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Guest Post and Book Blast: In the Land of Armadillos by Helen Maryles Shankman
In the Land of Armadillos: Stories by Helen Maryles Shankman Publication Date: February 2, 2016 Scribner/Simon & Schuster eBook & Hardcover; 304 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction/WWII/Short Stories/Literary A Spring 2016 Discover Great New Writers selection at Barnes & Noble. A radiant debut collection of linked stories from a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, set in a German-occupied town in Poland, where tales of myth and folklore meet the real-life monsters of the Nazi invasion. 1942. With the Nazi Party at the height of its power, the occupying army empties Poland’s towns and cities of their Jewish populations. As neighbor turns on neighbor and survival often demands unthinkable choices, Poland…
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Review: In Another Life by Julie Christine Johnson
Historian Lia Carrer has finally returned to southern France, determined to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. But instead of finding solace in the region’s quiet hills and medieval ruins, she falls in love with Raoul, a man whose very existence challenges everything she knows about life–and about her husband’s death. As Raoul reveals the story of his past to Lia, she becomes entangled in the echoes of an ancient murder, resulting in a haunting and suspenseful journey that reminds Lia that the dead may not be as far from us as we think. Steeped in the rich history and romantic landscape of rural France, In Another…
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Book Blast: The Vatican Princess: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia by C.W. Gortner
The Vatican Princess: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia by C.W. Gortner Publication Date: February 9, 2016 Ballantine Books Hardcover, Ebook, Audiobook 400 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction Infamy is no accident. It is a poison in our blood. It is the price of being a Borgia. Glamorous and predatory, the Borgias fascinated and terrorized 15th-century Renaissance Italy. Lucrezia Borgia, beloved daughter of the pope, was at the center of the dynasty’s ambitions. Slandered as a heartless seductress who lured men to their doom, was she in fact the villainess of legend, or was she trapped in a familial web, forced to choose between loyalty and survival? With the ascension of…
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Review: The Case of the Fickle Mermaid (A Brothers Grimm Mystery #3) by P.J. Brackston
This is a very quirky mystery series. I read the second book in the series last year and while it was quirky it was also pretty enjoyable. PJ Brackston is short for Paula Brackston who most famously writes what I call ‘the witch books‘. I’m a huge fan of her witch books and her writing style, so when this series came across my nightstand for review I agreed even though I started with the second book. I enjoyed the whole ‘Gretel as a sleuth’ idea and when I read the book I found lots of things to love about the series. I love the whole fairy tale and murder mystery…
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Book Blast: BANISHED (Forbidden #2) by Kimberley Griffiths Little
Banished (Forbidden #2) by Kimberley Griffiths Little Publication Date: February 2, 2016 HarperCollins Hardcover & Ebook; 416 Pages Series: Forbidden, Book #2 Genre: YA/Historical/Romance She thought she�d lost everything . . . After spending months traveling the harsh, unforgiving Mesopotamian desert, Jayden reunites with a broken, injured Kadesh. Although everyone was convinced the violent and unpredictable Horeb, Jayden�s betrothed, killed the handsome prince, Jayden knew in her heart that her love was alive and safe. But their reunion is short-lived, as they learn Horeb is on their trail and determined to take back the girl he has claimed. Soon, the two star-crossed lovers are on the run toward…
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Review: The Violinist of Venice: A Story of Vivaldi by Alyssa Palombo
Oh how I love a great historical romance novel……add in some classical music and you have a wonderfully delightful read! Adriana d’Amato adores music, except there is one big problem….her father has forbidden her to cultivate her gift for the violin. But do you think that’s going to stop her? Of course not! She begins sneaking out of her family’s palazzo under the cover of night to take violin lessons from violinist and composer Antonio Vivaldi. However, what begins as secret lessons swiftly evolves into a passionate, consuming love affair. Adriana’s father is set on her marrying a wealthy man….and though this suitor has things to love, Adriana’s heart belongs to…
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Review: Midnight in St. Petersburg by Vanora Bennett
One woman and two suitors at the twilight of the Russian empire. This love story follows three very unlikely main characters, a Jewish girl running away from Jew hating South Russia, an Englishman working at famous Faberge shop and a radical Jew wanting to fight to live equally with the people of Russia. This story starts in Sept 1911, pre-revolutionary Russia. Inna Feldman has fled the pogroms of the south to take refuge with distant relatives in Russia’s capital city. Welcomed by the flamboyant Leman family, she is apprenticed into their violin-making workshop. Inna begins to feel at home in this very bohemian family but the fires of revolution are strong and…
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Review: A Prisoner in Malta by Phillip DePoy
Someone is plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth. The Queen’s spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham has changed the nineteen year old Christopher Marlowe with tracking down the truth of this impending threat. The only thing anyone knows for sure is there is a prisoner who has information about the plot and Walsingham feels sure that Marlowe can rescue the prisoner and discover what there is to know about the threat. Christopher Marlowe has quite the reputation….he’s known as a brawler, womanizer, genius, and social upstart at Cambridge. His investigation will take him through a treacherous world of Catholic sympathizers, the Spanish government, and double agents…..this isn’t going to be an open and…
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Review: Daughter of Sand and Stone by Libbie Hawker
I love reading about women in antiquity…..especially about women that I don’t know much about. So when this book about Zenobia came across my nightstand for review, I was intrigued. Especially because I know virtually nothing about Zenobia…..I even had to Google her so I could at least put a name to the ‘face’ in antiquity. Zenobia, the proud daughter of a Syrian sheikh, refuses to marry against her will. She won’t submit to a lifetime of subservience. When her father dies, she sets out on her own, pursuing the power she believes to be her birthright, dreaming of the Roman Empire’s downfall and her ascendance to the throne. Defying…
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Book Blast: THE EDGE OF LOST by Kristina McMorris
The Edge of Lost by Kristina McMorris Publication Date: November 24, 2015 Kensington Books Trade Paperback, 340 pages Genre: Historical Fiction From New York Times bestselling author Kristina McMorris comes an ambitious and heartrending story of immigrants, deception, and second chances. On a cold night in October 1937, searchlights cut through the darkness around Alcatraz. A prison guard’s only daughter—one of the youngest civilians who lives on the island—has gone missing. Tending the warden’s greenhouse, convicted bank robber Tommy Capello waits anxiously. Only he knows the truth about the little girl’s whereabouts, and that both of their lives depend on the search’s outcome. Almost two decades earlier and…