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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Announcement: Giveaway Winner Oleanna by Julie K Rose

And the winner of Oleanna by Julie K Rose is…..

Rachel B (left a comment)

The winner will be notified via email.

Thank you to everyone who entered and a huge thank you to Amy at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for making this giveaway possible!

Cheers!

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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Interview and Giveaway: Oleanna by Julie K. Rose

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

Oleanna takes readers high into the fjords of Norway at the dawning of a new era, 1905. There we meet Oleanna, a spirited girl fighting to forget a tragedy that has left her feeling very much a lone. Not only is she trying to come to grips with a tragic loss, she is trying to support her only remaining sister by running the family farm. Luckily a cotter living on their land is there to help Oleanna tend to the farm and hopefully help to heal her heart.

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 Oleanna (open to US ONLY). Be sure to Tweet about the giveaway using the Twitter hashtag  #OleannaVirtualTour and check out the other stops on the tour!

Giveaway runs from 4/3/13 to 4/10/13.

Winner will be announced 4/11/13.

Julie also agreed to do an interview with me, so without further ado please welcome Julie K Rose to The Lit Bitch!

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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.

Continue reading “Review: Oleanna by Julie K. Rose”