Today I have an article up over on Savvy Verse and Wit; come join me!) Oddly enough, the word that comes to my mind about this book is charming. Why is that odd? Because the story, while delightful, was a little more complex that I usually associate with the word charming. (picture links to… Read more Book Review: Snowbound at Hartfield by Maria Grace
I really, really enjoyed this book – plus I learned a lot of really interesting things about Tudor art and symbology! In 1572, the good looking and talented Nicholas Hillyarde paints the first of many portraits of Elizabeth I, England’s “Virgin Queen”. His ability to capture the likeness of his patrons make him famous and… Read more The Truth of the Line by Melanie Taylor
I must say that adored The Raven’s Widow, both as a historian and as an avid reader. The book is a narrative of the life of Jane Parker Boleyn, widow of George Boleyn and a woman who has been used as a malignant foil for many fictional writers based on unsubstantiated historical rumors and not… Read more The Raven’s Widow
The Colour of Poison is the first in the Sebastian Foxley Medieval Mystery series by Toni Mount, and if the others are even so much as half as good as this first one I’ll be snatching them all up as soon as they go into print. This story revolves around the Foxley brothers, Jude and… Read more The Colour of Poison by Toni Mount
Roald Dahl is one of the most famous authors of children’s stories in the world, and since he was born in Cardiff on 13 September 1916 he is considered a native son of Wales, which the Welsh are justifiably proud of. However, this is cheating a bit; he was the son of two Norwegian… Read more One Century of Roald Dahl
Historical fiction is a touchy subject for reasons that I, as someone with Asperger’s syndrome, have a hard time fathoming. There is fiction, and there is fact, and if the twain don’t meet 100% then it is historical fiction. In fact, historical fiction that is 100% accurate in historical details (how I do love Susan… Read more Fictions and Factions
Religious turmoil was ubiquitous in sixteenth century England. In fact, the entire continent of Europe was a roiling cauldron of ecumenical and dogmatic crazy-sauce. The question of who had the “correct” form of Christianity – the Catholics or the Protestants – was so controversial and important that people were burned to death over their answer,… Read more God’s Traitors by Jessie Childs
I don’t consider myself to be unreasonable, but shouldn’t you READ a book before you review it … especially if you are going to give it a snark-filled, snide, condescending one-star review? This is on my mind, since I recently received a vicious one star review of The Jezebel Effect based on the pseudo-reader’s ire… Read more The One Star Angst
Okay, I got a beautiful review for The Jezebel Effect by an English woman who uses the name Iset on Goodreads. I don’t know if she is secretly a friend of mine IRL and I was unaware that she went by the name Iset on Goodreads, but if she isn’t someone I already know then… Read more I Love Iset Because She Loves Me
I read The Shepard’s Crown, Terry Pratchett’s posthumous final book of the Discworld series, the day it was published. I am not ashamed to admit I cried while reading it and cried when I finished it. It was an ode and swansong for the series, and in saying goodbye to a major character Terry Pratchett… Read more A Bittersweet Goodbye to Discworld