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Excerpt: THE PHANTOM TREE by Nicola Cornick
Attention all Tudor era historical fiction fans…..here is a new release that you might be interested in! See reading to see a sneak peak excerpt below! It sounds like such an exciting book, in fact it might make me come out of my self imposed Tudor era hiding, just to read it! Book: THE PANTOM TREE by Nicola Cornick Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Graydon House; Original edition (September 1, 2018) Browsing an antiques shop in Wiltshire, Alison Bannister stumbles across a delicate old portrait—identified as the doomed Tudor queen, Anne Boleyn. Except Alison knows better. The subject is Mary Seymour, the daughter of Katherine Parr, who was taken to Wolf Hall in…
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Review: Sons of Blackbird Mountain (Blackbird Mountain #1) by Joanne Bischof
One of the main reasons that I decided to review this book was that it sounded different. Set in the Appalachian Mountains with a family just arrived from Norway. From the description of the book, it was clear that this was going to be a book with some historical romance but with some strong Christian themes as well. I am not put off by Christian fiction as long as it doesn’t get preachy. Over the years I’ve been really lucky with the Christian fiction books that I’ve read and they haven’t been too heavy handed. I am not familiar with this author so I felt like I was kind of…
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Review: Women of the Dunes by Sarah Maine
Sometimes a book comes along and it’s like it was written just for you. I have been a huge Sarah Maine fan since reading Bhalla Strand, which is now known as The House Between Tides. When I saw that this one was out, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to read it earlier, so I checked it out from my library and brought it with me to Seattle for vacation. Her books are always so atmospheric and have this kind of dark romantic prose so I figured it would be an exciting vacation read. Libby Snow has always felt the pull of Ullanessm a lush…
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Review: Spies of the Midnight Sun: A True Story of WWII Heroes (World War Two Series Book 3) by Samuel Marquis
It’s not very often that I read nonfiction or just plain history books. A book really needs to stand out for me or be in my specialized interest area, for me to review it. I have a Masters in History so reading history nonfiction is something I did for a long time and while I like it, I still have flashbacks about college papers and thesis critiques. So that’s what I thought I was getting into with this book….nonfiction. Dry, scholarly, researched history. I mean, it has ‘true story’ written right in the title—and I just assumed that it would be an informative book, but devoid of personal stories—which I…
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Announcement: WINNER of The Whale: A Love Story by Mark Beauregard
And the winner of THE WHALE: A LOVE STORY by Mark Beauregard is….. Dana (follows on Instagram) The winner will be notified via email. Thank you to everyone who entered and a huge thank you to the publisher for making this giveaway possible!
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Special Feature: Lilli de Jong by Janet Benton
Lilli de Jong by Janet Benton Paperback Publication Date: July 10, 2018 Anchor Books Paperback; 352 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction Philadelphia, 1883. Twenty-three-year-old Lilli de Jong is pregnant and alone—abandoned by her lover and banished from her Quaker home. She gives birth at a charity for wronged women, planning to give up the baby. But the power of their bond sets her on a completely unexpected path. Unwed mothers in 1883 face staggering prejudice, yet Lilli refuses to give up her baby girl. Instead, she braves moral condemnation and financial ruin in a quest to keep the two of them alive. Lilli confides this story to her diary…
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Review: Tiffany Blues by M.J. Rose
I’ve been a fan of M.J. Rose for quite some time. She always writes really rich and atmospheric novels of romance and historical fiction blended together. I love her Reincarnationist series is really fun but I got hooked on her books with her Daughters of La Lune books! She has this great storytelling style that never seems to fail in any of her series’. She always has this velvety tone and it never fails to hook me. So when this book came up for review, to say I was thrilled was a complete understatement. More like I was swooning at not only the fact that a new MJ Rose novel…
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Giveaway: THE WHALE: A LOVE STORY by Mark Beauregard
I am thrilled to be offering this book up for giveaway this week! Can we talk about how beautiful that cover is?! It makes me think of the summer and beach reading! A rich and captivating novel set amid the witty, high-spirited literary society of 1850s New England, offering a new window on Herman Melville’s emotionally charged relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne and how it transformed his masterpiece, Moby-Dick In the summer of 1850, Herman Melville finds himself hounded by creditors and afraid his writing career might be coming to an end—his last three novels have been commercial failures and the critics have turned against him. In despair, Melville takes his…
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Special Feature: Murder at the Flamingo (A Van Buren and DeLuca Mystery #1) by Rachel McMillan
I was so sad that I couldn’t fit this one in to my review schedule for the summer, so I opted to do a special feature instead! This looks like a promising new mystery series with an intriguing duo! About Murder at the Flamingo Series: A Van Buren and DeLuca Mystery (Book 1) Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson (July 10, 2018) “Maybe it was time to land straight in the middle of the adventure…” Hamish DeLuca has spent most of his life trying to hide the anxiety that appears at the most inopportune times — including during his first real court case as a new lawyer. Determined to rise above his father’s expectations,…
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Review: Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (Her Royal Spyness #12) by Rhys Bowen
The Royal Spyness mystery series is one that has been gifted and recommended to me more times than I can count. I literally have three copies of the first book from my mom because she keeps forgetting that she already recommended it to me. So clearly it’s a book that people want me to read. I just haven’t thought about it when I am looking for something to read. I am no stranger to Rhys Bowen’s books though. She writes beautifully and I love reading her stand alone books! Finally, after all this time, I picked up a Royal Spyness mystery…..about twelve books too late!