In this podcast episode Tamara, Casey, and Nicola break down season 1 of the Nexflix original Bridgerton created by Shondaland. They share the similarities and differences from the page to the small screen! They also share their ratings for the book and the first season! Did you watch the show? If so, tell us how you thought it stacked up and if it was a solid adaptation.

​If you haven't read the book and still want to know what we thought about the show, then you'll still want to listen!

Enjoy this book and/or show? Join us on Facebook and let's discuss!

​This episode is sponsored by Mocha Girls Read ​

Don't miss the latest Shelf Byte episode! You'll hear a spoiler-free book or audiobook review in just a few minutes!
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Today, I'm sharing my thoughts on the The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid​. If you've read it, comment below and let me know what you thought of the book. 

This is the first episode of my new podcast feature called #ShelfByte on the Shelf Addiction Podcast. Shelf Byte features spoiler free-book and audiobooks reviews in 5 minutes or less. Enjoy!

​In this episode, I am reviewing Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan. If you've already read Beneath a Scarlet Sky, leave a comment and let us know what you thought about it.

Publisher: She Writes Press
Release Date: May 2, 2017
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Source: Publicist/Publisher
Genre: Historical Fiction
​Rating: 3 bookmarks

​Synopsis: Becca Meister Fitzpatrick--wife, mother, grandmother, and pillar of the community--is the dutiful steward of her family's iconic summer tradition . . . until she discovers her recently deceased husband squandered their nest egg. As she struggles to accept that this is likely her last season in Long Harbor, Becca is inspired by her granddaughter's boldness in the face of impending single-motherhood, and summons the courage to reveal a secret she was forced to bury long ago: the existence of a daughter she gave up fifty years ago. The question now is how her other daughter, Rachel--with whom Becca has always had a strained relationship--will react. 
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Eden is the account of the days leading up to the Fourth of July weekend, as Becca prepares to disclose her secret and her son and brothers conspire to put the estate on the market, interwoven with the century-old history of Becca's family--her parents' beginnings and ascent into affluence, and her mother's own secret struggles in the grand home her father named "Eden."

*This book was provided by the publicist/publisher in exchange for a honest review.

Eden is a house that is built on Long Harbor, and Becca is the current caretaker of the property. The home has been passed down through her family for generations after her up and coming grandfather built it for his family. The story revolves around not just Becca, but all of Eden’s inhabitants. Chapters are told in alternating time periods; 1940’s when Bunny and Sadie owned the house, and the year 2000, when the house is owned by the family as a whole (but Becca lives there). The dual timeline provides an interesting look at the workings of this family as it grows, ages, and changes.
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I will say that there are a LOT of characters in this book. A LOT. I was struggling trying to remember who was who, and how they were related to one another throughout the entirety of the book. The dynamics of the family also naturally changed between the alternating timelines which didn’t help me with trying to remember just how everybody added up in the familial equation.

Publisher: Spiegel & Grau | Random House Audio​​
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Format: Audio MP3
Pages: Hardcover:  272  pages | Audio Length: 7 hours 51 mins
Narrator: Marisol Ramirez , Ramón de Ocampo
Source: Publisher
Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical
​Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: While her parents are away for a holiday weekend in the mountains around Cali, a teenager finds herself home alone for the first time, with the household help mysteriously gone, no phone connection, and news of an insurgency on the radio—and then she hears a knock at the door. The girl’s teacher recites Shakespeare in the jungle to a class of sticks, leaves, and stones, while his captors watch his every move. Another classmate, having escaped Colombia for the clubs of New York, is unable to forget the life she left behind without the help of the little bags of powder she carries with her. Taking place over two decades, The Lucky Ones presents us with a world in which perpetrators are indistinguishable from saviors, the truth is elusive, and people you love can disappear without a trace.

A prismatic tale of a group of characters who emerge and recede throughout the novel and touch one another’s lives in ways even they cannot comprehend, The Lucky Ones captures the intensity of life in Colombia as paramilitaries, guerillas, and drug traffickers tear the country apart. Combining vivid details of life under siege with a hallucinatory feel that befits its violent world, The Lucky Ones introduces a truly original and exciting new voice in fiction.

*This audiobook was provided by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

I’m going to just come right out and say it-nobody is lucky in The Lucky Ones.  If you’re looking for a happy-go-lucky book, this isn’t it.  But the language-it’s breathtaking.  I couldn’t wait to figure out what was going to happen next.
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The story is told from alternating viewpoints, with each chapter coming from a different character.  The one similarity between them all, though, is drugs.  With that being said, I felt that the main ‘character’ in the story wasn’t any one individual, but the drugs itself.  All of the characters seemed to be there for one main purpose, and that was to tell the story of narcotics.

Publisher: Penguin Books
Release Date:  February 28, 2017
Format: Paperback
Pages: 312 
Source: Publisher
Genre: Historical Fiction
Review Date: April 3, 2017
Rating: 3 bookmarks

Synopsis: England, 1939: Julia Compton has a beautifully well-ordered life. Once a promising pianist, she now has a handsome husband, a young son she adores, and a housekeeper who takes care of her comfortable home. Then, on the eve of war, a film crew arrives in her coastal town. She falls in love. 

The consequences are devastating. Penniless, denied access to her son, and completely unequipped to fend for herself, she finds herself adrift in wartime London with her lover, documentary filmmaker Dougie Birdsall. While Dougie seeks truth wherever he can find it, Julia finds herself lost. As the German invasion looms and bombs rain down on the city, she faces a choice: succumb to her fate, or fight to forge a new identity in the heat of war.

*FTC Disclaimer: The book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Julia is a woman that is living a comfortable life in England at the start of World War II.  She is married to Richard, and together they have a son, Peter.  Although she lives a privileged life, Julia is lonely:  Peter is away at boarding school for much of the time, and she has to wipe the looking glass to really see how attractive Richard still is to her.
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Some excitement enters Julia’s life by way of a film crew sent to their town to showcase the normal goings-on of a people at the start of the war.  Dougie is the director of the group, and Julia is instantly smitten.  Soon, they are having a torrid love affair that lasts even after Dougie and his crew move off to another town, and Julia manages to keep each part of her life separate and contained.  That is, until Richard becomes suspicious and starts hunting for evidence of adultery, of which he finds in the form of love letters between Dougie and Julia.  Massive arguments ensue, and Julia finds herself thrown out and penniless, at which time she moves in with Dougie, but only after HIS wife and children leave for Canada.  The rest of the story is about Julia and Dougie and their trials and tribulations, and the relationship’s ultimate demise.  

Publisher: Tor Books | Audible Studios
Release Date:  August 16, 2016
Format: Audio MP3
Pages: Hardcover: 304 pages | Audio Length: Approx 8.2 hours
Narrator: Mary Robinette Kowal
Source: Audible 
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Review Date: November 9, 2016
Rating: 3 bookmarks

Synopsis: Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Harford, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force.

Each soldier heading for the front is conditioned to report to the mediums of the Spirit Corps when they die so the Corps can pass instant information about troop movements to military intelligence.

Ginger and her fellow mediums contribute a great deal to the war efforts, so long as they pass the information through appropriate channels. While Ben is away at the front, Ginger discovers the presence of a traitor. Without the presence of her fiance to validate her findings, the top brass thinks she's just imagining things. Even worse, it is clear that the Spirit Corps is now being directly targeted by the German war effort. Left to her own devices, Ginger has to find out how the Germans are targeting the Spirit Corps and stop them. This is a difficult and dangerous task for a woman of that era, but this time both the spirit and the flesh are willing…

Disclaimer: This audiobook was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

One of the cool things about this title was the melding of fantasy with historical fiction with a dash of romance. The world of mediums and ghost melded into The Great War (World War I) makes for a very unique story.  The paranormal parts of the story are about a group known as Spirit Corps. The Spirit Corps is made up of seven people that are aware that ghost are real and they have a job to do when someone dies.  Two mediums who can see the dead and are at risk because their souls are not fully attached to their bodies, four unsighted who help keep the medium from leaving their bodies completely and one person to see that the reports taken from the deceased are sent on to proper place. One of these mediums in the group is American Ginger Stuyvesant.