Tag Archives: historical fiction

Review – The Valley Of Horses by Jean M Auel #jeanmauel #librarylovechallenge

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MY REVIEW

It has been many, many years since I read the first book of the Earth’s Children series, Clan Of The Cave Bear my Jean M Auel. The story stuck with me so much that here I am, decades later getting lost in Ayla’s story and prehistoic adventures. All her previous world came back easily, and that is so unusual for me, that I am sure I will read it to the very end.

We flip back and forth, between Ayla and Jondalar. It’s obvious to me they will end up together, but Ayla’s struggles after being kicked out of the Clan are fascinating. She learns to survive by doing, picking up skills on her own. She was seeking one of her own, but she makes friends with a horse and an even more unlikely companion, so her search is delayed and she spends years alone.

A scream changes her world forever when she saves Jondalar from Baby.

That’s all I’m saying, because Ayla’s story is sooooo worth experiencing for yourself, that I want you to discover it by becoming as immersed in the journey as I did.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

This odyssey into the distant past carries us back to the awesome mysteries of the exotic, primeval world of The Clan of the Cave Bear, and to Ayla, now grown into a beautiful and courageous young woman.Cruelly cast out by the new leader of the ancient Clan that adopted her as a child, Ayla leaves those she loves behind and travels alone through a stark, open land filled with dangerous animals but few people, searching for the Others, tall and fair like herself.  Living with the Clan has taught Ayla many skills but not real hunting. She finally knows she can survive when she traps a horse, which gives her meat and a warm pelt for the winter, but fate has bestowed a greater gift, an orphaned foal with whom she develops a unique kinship.One winter extends to more; she discovers a way to make fire more quickly and a wounded cave lion cub joins her unusual family, but her beloved animals don’t fulfill her restless need for human companionship. Then she hears the sound of a man screaming in pain. She saves tall, handsome Jondalar, who brings her a language to speak and an awakening of love and desire, but Ayla is torn between her fear of leaving her valley and her hope of living with her own kind.This eBook includes the full text of the novel plus the following additional • An Earth’s Children® series sampler including free chapters from the other books in Jean M. Auel’s bestselling series• A Q&A with the author about the Earth’s Children® series

  • Genre: Action and Adventure, Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Prehistoric, Romance
  • 577 pages, Kindle Edition
  • First published January 1, 1982
  • Series: Earth’s Children, #2
  • Characters: Ayla, Jondalar

ABOUT JEAN M AUEL

Jean M. Auel, née Jean Marie Untinen is an American author best known for her Earth’s Children books, a series of historical fiction novels set in prehistoric Europe that explores interactions of Cro-Magnon people with Neanderthals. As of 2010 her books have sold more than 45 million copies worldwide, in many translations.

Auel attended University of Portland, and earned an MBA in 1976. She received honorary degrees from her alma mater, as well as the University of Maine and the Mount Vernon College for Women. She and her husband, Ray Bernard Auel, have five children and live in Portland, Oregon.

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Library Borrow Review – Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee #harperlee #gosetawatchman

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MY REVIEW

I got lost in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, so I had to check out Go Set A Watchman. Go Set A Watchman didn’t hit me as hard as To Kill A Mockingbird, but I loved learning what happened to Jean Louis Finch, since she was the star of the show.

She returns home, after living in New York City, seeing Maycomb, Alabama in a new light. Sure, she has gotten older, but she has been away from the small town life. She had left behind her brother, father, and Henry, who patiently waited for her to return, believing they would be wed.

For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.

Jean Louis has done a lot of growing up, but her return gives her many life lessons, showing her that things are not always as they appear to be. Her father has never tried to influence her, and he does not try now. She will become her own person.

Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience. There is no such thing as a collective conscious.

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee did not hit me as hard as To Kill A Mockingbird, but I found so many words of wisdom in the pages, that I found myself nodding my head and thinking, well said. I feel both books should be must reads in English and History classes, for all high schools, North, South, East, and West.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

From Harper Lee comes a landmark new novel set two decades after her beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird. Maycomb, Alabama. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch—”Scout”—returns home from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise’s homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt. Featuring many of the iconic characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman, and a world, in a painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past—a journey that can be guided only by one’s conscience. Written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman imparts a fuller, richer understanding and appreciation of Harper Lee. Here is an unforgettable novel of wisdom, humanity, passion, humor and effortless precision—a profoundly affecting work of art that is both wonderfully evocative of another era and relevant to our own times. It not only confirms the enduring brilliance of To Kill a Mockingbird, but also serves as its essential companion, adding depth, context and new meaning to an American classic.

Genre: Classics, Contemporary and Literary Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2015

ABOUT HARPER LEE

Harper Lee, known as Nelle, was born in the Alabama town of Monroeville, the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. Her father, a former newspaper editor and proprietor, was a lawyer who served on the state legislature from 1926 to 1938. As a child, Lee was a tomboy and a precocious reader, and enjoyed the friendship of her schoolmate and neighbor, the young Truman Capote.

After graduating from high school in Monroeville, Lee enrolled at the all-female Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944-45), and then pursued a law degree at the University of Alabama (1945-50), pledging the Chi Omega sorority. While there, she wrote for several student publications and spent a year as editor of the campus humor magazine, “Ramma-Jamma”. Though she did not complete the law degree, she studied for a summer in Oxford, England, before moving to New York in 1950, where she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC.

Lee continued as a reservation clerk until the late 50s, when she devoted herself to writing. She lived a frugal life, traveling between her cold-water-only apartment in New York to her family home in Alabama to care for her father.

Having written several long stories, Harper Lee located an agent in November 1956. The following month at the East 50th townhouse of her friends Michael Brown and Joy Williams Brown, she received a gift of a year’s wages with a note: “You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.”

Within a year, she had a first draft. Working with J. B. Lippincott & Co. editor Tay Hohoff, she completed To Kill a Mockingbird in the summer of 1959. Published July 11, 1960, the novel was an immediate bestseller and won great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. It remains a bestseller with more than 30 million copies in print. In 1999, it was voted “Best Novel of the Century” in a poll by the Library .

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Library Borrow – To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee #harperlee #tokillamockingbird

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MY REVIEW

I quickly discovered why To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee has become a classic and won the Pulitzer Prize. I was immersed in the struggles of a lawyer, a widowed father, raising two young children, while defending a black man charged with raping a white girl.

All the darkness of the times came through the story, racism, classism, and violence in the Deep South during the 1930s. My disgust and anger brought a tear or two to my eye.

Scout, an eight year old girl had me in stitches. Her older brother, Jem, matures as the story develops.

I was smiling and laughing at their thoughts, their innocence, and their vivid imaginations.

“Maybe he died and they stuffed him up the chimney.”

The sophistication of the writing stands the test of time!

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
5 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

‘Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’

A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel – a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man’s struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

  • Genre: Classics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
  • 331 pages, Kindle Edition
  • First published July 11, 1960
  • Literary awards:

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1961), Audie Award for Classic (2007), The Quill Award for Audio Book (2007), National Book Award Finalist for Fiction (1961), Alabama Author Award for Fiction (1961)

Original title: To Kill a Mockingbird Series

To Kill a Mockingbird (#1)Setting

Maycomb, Alabama (United States, 1933), Alabama (United States)Characters

Scout Finch, Atticus Finch (The Sanibel Sunset Detective Returns), Jem Finch, Arthur Radley, Mayella Ewell, Aunt Alexandra, Bob Ewell, Calpurnia (housekeeper), Tom Robinson, Miss Maudie Atkinson, Judge John Taylor, Dill Harris, Heck Tate, Stephanie Crawford

ABOUT HARPER LEE

Harper Lee, known as Nelle, was born in the Alabama town of Monroeville, the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. Her father, a former newspaper editor and proprietor, was a lawyer who served on the state legislature from 1926 to 1938. As a child, Lee was a tomboy and a precocious reader, and enjoyed the friendship of her schoolmate and neighbor, the young Truman Capote.

After graduating from high school in Monroeville, Lee enrolled at the all-female Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944-45), and then pursued a law degree at the University of Alabama (1945-50), pledging the Chi Omega sorority. While there, she wrote for several student publications and spent a year as editor of the campus humor magazine, “Ramma-Jamma”. Though she did not complete the law degree, she studied for a summer in Oxford, England, before moving to New York in 1950, where she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC.

Lee continued as a reservation clerk until the late 50s, when she devoted herself to writing. She lived a frugal life, traveling between her cold-water-only apartment in New York to her family home in Alabama to care for her father.

Having written several long stories, Harper Lee located an agent in November 1956. The following month at the East 50th townhouse of her friends Michael Brown and Joy Williams Brown, she received a gift of a year’s wages with a note: “You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.”

Within a year, she had a first draft. Working with J. B. Lippincott & Co. editor Tay Hohoff, she completed To Kill a Mockingbird in the summer of 1959. Published July 11, 1960, the novel was an immediate bestseller and won great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. It remains a bestseller with more than 30 million copies in print. In 1999, it was voted “Best Novel of the Century” in a poll by the Library .

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Giveaway – Kiss Of A Witch by S G Slade @ExpressoTours

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Kiss of a Witch
S.G. Slade
(Darkness Rising, #2)
Publication date: December 14th 2023
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical

Trapped in a spreading web of darkness, the power of an ancient book might be their only hope.

Mary Sparrow was cursed at birth, and the bawdy house is the only home she’s ever known. Like most of the girls, she dreams of escape. But when an old man drives her friend to madness, she swears she will have her revenge.

Toby Chyrche also hopes for a better future, away from the tailor’s shop where his fate seems set in stone. Then afateful meeting seems to promise freedom, until an ancient book of magic reveals chilling truths.

Ensnared in the spreading web of darkness, they turn to magic to protect themselves. But shadowy forces crave a sacrifice, and the spectre of death is beckoning. Can they wield the power of the book to protect those they love? Or will they pay for their courage with their lives?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

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EXCERPT:

Then Toby ducked through the low door from the street and her breath stopped short in her throat. She was on her feet in a moment, shoving the sewing back into the basket at the hearth, straightening her skirts, checking her hair and adjusting the neckline of her bodice, small breasts pushed up and on display to their best advantage. She waited by the hearth, a coy smile on her lips and her head tilted in invitation. He saw her straight away and made his way towards her, and the little light of hope inside burned brighter. He had come, not for any girl, but for her.

‘Ale, Rosalind,’ Mary ordered to the other girl, who still sat staring at the unlit fire. Rosalind turned towards her, frowning in question. ‘Get us ale,’ Mary told her again, and eventually the girl got to her feet and headed out the back to where the barrels were kept.

‘Master Chyrche.’ She dropped her best curtsey, and he returned it with a bow.

‘Mistress Sparrow.’

They sat at a small round table beside the fireplace, and he looked around the empty room. ‘Where is everyone?’

She shrugged. ‘Elsewhere.’

‘Then I’m glad,’ he replied. ‘Because it means I can have you all to myself.’

She laughed, taking pleasure in the pleasantry. ‘I am all yours, Master Chyrche.’

He took her left hand in his, and began to caress the extra finger, gaze intent on the movement of their hands. Then, looking up, his eyes fixed hers in question. ‘Are you truly cursed, Mary Sparrow?’ he asked. ‘Does the Devil suckle at night on this finger?’

She gave him an uncertain half-smile in answer. Why was he asking the same questions again? ‘I cannot rightly say,’ she murmured. ‘I hope not.’

Lifting her palm to his mouth, Toby kissed it, then briefly, discreetly, slid the extra finger between his lips, his tongue warm and moist as it curled around the tip. Her breath lifted in response, warmth in her gut. Then Rosalind returned with the jug of ale and Toby let her hand go. Mary poured for them both and she drank, unsure of him now. She had met men before who made a fetish of her fingers, but Toby’s sudden interest disconcerted her. She lowered her cup and looked at him. He was watching her closely, eyes grey and pale in the candlelight, and she was self-conscious under his scrutiny.

‘Perhaps I’m your Devil,’ he said.

‘Perhaps,’ she replied, but she had no understanding of his meaning. He must have seen the confusion in her eyes, though she tried her best to hide it, because then he gave her a smile that made her fall a little deeper.


Author Bio:

S.G. Slade was born and raised in the historic city of Bristol in England, and now lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband, son, and a very small dog called Livvy. She has worked variously as a secretary, a teacher, a shop assistant and a nurse, but lifelong obsessions with books, history, and magic have never waned. When she isn’t reading or writing (which isn’t often), you can find her either doing yoga, going for long walks, or watching old movies. Touch of a Witch is her first historical fantasy book.

She uses the pen name S.G. Slade for her fantasy books, and also writes Historical Fiction under the name Samantha Grosser.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok


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Giveaway – Trust No One by Glenn Dyer @XpressoTours @duffy_dyer

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Trust No One
Glenn Dyer
(Conor Thorn Series, #4)
Publication date: December 11th 2023
Genres: Adult, Historical, Thriller

Loyalists meant to rid their country of a double-dealing collaborator. Instead, they created a threat that could destroy Allied unity.

Algiers. Winter 1942. Conor Thorn is devastated. He’s been fired from the OSS. His wife, Emily, has been fired from MI6. They allowed their morals to bend certain truths concerning the outcome of their last mission. Forever dedicated to defeating Axis powers, these skilled operatives jump at the chance to secretly help General Eisenhower deal with a political time bomb threatening Allied harmony and to redeem their honorable standing. To recover a rumored archive holding the truth about an assassination plot, they must travel deep into perilous Axis territory.

In the crosshairs of those determined to keep the information out of Allied hands, Conor and Emily fall victim to a violent assault. Though the resulting injuries leave him severely concussed and confused, Conor refuses to stand down while his beloved ventures deeper into danger.

Can Conor and Emily piece together a political puzzle in time to keep Allied unity from fracturing?

Trust No One is the high intensity, gritty fourth book in the Conor Thorn WWII espionage series inspired by true events. If you like heart-pounding action and white-knuckled tension, then you’ll love Glenn Dyer’s thrill ride through history.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

—

EXCERPT:

Conor stirred. His head was pounding like the bass drum in the US Naval Academy marching band. When he opened his eyes, one person stared back at him. The facial features were out of focus, as if he were looking through cheesecloth. He blinked. The onlooker’s mouth began to flap. He sat up, but his head almost exploded. A hand pushed him back. The cheesecloth dissolved, and he could see someone smiling at him. Given the slow shake of his head, Captain Jack Waddon was not pleased to see him.

“You are one lucky bastard, Conor,” Waddon said.

Conor looked around and recognized that he was back aboard Waddon’s Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina, the ship that had taken him, Emily, and Father Sean Sullivan to Italy on their mission to snatch Ettore Majorana. “What did you say?” He could barely hear his own words. “What the hell happened?” He reached for his throbbing forehead and felt a knot the size of a billiard ball. The surface of his forehead radiated a low heat.

“You were introduced to a blackjack swung by one angry MP, that’s what happened,” Waddon said. “As far as being lucky, well, that’s because Commander Butcher saved your butt. Told the MP that he’d take it up with Colonel Eddy himself and see that you, being nonmilitary, would exit the theater as soon as he could arrange transport.”

Conor rolled over onto his right side. The two men were in the plane’s compartment forward of the waist gunner’s area and aft of the flight engineer’s compartment. He reached for the back of his head and discovered a lump where the blackjack had ambushed him. “Stevens?”

“Hauled out of there to the field hospital. Out cold. Like you were.”

Conor groaned.

“Here,” Waddon said as he handed him a damp handkerchief.

Conor spied white gauze peeking out from under Waddon’s left sleeve. Waddon had been wounded three weeks prior when his PBY approached the beach near Anzio to exfiltrate Conor, Emily, Sean Sullivan, and Ettore Majorana.

“How’s the arm?”

Waddon waved off the question. “On the mend. Already back in the left seat.”

Conor nodded, then held up the handkerchief. “What’s this for?”

“Your ear. There’s some dried blood. Stevens must have landed at least one blow.”

Conor took the handkerchief and dabbed at his right ear, loosening some dried flakes but also coming away with some fresh blood. The bass drummer in his head pounded away. His head had seen better days.

“So you dragged my ass here after Butcher saved it?”

“Yep. Me and DiLazzaro. We thought you had some lead bars in your pockets. You were a load getting you in here.” Seaman Eugene DiLazzaro was one of Waddon’s crew and had wound up part of Conor’s team that went ashore at Anzio. The New Jersey–born Italian American had handled himself like a pro, particularly when the shooting started.

Conor’s stomach roiled. Bile crept upward. A mixture of oil, perspiration, fuel, and grease hung in the air, fanning the flames of his nausea. “Jack, do you have a bucket? I don’t feel too good.”

“Conor, don’t you lose it in my ship,” Waddon said, scurrying forward in search of something to keep his Catalina puke-free. Conor wondered what did the most damage: the blow to the back of his head from the blackjack or the oak bar that gave no quarter when his head collided with it. Waddon returned with a collapsible canvas bucket and shoved it into Conor’s hands. “Here, and don’t miss.”

Conor leaned over the side of the bunk and let loose a stream of vomit that filled the bottom two inches of the bucket. When he finally felt he had no more to give, he handed it to Waddon and lay back. “So you just happened to be in the area when the action started?”

“Hey, I was thirsty.” Waddon went aft and tossed the bucket’s contents out through the open starboard-side blister. He returned and sat across from Conor on the port-side bunk. “When I approached the bar’s entrance, I saw Butcher coming from the other direction. We were about ten feet from the bar when we heard a massive crash. That must have been Stevens doing a back flop on the backbar. Two MPs were already there. We saw one lower the boom from just inside the doorway. We both cringed when your head hit the bar.”

“Well, thanks for the sympathetic cringes. Then what?”

“I already told you. Don’t you remember?”

Conor shook his head and felt the pain surge as if his brain were bouncing around inside his skull.

“Like I said, Butcher jumped in, threw Ike’s name around a bit, and eventually, the MPs backed down. He told them to get Stevens to the field hospital and told me to take care of you, but not to go far. That he needed to see you when you got put back together. He wanted me to get this to you.” Waddon handed over a note.

Conor unfolded the paper. It was short and sweet. He folded the note and put it in his pants pocket, then settled back to let the whitecaps in his stomach calm down.

“Well, you going to let me in on it or not?”

“He wants to know why Donovan shitcanned me.”


Author Bio:

GLENN DYER is a former commercial television executive whose career spanned over thirty-five years. That career took him to cities such as Salt Lake City, Dallas, Washington, DC, and Denver. He returned to Park City, Utah in retirement in 2013 to write full-time. He is an associate member of the International Thriller Writers, the Author’s Guild and The OSS Society. Glenn attended Villanova University and graduated from Boston University. He and his wife, Chris, have three children, all of whom live too far away. Visit his website at www.glenndyer.net and follow him on Twitter @duffy_dyer and Instagram @glennduffydyer.

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Giveaway – Rome’s Last Noble Palace by Kimberly Sullivan @XpressoTours @KimberlyinRome

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Rome’s Last Noble Palace
Kimberly Sullivan
Publication date: December 6th 2023
Genres: Adult, Historical, Paranormal, Women’s Fiction

Two women. Two different centuries. One attic room

American Isabelle Field has been shipped off to Rome to live with her aunt, Princess Elizabeth Brancaccio. Isabelle’s aunt and mother share a common goal – replicating Elizabeth’s success by marrying Isabelle off to a European nobleman.

But Rome in 1896 is on the cusp of a new century and Isabelle longs for more than a titled husband. She secretly designs costumes for Rome’s burgeoning theatre environment and dreams of opening a fashion atelier. Can she gather the courage to forge a life for herself, even if it means going against expectations?

Over a century later, doctoral candidate Sophie Nouri can’t believe her good fortune when she is selected to intern in Rome’s Near Eastern Art Museum. Even better, the position includes an attic apartment in the spectacular museum property, the Palazzo Brancaccio.

Overseeing a major exhibition is stressful, but tension alone can’t explain the disturbing nighttime presence in the deserted hallways of the grand palace – especially one no one else can sense. Almost as if a spectral being is trying to communicate with Sophie directly. Or warn her.

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

Rome, 2018

SUNLIGHT STREAMED THROUGH the high windows, coaxing Sophie from her dreams. She cracked one eye open, groaning at the early hour on the travel alarm clock. How had she forgotten to close the shutters last night? Blame it on the jet lag of someone no longer used to international travel.

She turned her head to observe Matt’s sleeping form. His chest rose and fell in a calm, steady rhythm. A little sunlight seeping through the windows would never wake him this early. He was made of stronger stuff.

She turned back to the window, struck again by golden Roman light she’d forgotten after so many years away. Not at all like the diffused light back home. Sparrows swooped in graceful arcs across the cloudless, cerulean sky. As the sleepiness seeped from her eyes and her gaze sharpened, the bright, white blocks began to take shape. Her heart beat faster. The familiar but long-dormant sense of fear coursed through her body. She hadn’t been expecting to feel it so deeply after all these years away.

Closing her eyes, she took a calming breath and formed images of waking in her bedroom at home. The branch of the oak tree scraping the bedroom window, the twittering of the birds, the bold squirrel that peeked in her window most mornings, the creaks and groans of the old, converted farmhouse. Gradually, her heartbeat slowed, the fear seeped away. She inhaled deeply, counted to ten and exhaled.

She could do this.

She fixed a determined gaze on the grand palazzo, glittering white in the strong Mediterranean sunlight. Some of its brown shutters were open, others closed like sleepy eyes reluctant to yield to the morning light. She remembered all those useless afternoon battles against the Roman sunlight filtering heat and blinding rays into those great rooms.

At the palazzo’s upper edge, lithe young angels kneeled in rows, their flowing curls cascading down to their shoulders. Their pointed wings punctuated the cornice above, curving vines sprouted from their bodies in a riot of intricate swirls. The young angels were separated from one another by lush greenery, unrolling in a seemingly endless, elegant row. She’d always known the carving was there, but she’d never observed the details from this angle. Everything had been different from within. Despite the warmth of the early morning sun, she shivered.

Ignoring a mounting sense of dread, Sophie pushed herself up gently, careful not to rouse Matt. Sliding bare feet into beckoning slippers, she padded softly to the door, her back decisively turned to the noble home.


Author Bio:

Kimberly grew up in the suburbs of Boston and in Saratoga Springs, New York, although she now calls the Harlem neighborhood of New York City home when she’s back in the US. She studied political science and history at Cornell University and earned her MBA, with a concentration in strategy and marketing, from Bocconi University in Milan.

Afflicted with a severe case of Wanderlust, she worked in journalism and government in the US, Czech Republic and Austria, before settling down in Rome, where she works in international development, and writes fiction any chance she gets.

She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) and The Historical Novel Society and has published several short stories and three novels: Three Coins, Dark Blue Waves and In The Shadow of The Apennines.

After years spent living in Italy with her Italian husband and sons, she’s fluent in speaking with her hands, and she loves setting her stories in her beautiful, adoptive country.

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Bookbub / Instagram


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Giveaway – The Mark Of The Salamander by Justin Newland @JustinNewland53 @iReadBookTours

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Author Justin Newland Guest Post for Sherry @ fundimental

My latest historical fiction novel, The Mark of the Salamander, has just hit the shelves. It’s
the first title in a two-book series, The Island of Angels, which tells the epic story and secret
history of England’s coming of age during the Elizabethan era.

This blog post is about the title, namely The Mark of the Salamander.
First of all, what is a salamander? Well, it’s a spirit of fire.

In Medieval times, Paracelsus, the great Swiss alchemist, identified the four beings or
spirits of the elements. While the salamander is the fire elemental, gnomes inhabit the earth, undines swim in the waters of the oceans, and sylphs are air spirits.

As a spirit of fire, the salamander is a lithe creature that occupied the other world, and so would only be appear to be seen those who had the eyes to see them. Just like the other
three elemental spirits, the salamander had healing properties, and had to those it attended, it gave the power of foresight, and of insight into the future.

Fire is fascinating. It lives, it’s alive. At the hearth, it warms, and yet it destroys. It melts, it smelts, and it cleanses. It houses the phoenix who rises from the ashes, it begets new
birth, and yet Hell is full of the stuff.

It’s the living fire, the fire that we breathe that’s inside the air, the flame of life and living.

And there’s a ruby salamander mentioned in the novel. The idea of it came from this image of a ruby salamander pendant. Gold filigree set with rubies, it was recovered from a Spanish galleon off the coast of Northern Ireland some years after the Armada. So, although it was probably not part of the treasure taken by Drake from the Spanish ship, the Cacafuego, the fact that it was a salamander gave me the idea to use it in the novel.

What about the mark, the mark of the salamander? What’s that?

Well, I got the idea from the Ancient Greek myth about the warrior Achilles. The legend goes that his mother dipped him into the River Styx to make his entire body invulnerable, except for the part of his foot where she held him—the proverbial Achilles heel. That was his identifying feature, in his case, his weakness and ultimately, his destiny.

In a similar way, Nelan, the hero of my novel, is born with three wavy lines beneath the middle finger of his right hand. That’s the mark of the salamander. That way, his supernatural powers, such as clairvoyance, ESP, and telepathy, can be identified with a physical feature, an actual mark on the body.

Justin Newland
5th October 2023


Book Details:

Book Title:  The Mark of the Salamander by Justin Newland
Category:  Adult Fiction (18 +),  246 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction and Magical Realism 
Publisher:  The Book Guild
Release date:  September 2023
Content Rating: PG-13 +M. Mild sex and cruelty. Mature themes.


Book Description:

1575.

Nelan Michaels is a young Flemish man fleeing religious persecution in the Spanish Netherlands. Settling in Mortlake outside London, he studies under Queen Elizabeth’s court astrologer, conjuring a bright future – until he’s wrongly accused of murder. Forced into the life of a fugitive, Nelan hides in London, before he is dramatically pressed into the crew of the Golden Hind. Thrust into a strange new world on board Francis Drake’s vessel, Nelan sails the seas on a voyage to discover discovery itself. Encountering mutiny, ancient tribes and hordes of treasure, Nelan must explore and master his own mystical powers – including the Mark of the Salamander, the mysterious spirit of fire.

THE MARK OF THE SALAMANDER is the first in The Island of Angels series: a two-book saga that tells the epic story and secret history of England’s coming of age during the Elizabethan era.



Meet the Author:

JUSTIN NEWLAND’s novels represent an innovative blend of genres from historical adventure to supernatural thriller and magical realism. His stories explore the themes of war and religion, and speculate on the human’s spiritual place in the universe.

Undeterred by the award of a Doctorate in Mathematics from Imperial College, London, he conceived his debut novel, The Genes of Isis (Matador, 2018), an epic fantasy set under Ancient Egyptian skies.

The historical thriller, The Old Dragon’s Head (Matador, 2018), is set in Ming Dynasty China in the shadows of the Great Wall.

The Coronation (Matador, 2019) was another historical adventure and speculates on the genesis of the most important event in the modern world – the Industrial Revolution.

The Abdication (Matador, 2021) is a mystery thriller in which a young woman confronts her faith in a higher purpose and what it means to abdicate that faith.

The Mark of the Salamander (Book Guild, 2023) is the first in a two-book series, The Island of Angels. Set in the Elizabethan era, it’s an epic tale of England’s coming of age.

His work in progress is the second in the series, The Midnight of Eights, the charting of the uncanny coincidences that led to the repulse of the Spanish Armada.

Author, speaker and broadcaster, Justin appears on LitFest panels, gives talks to historical associations and libraries and enjoys giving radio interviews and making podcasts. Born three days before the end of 1953, he lives with his partner in plain sight of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.

connect with the author: 
website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ pinterest ~ bookbub ~ goodreads

Enter the Giveaway:

THE MARK OF THE SALAMANDER Book Tour Giveaway



MY JUSTIN NEWLAND REVIEWS

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The Spotlight Is On Zarik by Mystee Ryann @XpressoTours

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Zarik
Mystee Ryann
(To Meet a Highlander Series, #1)
Genres: Historical, Romance, Time-Travel

Meet Zarik MacKinnon, soon-to-be chief of his clan. Stubborn, unrelenting, and not in need of love. For years he’s been told by the clan’s druid that someone will come to save him. Someone for him to love. He shrugged his shoulders and continued on in his protection of his clan. Never wanting to be chief, Zarik is surprised when Tsarina Fraser arrives and is said to be the one he must marry. The catch? She’s from the future.




Author Bio:

After 14 years of book and product reviews, I have finally got my own books in the works.

Website / Goodreads / TikTok / Instagram


—

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I Was In The Moment – Operation S&D by Janelle Taylor & Ashley Fontainne #AshleyFontainne

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MY REVIEW

I am so excited to get my hands on Operation S&D by Ashley Fontainne and Janelle Taylor. This is the second book n the series and I have high expectations, seeing the first book was amazing, Operation DFC.

I am writing this review, without the benefit of a blurb or synopsis. I have already met some of the characters and know some of what is going on, but I am not sure what to share and what to keep to myself. So, here goes….

The characters are damaged and carry a lot of baggage, much of it through no fault of their own. In 1944 soldiers were experimented on. Could it be passed on to their children? The young men had no idea what life had in store for them, but they man up and do what must be done.

“That’s some paranormal, genetically fucked up shit for sure. I mean, cue the Twilight Zone theme…”

After reading the first book, I knew they would be out for revenge and would make the cartel pay. Along the way Rafe inserts himself into a situation to save an innocent, pregnant woman. I wept WITH him on more than one occasion. The guilt he carries is a heavy load. I hope he learns to ask for help, but right now he is on his own. My heart broke for him. The voices in his head….

Eduardo has no clue the creature he created is on a lethal prowl.

Rabid Wolfe three; cartel zero. I’m on a roll.

S&D: Those we seek…we will destroy. Those who betray them will pay the ultimate price. The problem is, who is the betrayer? There’s always one in the bunch. I thought of one person and….well…I’m not telling, but I was right and it will cost someone their life.

The action began from the opening pages, but when they got to Central America it ramped up to a frenetic pace. My head was spinning, waiting, anticipating the bad to come. The mental and emotional turmoil the four team members go through brings forth many emotions. The richness and depth of the characters make them come to life on the pages. I feel empathy, sorrow, anger, rage, fear, and compassion. I want them to come out of the war they are fighting whole, with hope and a future in store for them.

The ending…awesome! Yeah, I may have been able to figure it all out, but I never even tried. I was so into what was happening in the moment, I let the authors lead me where they wanted me to go. I never paid attention to where I was in the book. A lot of the time I will check to see how much I’ve read, how much I have left, but this time, I was in the moment and stayed there.

I found moments where the authors could have ended the book, but they kept giving me more and it kept getting better and better, leaving me very happy. I love it. That is the excellence of this powerhouse team, Ashley Fontainne and Janelle Taylor.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
5 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Justice is blind. Vengeance sees only red. I did not learn of the cold-blooded assassination of several CIA agents, who were part of the team on our previous mission, Operation DFC , until it was too late. Spencer “RedDog” Watkins and I are still alive, but our loved ones paid the ultimate price for being a part of our lives, leaving us heartbroken and consumed by an unquenchable thirst for revenge. Black Viper and Raccoon survived the first round of murders orchestrated by the de Santos cartel and were assigned to join us on a total black op, which I nicknamed Operation S&D – Seek and Destroy. With new cover identities issued by the Agency, we slip into Central America under the guise of Lobos del Diablo – Devil Wolves Motorcycle gang. Our mission in Nicaragua, which is a tinderbox embroiled in the illicit drug trade and the internal battle between the Sandinista regime and the Contra rebels, is to report on other field operatives who are suspected of going rogue. The unofficial mission is to take down the de Santos drug cartel and leave no survivors. The men Spencer and I used to be died with the slaughter of our loved ones, leaving us nothing more than snarling beasts stalking prey, undetected, until it is too late for the cartel to plan a counterattack. We are deadly, cold-blooded killers with nothing to lose—alive only to kill those responsible for creating us—and the damage to my soul is so severe, I trust no one. If successful in destroying our enemies, do we dare hope their annihilation heals our traumatic pasts, or is there not enough humanity left to salvage?

  • Genre: Conspiracy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
  • 373 pages, Kindle Edition
  • Expected publication October 31, 2023 by Georgia Girl Press
  • Series: Operation S&D

In honor of the upcoming release, the first book, Operation DFC, will be FREE on Amazon October 30-November 3, 2023, so grab your free copy, stay up all night reading, and then dive right into Operation S&D!

ABOUT JANELLE TAYLOR

The legendary Janelle Taylor was born on June 28, 1944 in Athens, GA. In 1965, she married Michael Taylor with whom she had two children, Angela Taylor-MacIntyre and Alisha Taylor Thurmond. Ms. Taylor attended the Medical College of Georgia from 1977 to 1979 and Augusta State University from 1980-1981. She withdrew from the latter after she sold her first two novels. Today, she is the author of thirty-nine novels, three novellas, and many contributions to other collections. There are thirty-nine million copies of her works in print worldwide and she has made The New York Times Bestseller List eight times. Ms. Taylor’s works have also been featured ten times on the “1 million +” bestseller’s list at Publisher’s Weekly.

Some of Ms. Taylor’s most recent books include By Candlelight, Someday Soon, Lakota Dawn, and Lakota Winds (due out in paperback in May 1999). She has also made contributions to other books including The Leukemia Society Cookbook, Christmas Rendezvous, and Summer Love. In addition, readers can see her as co-host of the QVC/TV Romance Book Club Show.

Ms. Taylor’s interests include collecting spoons, coins from around the world, ship models, dolls, and old books. She loves to fish, ride horses, play chess, target-shoot, travel (especially in her motorhome and out West), hunt for Indian relics, and take long walks with her husband. Reading, in particular books set before 1900 and current Biographies, Thrillers, Horror, or Fantasy novels, is also one of Ms. Taylor’s favorite activities. She is also extremely active with charity work and was even featured on the cover of Diabetes Forecast in February of 1998.

She lives in the country on seventy-nine acres of woods and pasture with a lake and a catfish pond. She writes her novels in a Spanish cottage which overlooks a five-acre lake, a working water mill, gazebo, and covered bridge.

Website

ABOUT ASHLEY FONTAINNE

Ashley Fontainne

Award-winning and International bestselling author Ashley Fontainne enjoys stories that immerse the reader deep into the human psyche and the monsters lurking within each of us. She writes in numerous genres including mystery, suspense, horror, sci-fi and sometimes poetry.

Ashley lives in Arkansas with her husband and is the proud mother of one son and grateful daughter of co-author, Lillian Hansen. To learn more about her books please visit https://ashleyfontainne.net/

Website  / Facebook  /  Pinterest / Bloglovin

MY ASHLEY FONTAINNE REVIEWS

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Giveaway – A Lesser God by Don Hackett @GoddessFish

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This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Don Hackett will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

As a young man, Dion Athamas was spiritually summoned to rapture then tenured god status. He had been endowed with all the benedictions to achieve sacredness: a devout flock, the power to heal and a covet for control. He also held a deep desire and ability to influence justice and universal liberty. The setting: the fictional town of Forgedmont, Mississippi, in the 1950s. Against great opposition he strived to become a new-age god; the earth was his oracle. He found faith-based conviction to be lacking in reason and truth. He chose to maintain an instinctive path to holiness. Regrettably for him and his followers, there were a great many roadblocks. He was forced to face off against the church, community, prejudice, family and scheming dreams influenced by fallacious spirits, all set forth to hamper his ascension to divinity.


 


Read an Excerpt

Test-tube love,
your hands are full,
your mind
is empty,
your pride can kill.
Pressure for life within the womb
With no clearance from God
On the road to the tomb.
Inside,
Outside,
No reason to stay,
A meaningful art in an
Inartful way.
Bring into light!
From
The darkness
Of blood,
The unwanted bare
With a shield from above.

I still had no idea who could be sending these poems. One wouldn’t have to be a Scotland Yard detective to figure out that the same person wrote both of these ludicrous poems. Who and why was a complete mystery to me. I was not an old man, and I knew nothing about any abortions. I was positively sure that my mom wasn’t having an abortion. I thought someone might be trying to be ironic, or just a pain in the rear—the latter being more likely.

About the Author:I have been writing poems and short stories for most of my life. It was not until I retired from my government position working with Special Needs individuals that I was able to focus on writing full time. The treatment of Special Needs people fostered in me a search for the explanation for the absence of morality in mankind. I have degrees in psychology and sociology from the University of Calgary, Alberta.

Amazon Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJXBLWKZ/ref=sr_1_1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tw6639Hac

a Rafflecopter giveaway About the Author:I have been writing poems and short stories for most of my life. It was not until I retired from my government position working with Special Needs individuals that I was able to focus on writing full time. The treatment of Special Needs people fostered in me a search for the explanation for the absence of morality in mankind. I have degrees in psychology and sociology from the University of Calgary, Alberta.

Amazon Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJXBLWKZ/ref=sr_1_1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tw6639Hac

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the tour and comment. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. Follow the tour HERE.

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
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