Violet Sorrengail has been training as a dragon rider for 18 months at Basgiath War College, but a real-life

Rivals (Letters of Enchantment #1) by Rebecca Ross I liked Divine Rivals and the gutsy characters facing wartime Iris's beloved brother is missing in action in the war among the gods, and sending letters through a magical wardrobe is the only way she can reach him. The gods' war provides the structure for the book's main conflict, but the story feels primarily focused on everyday, regular-human wartime concerns--with an unlikely-feeling god-war and magical letter-sending

gripping, detailed, life-and-death period in the life of an ethnically German family at the end of World War tells a tale of a family's incredible bravery and determination in the waning, cruel days of World War The Martels run west with the Nazi wolves--finding themselves caught between two ruthless, warring armies fiction around the true story of an ethnically German family running from the Ukraine at the end of World War

It felt conceivable that an unorthodox melding of priorities and futures could occur between the warring

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Last Green Valley, World War II-set historical fiction by Mark tells a tale of a family's incredible bravery and determination in the waning, cruel days of World War The Martels run west with the Nazi wolves, finding themselves caught between the two ruthless, warring fiction around the true story of an ethnically German family running from the Ukraine at the end of World War

of more and more powerful people, including the king--who is desperate for an advantage in Spain's war

Her explorations threaten to destroy her relationship with her mother even past the world-war-level disagreements

) by Rebecca Yarros Violet Sorrengail has been training as a dragon rider for 18 months at Basgiath War

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading John Boyne's novel told in two timelines, World War II and present-day

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Tessa Harris's recently published World War II-set story Beneath 01 Beneath a Starless Sky by Tessa Harris In the newest World War II-set novel by Tessa Harris (author If you like World War II-set books, you might also like the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War II. 02 The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller

widowed swordswoman, and a street-smart young man searching for his disappeared friend just might spark a war

Lost Queen #3) by Signe Pike I loved the first story in this series, The Lost Queen , which offered warriors When book three begins, the story's key characters have been reunited, but the warrior Artúr is myst There is talk of war's return, and three warriors will shape the future of the land of Vigrid: a noblewoman

There's a ton to unpack here, including the exploration of the good and evil warring within each of us

There's enough strength, redemption, and beauty amid the World War II suffering to give you warm fuzzies pulling together the Bossy Bookworm Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War then reading Bohjalian's Hour of the Witch last week, I was reminded of Bohjalian's captivating World War tough sometimes--the book is about refugees trying to evacuate west across Germany at the end of World War There's enough strength and redemption and beauty amid the pain and suffering to give you warm fuzzies

to try to avoid coping with the difficulties of life; and I'm listening to The Librarian Spy, World War this link for my review of Andrew Sean Greer's Less. 03 The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin As World War

dark secrets, zany hijinks, and redemption; Beyond That the Sea, historical fiction set during World War relationships, found family, growing up, and balancing two lives, all set against the backdrop of World War That, the Sea tells the story of two families on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean during World War Her explorations threaten to destroy her relationship with her mother even past the world-war-level disagreements

about her great-great-aunt, an American who led a powerful underground resistance to the Nazis in World War great-great-aunt Mildred Harnack, American leader of one of the largest underground resistance groups of World War An American PhD candidate in Germany as World War II unfolded, Mildred witnessed the emergence of Nazi

of more and more powerful people, including the king--who is desperate for an advantage in Spain's war

But wars are being waged, and Rae quickly figures out that she's not the heroine of the story.

stumbles onto Clay and his island and upon stepping foot upon its land, enters into a mysterious time warp I appreciated that the floating island and its time warp existed alongside realistic factors here without unborn twins, was powerful to do the impossible: create the island, set it in motion, and form the time warp internal warring about potential intimacy felt like a luxury--and, ultimately, crises do occur for the

The world is unraveling on the cusp of World War II, and three strong women will be tested beyond anything they imagined before the end of the war and the end of the book. My book club read this refreshing twist on one of my favorite historical fiction book topics, World War The Light After the War is another World War II title I recently really liked.

She is made to be magically "obedient" to her mother, and as such she is incapable of warning others personal and societal circumstances in mid-1800s London and imagining his efforts to teach thievery to his wards the place and time, exposes Victorian London's stark class contrasts, and presents the filthy rabbit warren In Patrick Ryan's literary fiction title Buckeye , which begins before World War II and spans to the war existence in which the population has been cut by more than half, inland seas spread across the

Reading Now I'm listening to The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher's memoir focused on the early Star Wars reading Agent Sonya, Ben Macintyre's nonfiction book about a famous female Russian spy during the Cold War reading The Invisible Woman, historical fiction from Erika Robuck based on the life and work of World War behind-the-scenes peeks at Cold War intrigue from Ben Macintyre. Here, Fisher considers: the phenomenon of Star Wars, which drew her into its unprecedented whirlwind

gripping, detailed, life-and-death period in the life of an ethnically German family at the end of World War tells a tale of a family's incredible bravery and determination in the waning, cruel days of World War fiction around the true story of an ethnically German family running from the Ukraine at the end of World War It's 1926 in London, and recovery from the Great War inspires many in the city to dive into the wild

The story's later timeline takes place in the time of World War II as Daphne, an intelligent and educated

Brooks-Dalton This gorgeously written postapocalyptic climate-fiction story offers up a future in which civilization The shadow of real-life global warming and weather changes add to the power of the story, and the touch

There is talk of war's return, and three warriors will shape the future of the land of Vigrid: Elvar, But wars are being waged, and Rae quickly figures out that she's not the heroine of the story.

Before the war, she had spied against fascists and anti-communists, Chinese, Japanese, and German; during the Allies; after it, and henceforth, she would be spying against the West, the new enemies in a Cold War Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy is made up of vividly recounted behind-the-scenes peeks at real-life Cold War intrigue from the talented author Ben Macintyre. revelations about clandestine operations and the workings of the Soviet spy network during the Cold War

In 1942, as World War II disrupts the world, Violet is stuck in her family's ramshackle estate when she

It's 1926 in London, and recovery from the Great War inspires many in the city to dive into the wild

witnesses Athena's death and mysteriously comes up with a story about Chinese laborers during World War

I loved this post-World War II book about bravery and rural life for middle-grade readers. Betty moves to town and begins to push people around, cruelly setting her sights on Toby, a local World War I veteran who hasn't been the same since the war. Rural life just after World War II, a godawful bully, an odd but lovely area wanderer, a sometimes claustrophobic

Quinn's newest historical fiction, based on a real-life Russian bookworm turned sniper during World War Quinn Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is Kate Quinn's most recent historical fiction, a World War

Sheriff Brody Dern must face his own postwar demons when he confronts a Native American World War II

centuries, from Renaissance Italy to the present day, Chevalier's story skips through deadly plague, war

Emily Tesh's debut novel is a space opera about war, duty, brainwashing, escaping limitations, and reinventing

In a world of the near future, a young (unnamed) woman is one of several civil servants offered a mysterious

Warren, the FBI Profilers, and the PI Tessa Leoni series. 02 All Our Yesterdays: A Novel of Lady Macbeth mother's death; the cruelties of her husband, to whom she was wed at 15; the surrounding, constant wars

Sara Nović is also the author of Girl at War and the illustrated nonfiction work America Is Immigrants

#mysterysuspense, #deadlywaters 02 Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook ​ It's 1945. do more: she wants to help the British Control Commission rebuild what they can in Germany after the war --and maybe even help them prosecute war crimes. World War II historical fiction, a tough female protagonist, a mission of uncovering war criminals in For my full review, see Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook.

Natalie Haynes's mythological retellings put women at the center of many scenes surrounding the Trojan War listened to Haynes read her highly entertaining woman-centric version of events surrounding the Trojan War

Would there have been the same wars, massacres, persecutions, and crusades?

Yarros's experience as a romance author remains showcased in book two through teen-angst-dramaaatic, romaaantic dialogue. My favorite elements were the action sequences, the opportunities for humor, and the pacing of this 640-page story. I wanted to love Fourth Wing, the first in this series, (talking dragons! dragon riders! dragon-rider training!). I was distracted by the ultra-dramatic young-adult teen angst and sometimes-clumsy dialogue, yet the promise of the dragon element kept me reading with fingers crossed that the story would take off and eclipse the pacing and the forced-feeling will-they/won't-they-focused conflicts (spoiler: they will). Yet Yarros's thrilling, twisty ending hooked me to find out what would happen in book two. I do love a dragon book, and the second in the Empyrian series offers more page time for the talking dragons, some surprises, and a more deftly paced story, with stronger character development--along with dramaaaaatic, romaaaaantic dialogue and super steamy scenes, as also seen in the first installment. Yarros offers a villainous teacher so over the top, there's no way he could be allowed to live through the book. Yet she also serves up an unexpected (as in, we thought he was dead, so: very unexpected) second chance at redemption for a character who was presented as a villain in book one. Violet's mother is shown to have depth, show some caring for Violet, and demonstrate plausible deniability related to atrocities occurring at the border. These all seem aimed at tempering the impression Violet has that her mother is without a heart. Yarros's romance-novel background is evident with the very specific sex scenes (no detail is left unshared), as well as the ongoing (and drummed-up-feeling) dramatic angst from Violet regarding Xaden (I can't trust him, because he doesn't tell me everything) despite what felt like a book-one resolution to the will-they/won't-they tension between the two. There's an added bump in the road for the couple in this book related to Violet's mother that predates Violet's relationship but affects Xaden. I was so distracted by the frequency of "f*ck" in book one that I searched on my Kindle version and found that there were 257 instances in Fourth Wing. In book two, I wasn't sure about Violet's use of "damn" and "damned" ("I'm still really damned angry with you" felt odd; the type of "damn if" compliments about Xaden's body seemed silly). Violet and Xaden are verrrry flowery about their feelings (“You want to know something true? Something real? I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been since the night the snow fell in your hair and you kissed me for the first time."). These elements follow from the romance-novel feeling of Fourth Wing. But there's some funny dialogue here that made me laugh, and Yarros allows the characters to be less earnest and more playful and to invoke a little bit of dark humor at times (my favorite kind) in Iron Flame. The melding of two fighting forces offers additional interesting characters, conflicts, complexities, and interactions, which I liked. Violet's physical condition and chronic illness is referred to in Iron Flame but is far less of a key element than it was in Fourth Wing. One of my favorite dragons is almost completely absent from the book (sleeping for hundreds of pages), with a grand reveal at the end, the impact of which felt a little lost on me. The action scenes and battles were the highlight for me in Iron Flame. Yarros ends this one with a bang that hooks the reader for book two just as they might be wavering on reading a third 500+ page book--as she did for me with book one. I listened to Iron Flame as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Click here for my review of Fourth Wing. Have you read the fantastic Temeraire series by Naomi Novik? It's got all the talking dragons, dry humor, battles, and military strategy you'd want. The tone is very different from the Empyrian series--no teen angst or steamy scenes.

Chenneville, titular character John Chenneville is a former Union soldier who has spent a year since the war

The Phoenix Crown; I'm listening to We Must Not Think of Ourselves, historical fiction about life the Warsaw Suzanne recently suggested that I read this book despite my recent feelings that I'm maxed out on World War begins, it's November 1940, and Adam Paskow is one of the thousands of Jews newly imprisoned in the Warsaw

Ship of Brides (mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War

Reading Now I'm reading Down Comes the Night, a young adult fantasy story featuring magical healing and warring ruthless, and he's Wren's sworn enemy, a deadly force who has destroyed her countrymen and women in the wars That We Knew--featured in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War

In The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After , Wamariya recalls her experiences

A survivor of the World War II Warsaw Ghetto, Jaryk Smith arrives in New York City and falls in love

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading an upcoming book by a favorite author, Katherine Arden, The Warm 01 The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden Armageddon was a fire in the harbor, a box delivered on So I'm excited to read her upcoming book The Warm Hands of Ghosts, scheduled for publication February In The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Arden sets a story of Laura, a combat nurse, who is searching for her brother Freddie, against the backdrop of the Great War.