Some Rise By Sin by Siôn Scott-Wilson
Book Review

Synopsis

1829 is a tough year to be a body snatcher. Burke and Hare have just been convicted of killing people to sell their bodies, to widespread outrage—but despite the bad press, doctors still need fresh corpses for medical research.

Sammy and Facey are a couple of so-called ‘resurrection men’, making a living among society's fringe-dwellers by hoisting the newly departed from the churchyards of London whilst masquerading as late-night bakers. Operating on tip-offs and rumours in the capital’s drinking dens and fighting pits, the pair find themselves in receipt of some valuable intelligence: an unusual cadaver has popped up on the market, that of a hermaphrodite.

For any medic worth his salt it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—a medical curiosity and

Top Ten Tuesday
Books on My Summer 2021 Reading List

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. A topic is assigned to each Tuesday. For that topic you are encouraged to make a top ten list, putting your own spin on it, if needed. Upcoming topics and

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2022
My Sign-Up Post

Hosted by: Carol @ Carol's Notebook
Challenge period: 1st January to 31st December, 2022
Sign Up: Ends March 15, 2022
Aim: To read any book that is from the mystery/suspense/thriller/crime genres. Any sub-genres are welcome as long as they incorporate one of these genres.
Challenge Hashtag: #CloakDaggerChal

Chunkster Reading Challenge 2022
My Sign-Up Post

Hosted by: Becky's Book Reviews
Challenge Period: January 1, 2022 - December 31, 2022
Sign Up: Here
Aim: To read as many books over 450 pages in length as you like during the challenge period.

A blog is NOT required to participate.

For this challenge I've selected books that I own. A couple of them I've read, but not reviewed, and as

Aussie Author Reading Challenge 2022
My Sign-Up Post

Hosted by: Jo at Book Lover Reviews
Challenge period: 1st January to 31st December, 2022
Sign Up: Anytime during the year
Aim: To showcase the quality and diversity of the books being produced by Australian authors.
Social Media Tag: #AussieAuthor22

All the information and how to join is here on the sign-up page.

This year I'm participating at the same level as last year.

Mrs England by Stacey Halls
Book Review

Synopsis

West Yorkshire, 1904.

When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there's something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs England.

Distant and withdrawn, Lilian shows little interest in her children or charming husband, and is far from 'the angel of the house Ruby was expecting. As the warm, vivacious Charles welcomes Ruby into the family, a series of strange events forces her to question everything she thought she knew. Ostracised by the servants and feeling increasingly uneasy as her

The Infernal Riddle of Thomas Peach by Jas Treadwell - Book Review

Synopsis

Who is Thomas Peach?

Ah, reader! - if you would have us answer THAT question - What mysteries you shall compel us to expose!

It is the year 1785, and a gentleman of modest means has left London for the countryside, to look after his ailing wife.

Among his neighbours, tongues being to wag. Why does he keep a locked chest under the stairs? Is it really full of forbidden books? And what is exactly the matter with his wife?

For the most part, though, the couple live in peace -- until a letter arrives, threatening to cut off their livelihood and expel them from

August Folly by Angela Thirkell
Book Review

Synopsis

It's August in the Barsetshire village of Worsted, and Richard Tebben, just down from Oxford, is contemplating the gloomy prospect of a long summer in the parental home. But the numerous and impossibly glamorous Dean family - exquisite Rachel, her capable husband and six of their nine brilliant children - have come for the holidays, and their hostess Mrs Palmer plans to rope everyone into performing in her disastrous annual play. Surrounded by the irrepressible Deans, Richard and his sister Margaret cannot help but have their minds broadened, spirits raised and hearts smitten

My Thoughts

After three novels, I'm becoming familiar with what to expect from Angela Thirkell: lots of quirky characters, multiple romances, upper

A Literary Christmas 2021 Challenge

Hosted by: In the Bookcase
Challenge period: Now to 31st December, 2021
Sign Up: Now
Aim: To read and review as many Christmas-themed titles as you can from a list you

Six Degrees of Separation: From Ethan Frome to The Age of Innocence

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.

This month the starting point is Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, a sad and tragic story, and not one I will ever read again. A sledding scene in the novella takes me to my first link - a much more uplifting one than what happened in Ethan Frome

The Bobbsey Twins Annuals were a staple of my Christmases growing up, as was the fun of sledding. We had a few mishaps, but the worst thing that happened to us was that we went home cold and wet!

Another childhood delight was the Bunty and Judy girls' comics filled with stories of boarding

Death on a Winter's Day by Verity Bright
Book Review

Publication Date: November 19, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #8
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Cosy Mystery

Synopsis

Christmas at the castle with holly, handmade gifts, snowflakes and… is that a body under the tree? Someone call Lady Swift!

Winter, 1921. Lady Eleanor Swift, amateur sleuth and reluctant lady of the manor, has been invited to spend Christmas in Scotland, at the beautiful castle of her dear friends Baron and Baroness Ashley. Even her favourite companion, master of mischief Gladstone the bulldog, is coming along to share a slice of turkey. As snow begins to fall outside, the rather mismatched group are cozy

The London House by Katherine Reay
Book Review

Publication Date: November 2, 2021
Publisher: Harper Muse
Length: (368) pages
Format: Trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook 
Genre: Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction

Synopsis

Uncovering a dark family secret sends one woman through the history of Britain’s World War II spy network and glamorous 1930s Paris to save her family’s reputation.

Caroline Payne thinks it’s just another day of work until she receives a call from Mat Hammond, an old college friend and historian. But pleasantries are cut short. Mat has uncovered a scandalous secret kept buried

Rebel's Knot by Cryssa Bazos
Book Review

Publication Date: 8th November 2021
Publisher: W.M. Jackson Publishing
Series: Quest for Three Kingdoms
Page Length: 350 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/ Historical Romance

Synopsis

Ireland 1652: In the desperate, final days of the English invasion of Ireland . . .

A fey young woman, Ɓine Callaghan, is the sole survivor of an attack by English marauders. When Irish soldier Niall O'Coneill discovers his own kin slaughtered in the same massacre, he vows to hunt down the men responsible. He takes Ɓine under his protection and together they reach the safety of an encampment held by the Irish forces in Tipperary. 

The Wrecking Storm by Michael Ward
Book Review

Synopsis

1641.

London.

The poisonous dispute pushing King Charles and Parliament towards Civil War is reaching the point of no return.

Law and order in the city are collapsing as Puritan radicals demand more concessions from the King. Bishops and lords are attacked in the streets as the Apprentice Boys run amok. Criminal gangs use the disorder to mask their activities while the people of London lock their doors and pray for deliverance.

No one is immune from the contagion. Two Jesuit priests are discovered in hiding and

Down a Dark River by Karen Odden
Book Review + Blog Tour Giveaway (US Only)

Publication Date: November 9, 2021
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Series: An Inspector Corravan Mystery #1
Format: Hardcover and ebook, 363 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery

Synopsis

In the vein of C. S. Harris and Anne Perry, Karen Odden’s mystery introduces Inspector Michael Corravan as he investigates a string of vicious murders that has rocked Victorian London’s upper crust.

London, 1878. One April morning, a small boat bearing a young woman’s corpse floats down the murky waters of the Thames. When the victim is identified as Rose Albert, daughter of a prominent judge, the Scotland Yard director gives the case to Michael

The Demon in the House by Angela Thirkell
Book Review

This is the third book in Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire series and recounts the mischief Tony Morland gets up to during school holidays, most of them during the summer break.

Synopsis

This is the frighfully frustrating story of Tony Morland who first appeared in High Rising. A sweeter demon doesn't exist than this 12 year old with a gift for disconcerting remarks and getting what he wants from his mother.

Boys will be boys, and little Morland is no exception, boasting, bragging, breaking windows, messing about in boats and demanding breakfast in bed, all very much to the despair of his mother, Laura. More than anything, Tony is desperate for a bicycle and although Laura is certain he'll come home in

Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell
Book Review

This is the second book of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire series, which focuses on the Leslie family of Rushwater House and their welcome and unwelcome guests.

Synopsis

Pretty, impecunious Mary Preston, newly arrived as a guest of her Aunt Agnes at the magnificent wooded estate of Rushwater, falls head over heels for handsome playboy David Leslie. Meanwhile, Agnes and her mother, the eccentric matriarch Lady Emily, have hopes of a different, more suitable match for Mary. At the lavish Rushwater dance party, her future happiness hangs in the balance...

My Thoughts

I think I may be one of the few people that did not fully appreciate the comedy or the romance in this novel. Having enjoyed High Rising, the first book in the series, I looked forward to this one. Although it started promisingly when Lady Emily and her family are introduced through the observations of the local vicar, I didn't take to

November is AusReading Month!

November has snuck up on me and with it this challenge hosted by Brona @ This Reading Life.

I hope to read and review as many books by Australian authors as I can and perhaps post reviews for books I read earlier this year but didn't review.

A quick sort through my TBR has revealed I have a few books by Australian authors, with a few others ordered from the library that may be available in time. Not sure if I'll be able to read them all, but at

A Letter From Pearl Harbor by Anna Stuart
Book Review

Publication Date: November 5, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction, World War II

Synopsis

Ninety-eight-year-old Ginny McAllister’s last wish is for her granddaughter to complete a treasure hunt containing clues to her past. Clues that reveal her life as one of the first female pilots at Pearl Harbor, and a devastating World War Two secret.

1941, Pearl Harbor: On the morning of December 7th, Ginny is flying her little yellow plane above the sparkling seas when she spots an unknown aircraft closing in on her. She recognises the red symbol of the Japanese fighter planes almost too late. Somehow, she manages to land unscathed but

Six Degrees of Separation: From What Are You Going Through to At Summer's End

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.

This month the starting point is What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez, which centres around a woman dying of cancer. This brought to mind The Winter House by Nicci Gerrard where a group of friends travel to Scotland to be with another friend who is also terminally ill with cancer.

Scotland is the link to my next book, Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel, the first in a Victorian mystery series that features a mismatched pair of detectives. McGray believes that the supernatural is behind many of their cases and Frey believes there is a

High Rising by Angela Thirkell
Book Review

Back in May 2021, Kay @ Whatmeread announced a challenge to read Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire series in order, starting with High Rising in June. While I've managed to keep pace with the reading, my reviews haven't, a situation I'm hoping to remedy before the end of the year.

Synopsis

Successful lady novelist Laura Morland and her boisterous young son Tony set off to spend Christmas at her country home in the sleepy surrounds of High Rising. But Laura's wealthy friend and neighbour George Knox has taken on a scheming secretary whose designs on marriage to her employer threaten the delicate social fabric of the village. Can clever, practical Laura rescue George from Miss Grey's clutches and, what's more, help his daughter

Every Word Unsaid By Kimberly Duffy
Book Review

Publication Date: November 2, 2021
Publisher: Bethany House
Format: Trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook
Length: (368) pages
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense, Inspirational Fiction

Synopsis

Augusta Travers has spent the last three years avoiding the stifling expectations of New York society and her family's constant disappointment. As the nation's most fearless--and reviled--columnist, Gussie travels the country with her Kodak camera and spins stories for women unable to leave hearth and home. But when her adventurous nature lands her in the middle of a scandal, an opportunity to leave America offers the perfect escape.

Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg
Book Review + Blog Tour Giveaway (US only)

eBook Publication Date: October 1, 2021
Publisher: Lion Heart Publishing
Genre: Historical Fiction

Triple-gold-medal-winning author Rebecca Rosenberg serves up a triumphant tale of talent and ambition, love and loss, betrayal and redemption, and accepting yourself and others for who they are.

Synopsis

Champagne, France, 1800
Twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole has inherited Le Nez (an uncanny sense of smell that makes her picky, persnickety, and particularly perceptive) from her great-grandfather, a renowned champagne maker.

Her parents, however, see Le Nez as a curse

Traitor's Knot by Cryssa Bazos
Read an Excerpt

Publication Date: 1st October 2021
Publisher: W.M. Jackson Publishing
Page Length: 450 Pages
Series: Quest for Three Kingdoms
Genre: Historical Fiction/ Historical Romance

Synopsis

England 1650: Civil War has given way to an uneasy peace . . .   

Royalist officer James Hart refuses to accept the tyranny of the new government after the execution of King Charles I, and to raise funds for the restoration of the king’s son, he takes to the road as a highwayman.

 Elizabeth Seton has long been shunned for being a traitor’s daughter. In the midst of the new order, she risks her life by sheltering

Dare the Dark by Bruce Mitchell
Book Review

In Dare the Dark, Bruce Mitchell has set aside his Thornton family saga for the time being to venture into the historical mystery genre.

Synopsis

Sydney, January 1879.

A body with its eye hacked out is found in a suburban street, and a cryptic note promises more. Detectives Kennedy and Walsh scour the city for a crazed killer dubbed ‘Doctor Hacksaw’ by the press.

A female suffrage march turns ugly and Kennedy’s wife Mary defends three accused women in a courtroom drama. Walsh’s partner Victoria Chen has information on a crime boss that could get her killed.

Lives spiral out of control as the body count

The Inns of Devonshire, A Timeless Regency Collection by Sally Britton, Annette Lyon, & Deborah M. Hathaway

Publication Date: October 5, 2021
Publisher: Mirror Press
Series: Timeless Regency Collection (Book 18)
Format: Trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook
Length: (300) pages
Genre: Regency Romance, Historical Romance, Inspirational Fiction

Synopsis

Three novellas, three times the romance, and three times the love . . . in this brand new Timeless Regency Collection

The Seventh Star Inn by Sally Britton

After years of looking after one another, Susan Baxter and her mother view their neighbors in Totnes as family. When a new landlord inherits

Eleonora and Joseph by Julieta Almeida Rodrigues
Book Blast + Giveaway (US only)

Publication Date: July 21, 2020
Publisher: New Academia Publishing/The Spring
Format: Paperback & eBook; 198 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/Biographical

Synopsis

The novel opens with aristocratic Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel pleading with the High Court of Naples to be beheaded instead of hanged like a criminal. One of the leading revolutionaries of her time, Eleonora contributed to the establishment of the Neapolitan Republic, based on the ideals of the French Revolution. Imprisoned in 1799 after the return of the Bourbon Monarchy - due to her work as editor-in-chief of Il Monitore Napoletano - and while waiting to be sentenced, she writes a memoir. Here, she discusses not only her revolutionary

Darjeeling Inheritance by Liz Harris
Book Review

Publication Date: 1st October 2021
Publisher: Heywood Press
Page Length: 365 pages
Series: The Colonials
Genre: Historical Romance

Synopsis

Darjeeling, 1930

After eleven years in school in England, Charlotte Lawrence returns to Sundar, the tea plantation owned by her family, and finds an empty house. She learns that her beloved father died a couple of days earlier and that he left her his estate. She learns also that it was his wish that she marry Andrew McAllister, the good-looking younger son from a neighbouring plantation.   

Unwilling to commit to a wedding for which she doesn’t feel ready, Charlotte pleads with

Six Degrees of Separation: From The Lottery to Falling Creatures

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.

This month the starting point is The Lottery, a short story by Shirley Jackson. I read this yesterday, which means this is one of those rare occasions where I come into this meme better prepared.

The Lottery is a disturbing story, set in America, where a village gathers for their annual lottery, a tradition to ensure a good harvest. The winner, however, is not as happy as you would expect a lottery winner to be.

Supersition and bizarre rituals immediatley brought to mind The Wicker Man by Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer. This is the

The Limits of Limelight by Margaret Porter
Book Review + Giveaway (International)

Publication Date: September 14, 2021
Publisher: Gallica Press
Format: Paperback & eBook; 412 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Pretty Oklahoma teenager Helen Nichols accepts an invitation from her cousin, rising movie actress Ginger Rogers, and her Aunt Lela, to try her luck in motion pictures. Her relatives, convinced that her looks and personality will ensure success, provide her with a new name and help her land a contract with RKO. As Phyllis Fraser, she swiftly discovers that Depression-era Hollywood’s surface glamour and glitter obscure the ceaseless struggle of the hopeful starlet.

Lela Rogers, intensely devoted to her daughter and her niece, outwardly accepting

Guest Post + Giveaway (International)
from A. E. Chandler, Author of The Scarlet Forest: A Tale of Robin Hood

Synopsis

You are invited underneath the great greenwood tree to hear how a young man became a hero, and a hero became a legend. When Robin takes a shortcut through Sherwood Forest, the path he chooses leads not to Nottingham’s archery contest, but to a life on the run from the law. Unable now to become a knight, and joined by his childhood friends, Robin Hood leads the most infamous outlaw band ever to evade the king and his sheriff.

Blending true history with new stories, popular inaccuracies, and some almost forgotten medieval legends, The Scarlet Forest: A Tale of Robin Hood brings a new life to the greenwood, which here feels as fresh as it does traditional. With an academic background in medieval English studies, A. E. Chandler captivates with this unique and nuanced reinterpretation

A Lesson in Murder by Verity Bright
Book Review

Publication Date: September 14, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #7
Format: ebook and print
Genre: Historical Fiction/Cosy Mystery

Synopsis

When Lady Swift is invited to her old school, she walks through familiar classrooms, finds her favourite books in the library… and surely that’s not a body? Time for a lesson in murder!

Autumn, 1921. Lady Eleanor Swift is invited to her old school, St Mary’s, as a guest speaker. Her favourite teacher, Mrs Wadsworth, has asked that Eleanor talk about her intrepid travels around the globe – travelling the Silk Road by bicycle, crossing the Himalayas and even befriending the Maharaja of India. But in the circumstances, perhaps it would have

The Spirited Mrs. Pringle by Jillianne Hamilton
Book Review + Blog Tour Giveaway (US Only)

Publication Date: June 30, 2021
Publisher: Tomfoolery Press
Format: Paperback and ebook
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

LONDON, 1888.

Upon the death of her husband, self-involved social climber Cora Pringle assumes her recent dalliance with a wealthy gentleman will be her second chance at a happily ever after. That is until her paramour turns out to be a penniless imposter. Despite his betrayal, Cora can’t quite let go of the tug the handsome playwright has on her heart.

Desperate for an income, Cora becomes a sĆ©ance-performing spiritualist and gets a taste for celebrity—and it’s so delicious. So what if

The Matchmaker's Lonely Heart by Nancy Campbell Allen
Book Review

Publication Date: September 7, 2021
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Length: (336) pages
Format: Trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook
Genre: Historical Romance, Historical Mystery/Suspense, Inspirational Fiction

Synopsis

London, 1885

Amelie Hampton is a hopeless romantic, which makes her the perfect columnist to answer lonely heart letters in The Marriage Gazette. When Amelie plays matchmaker with two anonymous lonely hearts, she also decides to secretly observe the couple's blind date. To her surprise, the man who appears for the rendezvous is Harold Radcliffe―a grieving

The Queen of the Citadels by Dominic Fielder
Read an Excerpt

Book Cover
Publication Date: 26th August 2021
Publisher: Independently Published
Series: The King’s Germans, Book 3
Page Length: 550 Pages
Genre: Historical Military Fiction

Synopsis

October 1793: The French border.

Dunkirk was a disaster for the Duke of York’s army. The French, sensing victory before the winter, launch attacks along the length of the border. Menen is captured and the French now hold the whip hand. Nieuport and Ostend are threatened, and Sebastian Krombach finds himself involved in a desperate plan to stop the Black Lions as they spearhead the French advance. Werner Brandt and the men of 2nd Battalion race to Menen to

Six Degrees of Separation: From Second Place to The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

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.

This month the starting point is Second Place by Rachel Cusk, a novel I haven't read, in which an artist plays a major role.

Art and painting is the obvious way to go for that first link, and indeed that's where I'm heading with this novel by another Rachel, The Glass Painter's Daughter by Rachel Hore. The story does involve painting, but in a different medium: stained glass.

Creating pictures of glass leads me to animals made of glass in Tennessee William's popular play The Glass Menagerie. Whilst I haven't read the play, I do remember the 1950 film

The Merchant and the Rogue by Sarah M. Eden
Book Review

Publication Date: August 17, 2021
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Format: Trade paperback, Audiobook and eBook
Length: (368) pages
Series: Book 3 in The Dread Penny Society
Genre: Historical Romance, Historical Mystery/Suspense, Inspirational Fiction

Synopsis

London, 1865

Vera Sorokina loves reading the Penny Dreadfuls and immersing herself in tales of adventure, mystery, and romance. Her own days are filled with the often-mundane work of running the book and print shop she owns with her father. The shop offers her the freedom and income to employ and protect the poverty-stricken Londoners she's come to care about,

RIP XVI (Readers Imbibing Peril)
01/09/2021 - 31/10/2021

It's that time of year where we rummage through our TBR piles in search of those dark and spooky books suitable for this challenge.

There are no hard and fast rules. Just grab a book or as many as you like which fit any of the following classifications: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror or Supernatural, and read them during September and October.

You can follow along on Instagram or Twitter, and if you post, use the tags @perilreaders and #ripxvi. Even if you're not a social media user, you

The Queen's Spy by Clare Marchant
Book Review

book cover
Publication Date: 8th July 2021
Publisher: Avon
Format: Print, ebook and audio
Page Length: 400 Pages
Genre: Historical Dual Timeline

Synopsis

1584: Elizabeth I rules England. But a dangerous plot is brewing in court, and Mary Queen of Scots will stop at nothing to take her cousin’s throne. There’s only one thing standing in her way: Tom, the queen’s trusted apothecary, who makes the perfect silent spy…

2021: Travelling the globe in her campervan, Mathilde has never belonged anywhere. So when she receives news of an inheritance, she is shocked to discover she has a family in

The Paris Wife by Meghan Masterson
Book Review

Publication Date: August 18, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: Paperback & ebook
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Paris, 1856. In a world ruled by men, one woman holds the fate of a nation in her hands.

When Livia leaves behind the bronzed hills of Italy for the rain-soaked streets of Paris, she feels lost and alone. Trapped in an icy marriage, she longs to return to her life as a doctor’s daughter. To a simpler time when she could use her healing skills to help people. But her husband’s diplomatic work launches her into French high society. And soon she befriends Elisabetta, Napoleon III's clever and beautiful mistress.

The Girls from the Beach by Andie Newton
Book Blast

Digital Publication Date: July 8, 2021
Paperback Publication Date: January 2022
Publisher: Aria Fiction
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

'We'd heard stories about the nurses in tent seven. A secret mission, stolen money, and spies...'

In 1944, four American nurses disappeared for five days. No one knew what happened to them. Until now.

When Kit and Red set foot on French soil during the Normandy landings, they know they have to rely on each other. As they head for the battlefield, their aim is simple: save lives. But when they're called away on a top-secret

Beyond the Olive Grove by Kate Hewitt
Book Review

Publication Date:13 August , 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The place seemed utterly still, the only sound was the wind rustling high in the pines above. Standing there, realizing she didn’t even know which house had belonged to her grandmother, Ava wondered just how crazy and desperate she’d been to come all this way with no hope or plan.

When Ava arrives in Greece, it’s with a heart that’s shattered into a thousand pieces. But as she pulls up in a tiny village nestled on a cliff above the glittering Ionian Sea, and steps out in front of a tumbledown house that once

The Barrister and the Letter of Marque by Todd M. Johnson - Book Review

Publication Date: August 3, 2021
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Length: (416) pages
Format: Hardcover ISBN: 978-0764239137, Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0764212369, eBook ASIN: B08LG91Y95, Audiobook ASIN: B0983VZ6XZ
Genre: Historical Mystery, Suspense, Inspirational Fiction

Synopsis

As a barrister in 1818 London, William Snopes has witnessed firsthand the danger of only the wealthy having their voices heard, and he's a strong advocate who defends the poorer classes against the powerful. That changes the day a struggling heiress, Lady Madeleine Jameson, arrives at his door.

In a last-ditch effort to save her faltering

The Secret Diary by Anna Stuart
Book Review

Publication Date: August 3, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Two women. One house. And a wartime secret that spans decades…

Norfolk, 1945: Only a few months ago Nancy Jones was fighting for her country as a gunner girl. Now she’s struggling to adjust to her responsibilities as a gamekeeper’s wife. After a whirlwind romance, Nancy is deeply in love with her handsome husband Joe but there is still so much they don’t know about each other. When a secret from Nancy’s war years threatens to resurface, will the terrible truth about the worst night of her life shatter their

The Rainbow by Carly Schabowski
Book Review

Publication Date: July 28, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

There, on the dusty floorboards, was a piece of paper, folded neatly. A newspaper article from 1941, written in German, alongside a faded picture of two men in Nazi uniforms staring at the camera. I was about to place it back in the box of forgotten things when something in the text jumped out at me. My breath caught in my chest. I know that name.

London, present day. Isla has grown up hearing her beloved grandad’s stories about his life as a child in pre-war Poland and as a young soldier bravely fighting the Germans to protect his people. So she is shocked and

Footprints and Friendships
A Guest Post from Gail Ward Olmsted, author of Landscape of a Marriage

“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.” 

Eleanor Roosevelt’s words perfectly articulate how I feel about the importance of friendship. I value my friends and try to be worthy of them. I am fortunate to have a select group of loyal friends, ‘my people’, the family that I have chosen to be an integral part of my life. Their

Lying with Lions by Annabel Fielding
Book Review

Publication Date: June 21, 2021
Publisher: Anastasia Rydaeva
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery/Gothic

Synopsis

Edwardian England. Agnes Ashford knows that her duty is threefold: she needs to work on cataloguing the archive of the titled Bryant family, she needs to keep the wounds of her past tightly under wraps, and she needs to be quietly grateful to her employers for taking her up in her hour of need. However, a dark secret she uncovers due to her work thrusts her into the Bryants’ brilliant orbit - and into the clutch of their ambitions.

They are prepared to take the new century head-on and fight for their preeminent position and political survival tooth and nail -

The Lost Girl of Berlin by Ella Carey
Book Review

Publication Date: July 12, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: Daughters of New York #2
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The truck stopped for a moment in the freezing, bombed-out street and Kate caught sight of a little girl in a ragged dress on the steps of a once-beautiful mansion. The child’s eyes were startling blue, a pair of endless pools, drawing Kate towards her…

1946, Berlin. War correspondent Kate Mancini is in Germany, reporting on the aftermath of the devastating war. For her readers back home in New York, she tells the stories of innocent families, trying to rebuild the

John Eyre by Mimi Matthews
Book Review

Publication Date: July 20, 2021
Publisher: Perfectly Proper Press
Length: (364) pages
Format: Hardcover, Trade Paperback & eBook
Genre: historical fiction, Gothic romance, paranormal fiction

Synopsis

Yorkshire, 1843. When disgraced former schoolmaster John Eyre arrives at Thornfield Hall to take up a position as tutor to two peculiar young boys, he enters a world unlike any he's ever known. Darkness abounds, punctuated by odd bumps in the night, strange creatures on the moor, and a sinister silver mist that never seems to dissipate. And at the center of it all, John's new employer—a widow as alluring as she is mysterious.

The Ice Swan by J'nell Ciesielski
Book Review

Publication Date: July 6, 2021
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Format: eBook & Paperback; 400 pages
Genre: Historical Romance

Synopsis

Amid the violent last days of the glittering Russian monarchy, a princess on the run finds her heart where she least expects it.

1917, Petrograd. Fleeing the murderous flames of the Russian Revolution, Princess Svetlana Dalsky hopes to find safety in Paris with her mother and sister. But the city is buckling under the weight of the Great War, and the Bolsheviks will not rest until they have erased every Russian aristocrat from memory. Svetlana and her family are forced into hiding in Paris' underbelly, with little to their name but

America's Promise by Celeste De Blasis
Book Review

Publication Date: July 8, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: America's Daughter Trilogy, Book 3
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

A gripping, heart-wrenching story of love and betrayal across the boundary of the American Revolutionary War. The next captivating story for readers who loved My Dear Hamilton, Flight of the Sparrow and Outlander.

Synopsis

1780. Addie looks around at the soldiers celebrating their latest victory. American independence is within reach, but her heart feels heavy with grief. With her husband gone, she must leave the army camp, and the people she has come to love, and choose a