Artsy with Mya

 This was a pretty interesting biography of a women that strived so hard to be remembered and commemorated by the world, but she never full achieved that feeling and got that fame and prestige that she so desperately wanted.  Miriam Leslie was a woman who came from a hard background and she seized every opportunity in sight to better herself and her circumstances in the eyes of the world. She went through several men, quite a few different scandals and pulled out some truly stunning business deals throughout her life.  This is an extremely well-written and put-together biography, but overall I had a hard time reading just based on the formatting of the story. The author puts Miriam Leslie's story together very well and does not shy away from the different stages of her life that she went through. However, I did not enjoy it as a whole book and would not reach for this again.  I received this book free from NetGalley and Abrams Press to review and this is my honest re...

 I requested this book because the description made it sound like an actual cookbook sprinkled with some anecdotes or stories from the authors but that is not what this book is. There is really only about 5 or so recipes sprinkled throughout the book.  This is a book about the food and culture of North Carolina and how they intertwine and connect with each other throughout history. It is a really good look at different parts of North Carolina and how certain types of food are related to certain areas of North Carolina and the history of why.  However, this is not a cookbook which is what I was thinking this book was when I requested it. This is a good book, but it is not a cookbook so the reader should be aware of that before reading,  I received this book free from NetGalley and the Universtiy of North Carolina Press to review and this is my honest review.  4 out of 5 stars

 I honestly was not sure about this book when I first requested it, but I decided to try it out because I needed a new fiction book to read. The cover really drew me in and the synopsis sealed the deal.  The first chapter absolutely drew me in and convinced me to finish the book. The main character is fantastic. She is strong and smart but needs a little more work on her tact and discreetness in undercover work.  There is a through-line of potential romance and the reader is never quite sure if that will be followed through in this book until the last few chapters. The plotline was really well-written and believable between the female and male main characters.  I honestly would love more stories from this author and with these characters at the investigation agency. The supporting characters offer just a little bit of themselves and leave the reader wanting more and the main characters story leaves the reader ready for the next chapter.  I received this book fre...

I honestly expected to like this book a little bit more than I ended up doing. The title and the description really did a lot to draw me into to the book and made me think that this story would be a little bit more than what it turned out to be. This story is a mystery story with a strong mixing of academic politics and a little bit of academic misogyny as well.   By the end of the book, I thought that the story was just fine. Fine but not something that I would seek out to read again.  The writing and formatting of this book did not help draw me into the story at all, but instead kept breaking my immersion into it. which I have found to be a pattern with this particular style of writing. The characters also did not keep my interest or draw me in in any way. I found them to be rather dry, superficial and insufferable.  I did finish the book and found the conclusion to be satisfying if not particularly surprising. The story was overall fine, but not really something I...

 This is a book about a topic that was not familiar to me, not I daresay it would be familiar to the general population  not close to the places in the book. Throughout learning about slavery and how the enslaved escaped to freedom, I never learned about the existence of this swamp and how so many enslaved people managed to escape and live in this huge swamp.  One thing that I found particularly interesting was the explanation and discussion of the different layers and types of maroonage that existed within the swamp. The way that the different layers of maroonage co-existed and worked with each other to survive was incredible to read about.  Perhaps the most documented types of marooners in the book were the ones that marooned and stayed along the edges and outskirts of the swamp either to use it as a passageway to freedom in the North or because their families were still enslaved and they wanted to stay nearer to them.  But some marooners that there is still n...

 This is a harsh book to read about a hard topic. As the author states at the beginning of the book, they are not going to sugarcoat anything about the time period or the people they are writing about. There are quite a few parts of this book that are hard to read and I had to break it into chunks sometimes, just so I could absorb what the author was writing. Even if you think you know about slavery and that era from school or other places, this book really lays bare aspects of slavery that are not talked about enough and what it was like for those enslaved people.  There is frank writing throughout the book about the choices that those who were enslaved made and what they went through that might have factored into those choices. Those who were enslaved had to often make really hard decisions about how they lived and interacted with not only their fellow enslaved people, but also with those who enslaved them and anyone who was not enslaved.  There is really too much in th...

 A really interesting look at two very powerful women at a time in history where it was hard to be a women in power. There is a lot of weight in this book - a lot of politicking, manipulation, assassinations and more. There is a lot of detail included, most of which are names and dates which can get rather confusing to keep track of while reading.  This is by no means a boring book, but it is also not a fast and fun history book that you can speed through quickly.  Overall, I did enjoy reading this book, but it is not one that I would try reading again in a single day. But if you want to read about obscure history and women that made their own way in the world and survived in a world that had no interest in helping them.  I received this book free from NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA to review and this is my honest review.  Four out of five stars