Visit Svea's blog at The Muse in The Fog Book Review to start linking up your Sunday posts! Suddenly Sunday is a weekly event hosted by Svea whose purpose is to share all the exciting events that have occurred on your blog throughout the week.
Mailbox Monday is a meme originally from Marcia's Mailbox and is being hosted by Lori @ Lori's Reading Corner this January.
The What Are You Reading meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where we keep track of what we are currently reading and plan to read.
2013 started with a bang as I whizzed through Chadwick's Shadows and Strongholds, and then started the next book in the timeline, Lords of the White Castle. Chadwick is becoming my ultimate favorite author, so it seems perhaps I ought to pick up a Sharon Kay Penman soon so I can have them battle in my head for the title of my favorite medieval era author ;)
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| Finishing this one over the weekend.. |
Since 2013 is going to be about reading for me and what I want when I want, I also am excited about a new Goodreads group meant for recommending Classic Historical Fiction! I know there are zillions of matriarchs/patriarchs of Historical Fiction that I have not even heard of before, and I hope to find some goodies to read after following the discussions from the group. Since last June, my goal is to read more of the oldies, but I need more of an education on them first so I can separate the 'dry' storytellers to the ones that will keep me engaged. I had attempted to read Edith Pargeter a few years ago, and BLAH I could not follow through.
And going back to the currently reading discussion is the glorious fact that I am still managing to keep up with my plan to read the Bible in 180 Days which is also a Goodreads Group. I am so eager to get to the New Testament and get to know Jesus better, but I know I must learn the history as well! I just watched Ben Hur in the Charlton Heston cartoon version with the kiddos and that was pretty good!
And we are staunch Seattle Seahawks fans in this Texan home, so I ask that you pray for us.
Posted this week on the blog:
Review: The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen by Syrie James
Enter for the giveaway of above at my other site at HF-Connection, giveaway is ending shortly.
In the Mail....
For Review for the Historical Novel Society:
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| yucky cover, agreed?? |
Josiah's Treasure by Nancy Herriman
I read Herriman's last one, The Irish Healer, and it was pretty good. Not fantastic amazing, but good. I am hoping this one steps it up a notch, but with that weird cover that just irks me, who knows.
In 1882 Sarah Whittier dreams of opening an art studio run by immigrant women. She plans to use the house left to her by family friend Josiah Cady as collateral for her studio. But will all be lost when the inheritance is challenged by an angry man claiming to be Josiah’s son and legal heir? Rumor of gold nuggets hidden in the house place Sarah’s life in danger. Her future uncertain and her safety threatened, Sarah has nowhere to turn. That is, unless she can soften a vengeful man’s heart – and they both learn that love is finer than any gold.
From PaperbackSwap:
Poison: A Novel of the Renaissance by Sara Poole (2010)
In the simmering hot summer of 1492, a monstrous evil is stirring within the Eternal City of Rome. The brutal murder of an alchemist sets off a desperate race to uncover the plot that threatens to extinguish the light of the Renaissance and plunge Europe back into medieval darkness.
Determined to avenge the killing of her father, Francesca Giordano defies all convention to claim for herself the position of poisoner serving Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, head of the most notorious and dangerous family in Italy. She becomes the confidante of Lucrezia Borgia and the lover of Cesare Borgia. At the same time, she is drawn to the young renegade monk who yearns to save her life and her soul.
Navigating a web of treachery and deceit, Francesca pursues her father’s killer from the depths of Rome’s Jewish ghetto to the heights of the Vatican itself. In so doing, she sets the stage for the ultimate confrontation with ancient forces that will seek to use her darkest desires to achieve their own catastrophic ends.
Another from Paperbackswap (Because I saw it on Julianne Douglas' Top Ten list!):
Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones (2008)
Cathedral of the Sea follows the fortunes of the Estanyol family, from their peasant roots to a son, Arnau, who flees the land only to realize spectacular wealth and devastating problems.
During Arnau's lifetime Barcelona becomes a city of light and darkness, dominated by the construction of the city's great pride -- the cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar -- and by its shame, the deadly Inquisition.
As a young man, Arnau joins the powerful guild of stone-workers and helps to build the church with his own hands, while his best friend and adopted brother Joan studies to become a priest.
When Arnau, who secretly loves a forbidden Jewish woman named Mar, is betrayed and hauled before the Inquisitor, he finds himself face-to-face with his own brother. Will he lose his life just as his beloved Cathedral of the Sea is finally completed?
Thanks for the heads up Julianne!
New on Kindle downloads (some were free and some were just too good of a deal to pass up):
For Time and Eternity (Sister Wife #1) by Allison K. Pittman
{Christy Award Nominee for 2011!}
In an effort to escape her stern, legalistic upbringing, Camilla Deardon runs away from home with a handsome young Mormon man, Nathan. Married in the church, they raise their daughters and hope for more children. But their lives take a sudden turn when her husband, whom she loves deeply, is designated for special honor by the church elders. Nathan is given the honor of taking a second wife and soon a new “sister wife” comes into their home. Camilla is heartbroken and remembers the faith of her childhood. She begins to question this revelation and is charged with unfaithfulness to the Mormon teachings. She enters a struggle for her life when elders call for blood atonement for her disobedience. Forced to abandon her children, she leaves them in the care of a Paiute Indian woman who shares her faith. Camilla knows they’ll be safe until she can return for them.
A novel full of grand passion and intensity, The Soldier's Wife asks "What would you do for your family?" "What should you do for a stranger?" and "What would you do for love?"
As World War II draws closer and closer to Guernsey, Vivienne de la Mare knows that there will be sacrifices to be made. Not just for herself, but for her two young daughters and for her mother-in-law, for whom she cares while her husband is away fighting. What she does not expect is that she will fall in love with one of the enigmatic German soldiers who take up residence in the house next door to her home. As their relationship intensifies, so do the pressures on Vivienne. Food and resources grow scant, and the restrictions placed upon the residents of the island grow with each passing week. Though Vivienne knows the perils of her love affair with Gunther, she believes that she can keep their relationship and her family safe. But when she becomes aware of the full brutality of the Occupation, she must decide if she is willing to risk her personal happiness for the life of a stranger.
The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it -- from garden seeds to Scripture -- is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Land of My Heart by Tracie Peterson
Book 1 of Heirs of Montana from bestselling author Tracie Peterson. Adventurers, families, outlaws...all driven west in the 1860s by a longing for endless blue sky along with wild and wide-open spaces. Tracie Peterson, from her own Montana home, paints an unforgettable portrait of this rich, rugged landscape, populated by strong and spirited characters. When Dianne Chadwick urges her family to move west to her uncle's ranch in the Montana Territory, she has no idea that her new life in the rugged frontier--and even within her uncle's home--will not be the idyllic adventure she expects. But first she has to survive the arduous wagon journey with the help of guide Cole Selby, whose heart seems to be as hard as the mountains he loves.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Ryan
The complete collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes tales, both long and short, compiled together for the first time by Simon & Schuster for free!
This fantastic collection is accompanied by an exciting new introduction from Robert Ryan, a writer who's own book has been fully endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate. A big Holmes fan himself, he will undoubtedly provide a fascinating new look at the detective and his bizarre ability to read both people and objects, in order to discover who dunnit.
The Runaway Pastor's Wife by Diane Moody
What could possibly drive a pastor's wife to run away from home?
After years of frustration from life in a church fishbowl, Annie McGregor walks away from it all and boards a plane for Colorado. She has no way of knowing her college sweetheart is headed to the same cabin in the Rockies, terrified and gravely wounded. Their unexpected reunion couldn't have come at a worse time. Or could it? Bewildered that God would allow Michael Dean to walk back into her life, Annie pleads with Him to keep her heart true to her husband and her family. God answers her prayer, but in a way she would never expect.
Written by a former pastor's wife, Annie's story provides a rare look inside the family life of those in the ministry, particularly the unique pressures on those who marry men of God.
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