Book Review: Scent of Triumph by Jan Moran

In my opinion, one of the best parts of blogging has been getting offers to read and review new books.  And, for the most part, pretty good books.

Most recently, I was given the chance to read Scent of Triumph, by Jan Moran:

Now, historical romances aren't usually my thing; for example, I had never even heard of the Outlander series before last year.  But, this book gave me the opportunity to branch out a little, so I took it.

And I'm happy that I did.  The main character of the book is Danielle Bretancourt, an aristocratic French perfumer trying to save her family and herself as World War II rages on.  And, let me tell you, Jan Moran's background in the fragrance and beauty industry served her extremely well in writing this book.  She does a fabulous job describing the art of perfume as well as the fashions of the day.

Now, I have to admit that I could have done with the romance part, but then I guess it wouldn't have been a historical romance.  And it wasn't, I don't believe, poorly written, and it definitely wasn't over explicit, I just found the parts of the book about fleeing the Nazis, working with the Resistance Movement and, yes, the fragrance and fashion, more interesting.

All in all, I recommend this book.  If you like historical romances, I think you'll love this.  And if, like me, you prefer other genres, I still recommend this book as a break to your normal reads.  It's fun and well-written and very engaging.

Happy Tuesday, All!

Gracey

Literary Stylings #17: In Zanesville

Although I really, really enjoyed all of the books I read last month (seriously, I recommend them all), I was most sartorially inspired by In Zanesville, by Jo Ann Beard:

As I said on Sunday, this book was absolutely wonderful.  I didn't grow up in Indiana in the 70s, but this book made me wish I had, if only to be friends with the two main characters.  Seriously, the narrator, and her best friend, Flea, were the type of girls I absolutely would have wanted to be friends with in high school.  They bond over corny jokes, favorite words and clothes.


In fact, clothing is so important to them that they take what has to be the worst babysitting job ever (EVER!) over the summer in order to put clothes on layaway for the school year.  And what did they put on layaway?  Oh, just awesome items like culottes and sweater vests:

I mean, if any book were tailor-made for me for this challenge, it's this one.  I love culottes and sweater vests!


Although, I think the colors on my sweater vest are more 80s than 70s:

Wrong decade or no, I'm just happy to have read this book and happy it inspired this outfit:

And now it's your turn, Reader Friends.  If you've got an outfit to share, please link up below:

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Tuesday, All!

Gracey

What I Read: March 2015

So, I didn't read a lot of books this month, only three, but I really, really enjoyed all three of them.

The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins

This book is great.  There have been Gone Girl comparisons, but I enjoyed this book much more than I enjoyed Gone Girl.  It's a fast-paced, easy read, but with what I thought was a great twist.  I won't say much more because I don't want to spoil it, but I definitely recommend this book.



The Little Friend, by Donna Tartt

Donna Tartt is one of my favorite writers and, once again, she did not disappoint.  This is such a remarkably well-written story, that even though it was scary as hell at times, I didn't want it to end.  Warning, although it is, nominally, about a young girl trying to discover who killed her older brother, it's not really a mystery.  And it's certainly not a Southern Gothic mystery that a lot of people come to expect from the blurb on the back.  What it is, is a great book, and I recommend this one as well.


In Zanesville, by Jo Ann Beard

Yep, I loved this book as well.  It's about two girlfriends growing up in the 70s, trying to navigate the babysitting job from hell (no, really), boys and the mysteries of high school popularity (and unpopularity).  Although I couldn't directly identify with all of their adventures, I definitely identified with these girls and thought this was just a wonderful read.


Per usual, I'm not sure which book I'll base Tuesday's look on, but I have a lot of options this time around so I'm sure I'll figure something out.  And, even though this is extremely late notice, I hope you all will join in on Tuesday.


Happy Sunday, All!  And Happy Easter!

Gracey