B+ Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads16th-century / 17th-century / cultural history / Historical / historical research / non-fiction / Stuart-England / Tudor-England3 Comments
Offensive language, insolent behavior, slights, brawls, and scandals come alive in Ruth Goodman’s uproarious history. Every age and social strata has its bad eggs, rule-breakers, and nose-thumbers. As acclaimed popular historian and author of How to Be a Victorian Ruth Goodman shows in her madcap chronicle, Elizabethan England was particularly ... more >
C Reviews16th-century / Historical / historical-Scotland / humorous / ScotlandComments Off on REVIEW: Antonia Barclay and Her Scottish Claymore by Jane Carter Barrett
Antonía Barclay and Her Scottish Claymore is an unconventional historical romance that hums with energy, wordplay, swordplay, and a touch of melodrama. In 1586, Antonía Barclay embarks on a quest to find her real mother, Mary Queen of Scots, as well as the long-lost Scottish Royal Sceptre. Along the way, ... more >
B+ Reviews / Contests/Giveaways / Recommended Reads16th-century / 17th-century / Fairy-Tales / First-Person / France / giveaway / Historical / Italy / Venice52 Comments
The amazing power and truth of the Rapunzel fairy tale comes alive for the first time in this breathtaking tale of desire, black magic and the redemptive power of love French novelist Charlotte-Rose de la Force has been banished from the court of Versailles by the Sun King, Louis XIV, ... more >
A- Reviews / Recommended Reads16th-century / Historical / privateer / Spain / swashbuckler / Tudor-England18 Comments
Dear Readers, If you’ve never read anything by Georgette Heyer beyond her Regencies, or you’re not interested in prissy Regencies, preferring action and adventure, then do yourself a favor and try this one. It might be that because my introduction to Heyer was through her Georgians and Beauvallet that this ... more >
D Reviews16th-century / European-Historical / Historical / Jewish-faith / midwife4 Comments
The Imperial Harem, Constantinople, 1578. Hannah and Isaac Levi, Venetians in exile, have overcome unfathomable obstacles to begin life anew in the Ottoman Empire. He works in the growing silk trade, and she, the best midwife in the capital, tends to the hundreds of women in Sultan Murat III’s lively ... more >
B Reviews16th-century / dysfunctional family / France / Historical / Paranormal10 Comments
In 1556 France, Queen Catherine de Medici spies on her husband, King Henri II, and his lover, Diane de Poitiers. Driven nearly mad by jealousy, the queen, who is “very fond of do-it-yourself magic,” is frustrated with her sycophantic, possibly duplicitous court astrologer’s ineffective powers, until he reveals his knowledge ... more >