Happy Sunday! Sip along with your lukewarm coffee from this morning, click the pics to visit other virtual reading rooms.. tell us..what are you reading this week??
I have not done a salon post in a long while, so this is a biggie! I have been enjoying the weekends with the family and busy making life wonderful for everyone! It's going to be a great summer.. if only I could stop working, life would be just perfect!
And of course I have been READING READING so that my wonderful followers could enjoy some new reviews at The Burton Review, and I posted two for you this week. And I have some scheduled to come so we are rocking and rolling here! Of the year 2010, published reviews to date are 33 reviews posting for 24 weeks of the year so far. You can see the links to all of my reviews here.
I have been reading some fabulous books by debut authors lately which I have already shared with your this week. New reviews this week are My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira which is a new release that details a young woman's journey through the horrors of the Civil War in America. I really enjoyed this book, it was a perfect summer weekend read that I was loathe to put down.
Another great read that I reviewed this week was an unexpected treat with a young adult novel The Queen's Daughter by Susan Coventry which was about the famous Eleanor of Aquitaine's not so famous daughter Joan. I was very eager to read this story and started on it almost immediately after receiving it and was another one that I couldn't put down. I was pleasantly surprised that a young adult novel could be so entertaining, and the writing did not turn me off at all.
And after these great reads, I picked up book number two in The Morland Dynasty, The Dark Rose. Sentence number two in the foreword totally turned me off as it is totally inaccurate. The book deals with Tudor times and many of my followers know how I am a Tudor Book Lover, so when something is totally off base, my eyes roll. And they continued to roll through the novel. These characters are mean spirited and negative, and have a severe lack of morals. I despise people who breed contempt and negativity, in real life and in my reads. So it's been a real trial to get this book completed and would have loved to not finish it. But I will finish it today and move on to something a bit more accurate with characters that I would like to share my heart with.
I think after this read I will pick up a new release titled This Must Be The Place by Kate Raccaulia, another Debut Author!
A sudden death, a never-mailed postcard, and a longburied secret set the stage for a luminous and heartbreakingly real novel about lost souls finding one another..
The Darby-Jones boardinghouse in Ruby Falls, New York, is home to Mona Jones and her daughter, Oneida, two loners and self-declared outcasts who have formed a perfectly insular family unit: the two of them and the three eclectic boarders living in their house. But their small, quiet life is upended when Arthur Rook shows up in the middle of a nervous breakdown, devastated by the death of his wife, carrying a pink shoe box containing all his wife's mementos and keepsakes, and holding a postcard from sixteen years ago, addressed to Mona but never sent. Slowly the contents of the box begin to fit together to tell a story—one of a powerful friendship, a lost love, and a secret that, if revealed, could change everything that Mona, Oneida, and Arthur know to be true. Or maybe the stories the box tells and the truths it brings to life will teach everyone about love—how deeply it runs, how strong it makes us, and how even when all seems lost, how tightly it brings us together. With emotional accuracy and great energy, This Must Be the Place introduces memorable, charming characters that refuse to be forgotten.
Sounds very intriguing.. I can't wait to start it... but must finish The Dark Rose first.
This week the next Round Table starts, and we are hosting Catherine Delors and her newest novel, For The King. Visit http://historicalfictionroundtable.com/ for more details! This novel is great for those who like Mystery mixed with History!
The Tudor Mania Challenge has one more month to go. Enter your new Tudor Reviews here and there will be a winner of any book $15 in value from The Book Depository! So far the winning number is two Tudor Book reviews each for myself and Living and Loving in California! You have time to catch up! I will be posting some more Tudor Book reviews soon!
I hit four hundred followers this week. Which is great, I love you guys and totally appreciate your support. You are the reason I keep going! One more thing.. there is a brand new site called Historical Fiction Connection, and you can be a contributor there!
What have you been reading lately? Anything that pleasantly surprised you this week? Leave me the link to your reviews this week and I'll come visit!
And a sneaky giveaway... for my loyal followers, and new followers.. (become a follower)!
Comment here with a book review you posted this week, and you will be entered in a drawing for my two used/read ARC's of Cynthia Harrod Eagles' books one and two of The Morland Dynasty!
You must also leave a link to a recent review you posted.
Winner must be a follower and leave me your email address so I can contact you.
For an extra entry, facebook or tweet this post leaving me the link in your comment.
And for two more extra entries, post this graphic on your Blog and link to this post.
This Giveaway ends July 2nd. One winner gets both gently read ARC's and this is open to USA and Canada residents ONLY.
Good Luck, and thanks again to my followers for sticking with me. XXOO
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