Status Updates From The Black Madonna (Roundhea...

This book just fills my heart up with every emotion possible 🥲

Exquisite. I love this book so much. Just as good on rereads.

Rereading this great beastie and there is something about the Civil War that my little brain just gobbles up. Such a good historical fiction.

Now that I've read the entire R&C series and am more familiar with both the time period and the characters that show up throughout the series, I can appreciate more fully now how cleverly the characters in these first two books are interwoven. Characters that only get a passing introduction here are gently referred to here within context of their current roles, and they are expertly expanded on in the next book.

I'll never get over how good the characterization is in this book. every character, no matter how minor, feels like a real, multifaceted, complex person.

Stella Riley writes history so well, I'm convinced I'm getting smarter while reading her books.

time to reread my comfort book as a palate cleanser after the disaster that is the final gambit

Hanging on by a thread because I want to get to Garland of Straw💀

Might get the audiobook just hear Alex Wyndham’s voice whisper endearments in Italian

Still patiently waiting to start liking Luciano…so far I just find him annoying and shady

If only everyone stopped mentioning that he slept with the mother of his love interest’s SIL, I think I would have an easier time warming up to Luciano

Only Stella Riley could pull off all the interpersonal relationships in this book and not make it sound like a cheap soap opera

Fantastic. Extraordinary historical detail. Excellent writing. Compelling.