Review: The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free

The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free by Paulina Bren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Barbizon was a very interesting nonfiction read. It is a history of The Barbizon Hotel for women with a sprinkling of the history of Mademoiselle magazine too as a lot of the story intertwines with the magazine's history. The book takes us on a journey from the building of the hotel and its origins. Did you know it was built to fill a hole in the housing market, as there was not anything for single girls in the 1920's? A lot of famous women would reside within the hotel's walls, Margaret Brown (yes, the Titanic Molly), Grace Kelly, Liza Minnelli, Sylvia Plath, and many more. I found that most of the book discussed the girls that were in the guest editor program of Mademoiselle magazine. I had no idea that was a thing as a guest editor program in those days.

I received a copy of The Barbizon in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Review: The Heart of the Lion: A Novel of Irving Thalberg's Hollywood

The Heart of the Lion: A Novel of Irving Thalberg's Hollywood by Martin Turnbull
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: Open Book

Open Book by Jessica Simpson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like we a celebrity is gut-wrenching honest in their book. I love when they don't portray themselves as this "perfect being and everyone around them causes the issues in their life". If you are looking for that type of book, move on to another celeb memoir and not this one but this one can get ugly honest, and raw. Kudos to you Jessica for striving to be a role model for girls to be comfortable in their own skin and confident in their faith.

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Review: The Royal Governess

The Royal Governess by Wendy Holden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: Atomic Love

Atomic Love by Jennie Fields
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Fall Reading Guide

 For the first time, I am going to give you my fall book list, why?  Because the world is so full of Covid-19 and we need an escape from reality.  

I am going to choose books that have been released in 2020....only one of these on my list have I read, so maybe we can read all of these books together.  

1. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

   Twins live in a small town but are unhappy and run away from home.  Years later one of them returns with her daughter.  A daughter who doesn't look like the other townspeople (they are all lighter skin color and she is dark).  The other sister is living as a white woman and her husband doesn't know anything about her past.  In the future, the twins' grown-up daughters find each other and reveal some truths, but keep some buried deeply.

2. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St James

This one has been on my TBR for some time and I am just about to put it in the finished stack.  It is about an aunt that mysteriously disappeared and the cover is exceptional.  

3. Blood by Joe Jonas

This one is written by a Jonas and is all about the Jonas brothers and I have been on the waiting list since January.

4. A Furious Sky by Eric Jay Dolin

This one seems to be all about hurricanes of the past so it is non-fiction. I am hoping it is very entertaining and horrifying.  

5. The Queen of Tuesday (a Lucille Ball story) by Darian Strauss

In my book this was a must when it said "A Lucille Ball story) and the cover is outstanding as well.  

6. The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester

I read all Natasha's books so I often don't read what the next one is about so I am surprised, but it is usually about Paris and always fantastic!

7. The Virginia Dynasty by Lynne Cheney

Lynne is a great nonfiction writer, I have no doubt this one will be detailed and all about our Virginian Presidents.

8. Kind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale 

A YA book that I MUST read because of the title because I sometimes introduce myself as a "big deal or dill".  

9. No Time for the Future by Michael J Fox.

I am very much looking forward to getting my hands on this one.  All the books he has written have been uplifting, honest, and inspiring.

10. Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir

This book sounds like it would be a fiction read, but it is not in any way fiction.  This really happened to Natasha and her mother.  Her mother was murdered by Natasha's stepfather and from the snippets I have seen, it seems like Natasha may have been nearby, if not there.  

The Read with Michelle September book pick is here!!!

 Hello fellow readers!

2020 may be the weirdest year on record, but it has also flown by...Happy September!!!  To me, September is all about fall. I have put up the summer decor and brought out all the fall goodness... yellow and orange leaves, purple flowers, acorns and of course pumpkin everything.  I thought about picking a fall type book, but I found nothing that I thought was exciting so I went back to the stack of new releases that I had.  One cover stood out, then I read the story and I was like oh THIS is THE book!  

The September book pick is The Lions of 5th Avenue by Fiona Davis.  

Fiona has been one of my go-to authors for a while because every book she writes is set in the most interesting places in NYC.  Here is a list of her books because you really need to read them all:

                                 

The Dollhouse-about girls who want to be models and secretaries and live in the Barbizon Hotel. 

The Address (my personal fave)-is all about the Dakota Hotel from the time it was built to the first occupants.  This one shocked me at the end.

The Masterpiece-this journey starts by a girl tripping over a suitcase in Grand Central Station and takes you to an art school that made its home in GCS.

The Chelsea Girls-Hazel and Maxine live in The Chelsea Hotel and have dreams of making it big on Broadway meanwhile Joseph McCarthy is out looking for communists.  

Fast forward to Fiona's new release and you will see a beautiful setting of the New York Public Library and if that is not enough, she gives us an apartment over the library (folks really did live there once upon a time), a book theft, death and family estrangement.  This one has it all!!!!