Read an #excerpt from Steampunk Cleopatra by Thaddeus Thomas #HistoricalFantasy #CoffeePotBookClub @thaddeusbooks @maryanneyarde

 

Steampunk Cleopatra 

By Thaddeus Thomas

Publication Date: 21st May 2021. Publisher: Independently Published. Page Length: 419 Pages. Genre: Historical Fantasy.

Amani, a companion of Cleopatra, seeks to rediscover Egypt's suppressed science and history. She is the beloved of her princess become queen, but that may not be enough to overcome the system they've inherited. If she fails, her country and Cleopatra, both, could fall. History meets fantasy, and together, they create something new. Experience an intelligent thriller about star-crossed lovers and an ancient science that might have been. 

Excerpt

In the glow of moon and torchlight, I stood before the statue of Serapis as it coddled three-headed Cerberus. The temple doors opened. Theodotus entered, and I caught a glimpse of Andros, shadows tracing the perfect contours of his face. His cheek and scalp blushed with the kiss of torchlight, and I found myself transfixed, staring, once more aware of what had slipped away while I scourged myself with grief. The doors closed.

Theodotus moved past me and triggered the idol's mechanism with a coin. Serapis released a tiny scroll, and it slid down the ramp into the bowl. He read the paper aloud.

A bountiful family is the reward of a well-tended marriage.

I tensed. If Theodotus knew Pharaoh was dead, he had chosen the message well.

He slipped Serapis's tiny scroll into my hand. “How many barren couples returned to tear down the god who failed them?”

“None.”

“None,” he said. “Not in Alexandria. They wait forever in the promise of future blessings, but the oracle is fake. Serapis is a lie. So, what would be the right thing to do? Does the righteous soul have faith in these scribbles, or does she tear down this abomination?”

“What are you saying?”

“I'm saying Amani is a good person, too good for Alexandria.” 

“That's not reasonable.”

“When we recognize someone as good, we mean that person is beneficial to the smooth running of the system,” he said. “We don't mean someone's objectively good, but that they're a good disciple of Serapis, like yourself. You’ve served Ptolemy since his return, faithfully and dutifully. Yet, this is the man who murdered Dio, the love of your life. Was what he did righteous? No, it was evil. So, what of us? Is it righteous to serve him?”

He waited for me to answer, and, though I was a master in the art of debate, I found myself silenced.

“For us, the survival of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the continuation of the system, is the ultimate goal,” he said. “Maybe we even convince ourselves it's the ultimate good. Do you suppose Amani will see it that way?”

“Supporting Pharaoh is the righteous thing to do,” I said.

“We deserve to rule?” he asked.

“We do.”

“Why?” he asked.

“When Alexander came, Egypt welcomed him. They gave us the kingdom, and they've prospered under us.”

Theodotus put another coin in the cup. Serapis repeated his routine. “We repeat the mythology that defends the system, but if we're honest, we know better. Our allegiance isn't to Egypt. Egypt is something we possess, something we control, and we build our systems to keep it under our control.”

“We all make our compromises,” I said. “It's the only way.”

“It's the only way to thrive in the system we've built,” he said, “and that is why we are not good people, you and I. We did not build the system for good people, only good disciples. Amani is not a good disciple.”

“You're wrong about her.”

“Be careful about how far you trust her,” he said. “Our city may not tear down gods, but it takes pride in pulling down its royalty.”

You can find this novel on Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon CA and Amazon AU. Or you can pick up your copy on #KindleUnlimted.

Thaddeus Thomas lives on the Mississippi River with his wife and three cats. Steampunk Cleopatra is his first novel, but he has a short story collection available at his website, ThaddeusThomas.com. There he also runs a book club where readers can receive indie book reviews and recommendation. His second book—Detective, 26 AD—releases July 9th and follows Doubting Thomas as he is conscripted to be an investigator for Pontius Pilate.

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Read an excerpt from The Steel Rose (The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy, Book 2) by Nancy Northcott #HistoricalFantasy #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub @NancyNorthcott @maryanneyarde

 

The Steel Rose 

(The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy, Book 2)

by Nancy Northcott

THE BOAR KING’S HONOR TRILOGY

A wizard’s misplaced trust.
A king wrongly blamed for murder.
A bloodline cursed until they clear the king’s name.

BOOK 2: THE STEEL ROSE

Amelia Mainwaring, a magically Gifted seer, is desperate to rescue the souls of her dead father and brother, who are trapped in a shadowy, wraith-filled land between life and death as the latest victims of their family curse. Lifting the curse requires clearing the name of King Richard III, who was wrongly accused of his nephews’ murder because of a mistake made by Amelia’s ancestor.

In London to seek help from a wizard scholar, Julian Winfield, Amelia has disturbing visions that warn of Napoleon Bonaparte’s escape from Elba and renewed war in Europe. A magical artifact fuels growing French support for Bonaparte. Can Amelia and Julian recover the artifact and deprive him of its power in time to avert the coming battles?

Their quest takes them from the crowded ballrooms of the London Season to the bloody field of Waterloo, demanding all of their courage, guile, and magical skill.  Can they recover the artifact and stop Bonaparte? Or will all their hopes, along with Amanda’s father and brother, be doomed as a battle-weary Europe is once again engulfed in the flames of war?

The Steel Rose is the second book in the time-traveling, history-spanning fantasy series The Boar King’s Honor, from Nancy Northcott (Outcast Station, The Herald of Day).

Excerpt

The scene below is the introduction of the book’s hero, Julian Winfield, Earl of Aysgarth. It’s set at his mansion in Yorkshire a few days after the book opens.

***

Julian Winfield, Earl of Aysgarth and holder of assorted other titles, frowned at the bits of parchment spread across his library worktable. The ancient codex, supposedly the work of Viking wizards in the eighth century, had fallen apart, and a household fire—again, supposedly, though the damage didn’t fit that explanation—had destroyed parts of the pages. 

The Latin script was an odd choice for Viking wizards of that pagan era. 

Standing just above six feet, he had to bend over the long table. Perhaps he should have a higher one made, but this one served well enough most of the time.

“Making progress?” his Aunt Augusta asked. She lounged back against the cushions of her chair, a decidedly unladylike pose. At fifty-one, a widow for a decade, his mother’s sister wore her graying blond hair in a simple bun-and-ringlets style and chose her frocks for comfort with the barest nod to fashion.

Her lack of concern with propriety, at least in private, was one reason they got on so well. He rarely wore a cravat or coat or waistcoat at Aysgarth, in or out of the house, and bedamned to society. 

“Some,” he replied. “The more I look at this codex, the more I think the story old Fortescue told me was made up out of whole cloth. Though perhaps that’s the story given to him. It doesn’t matter now. I’ll uncover the truth soon enough.”

The writing had faded on the fragment in front of him, and singe marks obliterated some of the words. At the edge, though, the letters o-p-p were clear enough. Was that oppidum, for town? Or some form of opprimere, to oppress?

“Can’t you sort all that magically?” his aunt asked.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Scowling, he shifted the fragments, looking for one that continued the word. Bloody hell, the singed pages made matching things up difficult. Magic had failed to restore the damage, perhaps because it was so longstanding. At least he could magically bind fragments together once he determined how they fit.

Aunt Augusta added, “If you want puzzles, I’m certain the Home Office would welcome your return.”

“I’ve had my fill of their sort of puzzles, thank you.” Not to mention the way everyone wanted to put in his oar. If not for the secret help of the Merlin Club’s Gifted members, well-meant Home Office interference would’ve made accomplishing anything difficult. 

He turned his attention back to the fragments. His aunt devoted herself to her book.

Mounds of snow still blanketed the shady parts of the back lawn that were visible through the windows and the French doors to the terrace. Frost sparkled on the windowpanes. In here, though, the fire kept the room cozy. Only its crackling and the occasional whispery sound of his aunt turning a page broke the silence. He liked it that way. This room was his haven, the books like old friends. The crossed cavalry sabers and broadswords above the two mantels and the family portraits hanging above those were so familiar that he scarcely noticed them.

With the war over and that Corsican menace, Bonaparte, safely confined, he could go back to his horses and his books in peace. Perhaps even find something that would help lift the curse confining his friend Adam’s soul.

“Julian?”

His aunt’s voice sounded odd, but it sometimes did when she was distracted. “Yes, Aunt?”

Was that word poena, for punishment, or—

“My dear, there’s a dragon landing on the lawn.”

—no, perhaps it was postulo, for ask or demand. “I’m sure Hawes will tend to it,” he told her. No, it wasn’t postulo. It was…wait. What?

He lifted his head to look at his aunt. Sitting ramrod straight now, she stared out the windows. Her lips were slightly parted. As though suddenly aware her jaw had dropped, she snapped her mouth shut.

“What did you say?” he asked.

“You heard me perfectly well. Come and look.”

He walked around the table to join her. Staring out the window, he blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. “Yes,” he said slowly, “I do believe that’s a dragon.”

You can find your copy on Amazon. This novel is free to read with #KindleUnlimited subscription.

Nancy Northcott’s childhood ambition was to grow up and become Wonder Woman. Around fourth grade, she realized it was too late to acquire Amazon genes, but she still loved comic books, science fiction, fantasy, history, and romance. She combines the emotion and high stakes, and sometimes the magic, she loves in the books she writes.

She has written freelance articles and taught at the college level.  Her most popular course was on science fiction, fantasy, and society.  She has also given presentations on the Wars of the Roses and Richard III to university classes studying Shakespeare’s play about Richard III. Reviewers have described her books as melding fantasy, romance, and suspense. Library Journal gave her debut novel, Renegade, a starred review, calling it “genre fiction at its best.”

In addition to the historical fantasy Boar King’s Honor trilogy, Nancy writes the Light Mage Wars paranormal romances, the Arachnid Files romantic suspense novellas, and the Lethal Webs romantic spy adventures. With Jeanne Adams, she cowrites the Outcast Station science fiction mysteries.

Married since 1987, Nancy and her husband have one son, a bossy dog, and a house full of books.

Social Media Links: Website • Facebook • Twitter • BookBub • Amazon Author Page • Goodreads

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Book Review - The Whirlpools of Time by Anna Belfrage @abelfrageauthor @maryanneyarde

 

The Whirlpools of Time

By Anna Belfrage

Publication Date: 11th June 2021. Publisher: Timelight Press. Page Length: 388 Pages. Genre: Time travel romance, Scottish Historical Romance

He hoped for a wife. He found a companion through time and beyond.

It is 1715 and for Duncan Melville something fundamental is missing from his life. Despite a flourishing legal practice and several close friends, he is lonely, even more so after the recent death of his father. He needs a wife—a companion through life, someone to hold and be held by. What he wasn’t expecting was to be torn away from everything he knew and find said woman in 2016…

Erin Barnes has a lot of stuff going on in her life. She doesn’t need the additional twist of a stranger in weird outdated clothes, but when he risks his life to save hers, she feels obligated to return the favour. Besides, whoever Duncan may be, she can’t exactly deny the immediate attraction.

The complications in Erin’s life explode. Events are set in motion and to Erin’s horror she and Duncan are thrown back to 1715. Not only does Erin have to cope with a different and intimidating world, soon enough she and Duncan are embroiled in a dangerous quest for Duncan’s uncle, a quest that may very well cost them their lives as they travel through a Scotland poised on the brink of rebellion.  

Will they find Duncan’s uncle in time? And is the door to the future permanently closed, or will Erin find a way back?

Book Rating:

📚📚📚📚📚⭐ = A book in a million

📚📚📚📚📚 = I could not put this book down. I Highly Recommend it.

📚📚📚📚 = A really great read.

📚📚📚 = It was enjoyable.

📚📚 = It was okay.

📚 = Um...! 😕

My Review

The Whirlpools of Time

📚📚📚📚📚 = I could not put this book down. I Highly Recommend it.

This is a book that has everything. Do not be fooled into thinking this is simply a time travel romance, and that every scene will be full of love, adoration and kissing (although there are plenty of scenes such as that). There is danger hidden around corners, enemies desperate for revenge, and an uncle that needs to be found before he gets caught up in the Jacobite revolution and gets himself killed.

Duncan may be from the eighteenth century, but he finds the girl he loves in the twenty-first century. In a turn of events, the two find themselves back in 1715, narrowly escaping death, but quickly realising that there are enemies to be made everywhere, and humiliating the wrong person could lead to events that would have best been avoided.

Duncan’s uncle is assumed to be in Scotland, and with the uprising clearly going to happen, his pregnant wife is worried enough for Duncan and Erin to travel to Scotland to find the missing family member and return him to his home. Along the way, the pair find themselves in many altercations that will have you gripping the edge of your seat as you frantically turn the pages, desperate to know whether they will survive and get back to each other safely or not.

Both Duncan and Erin were absolutely lovely to read about, especially when they are together, as they are so clearly in love. They are used to different ways of living, and Erin clearly does not know how to ride a horse, but they make things work, and Erin spends a lot of her time on Duncan’s horse, held in his arms, rather than riding by herself.

This book was absolutely wonderful, and I enjoyed every second of reading it. It is the kind of book that makes you stay up much later than you intended because you don’t want to put it down!

You can pick up your copy is this book on Amazon. If you subscribe to #KindleUnlimited you can read this novel for free.

Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with two absorbing interests: history and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England.  

Anna has also published The Wanderer, a fast-paced contemporary romantic suspense trilogy with paranormal and time-slip ingredients. Her September 2020 release, His Castilian Hawk, has her returning to medieval times. Set against the complications of Edward I’s invasion of Wales, His Castilian Hawk is a story of loyalty, integrity—and love. Her most recent release, The Whirlpools of Time, is a time travel romance set against the backdrop of brewing rebellion in the Scottish highlands.

All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Reader’s Favorite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards.

Find out more about Anna, her books and her eclectic historical blog on her website, www.annabelfrage.com .

Social Media Links:

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Read an excerpt from Where Your Treasure Is by M. C. Bunn #HistoricalRomance #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub @MCBunn3 @maryanneyarde

Where Your Treasure Is

By M. C. Bunn

Publication Date: 23rd April 2021. Publisher: Bellastoria Press. Page Length: 454 Pages. Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Victorian Romance

Feisty, independent heiress Winifred de la Coeur has never wanted to live according to someone else’s rules—but even she didn’t plan on falling in love with a bank robber.

 

Winifred is a wealthy, nontraditional beauty who bridles against the strict rules and conventions of Victorian London society. When she gets caught up in the chaos of a bungled bank robbery, she is thrust unwillingly into an encounter with Court Furor, a reluctant getaway driver and prizefighter.  In the bitter cold of a bleak London winter, sparks fly.

 

Winifred and Court are two misfits in their own circumscribed worlds—the fashionable beau monde with its rigorously upheld rules, and the gritty demimonde, where survival often means life-or-death choices.

Despite their conflicting backgrounds, they fall desperately in love while acknowledging the impossibility of remaining together. Returning to their own worlds, they try to make peace with their lives until a moment of unrestrained honesty and defiance threatens to topple the deceptions that they have carefully constructed to protect each other.

A story of the overlapping entanglements of Victorian London’s social classes, the strength of family bonds and true friendship, and the power of love to heal a broken spirit.

 

Excerpt

Winifred de la Coeur was not a traditional beauty, but she was one of a kind. Or so George had whispered while they played cards. He had won the hand and taken hers in his. After all these years, she ought to know better than to trust him. 

She stood with her maid in the hall before the pier glass and examined the result of their morning’s work. They had begun earlier than usual. Bathed, combed, powdered, and perfumed, Winifred wore underlinens trimmed in lace a duchess would envy. Her dress was the latest fashion. The crowning achievement was the hat, an enormous concoction of absinthe silk covered in black tulle and ostrich plumes. 

“Morrant is right. I do look frightful!” Her hands flew to her head. 

“Pooh! What does he know?” Bettina scoffed, none too quietly. She adjusted the veil and shot a sour glance at the butler, who strode past them into the breakfast room. 

“Dr. Frost arrives at ten o’clock,” Morrant announced. He scooped the brandy bottle from where it rested by Percival’s feet then read aloud from the daybook in which the older man penned his thoughts. “‘CAN A MAN ALTER HIS CHARACTER?’ Not before breakfast, sir.” 

“I’m not hungry,” Percival grumbled. 

“Up late? ‘The unexamined life is not worth living,’ and so forth?” 

“More like ‘Lions prowling about the door’!” He pushed away the coffee and toast Morrant set by him. “Tea with Tasha and Delilah yesterday nearly finished me. Like battling hydras!” He peered into the hall and spoke to Winifred. “Plans today?” 

“The bank and luncheon with George at Simpson’s.”

******

In the breakfast room, her uncle tried to deflect his manservant’s attempt to get him to eat. She watched with affection. Two bachelors, just as she and Bettina were two old maids. While her uncle’s bad lungs had aged him prematurely, Morrant’s physique was still trim, his black hair touched with grey along the temples. She frowned at her reflection, tugged the tight bodice, and wished she was going riding on the Heath with her cousins Amelie and Bert. 

Neither man had hidden his astonishment as she twirled into the breakfast room in her parrot green ensemble. Her uncle shaded his eyes. “Good lord, you’re bright as a Christmas cracker! Are we to have the Highland Fling?” He squinted at the skirt’s purple tartan trim while she kissed his cheek. “My dear, you look ready to pop!” 

“It’s not Guy Fawkes ’til tomorrow, sir,” Morrant said. 

“It’s so tight, I might explode!” She had inhaled against her stays. “It is vulgar. I feel like Gloriana gone wild. Add seven ropes of pearls, and call me the Virgin Queen.” 

Morrant coughed. 

It was impossible to tell whether his eyes expressed disapproval or suppressed amusement. About his opinion of the idiotic tea gown she had worn while she and George played cards the prior evening, there could be no mistake. Morrant and Bettina had had words over it. In spite of the man’s usual equanimity, the recent changes to her toilette had put him in a permanent state of alarm. His opinion of George had already involved the use of horsewhips. Though Bettina asserted that a woman dressed for herself, and Winifred inwardly argued that a servant’s thoughts about her wardrobe or the way she lived should not matter, Morrant’s opinion did. 

She grimaced at her hat and reached for it. “Ce chapeau, est-ce que les femmes françaises appellent la Catherinette?” 

Bettina caught her hands. “Poof! Do not tease about old maids. I work hard to dress you beautifully! The hat is très chic et vous êtes une femme de la mode, a fashionable lady. We want people to notice!” She adjusted Winifred’s jabot. “The cut of the jacket is so modest, so cunning!” 

“I suppose it makes me look less fat.” In the long mirror, she critically regarded her hips. 

“Madame Gretchen is all skin and bones, so our cousin can get away with no corset.” She pushed in Winifred’s waist. “We are not so!” 

******

Richards sat on the brougham’s high box, bundled against the cold. Leaves danced along the street in a gust of wind. Morrant walked down the steps, a blanket draped over his arm. Winifred quickly followed, glad of Bettina’s insistence she wear the warm cashmere. 

Morrant handed her up, checked the foot-warmer, then decorously spread the blanket over her knees. She watched his hands smooth the material. Their faces were very close. 

“Morrant!” 

“No, Miss, let me—if I may, speak first.” 

His tone was so serious; she prepared herself. 

“Though you’re not in the best spirits this morning and worried about your uncle, you appear fit to face any challenge, even in that dress and—,” he hesitated. “If one might hazard a guess at the identity of that object upon your head—that hat!” 

The hint of his smile and the kind expression in his dark eyes were a relief. He returned her hand’s pressure, then closed the carriage door. 

Richards cracked the reins. 

Winifred twisted about to catch a last glimpse of Morrant, who stood on the steps and watched after her. The carriage turned the corner. 

Hampstead’s quiet streets gave way to those of Regent’s Park. As traffic increased, Winifred’s spirits rallied. Never fond of London, this morning she welcomed its energy and activity, an astringent if not a completely palatable medicine for her nerves. Richards’ whip handle tapped her window. 

“Still going to the City, Miss?” 

“Yes, straight to the Royal Empire Bank!” 

George’s letter with its bold cursive had arrived in the morning’s post. Morrant laid it between her and Percival. She had torn open the envelope and felt her cheeks flush. “It’s only about that piece of land he wants to sell me.” She threw the letter on the table, pushed away the nearly finished plate of kedgeree that she already regretted, and pretended to read the newspaper’s financial section. 

“That detestable piece land,” Percival had snapped. “I wish the earth would swallow it!” And their owner George, she had thought. Her uncle added that he was sorry if she was disappointed. She knew he was relieved. 

During a shooting party that September, George had proposed the sale of a twenty-acre wood that separated the de la Coeur and Broughton-Caruthers estates and where the game warden encouraged the foxes. Winifred said that she was not interested. George replied that she made an art of playing hard to get. 

How it must gall him, she had gibed. The first son in five generations obliged to sell off parcels of land rather than buy them! His brother Charles lived in Scotland in an enormous castle with his wife and two little girls. He had a steady character and was happily matched. They had acres of hunting grounds and no mortgages in sight. Charles had little money of his own but did not owe any either. Nor did he share George’s lavish habits or the propensity for ennui that drove Hereford Hall’s heir into low company and reckless deeds. 

George smirked. “But he’s boring, and neither as good looking nor as popular as I am.” 

On the day before she came up to London, she rode her horse Tulip across the fields to inspect the wood. Beyond it lay Hereford Hall’s brick towers, graceful lawns, and chestnut-lined drive. She had given Tulip a smart kick and galloped down the sandy lane that led to the sea. In spite of her elder cousins’ warnings, she and George had raced one another on it many times. She bent over her mare’s neck, urged her to go faster, and pretended to outdistance her neighbor. She was Queen Bess, who ruled a kingdom of her own. No need of any man! 

Her pride could not bear that George, or even her family, might suspect that while she had won the battle against her suitors, she had lost the war. At summer’s end, once the field cleared and the dust settled, she discovered she was tired of holding up the increasingly heavy standard of her virginity. The other debutantes of her year had long retired from the lists on their fiancés’ arms or were preoccupied by their confinements. She had attended so many weddings she lost track of the sprays of orange blossom Bettina cleared from her dressing table or the number of silver rattles that she and Amelie had wrapped. Her freedom was not the triumph she had imagined it would be.

You can pick up your copy of this book on Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, Kobo, Page 158 Books, Quail Ridge Books, Indie Bound

M. C. Bunn grew up in a house full of books, history, and music. “Daddy was a master storyteller. The past was another world, but one that seemed familiar because of him. He read aloud at the table, classics or whatever historical subject interested him. His idea of bedtime stories were passages from Dickens, Twain, and Stevenson. Mama told me I could write whatever I wanted. She put a dictionary in my hands and let me use her typewriter, or watch I, Claudius and Shoulder to Shoulder when they first aired on Masterpiece Theatre. She was the realist. He was the romantic. They were a great team.”

Where Your Treasure Is, a novel set in late-Victorian London and Norfolk, came together after the sudden death of the author’s father. “I’d been teaching high school English for over a decade and had spent the summer cleaning my parents’ house and their offices. It was August, time for classes to begin. The characters emerged out of nowhere, sort of like they knew I needed them. They took over.” 

She had worked on a novella as part of her master’s degree in English years before but set it aside, along with many other stories. “I was also writing songs for the band I’m in and had done a libretto for a sacred piece. All of that was completely different from Where Your Treasure Is. Before her health declined, my mother heard Treasure’s first draft and encouraged me to return to prose. The novel is a nod to all the wonderful books my father read to us, the old movies we stayed up to watch, a thank you to my parents, especially Mama for reminding me that nothing is wasted. Dreams don’t have to die. Neither does love.”   

When M. C. Bunn is not writing, she’s researching or reading. Her idea of a well-appointed room includes multiple bookshelves, a full pot of coffee, and a place to lie down with a big, old book. To further feed her soul, she and her husband take long walks with their dog, Emeril in North Carolina’s woods, or she makes music with friends. 

“I try to remember to look up at the sky and take some time each day to be thankful.” 

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Book Review - Kingfisher (The Kingfisher Series, Book One) By D. K. Marley @histficchickie @maryanneyarde

 

Kingfisher

(The Kingfisher Series, Book One)

By D. K. Marley

Publication Date: June 28, 2021. Publisher: The White Rabbit Publishing (HFC Press). Page Length: 530 Pages. Genre: Historical Time Travel

The past, future, and Excalibur lie in her hands.

Wales, 1914. Vala Penrys and her four sisters find solace in their spinster life by story-telling, escaping the chaos of war by dreaming of the romantic days of Camelot. When the war hits close to home, Vala finds love with Taliesin Wren, a mysterious young Welsh Lieutenant, who shows her another world within the tangled roots of a Rowan tree, known to the Druids as ‘the portal’.

One night she falls through, and suddenly she is Vivyane, Lady of the Lake – the Kingfisher – in a divided Britain clamoring for a High King. What begins as an innocent pastime becomes the ultimate quest for peace in two worlds full of secrets, and Vala finds herself torn between the love of her life and the salvation of not only her family but of Britain, itself.

"It is, at the heart of it, a love story – the love between a man and a woman, between a woman and her country, and between the characters and their fates – but its appeal goes far beyond romance. It is a tale of fate, of power, and, ultimately, of sacrifice for a greater good." - Riana Everly, author of Teaching Eliza and Death of a Clergyman

Book Rating:

📚📚📚📚📚⭐ = A book in a million

📚📚📚📚📚 = I could not put this book down. I Highly Recommend it.

📚📚📚📚 = A really great read.

📚📚📚 = It was enjoyable.

📚📚 = It was okay.

📚 = Um...! 😕

My Review

Kingfisher

(The Kingfisher Series, Book One)

📚📚📚📚📚 = I could not put this book down. I Highly Recommend it

Vala Penrys has watched helplessly as her mother, Isobel, succumbs to the madness that she has fought against for so long. And as Vala nears her thirtieth birthday she no longer denying the desperate longing she feels to escape from her situation, add to the equation that Britain is going to war makes this longing almost overwhelming. She has also been having odd dreams about a raven and a kingfisher and she can't decipher what it means. If only there was someone who could explain everything to her.

The Kingfisher is a story of magic, time travel, Arthurian legends and unexpected love. I really adored everything about this novel. The story captured my attention and the characters, especially Vala and Taliesin, really stole my heart. The sinister threat delivered by Morgayne and the world war also gives this novel a darker edge. There were also characters that I initially disliked (cough, Uther) and then found myself kind of liking as the novel progressed, which took me by surprise. And there are certainly plot twists aplenty. And as for the whole blood is thicker than water rubbish, just you wait!!

I hope Book 2 comes out soon as I can't wait to reconnect with these characters and discover what happens next!

You can pick up your copy of this book on Amazon. If you subscribe to #KindleUnlimited you can read this novel for free.

D. K. Marley is a Historical Fiction author specializing in Shakespearean adaptations, Tudor era historicals, Colonial American historicals, alternate historicals, and historical time-travel. At a very early age she knew she wanted to be a writer. Inspired by her grandmother, an English Literature teacher, she dove into writing during her teenage years, winning short story awards for two years in local competitions. After setting aside her writing to raise a family and run her graphic design business, White Rabbit Arts, returning to writing became therapy to her after suffering immense tragedy, and she published her first novel “Blood and Ink” in 2018, which went on to win the Bronze Medal for Best Historical Fiction from The Coffee Pot Book Club, and the Silver Medal from the Golden Squirrel Book Awards. Within three years, she has published four more novels (two Shakespearean adaptations, one Colonial American historical, and a historical time travel).

When she is not writing, she is the founder and administrator of The Historical Fiction Club on Facebook, and the CEO of The Historical Fiction Company, a website dedicated to supporting the best in historical fiction for authors and readers. And for fun, she is an avid reader of the genre, loves to draw, is a conceptual photography hobbyist, and is passionate about spending time with her granddaughter. She lives in Middle Georgia U.S.A. with her husband of 35 years, an English Lab named Max, and an adorable Westie named Daisy.

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Website, Blog, Podcast, Group, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads 

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Book Review - Landscape of a Marriage by Gail Ward Olmsted @gwolmsted @maryanneyarde

 

Landscape of a Marriage 

By Gail Ward Olmsted

Publication Date: July 29, 2021. Publisher: Black Rose Writing. Page Length: 314 Pages. Genre: Historical Fiction.

A marriage of convenience leads to a life of passion and purpose. A shared vision transforms the American landscape forever.

New York, 1858: Mary, a young widow with three children, agrees to marry her brother-in-law Frederick Law Olmsted, who is acting on his late brother’s deathbed plea to "not let Mary suffer”. But she craves more than a marriage of convenience and sets out to win her husband’s love. Beginning with Central Park in New York City, Mary joins Fred on his quest to create a 'beating green heart' in the centre of every urban space. 

Over the next 40 years, Fred is inspired to create dozens of city parks, private estates and public spaces with Mary at his side. Based upon real people and true events, this is the story of Mary’s journey and personal growth and the challenges inherent in loving a brilliant and ambi-tious man. 

Book Rating:

📚📚📚📚📚⭐ = A book in a million

📚📚📚📚📚 = I could not put this book down. I Highly Recommend it.

📚📚📚📚 = A really great read.

📚📚📚 = It was enjoyable.

📚📚 = It was okay.

📚 = Um...! 😕

My Review

Landscape of a Marriage 

📚📚📚📚 = A really great read.

The father of American landscape architecture, Frederick "Fred" Law Olmsted, is remembered for his dazzling designs and beautiful parks. What isn't spoken about is his personal life - what was he like as a husband and a father? Landscape of a Marriage by Gail Ward Olmsted is the story of Mary Olmsted, Fred's wife. And it shines an insightful light on the man behind all of the beauty.

I was really looking forward to reading this novel because the blurb really intrigued me. I am so glad I agreed to review this book because this novel did not disappoint, in fact, it enlightened me. As a workaholic/genius, Fred is determined to design beautiful parks. But while he is swept away with his ideas, his family seemingly falls by the wayside. He is a man committed to his work.  Fred was a fascinating character to read about.

Mary was a character that I simply adored. Her determination to keep her children safe, fed and educated is commendable. When she marries Fred she does so for love and the security he can give her, but there are moments in this novel where his unintentional neglect means that she has to fend for herself until he remembers he has a family again.

All in all, this is a very enjoyable novel and the historical setting gives it a sense of authenticity.

You can pick up your copy of this book on Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon AU, Amazon CA and the Publisher.

Gail Ward Olmsted was a marketing executive and a college professor before she began writing fiction on a full-time basis. A trip to Sedona, AZ inspired her first novel Jeep Tour. Three more novels followed before she began Landscape of a Marriage, a biographical work of fiction featuring landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, a distant cousin of her husband’s, and his wife Mary. 

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Website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, BookBub, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads

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