Book Review: Speakeasy by Elyse Douglas

Author: Elyse Douglas 

Title: Speakeasy (Book 1)

Genre: Mystery, Romance, SciFI, Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Format: Paperback

Pages: 315

Published: April 5th, 2022

Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

Summary: 

In 2019, A West Village Nightclub Singer, Roxie Raines, stumbles through a basement doorway into the past and finds herself in Roaring Twenties New York, with all its dangers, secrets, excitement, and romance.

Roxie Raines lurches through a secret basement doorway in 2019, and time-slips back to New York’s raucous Roaring Twenties. While she dazzles the speakeasy crowds with her “modern sound,” she gets trapped in the dangerous web of Frankie Shay, an evil club owner. She struggles to escape his control and return to the basement doorway that sent her to 1925.

When she meets the handsome detective, Jake Kane, it’s love at first sight, but Jake has a secret past, and her own time travel secret makes him suspicious.

Roaring Twenties New York comes alive with flappers, gangsters, romance, and speakeasies and Roxie’s stunning rise to stardom could come with the price of losing both the man she loves and her own life.

Review:

I'm so addicted to this author's time-traveling books! When I saw this coming out I had to check it out. 

Here we follow Roxie and Jake. Roxie is from 2019 and she finds herself stumbling through a basement doorway and landing in 1920s New York. In order to make her way, she sings at one of the local speakeasies. However, she gets trapped in the dangerous web of Frankie Shay. She struggles to escape and tries to find a way home. That is when she meets the handsome detective Jake Kane. It is love at first sight, but they both have secrets. 

Ooooo the 20's sound like a crazy time to be alive!!! I don't recall a book when someone time-traveled to then so that was fun to read. Seemed like a fun time, but also a super dangerous time to be alive. 

I loved watching Roxie find her footing and actually be appreciated for her musical talent. Back in 2019, she was a nobody. In 1920...they seem to love her style and her musical abilities. Good for her. 

Now...I didn't like Jake at first. I had to really warm up to him. He seemed so flaky at times, but I get it...he is a detective. He can tell Roxie isn't 100% honest so that puts him on the defense. After a certain event, I started warming up to him and I actually adored him by the end. 

I do wish we had more of Frankie. Yes, yes, he was the baddie of the tale, but I felt like we didn't see much of him and I felt he was a little 2D. I think they could've fleshed out this baddie and made him scarier. I found myself not even worrying about him or even worried about our duo. 

Dr. Hall intrigues me. I hope we get a spin-off or learn more about that tale. 

OoooooOOOOoo that ending was good! It has me wanting more. I hope the next book is about Roxie and Jake. I feel like they still have some stuff to sort through before they can have their HEA. I am itching for the next one!

In the end, I really enjoyed this. I literally can't get enough of these time-traveling novels! They are just too good. I hope we get a book 2 for this couple! There is so much left for Roxie and her man! One can hope! Now, I did have that mini issue about the main baddie, but besides that, no other issues. This is a great summer read! Mysteries, time travel, gangsters, booze, music, love....what else can you ask for? 4 stars from me!

Book Review: Time With Norma Jeane by Elyse Douglas

Author: Elyse Douglas 
Title: Time With Norma Jeane
Genre: Fiction, Sci-Fi
Format: ebook
Pages: 258 
Published: January 13th 2020
Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

A young woman is hurled back to 1954 to spend a week with Marilyn Monroe.

Together, they embark on their own personal journeys one a coming-of-age the other, Marilyn's journey, a struggle to reconcile with her past and perhaps change the future.

I couldn't resist picking this up! I really like the author and what is more fun than getting to spend some time with Marilyn Monroe!

The story follows Darla who is hurled back to 1954 and ends up spending a week with the famous Marilyn Monroe. Together they embark on a Christmas journey to help both reconcile their pasts. Maybe Darla can help change the future. 

I have always loved Marilyn Monroe. She is such an intriguing person. Her fate is so sad! Sobs! This rendition of Marilyn was fun and it was interesting to really just see her be her and without the stress of her Hollywood life. Poor thing. 

I liked Darla too. I felt for her too. I'm glad she got this experience with Marilyn. They are both sad souls who needed each other. It was wonderful to see them on their journey to try and find themselves. What a beautiful story!!

Now - this was really, really slow-paced. It didn't bug me too much, to be honest. It felt natural and right for this journey. 

I was meh about Eddie. Maybe if we had more time with him and we got to see more of his character I would've liked him a little more? 

Overall, I really liked this story. It was slow-paced, but it felt right. I liked Darla and I liked this version of Marilyn. This was a nice quick read. I hope we get some sort of sequel! I'll give this 4 stars. 

Book Review: The Christmas Eve Secret by Elyse Douglas

Author:  Elyse Douglas 
Title: The Christmas Eve Secret (Book 3)
Genre: SciFi, Romance, Historical, Mystery
Pages: ebook
Published: September 16th, 2019
Where I Got It: My shelf (given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)


Despite their happiness, Eve is having premonitions that something dreadful is about to occur. Concerned about the future and the safety of their child, she insists that they destroy the time travel lantern. Patrick is more cautious.

One afternoon when Patrick is out, a sinister man breaks into the apartment and forces Eve to give him the lantern. In many ways, Eve is relieved the lantern is gone. She hopes they can now live a more normal life.
​
A day later, Patrick shadows a woman who has been staking out the Gantly’s brownstone apartment, and he confronts her. To his and Eve’s utter shock, they learn that Lucy Rose is from 1924 and that she time-traveled with the man who took the lantern. He returned to 1924, but she chose to stay behind. She offers to sell the lantern back to Eve and Patrick, and they reluctantly agree, hoping to keep it out of unscrupulous hands.​

Convinced that the lantern is a threat to their future happiness, Eve and Patrick decide to destroy it.​

But the lantern has more power than they could have ever imagined. Once the lantern is destroyed, Eve’s life is completely changed. She must set off on an adventure, in a struggle that will return her to the past, where she will learn the secret of the lantern’s origin and delve into the farthest reaches of her heart.


Book 3! So exciting! I really enjoyed the last one quite a bit!

The story continues with Eve and Patrick. Despite everything seeming to be perfect, Even cannot brush off this fear and premonition something bad is on the horizon. In order to protect her and Patrick and their unborn baby, they decided to destroy the time travel lantern once and for all. And of course....this does not end well.

Even though I wanted book 3 and more of their stories, I also didn't. I want Eve and Patrick to be happy!! They really deserve it! Time travel is not all rainbows and kittens. Even though it brought them together, it keeps messing things up. 

I adore Eve and Patrick. I like Joni too even though I wanted to shake her sometimes! No one forced you to go woman!

OooOOOooo what to say without spoilers? 

Honestly, I was hooked from page one. I think I liked this book better even though it ripped my heart out! Ugh! SOBS! So good, so good. 

The middle dragged a touch there, but after some events, the ball got rolling again. I was so anxious and I wanted Eve and Patrick to be happy. 

Oh, that ending! Melted my cold heart! I love it. 

And that big reveal of how the lantern(s) got created??????? WOAH! I did not see that coming. Such a good twist! A fun twist! But made me want to shake somebody!

All-in-all, this was really good. I liked it just a touch more than the last one I think. The story was good and I loved the reveal! Didn't see that coming. The ending was good too! I for sure recommend this series. I'll stamp this one with 5 stars. 

Book Review: The Christmas Eve Daughter by Elyse Douglas

Author: Elyse Douglas
Title: The Christmas Eve Daughter - The Sequel to The Christmas Eve Letter
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, & Mystery
Pages: ebook
Published: September 12th 2018
Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my unbiased opinion)

 When husband and wife, Eve and Patrick Gantly, discover a shocking secret from Patrick's past, they make the difficult decision to use the old lantern once again to return to 1885. They hope to save his child from a tragic future. 

Although they try to plan for every possible contingency, something goes wrong. They lose each other and end up in a different time! Nothing goes as planned. They struggle to save Patrick's daughter from certain death, even as they search for the lost lantern that will return them to their own time.

I love time traveling books and Xmas books so this was one I had to check out. Plus, I adore that cover. Lovely!

I did not read book 1, but that is okay. This did well as a standalone. There was some backstory missed, but the author did a good job of getting the reader up-to-speed and knowing as much as needed.

This follows Patrick and Eve who have just gotten married. He is from 1885 and she is from today. They met in the previous book. Patrick is trying to get used to this modern world. There are things he likes and things he hates. It is rough for him which is understandable. It becomes rougher when he finds out he has a daughter with a one-night stand who met with a horrible fate. He is filled with guilt and wants to go back and change this and save his daughter. Poor guy. Things happen and our character finds themselves going back in time. But of course...things do not go to plan. 

Oooo Patrick. Poor guy. I can't imagine this happening. I would do the same thing and as much as I want to see it from Eve's point of view...I found her pretty selfish at first. Yes, yes, it is a lot to ask for to time travel and whatnot, but he will never be happy knowing he could possibly change history and save his child. 

That lantern is a pain. They need to figure out the science behind it because it seems so unreliable. I guess this keeps people from running around all of the time doing whatever they please. Maybe a future book someone will be able to explain it so it came to be used so we avoid these issues ;) 

I enjoyed this quite a bit. It was a fun adventure and I was not sure what was going to happen next. I had no idea how anything was going to be fixed. Time travel is such a messy thing for sure! And the author did a good job with showing this. The characters were fun too! I loved the dynamic between Patrick and Eve. They were cute. I'm a little bummed I missed book 1. I may have to backtrack to see them fall in love...

The scene when Eve first arrives bugged me. It seemed a touch unrealistic honestly. It was fun and I liked the friend she meets when she first gets there, but she was WAY too trusting. Other than that, no issues. This was a good one overall.

All-in-all, I enjoyed this quite a bit. The characters were fun and I was worried about Patrick and Eve. I am most impressed that this did so well as a stand-alone novel. Kuddos to the author for that! If you are looking for a good Xmas book with time travel give this a go. I'll stamp it this with 4 stars.