Category Archives: Historical

Review: The Killing Code by Ellie Marney

By | | , , , ,
Comments Off on Review: The Killing Code by Ellie Marney

The Killing Code by Ellie Marney

The Killing Code
Ellie Marney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published September 20, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Killing Code

A historical mystery about a girl who risks everything to track down a vicious serial killer, for fans of THE ENIGMA GAME and A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER.

Virginia, 1943: World War II is raging in Europe and on the Pacific front when Kit Sutherland is recruited to help the war effort as a codebreaker at Arlington Hall, a former girls’ college now serving as the site of a secret US Signals Intelligence facility in Virginia. But Kit is soon involved in another kind of fight: Government girls are being brutally murdered … Continue reading →

Review: The Prince of Steel Pier by Stacy Nockowitz

By | | , , ,
Comments Off on Review: The Prince of Steel Pier by Stacy Nockowitz

The Prince of Steel Pier by Stacy Nockowitz

The Prince of Steel Pier
Stacy Nockowitz
Kar-Ben Publishing
Published September 1, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Prince of Steel Pier

A young teen falls in with the Mob and learns a lesson about what kind of person he wants to be.

In THE PRINCE OF STEEL PIER, Joey Goodman is spending the summer at his grandparents’ struggling hotel in Atlantic City, a tourist destination on the decline. Nobody in Joey’s big Jewish family takes him seriously, so when Joey’s Skee-Ball skills land him an unusual job offer from a local mobster, he’s thrilled to be treated like “one of the guys,” and develops a major … Continue reading →

Review: One for All by Lillie Lainoff

By | | , , ,
2 Comments

One for All by Lillie Lainoff

One for All
Lillie Lainoff
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux
Published March 8, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About One for All

An OwnVoices, gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, in which a girl with a chronic illness trains as a Musketeer and uncovers secrets, sisterhood, and self-love.

Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand. Everyone in town thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl”; even her mother is desperate to marry her off for security. But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father—a former Musketeer and her greatest champion.

Then Papa is brutally, … Continue reading →

Review: Set Me Free by Ann Clare LeZotte

By | | , , , , ,
Comments Off on Review: Set Me Free by Ann Clare LeZotte

Set Me Free by Ann Clare LeZotte

Set Me Free
Ann Clare LeZotte
Scholastic Press
Published September 21, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Set Me Free

Three years after being kidnapped and rendered a “live specimen” in a cruel experiment to determine the cause of her deafness, fourteen year old Mary Lambert is summoned from her home in Martha’s Vineyard to the mainland to teach a younger deaf girl to communicate with sign language. She can’t help but wonder, Can a child of eight with no prior language be taught?

Still, weary of domestic life and struggling to write as she used to, Mary pours all her passion into the … Continue reading →

Review: Veil of Winter by Melanie Dickerson

By | | , , , ,
Comments Off on Review: Veil of Winter by Melanie Dickerson

Veil of Winter by Melanie Dickerson

Veil of Winter (Dericott Tales #3)
Melanie Dickerson
Thomas Nelson
Published June 14, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Veil of Winter

Princess Elyce is on the verge of marrying the nephew of the unscrupulous King Conrad of a neighboring kingdom when she discovers that Conrad will use her marriage to force her people to work in his mines. In order to fake her own death and escape him, she takes a sleeping potion, planning to awaken on the third day and then travel to Prague to seek help from King Wenceslaus, who rules the Holy Roman Empire. But her plan goes awry: the third day comes without her waking … Continue reading →

Review: Ripped Away by Shirley Vernick

By | | , , ,
Comments Off on Review: Ripped Away by Shirley Vernick

Ripped Away by Shirley Vernick

Ripped Away
Shirley Vernick
Fitzroy Books
Published February 8, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Ripped Away

Ignored yet again by his crush, Abe Pearlman wanders into Fortunes and Futures for a little diversion. The fortune teller reveals that Abe may be able to save someone’s life. But before he can ask any questions, he’s swept to the slums of Victorian London, where he finds that his crush, Mitzy Singer, has also been banished. Abe and Mitzy soon discover that they’ve been plunked down in the middle of the Jack the Ripper spree.

To get back home, they’ll have to work together to figure out how the fortune teller’s … Continue reading →