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Special Feature and Giveaway: What Maisie Knew by Henry James
The classics are making a vivacious come back to the silver screen this year! This year we have seen modern takes on old favorites with such blockbusters as Anna Karenina, Les Misérables and The Great Gatsby. The Henry James classic, What Maisie Knew, has also been made into a feature film! Though there hasn’t been as much buzz about this film as some of the others, it has been highly praised by the critics after its debut at the Toronto Film Festival in Sept 2012. The movie has now been released to the masses in May and continues to garner much critical praise for the performances of Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgård,…
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Review: His Majesty’s Hope (Maggie Hope Mystery #3) by Susan Elia MacNeal
Maggie Hope has finally gotten the opportunity she has been waiting for to prove herself. After serving as a secret agent and saving Princess Elizabeth in the previous book, Maggie’s performance has earned her a full-fledged membership into the newly formed black ops organization. She is now a Special Operations Executive—or more commonly known as a spook. Britain plans to drop her behind enemy lines in Germany where she will bug the office of a high ranking Nazi official who just happens to be her estranged mother. The mission is only supposed to last a couple of days—in and out. But when an opportunity presents itself for Maggie to stay…
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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: 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: The Lady of Secrets (The Dark Queen Saga #6) by Susan Carroll
In Edinburgh 1591, Maidred Brody is being executed. Found guilty of being a witch, she is sentenced to die by fire along side another well known witch names Tamsin Rivers. Everyone in town has turned out to watch the execution, including the king himself, James I. Maidred’s brother, Robert Brody, plans on appealing to the king and begging his sister’s pardon. When James refuses, Robert watches unable to do anything but watch her die. At that moment he vows his revenge on King James….someone will answer for this miscarriage of justice. As the witches burn, Tamsin Rivers calls out a curse on the House of Stuart forever striking fear in…
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Review: The Gilded Lily by Deborah Swift
When Ella Appleby’s employer turns up dead, she knows what will be come of her….she will be out in the cold without a second thought unless she thinks of something quick. Ella wakes her sister, Sadie, and together the loot her employers mansion and head for the glitz and glamour of 17th century London. But when they arrive, they are met with anything but opportunity. Work is hard to find and the sisters are forced to take any employment they can get. Luckily they both find work at a wig shop and are able to rent a small room. Though their loggings and income are meager, Sadie is simply happy…
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Review: Summerset Abbey (Summerset Abbey #1) by T.J. Brown
It is the dawning of a new era and the world is changing. The ridged confines of the Victorian and Edwardian eras are on their way out as England ushers in the modern age. The Buxton sisters and their adopted ward have just lost their father and are struggling with their grief. The eldest daughter, Rowena, is faced with the burden of providing for her younger, sickly sister Victoria and their ward Prudence. She is entirely overwhelmed and doesn’t know if she is suited for the task ahead of her but she is willing to try. Before the funeral is at a end, their uncle, the Earl of Summerset and his…
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Review: The Tutor’s Daughter by Julie Klassen
High on the cliff tops of Cornwall, the distant sounds of a pianoforte can be heard echoing through Ebbington Manor late at night. Emma Smallwood and her father have come to Ebbington Manor as live in tutors for Sir Giles Weston and his family. Emma and her father ran a small boarding school where the two eldest Weston boys, Henry and Phillip, attended in their youth. Emma doesn’t harbor much affection for the eldest brother, Henry. All she remembers of Henry was that he was a bully who always played pranks on her when he was at the school. As for Phillip, Emma remembers him as a kind hearted, friendly…
