Literary Criticism
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Review: Blood Between Queens (Thornleigh #5) by Barbara Kyle
Religious differences have torn England in half, many side with the Protestant Queen Elizabeth while others rally support for the Catholic heir and cousin to Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots. Elizabeth sits an uneasy throne when Mary crossed into England seeking refuge. But asylum isn’t the only thing that Mary is hoping to gain…..she secretly hopes to recapture the English crown. Elizabeth suspects Mary has ulterior motives and a plan is hatched to protect her crown, she will plant a spy in Mary’s service to report on Mary’s activities….and what better companion and spy than Justine Thornleigh. Justine has been taken in by the Thornleigh family as a ward. Lord…
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Review: The Fifth Knight by E.M. Powell
Sir Benedict Palmer and a group of four other mercenaries were to arrest one of England’s most powerful men, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. But what was supposed to be a simple arrest quickly turns deadly. Sir Palmer suspects the real target was a beautiful nun named Theodosia. The knight in charge of the arrest party, Fitzurse, means to kidnap Theodosia and also her missing mother. Sir Palmer is puzzled by this and begins questioning the motives of the other knights. He frees Theodosia and helps her escape Fitzurse’s clutches but they must now rely on each other to survive and try and get to her mother before Fitzurse…
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Review: Royal Mistress by Anne Easter Smith
Jane Lambert is not exactly a woman of means. She is a merchant’s daughter but what she lacks in monetary value and peerage, she makes up for in wit, intellect, charm, and beauty. Jane’s father is quick to be rid of her though, and thus arranges a match between a colleague, William Shore, and Jane. William is much older than Jane and clearly not interested in her female charms….under any circumstance but he hopes a marriage to her will mean advancement for his business. The negotiations move forward but Jane still holds out hope that a mysterious man she met by chance in the street will speak for her hand…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Review: Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare
The Infernal Devices are without pity. The Infernal Devices are without regret. The Infernal Devices are without number The Infernal Devices will never stop coming. Tessa Grey is preparing for what should be the most joyous day of her life…..her wedding to Jem. Tessa loves Jem without question but there is still part of her that loves Will. Though she tries to shut out her feelings for Will, it is hard to section off a part of your soul that only one other person can touch but somehow Tessa does it. All the Shadowhunters at the London Institute are preparing for the wedding to take place when Gabriel Lightwood shows…
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Review: And Only to Deceive (Lady Emily #1) by Tasha Alexander
Lady Emily Ashford is not in love with her new husband, the Viscount Philip Ashford. In fact she hardly knows him. So when she receives word that her husband died on safari in Africa, she can hardly morn a man she barely knows. Emily married Philip to escape the constraints of her family and hoped that marriage would provide that. Now that she is a widow, she finds she has even more freedom than she did as a wife. All of London society can’t stop singing the praises of Lord Ashford to Emily which makes her uncomfortable, but in an effort to at least try and morn the stranger she…
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Review: Thwarted Queen by Cynthia Sally Haggard
The Plantagenet kings helped shape England from a colony to a structured monarchy and super-power during the middle ages. But like all great things, the Plantagenet era was coming to an end during the fifteenth century. Tensions were already high in England especially during the reign of Henry VI who suffered doubts of madness. Richard Duke of York was appointed protector of the realm but within a short amount of time, the famous War of the Roses was in full swing. In this novel we meet the spirited woman who would be the mother of two notorious kings: Cecylee de Neville. When young Cecylee marries Richard Duke of York she has no idea what her…
