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 séance-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

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

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