Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: 2011 Wrap-up & 2012 Sign-up

In January 2011, I joined the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge for the first time.  I love many genres of fiction, but my ultimate favorite genre is historical fiction.  I joined this challenge with the goal of reading 20 historical fiction novels in 2011.  I reached my goal by reading a total of 24 historical fiction novels this past year.  The novels I read were as follows:

1.  Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
2.  Pale Rose of England by Sandra Worth
3.  I am the Chosen King by Helen Hollick
4.  Sins of the House of Borgia by Sarah Bower
5. To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick
6.  Legacy by Jeanette Baker
7.  A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware
8.  A Fierce Radiance by Lauren Belfer
9.  The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Conner McNees
10.  When We Danced on Water by Evan Fallenberg

11.  Mary of Carisbrooke by Margaret Campbell Barnes

12.  The King's Witch by Cecelia Holland
13.  Queen of the Summer Stars by Persia Woolley
14.  Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
15.  Sea Witch by Helen Hollick
16.  Before Versaille by Karleen Koen
17.  Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey
18.  Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer
19.  Lady of the English by Elizabeth Chadwick
20.  The Betsy-Tacy Treasury by Maud Hart Lovelace
21.  Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
22.  A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (audio)
23.  The Help by Kathryn Stockett (audio)
24.  My Love, My Enemy by Jan Cox Speas

I read many excellent historical fiction novels this year, there is not a bad one in this bunch!  Which ones were my favorite?  Stay tuned the next week or so for my top ten books from 2011.  More than one book from this list is on my top ten for the year!

Twenty-two of these books were old-fashioned paper novels, while two were audiobooks.  The two audiobooks were books I had read in the past that were chosen for one of my book clubs this year.  I chose to explore them in a new format this time around.  Five of the twenty-four books were re-reads for me including Water for Elephants, Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, A Reliable Wife, and The Help.  It's safe to say these are some of my favorite books of all time.

I read a few children's historical fiction novels this year including Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie to my children and The Betsy-Tacy Treasury for me. The Little House series is how I started my love for historical fiction.  I'm now hoping to foster the love in my children.

It's no secret that I love to read historical fiction novels related to kings and queens, but I also enjoy historical fiction novels set in America (Little House, Betsy-Tacy, My Love, My Enemy, A Fierce Radiance, The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, The Help, A Reliable Wife, and Water for Elephants).  My Love, My Enemy was the most surprising book for me this year.  The cover screamed trashy romance, but the inside was a quite good historical fiction novel set during the American war of 1812.  I would love read more novels by Jan Cox Speas and I hope they find a more suitable cover.

I very much enjoyed this challenge and I'm signing up for the Historical Fiction Challenge 2012 also hosted by Historical Tapestry.  This year I'm aiming for  level 3, Struggling the Addiction: 10 books.  I'm going to focus on the Victorian Challenge this year so I'll hopefully be reading more classics and straight non-fiction history this year. 

I'm hoping that I'll be reading more of one of my favorite sub-genres, the historical fiction thriller this year.  It is a favorite of my Kewaunee Library Book Club.  Now that the club is back on track after a 1.5 year hiatus, I can hope that we get back to some great books!

Winners of The King's Witch be Cecelia Holland

I'm a bit behind on announcing winners and posting items. My family and I went on a great camping trip to Chain O'Lakes State Park in Illinois over an extended 4th of July weekend. We met with good college friends who have kids the same ages as ours. We also took a couple of days extra off and had a wonderful time. I haven't been having a wonderful time trying to catch up with laundry, unpacking, and work since I've returned home!!

Without further elaboration from me, the two lucky winners of The King's Witch by Cecelia Holland are Cynthia and Maureen. Both winners were chosen using random.org and were notified via email. They have until Friday July 15th to send me their mailing addresses. If I don't hear from them by then, new winners will be chosen.

Thank-you to Cecelia Holland for the great guest blog on Eleanor of Aquitaine, and thank-you to the Penguin Group for allowing me to host this great giveaway. Thank-you also to all of you who entered the giveaway and left great comments.

If you would like to learn more about this novel, check out my review at this link.

Sad that you didn't win? I'll have a new giveaway posted soon . . .

The King’s Witch by Cecelia Holland

Richard the Lionheart is a legend of the twelfth century. To us in the 21st century, he is an epic warrior king that we probably most often hear of in the Robin Hood legend as the King who is off fighting in the Crusades while his evil brother, Prince John, plots against him. The King’s Witch tells the story of what exactly happened during the crusades while England was left in the clutches of Prince John.

Edythe is a young Jewess that has been rescued by Queen Eleanor and sent to King Richard the Lionheart and his sister Queen Johanna of Sicily while they are off fighting the Crusade. Edythe has a mysterious past and a gift for healing. This gift leads her to be labeled as a witch. At first Edythe is thought to be a spy for Queen Eleanor, but soon her gifts of healing and of being a good listener lead her to become close with both Richard and Johanna. She is also drawn to the mysterious knight, Rouquin. Rouquin is a tall, powerful redheaded knight that is also the right-hand man of Richard. Rouquin and Edythe both find themselves powerfully attracted to one another. They both understand what it is like to be on the outside looking in.

The King’s Witch is an interesting look into the power struggle that was the crusades in the Middle East. It was quite the complex conflict, which leads to the downside of this book, sometimes the details of the various characters and conflicts got to be a little on the dry side. The positive of this novel was the relationship between Edythe and Rouquin. They had great chemistry together, and they both had compelling back stories. I really enjoyed reading about Edythe’s struggle with her identity and her search for her Jewish heritage.

Overall, The King’s Witch is an interesting historical fiction novel about the crusade, King Richard, his sister Queen Johanna, and about living the life of a Jewish woman in a Christian world.

The King’s Witch is my thirteenth item (coincidental number for a book with witch in the title?) for The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.

Author Cecelia Holland has a great guest blog about Eleanor of Aquitaine located at this link. Leave a comment at that link for a chance to win one of two copies of The King’s Witch.

Book Source: Review Copy from Penguin Group. Thank-you!

Eleanor of Aquitaine Guest Blog by Cecelia Holland (and GIVEAWAY!)

When I was writing THE KING'S WITCH, a novel about Richard the Lionhearted's Crusade, one of the most riveting features for me was a character who wasn't even there.

Richard's mother Eleanor of Aquitaine (heroine of the first novel in this group, THE SECRET ELEANOR) would have been an extraordinary woman in any age but in the 12th century, when women were suppressed, sequestered, and regarded as property, she was incredible. From the age of 15, when she married the son of the dying King of France, she was determined to wield power; throughout her disastrous marriage with Louis VII she took an active part in his regime, forcing him into adventures he had no gift for, accompanying him on Crusade, where she almost ditched him over matters of strategy.

Her independence and ambition horrified the men around her; Bernard of Clairvaux, for one, practically emitted steam through his ears when he mentioned her. Finessed out of power, she gave up on Louis. As Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she ruled a territory larger than France, and she chose to marry the one man in Europe who could bring her even more: Henry of Anjou, about to become King of England. Between the two of them they made the greatest realm in Christendom, and the most fascinating family in the Middle Ages, the Plantagenets.

Eleanor fascinates me; it's hard to image how in her day and age she found the strength to be who she was. Standing up to Louis and his crowd was one thing, but Henry II was a formidable adversary and she seems to have ground him into the dirt, with the help of her boys. At the same time, she kept on top of her own fractious and troublesome country. The North did not dare assault the Langue d'Oc until well after she was dead. She was brave and broad-minded, and the men could never again stuff women entirely back into that little box of prayers and babies.

So writing a novel about her son, in which the main character is a woman of her time, I found Eleanor invading at every turn. She never appears in the flesh in the novel but she writes letters, she pops up in memories, she influences events by sheer force of character. A woman for all seasons.

Thank-you for this wonderful guest blog Cecelia Holland! Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of my favorite historical figures to read about and I loved reading your prospective on her. I will have my review of The King's Witch posted next week.

Giveaway Details
Alexandra of Penguin Books has been kind enough to offer two copies of The King's Witch by Cecelia Holland for a giveaway.

If you would like to win a copy of The King's Witch please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel or about this great guest blog.

As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org (or a monte carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday July 1st.

Good luck!