So Many Books, So Little Time

From Goodreads:  Welcome to the world of collapsing Communism. It is the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall when people are still willing to risk all to cross the Iron Curtain to the West. In this adventure-packed memoir Susan Viets, a student turned journalist, arrives in Communist Hungary in 1988 and begins reporting for the Guardian, not at all prepared for what lies ahead. She helps East Germans escape to the West at a picnic, moves to the Soviet Union where she battles authorities for accreditation as the first foreign journalist in Ukraine and then watches, amazed, as the entire political system collapses. Lured by new travel opportunities, Viets shops her way across Central Asia, stumbling into a tank attack in Tajikistan and the start of the Tajik civil war. "Picnic at the Iron Curtain" shows every day people at the centre of dramatic events from Budapest to Bishkek and Chernobyl to Chechnya. It is a memoir that spans a period of momentous historical...

I am so excited to host a book blast for The Graham Saga by Anna Belfrage!  This is one of my favorite series and if you haven't read it yet, you should!! Join Anna Belfrage as her beloved time-slip series, The Graham Saga, is featured around the blogosphere from July 28-August 15 with HF Virtual Book Tours and enter to win your own set of Books 1-6! About The Graham Saga This is the story of Alex and Matthew, two people who should never have met - not when she was born three hundred years after him. It all began the day Alex Lind got caught in a thunderstorm. Not your ordinary storm, no this was the mother of all storms, causing a most unusual rift in the fabric of time. Alex was dragged three centuries backwards in time, landing more or less at the feet of a very surprised Matthew Graham. In a series of books we follow the life and adventures of the expanding Graham family, both in Scotland and in the New World - and let me tell you it is quite an exciting life, at times e...

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme started by Marcia at To Be Continued.  Check it out here . I've been busy reading my multitude of library books and haven't got anything new for a few weeks until Friday.  I got one book this week and it looks like it will be a good one! For Review (from publisher): The Brewer's Tale by Karen Brooks Isn't the cover pretty? What books did you get this week?

From Goodreads:  After traveling through time in Shadow of Night , the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches —with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago. My Thoughts:  I loved this trilogy, but T...

From Goodreads:  Elizabeth Tudor is at a crossroads. After a disastrous winter, the Duke of Northumberland has been executed for treason while his son, Robert Dudley, claims from the Tower that the true traitor has not yet been caught. And though her brother, William, has survived smallpox, scars linger in the king's body and mind and his patience is at an end. As English ships and soldiers arm themselves against the threat of invasion, William marches to the drumbeat of his own desires rather than his country's welfare. Wary of this changed royal brother, Elizabeth assembles her own shadow court to protect England as best she can. But William, able to command armies and navies, cannot command hearts. Minuette and Dominic have married in secret, and after an ill-timed pregnancy, they take to flight. Faced with betrayal by the two he loved most, William's need for vengeance pushes England to the brink of civil war and in the end, Elizabeth must choose: her b...

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme started by Marcia at To Be Continued.  Check it out here ! Since the local library closed on July 9 for a few weeks, I had to make a second trip there last weekend to pick up some more books.  You would think they were going to be closed a few months, not simply a couple weeks with how many books I checked out. I definitely won't run out of books to read. From the Library: Eternal Rider by Larissa Ione Poison by Sara Poole Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap (I've featured this book before but never got around to reading it.) For Review (from HFBVT): Revenge and Retribution by Anna Belfrage (pictured above) Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth What books did you get this week?

From Goodreads:  Joan of Kent, renowned beauty and cousin to King Edward III, is destined for a politically strategic marriage. As the king begins a long dynastic struggle to claim the crown of France, plunging England into the Hundred Years’ War, he negotiates her betrothal to a potential ally and heir of a powerful lordship. But Joan, haunted by nightmares of her father’s execution at the hands of her treacherous royal kin, fears the king’s selection and is not resigned to her fate. She secretly pledges herself to one of the king’s own knights, one who has become a trusted friend and protector. Now she must defend her vow as the king—furious at Joan’s defiance—prepares to marry her off to another man. In A Triple Knot, Emma Campion brings Joan, the “Fair Maid of Kent” to glorious life, deftly weaving details of King Edward III’s extravagant court into a rich and emotionally resonant tale of intrigue, love, and betrayal. My Thoughts:   I loved that this boo...

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme started by Marcia at To Be Continued.  Check it out here !  I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!  It was so nice to have a three day weekend. My local library is closing for a few weeks as they get ready to move into their new building so I had to stop by and pick up some books while I still had the chance. From the Library: The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn The Borgia Betrayal by Sara Poole Children of Wrath by Paul Grossman For Review: Prisoner of the Queen by E. Knight Knowing she was seen as a threat to the Queen she served, Lady Katherine Grey, legitimate heir to the throne, longs only for the comfort of a loving marriage and a quiet life far from the intrigue of the Tudor court. After seeing her sister become the pawn of their parents and others seeking royal power and then lose their lives for it, she is determined to avoid the vicious struggles over power and...

Happy 4th of July!! June was a super slow reading month for me.  June was ridiculously crazy with work and preparing for Julia's birthday so reading wasn't a huge priority. I only read 3 books for a total of 36 for the year.  I'm hoping things will pick up in the the coming months.  My goal is 50 for the year but I wouldn't mind hitting 75 though I'm not sure that will be possible. Here is what I read: 1.) The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick 2.) Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle 3.) A Triple Knot by Emma Campion How much reading did you get done in June?

 Bookish and Not So Bookish Thoughts is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous.  Check it out here ! 1.) My sweet baby Julia turned 1 on Saturday!  We had a big party for her and it was so much fun.  I am really excited for all the fun things the next year will bring. 2.) A couple of weeks ago, we got some new couches.  I absolutely love them and the color they bring to our living room. 3.) I've known for a while that I was having some issues with my blog posts showing up on bloglovin' but I was struggling to figure out how to handle it.  A few weeks ago, I finally figured out what the problem was and got it fixed.  Yay! Now people can see what I post. 4.) Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon came out on June 10!  I have been waiting for it for 5 years but I think it came out at a bad time for me.  I am struggling to get into it.  I may finish listening to the 2 books preceding it and then dive back in. 5....

I'm so excited to announce that The Captive by Grace Burrowes is being released today! Book Information Author: Grace Burrowes Release Date: July 1, 2014 Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca Genre: Historical Romance Summary Captured and tortured by the French, Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, survives by vowing to take revenge on his tormentors. Before the duke can pursue his version of justice, Gillian, Countess of Greendale, reminds him that his small daughter has suffered much in his absence, and needs her papa desperately. Gilly endured her difficult marriage by avoiding confrontation and keeping peace at any cost. Christian's devotion to his daughter and his kindness toward Gilly give her hope that she could enjoy a future with him, for surely he of all men shares her loathing for violence in any form. Little does Gilly know, the battle for Christian's heart is only beginning. Excerpt The countess brought Christian...