This week on the blog, I review Songbird by Karen Heenan. I actually read this book back in November, but as the author re-released this novel in this past week, I’ve pressed paused on writing a blog review till now. So excited to share this book with you! Songbird – A Flavour This stunning novel is set in Tudor era England and tells the story of Bess, a girl who comes to the court of Henry VIII as a minstrel. As
Storytellers by Bjorn Larssen has taken me on a wonderful journey this week. I haven’t been able to put it down and it’s probably gone right up there as one of one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’m excited to share with you why. Here’s the blurb for more of a flavour. Storytellers: The Blurb On a long, cold Icelandic night in March 1920, Gunnar, a hermit blacksmith, finds himself with an unwanted lodger – Sigurd, an injured stranger
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk more about the story snippets I’ve been sharing recently on social media. In particular, I thought I’d give some sneaky peeks into a bit more context about the character and what’s going on in the scene. Hopefully without any spoilers!. First, though, I’ll tell you how to make one, in case any writers fancy giving it a go! Story snippets – how to make one I’ve found making story snippets a relatively
This week on the blog, I’m excited to have my first ever author interview! I’m delighted to welcome author Marian L Thorpe onto the ‘virtual sofa’. Marian has written six historical fantasy/alternate history novels (or four, if you count the first three as one volume). You can find my review of Marian’s first three books, the Empire’s Legacy trilogy, here. Needless to say I absolutely loved it and Marian has become one of my favourite authors ever. A couple of days
This week on the blog, I review A Fatal First Night by Kathleen Maple Kab. This is the second novel in her historical mystery series, following her debut novel, a Fatal Finale (you can check out my review of her first book here). Here is a short blub to give you a flavour of the book: Ella returns Diva Ella Shane has made her operatic career famous by her ‘trouser role’ performances by playing the male leads. After the first night
This week on the blog I review Empire’s Legacy, an alternative historical fiction by Marian L Thorpe. I originally wrote this blog post when I first read this wonderful series last year. It helped me fall back in love with reading and went a long way in getting me through the pandemic! So, I thought I’d pull this from the blog and update it a bit/republish. PS Thorpe has published fourth novel in this series, Empire’s Reckoning and also a novella,
You might be surprised that there ere so many different kingdoms in England. Today, one united country with one king or queen. In fact, overseas England is often as a synonym for the whole of the UK, but that’s another story altogether! Last time in my ‘World and Setting’ series, I talked about the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. One reader commented she had no idea that there used to be so many different kingdoms in Britain. So, this week on the
This wonderful book sweeps you back in time to Regency England in this charming Pride and Prejudice variation. Mr Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet are guests at a house party thrown by mutual friends, the Kendalls. The Kendalls hope that both Elizabeth and Darcy will find suitable matches. In the true style of this beloved couple, it seems they are not suited at each other, at least at first. However, the two form a friendship over early morning walks. Could there
It’s been a while since I did a blog post about the world or setting of my novels, so this time I thought I’d talk about Edwin of Deira. Deira was an east Yorkshire kingdom. It was originally a Brittonic Celtic kingdom, that was then taken over by the Angles sometime in the 5th century. Edwin became renowned in this period for being a king of both Bernicia and Deira, which would then become the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Edwin was
This week on the blog, I’m reviewing the complete edition of ‘I, Richard Plantagenet’ by J.P. Reedman. It’s been a while since my last historical fiction read and I was not disappointed by diving into this one. This edition actually contains two novels, ‘I, Richard Plantagenet: Loyaulte me Lie’ and ‘I, Richard Plantagenet: Tante le Desiree’. Both books explore the life of Richard III from his first person perspective. These books were a fascinating read. Both are written wonderfully, with the