Review 452: The Christmas Hirelings

The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Short Christmas related read.

A novella for the holidays. This is a classic, published originally in 1894 taking place in England. Sir John Penlyon decides that this Christmas some children should be around his lonely huge manor house. So a friend brings three children that were hired to have Christmas for a fortnight on the estate. 

Sir John Penlyon had casted his only daughter out to never accept her as his daughter and definitely not give her any money. She had the audacity to elope and marry beneath her station, which her father would not forgive. Thus, this many years later he is an old man missing children at Christmas.

His friend then brings three children in for the holiday. The youngest which was nicknamed Poppet is so smart and advanced for her young years of four and Sir John and her grow very close in no time. All the children enjoy their time, and gifts at the estate. They go out one day a few days after Christmas to enjoy and play in the snow. The next day Poppet had developed a cold. It gets worse, then even worse, to where they must call in the mother. Of course, the mother is the daughter that was cast out.  At this point Poppet was starting to recover, with her mother there, so Sir John leaves for London for a while. He still does not want to see his daughter, and realized by this point who the children were.

Review 201: Amelia Unabridged

Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Read from: 

Feb 17, 2021 to 

Feb 22, 2021 

so much to love here, and yet so overly dramatic. Have to think further on this one.

I wanted to love this book. The cover is enticing, the story takes place almost entirely in a bookstore, and there's a book convention. It's about books!

It’s adorable, sad, sweet and pulls at all your heart strings. It can also make you wonder, what in the world is going on here?

Some aspects seemed unrealistic. [ It was hard to believe that someone who is extremely guarded would trust another completely, in just a few days, particularly when it was known that she wasn’t going to be sticking around long. Things worked out way too well, too quickly. (hide spoiler)]

There were moments, well many moments, when the writing felt overly dramatic and overdone. It’s an imaginative book, there’s a lot to like. But I did have a hard time with the writing style, and some aspects I found hard to believe.

I so wanted to love this book, but it fell short for me.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press/Wednesday books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 32: The Library of Lost and Found

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This started out very charming, I mean how could a book with a cover of a stack of books with a cup of tea with the word Library in the title not be charming? Plus it is set in England. Not that all books set in England are charming, no. Anyway, this book is about a middle-aged woman who helps out everyone but herself. She works in a library, of course!

One night a book is left at the library's door and it is for her, Martha Storm, and the inscription appears that it was from her grandmother Zelda who died years ago. This sets Martha on a quest to find out more about this book and her grandmother.

This book has many turns that I did not expect and I loved the character growth here. It did take me a while to realize how old Martha is in the story, as at first her actions seemed to be of someone at a younger age. But this book shows you are never too old to change, never to old to become a better version of yourself.


Thanks to Park Row Books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Book Brief: Happiness for Beginners

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

cute story, somewhat. Not my usual fare, but it was okay. Completely predicable, but that didn't matter so much in the end.