In the Shadow of a Queen by Heather B. Moore Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: October 4, 2022
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Length: (384) pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook 
Genre: Historical Fiction, Inspirational Fiction

Synopsis

Based on the True Story of the Free-Spirited Daughter of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise’s life is upended after her father’s untimely death. Captive to the queen’s overwhelming mourning, Louise is forbidden to leave her mother’s tight circle of control and is eventually relegated to the position of personal secretary to her mother―the same position each of her sisters held until they were married. Already an accomplished painter, Louise risks the queen’s wrath by exploring the art of sculpting, an activity

Millstone of Doubt by Erica Vetsch Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: September 20, 2022
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Series: Thorndike and Swann Regency Mysteries #2
Format: Trade paperback & eBook
Length: (304) pages
Genre: Historical Mystery, Historical Romance, Inspirational Fiction

Synopsis

A Bow Street Runner and a debutante in London Society use their skills to find the killer of a wealthy businessman, but the killer’s secrets aren’t the only ones they will uncover.

Caught in the explosion of the Hammersmith Mill in London, Bow Street runner Daniel Swann rushes to help any survivors only to find the mill's owner dead of an apparent

A Turbulent Peace by Paul Walker Read an Excerpt

Publication Date: July 2022
Publisher: Sharpe Books
Page Length: 305 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

January 1919.  

Following the armistice, Mary Kiten, a volunteer nurse in northern France, is ready to return home to England when she receives a surprise telegram requesting that she report to Paris. The call comes from her Uncle Arthur, a security chief at the Peace Conference.

Within minutes of arriving at the Majestic Hotel in Paris, Mary hears a commotion in the street outside. A man has been shot and killed. She is horrified to earn that the victim is her uncle. The

Top Ten Tuesday Books On My Spring 2022 To-Read 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

20 Books of Summer (Winter) 2022 - Wrap Up

This reading challenge was hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books and ran from June 1st to September 1st, the winter months here in Australia.

In that time, I read a total of twenty five books and wrote reviews for nine. I still have some reviews in the draft stage which will be posted at a later date.

My list was drawn from my NetGalley shelf (which included titles for book

My Name is Ona Judge by Suzette D. Harrison Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: September 6, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

New Hampshire, 1796. “My name is Ona Judge, and I escaped from the household of the President of the United States. I was the favored maid of George and Martha Washington, but they deemed me a slave and thought me property, and I hear ten dollars is offered as reward for my capture. Now I must write the truth that I have lived, and tell my story…”

Chincoteague, Virginia, present day. Rain soaks Tessa Scott as she runs from her car to the old, vine-covered property she has been

Death Down the Aisle by Verity Bright Book Review - Blog Tour

Publication Date: August 31, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #11
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Cosy Mystery

Synopsis

The society wedding of the decade has everything: the blushing bride, beautiful flowers… and the groom arrested before he can walk down the aisle? Thank goodness Lady Swift is on the guest list!

Lady Eleanor Swift isn’t normally one for grand social occasions, but who can resist a wedding? Especially when it’s her old friend, Constance Grainger, marrying the most eligible bachelor in town, Lord Peregrine Davencourt. Eleanor is taking Gladstone the

Where the Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen Book Review

Synopsis

London, 1940. Bombs fall and Josie Banks’s world crumbles around her. Her overbearing husband, Stan, is unreachable, called to service. Her home, a ruin of rubble and ash. Josie’s beloved tearoom boss has been killed, and Josie herself is injured, with nothing left and nowhere to go.

Evacuated to the English countryside, Josie ends up at the estate of the aristocratic Miss Harcourt, a reluctant host to the survivors of the Blitz. Awed as she is by the magnificent landscape, Josie sees opportunity. Josie convinces Miss Harcourt to let her open a humble tea shop, seeing it as a chance for everyone to begin again. When Josie meets Mike Johnson, a handsome Canadian pilot stationed at a neighboring bomber base, a

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare Book Review

Synopsis

The glittering RMS Queen Mary. A nightclub singer on the run. An aristocratic family with secrets worth killing for.

London, 1936. Lena Aldridge wonders if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn't worked out. Instead, she's stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho, and her married lover has just left her. But Lena has always had a complicated life, one shrouded in mystery as a mixed-race girl passing for white in a city unforgiving of her true racial heritage.

She's feeling utterly hopeless until a stranger offers her the chance of a lifetime: a starring role on Broadway and a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary bound for New York. After a

Spell the Month in Books - August 2022

Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on her blog Reviews from the Stacks on the second Saturday of each month.

The aim is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. Easy! More information here.

I've watched this challenge doing the rounds for sometime now, but never joined in. Usually because I missed when it was due. Today, however, I made it!

The Secret Keeper by Siobhan Curham Book Review

Publication Date: July 27, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: Print, ebook and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Womens Fiction

Synopsis

Nazi-occupied Paris, 1942. “I want to create a world where we are free to be together, to be in love,” he whispered. I gulp down the sobs building in my throat. “I want that too. I’ll come back to you. I swear I’ll come back.”

Elena Garcia knows that the mission she has been tasked with is her most dangerous yet. With a tearful goodbye to the man she has grown to love, the dark-eyed and warm-hearted Santiago Lozano, she hurries to catch the train to the drop-off point, the coded maps she is delivering for the resistance concealed

Six in Six is Back for 2022!

Another July has come around which means it's time for this fun meme hosted by Jo @ The Book Jotter, now in its tenth year.

The aim of Six in Six is to share what we've read in the first six months of the year by choosing six of the categories given and listing six books under each category. More information and the list of categories can be found here.

This meme is a great way to look back on what you've read so far in the year and to see any emerging trends. Looking at what I've read over the past six months,