SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION: From A Christmas Carol to Mr. Dickens and His Carol

It's the beginning of a new month which means it's 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 another book I've read a number of times and which remains one of my Christmas favourites, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

So where to from here? Do I go the easy route and stick with the Christmas theme or tax my brain a little to come up with other links? I've tried to do both.

A Christmas Carol is a novella. This links to one that I've recently read. It is also set in Victorian England during

BOOK REVIEW/BLOG TOUR: The Monastery Murders by E.M. Powell

Publication Date: September 27, 2018
Thomas & Mercer
Paperback & eBook; 288 Pages
ISBN-13: 978-1503903241
Series: Stanton and Barling #2
Genre: Historical Mystery

Synopsis

Their lives are ones of quiet contemplation—and brutal murder.

Christmas Eve, 1176. Brother Maurice, monk of Fairmore Abbey, awaits the night prayer bell. But there is only silence. Cursing his fellow brother

A Top 35 Historical Book Blog!

I am very surprised and pleased to have received this award from Feedspot. Thank you!

My fellow recipients are some of the popular and well-respected historical book blogs on the internet today. I am very flattered that A Darn Good Read is ranked amongst them.

The complete list and the criteria used for selection can be viewed here.

BOOK REVIEW/BLOG TOUR: The Blue by Nancy Bilyeau

Publication Date: December 3, 2018
Endeavour Quill
eBook & Hardcover; 430 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

Synopsis

In eighteenth century London, porcelain is the most seductive of commodities; fortunes are made and lost upon it. Kings do battle with knights and knaves for possession of the finest pieces and the secrets of their manufacture.

For Genevieve Planché, an English-born descendant of Huguenot refugees, porcelain holds far less allure;

BOOK REVIEW/BLOG TOUR: A Holiday by Gaslight: A Victorian Christmas Novella by Mimi Matthews

Publication Date: November 13, 2018
Perfectly Proper Press
eBook & Paperback; 172 Pages
Genre: Historical Romance/Christmas/Novella

Synopsis

A Courtship of Convenience

Sophie Appersett is quite willing to marry outside of her class to ensure the survival of her family. But the darkly handsome Mr. Edward Sharpe is no run-of-the-mill London merchant. He's grim and silent. A man of little emotion--or perhaps no emotion at all. After two months

BOOK REVIEW/BLOG TOUR: A Pivotal Right by K.A. Servian

Publication Date: August 15, 2018
Paperback & eBook
Series: Shaking the Tree, Book #2
Genre: Historical/Romance/Victorian

Synopsis

Florence struggled for breath as she stared into the face of a ghost. "Jack?"

Twenty years after being forced apart Jack and Florence have been offered a second chance at love. But can they find their way back to each other through all the misunderstandings, guilt and pain?

And what of their daughter, Viola? Her plan to become a doctor is based on the belief she has inherited her gift her medicine from Emile, the man she believed was her father. How will she reconcile her future with the discovery that she is Jack's child?

BOOK REVIEW/BLOG TOUR: The Price of Compassion by A.B. Michaels

Publication Date: August 27, 2018
Red Trumpet Press
eBook; 296 Pages
Series: Golden City, Book #4
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

Synopsis

April 18, 1906. San Francisco has just been shattered by a massive earthquake and is in the throes of an even more deadly fire.

During the chaos, gifted surgeon Tom Justice makes a life-changing decision that wreaks havoc on his body,

BOOK BLAST: The Petticoat Letters (Rebels of the Revolution #1) by Kelly Lyman

Publication Date: November 6, 2017
Blue Tulip Publishing
Paperback & eBook; 349 Pages
Genre: Historical Romance

Synopsis

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, Nora Bishop’s home is burned to the ground—along with her dreams, plans and all her family members except one. At 20-years-old and still unmarried, she moves to Manhattan to live with her Loyalist uncle, hoping to find her brother who has joined the Patriot cause against her late family’s wishes. But, battle breaks out

BOOK BLAST: Child of Love and Water by D.K. Marley

Publication Date: October 19, 2018
The White Rabbit Publishing
eBook; 291 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The year is 1722. A child is born on the isolated island of Ospo off the Georgia coast. In the midst of General Oglethorpe's vision for this new land, and the emerging townships of Frederica and Savannah, four lives entwine together on this island like the woven fronds in a sea-grass basket - the orphaned Irish girl born free of hate or prejudice, a war-ravaged British soldier seeking forgiveness and absolution, a

BOOK REVIEW/BLOG TOUR: Lady of a Thousand Treasures by Sandra Byrd

Publication Date: October 9, 2018
Tyndale House Publishers
Hardcover, Paperback, & eBook; 480 Pages
Series: The Victorian Ladies Series, #1
Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance

Synopsis

Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers

BOOK BLAST: The Notorious Black Bart 1883 by A.E. Wasserman

Publication Date: August 29, 2018
Archway Publishing
Paperback; 124 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/Western

Synopsis

Englishman Lord Langsford is leaving California after an adventurous visit, but finds more excitement in a Dime Novel that he shares with his two fellow travelers on the train bound to New York: This is the embellished but true tale of Black Bart and Special Agent James B. Hume of Wells Fargo & Company.

It’s California gold country and the notorious Black

BOOK REVIEW/BLOG TOUR: A Duel for Christmas by Rosanne E. Lortz

Publication Date: October 1, 2018
Madison Street Publishing
Paperback & eBook; 383 Pages
Series: Pevensey Mysteries, #3
Genre: Romantic Suspense/Regency

Synopsis

After seven long years in Devon, Lady Maud Worlington returns to London to reclaim life on her own terms, but a nefarious shadow and the prospect of financial ruin dog her steps. An impulsive and unforgettable kiss under the mistletoe creates a connection with Geoffrey, the handsome, young Duke