Review: Inglorious Royal Marriages: A Demi-Millennium of Unholy Mismatrimony by Leslie Carroll

Don’t we all wish we could be a fly on the wall of a royal marriage. There is something about royalty, romance, and marriage that lures us in and doesn’t let go.

With Leslie Carroll’s new book we get all the juice from some of history’s most notorious marriages!

Let’s just put it this way…..everything that could go wrong in these marriages, often did! And how could they not when marriages were often arranged for political gain and purpose, rather than love and affection.

I won’t go into too much detail as far as background info on the book based on the way it is structured. It’s pretty straight forward and a collections of short stories.

Carroll’s novel spans some 500 years covering stories that some readers will know well and introducing us to others we might not otherwise have known.

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Review: Inceptio (Roma Nova #1) by Alison Morton

This is my first experience reading an alternative history novel. Inceptio is not just an alternative history novel though…it’s part political thriller, part romance, and part fantasy.

Karen Brown leads an unassuming life. She grew up in rural Nebraska and moved to New York where she continues living a quiet life.

She works in a cubicle with no major responsibilities. She isn’t seeing anyone special, and like most young women on their own, she’s barely making ends meet.

But all that is about to change, in a big way.

When she starts working on a new account for a Roma Nova organization, she has no idea they are actually there surveying her. She soon learns that her mother, a fellow Roma Novan, made arrangements for her to be rather well off.

But as the saying goes, more money, more problems….someone wants her to disappear.

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Review: The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles #1) by Mary E. Pearson

This book has been flooding my social media feeds for the last month. It seems like everyone has been reading this new YA series. So naturally I needed to see what all the fuss was about.

And really, how can you ignore this stunning cover? I’m in love with it….yes I am totally judging a book by it’s cover right now.

Princess Lia is a First Daughter of Morrigham and with her regal status comes obligations. One of those obligations is to marry.

Her father arranges a marriage with a prince from the neighboring kingdom of Dalbreck to secure a much needed peace in the realm.

As a First Daughter, Lia is also supposed to have The Gift. That is another reason for the marriage…..but she doesn’t have it.  This isn’t the only issue….Lia has never met this prince and how can she marry a man she barely knows let alone love him?

On the day of her wedding she makes a rash decision–she runs like hell.

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Review: Tempting Fate (The Immortal Descendants #2) by April White

Since discovering her power as a ‘clocker’, or an Immortal Descendant, life for Saira Elian hasn’t gotten much easier.

Being a clocker means Saira can transport herself through time at will. She is currently living at St. Brigid’s school where she is learning about her power as well as the powers of the other Descendants.

For the first time in her life she is stable: she has friends, her mother, excelling in school, and her super attractive boyfriend, Archer who happens to be Death’s Descendant–better known as a Sucker, or vampire.

But she is struggling with what it means to rely on others and to truly open her heart to her friends and boyfriend. It’s been easier for her to remain closed off and alone then to have others support her.

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Review: The Poetic World of Emily Brontë: Poems from the Author of Wuthering Heights by Laura Inman

Wuthering Heights is one of my all time favorite novels. The windy moors, tragic love story, and romantic writing style are second to none in my book.

Though Wuthering Heights was Emily Bronte’s only novel, she was an avid poetry writer.

I am note a huge poetry fan, I never seem to get out of it what I everyone else does, so therefore I just haven’t read a lot of it.

However, when The Poetic World of Emily Bronte came across my desk for review, I paused.

I haven’t read a lot of the Bronte sisters’ poetry, shockingly, and I thought this book would be a convenient way of rectifying that situation.

In Laura Inman’s book, The Poetic World of Emily Bronte, she explores in detail, several distinct themes in her poetry: nature, mutability, love, death, and captivity and freedom.

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