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Spotlight Feature: Essie’s Roses by Michelle Muriel
Publication Date: March 23, 2015 Publisher: Little Cabin Books LLC Formats: eBook, Hardcover ISBN-10: 0990938301 Pages: 346 Genre: Historical Fiction READ AN EXCERPT. Growing up in the Deep South during the years leading to the Civil War, two young girls find freedom on a hillside overlooking Westland, an Alabama plantation. Essie Mae, an intuitive, intelligent slave girl, and Evie Winthrop, the sheltered, imaginative dreamer and planter’s daughter, strike up a secret friendship that thrives amidst the shadows of abuse. Told from the viewpoint of four women: Katherine Winthrop, kind mistress and unexpected heiress to her father’s small, cotton plantation; Delly, her sassy and beloved house slave; Essie Mae,…
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Cover Reveal: The Oracle (The Sarah Weston Chronicles #3) by D.J. Niko
Publication Date: November 10, 2015 Medallion Press Paperback; 456p ISBN-13: 978-1605426273 Series: The Sarah Weston Chronicles, Book Three Genre: Historical/Archeological Adventure In Delphi, the mountain city deemed by the Greek gods to be the center of the Earth, a cult of neo-pagans re-create with painstaking authenticity ancient rituals to glorify the god Apollo and deliver oracles to seekers from around the world. When antiquities are stolen from a museum in nearby Thebes, British archaeologist Sarah Weston and her American partner, Daniel Madigan, are drawn into a plot that goes beyond harmless role-playing: someone’s using the Delphian oracle as a smoke screen for an information exchange, with devastating consequences for the…
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Review: Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) by Deborah Harkness
The last time we saw Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont, they were time traveling back to the 16th century in search of a witch who could help Diana control her powers. As a historian, Diana is actually pretty excited about being a time traveler, but less excited when she arrives and discovers that she isn’t quite crazy about 16th century vampire Matthew. Matthew has been a collector of secrets his whole life. Having lives secrets and lies so long, he is not accustomed to sharing things with his wife, though he loves her unconditionally. Both Matthew and Diana think that once they arrive in Elizabethan England, they will quickly find a…
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Spotlight Feature: The Outer Banks House & Return to the Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme
About The Outer Banks House Publication Date: June 8, 2010 Crown Publishing Formats: Ebook, Paperback, Hardcover Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance As the wounds of the Civil War are just beginning to heal, one fateful summer would forever alter the course of a young girl’s life. In 1868, on the barren shores of post-war Outer Banks North Carolina, the once wealthy Sinclair family moves for the summer to one of the first cottages on the ocean side of the resort village of Nags Head. Seventeen-year-old Abigail is beautiful, book-smart, but sheltered by her plantation life and hemmed-in by her emotionally distant family. To make good use of time, she is encouraged by…
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Review: Successio (Roma Nova #3) by Alison Morton
As many of you are aware, I have been very impressed with this new series. This is the first and really, the only, alternative history book that I’ve come across in all my literary adventures. Successio is the third book in the series and I still stand by the ‘read the series in order’ theory. I’ve seen some people say that these books read easily as stand alone novels but I completely disagree. The world of Roma Nova is complex and the back story is very detailed so I would say if this novel looks at all eye catching to you, then start with the first book and fully immerse yourself in the rich…
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Review: The Seven Sisters: A Novel (The Seven Sisters #1) by Lucinda Riley
Lucinda Riley is an author who has long been on my radar to read. Her covers are always stunning and are always set in exotic locations. When this book came across my desk for review, I had to agree. Who could say no to that eye catching cover and a story set in Rio? Maia D’Apliese is the eldest of the six sisters and they all have been adopted by a wealthy billionaire. They grew up in their father’s home on the shores of Lake Geneva. But now that he has passed away, they are all following his dying wish….getting back to their own roots. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue as…
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Review: The Saffron Crocus by Alison McMahan
In 1643 Venice, singing teacher Margherita introduces the young Isabella to the world of opera. Isabella has wanted to sing in Monteverdi’s Choir but it’s only for boys. But opera opens up all kinds of new doors for Isabella instead…..all thanks to Margherita. Just when things are going well for Isabella, she finds Margherita murdered. Isabella sets out to discover why…..but soon secrets start surfacing about Margherita’s past and her handsome son, Rafaele, might be the murderer’s next target. Isabella and Rafaele team up and try to solve the murder before it’s too late! But when an attempt is made on Rafaele’s life, she suddenly finds himself arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. Isabella must…
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Review: Alaina Claiborne (British Agent #1) by M.K. McClintock
As a young girl, Alaina Claiborne witnesses a the murder of her parents…..an event that she doesn’t fully understand. At ten years old, Alaina remains in her parents estate with her guardians, her aunt Charlotte and her uncle Sebastiaan. As she grows older, she only minutely remembers the murders and she only finds comfort when riding her horses. One afternoon she is out for a ride, she stops at her favorite spot on the lake by her property. There she runs into her new neighbor, Tristan Sheffield. She is frustrated that this man has intruded on her favorite spot but yet she is oddly intrigued by him. He is handsome to be sure,…
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Spotlight: AURELIA (Roma Nova #4) by Alison Morton
Publication Date: May 5, 2015 SilverWood Books Series: Roma Nova, Book Four Genre: Alternative Historical Fiction Late 1960s Roma Nova, the last Roman colony that has survived into the 21st century. Aurelia Mitela is alone – her partner gone, her child sickly and her mother dead. Forced in her mid-twenties to give up her beloved career as a Praetorian officer, she is struggling to manage an extended family tribe, businesses and senatorial political life. But her country needs her unique skills. Somebody is smuggling silver – Roma Nova’s lifeblood – on an industrial scale. Sent to Berlin to investigate, she encounters the mysterious and attractive Miklós, a suspected smuggler, and…
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Special Feature/Excerpt: RUINS OF WAR by John A Connell
A chilling novel of murder and madness in post-World War II Germany… Berkley Publishing Group is thrilled to announce the publication of John A. Connell’s RUINS OF WAR (Berkley Hardcover; May 5, 2015; 978-0-425-27895-6; $26.95). An exciting debut thriller featuring a fascinating new character in Chief Warrant Officer Mason Collins—former Chicago homicide detective, U.S. soldier, prisoner of war, and now U.S. Army criminal investigator in the American Zone of Occupation in Munich. At a time when the worst horrors of the war are coming to light, there is another horror that is running rampant in the street. In the winter of 1945, seven months after the Nazi defeat, Munich is…