fiction. She is truly a master of details, to the point that you feel like you are living in that time period while reading this story.

Geneviève LaGarde is being forced to make some of the hardest decisions of her life. Every choice she makes impacts the lives of hundreds of others along the way. Napeleon is in charge and being the tyrant that he is, life is beyond miserable for most alive. Land is confiscated, people are forced into servitude, and that's just the beginning. Geneviève isn't going to let him have his way anymore if she can do anything to help it.

A great story of love, determination, and a powerful woman coming up against a horrible government.

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The Architect of Deception by Debbie Baldwin

 

The Architect of Deception by Debbie Baldwin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a new-to-me author so I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I sat down to read (actually devour) this book. I planned to sit and read for a couple of hours and take a break for life but found myself reading this one all in one setting.

It starts off slow, simply because there is a lot of background information to be laid. Kinda like a real life murder investigation...it has to start out slow but also with a sense of urgency so that the culprit doesn't get away. However, when it picks up, WOAH NELLIE!!! I wasn't quite ready for that roller coaster ride just yet. I was still warming up but these characters were like, Nah, we're going!

I made a list, checked it a few times for my suspects and I was still wrong. Every time. Every turn of the page came a new revelation that had me second guessing everything. There are plot twists you never see coming, a couple were suspected, and the story is not near what I thought it would be. It was so much better than that!!

Read this one and thank me later. It does contain R rated content, so keep that in mind when picking this one up. I wasn't aware that it would be like this. If you can block all of that out, it's still a great story overall.

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