TEASER TUESDAYS is hosted by ShouldBeReading and asks you to:
♠Grab your current read.
♠Let the book fall open to a random page.
♠Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
♠You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
♠Please avoid spoilers!

'Twilight of a Queen' by Susan Carroll RELEASES TODAY!

See my review below and also to enter the giveaway for this one!

"I have always had a gift for chicanery and deception. This time I can put my talents to good use and convince the queen to leave Meg in peace forever. Just one more trance is all it will take."

"Twilight of a Queen" A Novel written by Susan Carroll
Category: Fiction; Fiction - Historical; Fiction - Romance - Historical
Format: Trade Paperback, 480 pages
On Sale: July 21, 2009
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-449-22109-9 (0-449-22109-1)
The Burton Review Rating: 3.5 stars
Fifth in "The Dark Queen" Series (aka The Cheney Sisters of Faire Isle): The Huntress, The Silver Rose, The Courtesan, and The Dark Queen
"As war and treachery loom, an ambitious man’s mission threatens to topple two dazzling realms and their formidable rulers: Catherine de Medici, the Dark Queen, and Ariane, the Lady of Faire Isle. It is 1588, and as the Spanish Armada prepares to besiege England, Paris balances on the brink of revolution. To maintain her grip on the throne and on the dark magic that has become her obsession, Catherine de Medici turns to Louis Xavier, a ruthless corsair who was schooled in the dark arts and has mastered piracy along the Spanish main. But Louis’s basest instincts are held in check by the kindness of Lady Jane Danvers, a British exile whose innate sense of honor is but one facet of her complex and passionate nature.

On Faire Isle, Ariane Cheney, unaware of the escalating threat from the Dark Queen, struggles with the task of protecting the daughters of the earth and their vast store of ancient magical wisdom. Weak and desperate for an advantage, the ailing Catherine makes a devil’s bargain that will cast a shadow over all."


Being that this new release is the fifth in the Cheney Sisters series, the first question I am asked is if I had read the previous four titles. The answer is no, though they all do sit patiently in a quaint cubby hole in my nightstand. In the normal way of things I would not read a series out of order, but in this case I wanted to review this some time this year rather than later. Otherwise it would sit unheeded in my quaint cubby hole with its' mates. As I began to read this, I did not feel at a disadvantage as the story wore on, only that I realized some of the events of the previous books were lightly touched upon throughout so that a new reader would not be lost in the current story. It served to whet my appetite for the other stories though and I do plan on pushing the other reads further up on the list so that I could learn more about the Cheney Sisters. They did not figure prominently in this novel except for Meg, but I could tell that their exciting events were featured in the previous books.

The title 'Twilight of A Queen' refers to the formidable Catherine De Medici, whom many have heard of for her dabbles in witchcraft and sorcery. She was the mother of French Kings, and was the other woman in her husband's life. Her true story is amazing in itself, and in this novel we see Catherine as an aging woman with aches and pains and struggling to maintain control over her witless son Henri; struggling to maintain a grip on the kingdom that despises her. She is intent on finding the infamous Book of Shadows and Meg, who is the person that Catherine believes holds the key to the book. I particularly enjoyed the scenes with the Dark Queen and her Royal son, I have a preference towards the Royal stories themselves and those were my favorite parts of the book.

With Catherine's waning power and obsessing over the secrets of the Book of Shadows is where Louis Xavier comes in as he is contracted by Catherine to procure the book. He is a dashing swashbuckler pirate with family issues. His dialogue was quite amusing to behold and he was really a typical arrogant man, and bastard being the right term here in all ways. The adventure takes off when Catherine pays Xavier to also bring back young Meg, the Silver Rose, from Faire Isle. Unbeknownst to Catherine, Xavier's father is also the Cheney sisters' father, and the twists begin.

For a clue on our Xavier's character, Miri asks what happened to her prized bird and her father's journals:

He was quite a rogue, I'd say. And yet all this just serves as the setting and backdrop of the story as this novel is primarily the focus of Jane Danvers who is exiled on Faire Isle from England, suffering from religious persecution of Elizabeth I and her secretary Walsingham. Jane Danvers and her brother Ned had been under Elizabeth's radar before, and I found a connection to Bess of Hardwick an interesting tidbit, as Jane and her brother were wards of Bess at one time. England itself is another behind the scenes feature as the rumors of the Spanish Armada loom and scare everyone in England for a time.

With "Twilight of A Queen" we see the conclusion of The Dark Queen series as a romance develops along with the many adventures of the pirate as he must choose between family loyalty (of which he never was known to do) and risk his life if he does so, or does he choose to be beguiled by a spell of The Dark Medici Queen herself and her money. I found the writing to be fluid and fast paced and did not see any glaring issues, except for the multiple mentions of dark fog in the opening of the novel. There seemed to be more of a predictability to this story since we knew this is the final book in the series, therefore there can not be a lot options logically to it. But despite even that, the storyline and the characters were indeed a delight and since I have not read the other books I do have something to look forward to. For those who have read the previous four and were looking for more of a dramatic conclusion, the actual ending here may not achieve that for you. I enjoyed the book all the way up to the ending and then it felt a bit forced and rushed. Perhaps after 5 novels surrounding virtually the same person the author was getting a little burnt out. But I still think that this is a fun series to tackle and is worthwhile for me to go back and read the others to catch up with the rest of the story.

~~Giveaway~~

Are you ready to read Twilight of A Queen by Susan Carroll? You can purchase it now, or enter here to win a copy.
Random House will send one lucky reader in the USA or Canada a copy of this book!
To enter you must do all of the following:
1-Comment on this post with your Email address.
2-Recommend to me a Catherine De Medici book that you have read
OR tell me why you want to read this and if you have read the series yet.

Please pay attention to these qualifications!
Giveaway ends August 7!

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week. And I am adding what I purchased. Here's what I received during the last week:


I had a most wonderful week, that actually began last Monday. I got an awesome birthday card with some beautiful bookmarks from Arleigh at Historical-Fiction.com, Thank you so much Arleigh! Your friendship is special to me :)


From Paperbackswap I received:


Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom (Pub. 2005, 2nd in the Shardlake Series that is set in Tudor Times)


"It is 1540, and Matthew Shardlake, the lawyer renowned as "the sharpest hunchback in the courts of England," is pressed to help a friend’s young niece who is charged with murder. Despite threats of torture and death by the rack, the girl is inexplicably silent. Shardlake is about to lose her case when he is suddenly granted a reprieve—one that will ensnare him in the dangerous schemes of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s feared vicar-general.
In exchange for two more weeks to investigate the murder, Shardlake accepts Cromwell’s dangerous assignment to find a lost cache of "dark fire," a legendary weapon of mass destruction. Cromwell, out of favor since Henry’s disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves, is relying on Shardlake to save his position at court, which is rife with treasonous conspiracies."


Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier (reprint 2009) "The electrifying tale of love and indecency on the high seas.
Daphne du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek is the scandalous tale of one woman's will to seize adventure by the horns and become the fugitive of her own fate. Jaded by frivolous Restoration London and the numbing civility of its hollow members, Lady Dona St. Columb revolts against polite society. She rides into the countryside, guided only by her restlessness and the indomitable longing for escape.
But when chance leads her to meet a French pirate hidden within Cornwall's shadowy forests, Dona discovers that her passions and thirst for adventure have never been more aroused. Together, they embark upon a quest rife with death and glory, and one which bestows upon Dona the ultimate choice: sacrifice her lover to certain destruction or gamble away her own to save him."

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (Pub. 1982) 912 pages!! "Here is the magical legend of King Arthur, vividly retold through the eyes and lives of the women who wielded power from behind the throne. A spellbinding novel, an extraordinary literary achievement."

"Watching the Tree Limbs" by Mary E. Demuth The author is visiting my library in August & I am hoping to bring you a video of her lecture.

"In this debut faith-based novel, DeMuth transports readers to the hot East Texas town that is nine-year-old Mara's home. Amid the red dirt and pecan trees, Mara struggles to find her way through a painful and mysterious family situation. Who were her parents? Is her aunt Elma really her aunt-and does Elma really have a tumor? What will happen to her if her aunt dies? The pain in Mara's life multiplies when she meets General, the teenage neighbor who repeatedly rapes her, threatening her life if she tells anyone. DeMuth captures the horrific situation-from Mara's inability to keep her body from shaking to her determination to watch the tree limbs to keep her mind off of what is going on-while providing hope of redemption and healing. Her characters are expertly drawn, and encompass meanness, evil, great kindness and the confusion of generally good people who don't know how to handle what life has given them. Christian themes are woven throughout as a natural expression of the characters and situation. Readers may be surprised at the dark subject matter, but this book will appeal to many readers both as a thoughtful, powerful reflection on a difficult topic and as a compelling story."

I ordered and received from Abebooks for my Jean Plaidy Bookcase (click for pic):
Madame Du Barry
The Pleasures of Love: The Story of Catherine of Braganza
Queen Jezebel
Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill (Georgian Saga 7)
Battle of the Queens (Plantagenet saga)
The Bastard King (The Norman Series; Volume 1)


And for the EXTRA WONDERFUL NEWS.. I recieved two special books that are going to be a treat to my readers as well.. as I review the next two books I will also be giving away a copy of each of the following:

"The White Queen": A Novel By Philippa Gregory
The winner will receive an unread copy of the ARC (shown) of The White Queen, and it will be a quick giveaway in August, so stay tuned or you may miss it!
"The first in a stunning new series, The Cousins War, is set amid the tumult and intrigue of The War of the Roses. Internationally bestselling author Philippa Gregory brings this family drama to colourful life through its women, beginning with the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the White QueenThe White Queen tells the story of a common woman who ascends to royalty by virtue of her beauty, a woman who rises to the demands of her position and fights tenaciously for the success of her family, a woman whose two sons become the central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the Princes in the Tower whose fate remains unknown to this day. From her uniquely qualified perspective, Philippa Gregory explores the most famous unsolved mystery, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills."



Twilight of a Queen by Susan Carroll On Sale: July 21, 2009
This giveaway will be coming up.. I just started reading this & I will begin the giveaway with my review when it posts, so stay tuned in the next few weeks for this one!
Fifth in The Dark Queen Series aka Cheney Sisters of Faire Isle Series:
"As war and treachery loom, an ambitious man’s mission threatens to topple two dazzling realms and their formidable rulers: Catherine de Medici, the Dark Queen, and Ariane, the Lady of Faire Isle.It is 1588, and as the Spanish Armada prepares to besiege England, Paris balances on the brink of revolution. To maintain her grip on the throne and on the dark magic that has become her obsession, Catherine de Medici turns to Louis Xavier, a ruthless corsair who was schooled in the dark arts and has mastered piracy along the Spanish main. But Louis’s basest instincts are held in check by the kindness of Lady Jane Danvers, a British exile whose innate sense of honor is but one facet of her complex and passionate nature.On Faire Isle, Ariane Cheney, unaware of the escalating threat from the Dark Queen, struggles with the task of protecting the daughters of the earth and their vast store of ancient magical wisdom. Weak and desperate for an advantage, the ailing Catherine makes a devil’s bargain that will cast a shadow over all."

Was this an awesome Mailbox Week or what?!