All Things Historical Fiction

Taking a Leave of Absence

2011-09-20T08:36:00.000-05:00

HEy everyone. I wish I was writing something other than this post today. I have unfortunately come to terms with the fact that I can know longer keep up with the demands of this blog. I'm just doing 50 million things at once at this time of my life. I am trying to get through Nursing school, working as a Barista at B&N, traveling to two different houses because my mom moved to the country, and also trying to keep up with my social life. Unfortunately, this is the thing I chose to cut out in my life. I am hoping this is a temporary thing. I hope I can come back after Christmas but we shall see.

I really want to say thanks to all my wonderful followers! I really appreciate you all so much and have really enjoyed getting to know you. I also want to say thank you to the wonderful authors whom I formed special relationships with!

To Die For Winner Announcement!

2011-09-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Hope you are having a great weekend! So sorry for the lack of reviews and posts these past two weeks. I have been really busy with work and school. Not to mention constant house work because we are in the process of selling our house which mean our house has to be constantly spotless because you never know when some one will want to see the house. Anyway, there will be new reviews coming very soon! Thanks so much for being patient with my absence.

Now on to announcing the winner of To Die For by Sandra Byrd! Please help me congratulate...

Marybelle!

Email has just gone out so please send me your mailing address and I will forward it on to the publisher.

When We Were Gods Giveaway Winner Announcement!

2011-09-01T09:22:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Happy September 1st! I don't know about you but I'm ready for Fall! Today I'm going to announce the two lucky winners of Colin Falconer's book When We Were Gods! So please help me congratulate the two lucky winners!

and the winners are...

Sam and Lisa!

Emails have been sent out so please respond with which version you would like to receive.

Happy Reading!

International Giveaway + Guest Post from Lavender Ironside Author of the Egyptian Novel The Sekhmet Bed

2011-08-29T08:37:00.000-05:00

Why I Love Ancient Egyptian History and Queen Ahmose
by Lavender Ironside

Thank you, Taylor, for having me here to do a guest blog post!

Recently I decided to self-publish my historical novel, The Sekhmet Bed, which is about a real woman from ancient Egyptian history, Queen Ahmose. She was the mother of Hatshepsut, the first woman to rule Egypt as Pharaoh (king). Hatshepsut was a prolific builder who left many beautiful monuments telling the story of her long and peaceful reign. As a result, she is well known to historians and is as well understood as a person can be who lived 3500 years ago.

I have always been fascinated by ancient Egypt, and Hatshepsut holds particular interest for me. In 2007 Egyptologists identified Hatshepsut's mummy, and amid all the History Channel specials and news articles celebrating the achievement, my enthusiasm for the female Pharaoh blazed up. I became preoccupied with Hatshepsut, and imagined what her life must have been like as a child, as a young woman, and as a king. I decided to turn some of my imaginings into a novel, and found as many books on the Eighteenth Dynasty (during which Hatshepsut, among other kings, ruled) as I could. Eagerly, I started my research.

Much is made in the history books of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple, and with good reason. Today it's known as Dier el-Bahri, but in the She-King's time it was called Djeser-Djeseru, or "The Holiest of Holies." It's well-named. The temple is a stunning work of architecture even by modern standards. It stands as regal as a sphinx in the Valley of the Kings, resting with its back against the towering red cliffs, harmonizing with the landscape. Inside it is a monument to Hatshepsut herself, recording her deeds as king, her life story, and even the story of how she came to be...or so she'd have us believe.

Before the Greeks took power, Egypt had a remarkably progressive society -- one in which women could own property and businesses, enter into contracts on their own, serve on juries, vote, divorce at will, or live unmarried all their lives -- whatever suited them. Considering how the rest of the world viewed women in 1500 B.C.E., Egypt was the best place in the world to be female. However, a woman who desired to rule the country as a king still had to treat carefully. Hatshepsut took great pains in Djeser-Djeseru and elsewhere to shoehorn every possible bit of legitimacy into her claim on Egypt's throne.

In her mortuary temple there is a lovely mural depicting her conception. This mural makes the claim that Hatshepsut was literally the son (not the daughter) of Amun, the chief of the gods; that Amun took the mortal form of Hatshepsut's biological father, the king Thutmose I, and seduced her mother Queen Ahmose, who saw through Amun's disguise. The mural claims that Queen Ahmose knew the child she conceived was truly the progeny of the greatest god in the Egyptian pantheon, and furthermore that Hatshepsut's ka -- her spiritual double or soul -- was not female but male. (Some interpretations of this mural and others indicate that Hatshepsut claimed to have multiple male kas...some Egyptologists count up to fourteen, alhthough nine kas was the most common count I found in my research.)

As I began to outline my ideas for a novel about Hatshepsut's life, I found myself more and more drawn to this lovely, intriguing mural. Obviously it was just political propaganda -- yet another surety Hatshepsut hoped to secure, another document to bolster her right to sit on the king's throne. But I couldn't help but think, "What if somebody really believed that Hatshepsut was not a girl at all, and was not only a prince in a princess's body, but was the son of the greatest god known to ancient Egypt?" And then I thought, "What if the one who really believed this was not Hatshepsut, but her mother?" Queen Ahmose, the woman who allegedly saw through the god's disguise and accepted Amun into her bed to create his chosen prince.

This spark of an idea took off in my imagination like a wildfire.

Unfortunately, there is not as much historical information about Hatshepsut's family as there is about the She-King herself. I could find only bare scraps of information about Queen Ahmose, where she came from, what her life may have been like. I did learn that she held, possibly only for a short time, the ceremonial title of God's Wife of Amun, a title that had been uncommon among queens for generations before she lived. What prompted her to take the title, and who bestowed it on her? Why? And, if she was to believe that Amun disguised himself to conceive a prince with her, what would make her so certain in her conviction that her child was half-god, and a son, not the daughter she appeared to be?

Gradually my fictional Ahmose took shape in my mind and on the page. She had to be young -- young enough to be an inexperienced politician, and dually blessed and cursed with a gift for interpreting dreams and visions sent by the gods. And that conception had to be a big deal to her. After long thought, I decided to give poor Ahmose a bit of a traumatic experience to make her terrified of childbirth. This would make the divine presence of Amun in her bed all the more meaningful.

And my Ahmose needed a foil, which I found in the equally mysterious second wife of Pharaoh Thutmose I. This lesser queen's name was Mutnofret, and as with Ahmose, there is hardly more known about her than her name. That gave me considerable leeway to mold her character into whatever I needed her to be in order to serve the story. In The Sekhmet Bed, Mutnofret is the elder sister of Ahmose, and is displaced as the primary queen. Her bitterness is a further challenge to young Ahmose, and soon the two sisters are locked in a battle to become the mother of the next Pharaoh. But I've never been much interested in villains who are only villainous. I did my best to make Mutnofret sympathetic while still being a formidable antagonist.

It's fun to look back on the years I spent developing this novel and to think that it all started with that mural on the wall of Djeser-Djeseru. The mystery that surrounds Ahmose and her family left me with plenty of room to let my imagination play. I am fond of my fictional Ahmose and Mutnofret, I wish I knew more about the real Ahmose and Mutnofret who lived so long ago. Even in progressive ancient Egypt, women often fell by the historical wayside. But they are vivid in my mind, and I hope I've given them voices and faces for you, too.

You can buy The Sekhmet Bed as an ebook (all formats available) at Smashwords.com -- click here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84655 The print version will be available very shortly on Amazon.com. Follow my blog at http://lavenderironside.blogspot.com and you'll be the first to know when the print book is available.

I am giving away an advance reader's copy (print), too. If you're interested, follow Taylor's instructions to be entered in the drawing!

I hope you enjoy reading The Sekhmet Bed as much as I enjoyed writing it!

----End Blog Post----

--
The Sekhmet Bed - available as an ebook!

Book Synopsis:
"In Lavender Ironside's ancient Egyptian historical, two sisters share a husband and a burning desire to be the mother of the next Pharaoh. With accessibly modern prose, vivid detail, and deadly sibling rivalry, The Sekhmet Bed is reminiscent of Michelle Moran's Nefertiti." ~Stephanie Dray, author of the critically acclaimed Lily of the Nile

Queen Ahmose knows her duty: to give the Pharaoh a son. But she is young, and has just watched her closest friend die in childbirth. If the Pharaoh plants his seed in her she will die the same way, in a pool of blood, surrounded by wailing women. She has her husband’s love, but a king must have an heir…and even the Pharaoh’s patience will run out. Meanwhile, a lesser queen – Ahmose’s own sister – has given him three sweet, bright children, all of them boys. Ahmose knows her grasp on the Pharaoh’s heart is loosening.

Desperate, she begs the gods for courage to become a mother. They give her more than courage: she is granted a vision of a shining prince, her son – a gift for Egypt who will bring glory to the land. He will be more than the son of a king. He will be the son of the god Amun.

But when the child arrives, it’s a girl.

Ahmose knows the vision was not wrong. Her daughter Hatshepsut has a male soul, and Amun intends the girl to rule. But the Pharaoh will not scandalize Egypt by proclaiming a female successor. If she cannot convince the Pharaoh to accept Hatshepsut as his heir, everything Ahmose loves will be destroyed.

Lavender has kindly offered up one copy of her latest novel The Sekhmet Bed. This giveaway is open internationally and it ends September 17th at 12:00 a.m.

Giveaway Guidelines:

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

Interview + Giveaway: To Die For by Sandra Byrd

2011-08-24T09:41:00.000-05:00

1. What inspired you to tell the story of Anne Boleyn through the eyes of Meg Wyatt?

From a young age, we women are wired for friendship. Little girls link arms in exclusivity with one another on the playground. The most devastating betrayals during our middle and high school years often come not from boys but from the friends we thought loved us and in whom we'd trusted. So when I began to write novels set in the Tudor period I wondered, who were these Queens' real friends, those who would remain true in a treacherous court? Ovid wrote, "While you are fortunate you will number many friends, when the skies grow dark you will be alone."

2. There have been countless novels and non-fiction books based on the life of Anne Boleyn and her down fall. What drew you to tell her story once again and were you afraid To Die For would get lost amongst the other Anne Boleyn novels out there?

I believe the Tudor era is what the publishing industry refers to as "evergreen;" it never completely goes out of style. There are always new readers, and those readers who have read quite a bit of the era, like myself, are eager for a fresh take.

I think if it's the same story, retold the same way, it might be greeted with a yawn. But for me, as long as the point of view is fresh and I am captured by a new angle, I want to come along for the ride. I hope to provide that new angle and insight with each of my Ladies in Waiting books.

3. In the book Anne Boleyn and Meg Wyatt seemed to be the best of friends and would do anything for one another. Did this kindred friendship truly exist? Was there really a Meg Wyatt?

Yes, there was! My research journey took me to Meg Wyatt, narrator of my novel, To Die For. I will quickly note that in my book I have switched the names of the Wyatt daughters so that the eldest is named Anne/Alice and the younger Margaret/Meg so that the story could be told without two "Annes" to confuse the reader. It began, as all treasure hunts do, with one solitary clue, an offhand comment in a Tudorplace.com.ar link that said that Anne Wyatt attended Anne Boleyn till her death, and that, at the end, Anne Boleyn had given her friend her prayer book, a very personal gift indeed, and just before her execution whispered something in her friend's ear.

The Wyatt family is ancient and is able to be traced back many centuries before our story picks up with Henry Wyatt, father of my heroine Meg and her siblings, including poet Sir Thomas.

4. My next question kind of goes along with the last question. How much of To Die For is based on historical fact and do you ever find it hard to stay true to those facts while also trying to entertain your readers?

There are a lot of different kinds of historical readers and writers, and each has their own preferences. My personal preference is to stick as close to as many known historical facts as possible, and then spin the fiction around those markers. I stuck with as much of Meg's life (as well as Anne's life) as I could find, and then fictionalized the rest. I tried, however, to make sure that all of the fiction "could" have happened, that is, it was true to the times. History itself is entertaining! It's the author's task to present and package it in a way that holds the reader's attention.

4. There is an abundance of information out there on Anne Boleyn and the rise of the Tudor court. How did you conduct your research for To Die For? Did you do anything differently in order to insure your novel would stand out amongst the rest?

I did what I imagine most or all historical novelists do, go to primary sources, read as much nonfiction on the subjects as possible, and visit as many sites as I could. I also avoided reading any fiction set in the era during my planning and writing phases, so as not to be influenced by someone else's fictional conjectures. I think my ace in the hole, though, was that I engaged a wonderful historical researcher named Lauren Mackay who works with novelists among other talents.

A flat document or a biography can't tell you if a plot twist is appropriate for the era, nor help you make corrections in titles, styles, language, or clothing, but a historical researcher can. Lauren can help field odd questions and has invariably read more in the period than I have by nature of her academic background.

5. Where do you do your best writing?

In my office. I have a framed print of Hever Castle, and the Six Wives, and a large contemporary portrait of Elizabeth I. I slip on my over the ear headphones and off I go. I corresponded this year with historian Christopher Gidlow who has an office in the Tower of London. I admit to a little envy!

6. I learned from your website that you have delved into many different genres of writing such as Teen, Adult, and nonfiction. Which genre do you enjoy writing in most? Do you think that by being able to write in different genres has made you a better writer/author?

I like writing in them all. I don't know whether or not it makes me a better author to write in many genres, but it does help keep me interested. When I am glutted of one approach, the other beckons. And then when I finish that project, I might switch to another genre. I think the most important thing that makes people better authors is to read, write, and continue to be well edited.

7. Who is your favorite historical figure…man or woman and why?

In this era, the ones I admire the most were those who courageously, but gracefully, stuck to their principals. They would include William Tyndale, Thomas More, Katherine of Aragon and of course, Anne Boleyn and Kateryn Parr. John Rogers, Meg's nephew, would die during Mary Tudor's reign. I admire Anne Askew; she appears in my next book. And of course, I love Elizabeth I.

8. Last but not least, what can readers expect from you next?

There will be two more books in the Ladies in Waiting series. The second book, The Secret Keeper, takes place during the queenship of Kateryn Parr. She was a strong woman, given to the reformation, and a best-selling author. But she had a soft spot for a bad boy and it led her, and those under her care, into trouble and distress. I hope readers will find a deep, witty, and nuanced Parr in this book with perhaps a surprise ending.

The third book in the series will take place in the court of Elizabeth, and will be told from the point of view of one of her ladies. We often hear about Gloriana, her power and amazing intellect, but not as often about Elizabeth's softer side as it intersected with her friends and her loves. Elizabeth was loyal but could also be a tempestuous friend, which made being her lady in waiting a bit of a balance walk and dangerous in its own right.

Tour schedule: http://hfvirtualbooktours.blogspot.com/2011/07/virtual-book-tour-to-die-for-by-sandra.html
Author Website/Ladies in Waiting Web Page: http://www.sandrabyrd.com/adults-ladies-waiting.php
Sandra Byrd's Blog: http://sandrabyrd.com/blog/
Sandra Byrd's FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/sandrabyrdwrites

*If you are on Twitter you can tweet your post links to #ToDieForVirtualBookTour

SYNOPSIS

What would you sacrifice for your best friend? Would you die for her?

Meg Wyatt has been Anne Boleyn's closest friend ever since they grew up together on neighboring manors in Kent. So when twenty-five-year-old Anne's star begins to ascend, of course she takes Meg along for the ride.

Life in the court of Henry VIII is thrilling...at first. Meg is made mistress of Anne's wardrobe, and she enjoys the spoils of this privileged orbit and uses her influence for good. She is young and beautiful and in favor; everyone at court assumes that being close to her is being close to Anne.

But favor is fickle and envy is often laced with venom. As Anne falls, so does Meg, and it becomes nearly impossible for her to discern ally from enemy. Suddenly life's unwelcome surprises rub against court's sheen to reveal the tarnished brass of false affections and the bona fide gold of those are true. Both Anne and Meg may lose everything. When your best friend is married to fearsome Henry VIII, you may soon find yourself not only friendless but headless as well.

A rich alchemy of fact and fiction, To Die For chronicles the glittering court life, the sweeping romance, and the heartbreaking fall from grace of a forsaken queen and Meg, her closest companion, who was forgotten by the ages but who is destined to live on in our hearts forever.

I have one copy of Sandra Byrd's book To Die For up for grabs! This giveaway is open to the US, UK, CAN, AUS and NZ! It ends September 7th at 12:00 a.m.

Giveaway Guidelines:

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

Review: To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Sandra Byrd

2011-08-23T09:32:00.001-05:00

★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2

Book Source: I received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Release Date: August 9^th, 2011

Synopsis: To Die For, is the story of Meg Wyatt, pledged forever as the best friend to Anne Boleyn since their childhoods on neighboring manors in Kent. When Anne’s star begins to ascend, of course she takes her best friend Meg along for the ride. Life in the court of Henry VIII is thrilling at first, but as Anne’s favor rises and falls, so does Meg’s. And though she’s pledged her loyalty to Anne no matter what the test, Meg just might lose her greatest love—and her own life—because of it.

Meg's childhood flirtation with a boy on a neighboring estate turns to true love early on. When he is called to follow the Lord and be a priest she turns her back on both the man and his God. Slowly, though, both woo her back through the heady times of the English reformation. In the midst of it, Meg finds her place in history, her own calling to the Lord that she must follow, too, with consequences of her own. Each character in the book is tested to figure out what love really means, and what, in this life, is worth dying for.

Though much of Meg’s story is fictionalized, it is drawn from known facts. The Wyatt family and the Boleyn family were neighbors and friends, and perhaps even distant cousins. Meg’s brother, Thomas Wyatt, wooed Anne Boleyn and ultimately came very close to the axe blade for it. Two Wyatt sisters attended Anne at her death, and at her death, she gave one of them her jeweled prayer book—Meg.

Review: When being asked to review this book I must admit I was a little hesitant in saying yes because the first thought that crossed my mind was “Here we go again, another Anne Boleyn novel. It’s going to be the same story but a different author.” However, I was pleasantly surprised that although it was the same story of Anne Boleyn it was told in a completely unique way.

What made this novel unique and refreshing was how Sandra told Anne’s story through the eyes of her best friend and confidante, Meg Wyatt. I absolutely loved Meg’s character! What drew me in was her constant struggle between her love for the hansom Will Ogilvy and her devotion to Anne. Meg was in love with a man who believed he had been called by God to help translate and print the first English version of the Bible, which was considered heresy in the eyes of King Henry VIII.

What I loved most about this book was how Sandra truly made this story her own. She captured another side of Anne Boleyn that most people refused to believe about her. She painted a beautiful picture of Anne as being a strong confidant woman who happened to fall in love with a man who had narcissistic behavior, which caused her downfall. Sandra’s new rendition of this story made me fall in love with Anne Boleyn all over again. I enjoyed getting to know Meg Wyatt and her struggles through life. This is a remarkable new twist on Anne’s story and I enjoyed every minute of it! Highly recommended to all Tudor enthusiasts out there!

If you would like a chance to read Sandra Byrd's novel To Die For make sure you stop by tomorrow for a chance to win a copy!

Review: The Lady and the Poet by Maeve Haran

2011-08-19T10:50:00.001-05:00

★★★★★

Book Source: I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Publishing Date: March 2, 2010

Book Synopsis: Ann More, fiery and spirited daughter of the Mores of Loseley House in Surrey, came to London destined for a life at the court of Queen Elizabeth and an advantageous marriage. There she encountered John Donne, the darkly attractive young poet who was secretary to her uncle, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. He was unlike any man she had ever met—angry, clever, witty and, in her eyes, insufferably arrogant and careless of women. Yet as they were thrown together Donne opened Ann’s eyes to a new world of passion, and sensuality.

But John Donne—Catholic by background in an age when it was deadly dangerous, tainted by an alluring hint of scandal—was the kind of man her status-conscious father distrusted and despised.
The Lady and the Poet tells the story of the forbidden love between one of our most admired poets and a girl who dared to rebel against the conventions of her time. They gave up everything to be together and their love knew no bounds.

My Review: Until this book I had never heard the romantic love story between the poet John Donne and Mistress Ann More, which made this novel such a refreshing read. I love reading new novels where I’m unfamiliar with the historical characters and their stories. It makes me feel like I’m being taken on a new adventure and it’s not the same adventure I’m used to being strung along on.

I thought the characterization in this book was fantastic! I could really connect with just about all the characters in this book, but I especially related to Ann. She is not your typical young maiden during the 16^th century. She was a spirited young girl who absolutely loved to read and had a passion for learning. She wore her heart on her sleeve and she had no difficulty speaking her own mind in order to prove her point. It was so sad how her only confidante was her older sister Mary who was always so wrapped up in her own issues that she hardly had time to worry about Ann’s.

I loved getting to know Master John Donne and his forbidden romance with Ann. Ann was 12 years his junior and she could not help but fall head over heels in love with him and with his witty almost scandalous poetry. They both knew her father was a social climber and would never allow them to marry because Master Donne was a reformed Papist and wasn’t high born. They went through great lengths to see each other even when her father found out and removed her from her uncle’s home. Their love for one another new no bounds and nothing could prevent them from being together.

Final Thoughts: I fell in love with everything about this book! I couldn’t put it down! It had sort of a Romeo and Juliet feel to it in some ways and I’m such a sucker for forbidden romances. Maeve Haran is an excellent writer and she really knows how to draw her readers in and keep them entertained. I don’t think I was ever bored at any point, which is a major plus. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of her novels in the future. The Lady and the Poet is highly recommended to everyone who loves a good forbidden love affair. It’s definitely one to curl up by fire with!

International Giveaway & Guest Post: The Ever Changing Face of Cleopatra by Colin Falconer

2011-08-17T10:21:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! I have a great treat for you on this Wednesday morning! Today I have a wonderful guest post by Colin Folconer where he discusses Cleopatra and her ever changing face throughout history. At the end of this post you will have a chance to win a copy of his book When We Were Gods. So enjoy!

THE EVER CHANGING FACE OF CLEOPATRA

Colin Falconer

Queen Cleopatra the Seventh of Egypt - now just Cleopatra to you or me - has fascinated writers, artists and film directors down the centuries.

She has been variously portrayed as virtuous suicide, inefficient housewife, exuberant lover, professional courtesan, scheming manipulator, and femme fatale. Was she Shakespeare’s cruel and lazy siren, Shaw’s man-eater or Taylor’s alluring beauty?

It is hard to really find the truth when her legend began with a lie. It was formulated in her own lifetime by her enemies' propaganda in order to discredit her lover Mark Antony. Antony’s rival, Augustus, claimed Anthony had become so besotted with the Queen of Egypt that she had turned him into little more than a handbag. By denigrating Antony to his fellow Romans as a hedonist and a traitor he won their support in his war against him and eventually destroyed him.

And so Cleopatra was cast in Roman eyes as the dangerous feminine, the reflection of everything that men both desired and feared. She was, in other words, a reflection of the age,and she continued to mirror social mores forever from then on.

In the fourteenth century, for example, Chaucer painted her as the very paragon of feminine virtue; the proof of her goodness being that she didn't wish to outlive her man! That was an age when love-matches were rare and widowhood the only condition in which a woman could be truly independent, so Cleopatra's great virtue, it seemed, was that she didn’t want to live longer than Anthony did.

So she has not always been the great seductress nor was her affair with Anthony the byword for passion and recklessness. By the eighteenth century, for example, when the American and French revolutions turned established orders on their head, her story had devolved into the clash between rival systems of government. Cleopatra was transformed into an icon of political oppression, not just a bad girl with a nice tan.

It was the artists of the colonial era who painted her as a siren in harem pants, manipulated for propaganda purposes into a dusky Lady Gaga lolling indolently on a divan. She was the terminally decadent Oriental culture waiting for her redemption from a benignly virgin western power.

This image of her persisted to the nineteen thirties and led Cecil B de Mille to offer Claudette Colbert the role of Cleopatra with the words: "How would you like to play the wickedest woman in history?" By the time of the notorious 1963 movie with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton the tragedy of her reign had devolved into history's best-ever holiday romance.

So did I do her service or disservice in my novel about her life, WHEN WE WERE GODS? My own intention was to focus on her personal wit and daring; one is imagined, the other well documented. If there is scandal in the book - and it certainly has its share - it is provided by Caesar and the irrepressible Mark Anthony. Cleopatra herself lived a reasonably chaste life. She only had two husbands - not hers, admittedly - though she did marry them later.

But in certain things I too fell victim to the dictates of the age. I discovered, for instance, that there was a very good chance that Cleopatra was fair-haired and told my editor that I intended to portray her that way. She reacted with horror and vetoed the idea.

"But why?" I cried piteously.

"My dear," she cried back into the phone. "You can't have a blonde Cleopatra. It flies in the face of history. Haven't you seen the movie?"

WHEN WE WERE GODS, is now re-released on Kindle US, Kindle UK and for all other formats on Smashwords for $2.99.

Colin invites you to join him at http://www.colinfalconer.net/

Synopsis:

Arrestingly beautiful and fiercely intelligent Cleopatra VII of Egypt was barely more than a girl when she inherited the richest empire in the world - one that stretched from the scorching deserts of lower Egypt to the shining Mediterranean metropolis of Alexandria with its famed library and lighthouse.

Imperiled at every turn by court conspiracies and Roman treachery, the young Queen was forced to flee Alexandrias and live in exile while a foreign army overran her city and her own family plotted her downfall.

With nothing to lose, Cleopatra sought a partnership with the only man who could secure Egypt's safety: Julius Caesar, a wily politician and battle-hardened general with a weakness for women.

The result was a passionate love affair that scandalized Rome and thrust Cleopatra into a world of deadly intrigue played for the very highest stakes - a world she would continue to mesmerize and manipulate even after Caesar was gone.

Colin has so kindly offered up two copies of his book When We Were Gods in either the Kindle or Smashwords version. This is an INTERNATIONAL giveaway, which ends August 28th at 12:00 a.m.

Giveaway Guidelines:

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

Giveaway Winner Announcement!

2011-08-14T08:10:00.000-05:00

So sorry for the delay on announcing the winners. I have been very busy with work and family things. Please help me congratulate the 3 lucky winners of three amazing books!

and the winners are...

Donna @ The Happy Booker

Margaret

CelticLady

Guest Post by Gordon Doherty and International Giveaway of Legionary

2011-08-09T11:40:00.000-05:00

Beauty in Imperfection by Gordon Doherty

It was a characteristically bleak autumn afternoon in Northumberland as I sauntered along the tumbled ruins of Hadrian’s Wall. After an obligatory imagining of myself kitted out in legionary armour, barking out orders to my cohort, I sat down to take in the landscape. I tried to envisage the rolling hills in the age when the auxiliaries of Britannia would have lined this ominous frontier and garrisoned the forts, milecastles and watchtowers. I imagined a firm and seemingly eternal signpost shouting out to all and sundry ‘This is Rome and she’s here to stay!’. Yet now I could see only the squat remains of foundations and surrounding rubble and the Romans were long gone. A question entered my thoughts, demanding to be answered: how had the greatness of Rome faded from the invincibility of the pax romana to this?

Fast forward a few years: I was strolling along the inner tier battlements of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople/Istanbul (or more accurately I was tentatively inching along them and trying not to look down – they’re pretty high up and a bit crumbly) around the Golden Gate area. The structure extended north into the smog of the city, sentinel-like towers standing empty but eerily defiant after fifteen hundred years. The place was electric, the air crackling with history and I felt that hunger for an answer again: how could the Roman and Byzantine grip on Europe, Western Asia and Africa have dwindled to nothing, leaving behind a behemoth-like architectural carcass like this?

Having done my reading I now know the textbook answers to the two questions above, but have been left with something far more valuable: a sustained intrigue, nay obsession, over the decline from the pax romana to the post-Roman world and the real answers to these questions.

While the order, prosperity and pristine legions of the high principate are a fascinating blend, I find it somewhat too perfect. What really fires my imagination is the 3rd century AD and onwards, an age which sees Rome’s forts and cities decaying, her pagan ideals being swept into history by Christianity, her economy stagnating and her legions thin, scattered and all-too-mortal. What events could have occurred in this era that have since been lost to the ghosts of the past, echoing along the battlements of these walls and fortifications? What of the people of these times, they would have had to live with the reality that greatness was slipping away from them while they still clung to the ideals of their recent ancestors. And then there were the ‘barbarians’; with the Goths, Vandals, Franks, Alans, Parthians and Huns just a selection of the powerful and now militarily equal peoples pressing relentlessly on the empire’s borders, fiery conflict and desperate and heartfelt emotion must have been rife.

So all this has me jilting the perfection of invincible Rome and falling for the complexity of her flawed descendant. Perhaps it is my admiration for the spirit of the underdog that nudges me this way and I feel that one day a psychiatrist might confirm that. Whatever the reason I’m just grateful for what has turned out to be a perpetual fuel for my writing.

And even now when I visit the ruins, I’m still seeking true answers to those questions that demand to be answered.

Gordon’s first novel, Legionary is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all good stores. More information can be found at www.gordopolis.com/writing

Legionary

by Gordon Doherty

“The Roman Empire is crumbling, and a shadow looms in the east…

376 AD: the Eastern Roman Empire is alone against the tide of barbarians swelling on her borders. Emperor Valens juggles the paltry border defences to stave off invasion from the Goths north of the Danube. Meanwhile, in Constantinople, a pact between faith and politics spawns a lethal plot that will bring the dark and massive hordes from the east crashing down on these struggling borders.

The fates conspire to see Numerius Vitellius Pavo, enslaved as a boy after the death of his legionary father, thrust into the limitanei, the border legions, just before they are sent to recapture the long-lost eastern Kingdom of Bosporus. He is cast into the jaws of this plot, so twisted that the survival of the entire Roman world hangs in the balance… “

Gordon has kindly offered up three copies of his book Legionary and the winners get to pick what format they would like to read it in! The two choices are either the hard copy version or the kindle version. This giveaway is open internationally and it ends August 23rd at 12:00 a.m.

Giveaway Guidelines:

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

Review: Elizabeth I by Margaret George

2011-08-03T09:09:00.002-05:00

★★★★ 1/2

Book Source: I received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Publish Date: April 5, 2011

Book Synopsis: One of today’s premier historical novelists, Margaret George dazzles here as she tackles her most difficult subject yet: the legendary Elizabeth Tudor, queen of enigma—the Virgin Queen who had many suitors, the victor of the Armada who hated war; the gorgeously attired, jewel-bedecked woman who pinched pennies. England’s greatest monarch has baffled and intrigued the world for centuries. But what was she really like?

In this novel, her flame-haired, look-alike cousin, Lettice Knollys, thinks she knows all too well. Elizabeth’s rival for the love of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and mother to the Earl of Essex, the mercurial nobleman who challenged Elizabeth’s throne, Lettice has been intertwined with Elizabeth since childhood. This is a story of two women of fierce intellect and desire, one trying to protect her country, and throne, the other trying to regain power and position for her family. Their rivalry, and its ensuing drama, soon involves everyone close to Elizabeth, from the famed courtiers who enriched the crown to the legendary poets and playwrights who paid homage to it with their works. Intimate portraits of the personalities who made the Elizabethan age great—Shakespeare, Marlowe, Dudley, Raleigh, Drake—fill these pages, giving us an unforgettable glimpse of a queen who ruled as much from the heart as from the head, and considered herself married to her people.

This magnificent, stay-up-all-night page-turner is George’s finest and one that is sure to delight readers of Alison Weir, Philippa Gregory, and Hilary Mantel.

My Review: Yes! I’ve finally finished this brick of a book! I think I started reading this book in May and I just finished it yesterday. I swear this was a big accomplishment because it was 671 pages long. Anyway on to the review portion…

This novel tells the story of Elizabeth I as an older woman who is struggling to cope with the fact that she is getting older and is beginning to lose her virgin looks and is having difficulty seeing. She doesn’t want any of her maids or her courtiers to know how quickly she is aging because she doesn’t want to be vulnerable to them and she is adamant about not naming her heir for fear of her people looking at her heir for guidance when she has not yet met her maker. The novel also tells the later life of Lettice Knollys, the Queen’s banished cousin and the mother of the treasonous Earl of Essex.

Ok so I had very high expectations for Elizabeth I because Margaret George is a genius when it comes to writing Historical Fiction! Well the book started off with the battle between England and Philip of Spain’s Spanish Armada. I must admit I was disappointed with the beginning of this book. I feel I like I just flipped a bunch of pages and started reading so I didn’t really know what was going on at first. Yes I am very familiar with the Spanish Armada and King Philip of Spain, but there was no opening or setting of the stage for the battle. I just think it was a poor place to start the story line not to mention very dry and boring to start with.

At first, I didn’t much care for the fact that the story was centered on Elizabeth’s later life as Queen of England; however, as the story progressed I later realized that I’m glad it was about her later years because most stories about Elizabeth are about her coming to the throne and declaring herself married to England and her love affair with Robert Dudley. George does visit this point in Elizabeth’s life in a creative way, which totally makes up for it. I found Lettice’s story a bit boring and at some points annoying, but I will let you be the judge of her life.

My opinion: Over all I loved this book! I loved learning about the Earl of Essex and the Irish War. I got to see a different side of Queen Elizabeth through Margaret’s work. She’s older and wiser in her later years not to mention a bit temperamental and irritable. The book had a lot of slow points and I hated the beginning, which made me give the novel 4.5 instead of 5 stars. It’s not an easy read and it takes patients and time to get through all of it so if you’re looking for a fast paced read about Elizabeth then this isn’t it. But if you love learning and or reading about Queen Elizabeth’s life and want to get to know her on a deeper level then this book is highly recommended!

International Giveaway & Guest Blog by Christina Courtenay Author of "The Scarlet Kimono"

2011-08-01T11:35:00.000-05:00

How Did You Get Hooked on Historicals? By Christina Courtenay

Someone asked me recently which was the first historical novel I ever read and why it made me a fan of this genre. That was a really difficult question to answer, because I wasn’t sure exactly how to define “historical novel” for this purpose. As a child, I read things like the Odyssey, which is sort of historical, and also the Norse sagas (I'm half Swedish and grew up in Scandinavia). These were more myths and legends, however, so I ended up replying that the book which made me a life-long lover of historical fiction was The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.

I can’t quite remember how old I was when I read it, but the swash-buckling, the beautiful clothes, the “milady’s” and the gallantry all stuck in my mind and I was hooked. I wanted to read more about the dashing D’Artagnan (and the darkly attractive Athos) and times gone by. From then on, I tried to find more novels set in the past and once I’d discovered Georgette Heyer there was definitely no turning back.

I’m not too bothered about which era the books I read are set in, although of course I have favourites – Vikings, Saxons, the Regency and the English Civil War are some of them. However, I get bored easily so I like to vary my reading. The same goes for my own writing – I don’t stick to just one time frame, I choose a different one for each book (or series of books) and often different locations too. My current novel, The Scarlet Kimono, is set at the beginning of the 1600s and although the action starts off in England, it soon moves to Japan.

What I set out to write was a sort of female version of James Clavell’s The Shogun. His hero is an Englishman who ends up in Japan and becomes the trusted adviser of the Shogun (the ruler of the country). It was based on a true story and an Englishman called Will Adams who really did go there at that time. There were other foreigners who went to the Far East as well, of course, but when I started to read up on the subject I realized that none of them were women.

It’s pretty obvious why not, since women weren’t really allowed to have any fun in those days and were just supposed to stay at home and have babies and so on. Anyway, I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if a woman had gone to the Far East back then? I decided I wanted to write about a heroine who would rebel against the dictates of the time, a girl who wanted adventures, just like her brothers. And so Hannah Marston was born.

Hannah stows away on what she thinks is her brother’s merchant ship, but unfortunately she gets on the wrong one. In order to survive, she has to pretend to be a boy and work in the cook room. Her powers of endurance are stretched to their limit, but eventually she reaches Japan and all her suffering seems worthwhile. That is, until she is abducted by a warlord called Taro Kumashiro. He has been waiting to see the girl he’s been warned about by a seer. When at last they meet, it’s a clash of cultures and wills, but they’re also fighting an instant attraction to each other. With her brother desperate to find her and a jealous rival equally desperate to kill her, Hannah faces the greatest adventure of her life. And Kumashiro has to choose between love and honour …

I had a lot of fun writing this and it helped that I lived in Japan myself for a few years during my teens (I’ve been a huge fan of all things Oriental ever since). It’s a fascinating country – so very different to ours, but at the same time not, if that makes sense? The Japanese people manage to blend the modern and traditional in all things in the most amazing way and I never tire of going back there. If you’ve never been and you get the chance, it’s well worth a visit!

So back to the original question – what was the first novel you read that made you a fan of historical fiction? I’d love to know!

Thank you so much for having me as your guest!

The Scarlet Kimono was published by Choc Lit on 1^st March, (ISBN 978-1-906931-29-2). It is available on www.amazon.com . For more details see http://www.choc-lit.com/html/the_scarlet_kimono.html

or www.christinacourtenay.com

Book Synopsis:

Abducted by a warlord in 17th century Japan – what happens when fear turns to love?

England, 1611, and young Hannah Marston envies her brother’s adventurous life. But when she stows away on his merchant ship, her powers of endurance are stretched to their limit. Then they reach Japan and all her suffering seems worthwhile – until she is abducted by Taro Kumashiro’s warriors.
In the far north of the country, samurai warlord Kumashiro is intrigued to learn more about the girl who he has been warned about by a seer. There’s a clash of cultures and wills, but they’re also fighting an instant attraction to each other.
With her brother desperate to find her and the jealous Lady Reiko equally desperate to kill her, Hannah faces the greatest adventure of her life. And Kumashiro has to choose between love and honour…

Christina has kindly offered up a signed copy of her latest novel The Scarlet Kimono. This giveaway is open to everyone! It ends August 12th at 12:00 a.m.

Giveaway Guidelines:

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

American Heiress Giveaway Winner Announcement

2011-08-01T09:55:00.001-05:00

Good Morning everyone! Hope you all had a great relaxing weekend! I just randomly selected the winner of American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin. Please help me congratulate the lucky winner.

and the winner is...

Carol N Wong!

Guest Post + Giveaway: Carson Morton Author of Stealing Mona Lisa

2011-07-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

Historical Fiction as a Collage By Carson Morton

In my novel, Stealing Mona Lisa, a fictionalized account of the actual theft of The Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum in 1911, one of the characters discovers the artistic potential of creating avant-garde collages. A collage is a good metaphor for how I created the plot that turns a simple act of theft into a fully fleshed out mystery, adventure, romantic thriller to (hopefully) keep the reader turning the pages till there simply are no more. The challenge in trying to accomplish this was to take the existing elements: an historical fact, the mythology that grew up around that fact, a devastating natural disaster; and find a thread that, with the help of real and imagined characters, tie them all together.

The first elements in the collage were the facts of the actual theft. In 1911, a disgruntled former employee of the Louvre, Vincenzo Peruggia, hid overnight in a paint-supply closet and emerged the following morning, a day the museum was closed for cleaning. Disguised as a maintenance man, he walked into the Salon Carré, lifted The Mona Lisa off the wall, stuffed it under his workman’s blouse, and walked out into the streets of Paris. Being an Italian, he apparently had some vague idea that the masterpiece belonged back in Italy where it had been created by Leonardo DaVinci 500 years previously. Apparently in no hurry to repatriate his prize, he kept it under his shirts in a drawer for two years before trying to sell it to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. He was arrested for his troubles. Other than the audacity of the crime, there was not much story there.

The next element was the account, almost certainly apocryphal, that emerged years later concerning a suave mastermind, the Marquis de Valfierno, who orchestrated the theft as part of a scheme to sell six copies to six American Robber Barons. Now we were getting somewhere. Elements one and two, Peruggia and Valfierno, fit together quite nicely. The next task was to assemble the rest of the team. From Ulysses to The Dirty Dozen, every good adventure involves the assembly of a team of misfits. Emilé was a young street urchin when Valfierno first found him. For years, he has been Robin to Valfierno’s Batman. Julia Conway is a young American pickpocket whose sticky fingers prove indispensible to the scheme. And finally there is Diego, the brooding, bad-tempered artist who will create the perfect forgeries. Now I had to come up with a worthy adversary or two. The main target of Valfierno’s scam is Joshua Hart, a filthy rich Robber Baron who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He makes the perfect antagonist, but just for good measure, there is Carnot, the persistent French police inspector whose career will be ruined if he does not apprehend the thieves and recover The Mona Lisa.

Two more elements were needed to make the collage work: motivation and a great setting for a slam-bang climax. The original motivation, of course, was money and lots of it. But that would never be enough to make a reader care. Luckily, Joshua Hart has a rather beautiful, but neglected young wife, Ellen. Ellen was forced into the marriage to provide for her incapacitated mother after her father died leaving the family penniless. Hart treats his wife as little more than a possession, and Valfierno, breaking his own rule of never mixing business with pleasure, finds himself falling for the lovely “bird in a gilded cage.” But how to help her without jeopardizing his carefully planned-out scheme? Not only motivation, but a powerful dilemma!

Which left one more element to be put into place: a dramatic setting for the climax of the story. Time for a little research. I came up with the idea of using the Paris Metro as the background for the final confrontation. It had opened only ten years earlier in 1900 and was still under construction at the time of my story. Perhaps a sort of “The Great Train Robbery” chase in the tunnels beneath Paris would do the trick. But then I stumbled onto something even more interesting, a photograph of men in a boat floating on the tracks of a Metro station. Digging deeper, I quickly discovered that around the time of my story, Paris was inundated by a terrible flood that sent thousands fleeing to higher ground, and, more importantly, flooded train stations and Metro tunnels. This was the final piece of the puzzle, the final element of the story collage. By blending all these elements together with some careful coloring around the edges, I would have a full-blooded story that would take the reader through the pages like the flood washed my characters through the Metro tunnels beneath Paris. That was the hope anyway.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I hope my 90,000 words will paint a series of colorful pictures revealing the Paris of long ago, a romantic City of Light, contrasted with the dark shadows of intrigue and duplicity.

Book Synopsis:

What could be more lucrative than stealing Da Vinci’s masterpiece Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum and selling it to an American Robber Baron? How about stealing it and selling six exact copies to six American Robber Barons?

This is the plan that master conman Eduardo de Valfierno comes up with in the historical novel, Stealing Mona Lisa. Loosely based on the true story of the theft of the world’s greatest painting in 1911, the novel is set against the colorful milieu of early 20th Century Paris.

At first, Valfierno’s plan goes like clockwork, but his scheme begins to unravel when he finds himself falling in love with Ellen, the young bird-in-a-gilded-cage wife of Joshua Hart, his richest and most powerful - not to mention vindictive - customer. The story climaxes against the backdrop of another actual event from the same time period, the devastating flooding of Paris by the rain-swollen River Seine.

This giveaway is open to both the US and Canadian Residents! It will end August 12th at 12:00 A.M.

Giveaway Guidelines:

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

Review: Dracula In Love by Karen Essex

2011-07-27T07:32:00.001-05:00

★★★ 1/2

Book Source: I received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Release Date: Hardback August 10^th, 2010
Paperback July 5^th, 2011

Book Synopsis: London, 1890. Mina Murray, the rosy-cheeked, quintessentially pure Victorian heroine, becomes Count Dracula’s object of desire. To preserve her chastity, five male “defenders” rush in to rescue her from the vampire’s evil clutches. This is the version of the story we've been told. But now, from Mina’s own pen, we discover that the story is vastly different when told from the female point of view.

In this captivating, bold act of storytelling, award-winning author Karen Essex breathes startling new life into the characters of Bram Stoker's Dracula, transporting the reader into the erotic and bizarre underbelly of the original story. While loosely following the events of its classic predecessor, Dracula in Love deviates from the path at every turn.

Review: Having not read Bram Stoker’s original Dracula, I did not know what to expect from Karen’s new spin on the classic tale told in Mina’s point of view. I must admit the story took off without a hitch in the beginning. It was magical and eerie at the same time but then all of a sudden it just halted and became very boring and was drawn out for awhile. I kept wondering “when is Dracula going to come on the scene?” Then I realized what Karen was doing, she was setting the stage for his stunning first real appearance.

There were a couple of things I liked and a couple of things I did not like about this novel. I’m going to start with the positive side. For starters, I absolutely loved Mina Harker’s character. She starts out as being just an innocent young woman who was abandoned by her mother for being “different” and now resides at Miss Hadley’s Academy for Young Ladies of Accomplishment where she works as a teacher. She has unexplained episodes where she finds herself sleep walking and later she realizes it’s because someone is calling out to her. Later, on Mina becomes this new empowered woman who won’t take crap from anyone and is willing to get revenge on those who deserve it. Another thing I loved was how this wasn’t just another Vampire book. It was unique in its own way and it portrayed Vampire’s in a new light making it refreshing.

On to the things I did not like so much. For starters I did not like how it took so long for Dracula to make his first appearance. I get that Karen was just trying to set the stage for him but I felt the storyline sort of dragged on for awhile. I did not like the author’s commonly used term “Preternatural” I found it odd and it got very annoying. Lastly, I absolutely abhorred the male characters in this novel especially Jonathon Harker, Mina’s soon to be husband, and Dr. Seward who was obsessed with Mina and was constantly trying to get her to leave Jonathon for him.

In having never read Stoker’s original, I can’t compare Karen’s spin on Dracula but what I can say is that I loved her portrayal of him. I couldn’t help but fall in love with his phantom-like being. Maybe it’s just because I like the bad boys, but it was just so hard not to get caught up in his mysterious behavior, which really captivates the reader.

Final Thoughts: Overall, this novel was good. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was utterly amazing and you need to rush out right now and buy it, but it is definitely worth picking up and reading. It’s one of those novels that you just want to go and grab a huge cozy blanket and curl up on the couch with. It definitely has a magical, yet mysterious feel to it and the way the author left it makes you wonder if there is going to be a sequel.

I have one copy of Dracula In Love up for grabs! If you would like a chance to win this novel click here to sign up.

Interview + Giveaway: Karen Essex author of Dracula In Love

2011-07-25T07:48:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend! Boy do I have a treat for you today. I had the pleasure of interviewing Karen Essex the author of Dracula In Love and so today I'm posting my interview and at the end you will have the opportunity to sign up for the chance to win a copy of Dracula In Love, which has just been released in paperback! So lets get on with the interview...

1. What was it about Bram Stoker’s Dracula that made you want to retell the story from Mina’s point of view?

From the first time that I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula in my teens, though I revered the work, I just knew that the character Mina Harker, Dracula’s obsession, was not satisfied with the role Mr. Stoker gave her—the quintessentially compliant Victorian virgin. I knew that there had to be more to her than that. (I knew that there had to be more to any woman than that.) In a nutshell, my plan was to rescue Mina from Stoker’s sexist fantasy of the nice, cooperative girl, and empower her.

2.What sort of research did you conduct in order to write Dracula In Love?

Whenever I begin a work, I do a massive investigation into the time period. I read all the relevant history and I also seek out as much of the contemporary writing as possible. In the case of Dracula in Love, one of the most helpful things was to read issues of The Woman’s World, a slick magazine that was edited by Oscar Wilde. That gave me a real feeling for what was going on in the female mind in 1890. I also actually MOVED to London, where I now reside, to research and write the book so that I could drink in the atmosphere of late Victorian England as I wrote. I never write about a place that I do not visit (unless I can’t get in because of visa problems).

Another fascinating area of research was the late Victorian obsession with the supernatural. Things like séances and spirit photography, which factor into the book, were common practices at the time in the upper eschelons of society.

In addition, I did a tremendous amount of research into the early days of psychiatry and Victorian insane asylums, which I wrote about in a post: http://blog.readinggroupchoices.com/?q=node/640

Readers tell me that the most harrowing parts of the book are not the vampire sequences but the asylum scenes. Sad but true: women in Victorian times had more to fear from their own cultures than from vampires!

3. How did you decide which parts to keep from the original Stoker's version and which parts to make your own? Did you find it challenging in trying to write this classic tale from a different angle?

Challenging and intimidating. However, anyone who has read my books knows that I am all about restoring grrrrl power to the historical record, and that is what I also attempt to do here. In Dracula in Love, I decided to reexamine an iconic female character whose full story had not been written into the original. In Stoker’s work, Mina has no past, no history, and bears no responsibility for what happens to her. In my opinion, characters like Mina who have been in our imaginations for over one hundred years are as real to many people as actual historical figures. They, too, require some reevaluation and fleshing out in terms of our modern day awareness of psychology and gender studies. Indeed, though Bram Stoker possessed an element of genius, he also wrote about women from the lens of a man of his time. I thought I could rectify this, bringing to light a realistic portrait of a 19^th century women’s experience and teasing out her inner life.

At some point, I had the revelation that I would make Stoker a character in the book. He would encounter Mina, become intrigued with her situation, and begin to investigate her life. And he would get it all wrong! That element freed me from having to follow his narrative. It changed everything. It made telling the story so much more fun and gave me license to deviate from the original.

4. Do you have a favorite place to do all your brainstorming and writing for your books, such as a coffee shop or your home office. Where do you think you do your best writing?

I can write anywhere. I have written through my daughter’s birthday parties at Chuckie Cheese! I can write in the bathroom, on a yacht in the Mediterranean, at a mountaintop retreat, or in the middle of the night in bed. I have written massive tracts of words on long distance flights. Time and place have no effect on my work. My great challenge in life is to exist in the present moment and not in my work!

5. When did you realize you were destined to be an author? I've noticed a lot of author's just fell into this career, is writing something you've always aspired to do or did you grow up wanting to be something else?

I always thought I would be a writer. I tried to write my first novel at the age of seven. I don't think it was very good. However, I spent the first thirty years of my life doing other things—studying, living, modeling, working in film and theater. I was producing a movie in Philadelphia and I woke up in the middle of the night and thought, «Oh God, I forgot to be a writer.» I started writing and never looked back. That is the truth.

6. How do you think your writing has grown since your first published novel? Do you find writing comes more naturally to you or is it something you constantly find yourself tweaking?

Anyone who says that writing comes “naturally,” and that they don’t have to rewrite is either lying or is not a good writer. Rewriting IS writing. We write to discover what it is that must be written, and reworking and rethinking is a great part of that process. I know hundreds of writers and dozens of great writers, and every one of them obsesses over every sentence, reworking it until it is as perfect as we can make it.

Over the last twenty years, my writing has evolved, and I certainly know more about the process and the craft, but I just reread Kleopatra, my first novel, and I stand by it as being as good as anything else I have written. So I wouldn’t say that I am getting “better.” Every book has its own set of challenges.

7. What can your fans expect to see from you next. Can we get a sneak peek into your next writing adventure?

I would love to write a sequel to Dracula in Love, and hope that I can get to it soon, but my next two planned novels return to Leonardo’s Swans territory—the Italian Renaissance. I have just returned from a very inspiring and informative trip to my favorite places in northern Italy—Milano, Verona, Ferrara, and Mantova. But in two weeks, I take a vacation to Transylvania, so who knows what will come of that!

Synopsis: London, 1890. Mina Murray, the rosy-cheeked, quintessentially pure Victorian heroine, becomes Count Dracula’s object of desire. To preserve her chastity, five male “defenders” rush in to rescue her from the vampire’s evil clutches. This is the version of the story we've been told. But now, from Mina’s own pen, we discover that the story is vastly different when told from the female point of view.

In this captivating, bold act of storytelling, award-winning author Karen Essex breathes startling new life into the characters of Bram Stoker's Dracula, transporting the reader into the erotic and bizarre underbelly of the original story. While loosely following the events of its classic predecessor, Dracula in Love deviates from the path at every turn.

This giveaway is open to the US only and it ends August 8th at 12:00 p.m.

Giveaway Guidelines:

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

Dracula in Love Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgHRtNHZiQI
Link to tour schedule: http://hfvirtualbooktours.blogspot.com/2011/07/virtual-book-tour-dracula-in-love-by.html
Karen's Website: http://www.karenessex.com/
Karen's Blog: http://www.karenessex.com/blog/
Karen's Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=1060811184

*If you are on Twitter, you can tweet your posts to the Dracula In Love Twitter event: #DraculaInLoveVirtualBookTour

Review: Edward Mike Voyce

2011-07-23T07:55:00.000-05:00

★★

Book Source: I received a copy from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Release Date: 2011

Book Synopsis: Owning a Law practice gives the author freedom, he uses it to devise a project using hypnosis, becoming hypnotised into past-life regression.

It isn't just any life, but the future duke of Buckingham; son of a traitor, with a better claim to the throne than the King, fabulously rich, but a prisoner to the most dangerous woman in Europe. Edward is hereditary Grail Knight.

It isn't just this life, it's the times. Margaret Beaufort made her son king by treason, intrigue and witchcraft. The lawful Richard III has been replaced by Henry Tudor, heir to an illegitimate line; Tudor rule is by tyranny and embezzlement. Into this comes Edward, on the run from age 5, prisoner of the Tudors from age 7, his estates are plundered, he is forced to support Tudor, and join in the killing of his detractors.

There are 2 saving graces: Edward's love for Eadie and their daughter - defying a marriage contract by Margaret Beaufort, and his inheritance of the Holy Grail, Sword and 'Druid Glass'. They're not enough to save Edward from History, can they save the author?

My Review: So I really hate writing bad reviews. When I do I feel like such a B**** and I’m so not, but unfortunately in this case I have to and I’m so very sorry. I will try to be as gentle and gracious as I possibly can. So here goes nothing…

Okay for starters, after reading the book synopsis I was so intrigued because I thought the idea of using reincarnation as a way to go back in time to tell a historical story was completely genius and I could not wait to sink my teeth in this book and see the direction the author chose to take. Sadly, it just didn’t do it for me. At first I was completely confused until I figured out what the author was doing by first telling the story of the present day “Edward” and then going back in time to Edward de Stafford.

The storyline barely made since because it was so scattered and jumbled around it was like the character was scatter brained or something or had ADD. I just couldn’t get into it and I kept telling myself give it more time to develop and then decide whether or not to put the book down. I got to page 50 something and then I decided okay I’ve had enough so before I put the book down all together I jumped ahead about 50 pages to see if it gets better and it was still “messy” and when I say messy I mean the character just talked about random things and then he would go back in the past and the present day “Edward” would describe every single detail but yet the details being described were pointless.

I think if the author told Edward de Stafford’s story in third person then it would have made a big difference, but instead it was told in first person and it was present day “Edward” talking to the reader and it was distracting and for lack of a better word it was annoying. I also thought the characters and the plot had no depth I just couldn’t picture any of them and it wasn’t believable to me. Before I chose to write my review I got online and looked to see if I could find other reviews over this book to see if I was crazy by not enjoying this book and apparently according to the two reviews I could find, I am because it was given a 5 star review by both reviewers. So maybe I am crazy and I just don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, but I just could not get through it and I chose to move on to my next adventure.

I hope this doesn’t sound too pretentious and mean, but it’s my honest opinion and I take pride in not sugar coating something in order to save face in fear of offending someone connected to the book.

Giveaway Winner Announcement!

2011-07-22T08:49:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone please help me congratulate the lucky winner of Shadow of a Quarter Moon by Eileen Schwab!

and the winner is...

Darlene!

Guest Post: Richard W. Field Discusses the Case for Richard the Lionheart

2011-07-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

Today I have a special guest post by Richard W. Field who is the author The Swords of Faith which focuses on the Third Crusade and Richard the Lionheart.

The Case for Richard the Lionheart

There was a time, not so long ago, when Richard the Lionheart was a revered English king, thought of as a magnificent, chivalrous warrior of the Middle Ages. But recently, Richard’s reputation has taken a beating. His recent depiction in the Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe movie “Robin Hood” is the latest of example of Richard’s more recent image as a brutish thug. With this post, I will make the case that Richard does not deserve the complete reversal from hero to villain. I will cite some recent propositions against Richard’s prior reputation as glorious king, and I will place those issues in perspective. My objective here is to offer a balanced view of this complex, fascinating icon of the Middle Ages. This will, of necessity, be a simple overview, not an attempt to deal with every nuance of this famous English king.

Richard the Lionheart was a failed king because he spent most of his time away from England. He did spend a lot of time away from England—true. But this is where events took him. Before he became king, he swore an oath to go on a “crusade,” a fighting pilgrimage to take back Jerusalem for western Christians. To violate that oath would have been unthinkable for an honorable king of his time. He spent nearly a year preparing for the expedition, to try to assure its success. On his way back, he was seized by Leopold of Austria and held for ransom by German Emperor Henry VI. This delay getting back to England was not Richard’s idea. While Richard was held for ransom, Philip II of France chiseled away at Richard’s French holdings. So after Richard returned to England, he needed to go fairly quickly to France to protect his position there. He eventually died during the siege of a minor castle in France. Richard’s absence from England for most of his ten-year reign was more evidence of the duplicity of key rivals of Richard the Lionheart than evidence of some failure on his part. By any fair standards of the period, Leopold of Austria, Emperor Henry VI, Philip II of France—and John, Richard’s brother—should all have been excommunicated for their treatment of a fighting pilgrim for Christianity.

Richard was a brutal thug, good at violence but an otherwise unsophisticated ruler. It is true Richard was a huge, strong man, an accomplished fighter, who often led his men into battle from the front. (Saladin himself criticized Richard for being too reckless with his personal safety. This was probably a legitimate criticism. Richard’s arrogant failure to armor himself properly while besieging a minor castle in France led to his death.) But Richard was also well-educated, dabbling in music, poetry and song-writing. His military victories were not just the result of brutish power, but showed a keen mastery of tactics and strategy. The Battle of Arsuf, one of his greatest victories while on the “Third Crusade,” came after a long hot march down the coast toward Jerusalem, a march meticulously controlled by Richard as it was harried by Saladin’s forces all along the route. The battle itself was won as a result of Richard’s grasp of the situation, and his tactic of unleashing a well-timed cavalry charge to drive off and crush the attackers. When it looked as if a premature move by some of his men would jeopardize the plan, Richard acted quickly to adjust and to orchestrate a successful charge. He had arranged for a series of bugle calls to signal his commands, and gave clear instructions to his men before the battle began. And yes, he led that charge, from the front. In just a few moments of that charge, Richard’s forces prevailed at the Battle of Arsuf.

Richard was a religious fanatic who committed atrocities against Muslims. This was an era of religious fanatics. Richard believed in his faith and the idea that he needed to fight for it. He did order the executions of 3000 unarmed prisoners taken at Acre. The killing of the Acre hostages was a brutal act, and through our eyes, appears to be a negative against Richard. I won’t defend it too much here, except to say that this was a more violent time, when such executions occurred. Saladin executed the knights of the orders taken prisoner at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. When Richard felt was being trifled with over the payment of the ransom for the Acre prisoners, he leveled consequences. There is no doubt this angered Saladin, as he then executed prisoners his forces captured during Richard’s march south toward Jerusalem, just after the Acre hostage executions. But this is the only incident that can be fairly called an “atrocity.” And Richard and Saladin negotiated a peace agreement just over a year later, with declarations of mutual respect from both of them (including mutual respect between Richard and Saladin’s brother al-Adil as well—Richard went so far as to award knight spurs to Saladin’s nephew al-Kamil). This does not sound like the actions of a rabid religious fanatic.

For all his great military ability, Richard failed to take Jerusalem during the “Third Crusade.” Richard got to within twelve miles of Jerusalem twice, but did not follow through with a siege. Richard was no impetuous fool. Besieging Jerusalem in both situations (once during the rains and winds of winter, and once during the stifling heat of summer with unreliable water sources) would have been logistically challenging, and the city would have been difficult to hold after it had been taken. He saw the situation objectively and did not let ego lead him into foolishness. Besides logistical problems, Richard also led a coalition army that was severely factionalized and shrinking. More and more ominous messages were coming from home to the effect that his brother John was trying to take his throne. When Richard arrived on the eastern Mediterranean coast, the western Christians clung to a few strongholds. When Richard left, western Christians held coastal cities from Tyre south to Jaffa and defensible territories inland, though not the prize of Jerusalem. Though Richard himself felt his expedition had been a failure without the capture of Jerusalem, the truth is he could claim a great deal of success.

Henry II

Richard was disloyal to his father King Henry II; he was a “bad son.” There is no question that Richard took up arms against his father more than once, and with Philip II of France, Richard forced his father into confirming his succession in humiliating circumstances just before Henry’s death. Out of context, this behavior could be considered the disloyal actions of a “bad son.” But this risks huge oversimplification. Henry II’s relationships with his sons were complex and shifting, and could fill volumes. (Actually, they have already filled volumes!) Mix in a healthy dose of Eleanor of Aquitaine and we have even more complexity to deal with. To be fair, Henry II was not always a good father. His refusal to acknowledge Richard’s succession when he was down to two surviving sons probably had to do with the crowning of his first son Henry, which led to friction among Henry II his son’s years before. But Richard had a right to ask for clarification of the issue, with Richard well into adulthood, and Henry II headed toward old age. Was the friction the result of the actions of a “bad son,” or a “bad father?” I would call this a clash of the egos of two talented men who probably should have been able to set aside their differences. The fact they did not was their mutual failure.

There is one other Richard the Lionheart issue that has surfaced over the last half-century—the idea that Richard the Lionheart may have been gay. I don’t consider this a positive or negative. If he was gay, so be it. But I do not believe the evidence supports it. I discussed this at length in my guest blog post at “History Undressed” on July 13th.

Tomb of Richard the Lionheart

*******

So there is the case for Richard the Lionheart. Views of history, interpretations of facts, shift with changing perspectives. Richard has gone from hero to heal. I like to think of him as a complex talented man, who had flaws as we all do, and who deserves a balanced look through the lens of history.

Thanks so much Richard for writing such an informative and interesting piece on one the the most legendary rulers in history!

Giveaway: The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

2011-07-12T13:23:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone, today I have a copy of The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin up for grabs! This giveaway is open to both US and Canadian residents and the giveaway will end July 31st at 12:00 a.m. Below I have listed some information about the book and please feel free to sign up in the comments section below.

Daisy Goodwin has managed to write the ultimate summer read—THE AMERICAN HEIRESS (St. Martin’s Press; June 2011) will appeal to both fans of Downton Abbey and The Real Housewives of New York. Imagine a world where every word, glance and wardrobe choice will be scrutinized. Where domineering women care more about their reputations than their families’ happiness. Where money can buy you a spouse, status… almost anything but love and respect. It’s Dynasty meets the Gilded Age.

Written by one of the biggest television producers in England (as well as the most recent chair of England’s Orange Prize judging committee and the editor of the critically-acclaimed poetry anthology, “101 Poem That Could Save Your Life”), THE AMERICAN HEIRESS channels Goodwin’s fascination with the excesses of the Gilded Age into a deliciously insightful and brilliantly entertaining novel about American money, the British aristocracy and the uncomfortable, often unhappy union between the two.

Witty, moving, and irresistibly entertaining, THE AMERICAN HEIRESS marks the debut of a glorious storyteller who provides a sly spin on the works of Edith Wharton and Henry James.

On July 10th, THE AMERICAN HEIRESS will debut on The New York Times Bestseller List.

Book Synopsis:

It is 1893, in Newport, Rhode Island, and no detail of Cora Cash’s lavish masquerade ball has been left to chance. Beautiful, spirited, and the richest heiress of her generation, Cora is the closest thing that American society has to a princess. Her debut is the carefully orchestrated prelude to a campaign in which her mother will whisk her to Europe, where Mrs. Cash wants to acquire the one thing that money can’t buy for her daughter in the States: a title.

Be careful what you wish for. Cora makes a dazzling impression on English society—followed by a brilliant match—but finds that the chill in the air of magnificent ancestral homes comes from more than the lack of central heating. As she gradually learns that old-world aristocrats are governed by obscure codes of conduct and loyalty that can betray even the most charming, accomplished outsider, Cora must grow from a spoiled young rich girl into a woman of substance.

Giveaway Guidelines: Open to both Canada & US and ends July 31st at 12:00 a.m.

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

Interview + International Giveaway: Eileen Schwab author of Shadow of a Quarter Moon

2011-07-09T19:59:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! I am very pleased to announce that we have a special guest today. Eileen Schwab is here to answer a few questions about her latest novel Shadow of a Quarter Moon and she has graciously offered up a copy to one lucky winner. This giveaway is open to everyone so feel free to sign up in the comments section below for a chance to win a copy!

Interview: Eileen Schwab

1. Early in your novel, SHADOW OF A QUARTER MOON, a unique twist is revealed. Can you give us a brief introduction to your main character, Jacy Lane?

A. In SHADOW OF A QUARTER MOON, an unimaginable secret changes the course of Jacy’s life… not once, but twice. First, when it is hidden from her, and then when it is revealed. As the daughter of a plantation owner, Jacy has been raised in privilege until she discovers that she is the offspring of a dalliance between her father and a slave.

2. How does this shocking discovery impact the story?

A. The revelation destroys Jacy's sense of who she is and where she belongs in the world, especially when she learns her biological mother and brother are still slaves on the property. Amid the shock and complexities of her mixed heritage, Jacy is simply a woman longing for love, happiness, and a sense of wholeness; however the 1800s are not a simple time. Jacy begins a treacherous journey that is fraught with danger and life-altering choices and soon discovers that what she chases is as elusive as the secret network she seeks for help.

3. America’s Underground Railroad is present to varying degrees in SHADOW OF A QUARTER MOON and your previous novel, PROMISE BRIDGE. What draws you to this difficult time?

A. Any turbulent period in history is fodder for great books and memorable characters. The heroes are more heroic and the villains more villainous because they are woven from truths. The years of slavery in the United States are no different, yet it is a time that we often avoid revisiting because of the horror and shame it stirs in our moral conscience. However, in keeping the door closed on this period, we miss the chance to celebrate and marvel at the incredible acts of courage and daring deeds that were the genesis of social change in our country. The secret network known as the Underground Railroad is the perfect example of the best of America in the worst of America, and it serves as a vehicle of transformation for my main character, Jacy.

4. Writing a novel against an historic backdrop requires a great deal of research. What did you do to accurately portray place and character?

A. For me, research is a process of discovery – not just of historical facts, but of tendencies, beliefs, undertones, and nuances of the time. Through this process I become better acquainted with my characters and the world around them. I wanted to touch and see as much as I could, beginning at the library, as well as visiting places like the Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati and other historic sites found within our National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. So often the surprises discovered in research shift plotlines or shape characters in unexpected ways. For example, while doing some research in North Carolina, I came across Dismal Swamp. As a writer, I could not overlook a name so vivid and descriptive, and I knew it would be mentioned in my story. At the time, I had no idea that the bleak sounding region was so rich and storied in Underground Railroad history, or that it would play such a significant role in my novel.

5. What do you hope readers will carry away from this novel?

A. As an author, my hope is that readers find SHADOW to be a journey worth taking and that the characters resonate with them long after the book is finished. I am inspired by the strength and courage of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. It was an honor to look back and give voice to a generation deserving of acknowledgment, tribute, and literary life. Remembering and discussing their trials and triumphs can be one way of paying respect for their role in our social evolution.

Book Synopsis:

Shadow of a Quarter Moon is the suspenseful and moving story of Jacy Lane, the daughter of a wealthy North Carolina horse breeder in 1839. After Jacy's father is killed in a suspicious accident, Claudia (the woman Jacy knows as Mother) reveals a secret that shatters her world. Jacy is not the well-bred woman she believes herself to be, but rather she is the light-skinned offspring of a dalliance between her father and a slave.

The shocking revelation destroys Jacy's sense of who she is and where she belongs in the world. If her secret is revealed, she will be cast out of "white" society. But as she tentatively gets to know her true mother and brother, as well as a protective slave named Rafe, Jacy begins to see life in the South with fresh eyes. To secure their wealth, Claudia tries to manipulate Jacy into marriage with a well-positioned but lecherous suitor. Claudia threatens to sell Jacy's newfound family, forcing her to make a decision that will take her on a treacherous and life-altering journey.

This giveaway is an INTERNATIONAL giveaway and it ends July 20th.

Giveaway Guidelines:

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

Bride Flight Winner Announcements!

2011-07-08T09:38:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone! I am so sorry it took me so long to announce the 3 lucky winners of the book Bride Flight by Marieke Van Der Pol. I must admit I completely forgot about it, but the good news is is that I have randomly chosen the 3 lucky winners last night! So please help me congratulate the winners!

And the winners are...

Ruth
Alexis @ Reflections of a Bookaholic
Holly (2 Kids and Tired)

Review: The Blighted Troth by Mirella Sichirollo Patzer

2011-07-07T10:37:00.000-05:00

★★★★ 1/2

Book Source: I received a copy from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Book Release Date: February 2011

Book Synopsis: A compelling story of love and treachery, faith and loss, forgiveness and triumph. In 18th century New France, a brave young woman must strive to make her own way in life and in love. In the year 1702 in New France, Emilie, a virtuous young woman is betrothed to Robert, the town's handsome miller. On the eve of her wedding, when Emilie spurns the attention of the town's wealthy seigneur, it sets off a catastrophic chain of events that turns her life, and that of her betrothed, into a desperate flight for their lives, sending them straight into the arms of peril.

Seigneur Richard de Tonnacour, the town's black-hearted and corrupt overlord, will stop at nothing to claim Emilie for himself. When his abduction attempt of Emilie goes awry, she and Robert are forced to flee their homes. Forcefully separated, the lovers each encounter new troubles including famine, a Quebec bread riot, a death sentence, and the small pox epidemic of 1703. Embroiled in a fateful chase, Emilie learns that not even the devious madness of her adversaries can destroy her love for Robert. Amid heartache and tragedy, Emilie and Robert struggle to overcome adversity until a turn of events reveals Robert's true identity. As destiny draws them back together, they learn the lessons of love, forgiveness, and family.

The Blighted Troth is a retelling of the classic novel, The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi) by Alessandro Manzoni. Inspired by this epic Italian classic novel, the author weaves an entirely new and unqiue captivating tale in a new setting, a new century, and with new plot twists.

My Review:

The Good: Mirella had a way of writing the characters in such a way that you could not help but feel compassion for them. There were so many different plots throughout the entire book, which turned it into a very intricate storyline with multiple twists and turns. I really enjoyed how she would switch point of views from every character in order for the reader to really envision how the plot truly unravels.

The Bad: It took a while for the storyline to pick up. I found the beginning pages to be very slow and difficult to get into. It almost felt like the author was trying to find her way in the beginning because the writing seemed very amateur, but right before I decided to give up on the book it picked up and it was like Mirella finally found her footing and knew exactly where she wanted the story to go.

Final thought: Overall the book was truly great! My heart went out to the two lovers. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to go through what they went through just to be married to one another. They faced one road block after another and I could not help rooting for them and hoping they would find their way back to each other’s arms. I usually hope for a reality ending and not some fairytale ending, but that was not the case this time. I wanted the fairytale ending! The Blighted Troth is the perfect title for this romantic love story. Highly recommended!

Review: The Tudor Throne by Brandy Purdy

2011-06-28T09:30:00.001-05:00

★★★★

Release Date: July 2011

Book Synopsis:

Bound by blood, torn by devotion...

In the wake of King Henry VIII's death, England's throne is left in a precarious state-as is the peculiar relationship between his two daughters. Mary, the elder, once treasured, had been declared a bastard in favor of her flame-haired half-sister, Elizabeth, born of the doomed Anne Boleyn. Yet the bond between the sisters was palpable from the start. Now reinstated, Mary eventually assumes her place as queen. But as Mary's religious zeal evolves into a reign of terror, young Elizabeth gains the people's favor. Gripped by a tormenting paranoia, Mary is soon convinced that her beloved Elizabeth is in fact her worst enemy. And the virginal Elizabeth, whose true love is her country, must defy her tyrannical sister to make way for a new era...

A brilliant portrait of the rule of "Bloody Mary" and her intricate relationship with Elizabeth I, the adored "Virgin Queen," here is a riveting tale of one family's sordid and extraordinary chapter in the pages of history.

My Review: The Tudor Throne is told in both Elizabeth’s and Mary’s point of views with interchanging chapters. The story begins on King Henry VIII’s death bed when Mary is back in favor with her father and Elizabeth is the charming flame-haired girl who is the spitting image of Henry. The story progresses as both Mary and Elizabeth travel through life and we see their once loving relationship turn cold as ice. Once Mary ascends the throne of England, she immediately imprisons her sister out of fear of Elizabeth conspiring to overthrow her.

When Elizabeth is a young girl, we witness her being taken advantage of by the Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour, who was husband to Henry VIII’s last wife and Elizabeth’s stepmother, Catherine Parr. This was probably the most difficult part of the book to get through because Thomas Seymour was a full fledged pervert! Not only did he go after Elizabeth but he went after Mary before he even considered Elizabeth.

It is obvious that Brandy Purdy did her research for this Tudor novel. I love how she interchanged both Mary’s and Elizabeth’s point of view because I enjoyed knowing what they were thinking during their times of strife and glory. This story was beautifully told and it wasn’t like all the other Tudor novels out there. It had its own unique qualities, which makes it stand out above all the rest. I highly recommend The Tudor Throne to all Tudor historical fiction lovers out there.

I received a copy of this book from the Author Brandy Purdy in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was in no way compensated for posting my review.

Giveaway Winner Announcement!

2011-06-26T20:00:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone please help me congratulate the lucky winner of Evan Ostryziuk's novel Of Faith and Fidelity! If you signed up for this giveaway and weren't chosen don't despair. There will be plenty more opportunities to win coming up in the near future!

and the winner is...

Best O' Books!

2011-06-21T09:52:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone please help me congratulate the lucky winner of J.S. Dunn's novel Bending the Boyne! If you signed up for this giveaway and weren't chosen don't despair. There are plenty more opportunities to win going on right now and more are coming up in the near future!

and the winner is...

Joni!
An email has just been sent out. Please forward me your mailing address so I
can forward it on to the publisher. Happy reading everyone!

3 Book Giveaway: Bride Flight by Marieke Van Der Pol

2011-06-18T09:27:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday morning! Today I have a special treat for you! I'm giving away three copies of Bride Flight, which has also been made into a motion picture! Below is information about both the book and the film. If this book sounds like something you would be interested in reading feel free to sign up for the giveaway by following the giveaway guidelines listed below.

Book Synopsis:

Based on a true story, this evocative period piece is filled with chance meetings, pioneering women, and sparkling romance.

It is 1953, and the last great transcontinental air race from London to Christchurch is about to begin; but even before the plane has left the runway, it has already become famous as the "bride flight." Of its 60 emigrating passengers, many are brides-to-be flying out to join their fiancés on the other side of the world. Among them are Ada, Marjorie, and Esther, each of them with their own reasons for wanting to leave behind the hardships of post-war life at home and their own pasts. During the trip they meet Frank, a charismatic bachelor, who will come to have a dramatic influence on their lives and who exerts a continued hold over each of the women as they follow their very different paths in New Zealand. It is only when they meet again, years later, at Frank's funeral, that the three women—now "brides in black"—get to hear each others stories for the first time and realize just how closely their lives have been bound together by what happened on the bride flight.

About the Film:

* * * IN THEATERS BEGINNING FRIDAY, JUNE 10TH * * *

“BRIDE FLIGHT”

Only love and regret last forever

“Fascinating, beautifully acted and magnificently photographed.” -- Rex Reed, NY Observer

BRIDE FLIGHT is a lavish romantic drama inspired by the true story of the 1953 KLM flight that won the “Last Great Air Race” from London to Christchurch. The flight was dubbed “Bride Flight” by the international press, because of its special passengers -- young women with wedding dresses in their suitcases, traveling to join their fiancés who had already emigrated to New Zealand.

Leaving behind the gloom and scarcity of post-WWII Europe, shy but sensual farm girl Ada, dogmatic Marjorie, and Jewish fashion designer Esther are filled with hope for a future of love and freedom. Each takes a very different journey in their strange new land, but together with handsome bachelor Frank, their paths continue to cross with chance meetings resulting in adultery, betrayal and near tragedy leading up to a reunion fifty years later.

Honored with Audience Awards at film festivals across the country, BRIDE FLIGHT evokes a time of slim choices and desperate optimism, with sweeping views of the New Zealand countryside, stunning period dresses, and the faint smell of Pinot Noir from the thriving vineyard Frank establishes in New Zealand. (A Music Box Films release.)

http://www.brideflightmovie.com/

http://www.facebook.com/brideflight

Directed by Ben Sombogaart. Stars Waldemar Torenstra, Karina Smulders, Anna Drijver, Elise Schaap, Rutger Hauer, Pleuni Touw.

This giveaway is open to US residents only and it's open until July 2nd.

Giveaway Guidelines:

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

Review: Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn

2011-06-17T10:24:00.000-05:00

★★★★

Book Source: I received a copy from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Release Date: April 5^th, 2011

Book Synopsis: A.D. 69. Nero is dead. The Roman Empire is up for the taking. With bloodshed spilling out of the palace and into the streets of Rome, chaos has become the status quo. The Year of Four Emperors will change everything—especially the lives of two sisters with a very personal stake in the outcome…

Elegant and ambitious, Cornelia embodies the essence of the perfect Roman wife. She lives to one day see her loyal husband as Emperor. Her sister Marcella is more withdrawn, content to witness history rather than make it. Even so, Marcella has her share of distinguished suitors, from a cutthroat contender for the throne to a politician’s son who swears that someday he will be Emperor.

But when a bloody coup turns their world upside-down, Cornelia and Marcella—along with their cousins, one a collector of husbands and lovers, the other a horse-mad beauty with no interest in romance—must maneuver carefully just to stay alive. As Cornelia tries to pick up the pieces of her shattered dreams, Marcella discovers a hidden talent for influencing the most powerful men in Rome. In the end, though, there can only be one Emperor…and one Empress.

My Review: Daughters of Rome is the second novel in Kate Quinn’s series. Not having read the first book Mistress of Rome, I was a little skeptical in reading this one first because I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to know what was going on, but I’m happy to report that that wasn’t the case. If I didn’t know that this was the second book in a series then I would have never guessed it belonged in a series at all.

Kate Quinn did an amazing job writing for all the senses. I could smell what they smelled, see and hear everything the characters were witnessing and even taste the food they were it eating! This was definitely a fast past drama, which tells the story of The Year of Four Emperor’s in Ancient Rome. The main characters of the story are four beautiful cousins known as the Cornelias. Cornelia Prima (Cornelia), Cornelia Secunda (Marcella), Cornelia Tertia (Lollia), and Cornelia Quarta (Diana).

All four women have their own unique personalities. Marcella is a manipulative woman who loves to write her own papers on Roman history despite the fact that she is a woman and not a man. Cornelia is the most grounded out of all four women. She knows what she wants she has the perfect husband who is the next potential Emperor making her the next Empress of Rome. Lollia goes through husbands just like a woman goes through handbags. Her only concern is going to all the important banquets where the Emperor is at. Then there is little Diana, probably the most beautiful out of the four cousins; however, she only has eyes for things with four legs instead of two. She is immensely obsessed with one of Rome’s favorite past times, chariot racing.

Like I mentioned before, Daughters of Rome is a fast past drama which captures the story of the year of four roman emperors and how they fell from power causing everyone’s lives to be thrown off balance. I really enjoyed this story, but I found it a little difficult to keep who’s who straight, which made things confusing at times. Kate touches on every factor during this time: politics, war, extravagant parties, greed, and love. I definitely would recommend this book to those who love ancient Rome.

If you would like to read Kate Quinn’s author guest post click here.

Guest Post: Kate Quinn author of Daughter of Rome

2011-06-16T11:56:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Hope you are all having a wonderful Thursday. Today at All Things Historical Fiction I have the honor of welcoming a very special guest. Please help me give a warm welcome to Kate Quinn the national bestselling author of Daughters of Rome and Mistress of Rome. Kate is here today to discuss something we all probably wish we had, a time machine and where she would go if she were to have one within her grasp at this very moment. Stay tuned for my review of Mistress of Rome, which I hope to post tomorrow.

The Time Machine Game

When I was little, there was one thing I always wanted in my Christmas stocking, but I never got it. “They aren't selling time machines at Toys R' Us this year,” my mom told me. Somehow, they never were. But I never stopped wishing I had a magic wand, a magic spell, a magic machine that could fax me back to the past. I've been fascinated by history all my life, and that fascination has become full-blown obsession now that I'm a historical fiction novelist. I still have the time machine fantasy every time I pick up a great new historical fiction novel that gets me interested in some new era. My current top 5 travel destinations . . .

Rome under the Borgias, as seen in Sarah Poole's The Borgia Betrayal, Jean Plaidy's Madonna of the Seven Hills, and Showtime's new series The Borgias. I want to walk those twisty bloodstained streets in a fabulous velvet gown, join a riot at the latest papal election, buy myself a hollow ring with a poison pellet, and flirt with Cesare Borgia to see if he really is as sexy as pretty much all novelists seem to portray him.
Elizabethan England. My favorite era as a kid, when I couldn't sit down on the steps in elementary school without pretending I was Elizabeth I refusing to enter the Tower of London. I want to spend a week as one of Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting, swishing around behind her in emerald green satin, watching to see how the real queen stacks up against all her fictional portrayals by Margaret George, Philippa Gregory, C.W. Gortner, Fiona Buckley, and countless others. And I may take the opportunity, during my week in Elizabeth's employ, to slap that sly Lettice Knollys in the face for daring to steal Robert Dudley away from my queen.
Ancient Egypt, which I regularly visit in the novels of Michelle Moran, Margaret George, and Pauline Gedge. I plan to ride a barge down the Nile, watch the great pyramids being built, and maybe adopt one of those sacred cats with gold hoop earrings. And let's settle this question once and for all: did the real Cleopatra look anything like Elizabeth Taylor?
Gilded Age New York. I'd like to be one of those American heiresses I was always sighing over in Edith Wharton novels, heading off to Europe in an ocean liner with ninety new dresses by Worth, intent on bagging myself an English lord. If I can marry a duke like Nan St. George did in The Buccaneers, I may just take a look around my Cornish castle and my coronetted stationery marked “Katharine, Duchess of Tintagel,” and decide not to come home.
And finally – ancient Rome. I write about ancient Rome, so it should be no surprise I'd like to go there. Specifically, I'd like to visit the Year of the Four Emperors, which provides the setting for my most recent book Daughters of Rome. It was a turbulent time, emperors falling to the side like ninepins as one usurper after another went after each other with private armies – but it certainly wasn't dull. And I'll risk all the danger just to see if I got it right in my book. Was Emperor Galba really such a sour old crank as I ended up depicting him? Was Emperor Otho really such a metrosexual-party-boy-opposite to his predecessor? Was Emperor Vitellius really a bulimic over-eater who used a vomitorium in between dinner courses? Was Emperor Vespasian's son really a psychotic little creep? Daughters of Rome contains all my best guesses on those questions. But I'll never know for sure, unless Toys R' Us starts selling time machines.

How about you, readers – what's the historical era that makes you wish for a time machine?

Author Bio:

Kate Quinn is a native of southern California. She attended Boston University, where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. A lifelong history buff, she first got hooked on ancient Rome while watching I, Claudius at the age of seven. Still in elementary school when she saw the movie Spartacus, she resolved to someday write a book about a gladiator. That ambition turned into Mistress of Rome, written when she was a freshman in college.

“I was alone in a brand-new city – I knew no one and nothing about Boston, so I escaped into ancient Rome instead. I didn’t even have a computer, but I didn’t let that stop me.” Mistress of Rome was completed in four months, written in six-hour stretches in the Boston University basement computer lab while listening to the Gladiator soundtrack on repeat. It has now been translated into multiple languages and has been followed by a prequel, Daughters of Rome.

Kate is currently working on her third novel, set during the reign of Emperor Trajan. She also has succumbed to the blogging bug, and keeps a blog filled with trivia, pet peeves, and interesting facts about historical fiction. She and her husband live in California, and her interests include opera, action movies, cooking, and the Boston Red Sox.

Mistress of Rome Synopsis:

A.D. 69. Nero is dead. The Roman Empire is up for the taking. With bloodshed spilling out of the palace and into the streets of Rome, chaos has become the status quo. The Year of Four Emperors will change everything—especially the lives of two sisters with a very personal stake in the outcome…

Elegant and ambitious, Cornelia embodies the essence of the perfect Roman wife. She lives to one day see her loyal husband as Emperor. Her sister Marcella is more withdrawn, content to witness history rather than make it. Even so, Marcella has her share of distinguished suitors, from a cutthroat contender for the throne to a politician’s son who swears that someday he will be Emperor.

But when a bloody coup turns their world upside-down, Cornelia and Marcella—along with their cousins, one a collector of husbands and lovers, the other a horse-mad beauty with no interest in romance—must maneuver carefully just to stay alive. As Cornelia tries to pick up the pieces of her shattered dreams, Marcella discovers a hidden talent for influencing the most powerful men in Rome. In the end, though, there can only be one Emperor…and one Empress.

Guest Post: Douglas W. Jacobson discusses the Unlikely Heroes of WWII

2011-06-14T10:06:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. Today I have a special guest, author Douglas W. Jacobson, here to discuss the unlikely heroes of World War Two and he is also here to discuss his latest novel The Katyn Hero.

UNLIKELY HEROES

World War Two – 70 Years Ago

American airman, George Watt, was a gunner aboard a B-17 flying a mission from England to the Ruhr valley in Germany on November 5, 1943, when his plane was shot down near the Belgian village of Zele. He parachuted to earth and landed in an open field, drawing the immediate attention of local Nazi authorities. While Watt hid in a ditch the local townspeople distracted the authorities pointing off in the wrong direction. Before long, one of the locals approached him and led him to a rural homestead where he was given civilian clothing and warm food. A few days later Watt was taken to Brussels where he was interviewed to make certain he wasn’t a spy and was soon off to Paris and on to safety in Spain. Watt didn’t know it at the time but he had been aboard the “Comet Line”.

The Comet Line was Europe’s largest and most successful underground escape line during World War Two. Established in 1941 by 24 year old Andree de Jongh and her schoolmaster father, the Comet Line transported more than a thousand Allied aviators and other soldiers to safety during the course of Nazi occupation. Andree escorted over one hundred of these soldiers to safety herself, following the secret, intricate route from Holland and Belgium, through occupied France, then overland on foot over the Pyrenees Mountains to Spain.

Traveling by trains, bicycles, horse-drawn carts and on foot, with falsified documents and borrowed clothing, Allied soldiers would be passed from one set of Comet Line operatives to another in the perilous route to freedom. The dangers were equally acute to the operatives themselves as capture by the SS or Gestapo meant imprisonment, torture and, in most cases, death. Indeed, the danger was so real that by the end of the war almost one Comet Line operative was captured and executed for every Allied soldier rescued. Yet hundreds of common people, farmers, merchants, housewives, young and old, put themselves at risk to aid the war effort by bringing these young soldiers to safety.

They say that every good novel must come from the heart, an inspiration that captivates the soul and drives the author to tell the story. Such was my inspiration in writing THE KATYN ORDER. I have been reading about and studying World war two for most of my adult life. When I encountered the story about the Comet Line, I was captivated, inspired and compelled to pay tribute to this very real story of human courage, a story of Unlikely Heroes.

But the real beginning of THE KATYN ORDER goes back a few more years. In 1993, my daughter married a young man from Belgium and moved to Europe, setting our family on a course that has forever changed our lives. Over time, while traveling to Europe two or three times a year, we became very close friends with my son-in-law’s parents. They are wonderful, caring people who are several years older than we are. They were young children during the German occupation of Belgium—young, but old enough to remember. They didn’t talk about it at first, in fact they still don’t, its over, it happened a long time ago, and they survived. End of story. But gradually, as they realized I really wanted to know, they began to tell me the stories. They told me about living in the cellar while their city was being bombed, about not having anything to eat for months on end and German snipers shooting at them while they scavenged in the streets for food, about my son-in-law’s grandfather being dragged away from the family home by the Gestapo in 1941. . . then returning five years later when he walked home from Germany.

Like the stories of the Comet Line, the experiences of my Belgian in-laws inspired me. It made it real. And I spent the next five years writing THE KATYN ORDER.

About the Author

Douglas W. Jacobson is an engineer, business owner and World War Two history enthusiast. Doug has traveled extensively in Europe researching stories of the courage of common people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. His debut novel, Night of Flames: A Novel of World War Two was published in 2007 by McBooks Press, and was released in paperback in 2008. Night of Flames won the “2007 Outstanding Achievement Award” from the Wisconsin Library association. Doug writes a monthly column on Poland’s contribution during WW2, has published articles on Belgium’s WW2 escape organization, the Comet Line and other European resistance organizations. Doug’s second historical novel, The Katyn Order, which will be released in May, 2011, focuses on one of history’s most notorious war crimes, the Katyn massacre.
You can visit his website at www.douglaswjacobson.com.

Guest Post + Giveaway: Evan Ostryzniuk author of Faith & Fidelity

2011-06-09T09:33:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone! Today I have a special guest Evan Ostryzniuk the author of Of Faith and Fidelity and he is here today to talk to us about writing historical novels when there's major gaps in the historical records. At the end of his post you will have a chance to win a copy of his book and it's open to both the US and Canada.

Dealing with Gaps in the Historical Record
By Evan Ostryzniuk

The portrayal of real-life events and people in historical fiction is a very delicate thing because the author not only has to give an honest account of times past, but also convincingly integrate those events and people into the imagined narrative and make them entertaining. This is all very well when the historical record is overflowing with facts and figures, diaries and documents, which the author can rely on and draw from to populate the plot, create a historical context or support personal motivations. However, what is the author to do when the historical record is fragmentary, or when the witnesses to the age are unreliable? Locating reliable sources is a major problem when considering the Middle Ages because those centuries are so less well documented that those that came before or after them. This was the problem I faced when researching for the English Free Company series and especially when I was writing Of Faith and Fidelity: Geoffrey Hotspur and the War for St. Peter’s Throne.

Near the beginning of my novel, Pope Boniface instructs his brother, who is running the papal campaign in the Patrimony of St. Peter, not to be haughty when negotiating with the lords and captains under his command – witnesses attest that he murdered an especially popular one in 1392! There is no surviving record of such a conversation ever taking place; however, the composite historical record does suggest that a shift in strategy occurred between the papal campaigns of 1392 and 1394, and that the family of Boniface was close, so they would have talked on a regular basis. They might have written letters to one another, of course, but it was a far more interesting narrative decision to have a face-to-face confrontation between the brothers. That way, not only was I able to dramatize the tension of this particular issue, I was also able to use the personal interaction as means to further reveal their respective characters.

People did not spend a whole lot of time talking about themselves in the Middle Ages. Therefore, in order to understand the impact of the Western Schism on individuals I was obliged to study the place of the Church in medieval society as a whole and heavily rely on secondary sources that speculated on the popular view. What is clear is that many decisions were motivated by fears about personal salvation, which was facilitated by the priests ordained by the Church, whose senior officer was the pope. When two popes were elected in 1378, each by a qualified conclave, I had to assume that most believers would be worried about whether their priest would be excommunicated for backing the wrong side, especially since I found precious few contemporary accounts about such worries. I had to make similar assumptions about those who were directly involved in the schism war. While all of the captains hired by one pope to make war on the other pope were believers, judging by their actions, which included switching sides for lack of payment and seizing papal cities without permission, I had to assume that their views of the Church and its leader was complex. Of course, they could also have been just amoral bandits with a badge. Nonetheless, once I put all the disparate pieces of evidence together, it became clear that the picture was far more muddled than I had expected.

In my novel I wanted to represent the times not only as they were, but also as they were perceived by contemporaries. This might sound contradictory or unnecessarily involved, but I want my readers to be able to identify or sympathize with some of the archetypical men and women of the Middle Ages, even if only to treat them as signposts for understanding the historical context. To this end I decided to rely on a respected literary source, and for the 14^th century the logical choice was Canterbury Tales. Chaucer might have been poking fun at his own times, building up and then tearing down popular stereotypes, like the knight or the pardoner, but I have to be convinced that he infused his creations with traits that were representative of the social body. The literary lineage of Geoffrey Hotspur can be traced to Chaucer’s knight and squire, from their affectations and attitudes to their core beliefs.

Closing the gaps in historical knowledge requires marrying assumptions, whether projecting intentions based on subsequent events or actions derived from related episodes and the chronicling tradition. For example, we have the lists of captains and number of men they commanded for the respective hosts in Of Faith and Fidelity, where they campaigned and how much they were paid. However, in the absence of surviving documentary evidence of what arms and armor they carried, for example, or how the captains treated one another, I had to rely on sources that described similar contemporary events elsewhere, piece together biographies of the captains from assorted references and even draw on literary sources overgrown with bias. The same goes for battles. Field commanders in the Middle Ages were innovative only when they had to be, so examples of successful stratagems and tactics from campaigns past dominated strategic planning, and this predictability gave me license to transpose those same stratagems and tactics into portrayals of less recorded engagements.

Another means of filling the gaps in the historical record is introducing your own characters into it. If it was good enough for Shakespeare… As in the process of creating convincing fictional individuals, the characters have to bear some of the traits that the author has to judge were typical for the age. This much is obvious, but part of the trick is integrating these fictional characters with the genuine ones in order to advance the plot, expose a prejudice or reveal an intention that affected the true historical events considered in the novel. Geoffrey Hotspur is a man of his times, but he is also exceptional. He might be just a squire of the Duke of Lancaster, Sir John of Gaunt, in my novel, but his grace did have a stable of squires dispersed around his many lands in England in France, some of whom became knights and fought in the great conflicts of the age.

Biography of Author Evan Ostryzniuk

Evan Ostryzniuk was born and raised on the prairies of western Canada, where he also attended the University of Saskatchewan. After graduating with a B.A. in History and Modern Languages and an M.A. in Modern History, Evan crossed the ocean to do post-graduate work at the University of Cambridge, concluding five years of research with a doctoral thesis on the Russian Revolution. He eventually found his way to eastern Europe, where he took up positions as a magazine editor, university lecturer and analyst in the financial services sector before finally settling on writing as a career. Evan Ostryzniuk currently resides in Kyiv, Ukraine. Of Faith and Fidelity: Geoffrey Hotspur and the War for St. Peter’s Throne is his first novel. It will be published on June 9, 2011 by Knox Robinson Publishing.

Of Faith and Fidelity: Geoffrey Hotspur and the War for St. Peter’s Throne is the first book in the English Free Company series set in the late Middle Ages. The English Free Company is led by Geoffrey Hotspur, an orphan-squire and ward of the mighty Duke of Lancaster, whose driving ambition is to become a knight and serve a great lord. Of Faith and Fidelity takes place in 1394, at the height of the schism of the Western Church when the throne of St. Peter was contested by rival claimants in Rome and Avignon. Unable to settle the dispute peacefully, both sides resorted to war, and the key to winning the throne of St. Peter was control of the Patrimony, a band of territory stretching the breadth of Italy that owes fealty to whichever pope who can rule it. Before Henry V won his miraculous victory at Agincourt, before the Borgias had done their infamous deeds, there was Geoffrey Hotspur, a man as tall as Charlemagne and armed with a sword that rivals Excalibur. Thrown off the established path to knighthood, the ambitious and hot-tempered Geoffrey finds himself caught up in the war between the two popes, where he must adapt his beliefs and apply his training as a squire in order to survive.

Book Synopsis:

Of Faith and Fidelity: Geoffrey Hotspur and the War for St. Peter’s Throne takes place in 1394, at the height of the schism of the Western Church when the throne of St. Peter was contested by rival claimants in Rome and Avignon. For nearly sixteen years the papacy was been divided between claimants in Rome and Avignon. Unable to settle the dispute peacefully, both sides resorted to war. The key to winning the throne of St. Peter was always control of the Patrimony, a band of territory stretching the breadth of Italy that owes fealty to whichever pope who can rule it. From Scandinavia to Sicily, there is great anticipation that the campaign of 1394 will culminate in a battle that will secure the Patrimony of St. Peter for one man.

Before Henry V won his miraculous victory at Agincourt, before the Borgias had done their infamous deeds, there was Geoffrey Hotspur, a man as tall as Charlemagne and armed with a sword that rivals Excalibur. Thrown off the established path to knighthood, the ambitious and hot-tempered Geoffrey finds himself caught up in the war between the two popes, where he must adapt his beliefs and apply his training as a squire in order to survive. To this end, Geoffrey founds the English Free Company and fights in the battles between the armies of the two popes. With little money, fewer friends and no name, yet with his faith in chivalry firmly set, Geoffrey Hotspur possesses the confidence that what he does is right for him and for those he had sworn to serve.

Helping and hindering Geoffrey Hotspur in equal measure in his quest for knighthood is a gallery of characters with their own agendas, from professional debt collector Jean Lagoustine, to the Chancellor of Florence Coluccio Salutati, to a mysterious astrologer named Catherine, who seems to have a suspiciously impressive set of connections in the world of Italian politics.

A thrilling start to the story of Geoffrey Hotspur and his English Free Company, Of Faith and Fidelity is at heart a squire’s tale of hope, adventure and ambition during a time of great uncertainty.

Giveaway Details: This giveaway is open to both the US and Canadian residents. It ends June 23rd. Please follow the list of guidelines in order to sign up for this amazing giveaway!

Giveaway Guidelines:

-Please leave a comment below stating what you enjoyed most about Evan's guest post.

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entry for being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

Giveaway Winner Announcement: Queen By Right

2011-06-08T15:10:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone sorry it took so long for me to post the name of the winner of Anne Easter Smith's novel Queen By Right. It's been a hectic week! I just randomly picked the winner through random.org

and the winner is...

Cynthia @ cyn209

If you signed up for this giveaway and weren't chosen don't despair. There are plenty more opportunities to win going on right now and more are coming up in the near future. Right now I'm giving away a copy of Bending the Boyne by J.S. Dunn which won the 2011 Historical Fiction Next Generation Indie Book Award.

Also, I'm giving away a copy of In Byron's Shadow by Ashley Barnard, which I have high expectations for!

Guest Post + Giveaway: Bending the Boyne by J.S. Dunn

2011-06-06T07:37:00.001-05:00

Today I have the pleasure of having J. S. Dunn here at ATHF to discuss his latest novel Bending the Boyne, which won first place in the historical fiction, 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The author is graciously offering up a copy of Bending the Boyne to one lucky winner at the end of this post.

...And now for something completely different
By J. S. Dunn

Anyone familiar with old Monty Python episodes will recognize the phrase above, and it applies to the novel you’ll hear about in this guest post. Bending The Boyne, set in ancient Eire at 2200 BCE, is in the vein of Jean Auel’s series. This work has no druid/esses, no time travel, no fluffy royals. What could possibly inspire a first-time author to spend ten years researching and writing such a work? The answer lies in western Europe’s oldest mythology and largest concentration of prehistoric rock art.

The Boyne mounds, older than the pyramids and Stonehenge, fell out of use around the end of the third millennium BCE as did megaliths along much of the north Atlantic coasts, from the Pyrenees to Brittany and into the Isles. This had nothing to do with “Celts” as that culture didn’t appear for over a thousand years in the Isles. But 21^st century archaeology reveals a compelling story of change. This is the first novel of Bronze Age Ireland to explore what may have happened. The passage mounds and their carved rocks are now acknowledged to be intricately engineered observatories for movements of sun, moon, and constellations. The challenge was, what character should center the story of the great Boyne passage mounds and how they came to be abandoned?

Boann, a figure now described as a goddess to fit modern concepts, is associated with the river Boyne and with the white river in the sky, the Milky Way. She appears briefly in the earliest myths and then she literally disappears. Her life is sketchily set forth in fragments. She is said to have a number of husbands, and a little dog named Dabilla. Her son Aengus is strongly associated with the passage mound now called Newgrange, but in a prehistoric version of Who’s Your Daddy? The myths are not clear on just who is his father. It is clear that Boann is the mother of Aengus. In this novel she is also an apprentice learning her people’s astronomy.

Boann’s impassioned struggle to hold on to her people’s astronomy and their values forms the central conflict in Bending The Boyne, when marauders seeking gold reach the Boyne to plunder it. She faces the choice of duty as against personal desires. Boann’s lover Cian, another sketchy figure from the earliest mythology, is banished overseas. From there he figures out how to help Boann and his people survive the incoming warriors in a profound way.

The discord surrounding Aengus’ paternity haunts him into adulthood and leads to the shocking result when Aengus finally confronts Elcmar, the invader who married Boann for his own purposes.

Aengus knows that “all of time is made up of night and day.” He intends to hold onto the Boyne forever, newcomers or not. Truth is stranger than fiction. To our era, the great passage inside Newgrange, over 60 feet in length, still welcomes the rays of winter solstice sunrise after more than 4,000 years. So it is that Aengus, the young son of Boann, returns at solstice to shine upon Eire. The Boyne complex in Ireland is now a UN World Heritage site that has tens of thousands of visitors annually. Perhaps the builders knew this structure could last forever.

The huge mounds faded from the myths and were later described as elfmounds, dismissed in later centuries by those who had ample reason to act as spin doctors. The gold hidden in those mounds is not metal, it is the myths themselves and the rich heritage of Irish literature inspired by Boann and Aengus from the likes of Yeats, Synge, Joyce, Flann O’Brien, and others. The astute reader will catch echoes of these in Bending The Boyne. In addition to deconstructing the myth of Boann and her son Aengus, this novel is studded with modern celebrities, glimpses of Van Morrison, Gerry Adams, and others. The subtext is a mirror held up to notions of myth and celebrity, to beliefs and how they arise.

This novel can be read as “archaeofiction”, a tale of a largely forgotten culture. It can also be read as political allegory, the origin of Troubles once boatloads of invaders could reach the fair isle of Eire. For readers familiar with the Irish/Welsh mythology, it brings those gods and goddesses—more human than the ephemeral Greco-Roman deities—to life, and with a wry humor. Where else could one find a healer whose name means pain, and a brawny hero who is either seasick or suffering from allergies?

One last thing, about the precise location of gold in Ireland: that is still a secret.

[BIO info follows below]

Bending The Boyne received first place, historical fiction, 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

The author resided in Ireland during the past decade to research Bending The Boyne. J.S. Dunn can be found on: www.jsdunnbooks.com or www.seriouslygoodbooks.net . The author has a second novel underway, set later in the Atlantic Bronze Age during another period of great change.

Book Synopsis:

Circa 2200 BCE: Changes rocking the Continent reach Eire with the dawning Bronze Age. Well before any Celts, marauders invade the island seeking copper and gold. The young astronomer Boann and the enigmatic Cian need all their wits and courage to save their people and their great Boyne mounds, when long bronze knives challenge the peaceful native starwatchers. Banished to far coasts, Cian discovers how to outwit the invaders at their own game. Tensions on Eire between new and old cultures and between Boann, Elcmar, and her son Aengus, ultimately explode. What emerges from the rubble of battle are the legends of Ireland’s beginnings in a totally new light.

Larger than myth, this tale echoes with medieval texts, and cult heroes modern and ancient. As ever, the victors will spin the myths.

This story appeals to fans of solid historical fiction, myth and fantasy, archaeo-astronomy, and Bronze Age Europe.

On to the Giveaway:
This giveaway is open to US residents only and it ends June 20th. Please follow the guidelines listed below to enter.

-Please leave a comment below stating what you enjoyed most about J.S. Dunn's guest post.

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entryfor being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog leave a link in the comment section somewhere to count please.

Lucky Finds in Gardner's Used Books!

2011-06-01T17:51:00.000-05:00

So every year the dreaded tax season roll's around and unlike most people I actually really look forward to tax season and here's why! The man who does my entire family's taxes owns his own used book store called Gardner's, which is your usual hole in the wall used book store. So every time you get your taxes done he gives you a 20 dollar gift certificate for his store! It's not the nicest joint in town, but if you can get past the dust and cramped spaces then it's a gold mine when it comes to finding some amazing used books! Today I scored 5 books for only 30 bucks!

I wish you could see how vibrant the book cover is. This photo doesn't do it justice! I found this book in mint condition, which really makes the find more worthwhile!

Publishing date: 1992

Book Synopsis:

In the 1490s, as the ruling families of Italy engage in a deadly rivalry, two charismatic young women seek to control their destinies and, in the process, shape the course of history. Cousins by birth and married, respectively, to the debauched Duke of Milan and his visionary regent, Lodovico Sforza, Isabella of Aragon and Beatrice d'Este are women of great beauty, limitless ambition, and with the sort of amoral cunning necessary simply to survive in the age of Machiavelli.

Michael Ennis's sweeping and unfailingly intelligent novel depicts the struggle of these two women to find love within and outside of marriages that are regarded merely as strategic alliances, and, ultimately, to endure the catastrophic consequences of following their own hearts. The narrative re-creates the courts of Renaissance Milan, Naples, and Venice with breathtaking authenticity: their public magnificence and appalling private scandals; the ceaseless maneuvering of rapacious noblemen and corrupt clergy; the intrigues in which sex and poison are interchangeable weapons. Meticulously researched with a scrupulous regard for accuracy and detail, Duchess of Milan is both a riveting political thriller and a poignant historical romance that reveals how great events are determined by private passions.

I was just about to check out when I saw this book sitting on the shelf and I just had to have it. It's a non-fiction book over the life of Joan of Arc and it has been translated into English.

Publishing Date: 1998

Book Synopsis:

In an exquisite English translation from the bestselling French edition, Joan of Arc: Her Story now appears for American readers. From the French peasant girl who led an army to the icon burned at the stake, Joan has been a blank slate on which thousands have written. Pernoud and Clin clear away the myths so that modern readers can see Joan as she was and include a glossary of important individuals, historical events and interpretations of Joan through the ages. Joan of Arc: Her Story is the thrilling life of a woman who obsesses us even to this day.

This book is probably in the worst condition out of all the books I snatched up, but it wasn't too bad. The cover is just slightly bent and you can tell it's been read one or two times. I had to get this book since it's about Marie Antoinette one of my favorite historical women. I've never heard of the author but I can't wait to dive right in!

Publishing Date: 2003

Book Synopsis:

Paris, 1793, the onset of the Terror. Brave Republican Maurice rescues a mys-terious and beautiful woman from an angry mob and is unknowingly drawn into a secret Royalist plot—a plot revolving around the imprisoned Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, and her enigmatic and fearless champion, the Knight of Maison-Rouge. Full of surprising twists, breakneck adventure, conspiracies, swordplay, romance, and heroism, The Knight of Maison-Rouge is an exhilarating tale of selflessness, love, and honor under the shadow of the guillotine. Dumas here is at the very height of his powers, and with this first and only modern translation, readers can once again ride with the Knight of Maison-Rouge.

This book was highly recommended to me and when I found it I was so happy because I completely forgot about this book until it popped out at me on the shelf.

Publishing Date: 2002

Book Synopsis:

Faber's bawdy, brilliant third novel tells an intricate tale of love and ambition and paints a new portrait of Victorian England and its citizens in prose crackling with insight and bravado. Using the wealthy Rackham clan as a focal point for his sprawling, gorgeous epic, Faber, like Dickens or Hardy, explores an era's secrets and social hypocrisy. William Rackham is a restless, rebellious spirit, mistrustful of convention and the demands of his father's perfume business. While spying on his sickly wife's maid, whom he suspects of thievery, he begins a slow slide into depravity: he meets Sugar, a whore whose penetrating mind and love of books intrigues him as much as her beauty and carnal skills do. Faber (Under the Skin) also weaves in the stories of Agnes, William's delicate, mad and manipulative wife, and Henry, his pious, morally conflicted brother, both of whom seek escape from their private prisons through fantasies and small deceptions. Sin and vice both attract and repel the brothers: William, who becomes obsessed with Sugar, rescues her from her old life, while Henry, paralyzed by his love for Emmeline Fox, a comely widow working to rescue the city's prostitutes, slowly unravels. Faber's central characters, especially the troubled William and the ambitious Sugar, shine with life, and the author is no less gifted in capturing the essence of his many minor characters-the evil madam, Mrs. Castaway, and William's pompous father-in-law, Lord Unwin. The superb plot draws on a wealth of research and briskly moves through the lives of each character-whether major or minor, upstairs or downstairs-gathering force until the fates of all are revealed. A marvelous story of erotic love, sin, familial conflicts and class prejudice, this is a deeply entertaining masterwork that will hold readers captive until the final page.

This was the last book I snatched up. I saw it right after I picked up the Joan of Ark in Her Story novel and it caught my eye due to the golden pages, which gives it an antique look that I love.

Publication Date: 1999

Book Synopsis:

In a series of diary entries, Princess Elizabeth, the eleven-year-old daughter of King Henry VIII, celebrates holidays and birthdays, relives her mother's execution, revels in her studies, and agonizes over her father's health.

I love finding amazing cheap books! If you've read any of this I would love to know what you thought of them. Maybe the will move of on my TBR pile.

Guest Post + Giveaway: A Tale of a Portrait by Ashley J. Barnard

2011-05-30T10:12:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, today I have a special guest post by Ashley J. Barnard, who is the author of Shadow Fox and Fox Rising. Ashley is here today in order to promote her first historical fiction novel In Byron's Shadow, which is a Victorian Romance. At the end of this post you will have an opportunity to win a copy of In Byron's Shadow and this giveaway is open worldwide!

A Tale of a Portrait

by Ashley J. Barnard

Hi. My name is Ashley, and I have an unhealthy obsession with Lord Byron. Yeah, I know he’s been dead for almost 200 years, and it sounds a little creepy. But a girl should have a hobby, right?

Byron and I were introduced about ten years ago, when I was cast in a Tom Stoppard play called Arcadia. My character was a thirteen-year-old in love with the poet, and though I had heard of him, I didn’t really know him yet. There were enough tantalizing tidbits in the play to get me interested, and when I started doing a little research, I was done for. After all, the man was beautiful, a poet, and very, very wicked. What’s not to love?

Soon I was reading biographies and collections of his letters, just for “fun.” He temporarily derailed my fantasy-novel aspirations; I took about a five-year break from fantasy to write three novels that featured Byron. You would think they all would have been historical fiction, but only one of them was; the other two were science fiction and contemporary. And the historical-fiction novel came as a complete surprise: I only wanted to read more of his letters, and instead ended up writing a novel, more or less, about his portrait, and his daughter Ada.

Reading 19th-century letters may sound boring to some, but Byron’s were incredibly witty, eloquent and charming, with his acerbic commentaries on society. I especially enjoyed reading his letters to and from his wife Annabella, knowing that while they called each other cute names like “Duck,” they were secretly loathing each other, and Annabella was plotting his downfall almost from the beginning of their marriage. Anyway, a few years ago I was at the library in the biography section, looking for another volume of letters to read, when I spotted something new: The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron’s Daughter by Benjamin Woolley. I knew about Ada, of course, but only as Byron and Annabella’s only child. I didn’t know that she was important enough, in and of herself, to warrant her own thick biography. I read the introduction, and I was hooked. Forgetting about the collection of letters, I checked out Ada’s biography instead, and by the time I got home, I had the makings of a new novel.

The introduction of Bride of Science reads almost like a thriller. Ada Byron, on her twentieth birthday, is given a sealed casement. Present is Dr. King, the former manager of a lunatic asylum, to ensure that Ada, upon opening the casement, does not give way to violent hysterics. Ada knows what she’s about to open; she passed by it hundreds of times in her youth, but she’s never actually seen it. Her grandparents, at Annabella’s command, kept a thick velvet curtain drawn over it at all times, so that Ada might never catch a glimpse of her father’s face. Annabella fervently believed that if Ada even saw what Byron looked like, the poisonous blood of poetry that ran in her veins would be activated, and she would fall victim to lewdness, madness and debauchery, like her father.

The portrait in question is probably the most famous portrait of Byron in which he is featured in Albanian dress. It’s a stunning portrait done by Thomas Phillips in 1814, which has a turbaned, mustached Byron dressed in extravagant silks with a ceremonial sword. When Ada opened the casement, she was visibly unaffected, but a few years later she did report being at war with her feelings. Annabella had steered her toward math and science, but her father’s poetry awakened her passion.

I devoured the biography, and discovered another interesting tidbit. When Ada was eighteen, she attempted to elope with her shorthand tutor. While Woolley maintained that the tutor’s identity is officially unknown, it is believed that he was William Turner, the brother of Edward Turner who was a chemistry professor at Cambridge. But because next to nothing is known about this man, he leaves much to the imagination. And that, coupled with the amazing story of the portrait, became the foundation for my novel, In Byron’s Shadow.

Nicholas Price is a young, aspiring poet obsessed with Lord Byron. He is heir to his father’s title and estate, and when he meets Ada Byron on his twenty-first birthday, he is determined to marry her, whatever the cost. But because her mother disapproves of his devotion to Byron, he disguises himself as a shorthand tutor named William Turner. And while we all know that their intended elopement doesn’t work out, this is where In Byron’s Shadow really begins, and the portrait of Byron plays an integral part.

During and after the writing of this novel, I fantasized about having that portrait on the cover. It truly is stunning, and because it is an important plot point, I knew it would be perfect. When the book was finished and ready to go, I went about finding the rights to the portrait. It turns out the Government Art Collection in London owns the portrait, and they were kind enough to grant me a license for the image. Then my good friend, writer and graphic artist T.K. Toppin, whipped up a lovely design to integrate with it. I’m thrilled to have this as my cover, because as you read about this famous portrait, you’ll be able to see exactly what I’m talking about.

If you’re interested in Ada Byron, I highly encourage the biography by Benjamin Woolley. Ada truly does have a claim to fame entirely separate from being Byron’s daughter; she’s credited with being one of the first “computer programmers” because of her work with Charles Babbage and his Analytical Machine. And nothing passes the time like a good Byron biography; my favorite is Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame by Benita Eisler.

Thanks for listening. I’m really happy to be here at Romantic Poets Anonymous, and I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.

* * *

Ashley is the author of the award-winning Shadow Fox series (Champagne Books) and three published stage adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels (Dramatic Play Publishing). For ten years she and her husband James ran Actors’ Renaissance Theatre, a Shakespearean theater company with whom she acted in several productions. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with James and their eight-year-old daughter Alexandria. In Byron’s Shadow is her newest release, and is available on Amazon.com. Visit her website at www.ashleyjbarnard.com.

Book Synopsis:

At the age of twenty-one, Nicholas Price has the world at his feet. He has just graduated from Oxford, he is heir to his father's title and fortune, and he is about to meet Ada Byron, the daughter of his idol Lord Byron. His life falls apart, however, when an attempted elopement with Ada ends in disaster, resulting in his disinheritance. Destitute, he takes up residency in his mother's country estate, which is on the brink of ruin.

Ten years later, now a cynical misanthrope, Nicholas receives a visit from Catherine O'Reilly. Catherine once assisted Nicholas in obtaining access to Ada, and as she has also been cast out by her father, she has come to Nicholas for shelter. Catherine has been raped and is pregnant, but refuses to name her rapist. Nicholas agrees to take her on as a maid, but focuses all of his attention on winning Ada back. It is his eccentric brother James who can see through the submissive servant to the fiery, passionate woman within.

When more encounters with Ada end badly, it is Catherine who opens Nicholas's eyes to see how far he has taken his obsession with Byron. It is also she who helps him nurture his poetry, and to see the blessings around him in spite of his financial ruin. Soon Nicholas cannot resist falling into a love triangle involving Catherine and James, all of them unaware that the secret Catherine is harboring is about to shatter the fragile world Nicholas has managed to forge.

On to the Giveaway:

Ashley has graciously offered up a Kindle version or a Pdf. version of In Byron's Shadow. The lucky winner will be able to choose which of the two version they would like to receive. This giveaway is open Internationally and it ends June 13th. To sign up for this giveaway please follow the guidelines listed below.

Giveaway Guidelines:

-Please leave a comment below stating what you enjoyed most about Ashley's guest post.

-You must be a Follower of this blog through the GFC follower in order to be entered into this giveaway.

-Please leave your name and email address in order for me to contact you if you are the winner. If an email is not listed then unfortunately you will not be entered.

+1 extra entryfor being a new follower of this blog.

+1 extra entry each time you post this giveaway on twitter, facebook and/or on your blog somewhere. To count please leave a link in the comment section.

My Interview with James Smith @ The Book Base

2011-05-29T08:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being interviewed by James Smith @ the Book Base about being a book blogger and I thought I would share it with you so maybe you can get to know the girl behind the reviews a little better. Enjoy!

Book Blogger Q&A: All Things Historical Fiction

Written on May 29, 2011 by James in Book Blogger Q&A

The thirteenth post in our Book Blogger Q&A series features Taylor from All Things Historical Fiction.
Here are my repsonses:
How long have you been a blogger?
I still consider myself new to the blogging scene since I’ve only been blogging since August of 2010, but I’ve been blogging hard ever since and I really enjoy it. I find blogging to be a very relaxing past time, which allows me to take my head out my textbooks and into something I’m really passionate about.

Approximately, how many books do you read every year?

Well right now I’m working on my bachelors degree in nursing and I consider myself a slow reader so I only average about 50 books a year. I would love to be one of those people who can read 150 to 200 books a year, but no matter how much time I have on my hands I don’t expect to ever be able to read that many.

What were your favourite books as a child?

When I was younger I was so obsessed with horses and horse racing and so my best friend and I were addicted to the Thoroughbred series. We couldn’t get enough of those books and to this day I still have all of the books. I believe there is a total of 76 books in the series. I was also addicted to the Harry Potter books and anxiously awaited the next book to hit the shelves!

What are you reading at the moment?

Right now I’m just finishing up Anne Easter Smith’s latest novel Queen by Right.

If you had to pick one, what’s the best book you’ve read in the last twelve months?

Oh wow! I don’t know if I could only pick one, but I will try to narrow it down to four. I really loved Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Nefertiti by Michelle Moran, and The Courts of Love by Jean Plaidy.

Who are your three favourite authors?

Oh goodness. Another difficult question. I would have to say Jean Plaidy, Margaret George and Sara Gruen. I would buy any book written by these three authors so that’s how I know they are my favorite authors at the moment. This is always subject to change, because I’m constantly discovering new authors.

Which book has had the greatest impact on your life?

Philippa Gregory’s book The Other Boleyn Girl has probably impacted my life the most because it’s the book that I randomly picked up in the book store one day and it started my astronomical obsession with historical fiction. Ever since I read that book I’ve rarely picked up any other genre. Hence, the reason why my blog is solely focused on historical fiction.

Which book are you most eagerly anticipating?

Oh number one Margaret George’s Elizabeth I. It’s sitting on my night stand right now and is going to be my next endeavor. I’m also really excited to sink my teeth into the George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones series. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them and I really want to watch the new series on HBO.

If you had to invite some book characters round for dinner, who would you choose and why?

Since the majority of my reading is historical fiction the characters I would choose would be historical figures. I would really love to meet Queen Elizabeth I, Marie Antoinette, and Eleanor of Aquitaine. That would be a very interesting dinner to have three of the most influential women in history conversing together. I would love to pick their brains and ask them what it must have been like to have been in their shoes during their era.

What advice would you give to new bloggers?

My advice would really be to promote your blog any way you can. Be creative and always remember why you started blogging in the first place.

Which other book blogs do you recommend?

My favorite blog at the moment would be Passages To The Past by Amy. It’s one of the best historical fiction blogs out there and she’s always current with her reviews and she has some really great features on her blog.