Audiobook Review: The Gilded Heiress by Joanna Shupe

 

 publication August 26, 2025

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In 1880 a baby was stolen from the wealthiest family in America. Though no ransom was ever demanded, the Pendelton family never gave up hope . . . and their reward became the stuff of legend.

After being raised in a children’s asylum, Josie Smith ends up on the streets and quickly learns how to take care of herself. Her singing voice draws crowds on every corner, and she’ll stop at nothing to become famous and travel the world, loved and adored by all. Maybe then she won’t think about the family who gave her away as an infant.

Leo Hardy isn’t afraid to use his charm and wits to make a fast buck, especially with a mother and five siblings to support. When he stumbles upon a beautiful young woman singing on the street, Leo notices her striking resemblance to the infamous missing baby’s mother, Mrs. Thomas Pendelton. The Hardys lost everything thanks to the Pendeltons, and once Leo sees Josie, he seizes the opportunity to settle the score. All he needs to do is pull off the biggest swindle of his career.

As the two are catapulted into Knickerbocker High Society, they grow closer to their goal, as well as to each other. But secrets can only stay hidden for so long. Soon the truth unfolds, and both Josie and Leo must separate what’s real from what’s just gilding.

MY REVIEW:

The Gilded Heiress by Joanna Shupe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this audio from NetGalley to review.
It is a historical romance set in 1880 and 1890's.
In 1880 a baby is stolen from a prominent family in New York. They assumed one of their help did it but had no proof so they fired him.
20 years later a young woman is heard singing in the streets, by the son , of the man who was fired. He sees a resemblance to the mother of the baby and since he is a swindler he is going to use this to get the money for the reward. He didn't plan on falling in love with her.
Leo was the kind of person who stole for his family. So he decides to be Josie's manager.
I enjoyed both of these characters even if he was a thief. The narrators did a great job on this book.

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Joanna Shupe

Bornin The United States

Website

http://www.joannashupe.com/

Twitter

JoannaShupe

Genre

Romance, Historical Fiction

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USA Today bestselling author JOANNA SHUPE has always loved history, ever since she saw her first Schoolhouse Rock cartoon. Since 2015, her books have appeared on numerous yearly “best of” lists, including Publishers Weekly, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Kobo, and BookPage.

She currently lives in New Jersey with her two spirited daughters and a dashing husband.

audiobook review: The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin

 

Expected publication August 26, 2025

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A captivating new historical novel from Madeline Martin, set in Victorian London about a forbidden book club, dangerous secrets, and the women who dare to break free.

You are cordially invited to the Secret Book Society…

London, 1895: Trapped by oppressive marriages and societal expectations, three women receive a mysterious invitation to an afternoon tea at the home of the reclusive Lady Duxbury. Beneath the genteel facade of the gathering lies a secret book club—a sanctuary where they can discover freedom, sisterhood, and the courage to rewrite their stories.

Eleanor Clarke, a devoted mother suffocating under the tyranny of her husband. Rose Wharton, a transplanted American dollar princess struggling to fit the mold of an aristocratic wife. Lavinia Cavendish, an artistic young woman haunted by a dangerous family secret. All are drawn to the enigmatic Lady Duxbury, a thrice-widowed countess whose husbands’ untimely deaths have sparked whispers of murder.

As the women form deep, heartwarming friendships, they uncover secrets about their marriages, their pasts, and the risks they face. Their courage is their only weapon in the oppressive world that has kept them silent, but when secrets are deadly, one misstep could cost them everything.

MY REVIEW:

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received the audiobook to review through NetGalley.
It is 1895 in London and women were not supposed to read books because it makes them think and men don't like that.
Lady Duxbury sends invites to women for a secret book club and she helps them get their lives back.
I enjoyed the narrator and her voice was calming.
I am glad that I live in a time where women can do what they want and not have to worry about being sent to an asylum for their ways of thinking.

View all my reviews

Madeline Martin

Bornin The United States

Website

http://www.MadelineMartin.com

Twitter

MadelineMMartin

Genre

Historical Fiction, Fiction, Romance

Madeline Martin is a New York Times, USA Today, Publisher's Weekly, and international bestselling author of historical fiction and historical romance with books that have been translated into over twenty-five different languages.

She lives in sunny Florida with her two daughters (known collectively as the minions), two incredibly spoiled cats and a man so wonderful he's been dubbed Mr. Awesome. She is a die-hard history lover who will happily lose herself in research any day. When she's not writing, researching or 'moming', you can find her spending time with her family at Disney or sneaking a couple spoonfuls of Nutella while laughing over cat videos. She also loves research and travel, attributing her fascination with history to having spent most of her childhood as an Army brat in Germany.

Check out her website for book club visits, reader guides for her historical fiction, upcoming events, book news and more: https://madelinemartin.com

Book Review: The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester

 

                                                           Paperback, 455 pages
                                            Published September 18th 2018 by Forever
                                                           buy from Amazon

How much will a young Parisian seamstress sacrifice to make her mark in the male-dominated world of 1940s New York fashion? From the bestselling author of A KISS FROM MR FITZGERALD and HER MOTHER'S SECRET.

1940. Parisian seamstress Estella Bissette is forced to flee France as the Germans advance. She is bound for Manhattan with a few francs, one suitcase, her sewing machine and a dream: to have her own atelier.

2015. Australian curator Fabienne Bissette journeys to the annual Met Gala for an exhibition of her beloved grandmother's work - one of the world's leading designers of ready-to-wear. But as Fabienne learns more about her grandmother's past, she uncovers a story of tragedy, heartbreak and secrets - and the sacrifices made for love.

Crossing generations, society's boundaries and international turmoil, THE PARIS SEAMSTRESS is the beguiling, transporting story of the special relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter as they attempt to heal the heartache of the past.
 

                                                   MY REVIEW:

 

The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

1940. Parisian seamstress Estella Bissette is forced to flee France as the Germans advance. She is bound for Manhattan with a few francs, one suitcase, her sewing machine and a dream: to have her own atelier.

2015. Australian curator Fabienne Bissette journeys to the annual Met Gala for an exhibition of her beloved grandmother's work - one of the world's leading designers of ready-to-wear. But as Fabienne learns more about her grandmother's past, she uncovers a story of tragedy, heartbreak and secrets - and the sacrifices made for love.
This story alternates between the past and present but done in a way to give you backstory along with the present. It is easy to know what is going on and what year it is.
I have had this is my TBR for a very long time. I am really picky about historical fiction to keep my interest. This had me hooked from the very beginning and I couldn't put it down.
I received this from Forever for review.

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                                                                Natasha Lester






Born in Australia

Website
http://www.natashalester.com.au

Twitter
Natasha_Lester

Genre
Historical Fiction, Fiction, Romance




Natasha Lester is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of THE PARIS SEAMSTRESS, THE PARIS ORPHAN / THE FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHER and THE PARIS SECRET. Her new book, THE RIVIERA HOUSE, is coming in August 2021.

Prior to writing, she worked as a marketing executive for L’Oreal, managing the Maybelline brand, before returning to university to study creative writing.

Her first historical novel, A KISS FROM FITZGERALD, was published in 2016. This was followed by HER MOTHER'S SECRET in 2017 and her first international bestseller THE PARIS SEAMSTRESS in 2018. Since then, her books have been translated into many different languages are now published all around the world.

Natasha lives in Perth, Western Australia with her 3 children and loves fashion history, practising the art of fashion illustration, collecting vintage fashion, travelling, Paris and, of course, books.

Release Blitz: She Wears the Mask by Shelly Stratton

  Women’s fiction, Historical Fiction

  Date Published: August 11, 2020

   

   

  Gripping and moving, She Wears the Mask is a novel about two women from two

    very different worlds, both burdened with secrets from their pasts, who form

    an unexpected bond…

  1950s Chicago: Angelique Bixby could be one of many fresh-faced sales girls

    working along the Magnificent Mile, but she’s unique. She’s a

    white woman married to a black man in 1950s Chicago, making her stand out

    among the tenements on the South Side where she lives. Despite the

    challenges the couple faces, they find comfort and strength in their love

    for one another. Angelique is content, as long as she has her Daniel by her

    side and their baby in her arms, until she loses them both—one to

    death and the other to dire circumstances.

  1990s Washington, D.C.: Angelique Crofton is a woman of privilege. A rich,

    aging beauty and mother of a rising political star, she has learned to

    forget her tragic past. But now that she is facing her own mortality, she is

    finally ready to find the daughter she left behind, remember the young woman

    she once was, and unearth the bittersweet memories she had long ago

    buried.

  Jasmine Stanley is an ambitious lawyer—the only black woman at her

    firm. She is too busy climbing the corporate ladder to deal with her

    troublesome family or their unresolved issues. Tasked with Angelique’s

    case, Jasmine doesn’t know what to make of her new client—an old

    debutante with seemingly too much time and money on her hands. Jasmine

    eagerly accepts the challenge though, hoping if she finds Angelique’s

    long-lost daughter, it will impress the firm’s partners. But she

    doesn’t count on the search challenging her mentally and emotionally.

    Nor does she expect to form a friendship with Angelique, who is much more

    like her than she realizes—because Jasmine is harboring secrets,

    too.

   

  About the Author

Shelly Stratton is the penname of an award-nominated women’s fiction

    author who has published more than a dozen novels in her career.

  She is married and lives in Maryland with her husband and their daughter.

    She loves to paint, read, and watch movies. Visit her at her web site

    www.shellystrattonbooks.com.

    

  Contact Links

  Website

  Facebook

  Twitter

  Instagram

   

  Purchase Link

  Amazon

   

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#RABTBookTours #SheWearstheMask #ShellyStratton #WomensFiction #HistoricalFiction

Book Review: Sin Eater by Megan Campisi

The Handmaid’s Tale meets Alice in Wonderland in this gripping and imaginative historical novel about a shunned orphan girl in 16th-century England who is ensnared in a deadly royal plot and must turn her subjugation into her power.

The Sin Eater walks among us, unseen, unheard
Sins of our flesh become sins of Hers
Following Her to the grave, unseen, unheard
The Sin Eater Walks Among Us.

For the crime of stealing bread, fourteen-year-old May receives a life sentence: she must become a Sin Eater—a shunned woman, brutally marked, whose fate is to hear the final confessions of the dying, eat ritual foods symbolizing their sins as a funeral rite, and thereby shoulder their transgressions to grant their souls access to heaven.

Orphaned and friendless, apprenticed to an older Sin Eater who cannot speak to her, May must make her way in a dangerous and cruel world she barely understands. When a deer heart appears on the coffin of a royal governess who did not confess to the dreadful sin it represents, the older Sin Eater refuses to eat it. She is taken to prison, tortured, and killed. To avenge her death, May must find out who placed the deer heart on the coffin and why.

Kindle Edition, 304 pages

Published April 7th 2020 by Atria Books

Buy on Amazon 

                    MY REVIEW:

Sin Eater by Megan Campisi

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A sin eater gets prepared at a young age by an apprentice of an older sin eater. When someone is dying then the sin eater has to hear all of that person's sin and every sin has a certain food they must eat.
When a deer heart appears on the coffin of a royal governess who did not confess to the dreadful sin it represents, the older Sin Eater refuses to eat it. She is taken to prison, tortured, and killed. To avenge her death, May must find out who placed the deer heart on the coffin and why.
Things are not always as they seem and people you should trust, you can't . May also wants to find a way out of being a sin eater but can that really be done?
I received this ARC from NetGalley for review.

Born

California, The United States

Megan Campisi is a playwright, novelist and teacher. Her plays have performed in China, France and the United States. She has been a forest ranger, sous chef in Paris and a physical theater specialist around the world. Originally from California, she attended Yale University and the L'École International de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her family.

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Blog Tour: The Island Girls by Noelle Harrison

Book Description:

I guess our life on the island was one which never fit you right. I like to imagine you some days when I look out the window across the harbour, all those miles of sea and land between us. But, sister, we are always connected.

When young nurse Emer loses her beloved sister, she is haunted by grief and desperate to escape her memories. Taking a job in Vinalhaven, a rocky outpost in the wild Atlantic, feels like the refuge she so badly needs.

Her patient, Susannah, has lived in isolation for many years, since the tragic death of her sister Kate caused her to withdraw from island life. However, when Emer discovers a bundle of letters in a rainbow quilt in her bedroom and shares the story of her own loss, Susannah opens up. She begins to tell the story of Kate’s brutal and secret past, and her marriage to a man with a heart as cold as the ocean.

But when Emer starts asking locals about Kate, the island air sizzles with hostility. There are people who would rather that Susannah kept quiet, who have no qualms about threatening Emer. But despite the warnings to stay away, Emer is determined to find out what really happened the night Kate died – and the final secret that is keeping Susannah a prisoner to the past.

An unputdownable and unforgettable story of impossible choices and two sisters who would do anything for one another. Set on a bewitching sea-scented island, The Island Girls will burrow into your heart. Perfect for fans of Lisa Wingate, Anita Shreve and The Light Between Oceans.  

                                MY REVIEW:

The Island Girls: A heartbreaking historical novel by Noëlle Harrison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Emer is a nurse and loses her sister to cancer. She blames herself for not being there at that moment because she was to caught up in her boyfriend. So she dumps him and takes on a new job. Her patient Susannah has live in isolation in the rocky outpost of the Atlantic. She has been there ever since the tragic death of her sister Kate.
This story goes back and forth from the past to the present in each chapter, Some is the POV of Susannah now and in the past. We also get to know Emer better. While there, Emer finds a bundle of letters that Savannah had written to Kate and Kate kept them. Susannah is writing a story for her nieces, about their mother and had kept the letters Kate gave her, Now she has her letters as well. Both of these women need to let the past go. But the Islanders don't like Susannah and blame her for things that have gone wrong.
I enjoyed this book very much. Getting to know Susannah from the time she was a little girl until the present. H0w her mother treated her and how she was treated by her peers.
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC.

Author Bio:

Noelle Harrison is the Irish author of nine novels and five plays and has been translated into over 13 different languages. Her short stories have been published in Lines of Vision, Irish Writing on Irish Art, & Gutter Magazine of New Scottish Writing. In 2016, Noelle co-founded Aurora Writers' Retreats building on 20 years’ experience of teaching creative writing in Ireland, Scotland, Norway and England. 

 @NoelleHarrison

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://bit.ly/2VAKYDH

Apple Books: https://apple.co/2KbNElX

Kobo: https://bit.ly/34LhOFW

Google Play: https://bit.ly/3ctnpmW

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