Victoria by Daisy Goodwin

Victoria by Daisy Goodwin

Alexandrina Victoria ascends the throne of Great Britain in 1837, less than a month after her eighteenth birthday. Most were not happy: Victoria had spent her life under her mother’s watchful eye, her every move tightly controlled, and what would a young girl know of running a country? But, much to the surprise of her handlers, the queen quickly grows into her new role.

Still, rumors persist about Victoria’s martial status, though Victoria decides she would rather rule like Elizabeth I, alone and, most importantly, in charge of her own destiny. That doesn’t stop people from whispering about her prime minister and private secretary, Lord Melbourne, or her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha….

404 pages.

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

The shadow of war lurks over the Kurc family in the spring of 1939, though they do their best to maintain normalcy. This is why the family talks of new romances and new babies as they gather for Seder, not how life is becoming increasingly dangerous for Jews in Radom, Poland. However, soon war arrives on their doorstep, flinging the Kurcs around the globe as they try to escape its horrors. Separated, exiled and struggling to escape what must be certain death, the Kurcs must find the hope and inner strength to endure.

403 pages. 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

But instead of falling it's crying, and instead of minutes, it's hours. I hate it. I wish I could forget most of this book, and I won't be able to watch most of the show. Because I can't. yes it's about Calvin.
That scene where Max bringing the Grinch tools.
Six-Thirty is the precursor to Bunny the Dog. Must protect.
390 Pages

The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder is starting a new life with her husband, Almanzo, in their own little house on the prairie. They work hard to carve a life for themselves on their farm, and soon their daughter Rose is born. But the first four years of their marriage leads to many trials and hardships Laura and Almanzo never could have prepared for. 

Book #9 in the Little House series. 134 pages.

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls is teaching on a claim shanty twelve miles away from her family in Dakota Territory. She is desperately homesick and unhappy, but perseveres to help Ma and Pa pay for her sister Mary’s education at a college for the blind. Every Sunday Almanzo Wilder comes to bring her home, and soon Laura is happily home again, where she can join in singing lessons and sleigh rides—and, perhaps best of all, go on buggy rides with Almanzo.

Book #8 in the Little House series. 289 pages.

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

With the end of the long winter comes spring socials, dances, and literaries. Despite an active social life, Laura remains as busy as ever on the farm and working at various odd jobs so Pa and Ma can afford for Laura's sister Mary to go to a special college for the blind.

Book #7 in the Little House series. 307 pages.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

As the Ingalls family settles in Dakota Territory, the settlers are warned a hard winter looms. After the first blizzard hits in mid-October, Pa decides to heed the warning and moves the family into his store building in town. Blizzards repeatedly sweep the town, and supplies like coal, food, and fuel become commodities. Families resort to using burning hay to keep warm, but even that soon runs low. Rumors swirl around town about a settler who has enough hay to last the town the rest of the winter, and Almanzo Wilder risks his life to save the town.  

Book #6 In the Little House series. 335 pages.

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls and her family once again find themselves traveling, this time heading from Minnesota to Dakota Territory. Pa works to build the new railroad as he scouts out a new homestead, briefly leaving Ma and the girls behind. They later take their first train ride to Silver Lake, where they spend the winter in the surveyors' house. In the spring, residents begin to build what will become the town of De Smet, South Dakota. 

Book #5 in the Little House series. 385 pages.

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls and her family journey north in their covered wagon to Minnesota, settling in a sod house along Plum Creek. As she and her sisters help Ma around the house, Pa works to plant crops and build them a sturdier home, and soon Laura and Mary start attending school in town. But after a terrible winter and a grasshopper infestation, which devours Pa's crops, the Ingalls are left questioning their future in Minnesota. 

Book #4 in the Little House series. 384 pages. 

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

 

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear.

The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame it—except that Adelaide isn’t alone. And the secret she’s tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the harsh territory.

pages: 285

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Growing up on his family farm in New York, Almanzo Wilder wants a horse of his very own more than anything. When his father insists he's not quite responsible enough, Almanzo sets out show his father he is highly capable, as he ensures the farm runs smoothly with the help of his brother and sisters. 

Book #2 in the Little House series. 384 pages.

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Pa Ingalls feels the Big Woods of Wisconsin are getting too crowded, and decides to move his family to the Indian Territory of Kansas. There, Pa builds a little house on the prairie. Despite the dangers, the Ingalls family does their best to forge ahead, keeping busy as the prairie promises a new beginning.

Book #3 in the Little House series. 335 pages.

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

In 1871, four-year-old Laura Ingalls lives in the Big Woods of Wisconsin. In this first book in the Little House series, pioneer times are cast in an idyllic light as Pa and Ma farm the land on which their log cabin sits, Laura and her sisters Mary and Carrie celebrate Christmas with homemade toys and treats, everyone pitches in for the spring planting and fall harvest, and the sound of Pa's fiddle lulls the family to sleep, safe in their cabin.

Book #1 in the Little House series. 198 pages.

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

 

Pages: 448

"In her forest-veiled village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king's blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered. But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it's like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother. As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. However, trust can easily turn to betrayal, and as Évike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gáspár need to decide whose side they're on, and what they're willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all."

I loved the premise for this story, mixing the Jewish and Hungarian mythologies and religious prejudice set a great background for the plot. I was a little disappointed in the dialog, it got a little repetitive and the chemistry between the love interests was a lacking.

Marvelous by Molly Greeley

Ok but like....It's Beauty and the Beast, and the people that it might based off of. Like....My jam...
Hugs Petrus Gonzales and Catherine....and Antonietta... and all of them....
No one look at me, I'm having feelings.
It's historical but it's fiction. I can't.
Is this going to be one of the ones that I just...randomly remember and cry about...yes...

416 Pages

The Davenports by Krystal Marquis

Y'all.. the drama. The research. The historical historics fnklds
It's like Bridgerton, with some Downton Abbey vibes, but YA and set in the 1910s Chicago, and the cast is, cough, not white.
The commentary....like it's got it all basically, racism, sexism, classism, both inside and outside of communities. Like there's so much in there. Working for women's right to vote, and for civil rights, the second industrial revolution. The erasure of not only black history, but also of black success
It's one generation removed from the Civil War so it's really interesting to see parents who might have lived during that time, or were born shortly, after maneuver around everything.
Not me guessing who's going to end up with who
Screech. The author's note quoted an MU professor
384 Pages

The Rose and the Dagger by Renée Ahdieh

 

Pages: 420

"In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad is forced from the arms of her beloved husband, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once thought Khalid a monster—a merciless killer of wives, responsible for immeasurable heartache and pain—but as she unraveled his secrets, she found instead an extraordinary man and a love she could not deny. Still, a curse threatens to keep Shazi and Khalid apart forever. Now she’s reunited with her family, who have found refuge in the desert, where a deadly force is gathering against Khalid—a force set on destroying his empire and commanded by Shazi’s spurned childhood sweetheart. Trapped between loyalties to those she loves, the only thing Shazi can do is act. Using the burgeoning magic within her as a guide, she strikes out on her own to end both this terrible curse and the brewing war once and for all. But to do it, she must evade enemies of her own to stay alive."

I am happy and upset at the same time with this ending. I loved how we got some more of the magic than the first book and how it was woven in to the story. Though now I am crying for Irsa, she deserved a happy ending. I wished we had more interactions between the main pairing as I loved their chemistry but this second half of the duology was more focused on the curse and near war.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

Ok but like....it's in Victorian England, there's magic, and pirates flying houses.
The cover is so pretty.
I love pirates. I love them so much.
Also when the MC is like....I did nothing for the plot and is self-aware and knows that she's Indiana Jones...
324 Pages

The Wrath & the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

 

Pages: 404

"Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all." 

I love the blend of Arabian nights stories. A story of revenge turns into an intriguing romance with 'touch her and die' vibes. I love Shazi and how she is always putting people in their place, even if it gets her in trouble. And now a secret curse that would shed a new light on the heinous crimes of the boy-king is leading into the second book and leaving off on a cliff-hanger!

Jackaby by William Ritter

It's Sherlock Holmes, but Watson is female, Sherlock is younger, and there's mythical creatures... I loved it.
310 Pages