2022 Reading Challenges - Wrap Up
This is my wrap-up post for the various challenges I participated in during 2022. I failed most of them. In hindsight I probably set my goals too high (I based them on my 2021 results).
Sisters of Castle Leod by Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard
Book Review - Blog Tour
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Page Length: 293
Genre: Historical Fiction, Biographical Historical Fiction
Cover Art: oil on glass painting, © Alison Hale, https://alisonhale.co.nz/
Synopsis
**Finalist in the 2022 American Writing Awards**
Millions are fans of Diana Gabaldon’s popular Outlander books and television series, but few know that Gabaldon’s fictional Castle Leoch was inspired by a real Scottish castle, Castle Leod. The two sisters who lived there at the turn of the twentieth century were among the most fascinating and talked-about
The Case of the Disappearing Beaune: A Sherlock Holmes Christmas Mystery by J. Lawrence Matthews
A Short Book Review
When sand is found substituted for the wine in a bottle of Beaune, a Christmas gift from Holmes to Watson, Holmes fears that the new king's (Edward VII) life is in danger. What follows is a madcap dash around London, with Holmes and Watson one step behind those they are pursuing, ending with a delightful twist, making this a very heartwarming novella.
While not the mystery I anticipated, it was very entertaining and shows that the great detective could be outwitted. A great Christmas read!
Thanks to Ellen Whitfield of Books Forward for a review copy.
The Rose and the Thistle by Laura Frantz
Book Review - Blog Tour
Publisher: Fleming H. Revell Co
Length: (416) pages
Format: Hardcover, Trade paperback & eBook
Genre: Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Inspirational Fiction
Synopsis
In 1715, Lady Blythe Hedley's father is declared an enemy of the British crown because of his Jacobite sympathies, forcing her to flee her home in northern England. Secreted to the tower of Wedderburn Castle in Scotland, Lady Blythe awaits who will ultimately be crowned king. But in a house with seven sons and numerous servants, her presence soon becomes known.
Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer
Book Review
Good old Uncle Willie - rich, truculent and seemingly propped up by his fierce willpower alone - has come to stay with the Redpaths for the holidays. It is just their luck for him to be found dead the morning after Christmas day, dressed in his Santa Claus costume, seemingly poisoned by his favourite chocolates. Or was there something sinister in the mince pies? If so, was it the ones stashed in his room or those sent to him mysteriously by post? More importantly, since his will was recently redrafted, who stands to gain by this unseasonable crime?
First published in 1944, Murder After Christmas is a lively riot of murder, mince pies and misdirection, cleverly playing with beloved murder mystery tropes to create
Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden
Book Review - Blog Tour
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books>br> Series: An Inspector Corravan Mystery (Book 2)
Length: (336) pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook
Genre: Historical Mystery, Detective Mystery, Victorian Mystery
Synopsis
September 1878. One night, as the pleasure boat the Princess Alice makes her daily trip up the Thames, she collides with the Bywell Castle, a huge iron-hulled collier. The Princess Alice shears apart, throwing all 600 passengers into the river; only 130 survive. It is the worst maritime disaster London has ever seen, and early clues point to sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who
Top Ten Tuesday
Books on My Summer 2022-2023 To-Read List
The Sisters of Sea View by Julie Klassen
Book Review - Blog Tour
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Series: On Devonshire Shores (Book 1)
Length: (448) pages
Format: hardcover, trade paperback, & eBook
Genre: Historical Romance, Regency Romance, Inspirational Fiction
Synopsis
Some guests have come for a holiday, others for hidden reasons of their own . . .
When their father's death leaves them impoverished, Sarah Summers and her genteel sisters fear they will be forced to sell the house and separate to earn livelihoods as governesses or companions. Determined to stay together, Sarah convinces them to open their seaside home to guests to make ends
The Hearts of All on Fire by Alana White
Spotlight
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Series: The Guid’Antonio Historical Mysteries
Page Length: 392
Genre: Historical Mystery
Synopsis
Florence, 1473. An impossible murder. A bitter rivalry. A serpent in the ranks.
Florentine investigator Guid’Antonio Vespucci returns to Florence from a government mission to find his dreams of success shattered. Life is good—but then a wealthy merchant dies from mushroom poisoning at Guid’Antonio’s Saint John’s Day table, and Guid’Antonio’s servant is charged with murder. Convinced of the youth’s innocence and fearful the killer may strike again
Murder in an Irish Castle by Verity Bright
Book Review - Blog Tour
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #12
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Cosy Mystery
Synopsis
Irish whiskey, rolling green hills, a traditional Christmas feast and… a murder? Lady Swift will need the luck of the Irish to survive this holiday season!
Christmas, 1923. Lady Eleanor Swift has received a rather unexpected invitation to the village Christmas party in the tiny, rural hamlet of Derrydee in the west of Ireland. Eleanor is thrilled about exploring her ancestral roots at her late uncle’s estate and spending the festive season in a castle. Packing Gladstone the bulldog’s coziest Christmas jumper, they
The Brightest Star by Emma Harcourt
Book Review
1496. It is the height of the Renaissance and its flowering of intellectual and artistic endeavour, but the city state of Florence is in the grip of fundamentalist preacher Friar Girolamo Savonarola. Its good people believe the Lord speaks through him, just as certainly as the Sun circles the Earth.
For Leonarda Lunetta, eldest daughter of the learned Signore Vincenzo Fusili, religion is not as interesting as the books she shares with her beloved father. Reading is an escape from the ridicule flung her way, for Luna is not like other girls. She was born with a misshapen leg and that, and her passion for intellectual pursuits - particularly astronomy - alters how society sees her and how she sees the world.
Literary Christmas 2022 Reading Challenge
My Sign Up Post
Challenge period: Now to 31st December, 2022
Sign Up: Now
Aim: To read and review as many Christmas-themed titles as you can from a list you
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