History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

The Oracle (The Sarah Weston Chronicles, Book Three) by D. J. Niko Publication Date: November 10, 2015 Medallion Press Paperback; 456p ISBN-13: 978-1605426273 Genre: Historical/Archaeological Adventure                  In Delphi, the mountain city deemed by the Greek gods to be the center of the Earth, a cult of neo-pagans re-create with painstaking authenticity ancient rituals to glorify the god Apollo and deliver oracles to seekers from around the world.      When antiquities are stolen from a museum in nearby Thebes, British archaeologist Sarah Weston and her American partner, Daniel Madigan, are drawn into a plot that goes beyond harmless role-playing: someone’s using the Delphian oracle as a smoke screen for an information exchange, with devastating consequences for the Western world.      Pitted against each other by the cult’s mastermind, Sarah and Daniel race against time and their own...

Lumière by Jacqueline E. Garlick  (The Illumination Paradox #1) Publication date: December 12th 2013 Genres: Steampunk, Young Adult Source: This book was given to me by Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis:  Even in a land of eternal twilight, secrets can’t stay hidden forever.      Seventeen-year-old Eyelet Elsworth is no stranger to living in the dark. She’s hidden her secret affliction all of her life—a life that would be in danger if superstitious townspeople ever guessed the truth. After her mother is accused and executed for a crime that she didn’t commit, the now-orphaned Eyelet has no choice but to track down the machine—her last hope for a cure. But Eyelet’s late father’s most prized invention, the Illuminator, has been missing since the day of the mysterious flash—a day that saw the sun wiped out over Brethren forever.      Alone and on the run, she finds the Illuminator—only to witness a young man haul...

A Thousand Nights Author: E. K. Johnston Genre: YA, Fantasy Publisher: Disney Hyperion Release Date: October 6, 2015 Pages: 336 Source: Publisher/Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.      And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time. But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unloc...

Esther Author: Rebecca Kanner Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian, Biblical Fiction Publisher: Howard Books Release Date: November 3rd, 2015 Pages: 400 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review Synopsis: From the award-winning author of Sinners and the Sea comes a breathtaking new look into the timeless tale of Queen Esther.      A glittering Persian king has a vast empire that reaches farther than where the sun meets the horizon. He is bathed in riches and commands a frightening military force. He possesses power beyond any other mortal man and rules his kingdom as a god. Anything he desires, he has. Any woman he wants, he possesses. Thousands of them. Young virgins from all across his many lands.      A Jewish girl is ripped from her hut by the king’s brutish warriors and forced to march across blistering, scorched earth to the capitol city. Trapped for months in the splendid cage of the king’s palace, she must avoid the ire...

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 wit...

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 ...

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...