Category: Book Critic

Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Giveaway, Reading

Interview and Giveaway: The Chalice by Nancy Bilyeau

by The Lit Bitch5 Comments on Interview and Giveaway: The Chalice by Nancy Bilyeau

I recently had the pleasure of The Chalice as part of The Chalice Virtual Book Tour thanks the the lovely Amy over at Historic Fiction Virtual Book Tours!

The Chalice is the second book in The Crown series, and though it is part of a series, this book could easily be read as a stand alone. Joanna is a nun in the Tudor period who is  fighting against a deadly prophecy that implies she is the ‘one who will come after’ and restore the Catholic faith in England. Will Joanna embrace her destiny or continue to fight against it and what will happen to those that she loves? Will she destroy everything she holds dear to escape the prophecy?

If you haven’t done so already be sure to enter the giveaway (details at the end of this post) for a chance to win a copy of The Chalice (open to US ONLY). Be sure to Tweet about the giveaway using the Twitter hashtag  #TheChaliceVirtualTour and check out the other stops on the tour!

Giveaway runs from 4/15/13 to 4/21/13.

Winner will be announced 4/22/13.

Nancy also agreed to do an interview with me, so without further ado please welcome Nancy Bilyeau to The Lit Bitch!

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: The Chalice (The Crown #2) by Nancy Bilyeau

by The Lit Bitch8 Comments on Review: The Chalice (The Crown #2) by Nancy Bilyeau

Henry VIII changed the face of England when he broke with the Catholic Church to marry his great love, Anne Boleyn. This decision was felt by all those at court and those in the monastic sects.

Joanna Stafford was once both a noble and a novice nun in training. Once King Henry made the choice to split from the church, Joanna struggles to make a common life for herself in the small village of Dartford.

As the world around her takes shape based on the whims of a tyrannical king, Joanna and those closest to her, feel King Henry’s decisions acutely.

All Joanna really wants is to start her tapestry business close to the priory and close to two men who fight for her heart: the dashing constable Geoffrey Scovill and a close friend and former friar, Edmund  Sommerville.

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

Review: The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma

by The Lit Bitch7 Comments on Review: The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma

How do you trust someone who lies for a living? Don’t all writers lie to some degree or another?

In Kristopher Jansma’s debut novel The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, we follow one man’s quest to become a writer, but his is a story told through a bunch of short stories with one very unreliable narrator.

We never learn what the narrator’s real name is, but there are two things we know for sure: he has lost every novel he has ever written and he follows Emily Dickens famous advice to the letter, ‘tell all the truth but tell it slant’.

In the first short story the narrator is a teenager whose brief meeting with a well-to-do debutant inspires him to per-sue his dream of being a writer.

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Oleanna by Julie K. Rose

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: Oleanna by Julie K. Rose

Nestled away in the fjordlands of Norway lies a little farm, home to Oleanna and her family–but Oleanna’s family is about to change.

After already trying to come to grips with the recent tragic deaths of her mother and sister only a few months before, Oleanna and her sister Elisabeth are losing their brother, John, to the American dream!

Not only will Oleanna be responsible for Elisabeth and Elisabeth’s son, Torjus, but it will be up to them to make the farm thrive. Though both sisters are angry at John for leaving they are, in their own individual ways, jealous that he is getting to have his own adventures.

Neither Oleanna nor Elisabeth has ever left the farm—it is all they know. Not that they haven’t thought of it or dreamed of it, but with the death of their father and then a short time later, the death of their mother and sister, and now both of their brothers fleeing to America has left them with little choice but to stay in Norway and take care of the farm.

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Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Literary Criticism, Reading

Review: Seduction (The Reincarnationist #5) by M.J. Rose

by The Lit Bitch6 Comments on Review: Seduction (The Reincarnationist #5) by M.J. Rose

Complex, exotic scents bring this novel alive!

This isn’t just a tale of historic fiction– it’s a novel with a unique blend of the paranormal, romance, mystery, and psychology.

In 1843 the renowned author Victor Hugo discovers that his beloved daughter, Didine, has drowned.

In his grief he turns to the occult in hopes of communicating with his daughter. His wife, family, and friends all being having séances and they soon discover they can communicate with the dead.

Soon the séances turn into something more….Victor fears he has open an unwanted door to the spirit world when he starts being visited by the Shadow of the Sepulcher (the devil) who offers him what he desires most….the return of his daughter.

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