Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Can't Wait Wednesday: The Royal Rebel by Elizabeth Chadwick (Jeanette of Kent Book 1)

 


For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, The Royal Rebel by Elizabeth Chadwick. This is book one of two that will tell the story of Jeanette of Kent, cousin to King Edward III.  I love that Chadwick takes lesser known women of the Medieval era and spotlights them in historical fiction. I also find that the 1300's seems to have less literature dedicated to it. It's a nice change from the Wars of the Roses and the Tudors. Hope you have found something you can't wait to read this week!

September 5, 2024


Historical Fiction/Medieval Fiction


Description courtesy of Amazon

1338: England has declared war on France, and Jeanette of Kent, cousin to King Edward III, says goodbye to her family and travels overseas with the royal court for the first time. Once in Antwerp, she is captivated by talented household knight Thomas Holland, just as he in turn is powerfully drawn to her.

Although both know their romance is forbidden, their love for each other grows stronger than the danger they face, and they marry in secret. But before they can make their tryst known, Thomas has to leave for war, and in his absence, Jeanette is forced into a second marriage and locked away from the world.

Then Thomas returns, and the real fight begins. As hostile family members battle to keep Jeanette and Thomas apart, the defiant lovers vow to be reunited - whatever the cost...

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Whose Plots Involve Travel

 



This week's Top Ten Tuesday hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl features books that involve travel. This took some thinking to come up with ten. I tend to over think and so my running inner monologue went something like this..."how far is the traveling? Is it to another time and place? Another country? Down the block?" 

I decided it had to be at least characters traveling through time or to another country, across the ocean, etc. So that was my criteria. It will be fun to see others' lists and compare! Also, you could choose to focus on covers with planes, trains, and automobiles. That will be interesting as well. I'm not the best at adding just covers to my blog yet (not user friendly with this particular format) so I'm just going to make a list. If I reviewed it on my blog I have included the link. Happy Reading ya'll! :) 


1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon- Because of course this one is my favorite with time travel throughout the whole series. 

2. The Seekers by John Jakes- This was a favorite of mine from Jakes' series about America. It includes the time of the Oregon Trail and the pioneers. That is traveling I love to read about. I probably need to re-read and review this wonderful book.

3. Into Africa by Martin Dugard- The amazing story of Stanley and LIvingstone's journey into the continent that fascinated the world. I absolutely loved this historical account of their journey. 

4. Crocodile On the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters- The first in the series and my favorite still. The journey down the Nile is so well written you feel like you are there. As usual, the original is the best!

5. Lionheart by Ben Kane- A great account of Richard I's journey on Crusade. It's part of a trilogy and well worth picking up.

6. Secret of the Scarab by Isabella Bassett- One of my favorite cozy mystery series of the year. The heroine and her eccentric Uncle are adorable and their journey to Egypt to uncover artifacts sees them caught up in of course, what else, but murder and mayhem. A fun read.

7. Murder On the Orient Express by Agatha Christie- This one has to be included on a list like this. Especially since it is train related. Not necessarily my favorite Christie book but a definite classic everyone should read.

8. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick- A fabulous accounting of the Pilgrims' journey to America. It read more like a novel than a history book and that is the style I love best.

9. Leaving Ireland by Ann Moore- I really feel like this author has been overlooked. This is probably because she hasn't written a lot of books but her trilogy about a young girl, Gracelin O'Malley and her life during the 1840's potato famine in Ireland is well written historical fiction. This is the third book which I have yet to finish. 

10. Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien- This is another classic book that I haven't read but plan to. I love sea voyage themed novels. Everyone says it is a good one. And the movie was excellent. 









Sunday, August 11, 2024

Stacking the Shelves #33

 


Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!



Set in India in 1947, Britain is about to withdraw from the country and people are fearful of the coming challenges after this happens. A family that is staying to try and build a life there get involved in a past mystery between two Englishwomen living there in 1857. Through letters the story unfolds and secrets are revealed. The description for the book states that the time and era are well researched and the feeling of Bombay at the time is "lavish with detail and imagery." Sounds like a unique and interesting story. I have so many Kindle credits from all the shopping I've been doing I got it for only $5.




I had no idea that Gwen Bristow had written Golden Age Mysteries. I loved her Plantation Trilogy and had to look this information up to make sure it was the same Gwen Bristow. In this story a piece of the famous Gutenberg Bible has been stolen and a district attorney must find out the who and the why behind it. Murders start to occur related to the case and the stakes are raised. Set in New Orleans in the 1930's it is a great location for a crime mystery. I look forward to reading it and seeing how she handles a different genre. I see there is a co-writer too so that should add to her style and make it a bit different. She has written more like this one as well. I will be reading it on Hoopla.




This book is a two part series about Edith, Princess of Scotland, and Eleanor of Castile. This first book about Edith is set in 1093 in Scotland and England and covers her life as she goes from child to queen. It might be a little more of a romance but it was on sale and is about a subject that is rarely covered in historical fiction novels. I think her story is very interesting and I look forward to reading it. The second book about Eleanor of Castile is one I'd like to get as well. The author is new to me but she has written many series of books on forgotten women of history. This two book series is called Ladies of Valor.