Dragonfly by Leila Meacham
July 9 2019 Grand Central publishing
864 pages hardcover/577 pages kindle
eGalley via publisher, thank you!

Read my previous reviews of Leila Meacham's works
Roses
Tumbleweeds
Somersest

At the height of WWII, five idealistic young Americans receive a mysterious letter from the OSS, asking them if they are willing to fight for their country. The men and women from very different backgrounds--a Texan athlete with German roots, an upper-crust son of a French mother and a wealthy businessman, a dirt-poor Midwestern fly fisherman, an orphaned fashion designer, and a ravishingly beautiful female fencer -- all answer the call of duty, but each for a secret reason of his or her own. They bond immediately, in a group code-named Dragonfly.
Soon after their training, they are dropped behind enemy lines and take up their false identities, isolated from one another except for a secret drop-box, but in close contact with the powerful Nazi elite who have Paris under siege.

Thus begins a dramatic and riveting cat-and-mouse game, as the young Americans seek to stay under the radar until a fatal misstep leads to the capture and the firing-squad execution of one of their team. But...is everything as it seems, or is this one more elaborate act of spycraft?

Spies, Nazis, murals, France, nuns, fly fishing -this was great story and of grand epic proportions! Dragonfly was such a page turner that it kept me up way past my bedtime. I have always loved the writing of Leila Meacham and I am so pleased to report that Dragonfly did not disappoint. Please don't let the 864 page number dissuade you, this number is for their large print hardcover edition, but yes it is still a chunky book at 577 glorious kindle pages.

This story is another WWII novel which seem to be flooding the market recently- not that it is a bad thing. Dragonfly is the code name of the group of five young Americans going to offer their services as part of a spy network planted in Germany-occupied Paris. There is a larger cast of characters from the spies themselves to all those that cross the main characters' path, so it does take a bit of concentration to keep everything on track. The fact that we never really could tell if/when someone was going to drop the noose on one of the Dragonfly members made for some edge of my seat reading that I just could not put the book down for long at all.

I appreciated the fact that the author did not feel the need to rush through events and instead creates plausible situations that keep us rooting for the group. We really had a chance to engage with each of the characters and understand the undercurrents with nervous adrenaline while the rookies attempted to impede the Nazis right under their noses. I especially enjoyed how actual spying tasks were not made so easy and there were several hiccups along the way, making for a much more realistic novel throughout their adventures.

Splendid writing, fantastic storytelling and such a treat for Leila Meacham fans of which there are many. Another well-deserved five stars for Leila Meacham!


I turned off commenting long ago on the blog but I welcome comments at the Facebook page here.

From June 2016 onwards I picked up some great reads from the library, and we all know how annoying it is to feel forced to write a review. But I did want to highlight some of them because they were very good reads. I no longer review "for others" so all these were either purchased or were library loans.

released April 2016

A sweeping new drama from the beloved, bestselling author of Roses.

Texas in the early 1900s, its inhabitants still traveling by horseback and barely familiar with the telephone, was on the cusp of an oil boom that, unbeknownst to its residents, would spark a period of dramatic changes and economic growth. In the midst of this transformative time in Southern history, two unforgettable characters emerge and find their fates irrevocably intertwined: Samantha Gordon, the privileged heiress to the sprawling Las Tres Lomas cattle ranch near Fort Worth, and Nathan Holloway, a sweet-natured and charming farm boy from far north Texas. As changes sweep the rustic countryside, Samantha and Nathan's connection drives this narrative compulsively forward as they love, lose, and betray. In this grand yet intimate novel, Meacham once again delivers a heartfelt, big-canvas story full of surprising twists and deep emotional resonance.

My thoughts:
I was first introduced to author Leila Meacham in 2010 while she was on tour to promote her release of Roses, a saga about a Texas family. It was a wonderful experience to actually meet the author and I did a quick interview with her before she spoke at a bookstore event. I was thrilled to receive the gorgeous hardcover edition of Titans for Mother's Day this year. This novel had the same feel of a family saga that we love about Meacham's writing, and this time there was a bit of a suspenseful nuance as we wondered how and when the next horseshoe was to drop. It was a very good read about family bonds during the era of Texas growing as an oil-rich state but in the end I did feel like the author was leaving some of her passion behind. Still a very good read with intriguing characters and written pretty much in line with her previous works.

released March 2016

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Spellman Files series, Lisa Lutz’s latest blistering thriller is about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past: you’ll want to buckle up for the ride!

In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it...

Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time.

She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born.

It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?

With heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, The Passenger is an amazing psychological thriller about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless.

EVERY DAY THE SAME Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.  UNTIL TODAY And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Little Bee, a spellbinding novel about three unforgettable individuals thrown together by war, love, and their search for belonging in the ever-changing landscape of WWII London.
It’s 1939 and Mary, a young socialite, is determined to shock her blueblood political family by volunteering for the war effort. She is assigned as a teacher to children who were evacuated from London and have been rejected by the countryside because they are infirm, mentally disabled, or—like Mary’s favorite student, Zachary—have colored skin.

Tom, an education administrator, is distraught when his best friend, Alastair, enlists. Alastair, an art restorer, has always seemed far removed from the violent life to which he has now condemned himself. But Tom finds distraction in Mary, first as her employer and then as their relationship quickly develops in the emotionally charged times. When Mary meets Alastair, the three are drawn into a tragic love triangle and—while war escalates and bombs begin falling around them—further into a new world unlike any they’ve ever known.
v A sweeping epic with the kind of unforgettable characters, cultural insights, and indelible scenes that made Little Bee so incredible, Chris Cleave’s latest novel explores the disenfranchised, the bereaved, the elite, the embattled. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven is a heartbreakingly beautiful story of love, loss, and incredible courage.

epic soap opery saga kleenex material

Somerset by Leila Meacham
Hardcover, 624 pages
Published February 4th 2014 by Grand Central Publishing
Burton Book Review Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclosure: I requested this title on NetGalley but it took several weeks for them to get around to responding to the request, so I finally decided to just read the hardcopy when it was provided by a friend; I then waited till I was ready to get around to it myself. And voila, here is the review.

One hundred fifty years of Roses' Tolivers, Warwicks, and DuMonts! We begin in the antebellum South on Plantation Alley in South Carolina, where Silas Toliver, deprived of his inheritance, joins up with his best friend Jeremy Warwick to plan a wagon train expedition to the "black waxy" promise of a new territory called Texas. Slavery, westward expansion, abolition, the Civil War, love, marriage, friendship, tragedy and triumph-all the ingredients (and much more) that made so many love Roses so much-are here in abundance.

Read my review of Roses
Read my review of Tumbleweeds

Several years back I was lucky enough to meet the lovely Leila Meacham during her book tour for Roses and I waxed not so eloquently about it here on the blog. It was then that she said she didn't want to be at the beck and call of a publisher's schedule, so I cried inside as I knew I would want more of her stories from her graceful pen.

Luckily her husband gave her the idea to tell the story of the how Roses came to be, which brings us to Somerset, the story of the ancestors of the characters in Roses, which I enjoyed immensely. 'Generations' would be an apt subtitle for Somerset, as it completes much of the family history of several generations of the Warwicks, Tolivers and DuMonts. And if you haven't read Roses yet, that's okay. You'll want to when you finish Somerset.

Somerset begins before the Civil War between the States, and it carries us all the way through to the 1900's where inventions and progress have come to the founding families of Howbukter, Texas. Although a fictional story, the author does a very good job at imparting historical tidbits about the life and times of our American pioneers as they leave South Carolina and head straight for Texas where war is brewing between early settlers, Mexico and Indians. The Tolivers focus on cotton, Warwicks on lumber, and the DuMonts have a very special department store.  These families are made of something special, and each with a special characteristic to make them unique to the story. Slaves and their treatment are a bit part of the novel, and
I can appreciate the special attention to the abolitionist cause as well as the view from a Southerner's point of view.  Readers of Roses will remember the curse the Tolivers had to deal with, and the origin comes to play in Somerset, which means no one is safe from death's cruel hand. Have your tissues handy for there is love found and lost, grief and happiness all flowing from page to page of Somerset.

Roses was compared to Gone With the Wind due to it's same style of drama and similar era, and that is same with Somerset. Nothing can compare to that classic blockbuster, but Meacham gives us good storytelling told with heart, and the main characters of Silas and Jessica Toliver really stand out. Their friends and their family all form the patchwork that is the story of Somerset, and I'm itching to re-read Roses now. A really good sink your teeth into type of novel, Somerset is a fantastic chunkster that really makes it worthwhile if you are in the mood for a soap-opera style generational novel.

I will say that those readers looking for the "wars of the roses" link will be disappointed that it is just a small thread. Don't expect a miraculous connection to British royalty in the novel as it is simply a symbolic gesture to remembering heritage. Those readers who are interested in what it may have been like living in America during its earlier years will feel more in tune with America's early progress after reading Meacham's expansive novel.




A soap-opera style of a read, perfect for the summer reading list!

Tumbleweeds by Leila Meacham
Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group June 2012
General Fiction/Romance
Hardcover, 480 pages
Review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating: 4 stars

Recently orphaned, eleven-year-old Cathy Benson feels she has been dropped into a cultural and intellectual wasteland when she is forced to move from her academically privileged life in California to the small town of Kersey in the Texas Panhandle where the sport of football reigns supreme. She is quickly taken under the unlikely wings of up-and-coming gridiron stars and classmates John Caldwell and Trey Don Hall, orphans like herself, with whom she forms a friendship and eventual love triangle that will determine the course of the rest of their lives.
Taking the three friends through their growing up years until their high school graduations when several tragic events uproot and break them apart, the novel expands to follow their careers and futures until they reunite in Kersey at forty years of age. Told with all of Meacham's signature drama, unforgettable characters, and plot twists, readers will be turning the pages, desperate to learn how it all plays out.

I must confess that I adore Leila Meacham since she is the very first author I had met during an event for her previous release, Roses. I had adored Roses as it had an epic/saga feel that was often generously compared to Gone With The Wind. Tumbleweeds has a lot to live up to after that release of Roses which was within my favorite genre of historical fiction, and Leila takes an entirely different turn with Tumbleweeds. It starts off in 1979 with young characters, a trio of twelve year olds and the story follows their lives as they grow to love each other as only true best friends can. And when they turn sixteen, of course the boys fall in love with the girl, and Cathy picks Trey as her lover, and John is okay with that.

Trey is the high school quarterback, John is his receiver, and Cathy dotes on them both. She can only pick one, and of course she seemingly picks the wrong one. One disaster after another follows the trio, just like huge tumbleweeds blocking them from happiness, and these events eventually force the friendship to scatter in the wind. The Friday night football scene comes into play as we witness the small town of Kersey place a lot of emphasis on the 1985 Championship team and the stellar quarterback. The coach, friends and neighbors make a great supporting cast for this story as they all watch and wait to see what happens to these promising youths, just as the reader does. What was once a promising future for the trio to be joined at the hip at the University of Miami, only one will make it there and the other two are left to pick up the pieces of broken promises and broken hearts.

What is left for the other two is the will and courage to survive, but not in the way the third one is mistakingly thinking they would. There is an entire miscommunication theme throughout, as stubbornness prevails and refusal to set aside pride threatens the happiness of Cathy, Trey, John and their families. We see everything crumbling around them, and there is little hope for them as time passes and they each move on, but we know that at some point the three will still have to come to grips with reality and have a super pow-wow. Even if it is years later, which is what made the novel such a page-turner.

This inevitable meeting of the three (which is alluded to in the opening scene) kept getting pushed aside and is what kept driving me to read on, as I really wanted Trey to open his eyes and stop being such a jerk of a jock. There was once an inseparable bond between the three friends and there was the hope that even with the passage of years there had to be a way to bring them back together. When the past finally catches up to the trio, worlds collide in more ways than one. Murder, mayhem and fatherhood all twist into a strange ending that is a bit over-the-top, but in spite of the crazy twists this is a captivating and emotionally rich story of friendship and (misplaced?) loyalty, laced with that soap opera feel.. which makes Tumbleweeds a perfect summer read.

For the rest of June, Mailbox Monday will be hosted right here at Burton Book Review.

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia from A girl and her books (formerly The Printed Page) where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday is now on tour, and June's Host is www.BurtonBookReview.com

I just read and reviewed Gilbert Morris' new release, The River Rose, and I had to download the first book in the series, even though it is a stand alone:


The River Queen by Gilbert Morris
Julienne Ashby, 24, must change her pampered ways after her father, a prominent businessman in Natchez, Mississippi, loses their fortune and family home to a bad gambling habit in 1850. Like a fish out of water, she aims to refit their one remaining possession, an old riverboat, in hopes of making a profit and restoring the Cuvier name along the mighty Mississippi.

And another author that I have read and realllllly enjoyed is Leila Meacham, (see my Roses review)


Tumbleweeds by Leila Meacham (June 2012)
Recently orphaned, eleven-year-old Cathy Benson feels she has been dropped into a cultural and intellectual wasteland when she is forced to move from her academically privileged life in California to the small town of Kersey in the Texas Panhandle where the sport of football reigns supreme. She is quickly taken under the unlikely wings of up-and-coming gridiron stars and classmates John Caldwell and Trey Don Hall, orphans like herself, with whom she forms a friendship and eventual love triangle that will determine the course of the rest of their lives.
Taking the three friends through their growing up years until their high school graduations when several tragic events uproot and break them apart, the novel expands to follow their careers and futures until they reunite in Kersey at forty years of age. Told with all of Meacham's signature drama, unforgettable characters, and plot twists, readers will be turning the pages, desperate to learn how it all plays out.
See my previous Leila Meacham posts which includes when I met her!
Also you may want to Enter the Goodreads Giveaway!



A Lady in The Making by Susan Page Davis (October 2012; read my review of the previous novel in the Prairie Dreams series, Lady Anne's Quest, featuring the same characters).

Millie Evans has changed, choosing to leave rather than join an outlaw gang with her brother. Hoping for a new future, she boards a stagecoach but runs into her past and David Stone—a man she and her brother once tried to swindle. As she tries to convince David she’s changed, her brother’s gang holds up the stagecoach. Fighting beside David goes a long way to softening his heart, but he’s still not convinced. Millie must trust God to show David the truth, but will he see before it’s too late?

Enter Your Mailbox Monday Links here:

It was truly fun to watch the kiddos' first experiences with the snow. Reminiscent of my old days so very much gone by.. and so odd how time seems to rewind and flash forward quickly in these nostalgic memories. The kids are off for President's Day also, so they get a 4 day weekend!

I have just finished reading Donna Russo Morin's newest novel coming out soon, "The Secret of the Glass". It is not a quick read and I am not going to be gushing over it. This is a read for the Historical Fiction Bloggers Round Table, therefore it won't post until that week of the 20th.  But, I will still have another review to post for you this week so you won't miss me. I am posting "Hugh & Bess" by Susan Higginbotham next week. And already posted for you this past week are two reviews: Roses by Leila Meacham, and The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer.

I have just begun to read another great Sourcebooks reissue: Young Bess by Margaret Irwin (1889-1969). This was first published in 1944 and I am about 120 pages into it (after just starting it this Saturday) and enjoying this one very much. I have always admired Elizabeth I, and this is a story that is focused on her younger years, and the turbulent Tudor times of when Henry VIII dies leaving his young but sickly son as his heir to the kingdom. Book 2 in the trilogy will be reissued by Sourcebooks in October 2010. I love the easy writing style of Irwin; this should be a happy and quick read for me.

The highlight of my week was meeting the author of Roses, Leila Meacham.

"If the book is good, is about something that you know, and is truly written, and reading it over you see that this is so, you can let the boys yip and the noise will have that pleasant sound coyotes make on a very cold night when they are out in the snow and you are in your own cabin that you have built or paid for with your work." ~ Ernest Hemingway

I would love to share the fabulous reading experience with my followers as well, and thanks to Miriam at Hachette Book Group, she is sponsoring a book giveaway for this fabulous new novel by Leila Meacham.

To enter:
Comment here with your Email Address telling me which author YOU would like to meet.

Extra Entry:
+2 entries if you post a graphic link to this post. Leave me your blog link so I can verify the entry!

If I get over fifty entrants there will be FIVE winners! If there are less entrants the winners will decrease. Let's get some people over here to enter!
CONTEST IS OVER

Roses by Leila Meacham
Category: Historical Fiction
Publish Date: 1/6/2010
Price: $24.99
ISBN: 978-0446550000
Pages: 624
Review copy provided by the publisher
The Burton Review Rating:

"Spanning the 20th century, the story of Roses takes place in a small East Texas town against the backdrop of the powerful timber and cotton industries, industries controlled by the scions of the town's founding families. Cotton tycoon Mary Toliver and timber magnate Percy Warwick should have married but unwisely did not, and now must deal with the deceit, secrets, and tragedies of their choice and the loss of what might have been--not just for themselves but for their children, and children's children."

The title "Roses", by Leila Meacham, originates from the symbolism of the heritage of the founding families of the fictional town of Howbukter, Texas. Descendants from England's white rose of York and the red rose of the house of Lancaster, were young men immigrated from South Carolina to Texas in the 1800's. Taking with them from New Orleans was Henri DuMont. Thus begins the town of Howbukter, and Mary Toliver, a descendant from one of these founding families, widow to Ollie DuMont, is age 85 and dying.. many many years later as our novel begins. She worked her whole life on the plantation of Somerset, and poured her blood, sweat and tears into it. So why, after all of this back breaking and sacrificial work so her great-niece can carry on the tradition, why does Mary decide to throw it all away with a puzzling codicil to her will?

The novel's point of view changes from Mary, to her niece Rachel, and jumps back and forth in time as the reader begins to put together the puzzle that forms Mary's reasons for wanting the plantation of Somerset to finally be taken out of the Toliver's hands. After generations of work and production on the cotton farm, it is a decision that stuns the family and causes serious rifts between the surviving family members and friends. There are secrets about Mary's past and the other families, and the climax comes when Rachel is forced to discover the truth behind Mary's final decisions which threatens to tear asunder all bonds that have formed after years of friendship, especially between the Warwick family. Percy and Mary have secrets and a hidden love that doesn't come out to the family members until after Mary dies. Before we even get to that point, we are treated to the tears and triumphs of Mary Toliver's life, her romances, marriage, her child, and her friends. But first and foremost, there was Somerset. The one thing that everyone knew that defined Mary Toliver was one word: "Somerset", dismissing the love that Percy held for her. And that is what Rachel had groomed herself to emulate, yet Mary at age 85 changes her mind about leaving the land to Rachel and dies before she has a chance to explain about the Toliver Curse.

Focusing on Mary's life, using flashbacks taking us from 1985 to the roaring twenties and further, the story blends the lives of the three original families that founded Howbukter: The Dumonts, Tolivers, and the Warwicks. Each family focused their businesses on different areas but were still close through the many years as their families grew. This novel features everything you could want in a good historical saga; from broken hearts to death and rebirth and faith in humanity, and there were plenty of roses in this story. The rose was now symbolic of friendship and forgiveness between the families, and the theme was dominant throughout the story.

I was swept away to another time, to a time where the car was called a horseless carriage, and where women were bred to run a houseful of servants. There were men going off to war, some men going more than once.. some men sending their boys to war and it was so sad to think of my ancestors and our heritage, the way the author portrayed the hopelessness for the families as they watched the boys come and go.. those that returned were broken, those that didn't return broke their families. And this was the reality of America back then, and yet, this is still the reality of today. As the author trapped me into this story I began to feel caught up within the family saga of it all as if it were my own family. I sobbed throughout the chapters as I plodded through, I still needed to know more. But it wasn't the fact of slowly becoming familiar with the story as it slowly touched my heart. That's not the case at all. My heart was gripped at page ten, as I was tearing up already. I cried at several points in the book. I am not going to tell you where.. or who or what.. because you just need to get this book and see for yourself.

We are knee deep in the story at page 15. The history, the blend of humanity, the description of the changes of society as Mary witnessed it in her hometown, everything is a perfect blend of a family saga that haunts your soul, sets it on fire, blows it out, and does it all over again. There is love and passion, sorrow and grief all in the American pursuit of happiness. After the page flipping frenzy that the novel absorbed me in, I was a bit underwhelmed at the ending, but it could have just been the disappointment that I had finished it. But it wasn't fireworks and rainbows like I think the author wanted it to be, though I still obviously enjoyed the journey that Leila Meacham took me on. I also loved the fact that the story is set in Texas, probably pretty darn close to my home at that. My town subsisted on cotton farming and its beginnings mirror that of what Leila describes for her town of Howbukter. All in all, this novel was the epitome of an epic family saga that is unforgettable; the emotions that you go through reading it will cause this book to be engraved in your memory.

The crazy thing about it all is that this author, Leila Meacham, is a retired school teacher and this is her debut historical novel. She has dabbled in the writing business in eighties with a few obscure romances. I anxiously await her next novel and her next and her next... no pressure, Leila!! Already compared to epic sagas such as Gone With the Wind and The Thorn Birds, this is definitely going to be an author to watch. If you enjoy the sweeping style of these sagas, you will definitely enjoy the story of Roses. I also must mention that the packaging of the hardcover was a sight to behold.. the inside covers are also bedecked in vines of roses which was a beautiful touch. This one is a keeper and I can't wait to have Leila sign mine!

Meet Leila 2/10/2010 at Legacy Books in Plano, TX!
Read my article on Examiner about Leila
Become a Fan on Facebook
BlogTalkRadio Live Interview with Leila Meacham (courtesy of Grand Central Publishing)

Are you cold? Here I am in Texas, and it is icy cold outside!! What is going on?? Don't answer that.

Somewhere out there in Blog Land someone is working on Blog Improvements. I did that during their last event, and spent the entire weekend on it!!

So I managed to block out all the pressure that other bloggers were unknowingly putting on me..and I didn't attend the Bloggiesta this time around. But I did lots of stuff last time.. see here..!

I still didn't walk away scot-free. I am an addict. I just can't stay away from the laptop on Saturdays. So... on Facebook I created a "business page" for The Burton Review. I guess I will use it for Events like giveaways. And more shameless promotion.

Therefore, I am going to say that's how I participated in this Bloggiesta although I won't be signing up anywhere that says I did. That's where my laziness draws the line.

In an effort to not have created my Facebook Fan page in vain, here I am asking you to become a Fan of The Burton Review officially on Facebook. Here's the silly little page.

Become a Fan, and you guessed it.. you'll get a sneak peek at events = giveaways and I am foreseeing one of my favorite type of Exclusive Giveaways!

Speaking of giveaways... I've got three going on RIGHT NOW!!!!

See my left sidebar at the top to follow the links to all the giveaways.. and the fantastic author interview with Leslie Carroll goes along with a giveaway to her newest release, Notorious Royal Marriages. There are some fantastic creative posts on Royalty and book reviews courtesy of my fellow Historical Fiction Round Table members. Lucy at Enchanted by Josephine is my biggest fan, and she has a great post on Napoleon and Josephine (go figure!) here, and you can see the rest of the list on the main HFRT site. Leslie Carrol even wrote some guest posts for the event such as one on Mary, Queen of Scots, which can be found at Lizzy's blog, Historically Obsessed. So many things going and too many to list, so you really need to visit the main site for many chances to win your copy of Notorious Royal Marriages.

Onwards..The Blogoversary Giveaway has been pretty stagnant so I may end that one early.. so that's your warning to get in there and enter. And don't forget the newest Darcy variation by Abigail Reynolds.. two winners for that one! Please be advised, that the ONLY requirements for the giveaways are that you leave me an email address. If there is no email address, you will not be eligible. I think that is a simple enough request and I mentioned for every giveaway, so please pay attention. Of course you are advised to leave it in a spam-blocker format such as replacing the @ with the word 'at'.

I've got quite a large mailbox coming your way for Monday, although only a couple came to the mailbox.. (I bought them and drove the books home myself!) And on Monday, a book review of the new debut novel by Matthew Flaming called The Kingdom of Ohio. This is a fantastic tie-in to the book I just reviewed by Samantha Hunt, The Invention of Everything Else.

A rare author event somewhat close to me is going to occur!! About 40 miles away the author Leila Meacham will be at Legacy Books in Plano on February 10, 2010 at 7:30. Leila is the proud writer of ROSES.. which focuses on a family in my humble state of Texas.

Have you heard of this book yet? I cannot believe it took me as long as it did to hear about it. It was unfortunate that many of my fellow bloggers who were buzzing about it were overlooked by me because of the holidays and work pressures. It is a shame I missed out on the buzz... so here I am buzzing along with you, albeit quite belatedly!

On BlogTalkRadio you can hear the fabulous accent of this new author, and she is a doll!!! I cannot wait to meet her, and if anyone else in the DFW area is going, let me know! I would love to meet you too! No, I haven't read the book, but I hope to really soon, and I am going to have to push some other reads to the side in order to read this one around the event date. But a girl has gotta do what a girl has gotta do!!

Just check out this brief description: "Spanning the 20th century, the story of Roses takes place in a small East Texas town against the backdrop of the powerful timber and cotton industries, industries controlled by the scions of the town's founding families. Cotton tycoon Mary Toliver and timber magnate Percy Warwick should have married but unwisely did not, and now must deal with the deceit, secrets, and tragedies of their choice and the loss of what might have been--not just for themselves but for their children, and children's children. With expert, unabashed, big-canvas storytelling, Roses covers a hundred years, three generations of Texans and the explosive combination of passion for work and longing for love."

I cannot wait to get my hands on this book!! I am hearing my Dallas theme streaming through! Somewhere around #76 on my playlist on the right!

Happy Sunday.. Happy Reading!! (*opening up Island of the Swans by Ciji Ware right now..)