The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

★★★★

"She says there are stories everywhere and that people who wait for the right one to come along before setting pen to paper end up with very empty pages."

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory

★★★★★

"The wheel of fortune tells us that we all only want victory.  We all want to triumph.  But we all have to learn to endure what comes.  We have to learn to treat misfortune and great fortune with indifference.  That is wisdom."

This is Philippa Gregory's third novel in the Cousins' War books.  The serious centers around women in the England's War of the Roses and this book tells the story of Jacquette, Duchess of Luxembourg.

Philippa Gregory is one of my favorite historical fiction authors.  I first fell in love with her wonderful story telling of the Tudor court when I read "The Other Boleyn Girl" and have been reading her looks religiously ever since.  I love her ability to bring history to life and center on many of history's lesser known female characters.  The Cousins' War series tells of a not as popular, but still just as exciting and scandalous time in England's royal history.

This book was #6 on my top ten list of 2012.

A Secret Kept by Tatiana Rosnay

★★★

"Knowing would never bring my father back.  Knowing would never make the grieving any easier.  Knowing would never make death easier."

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

★★★★★

"We called Paris the great good place, then, and it was.  We invented it after all.  We made it with our longing and cigarettes and Rhum St. James; we made it with smoke and smart and savage conversation, and we dared anyone to say it wasn't ours.  Together we made everything and then we busted it apart again."

"Books could be an incredible adventure.  I stayed under my blanket and barely moved, and no one would have guessed how my mind raced and my heart soared with stories."

This book was #3 on my top ten list of 2012.

"If I can write one sentence, simple and true every day, I'll be satisfied" 

(Ernest Hemingway).

Set in 1920s Paris, the novel tells the story of Hadley Richardson, the first (out of four) wife of novelist Ernest Hemingway.  Hadley has "all but given up on love" when she meets Hemingway and is swept off to Paris.  Even though they are madly in love, the couple gets more then they bargained for when Hemingway finds himself swept up in the jazz age surrounded by drinking, women, and questionable morals.

Ever since I went o Paris a few years ago, I've loved the idea of "Paris in the 20s."  This novel captured everything I loved about the era and more.   The author does a wonderful job of tying in characters of the "Lost Generation" such as Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and the Fitzgeralds.  I loved the character of Hadley and felt for her as she struggled to fit into a new lifestyle.

Hadley and Ernest: