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!

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The boys and I spent the later part of this summer and fall slowly reading Little House on the Prairie. I was putting Penelope to bed a lot of the nights while Ben read to the boys so it took a while. Now that she goes to bed fairly quickly, we quickly finished Little House on the Prairie a couple of months ago. I seem to be consistently running about two posts behind on my blog, but I’m finally finding time to write this review!


Little House on the Prairie was given to me by my Great-Grandma Kile on my eighth birthday and was one of the most beloved books of my childhood. I read it so many times that it is a very tattered worn copy that is falling apart when I now read it to my children.

My sons are five and three and the loved listening to Little House on the Prairie. The three-year old did have some attention problems when the pictures were few and far between on some chapters, but the action always soon roped him back in.

The beginning of the book is the Ingalls family journey from Wisconsin to the prairies of Kansas. The journey is arduous, but also a great adventure. Jack the dog has a nail-biting adventure of his own, which left my kids in tears one night, but very happy another. Once they arrived in Kansas, Pa found the perfect spot to build their little log cabin on the prairie. The detail on how exactly the home was built including the stable, roof, chimney, and digging of the well intrigued my boys. I think Kile is ready to build his own cabin on the prairie.

The adventures continue while they are building the cabin and after they make it a home. They meet a bachelor neighbor named Mr. Edwards. Ma does not approve of his rough ways, but Laura takes an instant shine to him. Mr. Edwards helps Pa with putting the roof on the cabin and Pa helps him with his place. My favorite chapter of the book (and one of the boys’ as well) is “Mr. Edwards Meets Santa Claus.” After much rain, the Ingalls girls are told that Santa Claus will not be able to make it to their place for Christmas. Mr. Edwards meets Santa Claus in Independence and brings the Ingalls gifts over the flooded river to surprise them for Christmas. Even Ma’s heart is melted towards Mr. Edwards as he relates his journey and he makes Laura and Mary’s day complete. It is wonderful how the spirit of Christmas can be found in having a tin cup of your own. This chapter alone is one of my favorite Christmas stories.

Little House on the Prairie gives a view of the Native Americans as white settlers viewed them at the time. Although Pa seems more open minded then Ma, he is technically squatting on Indian reservation land that he has no right to be on. I never really thought about this when I was a child. After such comments in the book as “The only good Indian is a dead Indian,” I tried to give the boys a more enlightened views of Native American/Settler relations. I told them how the Native Americans were here first and the settlers took the land away and there was much fighting involved. That didn’t stop the boys from playing, “The Indians are going to attack!!” later that day. I tried!

It was an amazing life the settlers lived on the prairie. When the Ingalls family comes down with an illness and all pass out in their home, they are lucky that a passing Indian doctor (Dr. Tann) is able to help them to survive. I think it is interesting that Dr. Tann is actually an African American doctor. It is interesting to read about fascinating African Americans of the 19th century. A deadly prairie fire, chimney fire, and near fatality in the digging of the well, made one wonder how people survived. As my husband Ben said, many did not.

Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about the details of her life and I always consider this book to be “non-fiction.” It is in reality historical fiction as Laura changed some facts to make the timeline smoother. The Little House on the Prairie adventures actually took place before Little House in the Big woods in real life and Laura was too little to remember. She supplemented her memories with the memories of Ma and Mary. This book is my 22nd and final book for the Historical Fiction Challenge 2011.

Overall, Little House on the Prairie is a wonderful, enthralling, educational adventure story that is enjoyable for young boys, girls, and their parents.

Book Source: I received this book for my eighth birthday many years ago!

The Betsy-Tacy Treasury by Maud Hart Lovelace

 I had never heard of the Betsy-Tacy series until I started to see reviews pop up on different blogs. I was astonished to discover a series of beloved books for girls that I never discovered as a child. As a great fan of such classic series as Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Nancy Drew, etc., I knew I must rectify this situation. Therefore I was happy to be a TLC tour stop for Harper Collins new edition of The Betsy-Tacy Treasury in order to discover what all of the fuss is about.

The Betsy-Tacy Treasury is the first four of the Betsy-Tacy books: Betsy-Tacy, Betsy-Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. Included in the book are great forwards by current authors that are also fans including Judy Blume, Ann M. Martin, and Johanna Hurwitz. There are also sections at the end with background about Maud Hart Lovelace, illustrator Lois Lenski, and each of the four books included. I loved all of this information and found it very interesting. Also interesting was the praise at the beginning of the book for Maud Hart Lovelace from such personalities as Anna Quindlen, Meg Cabot, Laura Lippman, Bette Midler, Nora Ephron, Lorna Landvick, etc. In particular, Anna Quindlen stated, “There are three authors whose body of work I have reread more than once in my adult life: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Maud Hart Lovelace.” This is praise indeed!

Was this book truly worthy of all of this praise? I am more than happy to say a very emphatic “YES!” By the end of the first book, I had fallen in love with Betsy Ray and Tacy Kelly and their world in Deep Valley, Minnesota. Deep Valley is the Mankato of Lovelace’s childhood around the turn of the nineteenth century. (For fellow Little House on the Prairie TV series fans, this is the same Mankato that characters from Walnut Grove visit to get trade goods.)

Five-year old Betsy is excited when a new family with lots of children moves into the house across the street. One girl appears to be her age. After a slight misunderstanding, they soon become fast friends and the people of Hill Street and Deep Valley can’t remember a time when Betsy-Tacy were not friends. Soon a new girl moves in to the chocolate house on the way to school, and Tib becomes their fast friend. Betsy wants to be a writer and is full of imaginative stories. Tacy is shy, but loyal and fun. Tib is very matter of fact and also very pretty. The books move through their lives. By book two they are eight, book three they are ten, and book four they are twelve.

What did I like so much about this book? Although the adventures took place long before my childhood, the spirit of their life and adventures perfectly captures the spirit and joy of childhood that does not change through the ages. The wonder of the world and how one street and one city can seem so giant and faraway places like Milwaukee can be viewed with imaginative delight are just how a child views the world. Their adventures playing and making up stories reminded me of the fun I had as a child with my best friend Stephanie and sister Kristi doing very similar things. It was wonderful how Lovelace was able to capture her childhood and to remember what it was like to be a child and to have a fantastic imagination that can make climbing a hill the most exciting journey.

What really brought these books to the next level to me was when in book one, tragedy strikes. Tacy’s baby sister, Bee, dies from a childhood illness. Tacy and Betsy go for a walk and Tacy is very sad about her sister’s death. Betsy tries to cheer her up and talks to her about Bee’s adventures in heaven. “Of course she can see us. She’s looking down right now. And I’ll tell you what tickles Bee. She knows all about Heaven, and we don’t. She’s younger than we are, but she knows something that we don’t. Isn’t that funny? She’s just a baby, and she knows more than we do.”

Betsy brings the death down to the level of a child’s understanding, and is able to make Tacy think of all of the fun that Bee is having in heaven being a big girl and watching out for her family. I found it to be a very moving conversation and quite touching. Betsy and Tacy are the best kind of friends; the kind of friends that can help you out in a moment of crisis and be what you need them to be.

I also really enjoyed how Betsy, Tacy, Tib befriend a little girl (Naifi) from “Little Syria” in Deep Valley in Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill. They defend her when she is picked on by some rather nasty boys. Tib’s mother (Mrs. Muller) had some wise words to say about it, “I’m glad Tib stood up for that little Syrian girl. Foreign people should not be treated like that. America is made up of foreign people. Both of Tib’s grandmothers came from the other side. Perhaps when they got off the boat they looked a little strange too.”

Overall, The Betsy-Tacy Treasury was a wonderful, delightful series of books that I am very happy to have finally read. They are great adventures of childhood wonder and also have beautiful illustrations. I will definitely be reading these stories to Penelope when she gets older and I’m already planning for making a future trip to Mankato to check out Big Valley. I also want to read the rest of their adventures as they grow into teenagers and beyond! My only complaint is that poor Tib is always left off of the title of the books.

I am counting the Betsy-Tacy Treasury as my 21st historical fiction book this year for The Historical Fiction Challenge 2011. Lovelace’s historical detail brings the world of Mankato circa 1900 to life. The notes at the end of the book also illustrate how much research she did to make sure her memories matched the historical detail.

Book Source: Review Copy from HarperCollins. Thank-you!

Lady of the English by Elizabeth Chadwick

Just when I think Elizabeth Chadwick cannot top herself, she does it again. Lady of the English is a riveting historical fiction novel with thrilling drama and characters that fairly leap off of the page.


Lady of the English is set during a time period that I love to read about, the epic English Civil War between Stephen and Matilda during the twelfth century. Henry I was the last remaining son of William the Conqueror. Although he had numerous illegitimate offspring, he had only two legitimate children, William and Matilda. After William’s death as part of the fatal White Ship disaster, Henry sends for his recently widowed daughter, Empress Matilda. Matilda is still a young woman, but has not children from her marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor, Heinrich. Her father, King Henry, has his lords and barons swear their fealty to Matilda while also trying to have another child with his new queen Adeliza.

King Henry also searches for the perfect second husband for Matilda that will provide him with grandsons to carry on his dynasty as well as being a strategic alliance. He settles on Geoffrey the future Count of Anjou that is all of fourteen, about ten years younger than Matilda. Matilda is understandably less than pleased. Matilda and Geoffrey have a marriage that is filled with contention, but also with great desire.

After King Henry’s death, his nephew Stephen seizes the thrown. Matilda and Geoffrey must put aside their differences to work together to take back England and Normandy for their young son, Henry.

I really enjoyed this novel. Chadwick writes wonderful characters with great historical detail. One feels like you’ve stepped through a time portal and are experiencing the twelfth century. I really loved the friendship between Matilda and her stepmother Adeliza. They were actually about the same age and struck up a great friendship that grew difficult as Adeliza’s second husband was a staunch supporter of Stephen. I didn’t even realize Henry I had a second queen and I was very interested in reading about her. I loved the ending and had tears in my eyes . . .but I can’t say more without spoiling the book!

Matilda was a great heroine. She was a strong female in a time when that was definitely not allowed. She didn’t back down, but sometimes her strength was also her greatest enemy. My favorite scene in Lady of the English is a daring escape made my Matilda. I loved it – and would love to see this made into a movie!

I loved the romance in Lady of the English. Matilda and Geoffrey definitely seem like an odd couple with their age difference, but Chadwick is able to make their relationship work. But even more so, Brian FitzCount is a man in love with Matilda. Brian and Matilda share a chaste love through the years that I enjoyed reading about.

My favorite romance in the novel though was between Adeliza and her second husband Will. It was a beautiful story also with its up and downs. It was a touching and wonderful. I would love to read more about them and their family.

Overall, Elizabeth Chadwick sets the bar for spectacular historical fiction. Lady of the English is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year.

This is my twentieth read for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011. I’ve met my goal, but I’m sure that won’t stop me from continuing to read more great historical fiction through the rest of 2011!

Have you read any other novels about the war between Stephen and Matilda? I also enjoyed Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet and The Fatal Crown by Ellen Jones. The Fatal Crown is definitely a lot more fictional than historical, but if you like romance you will love it. I enjoyed Pillars of the Earth the book as well as the mini-series. Pillars of the Earth is more about how the events of Stephen and Matilda’s war affected the “common” people in England, which I enjoyed reading about. I didn’t really the one-dimensional villains though. Lady of the English is definitely the best of any of the books I’ve read about that time period

Book Source: Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer

Bath Tangle is another wonderful, enjoyable novel by Georgette Heyer, the queen of regency historical fiction. A new Heyer novel is a book to be savored. I can’t think of a more perfect end to summer then to happily delight in another novel from one of my favorite authors.

I had just finished reading the wonderful biography of Heyer, The Private World of Georgette Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge and was in the mood for a new Heyer. Luckily I had two on my pile to review and I chose to read Bath Tangle first.

Bath Tangle is the story of the tangled love lives of many charming characters. Serena is the high-spirited daughter of The Earl of Spenborough. After the Earl’s untimely death, he is left without a male heir, but does leave behind his 25 year old daughter Serena, and his even younger second wife, Fanny. Much to Serena’s dismay, her inheritance is tied up in a trust that is administered by the Marquis of Rotherham, her father’s good friend, and the man that she jilted before their marriage six years before. Serena and Fanny remove themselves to the Dower House, but Serena has a hard time with her cousin’s administering of the estate. Both ladies decide they would be happier with time away in nearby Bath. They lease a house and although they are still in mourning, they take limited outings to partake of the waters. It is during one of these excursions that Serena happens upon a man that she has not seen for six years, the only man she has truly cared for, but was unable to marry due to his circumstances. Hector is now a retired Major with an estate of his own, and is still as gorgeous as ever. At this point, love blooms for all characters, and their love lives become a “tangled” mess!

Heyer created brilliant characters in Bath Tangle. I LOVE the exuberant Serena. She was full of energy, lively, and always on the go. She loved to hunt and ride horses, and could care less what people thought of her. She also had clever dialogue with Rotherham that fairly crackled off of the pages. Whenever those two got together to fling insults, I couldn’t put the book down.

Rotherham was a wonderful “Mark I” Heyer hero in the vein of Charlotte Bronte’s Mr. Rochester. He is a dark and not handsome man who knows what he wants and fairly often gets it. He is a bit rough around the edges at times, but as he is a Marquis, all is forgiven and he is a prime target of all marriage minded mamas. This gets him into a tangle of his own.

I think my favorite character of all was Mrs. Floore. She is a secondary character that is a rich widow of a tradesman and proud of it. Her daughter has married well and is now a Lady who is ashamed of her mother’s background and vulgar ways, but not too ashamed to take her money to launch her daughter Emily into society. Mrs. Floore tells it the way it is and has decided to keep wearing the fashions of her youth in very bright colors. I thought she was hilarious.

I loved the bits of historical context sprinkled throughout the book. The Major has returned home as the Napoleonic wars are finished. Serena and Fanny love to gossip about Princess Charlotte her upcoming Royal Marriage. Caroline Lamb, the Duchess of Devonshire, and other notable Regency real-life characters are mentioned throughout the book. I loved it!

I just read about Bath Tangle again in The Private World of Georgette Heyer. Hodge states that Bath Tangle “has less actual comedy than the previous books. Instead there is an Austen like irony in its treatment of the linked problems of snobbery and money.” While I love Heyer’s comedies, I did love how this book reminded of the best of Austen, down to the Bath setting. This novel was written by Heyer in 1954 and Hodge also states that “This book is a watershed one. Before it, Georgette Heyer had sometimes played at turning the romantic conventions upside down; now she is beginning to look through them, and into the human heart.”

Overall, I love Bath Tangle. It is a wonderful romantic tale that will keep you guessing about how the relationships will become untangled by the stories ends. The characters were first-rate. If you have read all of Austen and are looking for something new to read in the same vein, I highly recommend Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer.

This is my nineteenth novel for The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.

Book Source: Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey Review and GIVEAWAY!

Becoming Marie Antoinette is the first in a planned trilogy about the tragic French Queen, Marie Antoinette. This novel covers Antoinette (or Maria Antonia as she is known in her native Austria) from her girlhood and the planning of her marriage to the Dauphin of France to her marriage and ends when her and Louis become King and Queen of France.

Maria Antonia is the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria’s sixteen children. Maria Theresa is a powerful figure and has determined to use her numerous children to make advantageous marriages to maintain peace in Austria. Due to her age, Antonia is chosen to marry the Dauphin of France. It takes awhile to totally convince the King of France of this idea and Antonia is forced to go through a total make over, including braces on her teeth (painful!), and changes to her hair, clothes, and education. Finally Antonia is formally engaged, married by proxy, and then married in France. Unfortunately, her new husband is more interested in hunting, eating, and making locks then he is in consummating the marriage. Now known as Marie Antoinette, she is forced to make her way through the treachery of the politics at Versailles and slowly finds herself falling in love with her husband.
Becoming Marie Antoinette is a straightforward look at Marie Antoinette’s rise to power. It’s a little sad at how optimistic both her and Louis are as they become the King and Queen of France knowing how it will all end. I’m very interested though on how this trilogy will continue in the future!

I like how this novel was a look at the early years of Marie Antoinette. So much is focused on the scandal and tragedy of her later years that it is almost forgotten that she was the daughter of such a powerful monarch. I would love to read a book on Empress Maria Theresa! She also had an interesting story about when a young Herr Mozart came to play at court when she was a child.

I was disturbed that she was forced to wear braces. I didn’t even know they had them at that point in time. It must have been so painful! I also thought it was strange with such a powerful mother that she neglected her daughters’ education so much. It makes one wonder if Marie Antoinette would have received a better education if it would have helped her out later in life.

I must say I was disturbed by one thing the most . . . that people were allowed freely go to the bathroom all over Versailles not in chamber pots. I can’t imagine how that must have smelled. That is terrible!!

Overall, I enjoyed Becoming Marie Antoinette and it left me wanting to read more about Marie Antoinette and her family!

I read this book as part of TLC Book Tours. The rest of the stops are at listed here.

Becoming Marie Antoinette is my seventeenth book in the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Random House. Thank-you!

Giveaway Details
Random House is going to send one lucky winner a copy of Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey.

If you would like to win a copy of Becoming Marie Antoinette please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel.

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 and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday September 2nd.

Good luck!

Before Versailles by Karleen Koen Review and Giveaway!

Karleen Koen is one of my favorite historical fiction authors. Her first novel, Through a Glass Darkly is on my list of all-time favorite historical fiction novels, and I also loved the sequel, Now Face to Face, and prequel, Dark Angels. Her writing makes history come alive through descriptions of wonderful characters and settings, and narratives that provide all types of mystery and surprises. I was more than a little excited to be able to be a stop on the TLC book tour for Karleen Koen’s new novel, Before Versailles.



Koen does not disappoint in Before Versailles. Louis XIV is the young king of France in 1661 just coming into his own. He has recently married the Spanish Infanta, Maria Theresa, but finds himself entranced with his sister-in-law Henrietta (sister to England’s King Charles II). Although every woman in the court wants the handsome young King, he wants the one woman most forbidden to him. Their love affair starts a scandal that engulfs the court.



At the same time, Louis XIV is learning to rule without his minister Cardinal Mazarin. Jean-Baptiste Colbert is helping him to learn about the finances of his government. As the King learns more, he learns the deep corruption that is going on in his court with money flowing directly to the minister of finance’s pocket rather than the King’s coffers. Louis XIV is also receiving mysterious threatening letters.



Louise de la Baume le Blanc is an innocent maid of honor to Madam (Henriette) who finds herself caught up in the intrigue. When Louise sees a mysterious boy in an iron mask in the woods on the day of the death of Cardinal Mazarin, she starts a hunt of her own through the woods to discover the whereabouts and secret behind the boy in the iron mask. Her actions find her threatened by a strange musketeer and fearing for her life. When Louise attracts the attentions of her King, her life is about to change forever.



There are many characters in Before Versailles that are intriguing including (but definitely not limited to) Henriette, the Queen Dowager Anne, and Charles d’Artagnan. I was intrigued when I first read of d’Artagnan as being the lieutenant of Louis XIV’s musketeers in this novel and had to look it up on my friend Wikipedia. I thought d’Artagnan was only a fictional character in Dumas Three Musketeers and other novels, but it turns out he was a real historical character. Intriguing! Louis was surrounded by a lot of powerful women in his time including his mother and his sister-in-law. While his wife was shy and retiring, Henriette had a fiery personality and was trend setter in the court. Every man wanted her and every woman wanted to be her. It was only natural that the king would also find himself in love with her. Queen Anne was mourning the loss of the Cardinal, but finds her way back to court after unsavory rumors about Henriette and Louis reach her ears. She tries to use what power she still has to set things to right.



I love Koen’s writing in this novel. Her descriptions of the characters, setting, and time period are unparalled. I felt like I was at Fontainebleau. The romance between different characters is very sensual and sparks definitely fly. Even more than this, I really enjoyed the conspiracy. I wanted to find out who the boy in the iron mask was and who was writing the letters. Throughout it all, it was a great character study of the growth of Louis XIV from a boy king to an all-powerful King ruling on his own terms. I greatly enjoyed the journey.



Overall, Before Versailles is a riveting historical fiction novel full of unforgettable characters, great prose, and intrigue that is not to be missed. I highly recommend it.



I read this book as part of the TLC book tour. To read more about Before Versailles, please check out any of these other stops on the tour (links are provided on the TLC Tour Site).

Tuesday, July 5th: 2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews
Wednesday, July 6th: Broken Teepee
Thursday, July 7th: The Bookworm
Friday, July 8th: Historical-Fiction.com
Monday, July 11th: In the Hammock
Tuesday, July 12th: Living Outside the Stacks
Wednesday, July 13th: The Maiden’s Court
Thursday, July 14th: Royal Reviews
Monday, July 18th: Unabridged Chick
Tuesday, July 19th: Enchanted by Josephine
Wednesday, July 20th: Laura’s Reviews
Thursday, July 21st: Historical Tapestry AND Adventures of an Intrepid Reader
Friday, July 22nd: Books Like Breathing
Monday, July 25th: Stiletto Storytime
Tuesday, July 26th: Hist-Fic Chick
Wednesday, July 27th: Life in Review
Thursday, July 28th: Reading, Reading & Life



Before Versailles is my sixteenth book in the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.



Book Source: Review Copy from Random House. Thank-you!

Giveaway Details
Random House is going to send one lucky winner a copy of Before Versailles by Karleen Koen.

If you would like to win a copy of Before Versailles by Karleen Koen please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel.

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.

For another additional entry, leave a comment (along with your email address) on my interview with Karleen Koen at this link.

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 and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday August 5th.

Good luck!

Sea Witch by Helen Hollick Review and Giveaway

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! Sea Witch is a ripping good tale starring an irresistible pirate hero, Jesamiah Acorne and his true love, the white witch, Tiola Oldstagh set during the golden age of piracy, 1716. It is a genre defying novel; part historical fiction, part adventure novel, part romance, and part fantasy for an all together very gripping and enticing read.

Jesamiah Acorne is a very appealing hero, and is going on my list of favorite fictional heroes. He is overall a pirate and does some despicable things, but he is an attractive man full of adventure with a tortured past. After suffering abuse throughout his childhood by his older brother Phillipe, Jesamiah escapes to a life of sea after the death of his parents and particularly trying period of abuse. He excels at sea under the tutelage of Captain Malachias Taylor and soon finds himself the captain of his own vessel.

Tiola Oldstagh is a young fifteen-year old girl when she first sets eyes on Jesamiah. Tiola is on the ship the Christina Giselle, with her guardian Jenna on her way to Cape Town to escape her past, and the brutal execution of her mother for witchcraft. Unbeknownst to all, Tiola also harbors the gift of “the craft” and is an old soul in a young woman’s body. When she first catches a glimpse of the flowing black hair and blue ribbons of Jesamiah on a pirate ship trying to overtake her ship, she is smitten. When they eventually meet in Cape Town, sparks fly.

Unfortunately Jesamiah has enemies that will tear the two lovers apart. His older evil brother Phillipe is not finished with his revenge, and the wealthy Dutch merchant Stefan van Overstraten is determined to make Tiona’s his wife. Will Jesamiah and Tiola find their way back to each other?

I loved Sea Witch. We’ve been a pirate haven here in the Gerold household the past few months. The boys love Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney and have been checking out pirate books from the library, listening to pirate music, and sailing on their pirate ship (swing set). It was nice to read an adult pirate novel in keeping with our pirate theme.

I loved that Sea Witch was a blend of genres. The adventure was non-stop and kept me riveted. I enjoyed Jesamiah’s journeys and near escapes. He is an appealing daredevil hero, but his most redeeming quality is his love for Tiola. I loved that Tiola is a strong heroine and a white witch. I’ve always enjoyed books that have a mystical quality to them. The historical fiction of this novel is also fantastic. The descriptions of the hardships of a pirate’s life were very realistic and descriptive. Helen Hollick has a wonderful note at the end of the book in which she describes certain liberties she took with the historical timeline, which only reaffirmed to me the amount of research that went into this novel.

Most of all, I loved this novel as I had a real sense while I was reading it that the author herself loved her characters and enjoyed the novel itself. It was a joy to read.

Overall, if you are looking for a fun, rollicking, love-story, historical fiction adventure, look no further. Sea Witch is a wonderful book. I can’t wait to see what is next for Jesamiah and Tiola in Pirate Code.

Sea Witch is my fifteenth item in the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.


Check out the excellent book trailer on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2-lvjk_7GU

Book Source: Advance Review Copy

Giveaway Details
I'll admit, I can't make myself give away my advance review copy of Sea Witch as it was such a wonderful book. I want to read it again and also I know my best friend Jenn would love this book so I'm going to pass it on to her to read also. Instead, I'm going to order a new copy of Sea Witch from amazon.com for one lucky winner. **UPDATE** Helen Hollick has graciously offered to send a copy to the winner from Amazon along with a bookplate. Thank-you very much Helen!!!

If you would like to win a copy of Sea Witch by Helen Hollick please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel.

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.

For another additional entry, leave a comment (along with your email address) on my interview with author Helen Hollick at this link.

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 and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday July 29th.

Good luck!

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Have you ever read a novel that transformed your life? When I turned eight years old, we went to visit my Great-Grandpa and Grandma Kile in Indiana for my birthday. When I was there, I received a wonderful gift from my Grandparents – a four book set of Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, Farmer Boy, and On the Banks of Plum Creek. I was riveted and sat down and read Little House in the Big Woods that afternoon before I returned home.

These books transformed me into a reader. I became hooked on this series and it led me to explore other books and has kept me reading to this day. For Christmas, Grandpa and Grandma gave me the rest of the series. I would visit them for a week every summer, and I would bring my “Little House” books with me. Grandma Kile liked to read them along with me and we would discuss them. Grandma especially loved Almanzo and Laura’s romance; she was always a lover of a good romance novel. I was obsessed with the “Little House series” and stopped counting on how many times I read it as a youth after eleven times.

My Great-Grandma Kile was a wonderful person that I still miss to this day. She always encouraged me to read and we would go together to the library whenever I came to visit. She liked to share books she had read when she was younger and loved such as books by Louisa May Alcott (Little Women and an Old Fashioned Girl) and Gene Stratton Porter (A Girl of the Limberlost). My one sadness was when her vision became less in her nineties and she had trouble reading like she used too.

My eldest son, Kile, is named after my Great-Grandparents. He was born the last year that Grandma was alive and it was the highlight of that year for her. She was very excited to have a Great-Great Grandson named after both her and Grandpa.

The story has come full circle now that Kile is five years old. I got out Little House in the Big Woods and we have been reading it together every night. He loves it and picks it for one of his two stories every night. My copy is literally falling apart in my hands and still has the loving inscription in the front of the book “To Laura With Love, Happy 8th Birthday (1986) From Great Grandad and Great Grandma Kile.”

It has been awhile since I’ve read Little House in the Big Woods. I still remember many of the stories within it, but I had forgotten what a wonderful book it truly is. It keeps both Kile and I delighted every night. Kile always picks it to read as he says he really wants to know what will happen next. Even my husband Ben has come to admire Pa and his tough ways.

There are many reasons that Little House in the Big Woods is a timeless book. Wilder was able to capture the hardworking life of a pioneer family in a way that is enduring. Laura and Mary Ingalls have experiences that all children can relate too – jealousy, fun, fights, naughtiness etc. The book explains items in a hard working pioneer family life, but also livens things up with tails of bears, panthers, and sleds. There is morality to the tales, but it is never told in a “preachy” way. Through it all, Wilder has an elegant prose, and Garth Williams has wonderful pictures to illustrate the stories.

Kile relates to the stories, especially to the fact that there are three children like his own family and their dog Jack (also the name of our dog). He really likes Pa and his adventures hunting and building items. Reading this book again as an adult, I realize that Pa is a large part of the story, even more so than Laura. He is her hero and a great man. He hunts for food, defends his family, can make anything it seems, and also plays the fiddle and sings his girls to sleep at night. He is a true pioneer man.

My Mom is coming to visit in two weeks and we are taking the kids to Laura Ingalls Wilder Day at Heritage Hill in Green Bay. I can’t wait! I may have to blog about the experience.

Were you a "Little House" fan? What books inspired you to become a reader? Do you have a special person in your life that inspired you to read? Tell your stories in the comments!

This if my fifteenth item for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.

Queen of the Summer Stars by Persia Woolley

I first read Queen of the Summer Stars as a teenager. Sometimes when you read books again from your youth you puzzle on why you remember it so fondly. Other times you realize what a great book it really was and read it again from a new prospective with added age (and hopefully wisdom). Queen of the Summer Stars is one such book; a book I loved as a teenager, and a book that I have discovered again is as good and even better than I remember it.

Queen of the Summer Stars is the second book in Persia Woolley’s Guinevere series. Guinevere and Arthur are the young recently married High King and Queen of Britain. Arthur has a dream to unite the Kingdom and Guinevere is an efficient Celtic Queen who works hard to keep the dream alive. King Ban’s son, Lancelot, joins the round table. He quickly becomes Arthur’s right hand man, but exhibits coldness towards Guinevere. Slowly, the two become friends, and realize that they have feelings for each other beyond friendship. Will Guinevere risk it all for love as her friends Isolde and Tristan did? Or will she remain a true Celtic Queen and stay with Arthur?

I love, love, love the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot love triangle. I’ve never seen it written more movingly then in Queen of the Summer Stars. Arthur is Lancelot’s best friend, a man he genuinely respects and cares for. Loving Guinevere is heart wrenching for him, but even more so for Guinevere. Guinevere loves and respects Arthur, but has come to realize that he will always care for Britain more than he will for her. They have a good relationship, but are missing the intensity of true love. Guinevere and Lancelot are kindred spirits and love each other, but can’t act on that love for their mutual love of Arthur. It is a gripping read and a truly wonderful love triangle.

I also enjoy that this story is told from Guinevere’s perspective. Guinevere is no silly, fickle queen as portrayed in other versions of the legend. She is a strong queen who is very much a co-ruler with Arthur. She also gets her hands dirty, be it helping out in the kitchen, or getting different castles set up to live in or host visitors.

Persia Woolley writes the Guinevere trilogy in a historical fiction setting. Her novels are very well researched and are set in the period after the Romans have occupied Britain. There is a power void in Britain and Arthur has stepped in to fill that void and bring the various people of Britain together to fight against invaders. Her writing is superb and gives one a real sense of being in Britain during the early middle ages.

I love Arthurian legends by Mary Stewart and Marion Zimmer Bradley, but Persia Woolley’s Guinevere trilogy is my favorite version of the legend. I wish Starz would have made this trilogy into a series rather than their quite terrible Camelot series!

Overall, Queen of the Summer Stars is a wonderful book with a great historical fiction background and a very romantic love triangle. It is quite simply, the best version of the Arthurian legend that I have read.

Queen of the Summer Stars is my fourteenth item for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.

For my review of the first book in this series, Child of the Northern Spring, please see this link. Also, check out this link for a great interview with Persia Woolley about Child of the Northern Spring and her Guinevere trilogy.

What books have you've read again as an adult that have been even better than you remember? What are your favorite Arthurian legend books?

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

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!

Mary of Carisbrooke by Margaret Campbell Barnes

Mary Floyd was an ordinary girl living through extraordinary times. Her father was the Sergeant of Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wright. When Charles I fled England after losing the English Civil War and took refuge at Carisbrooke Castle, Mary found herself the assistant laundress to the King.

Sadly Charles’ refuge shortly turned into a prison and Mary decided to help out her King as much as she could. Through the intrigue, Mary tried to spurn the affections of the evil Rolph, and also found her heart swept away by a gallant courtier. Will Mary find true love, and will she stay true to her King?

I really enjoyed Mary of Carisbrooke. Besides being a gripping story that kept me on the edge of my seat, I loved Mary. She was a quiet, honest, and pure girl who only wanted to do what was right. She wasn’t seeking fame and fortune, but tried to help a soul in need in any way that she could.

I love to read books about kings, queens, and other “gentry,” but I found it surprisingly refreshing to read about a regular girl. Mary isn’t the poorest of the poor being the daughter of the sergeant and niece of housekeeper, but she performs in the capacity of an upper servant. Her story shows that you don’t have to be among the elite to do great things.

Overall, if you love historical fiction, you will love this beautifully written novel with a unique heroine.

This is my twelve item for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.

Book Source: Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

When We Danced on Water by Evan Fallenberg

Eighty-five year old Teo was once a world class ballet dancer, and even now in his old age, he continues to help instruct dancers on how to perform his ballet “Obsession.” His daily routine is to stop by a coffee shop on his way to the studio. One day Teo discovers a new waitress, Vivi. Teo and Vivi find that they both enjoy each other and their mutual passion for art. Teo challenges Vivi to stop “dabbling” in so many different art forms and instead to develop a passion for one form as he did with ballet. Through the use of art, Vivi and Teo are both able to open up about painful episodes in both of their pasts. Although Teo is at least forty years old than Vivi, they both find a second chance at love and redemption.

First of all, I love the title of this book. When We Danced on Water is a beautiful name for the book and fits with the story so well. I really enjoyed this slim novel. Once I got into the story, I had a hard time putting the book down, particularly through Teo’s tale of his struggle through WWII as a Polish Jew. It is through this struggle that we learn of the true meaning of passion and obsession to Teo. The story was at times disturbing, but it was also a beautiful story of survival and the transformative power of art and dance.

I enjoyed reading about ballet and Teo’s involvement in it as a dancer and then as an instructor. I also really liked the setting of Tel Aviv and also Berlin. It made for a fascinating and unique place to read about.

Overall, When We Danced on Water is a beautifully written novel about second chances, the transformative power of art, horrors of WWII, and so much more. I highly recommend this novel.

I am the last stop for When We Danced on Water for the TLC Book Tours. To read more about this novel, check out the other tour stops at this link.

Book Source: Harper Perennial Advance Review Copy. Thank-you!

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O’Connor McNees

Louisa May Alcott is one of my favorite authors. As a girl and young adult, I loved reading her novels, and particularly loved Little Women and An Old Fashioned Girl. I also loved to watch all movie versions of Little Women and to read any biography of Louisa May Alcott that I could find. I found her life to be fascinating, particularly with her being a strong independent woman for her time. I also loved how she was the real-life “Jo” and her unconventional upbringing by transcendental thinker Bronson Alcott. Neighbors such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson only enhanced the magic of Louisa May Alcott’s life.

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott brings Louisa’s world to life. Having a great transcendental thinker for a father does not make life a bed of roses, but rather a hard scrabble existence in which one has to work hard to find enough food to survive. While Bronson has great ideas, he has not had a regular job in the past sixteen years. His wife and Louisa’s mother, Abigail May (Marmee) works hard with her four daughters to keep the house in shape and to find food and clothing for the family. Marmee’s brother-in-law offers the family the use of a house he owns in Wadpole, New Hampshire.

Louisa finds herself at twenty-two moving from beloved Concord to Wadpole, when she would much rather be moving to Boston to work toward her goal of becoming a writer. The family soon becomes immersed in life in Wadpole and puts on a theatrical production. Louisa also meets Joseph Singer, the son of a local dry goods store owner. Louisa and Joseph spar at first, but find themselves attracted to each other almost against their wills. Will Louisa pursue her dreams or will she follow the path of true love?

While fans of Louisa May Alcott will already know the answer to this question, it doesn’t lessen the enjoyment of the journey in this novel. In The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, Kelly O’Connor McNees perfectly captures the world of the Alcotts and of the small town of Wadpole. I could vividly imagine myself walking down the street of Wadpole and entering the small stores.

I enjoyed the setting, but my favorite parts of the novel were the hard issues that she was faced with at this point in life. Should she pursue the path that most women her age followed, a path toward marriage, or should she put that and her feelings aside to pursue an unlikely career as a writer? Louisa had an example of marriage in her own home and didn’t like what she saw. While her mother worked herself to the bone, her father spent his time in intellectual pursuits. In order to have a family and keep it going, a woman of that time did not have time to pursue an outside career of her own. My favorite line in this novel is from Marmee, “For a man, love is just a season. For a woman it is the whole of the year – winter, spring, summer, and fall – and yet, sometimes it is not what it could be. What it seems it should be.”

The romance between Louisa May Alcott and Joseph Singer fairly crackles with spark and intensity. Their early interactions remind me of one my favorite literary romantic couples – Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. I loved the romance and the conflict it caused with Louisa May Alcott and her aspirations.

Overall, The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott is a great novel about one summer that could have changed Louisa’s life forever. I enjoyed the historical fiction, the romance, and the personal conflict and growth in Louisa’s character. This is a great book for all lovers of Little Woman, Louisa May Alcott, or just a good read in general.

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott is my tenth novel for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011. I’m halfway to my goal of twenty historical fiction novels read this year!

Book Source: Penguin Group. Thank-you!

A Fierce Radiance by Lauren Belfer

A Fierce Radiance is a historical fiction thriller about the development of penicillin set at the dawn of WWII. Claire Shipley is a divorcee, mother, and a photojournalist at the very popular Life magazine. She has never quite recovered from the death of her three-year old daughter, Emily, from septicemia. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Claire is sent to photograph the use of Penicillin on a patient at the Rockefeller Institute in New York City.

There, Claire learns about the miraculous drug, Penicillin, that could have saved her daughter’s life, and that could save the lives of American soldiers during the war, putting the enemy at a distinct disadvantage. She also meets and falls in love with the handsome researcher, Dr. James Stanton. At this point in time, the government put together a Manhattan type project to get Penicillin developed from just a mold growing in a bedpan to something that could be manufactured and widely distributed. They also had to discover how to dose people with it and what exactly it could cure by testing it on a variety of problems. Claire is given the assignment of photographing this top secret research for publication after the war, while Jamie tests the new drug across the country and at the front.

Claire soon learns that the stakes to develop penicillin and get the patent on its “cousin” antibiotics are high. Her home is ransacked and a key researcher with a great new discovery dies under very mysterious circumstances. Was this researcher killed in order to profit off of her new discovery or by spies who would love to take her discovery to Germany? You will have to read the novel to find out!

I loved this novel. Belfer was perfectly able to capture New York City at the start of WWII. The people have concerns that we have long forgotten about or take for granted. It’s hard to imagine now that the American people were certain at that time that America would be invaded by its enemies. Having Claire Shipley as a photojournalist for Life was a perfect way to bring this sense of urgency and uncertainty to life as she photographs interesting stories across the nation as well as tries to keep it all together on the home front. Belfer’s research by reading all of the Life magazines and New York newspapers during that time as well as her life experience as a photojournalist in the past is perfectly blended together to create a compelling portrait.

Belfer also dipped into what it means to be a photojournalist documenting, but not becoming a part of the story. I must admit, I have often wondered about this as I see new reporters at scenes of tragedy, not helping. Belfer wrote a great scene about this as follows,

“Nurse O’Brien, forced to step around Claire for the third time, confronted her by the window. ‘Doesn’t it bother you, to be taking pictures of them and never helping them? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?’ she asked, the lovely Irish lilt in her voice turned to anger. . .
Claire thought, Was she ashamed of herself? She had to believe that she was helping this people, if only by creating empathy in those who read their stories. Maybe inspiring others to help them. If she didn’t believe this, she couldn’t go on.”

I loved the subject matter of this story. To think that an adult or child could die from an infected scratch is mysterious to us at this point in time. Reading about the development of Penicillin was very intriguing to me. I loved the details, but I also loved that Belfer was able to make something that could have been a very dry read into an intriguing look into a world without antibiotics. One of my favorite passages describes this:

“Doctors could do nothing, or next to nothing, to help their patients. Serum treatments. Several vaccines, including those to fight diphtheria, tetanus, and smallpox. Recently sulfa drugs, with their toxicity and limited effectiveness. Pneumonia could put an otherwise healthy adult in the hospital for a month.... President Coolidge’s son had died from a blister he developed while playing tennis in new shoes. A scratch from a rosebush could kill you. . . Tuberculosis was rampant and contagious. Last May, Claire walked Charlie to school and learned from the other parents that Miss Robertson, his art teacher, had been ‘sent to Saranac.’ Claire knew what that meant; everyone knew what that meant. Saranac was a village in the Adirondacks where TB patients received treatment in isolation from their family and friends, so they wouldn’t infect them. Some patients stayed for decades. . . Could a medicine from green mold fight all that? The idea was outlandish. Incomprehensible.”

I loved Lauren Belfer’s first novel, City of Lights, which came out about ten years ago. It was a historical fiction thriller set at Niagara Falls involving the construction of energy facilities in the 19th century. I was glad to see she was back and am happy that I had an opportunity to review her thrilling second novel.

As readers of this blog know, I am a giant fan of the Outlander novels by Diana Gabaldon and her iconic lovers Jamie and Claire. So I was intrigued that the romantic duo in A Fierce Radiance are named ... Jamie and Claire.

Overall, A Fierce Radiance is a moving, intriguing, and wonderful historical fiction novel. I highly recommend it as well as Lauren Belfer’s first novel, City of Lights.

A Fierce Radiance is my ninth book read for The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.

I read A Fierce Radiance as part of the TLC Book Tours. I am the last stop on the tour, but if you would like to read further reviews of this book, check back through this other great blogs on the schedule.

Lauren’s Tour Stops
Tuesday, March 29th: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
Tuesday, March 29th: Bookworm’s Dinner (guest post)
Thursday, March 31st: Rundpinne
Wednesday, April 6th: Bibliophiliac
Monday, April 11th: That’s What She Read
Tuesday, April 12th: Books Like Breathing
Wednesday, April 13th: In the Next Room
Thursday, April 14th: Man of La Book
Monday, April 18th: Unabridged Chick
Tuesday, April 19th: Teresa’s Reading Corner
Wednesday, April 20th: Bloggin’ ‘Bout Books
Thursday, April 21st: Debbie’s Book Bag
Friday, April 22nd: Bookish Ruth
Monday, April 25th: Laura’s Reviews

Book Source: A Review Copy from Harper Collins. Thank-you!

A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware

As an engineer, one of my pet peeves has been the lack of books, movies, and TV shows with engineers as characters, let alone a woman engineer. I was more than a little excited to read A Race to Splendor in which the main character is a female architect in San Francisco in 1906 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. I love reading about strong women characters, and an added bonus is having the strong woman as an engineer/architect.

Amelia Bradshaw has worked hard. As a thirty-year old woman in 1906, she has received her bachelor’s degree in engineering at UC Berkley and her degree in architecture from L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. After receiving her degree in architecture, she returned home to San Francisco, only to discover that her father has gambled away her and her mother’s inheritance, the grand Bay View Hotel. J.D. Thayer, the scoundrel son of a respected San Francisco family is now the proud owner of the hotel. Amelia is devastated. She takes J.D. to court, only to discover, as a woman, she has no rights and is left with nothing. Amelia takes a job at Julia Morgan’s (the first female architect in California) firm to support herself, her mother, and her aunt. Tragedy strikes when the devastating San Francisco earthquake and fire takes place.

Afterwards Amelia finds herself working hard with Julia Morgan’s firm to not only restore the famous Fairmont Hotel, but also to help J.D. rebuild the Bay View Hotel. After a misunderstanding with Julia, Amelia finds herself helping J.D. in a race to build the Bay View by the first anniversary of the quake before the Fairmont Hotel can open.

I loved A Race to Splendor. Ciji Ware’s storytelling was fantastic. Just when you think things are going well, a new wrench gets thrown into the mix. I read this book pretty quickly as I was always wondering what would happen next. The earthquake and fire description were riveting. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies, San Francisco starring Clark Gable.
Speaking of Clark Gable and his bad boy appeal, J.D. is a man made in the same mold. J.D. is the bad boy you want to hate, but love any way. He has a single minded dedication to make something of himself, but he doesn’t think of the costs to other people. While he appears to be a bad guy at the beginning of the novel, Amelia is able to peel back the layers to discover an inner depth to J.D. I was annoyed that Amelia worked for him after he stole her grandfather’s hotel from her, but I can also see that if your family hotel has to be redesigned that you would want to be the one to do it!

I love Ciji Ware’s mantra that she wonders what women were doing at that point in history. I loved that Amelia Bradshaw is a strong woman character and that she interacts with the real Julia Morgan. I think it is more than great to have a woman character that was an engineer/architect, especially at that point in history. It’s still hard work for a woman to be on a construction site as an engineer (I am one and have had the experience!). I loved reading about Amelia and Julia taking charge at the construction sites and getting work done. It was great!

I could talk about this book forever, but overall, I think it is a great historical fiction novel. It has great action, the San Francisco Earthquake, romance, and the best for me – a woman engineer/architect. This month is the 105th anniversary of the great San Francisco earthquake; do you really need another reason to read this book?

For a great guest blog by author Ciji Ware and a chance to win a copy of this book, please check out this link.

A Race to Splendor is my eighth item for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.

Book Source: Review Copy from Sourcebooks – Thanks!

Legacy by Jeanette Baker

Scotland. History. Suspense. A Family Curse. Time Travel. Legacy by Jeanette Baker has all of the individual elements that I love in a novel, and Baker was able to combine these elements into one fantastic story. And even better, it was a story that kept me awake when I was feeding my infant at night!

Christina Murray is a 38-year old American scholar on Scottish history. After her recent painful divorce, she is excited to discover that she is the heiress of Traquiar House, the oldest continuously habited house in Scotland. After she starts living in Traquiar House, strange things start to happen to Christina and she starts to remember past lives of the women who came before her at Traquiar House. These women look eerily like Christina and all carry shared traits that pass down the family curse.

Katrine is a lovely Jacobite supporter that falls in love with an Englishman. When Bonnie Prince Charlie returns to try to capture the throne, Katrine is torn between her family and her husband. Jeanne has a wonderful husband and two beautiful children, but after a tragedy takes the life of one of her children, her visions lead her to warn King James about the Battle of Flodden Field. These visions lead her to be accused of witchcraft. Mairi has a forbidden passion for King Edward Longshacks of England, but marries her childhood sweetheart David. After Mairi allows Edward to take Scotland’s Stone of Destiny, Mairi’s fate is sealed and a curse is cast on her and all her descendents. All of these women have a ravaging beauty and a tragic history, will Christina be able to lift the curse and find true love?

Legacy is a real page turner and a great story. It reminded me of one of my favorite books, The Green Darkness by Anya Seton. If you like The Green Darkness, you will really enjoy Legacy. I loved the modern day characters of Christina and her handsome neighbor Ian. I wanted Christina to discover the cause of the curse and to lift it. It was fascinating each time she had a flash to the past and the story continued to build to a great conclusion.

I was a bit thrown by one character though (who shall remain nameless to not spoil it for others) who seemed like a kind person at first, but suddenly became a really evil character. I don’t know what I missed –but it threw me for a loop!

Legacy is part of the Casablanca Classics – classic romance novels that have sadly gone out of print that Sourcebooks is bringing back out for a new generation. I am glad they are doing this as I’ve discovered some great new authors and novels!

Overall Legacy is a wonderful novel full of romance, mystery, and a family curse that will leave you reading way too long into the night.

Legacy is based on fictional characters in a historical setting at a real historical home. I’m counting it as my seventh item in the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.

Book Source: Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick

Elizabeth Chadwick is one of my all-time favorite historical fiction authors, ranking up there with Diana Gabaldon and Anya Seton. I just discovered her novels last year, but I look forward to reading each of her books and silently curse the books that keep me away from a new Chadwick novel.

Chadwick’s stories come alive with riveting, unique (and historical accurate) characters with compelling stories. Chadwick has a research philosophy for her novels that impresses an engineer like me who enjoys facts and figures. Not only does she use primary and secondary sources, but she also includes reenactments with an early medieval Living History Society. Elizabeth Chadwick’s research pays off as her vivid writing makes you feel like you can not only see the characters, but feel the embroidery, smell the horses, and taste the medieval food. You feel totally immersed in the story and it is a very enjoyable experience.

To Defy a King is the story of Mahelt Marshal, the daughter of William and Isabelle Marshal from The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion (in my top ten reads of 2010). Mahelt is the favorite daughter of William. She is a spirited young girl, and becomes a spirited young bride after the Marshal family is forced to give up her older brother to King John for a hostage. Hugh Bigod is the son of the Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and his wife Ida, the former mistress of King Henry II. Roger does not like how Mahelt is not a “Bigod wife” who will be content to remain in the background strictly obeying her husband. There are definitely some in-law issues for Mahelt to deal with as she learns to be a young wife and mother, but there are is also a great deal of love and passion between her and Hugh to make up for it.

While I loved Mahelt and Hugh’s story, there were also a lot of great secondary characters in To Defy a King. Roger and Ida’s history and love story intrigued me. I can’t wait to read their story in For the King’s Favor. Ida’s bastard son with King Henry, William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury was a great character. He holds a special place in Ida’s heart, but is always at constant friction with Hugh, Ida’s oldest legitimate son with Roger Bigod. He seems like a bad guy when the story first starts, but is a wonderfully rounded character who is torn by conflicting loyalties to his royal brother and his half-siblings. By the end of the novel, his growth had given me a totally different view of him.

And of course – one of the best characters in the book was the evil King John. Whenever I would think, that cannot possibly be true, it really was and his evil misdeeds just kept growing throughout the book. As my husband Ben likes to quote his world history professor “There was only one King John.” I LOVED how Mahelt dealt with King John.

Overall To Defy a King was a enthralling historical fiction novel with superb characters and a remarkable story. Even if you haven’t read the other books about William Marshal, this book is a great book on its own merits.

To Defy a King is my sixth novel in the Historical Fiction Challenge 2011.

Drop by tomorrow (or I guess later today) for a guest blog post by Elizabeth Chadwick! I’m running a bit behind at odd hours because of a teething baby and a ton of permitting work.

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!!