So Many Books, So Little Time

Synopsis: Isabella of Castile is known as Europe’s first great queen. Renowned for her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon and birthing of modern day Spain, Isabella is also known as the queen who launched the Inquisition, completed the Reconquista and expelled the Jews from her nation. Not long after her triumph in 1492, her dynasty came apart and unraveled, and it was whispered by many that the Trastamara line was cursed. But, What if Isabella had been wiser and not expelled the Jews, some of the very people who ironically helped put her on the throne of Castile? What if Isabella had had more foresight and had her successor be Catalina, who, although the youngest, was the most like her and the wisest of her children? How would the power balance of 15th and 16th century Europe shifted if Catalina had been the powerful queen regnant of Spain and not one of the ‘merry wives’ of Windsor? A joint effort, Isabella Unashamed is written by two authors from very different...

Synopsis:  There is Always a Tomorrow is the ninth book in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham. It is 1692 and the Colony of Maryland is still adapting to the consequences of Coode’s Rebellion some years previously. Religious tolerance in the colony is now a thing of the past, but safe in their home, Alex and Matthew Graham have no reason to suspect they will become embroiled in the ongoing religious conflicts—until one of their sons betrays their friend Carlos Muñoz to the authorities. Matthew Graham does not leave his friends to rot—not even if they’re papist priests—so soon enough most of the Graham family is involved in a rescue attempt, desperate to save Carlos from a sentence that may well kill him. Meanwhile, in London little Rachel is going through hell. In a matter of months she loses everything, even her surname, as apparently her father is not Master Cooke but o...

Sown in Tears by Beverly Magid Publication Date: September 18, 2012 Paperback & eBook; 194 Pages ISBN-13: 978-1478104575 Genre: Fiction/Historical/Jewish READ THE FIRST CHAPTER . Russia, 1905: The Jews are restricted to the area called thePale of the Settlement and the target of anti-semitism fomented by the government and exacerbated by the laws and the economy. After an attack on the village of Kortitz, Leah Peretz must find a way to survive and protect her young children. Her life is complicated by the unexpected attentions of the Russian officer, Captain Vaselik. Can she trust him? Should she join the burgeoning worker movement? Suddenly her path to self-discovery has become one of drama, revolution and courage. "I read this story in ONE day. I could not put the book down!" - Impressions In Ink Book Blog "Sown in Tearswill have you gripped from the first sentence. This exciting, fast-paced novel takes all the elements of romance, fami...

I, Eliza Hamilton by Susan Holloway Scott I so badly wanted to love this book but it just didn't do it for me.  I was expecting to get to know Eliza Hamilton in this story: her life before, during and after her marriage to Alexander Hamilton but that's not what this story was really about.  This was a more a story Alexander through Eliza's eyes and it got boring after a while to see her gush over Alexander non-stop for the whole book.  I did learn a lot about Alexander from the story but I don't think I really knew Eliza.  It was all completely focused on Alexander and I think the story made Eliza into a lovesick puppy.  Also, Eliza lived for 50 years after his death and there was nothing about that part of her life.   I feel bad for not loving the story but it really didn't work for me. 2 stars.   Sugar Pine Trail by RaeAnne Thayne   Sugar Pine Trail is the 7th book in RaeAnne Thayne's Haven Point series and I'm pretty...

Please follow Anna Belfrage as her beloved Graham Saga series is blasted around the blogosphere and enter to win Books #1-8! About The Graham Saga Series 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 excessively so in Alex' opinion. Sometimes people ask me why Alex had to be born in the twentieth century, why not make her a woman born and bred in the seventeenth century where the story is set? The answer to that is I have n...

By Love Divided by Elizabeth St. John Publication Date: October 12, 2017 Falcon Historical eBook & Paperback; 381 Pages Series: The Lydiard Chronicles, Book Two Genre: Historical Fiction Royalist Sir Allen Apsley thinks his choice is clear, but when his mother embraces the Puritan cause, and his beloved sister Luce falls in love with John Hutchinson, a Roundhead soldier, his loyalties are tested. Is it family first? Is it country first? As England falls into bloody civil war, Allen must fight for king and country, while Luce embraces Parliament’s radical views and confronts the very core of the family’s beliefs. And when their influential Villiers cousins raise the stakes, Allen and Luce face a devastating challenge. Will war unite or divide them? In the dawn of rebellion, love is the final battleground. Based on surviving memoirs, court papers and letters of Elizabeth St.John’s family, By Love Divided continues the story of Lucy St.John, The Lady of the Tower...

Time for another Mailbox Monday post!  I hope everyone had a great Halloween!  My daughter had a blast and even though it was freezing, we did a lot of trick or treating.  After Halloween, I swear the week flew by and now we're having a super relaxing weekend.  The weather is pretty chilly so it's nice to curl up inside with a book or a movie. I'm so excited about the books I got this week.  For Review: There is Always a Tomorrow by Anna Belfrage This is a new book in a one of my favorite series and I absolutely can't wait to dive into it. Purchased (for Kindle):   Christmastime Cowboy by Maisey Yates The Inn at Blue Hollow Falls by Donna Kauffman   Sugarplum Way by Debbie Mason A Very Merry Princess by Susan Mallery I am so excited for the holidays! I can't get enough holiday romance novels right now.  We are going to be in Germany for Thanksgiving so we are already starting to get things ready to dec...

The It Girl and Me: A Novel of Clara Bow by Laini Giles Publication Date: March 25, 2017 Sepia Stories Publishing eBook & Paperback; 341 Pages Series: Forgotten Actresses, Book #2 Gere: Historical Fiction/Biographical Daisy DeVoe has left her abusive husband, her father has been pinched for bootlegging, and she’s embarrassed by her rural Kentucky roots. But on the plus side, she’s climbing the ladder in the salon of Paramount Pictures, styling hair for actress Clara Bow. Clara is a handful. The “It” Girl of the Jazz Age personifies the new woman of the 1920s onscreen, smoking, drinking bootleg hooch, and bursting with sex appeal. But her conduct off the set is even more scandalous. Hoping to impose a little order on Clara’s chaotic life, Paramount persuades Daisy to sign on as Clara’s personal secretary. Thanks to Daisy, Clara's bank account is soon flush with cash. And thanks to Clara, Daisy can finally shake off her embarrassing past and achieve respecta...

The Tides Between by Elizabeth Jane Corbett Publication Date: October 20, 2017 Odyssey Books Paperback; 300 Pages Genre: Fiction/Young Adult/Historical She fancied herself part of a timeless chain without beginning or end, linked only by the silver strong words of its tellers. In the year 1841, on the eve of her departure from London, Bride's mother demands she forget her dead father and prepare for a sensible, adult life in Port Phillip. Desperate to save her childhood, fifteen-year-old Bridie is determined to smuggle a notebook filled with her father's fairytales to the far side of the world. When Rhys Bevan, a soft-voiced young storyteller and fellow traveller realises Bridie is hiding something, a magical friendship is born. But Rhys has his own secrets and the words written in Bridie’s notebook carry a dark double meaning. As they inch towards their destination, Rhys's past returns to haunt him. Bridie grapples with the implications of her dad’s final message. The pa...

A Sea of Sorrow: A Novel of Odysseus by David Blixt, Amalia Carosella, Libbie Hawker, Scott Oden, Vicky Alvear Shecter, and Russell Whitfield Publication Date: October 17, 2017 Knight Media, LLC eBook & Paperback; 524 Pages Genre: Historical Fiction Odysseus, infamous trickster of Troy, vaunted hero of the Greeks, left behind a wake of chaos and despair during his decade long journey home to Ithaca. Lovers and enemies, witches and monsters--no one who tangled with Odysseus emerged unscathed. Some prayed for his return, others, for his destruction. These are their stories… A beleaguered queen’s gambit for maintaining power unravels as a son plots vengeance. A tormented siren battles a goddess’s curse and the forces of nature to survive. An exiled sorceress defies a lustful captain and his greedy crew. A blinded shepherd swears revenge on the pirate-king who mutilated him. A beautiful empress binds a shipwrecked sailor to servitude, only to wonder who is servi...