mrsalwaysreading's Reviews (624)

Clytemnestera

By Costanza Casati

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book took me longer than usual to get through. At nearly 500 pages, I knew it was going to take a couple days but SHEESH. 

To be fair, Easter weekend was full of family time and I’d gladly take a reading break to have my kids home. 

This book follows Clytemnestera, the sister of Helen, (as in Helen of Sparta. Helen of Troy) as she navigates her life and loss in Sparta, then her forced marriage to Agamemnon and rule in Mycenae. 

I enjoyed the story of the brave, strong, powerful woman who was called her father’s favorite. While Helen gets the fame, Nestra’s story is mostly lost to history. 

It got a little bogged down at points, with details that didn’t really add to the story, but it was enjoyable. 

Read if: you’re a Greek geek and/or if you enjoyed Achilles or Circe. 

The Perfect Divorce

By Jeneva Rose

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

One of my most-anticipated books of 2025!!

Jeneva Rose is an auto-buy author for me. I enjoy the stories she tells, the way she develops characters and the twist that shocks me every time. 

In the sequel to The Perfect Marriage, we get re-aquatinted with Sarah Morgan and  her calculating disposition, in the years after her marriage to Bob. 

I hate that guy. 

I can’t keep talking about it without spoilers so I’ll leave you with this - she’s not all bad and this can’t be the end of the road for the story of Sarah Morgan. 

SO. GOOD. 

My only complaint is a spoiler… I don’t like that other guy. 

Multi-POV could have been cleaned up a little. 

Read if: you enjoyed The Perfect Marriage. 

Easter Bunny Murder

By Leslie Meier

⭐️⭐️

I thought this would be the perfect quick read leading up to Easter. I was so wrong. 

This book was published in 2013, but even in small town America, the Penny Saver was never a newspaper and no one was worried about gas prices. Maybe this was supposed to be set in the 80’s? 

Was it a mystery? Yes. Technically… but the plot was transparent and there wasn’t any brain power necessary to follow. 

Was it entertaining? No. It was boring. There was SO much unnecessary stuff packed in the pages it was frustrating. 

I feel some type of way about giving bad reviews but this was worse than a cookie-cutter whodunnit. And it is in desperate need of an editor. 

THERE ARE NO FUMBLES IN BASEBALL. 

And HOW is there a relapse of appendicitis after an appendectomy?? 

Read if: Don’t. There are better books to waste your time reading. 

The Really Dead Housewives of New Jersey

By Astrid Dahl

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reading this book was like watching a series of Real Housewives on Bravo. Even the fictional tv network is called Huzzah. 

The ‘newcomer’ with the mysterious past winds up dead. 

All hell breaks loose and more people die… and while the plot is somewhat transparent, it was no less entertaining. 

It’s marketed as a thriller but it isn’t really a thriller. Maybe more of a psychological drama/mystery hybrid? 

I enjoyed it. 

I think to be five stars, I would have needed a couple more layers to the plot. It was just a touch transparent for me.

Read if: you enjoy mysteries, thrillers, or the scripted-reality of television. 

Bringing Down The Duke

By Eve Dunmore

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

A League of Extraordinary Women, book 1.  This is a historical fiction book set in England in the late 1870’s. The height of Women’s Suffrage. 

Annabelle is amongst the first women’s cohort studying at Oxford University. Sebastian is a popular Duke, who wants his family’s castle restored. 

They seem pitted against eachother, yet physical and intellectual attraction simmers through every interaction. 

This book had so much potential. I got a little lost and it felt muddled in the first third. Then it picked up and I was invested in the outcome of the Romeo-and-Juliet story of Annabelle and Sebastian. 

Some spicy scenes, mostly mild (for me). 

Read if: you enjoy historical romances. 

American Housewife

By Anita Abriel

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A story of chasing dreams and romance, set between two timelines, between the early 1940’s (Pearl Harbor) and the 1950’s. 

It gave me Leave It To Beaver vibes. 

The rise of a young girl from a farm in Pennsylvania to television fame à la Julia Childs in New York. 

Read if: you enjoy historical fiction, don’t mind flashbacks. 

You May Now Kill The Bride

By Kate Weston

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 

Lifelong friends try to unravel secrets during a time that should be full of celebrations, when they are mysteriously killed, one at a time. 

This book had all the promise of fast-paced thriller but got a little muddled in the middle third. It got to be hard to keep track of who-knew-what. 

It’s all wrapped up by the end but the plot twist didn’t deliver like other twists have. 

Read if: you aren’t a usual-thriller reader and want a fairly easy thriller to read. 

An Inconvenient Wife

By Karen E. Olson

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

…really, this would be like a 3.8. I liked it more than the other 3.5s on my list but less than 4 star books. Idk what to do with that… 

This is a modern spin on 16th Century English monarch Henry VIII, and his 6 wives. 

I picked up this book because (1) I’m trying to read books about wives and weddings this month and (2) I LOVE 15-16th Century English history. 

I have read SO MANY books about Henry VIII, the Plantagenets and the Tudors, the War of Roses, etc.. 

This book was really fun.

If you are not familiar with Henry VIII or all of his wives, some of the nuance of the story may be lost on you. I think it would be entertaining, but the cast of characters may get hard to follow unless you have a flow chart or a background in history. 

The ending was so great. Slightly different than what I expected based on history but great nonetheless. 

Read if: you are looking for a mystery, or if you love the Tudors. 

The Christie Affair

By Nina de Gramont

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ok. So. 

This book was alright. 

BUT. 

It didn’t go down like that. 

I like historical fiction, on occasion.  And I love Agatha Christie. 

However. 

The liberties taken with Agatha’s story made my skin crawl. 

Also. I don’t know WHY Nancy Neele started an affair with Archie, but I do know they stayed together until he died. 

This book made her out to be a broken villain and I didn’t enjoy it. 

The first third of the book hooked me. 

But the timeline and characters got confusing and in my head I just kept yelling “THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN” 

Read if: you’re in to historical fiction and you don’t mind a scattered timeline. 

The Predator

By RuNyx

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

🌶️🌶️🌶️

WHAT did I just read? 

The Predator is the first book in the Dark Verse series. 

While I contemplate how I feel about it, let me just say that it felt REAL. 

Gritty and honest and messy. The hatred between Tristan and Morana didn’t just fizzle away because lust turned it into love. 

It was frustratingly spicy in the best way and that’s the only thing I can think to describe it. You have to experience the under belly of the mob culture in the book to understand. 

3.5 stars, rounded up because Goodreads doesn’t do halfsies like StoryGraph. 

Read if: you enjoy dark romance, mob stories, and moderate spice.