The Road to Ironbark by Kaye Dobbie
Book Review

Synopsis

1874, The Victorian Goldfields

In the town of Ironbark, Aurora Scott faces ruin as the railways supplant the Cobb & Co coach line, the lifeline of her hotel. Aurora is no stranger to adversity; the formidable publican has pulled herself from a murky past to build a respectable life in Ironbark. But when bushrangers storm the hotel, taking hostages as leverage for the Starburst Mine's payroll, Aurora has more trouble on her hands than she can handle.

This is no random act, but a complex scheme of revenge. The gang turn on each other. Shots ring out. And when the dust settles, the

Drake - Tudor Corsair by Tony Riches
Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication date: 5th August 2020
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Preseli Press Ltd.
Print Length: 344 pages
Series: The Elizabethan Series Book 1

Synopsis

1564

Devon sailor Francis Drake sets out on a journey of adventure.

Drake learns of routes used to transport Spanish silver and gold, and risks his life in an audacious plan to steal a fortune.

Queen Elizabeth is intrigued by Drake and

Shame the Devil by Donna Scott
Read an Excerpt - Blog Tour - Giveaway (US only)

Publication Date: May 11, 2020
Paperback & eBook; 420 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

England, 1643. The Civil War has created a great divide between those who support King Charles and those who would rather see his head on the block. Young Scot Colin Blackburne finds himself caught in the middle when he witnesses Parliamentarians murder his mother because of his father’s allegiance to the king. As further punishment, the family is sent to Yorkshire as indentured servants.

Mistreated by his master and tormented by a Parliamentarian soldier, Colin vows to take up

The House on Boundary Street by Tea Cooper
Book Review

Synopsis

In the aftermath of World War I, Sydney is no place for the fainthearted. Sly grog shops thrive, the cocaine trade flourishes and brothels abound. Into this big dark city comes fresh-faced country girl, Dolly Bowman, ready to risk everything in pursuit of her dreams. After all it's the 1920s - time to turn her back on her terrible childhood and search for her future.

Cynthia Burton's life changes irrevocably the day she steps over the threshold of the house on Boundary Street. Determined to survive the only way she can, she breaks into the world of money and matinee idols in order to fulfil a promise she made and now there's no

A Trace of Deceit by Karen Odden
Book Review - Blog Tour - Giveaway (US Only)

Publication Date: December 17, 2019
William Morrow
Paperback & eBook; 416 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery/Victorian

Synopsis

From the author of A Dangerous Duet comes the next book in her Victorian mystery series, this time following a daring female painter and the Scotland Yard detective who is investigating her brother’s suspicious death.

A young painter digs beneath the veneer of Victorian London’s art world to learn the truth behind her brother’s murder...

A Venomous Love by Chris Karlsen
Book Blast - Blog Tour - Giveaway (US Only)

Publication Date: February 25, 2020
Paperback & eBook; 340 pages
Series: Bloodstone, Book 3
Genre: Historical/Suspense/Victorian

Synopsis

A veteran, Detective Rudyard Bloodstone has fought a brutal battle and witnessed war horrors that haunt his nightmares. Now one of those horrors has followed him home from Africa.

A vicious predator, the Cape cobra, can kill a man in thirty minutes. A suspect using the snake as a weapon in robberies is terrorizing London.

The Lost Diary of Alexander Hamilton
by Sophie Schiller
Book Review - Blog Tour - Giveaway (US Only)

The Lost Diary of Alexander Hamilton by Sophie Schiller
Publication Date: July 3, 2020
Tradewinds Publishing
Genre: YA/US Colonial & Revolutionary Period/Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The story of Alexander Hamilton’s lost childhood in the Caribbean — a land of sugar plantations and slavery — where an impoverished orphan must learn to survive despite impossible odds. It is a story of struggle, heartbreak, resilience, and ultimately, triumph.

1765. Alexander Hamilton arrives in St.

The Queen's Devil by Paul Walker
Blog Tour - Spotlight - Read an Excerpt

Publication date: 27 July 2020
Publisher: Sharpe’s Books
Print Length: 274 pages
Series: William Constable Spy Thriller, Book #3
Genre: Historical Fiction / Historical Thriller

Synopsis

1583.

William Constable, recently married astrologer and mathematician, has settled into routine work as a physician when he is requested to attend two prisoners in the Tower of London. Both are accused of separate acts treason, but their backgrounds

Readers Imbibing Peril XV has Begun

I've seen this challenge pop up every year and promised myself that one year I'd join in. Well, looks like it's this year.

Unlike previous years, there are no hard and fast rules. Just grab a book or as many as you like which fit any of the classifications: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror or Supernatural, and read them during September and October. You can even participate by watching films or television series. It's that easy!

Six Degrees of Separation:
From Rodham to Mariana

The first Saturday of the month is time to play Six Degrees of Separation. This meme is hosted by Kate of Books Are My Favourite and Best. The aim is to link six books to each other from the starting point, which today is Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld.

Here is a bit of the book's description from Goodreads:

From the New York Times bestselling author of American Wife and Eligible, a novel that imagines a deeply compelling what-might-have-been: What if Hillary Rodham hadn’t married Bill Clinton?

I haven't read this book and didn't know where to go to from here. So, as last month, I

Gilded Dreams by Donna Russo Morin
Book Review - Blog Tour - Giveaway (US only)

Publication Date: June 16, 2020
Magnum Opus
Paperback & eBook; 495 pages
Series: Newport's Gilded Age, Book 2
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

From the bestselling author of GILDED SUMMERS comes a powerful novel of the last eight years of the American Women’s fight for suffrage.

The battle for the vote is on fire in America. The powerful and rich women of Newport, Rhode Island, are not only some of the most involved suffragettes, their wealth - especially that of the indomitable Alva Vanderbilt Belmont