December 31, 2018

Jayne’s Best of 2018

JayneBook Reviews / Reading Lists / Recommended Reads / Top Ten Lists#ownvoices / 16th-century / 1950s / alcoholism / ancient-Egypt / ancient-Rome / Artificial Intelligence / Athletes / bookstore / cats / child in jeopardy / childrens-books / journalism / London / Native American / older heroine and hero / Sci-fi / Sports Themed Romance / Tudor-England / War / Military / World War II15 Comments

Sugar and Snails by Sarah Tsiang and Sonja Wimmer My Review A novel twist to a classic rhyme. Who says that little girls are made of “sugar and spice and everything nice?” Or that boys are made of “frogs and snails and puppy dog tails?” What if girls were made ... more >

December 20, 2018

REVIEW: Forsaking All Other by Catherine Meyrick

JayneA- Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads16th-century / commoners / England / Historical / Tudor-England2 Comments

Love is no game for women; the price is far too high. England 1585. Bess Stoughton, waiting woman to the well-connected Lady Allingbourne, has discovered that her father is arranging for her to marry an elderly neighbour. Normally obedient Bess rebels and wrests from her father a year to find ... more >

October 26, 2018

REVIEW: Anne of Cleves Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife by Sarah-Beth Watkins

JayneB Reviews / Book Reviews16th-century / Biography / England / Henry-VIII / Historical / Historical Biography / non-fiction / Royalty / Tudor-England / Tudors2 Comments

Anne of Cleves left her homeland in 1539 to marry the king of England. She was not brought up to be a queen, yet out of many possible choices she was the bride Henry VIII chose as his fourth wife. But, from their first meeting the king decided he liked ... more >

October 9, 2018

REVIEW: How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts by Ruth Goodman

JayneB+ 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 >

August 22, 2018

REVIEW: The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick

JayneB- Reviews / Book Reviews / C+ ReviewsContemporary / dual-timeline / England / Historical / historical paranormal / Time-Travel / Tudor-England / Womens-Fiction8 Comments

Browsing an antiques shop in Wiltshire, Alison Bannister stumbles across a delicate old portrait—identified as the doomed Tudor queen, Anne Boleyn. Except Alison knows better. The subject is Mary Seymour, the daughter of Katherine Parr, who was taken to Wolf Hall in 1557 and presumed dead after going missing as ... more >

SunitaBook ReviewsContemporary romance / Historical fiction / mystery / novella / Reading lists / Small Town Romance / Tudor-England17 Comments

I’m still reading across different genres and choosing books on a whim, so the last two months have featured romance, historical fiction, and SFF, with story lengths ranging from novella to doorstop. I wound up writing mini-reviews/reflections, so here are the first set. More to come!   Four Nights to ... more >