Review: A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell Mystery #1) by Deanna Raybourn

Veronica Speedwell is finally free from her spinster aunts! Not that she is rejoicing in their deaths or anything but she has longed to be free to travel the world in pursuit of butterflies and a few romantic liaisons. She is not just an amateur butterfly collector, but a scientist, lepidopterist, and lover of natural science in particular.

When a mysterious German baron shows up on the day of her aunt’s funeral proclaiming that it is a matter of life and death that she come with him to London, she agrees but not because she is afraid for her life but because he promises a free ticket to London.

When they arrive in London, the Baron leaves her in the care and custody of a washed up scientist named Stoker….supposedly only for the night but when the Baron is murdered Stoker and Veronica are forced together into a mystery that’s resolution could alter the course of English history. Pursued by persons unknown, they know that their lives are in danger, but the question becomes who can they trust?

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Spotlight and Excerpt: THE OUTLANDER KING by Hilary Rhodes

04_The Outlander KingThe Outlander King (The Aetheling’s Bride, Book 1)
by Hilary Rhodes

Publication Date: June 1, 2015
Amazon/Smashwords
eBook; 476 Pages
ASIN: B00XM9QJ1K

Genre: Historical Fiction

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The story of The Lion and the Rose and the Norman Conquest continues in this spellbinding new historical fiction series from author Hilary Rhodes, pulling back the curtain on the lives of two remarkable women connected across centuries: Aislinn, a seventeen-year-old English girl caught up in the advancing army of the “outlander king,” the man who will become known to history as William the Conqueror. Thrust into the center of the new Norman court and a dizzying web of political intrigue and plotting princes, she must choose her alliances carefully in a game of thrones where the stakes are unimaginably high. Embroiled in rebellions and betrayals, Aislinn learns the price of loyalty, struggles to find her home, and save those she loves – and, perhaps, her own soul as well.

Almost nine hundred years later in 1987, Selma Murray, an American graduate student at Oxford University, is researching the mysterious “Aethelinga” manuscript, as Aislinn’s chronicle has come to be known. Trying to work out the riddles of someone else’s past is a way for Selma to dodge her own troubling ghosts – yet the two are becoming inextricably intertwined. She must face her own demons, answer Aislinn’s questions, and find forgiveness – for herself and others – in this epically scaled but intimately examined, extensively researched look at the creation of history, the universality of humanity, and the many faces it has worn no matter the century: loss, grief, guilt, redemption, and love.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | ITUNES | KOBO

Read and excerpt here:

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Review: The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck

Sophia is a talented artist and writer. Her well known Salem family has discouraged her from pursuing traditional women’s roles such as marriage, in favor of pursuing her creative and educational talents. Plagued by debilitating headaches, Sophia spends a lot of time in bed and her parents even send her to Cuban in hopes of curing her headaches.

While she is in Cuba, she begins writing about some of the slavery she has witnessed in her journal, when she returns to Salem, Massachusetts she catches the eye of upcoming writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.  From their first meeting, Nathaniel and Sophia begin an intense romantic relationship that despite many setbacks leads to their marriage.

Together, they will cross continents, raise children, and experience all the beauty and tragedy of an exceptional partnership. Sophia’s vivid journals and her masterful paintings kindle a fire in Nathaniel, inspiring his writing. But their children’s needs and the death of loved ones steal Sophia’s energy and time for her art, fueling in her a perennial tug-of-war between fulfilling her domestic duties and pursuing her own desires.

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Announcement: Winner AllSoulsCon Ticket Giveaway

And the winner of the giveaway for the AllSoulsCon free ticket giveaway is…..

Darlene C (commented on post)

The winner will be notified via email.

Thank you to everyone who entered and a huge thank you to the publisher and the people at AllSoulsCon for making this giveaway possible!

Spotlight Feature: THE HIDDEN HILLS SAGE: ICE WHISPERS by K Willow

02_Ice WhispersThe Hidden Hills Saga: Ice Whispers (Book I)
by K. Willow

Print Pub Date: November 21, 2014 | CreateSpace
eBook Pub Date: December 19, 2014 | Book Baby

Genre: Historical Fiction

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Slavery of a different kind, beyond physical chains, leads to a different type of escape . . .

Marissa Kristofferson can taste freedom. Her long years of suffering at the hands of her sadistic husband, Lance, are coming to an end as he lies dying. But she is stunned when he reveals the contents of his will and what she must do to keep Kristofferson Plantation, and how he plans to keep her bound to him even beyond the grave.

The beautiful slave Lolley has always envied Marissa�s life, and after learning that the master has also ordered her freed after his death, she is determined to reach for the life she wants by becoming the mistress of Marissa�s son, Shane, though she does not realize the lengths Marissa will go to to prevent the match, or the far-reaching consequences that will follow.

And Shelby, the plain and dutiful slave of free blacks, is unwittingly caught in the shocking drama that unfolds as a family is torn apart. Used as a pawn in a game of rivalry, deception, and betrayal, hers is a fight for survival while attempting to remain true to herself.

Three women�so very different but each carrying dark secrets that are closely intertwined, caught in a world between slave and free, a world which is becoming more fragile and precarious as war threatens and alliances shift, and each harboring seemingly impossible dreams of a better future.

In this first book of a dark historical saga, K. Willow paints a lush, emotional portrait of scandal, murder, injustice, and the ties that bind in the antebellum South.

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