During World War I, an English Bishop, Anthony Shacklock is buried near the field hospital in France where he helped to comfort soldiers.  The beloved Bishop is soon exhumed to be brought back home to England.  However, when the Bishop is dug up another body is found with him.  The bones of a young woman remain a mystery through present day.  Professor Waller has made finding out the identity of the young women his life’s work; however, he gives most of the actual research work to archivist Jess Morris who must toil away in dark libraries and go chasing leads all over England on weekends.  Doing all of Waller’s work has placed a strain on Jess’ husband and children.  Just when Jess seems to find a significant and exciting lead on her mystery woman, she begins to make some risky decisions with her personal life.
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This was a very intriguing historical mystery.  I was thrown into the story from the very beginning when the unexpected bones were found.  First of all, I love dual-time stories and this story went back and forth between the present and 1899-1918.  I also like giving a story to those who were forgotten and nameless, even though this story is completely fictional it gives a small taste of the work that researchers do in order to solve mysteries of the past.  This story did have a bit of a slow start for me, while I do find research interesting; there was perhaps a bit too much in the beginning.  However, as the clues began to come forward and we got a look back into Shacklock’s time period, the story became better paced.  There was definitely a lot going on with Bishop Shacklock and the story of his time in Greece and in the French Hospital were very involved and intriguing. The conditions of the field hospital were particularly well done and I could imagine it very well. Jess’ story slightly mirrored what the Bishop was going through, however some of her issues paled in comparison to the Bishop and the mystery woman. When the identity of the mystery woman is revealed, I felt relief of her identity and sadness over her story.   Overall, an absorbing historical mystery and a wonderful look into historical research.
 
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  

Annabelle Fortune, known as Misfortune Annie is one of the fastest gunslingers in the west, despite being 15 years old.  When Annie gets tangled up in a guide job gone wrong, she inadvertently stops the mysterious man known as the Locomotive Reaper from robbing and murdering an entire train full of people.  Since she is the only person to have ever seen the Locomotive Reaper and tell the tale, the Secret Service asks Annie to sign up and help catch him.  Annie is reluctant, but with the promise to find information about her father, she is swayed.  Annie is paired with agent Beau Slokam who brings more trouble to the table than what they are chasing.  Now Annie and Beau, with the help of Annie’s friend Wontoa must fend off the Doom Gang while tracking down the Locomotive Reaper.
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A fast-paced, action filled adventure in the Wild West with a wonderful heroine.  Misfortune Annie’s bravery and determination leap off the page from the first scene.  She uses quick wits, intelligence and a little bit of luck to get out of sticky situations.  I do wish that we got to know a little more of her past and backstory, there is definitely a mystery there that the Secret Service director begins to hint at, but in such a short story, we don’t get into anything like that.  Also, I was definitely interested in the Locomotive Reaper himself, much like Annie was and I wanted to dig a little deeper into his character.  A flying man in a huge suit added a little element of Steampunk to the mix, but it wasn’t out of place at all.   With a fifteen year old heroine, this is an appropriate read for young adults, but has plenty of elements to keep adults interested as well.
 
This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

​Danny Baker leaves his small fishing village of East Jeddore, Nova Scotia in 1916 for war-torn France.  While marching through France, Danny is fortunate enough to meet Audrey Poulin, an artist, free spirit and a woman who brings light and color to the bleak landscape of war.  Through an exchange of letters, Danny and Audrey fall in love and decide to marry.  However, at the battle of the Somme Danny loses more than he can imagine, most of his friends have died and he has lost part of his leg.  Now in a battle with his own emotions, Danny is sent home to Canada.  Audrey soon meets him there and they are married.  Danny struggles with his own shortcomings and the impacts of the war.  He decides that a move to Halifax and a job on the docks with his brother is for the best.  When catastrophe strikes again, this time in Halifax, Danny’s world is completely changed, but his love for Audrey will help him pull through.
A story of war, tragedy, love, family and transformation, Tides of Honour is  touching and powerful.  From the beginning, I knew that Danny was going to be a strong character, his journey, though tumultuous, is one that many veterans dealt with and still face today.  In alternating narratives, Danny's story is filled out and another needed perspective is seen with Audrey's view.  Audrey is a survivor as well and her story is just as  important.  The historical setting  was unique and well researched.  I was very happy to read about Canadian's fighting in the Great War, as they are often overlooked as well as the little known Halifax explosion.  I was very interested in this since my great-grandmother lived nearby at the time.  What impressed me the most was the incorporation of Danny and Audrey's love story into the events surrounding them.  Their love story is not perfect, but it is lasting.  Like the tides rolling in and out, Audrey and Danny's love is for better or for worse.  
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This book was received for free in return for an honest review

The Scholar

Serena is determined to prove that a magical stone exists from the ancient Egyptian time period.  Her only problem is that she can not find any evidence of the stone; it's a good thing she can use her power to travel in time.  After Serena's fall into Egypt in 2361 B.C., Serena is rescued by two cousins in the royal family.  A love triangle develops and Serena must choose carefully while trying to look for her stone.  

This is the second book in The Fall series and I have not yet read the first book, The Dreamer, but I did not feel lost at all.  This was a quick, light read and was a little heavier on the romance than I generally like, but I still found the read enjoyable.  I liked Serena's character and the pace of the book.  I just wish the plot was a little more history driven than romance driven.  Overall, a good read and I will look forward to reading the other books in The Fall series.

I grew up reading Little Women, so when I got the chance to read about its creator through the eyes of her younger sister, May.  May is an aspiring artist who also wants a husband and family.  Louisa sees herself as too old to get married and would rather help where she can and focus on her writing.  The two sisters end up clashing over many things, however they keep their sisterly bond.  Through war, travel, successes and failures a portrait of two sisters is artfully drawn.

I loved learning about the sisters and their real lives.  I really enjoyed learning about May and Louisa’s relationship with each other and how that translated into Louisa’s character of Amy in Little Women.   Even though Amy is portrayed as very self-involved in Little Women, she is drawn in a new light, a struggling artist herself who had the limelight stolen from her by Louisa’s success.   Most of all, I enjoyed the realistic portrait of two influential and forward-thinking women of their time.   It was really interesting to find out all of the other influential people that the Alcott’s knew including Thoreau, Hawthorne and Emerson.  

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

Officer Malcolm Kelsey is aboard the USS Nevada the morning of December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attack.  He makes the difficult decisions to maneuver the ship and save crew members.  During the attack, Kelsey receives a head injury and goes into a coma.  While unconscious, he is taken to the other side and given a choice.  Kelsey can stay in his current timeline with his painful memories of his deceased daughter and wayward wife or be placed into a different timeline with no memories of his current life.  The decision is not difficult for Kelsey, he takes the deal and is transported back to the eve of the Civil War.  Kelsey feels duped, transported from one war to another with all of his memories from his past life in tact.  There must be a purpose to all of this though, and Kelsey might have found it in a name he remembers from his past life, Travers.  There are also new people  that bring hope to Kelsey's new life, like Garrity. 

I was really intrigued by the time travel aspect of the book as well as the historical fiction.  The whole other side was very interesting and I loved the scenes that happened there between Kelsey and his guide, Leavitt.  Kelsey was also an amazing and well developed character: brave and determined, he has pain hidden deep inside, is a self-described ass-hole, but would do anything to help another member of his team.  This made him perfect to go back to the Civil War.  One thing that threw me though was the changing point of view between Kelsey and Garrity, an officer in the Dragoons where Kelsey first awakes in 1861.  I wasn't really expecting so much of the book to focus on someone else, especially so soon.  For much of the book the perspectives are taken back and forth between Kelsey's experience and Garrity's.  This does have a purpose in the end, but at first it was a little disorienting.  Anyhow, the context into the Civil War with a view from each side was very detailed and graphic.  Much of the battles, prison conditions and medical treatment was done with historical accuracy.  The ending was inspiring and surprising, nothing that I saw coming. 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

About the Book: 
The Grip of God is the first novel in an epic historical trilogy, The Tiger and the Dove. Set in the thirteenth century, its heroine, Sofia, is a young princess of Kievan Rus. She begins her story by recounting her capture in battle and life of slavery to a young army captain in the Mongol armies that are flooding Europe. Not only is her life shattered, it is threatened by the bitter rivalries in her new master's powerful family, and shadowed by the leader of the Mongol invasion, Batu Khan, Genghis Khan's grandson. How will she learn to survive in a world of total war, much less rediscover the love she once took for granted? Always seeking to escape and menaced by outer enemies and inner turmoil, where can she find safe haven even if she can break free? Clear eyed and intelligent, Sofia could be a character from The Game of Thrones, but she refuses to believe that life is solely about the strong dominating the weak or about taking endless revenge. Her story is based on actual historical events, which haunt her destiny. Like an intelligent Forrest Gump, she reflects her times. But as she matures, she learns to reflect on them as well, and to transcend their fetters. In doing so, she recreates a lost era for us, her readers.


Review: 
In thirteen century Kievan Rus, which is now made up of parts of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, Princess Sofia is being sent away to Constantinople in fear of the upcoming Mongol attacks on her city.  As her party travels away from the only home and family she has ever known, Sofia’s camp is attacked by the very people she was trying to avoid.  Sofia is captured as a Mongol slave by the warrior Argamon, who raped her and kept Sofia as his own as believing she is part of a prophecy that will bring him good fortune.  Sofia is crushed, but her spirit stays strong.  As she navigates her new life in the Mongol camps she comes to terms with her relationship with Argamon, her religion, and the customs of the many different people who now surround her.   As Sofia grows and begins to assimilate to life as a Mongol, she opens herself to friendship, love and acceptance of other people.

This was definitely one epic journey through a treacherous time period and setting.   I went into the story not really knowing much of anything about the Mongol invasions, so everything described was a learning experience for me.  Through Sofia’s point of view, the Mongal people, customs and her part within this very different society was masterfully detailed.  I was very interested to learn about their intake and treatment of people that they had captured, their leadership hierarchy, mix of belief systems and even their food and lack of bathing.  The beginning of the book when Sofia was leaving Kievan Rus actually felt a little slow to me and was difficult to get into, it was not until she was captured by Argamon that the pace livened for me.  Sofia was an intriguing character, she was very young when she was captured, but was fortunate enough to be educated and have a stubborn streak, both which proved useful with the Mongols.  Her and Argamon’s relationship was an absolute rollercoaster, and quite unexpected.  I would never think that Argamon would be a character that I could relate to or respect, but as Sofia grew up, became more knowledgeable and opened herself to understanding, her attitudes about Argamon changed.  Overall, an intense journey with unexpected outcomes.  I will be reading the second book of the trilogy to see what happens to Sofia next. 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

About the Author: 
About the Author

Rebecca Hazell is a an award winning artist, author and educator. She has written, illustrated and published four non-fiction children’s books, created best selling educational filmstrips, designed educational craft kits for children and even created award winning needlepoint canvases. She is a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, and she holds an honours BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Russian and Chinese history.

Rebecca lived for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1988 she and her family moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in 2006 she and her husband moved to Vancouver Island. They live near their two adult children in the beautiful Cowichan Valley.

Visit Rebecca:

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About the Book: 
Jane Austen’s love stories have withstood an incredible test of time. They are widely read and loved two hundred years after they were written. We know that Jane Austen never married. Where did her expertise in love come from? There is some evidence that she developed a deep mutual attachment to a man she met during a seaside family holiday. But almost no details are known of this man. Only that her sister was later to say that he was a man who was truly worthy of Jane.

This is the story of that pivotal encounter. It is written in Jane’s own voice, as closely as it could be captured. Not the gentle wit of her novels, but the sharp, blunt tongue that she used so freely in her candid letters to her sister.

At the same time, we will watch how her writer's voice evolved; how she drew from the people and events in her life to create the masterpieces of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.


Buy the Book: 
http://www.amazon.com/Jane-Sea-Austens-Love-Story-ebook/dp/B011E62MN6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437455898&sr=8-1&keywords=jane+by+the+sea

Review: 
Jane Austen’s love stories are timeless romances sprinkled with endless wit and intriguing characters.  Where did Jane find her inspiration for such romance and characters when she herself was never married?  Carolyn V. Murray takes inspiration from little known facts about Jane’s summer spent in the Seaside town of Sidmouth and imagines Jane’s intense love affair with Royal Navy Lieutenant Frederick Barnes.  Jane’s father is a clergyman who has fallen on hard times.  Jane is now a daughter with poor prospects, but high hopes in the romance department.  After a failed encounter due to her family’s status, Jane is apprehensive of another failed relationship and accepts her future spinster status.  However, after a chance encounter with the determined Lieutenant, Jane’s heart begins to soften at the chance for love.

This was an incredibly sweet story that also felt very authentic.  I think Murray did an excellent job capturing Austen’s voice, personality and interactions.  Jane was an amazing character, full of life, complex emotions and plenty of tenacity and cleverness.  It was very interesting to learn about her family, their circumstances and Jane’s relationships with them, especially as these relationships affected her fictional characters.  I loved Jane's ups and downs within her relationship with Frederick, it seemed like such a natural progression and they were so perfect together.  I really enjoyed seeing how her changing perspective on Frederick and love itself influenced the character of Darcy in her writing.  Overall, this was a highly entertaining, sweet and quick read for any fans of Jane Austen or historical romance.




This book was provided for free in return for an honest review. 

About the Author: 
Carolyn V. Murray spent her childhood with the proverbial nose inside a book; between Encyclopedia Brown, the Laura Ingalls Wilder saga, A Wrinkle in Time, etc…she could not start the next book soon enough. At the age of eleven, she approached a librarian and asked to see books on how to become a writer. The librarian was amused, and Carolyn was NOT happy to be the source of this amusement. It would be a couple more decades before she really believed that writing was her destiny.

Her "9-5" life included the good (teaching) the bad (working in casinos) and the ugly (catering in an electric clown suit.) Her writing path took a long detour into the pursuit of screenwriting, where she got selected as a Walt Disney Writing Fellow, had four original screenplays optioned, and wrote one freelance script that made it to the TV screen.

But these days, she's a lot more excited about creating the kinds of books that sustained her childhood. She is drawn to history, biography, love stories, and travel. Jane by the Sea is her first novel.

Read An Excerpt: 
I was engrossed in my playing and did not hear the door open behind me. But I certainly heard it close, and I whirled around to see an apologetic Lieutenant Barnes.

“I hoped there was better entertainment to be found in these back rooms. And so I was right. A very pretty tune, Miss Jane,” he praised.

“I do not play for the enjoyment of others. Only myself,” I replied, coolly.

“That is most ungenerous. Why should you not share your talents with the world?” the lieutenant scolded.

“First of all, the ladies who share their talents with the world do so with one object, and that is to attract a marriage proposal. Hardly a charitable motive. After that object is secured, she is free to abandon the pastime,” I explained.

The lieutenant was full of objections. He had known many gifted young ladies who evidenced a true love of music for its own worth, including his younger sister who had a wondrous gift with the pianoforte. And she was married. I wondered how many times he had seen her since she married.

Mollie Flynn was born on the streets of New York City in the 1800’s.  She grew up bouncing from charity houses to the streets where she found a friend in Annabelle Lee, who works the streets as a whore.  Mollie earns her living as a pickpocket.  Together, the two girls forge their way in the Bowery, making enough money to keep a roof over their heads in a small tenement and dealing with the many feuding gangs.   After Annabelle’s release from prison, Mollie believes things will turn around; the two girls want to fulfill their dream of leaving the city behind and going to Brooklyn with the completion of the Bridge.  However, Annabelle comes out of prison pregnant and now wants to better her life for her baby.  Annabelle and Mollie enroll in Emmeline DuPre’s Cherry Street Settlement House hoping to better themselves and find honest work. Escaping from life in the Bowery proves harder than either of the girls expected.

An honest look at what life was like for young women in poverty in one of the roughest parts of New York City in the early 19th century.  Both Mollie and Annabelle are dynamic and unique, hopeful but seemingly stuck in their situations, the have a conscious and dreams of a better future.  Mollie and Annebelle’s professions of pickpocket and whore are not overshadowed, neither are the consequences of these positions or the pay.  Mollie points out that one quick pickpocket victim could land her as much money as a 12-hour day in her typewriting position.  Life in their dismal tenement was also highlighted, a dead horse at the end of the street, walls plastered in book pages, children playing on a pile of trash all painted a historically accurate picture of the living situation at the time.  Overall, Bowery Girl is a story rich in hopes and dreams which displays a snapshot of life in this tumultuous place and time in New York City; a quick read perfect for those who want to dig into the history of 19th Century New York City or The Gangs of New York.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

Hazel grew up one of many children in a rural southern town, but she was determined to get more out of life and found a job in a pharmacy.  One customer, Floyd, swept Hazel off her feet with his ideas for business and outlook on life.  Soon, Hazel and Floyd are married and settled in Delphi, Mississippi where Floyd sells vehicles. Hazel is expected to be a society lady, but doesn't quite fit in.  She does, however find contentment in driving. Hazel begins a family with Floyd and has two healthy boys, but still has trouble seeing herself as a good mother.  When her youngest son dies in a tragic accident, Hazel is devastated and slips into drinking and depression. Floyd hires Vida as a maid and to take care of Hazel.  Vida takes the position to try to enact revenge on Hazel's neighbor, the sheriff who is responsible for Vida having to give up her son.  Hazel and Vida don't exactly see eye to eye, but they are able to come together over the loss of their sons and the racial discrimination that Vida and the other maids face. Together, Hazel and Vida will prove an unstoppable force in campaigned for civil rights in the Deep South.

I completely fell in love with this story and the characters.  More than anything, it took me back to Mississippi in the 1950’s.  From the manner of speech, Hazel’s many “I swan’s” and Floyds motivational quotes to Hazel’s interior decorating choices and Vida and her father’s experiences made everything very realistic.  Hazel and Vida also brought this book alive.  Even more than their quest for Civil Rights, the book is about Hazel and Vida’s own growth.  Both women are broken over the loss of their sons.  Hazel turns to drinking and Vida turns to revenge.  Their struggle with what it means to be a mother and their growth as characters during this time in history is what is really highlighted for me.  The Civil Rights movement is what allows the women to move on.  I really appreciated the author’s authenticity with women being the driving force behind many of the protests and movement of information at the time.  I felt like this gave me a great look into another piece of the Civil Rights movement that I never would have known. 

This  book was received for free in return for an honest review.