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Showing posts from October, 2015

Bathsheba: Reluctant Beauty (A Dangerous Beauty Novel, Book Two) by Angela Hunt: A Book Review

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Bathsheba: Reluctant Beauty (A Dangerous Beauty Novel, Book Two)
Author: Angela Hunt
Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian, Biblical Fiction
Publisher: Bethany House
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher/Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: One of Ancient Israel's Most Famous Women-- As You've Never Looked at Her Before

     One of the Bible's most misunderstood and misjudged women, Bathsheba comes to life in this new biblical reimagining from Angela Hunt. Combining historical facts with detailed fiction, this is an eye-opening portrait that will have you reconsidering everything you thought you knew about her. 

     After receiving God's promise of a lifelong reign and an eternal dynasty, King David forces himself on Bathsheba, a loyal soldier's wife. When her resulting pregnancy forces the king to murder her husband and add her to his harem, Bathsheba struggles to protect her son while dealing with the effects of a dark prophecy and de…
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A Curious Beginning: A Veronica Speedwell Mystery by Deanna Raybourn: A Book Review

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A Curious Beginning: A Veronica Speedwell Mystery
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: September 1, 2015
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher/Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: In her thrilling new series, the New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries, returns once more to Victorian England…and introduces intrepid adventuress Veronica Speedwell.

     London, 1887. As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a sharpened hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England now gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.

     But fate has…
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Theodora: Actress, Empress, Saint (Women in Antiquity) by David Potter: A Book Review

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Theodora: Actress, Empress, Saint (Women in Antiquity)
Author: David Potter
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, History
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date: November 4, 2015
Pages: 288
Source: Publisher/Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Two of the most famous mosaics from the ancient world, in the church of San Vitale in Ravenna, depict the sixth-century emperor Justinian and, on the wall facing him, his wife, Theodora (497-548). This majestic portrait gives no inkling of Theodora's very humble beginnings or her improbable rise to fame and power. Raised in a family of circus performers near Constantinople's Hippodrome, she abandoned a successful acting career in her late teens to follow a lover whom she was legally forbidden to marry. When he left her, she was a single mother who built a new life for herself as a secret agent, in which role she met the heir to the throne. To the shock of the ruling elite, the two were married, and when Justinian assumed powe…
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Blog Tour: Lost Princess (Kingdom of Cymmera Trilogy Book 2) by Dani-Lyn Alexander: A Book Review

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Lost Princess (Kingdom of Cymmera Trilogy Book 2)
by Dani-Lyn Alexander
Release Date: 10/13/15 Lyrical Press 
Synopsis: Ryleigh Donnovan’s life changed forever the day she met Jackson Maynard, a Death Dealer, and followed him home to the kingdom of Cymmera. Now she is trying to care for her sister while saving a realm she knows nothing about...

     Jackson has reluctantly accepted the throne of Cymmera, in place of his father. But his world is in turmoil, the kingdom under constant threat of attack. Worse still, Jackson suspects there is a traitor among his court. A powerful prophet has suggested a way to protect the realm, but that solution may drive Jackson and Ryleigh apart forever... 

     When a magic relic goes missing, Ryleigh has no choice but to journey in search of it. When Jackson discovers Ryleigh is missing, he must make a choice that will either claim their destiny, or bring an end to the only home he’s ever known.

     My Review:Lost Princess is the sequel to Reluctant Princ…
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Reluctant Prince (Kingdom of Cymmera Trilogy Book 1) by Dani-Lyn Alexander: A Book Review

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Reluctant Prince (Kingdom of Cymmera Trilogy Book 1) 
Author: Dani-Lyn Alexander
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Release Date: 2014
Pages: 212
Source: This book was given to me by YA Bound Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Betrayal lies cloaked in shadow.

     Seventeen year old Ryleigh Donnovan is certain her life is cursed. Nothing ever goes smoothly, and her first job interview is no exception. An earthquake rocks the building, sending Ryleigh on a frantic search for her younger sister, a search which lands her in the hospital. Terrified they’ll push her for answers she can’t afford to give, Ryleigh flees with a mysterious stranger.

     Jackson Maynard is about to be ordained as a Death Dealer, a warrior for the Kingdom of Cymmera, but first he must pass one more test. When he fails to acquire the human girl the prophet has chosen, he’s forced to stand trial for treason. Banished from his realm, he seeks out the girl from the vision, Ryleigh Donnovan, and t…
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Blog Tour: Aurelia (Roma Nova #4) by Alison Morton: A Book Review

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Aurelia (Roma Nova, #4) by Alison MortonPublication Date: May 5, 2015 SilverWood Books Paperback & eBook; 270 Pages Genre: Alternative Historical Fiction

Source: This book was given to me by Historical Fiction Virtual Book tours in exchange for an honest review.



    Synopsis: Late 1960s Roma Nova, the last Roman colony that has survived into the 21st century. Aurelia Mitela is alone – her partner gone, her child sickly and her mother dead. Forced in her mid-twenties to give up her beloved career as a Praetorian officer, she is struggling to manage an extended family tribe, businesses and senatorial political life.

     But her country needs her unique skills. Somebody is smuggling silver – Roma Nova’s lifeblood – on an industrial scale. Sent to Berlin to investigate, she encounters the mysterious and attractive Miklós, a suspected smuggler, and Caius Tellus, a Roma Novan she has despised, and feared, since childhood.

     Aurelia suspects that the silver smuggling hides a deeper…
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Last Song Before Night by Ilana C. Meyer: A Book Review

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Last Song Before Night
Author: Ilana C. Meyer
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: September 29, 2015
Pages: 416
Source: This book was given to me by Rockstar Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: A high fantasy following a young woman's defiance of her culture as she undertakes a dangerous quest to restore her world's lost magic in Ilana C. Myer's Last Song Before Night.

     Her name was Kimbralin Amaristoth: sister to a cruel brother, daughter of a hateful family. But that name she has forsworn, and now she is simply Lin, a musician and lyricist of uncommon ability in a land where women are forbidden to answer such callings-a fugitive who must conceal her identity or risk imprisonment and even death.

     On the eve of a great festival, Lin learns that an ancient scourge has returned to the land of Eivar, a pandemic both deadly and unnatural. Its resurgence brings with it the memory of an apocalypse that transformed half a continent. Long ago, magic…
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Wendy Darling: Stars Volume One by Colleen Oakes: A Book Review

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Wendy Darling: Stars Volume One
Author: Colleen Oakes
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Publisher: SparkPress
Release Date: October 13, 2015
Pages: 324
Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Wendy Darling has a perfectly agreeable life with her parents and brothers in wealthy London, as well as a budding romance with Booth, the neighborhood bookseller's son. But one night, while their parents are at a ball, the charmingly beautiful Peter Pan comes to the Darling children's nursery, and—dazzled by this flying boy with god-like powers—they follow him out of the window and straight on to morning into Neverland, an intoxicating island of freedom.

     As time passes in Neverland, Wendy realizes that this Lost Boy's paradise of turquoise seas, mermaids, and pirates holds terrible secrets rooted in blood and greed. As Peter's grasp on her heart tightens, she struggles to remember where she came from—and begins to suspect that this island of dreams, and the boy who …
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Marie Von Clausewitz: The Woman Behind The Making Of On War by Vanya Eftimova Bellinger: A Book Review

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Marie von Clausewitz: The Woman Behind the Making of On War Author: Vanya Eftimova Bellinger Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, History Publisher: Oxford University Press Release Date: October 1st, 2015 Pages: 312 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: The marriage between Carl von Clausewitz and Countess Marie von Brühl was a remarkable intellectual partnership. Many historians have noted the instrumental role Marie played in the creation, development, and particularly in the posthumous editing and publishing of Clausewitz's opus, On War, which remains the seminal text on military theory and strategic thinking. Highly intelligent and politically engaged, Marie was also deeply involved in her husband's military career and advancement, and in the nationalist politics of 19th-century Prussia. Yet apart from peripheral consideration of her obvious influence on Clausewitz and on the preservation of his legacy, very little has been written about Marie herself.

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Blog Tour: The Lake House by Kate Morton: A Book Review

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The Lake House by Kate Morton Publication Date: October 20, 2015 Atria Books Hardcover & eBook; 512 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Source: This book was given to me by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.



     From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Secret Keeper and The Distant Hours, an intricately plotted, spellbinding new novel of heart-stopping suspense and uncovered secrets.

     Living on her family’s idyllic lakeside estate in Cornwall, England, Alice Edevane is a bright, inquisitive, innocent, and precociously talented sixteen-year-old who loves to write stories. But the mysteries she pens are no match for the one her family is about to endure…

     One midsummer’s eve, after a beautiful party drawing hundreds of guests to the estate has ended, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, eleven-month-old Theo, has vanished without a trace. What follows is a tragedy that tears the family apar…
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Blog Tour: Guest Post by Michelle Saftich: Port of No Return

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Today's guest author is Michelle Saftich. She is the author of Port of No Return. It is a touching story of a family who have been separated after World War II and are on a search to find each other. In this guest post, she has given information to what inspired her novel, Port of No Return. I have recently read and enjoyed her novel. I hope this insight gives you insight into her work. Thank you, Mrs. Saftich.




Port of No Return

     When I was a child, in Brisbane, Australia, I asked my father where he was born.

     Because I was only six years old, he told me he was born in Trieste, Italy. So I happily went off to school and proudly told my friends. But three years later, my father revised his answer. “Actually, I was born in Fiume, Italy, but it is no longer called Fiume and it is no longer in Italy.”

     Being a sensitive child, I noticed that telling the truth had pained him and had not been easy to divulge. He also instructed that I should keep it secret. Now, I was intri…
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Blog Tour: Port of No Return by Michelle Saftich: A Book Review

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Port of No Return
Author: Michelle Saftich
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Odyssey Books
Release Date: July 31, 2015
Source: This book was given to me by Italy Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Contessa and Ettore Saforo awake to a normal day in war-stricken, occupied Italy. By the end of the day, their house is in ruins and they must seek shelter and protection wherever they can. But the turbulent politics of 1944 refuses to let them be. 

     As Tito and his Yugoslav Army threaten their German-held town of Fiume, Ettore finds himself running for his life, knowing that neither side is forgiving of those who have assisted the enemy. His wife and children must also flee the meagre life their town can offer, searching for a better life as displaced persons. 

     Ettore and Contessa’s battle to find each other, and the struggle of their family and friends to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of a devastating war, provide a rich and varied account of Italian migratio…
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