Monday, June 13, 2016

TLC Book Tours Book Review: The Girl From The Savoy

The Girl From the Savoy coverAbout The Girl From the Savoy


• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (June 7, 2016)

“Once begun, I dare you to put it down.”—Kathleen Tessaro, New York Times bestselling author of Rare Objects

London, 1923: Welcome to The Savoy hotel, a glittering jewel in London’s social scene, where the lives of the rich, the famous, and the infamous intertwine.

Here, amid the cocktails and the jazz, two women with very different pasts try to forget the devastation of the Great War and forge a new life in a city where those who dare to dream can have it all.

Dolly Lane is The Savoy’s newest chambermaid, her prospects limited by a life in service. But her proximity to the dazzling hotel guests fuels her dreams—to take the London stage by storm, to wear couture gowns, to be applauded by gallery girls and admired by critics . . . to be a star, just like her idol, Loretta May.

The daughter of an earl, Loretta has rebelliously turned her back on the carefully ordered life expected of a woman at the top of society’s elite. She will love who she wants, and live as she likes. Outwardly, her star burns bright, but Loretta holds a dark secret. She alone knows that her star cannot burn forever.

When an unusual turn of events leads Dolly’s and Loretta’s lives to collide, they must both learn to let go of their pasts in order to hold on to what they most desire.

“As sweet as a love song, as energetic as a tap dance, and full of dazzling details.”—Jeanne Mackin, author of The Beautiful American

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Review:  Hazel's A Memory of Violets was one of my favorite books and I adored her contribution to The Fall Of Poppies, so I was excited to read The Girl From The Savoy.

The cover is enough to draw you in. It is stunning.

From the get go, I had a hard time warming up to Dolly. There was something about her that grated on my nerves from the get go, which makes things difficult when Dolly is one of the main characters, along with her boyfriend, Teddy, who went off to war and Loretta, an actress who has the life that Dolly dreams of having.

It took awhile, but I did warm to Dolly a bit as the story went on.

There are secrets each of the characters carry. With a setting that will appeal to those that loved Downton Abbey, this book is full of drama and history and lives cross class lines.

Rating: 4 flowers


Hazel GaynorAbout Hazel Gaynor


Hazel Gaynor's 2014 debut novel The Girl Who Came Home—A Novel of the Titanicwas a New York Times and USA Today bestseller. A Memory of Violets is her second novel.

Hazel writes a popular guest blog 'Carry on Writing' for national Irish writing website writing.ie and contributes regular feature articles for the site, interviewing authors such as Philippa Gregory, Sebastian Faulks, Cheryl Strayed, Rachel Joyce and Jo Baker, among others.

Hazel was the recipient of the 2012 Cecil Day Lewis award for Emerging Writers and was selected by Library Journal as one of Ten Big Breakout Authors for 2015. She appeared as a guest speaker at the Romantic Novelists' Association and Historical Novel Society annual conferences in 2014.

Originally from Yorkshire, England, Hazel now lives in Ireland with her husband and two children.

Find out more about Hazel at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

1 comments:

Heather J @ TLC Book Tours said...

I'm glad to see that you warmed up to Dolly as the story went along. Thanks for being a part of the tour!

 
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