I’ve got three recommended reads this month. One is available now; two will be out later this month. All three were five-star reviews – it was a good reading month!
THE DAUGHTERS OF VICTORY by Gabriella Saab: Fans of Kate Quinn’s The Diamond Eye are going to love this book.
Svetlana is a former aristocrat turned revolutionary has just been released after ten years in prison. She goes home to find a changed world. Lenin’s hard-liner Bolsheviks have seized power and are bent on destroying progressive Mensheviks like Svetlana. The Bolsheviks’ secret weapon: a mysterious assassin named Orlova.
Believing that surrendering to the Bolshevik regime means simply trading one authoritarian government for another, Svetlana vows to fight. She dreams of the day she raises her daughter, Tatiana, in a free Russia. But first she must avenge the death of her beloved uncle by killing Orlova.
Fast forward twenty years. Svetlana is blind and living on an isolated farm, Tatiana hates her. the Nazis have invaded Russia and Orlova has returned. What happened in 1918? Why are Tatiana and Svetlana estranged? More importantly, why does this former patriot refuse to let her granddaughter, Mila, join the Russian resistance?
This book is full of plot twists and turns. Just when you think the story is going in one direction, it changes. When all the secrets and betrayals are revealed, your jaw will drop.
I’m not going to lie. Daughters of Victory is a gritty read. There is a lot of violence, which is to be expected – this is a book about war. Also, Saab’s women aren’t delicate flowers. They are strong women who are willing to kill and be killed.
Will be going into greater detail about this book on the February 7th episode of Step into the Story. Read the book beforehand and join us in the discussion.
Visit Gabriellasaab.com for more info.
The next two books are coming out in February. Mark your calendars!
The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson: In her follow up to Yellow Wife, Sadeqa Johnson brings us the story of two black women: Ruby, a teenager living in North Philly and Evelyn, a freshman at Howard University. Both women fall in love with men out of their reach. Working class Evelyn falls in love with a medical student from a prominent and wealthy black family while Ruby falls for a white Jewish boy named Shrimpy. Their stories intersect in a very unusual way.
As she explains in her author’s note, Johnson wanted to write a book about what it was like to be a black woman in the 1950s. More specifically, what it was like to be a pregnant, unwed mother in the 1950s. Let’s just say it sucked. The racism and prejudice these women faced from whites – and other blacks – was eye-opening. It’s one thing to know about things like racism and colorism, but it’s another to see it through the eyes of a character.
Oh yeah, the characters – Johnson is a master at characterization, especially when it comes to writing strong women. Evelyn and Ruby (and the other women) jumped off the page like living, breathing people. I tweeted that Johnson’s books nurture my imposter syndrome. It wasn’t a joke. She’s brilliant.
The House of Eve is out on Tuesday, February 7th. Visit SadeqaJohnson.net for more info.
The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz: The moment I saw that this thriller was about a group of writers at an isolated writing retreat, I knew I was reading it.
Alex is a struggling writer who gets the offer of a lifetime: a month-long retreat with her favorite horror writer. When she arrives, she learns that she and four other aspiring authors will be competing for a book contract. The catch? They must write a complete and publishable book in one month. That might a problem for Alex because she’s had writer’s block for over a year.
Plus, one of the other writers is her best-friend-turned-enemy. Also, the house may be haunted by a demon. And since when did she start having weird erotic dreams about demons from hell?
On paper, it sounds like a crazy hot mess, and yet, it works. Bartz (who is the sister of bestseller Andrea Bartz) is fearless in that she throws everything but the kitchen sink at readers. There’s gaslighting, drugs, kidnapping, murder, homoerotism, psychological and physical torture. If you think it sounds like a hot mess, you’re right – and yet it works. I could not stop reading. In fact, I devoured the book in two sittings.
The Writing Retreat is out February 26. Go pre-order it.
Disclaimer: Netgalley provided me with advanced copies of all these books in exchange for my honest review.
