by admin | Oct 10, 2018 | Books, Cover Reveal, England, Historical, Romance, Romantic Suspense
Most readers of Roseanna White’s novels, especially her most recent Shadows over England series, will most likely be eagerly awaiting the publication of the next series which will include familiar characters and perhaps a chance to catch up with others from the previous series. To add to our anticipation and impatience, the gorgeous cover to The Number of Love is revealed today.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Three years into the Great War, England’s greatest asset is their intelligence network—field agents risking their lives to gather information, and codebreakers able to crack every German telegram. Margot De Wilde thrives in the environment of the secretive Room 40, where she spends her days deciphering intercepted messages. But when her world is turned upside down by an unexpected loss, for the first time in her life numbers aren’t enough.
Drake Elton returns wounded from the field, followed by an enemy that just won’t give up. He’s smitten quickly by the too-intelligent Margot, but how to convince a girl who lives entirely in her mind that sometimes life’s answers lie in the heart?
Amidst biological warfare, encrypted letters, and a German spy who wants to destroy not just them, but others they love, Margot and Drake will have to work together to save them all from the very secrets that brought them together.
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Pre-Order from Amazon
(other retailers not yet available)
View The Number of Love Pinterest Board
Add to your list on Goodreads
ABOUT ROSEANNA:
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.
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by admin | Oct 7, 2018 | Books, England, Historical, Regency, Romance
MY REVIEW:
A Defense of Honor is an entirely different Regency novel than what I usually encounter. Many novels are a series of fancy balls and flirtations as the heroine hopes to find a proper husband. In this tale, readers see another side of the wealthy society – the women taken advantage of by men who abandoned them and did not acknowledge the children produced by the relationship. Under most circumstances the women were left in disgrace and often children were doomed to a life of servitude if not death. Determined to make a difference, Kit FitzGilbert and two friends take it upon themselves to provide a home and education for as many of the unwanted children as possible and perhaps saving their mothers from scandal. Despite their personal sacrifice, providing for these children required funding and Kit’s unconventional methods of acquiring money came close to landing her in trouble more than once. When Lord Wharton enters her life, Kit finds it difficult to keep her secrets but the children’s future could depend on her silence.
I loved everything about this book. It was fun watching the relationship develop between Kit and Graham and gratifying to witness her change of heart about her methods of collecting funding and learning to depend on the Lord to provide. An excellent plot with wonderful characters and several unexpected twists, A Defense of Honor held my attention throughout. I look forward to more titles by this author.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
When Katherine “Kit” FitzGilbert turned her back on London society more than a decade ago, she determined never to set foot in a ballroom again. But when business takes her to London and she’s forced to run for her life, she stumbles upon not only a glamorous ballroom but also Graham, Lord Wharton. What should have been a chance encounter becomes much more as Graham embarks on a search for his friend’s missing sister and is convinced Kit knows more about the girl than she’s telling.
After meeting Graham, Kit finds herself wishing things could have been different for the first time in her life, but what she wants can’t matter. Long ago, she dedicated herself to helping women escape the same scorn that drove her from London and to raising the innocent children caught in the crossfire. But as much as she desperately wishes to tell Graham everything, the risk of revealing the truth may come at too high a price for those she loves.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kristi Ann Hunter is the author of the Hawthorne House series and a 2016 RITA Award winner, an ACFW Genesis contest winner, and a Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Award for Excellence winner. She lives with her husband and three children in Georgia. Find her online at www.kristiannhunter.com.
by admin | Oct 5, 2018 | Books, England, Gothic Romance, Historical, Mystery
MY REVIEW:
Sandra Byrd is a master at creating those mysterious and atmospheric gothic style novels that I love so much. I have missed novels similar to those by Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt that I once devoured and am thrilled to see a few Christian authors beginning to publish novels in this style. I have loved each and every one of Sandra Byrd’s previous series and if Lady of a Thousand Treasures is any indication, I will also love her Victorian Ladies series.
Lady of a Thousand Treasures held me spellbound from page one until the end. It was fun imagining what the different treasures looked like based on the author’s detailed descriptions of them but it was even more fun to actually see examples shared on her Pinterest board. This particular story is filled with enough mystery and romance to keep me involved and has plenty of twists and unexpected turns to satisfy the most particular reader. Characters are well-rounded and are quite easy to either love or hate but it is not always simple to decide where a couple of them stand.
This is a lovely, lovely book with beautiful prose and so many facts about art and history that most readers will not only be entertained but educated. And of course a subtle message of faith is deftly woven throughout. This author cannot write quickly enough for me but I will have to be patient and perhaps try to slow my reading speed. I look forward to the next book in this series.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by the author and Tyndale House Publishers. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers alone.
The death of a longtime client, Baron Lydney, offers an unexpected complication when Eleanor is appointed the temporary trustee of the baron’s legendary collection. She must choose whether to donate the priceless treasures to a museum or allow them to pass to the baron’s only living son, Harry—the man who broke Eleanor’s heart.
Eleanor distrusts the baron’s motives and her own ability to be unbiased regarding Harry’s future. Harry claims to still love her and Eleanor yearns to believe him, but his mysterious comments and actions fuel her doubts. When she learns an Italian beauty accompanied him on his return to England, her lingering hope for a future with Harry dims.
With the threat of debtor’s prison closing in, Eleanor knows that donating the baron’s collection would win her favor among potential clients, saving Sheffield Brothers. But the more time she spends with Harry, the more her faith in him grows. Might Harry be worthy of his inheritance, and her heart, after all? As pressures mount and time runs out, Eleanor must decide whom she can trust—who in her life is false or true, brass or gold—and what is meant to be treasured.
Read an excerpt here.
Purchase a copy here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd has now published fifty books.
Sandra’s delighted to kick off her new historical romance series with Tyndale House Publishers, Victorian Ladies, with Lady of a Thousand Treasures. The three-book Victorian Ladies series follows her historically sound Gothic romances, Daughters of Hampshire, launched with the bestselling Mist of Midnight, which earned a coveted Editor’s Choice award from the Historical Novel Society. The second book, Bride of a Distant Isle, has been selected by Romantic Times as a Top Pick. The third in the series, A Lady in Disguise, was published in 2017. Check out her contemporary adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake, which was a Christy Award finalist, as was her first historical novel, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn. To Die For was also named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2011, and The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr was named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2012.
Sandra has published dozens of books for kids, tweens, and teens, including the bestselling The One Year Be-Tween You and God Devotions for Girls. She continued her work as a devotionalist, with The One Year Home and Garden Devotions, and The One Year Experiencing God’s Love Devotional.
Please visit www.sandrabyrd.com to learn more or to invite Sandra to your book club via Skype.
by admin | Sep 6, 2018 | Books, England, Historical, Romance, Suspense, World War 1
MY REVIEW:
I have loved all the books in Roseanna M. White’s Shadows Over England series and am sorry to see it end with the final novel An Hour Unspent. I was captivated by each and every one of the books that featured an unusual family of thieves and how they became an integral part of the war effort in England during WWI. I was quite eager to read Barclay’s story. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect but this book exceeded all my expectations.
Once again the mysterious “V” needed one of the family for an important assignment and Barclay was the perfect choice. Sent to assist and encourage a clockmaker who had developed a possibly important part for war planes, Barclay found himself more involved with the man’s family than he imagined, especially the independent daughter Evelina Manning.
I particularly liked how the author focused on the changes in Barclay as he sought to follow the Lord and how often scripture would reassure him when he had doubts. Evelina also grew spiritually during the course of the book and I felt that she and Barclay were a wonderful pair.
As is usually the case in White’s novels, the plot was filled with ample historical facts, drama, danger, suspense, and of course romance. I do not run across very many books set during WWI so this series was of special interest to me. It was nearly impossible for me to set down this book until I finished it in record time. I do love getting my history lessons in such a delightful form.
As I stated above, I really hate to see this series end but I have heard rumors that a new series will feature some characters who had a role in Shadows Over England and readers might actually have a chance to catch up with their favorite characters. I can’t wait!
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by the author and Bethany House. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
With Danger Creeping Ever Closer,
Do Their Dreams Still Matter?
Once London’s top thief, Barclay Pearce has turned his back on his life of crime and now uses his skills for a nation at war. But not until he rescues a clockmaker’s daughter from a mugging does he begin to wonder what his future might hold.
Evelina Manning has constantly fought for independence but she certainly never meant for it to inspire her fiancé to end the engagement and enlist in the army. When the intriguing man who saved her returns to the Manning residence to study clockwork repair with her father, she can’t help being interested. But she soon learns that nothing with Barclay Pearce is as simple as it seems.
As 1915 England plunges ever deeper into war, the work of an ingenious clockmaker may give England an unbeatable military edge—and Germany realizes it as well. Evelina’s father soon finds his whole family in danger—and it may just take a reformed thief to steal the time they need to escape it.
Series: Shadows Over England (Book 3)
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (September 4, 2018)
ISBN-13: 978-0764219283
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.
Blog | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter | Website
When Big Ben Joined the Skyline:
When the design for A Name Unknown, book 1 in the Shadows Over England Series, was shown to me and I saw the spine for the first time, I was so excited to see the series logo they’d come up with. Big Ben’s clock tower.
Big Ben says London. Which is what the designers were no doubt trying to invoke, as my family of thieves are firmly Londoners. But for me, it was more than that. Because in the third book of the series, An Hour Unspent, that iconic clock actually plays a role in the story.
For starters, a bit of naming. Most of us think of “Big Ben” as the clock, but it’s technically not. Big Ben is actually the bell. The clock is the Great Westminster Clock, though over the years the name Big Ben has come to be associated with the entire structure. So now that we’ve got that straight… ?
The clock tower was designed by Augustus Pugin and completed in 1859. Pugin was an architect, one who is most remembered for redesigning the interior of Westminster Palace and the tower in question, which has become one of the most iconic symbols of England. Though he also designed the face of the clock, the mechanics of the thing he wisely handed over to someone else.
But interestingly, the movement–the gears and weights that make a clock work, and in this case, work with amazing reliability–was actually designed by two amateurs to the field. Edmund Denison, a lawyer, and mathematician George Airy. The construction was the only part undertaken by an actual clockmaker, Edward Dent.
The Great Clock’s inner workings are so precise that a penny sitting on the pendulum is all it takes to make slight alterations to the time. That one little coin will make an adjustment of nearly half a second a day. That doesn’t sound like much, but it allows for small incremental adjustments to keep the clock accurate year after year. The pendulum still has a stack of old coins on it, and the clock is still hand-wound three times a week
In my story, I gave the job of upkeep of the Great Clock to my heroine’s father, a clock maker. This part is purely fictional, of course, but it would have been considered a great honor to be tasked with such a responsibility, and in my story that’s the proof of Cecil Manning’s proficiency in his trade, even though he’s by no means made himself rich.
That honor goes to another historical figure that my fictional Manning claims as a friend, who revolutionized the timekeeping world. But you’ll have to check out An Hour Unspent: Companion Guide to learn more about that…
Giveaways & Contest:
Roseanna has several giveaways and a special CONTEST for her readers! Click on the images below to learn more about each Giveaway. Or visit Roseanna’s blog.
by admin | Jul 25, 2018 | Books, England, Historical, Regency, Romance
MY REVIEW:
In our current society, women seem to have the freedom to do or achieve anything they desire – sometimes to the extreme. For that reason, it is eye-opening to read historical novels set during an era where there were stringent expectations of women in general, especially those who moved with the higher circles of society. Miss Serena’s Secret is one of those novels and it is so well written that the reader could almost feel as though she had stepped back in time.
Both Serena Winthrop and Henry Carmichael are strong, realistic characters, both with underlying pain that they strive to keep hidden. Although Serena wants nothing to do with any man, especially such a proud flirt like Lord Carmichael, she reluctantly finds herself drawn to him. Henry has promised Serena’s guardian that he will avoid any romantic entanglement with Serena but soon regrets that promise.
The author’s vivid descriptions sparked my imagination. I could easily have been on the sidelines observing this story as it played out. I liked the way both Serena and Henry seemed to bring out the best in the other and inspired the desire to change for the better as they grew in their faith. It was also fun to catch up with characters from Miller’s previous novels. Carolyn Miller has quickly become a favorite author and I eagerly await the next installment in this wonderful series.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by the author. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
How can a wounded young woman ever trust a too-flirtatious earl with her heart?
With devastating scars in her past, Serena Winthrop is sure no man can be trusted—especially not a man like the too-smooth Viscount Carmichael. His reputation as a flirt and a gambler is everything she despises. And the young artist makes sure that this disreputable heir to an earldom knows of her deep disapproval whenever they encounter one another.
Henry, Lord Carmichael, is perfectly aware of his charms. He’s gambled with plenty of ladies’ hearts as easily as he has with their husbands’ money. But lately he’s wondered if there’s more to life—and if his actions might prove unworthy of an admirable wife such as his friends have found.
When Serena’s guardian asks his best friend to protect his young ward, Henry promises to be on his best behavior and not woo her. But the more he learns of her, the more he realizes she might be his best reason for changing his character.
Then the lady’s art leads her to London infamy. Now Henry must choose between the life mapped out for him as the earl apparent and the love of his life. And Serena’s secret may mean the end of his titled family line.
This second novel in a new series by internationally popular author Carolyn Miller is full of the rich historical detail and evocative writing her readers enjoy, and familiar characters make appearances here. The witty banter will continue to draw in fans of Jane Austen, Sarah Ladd, and Julie Klassen.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. She is married, with four gorgeous children, who all love to read (and write!).
A longtime lover of Regency romance, Carolyn’s novels have won a number of Romance Writers of American (RWA) and American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) contests. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers. Her favourite authors are classics like Jane Austen (of course!), Georgette Heyer, and Agatha Christie, but she also enjoys contemporary authors like Susan May Warren and Becky Wade.
Her stories are fun and witty, yet also deal with real issues, such as dealing with forgiveness, the nature of really loving versus ‘true love’, and other challenges we all face at different times.
Her books include:
Regency Brides: A Legacy of Grace
The Elusive Miss Ellison
The Captivating Lady Charlotte
The Dishonorable Miss DeLancey
Regency Brides: A Promise of Hope
Winning Miss Winthrop
Miss Serena’s Secret
The Making of Mrs. Hale
by admin | Jul 12, 2018 | Books, England, Historical, Romance
MY REVIEW:
Dangerous to Know was not at all what I expected when I agreed to review this book. I assumed it would follow the usual pattern for a Regency romance novel but I was in for quite a surprise. Featuring an emotionally tortured hero who defied most dictates of society, the story was often dark and disturbing. For some reason Lord Brumby was sought after by all the young women, perhaps because of his bad boy tendencies which are often attractive for all the wrong reasons. Isabella Bankmill was one of those young women and although all she recommended many of the obvious signs, she ignored them and soon lived to regret her poor choices.
Dangerous to Know is quite well written and was difficult to put down once I got into it. I did not like Lord Bromby at all and wanted to step into the pages of the book and shake some sense into Isabella. It is a heart-breaking account of what can happen when one person allows another to take precedence over the Lord in their life.
Loosely based on the life of Lord Byron, this book is not for readers looking for a light entertaining romance but is perfect for those looking for a bit more meat in their reading choices.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by Audra Jennings, Publicist. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
“Don’t look at him, dear. He’s dangerous.”
Isabella Bankmill seeks a husband whose character matches her list of requirements. The man must share her faith, but he must also possess a certain je ne sais quoi. The enigmatical Lord Gregory Gordon Bromby—London’s newest literary sensation—certainly possesses the latter. Despite a deformed foot and alarming views on politics and religion, he attracts the ladies in droves.
Haunted by his past and overwhelmed by his newfound celebrity status, Lord Bromby’s obsession with his own doom leads to reckless behavior. When he is stalked by an obsessive aristocrat seeking an elopement, Bromby’s friends urge him to marry a suitable lady as soon as possible. Intrigued by Isabella’s convictions and hoping to avoid further scandal, Bromby proposes to Isabella.
Isabella also receives an offer of marriage from kind-hearted philanthropist, David Beringer—a man equally devoted to his faith—but she only has eyes for Lord Bromby. Blinded by his talent and good looks, Isabella convinces herself that he’s not as dangerous as everyone claims. But when Bromby’s world violently collides with hers, Isabella must decide once and for all who is lord of her life. God or Bromby?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Megan Whitson Lee is an anglophile and a recovering runaway. Over the years, she escaped to England and Australia before finally settling down in the US. These days, she lives a relatively quiet life as a wife, a mom of two greyhounds, an editor for Pelican Book Group, and a high school English teacher. She now escapes by writing novels instead of jumping on planes to foreign countries. Her novel, Captives, won the 2016 Director’s Choice Award and was a finalist for a Selah Award in the women’s contemporary fiction category at Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference.
Megan writes women’s contemporary thrillers and historical fiction featuring characters standing at the crossroads of major life decisions.
Website: www.meganwhitsonlee.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meganwhitsonlee/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeganWhitsonLee
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meganwlee1/
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