Rebecca Hill
Princess Charlotte should have had a life of glittering balls and possibly sitting on throne of England. Her life was one tragedy after another. As she was first the product of an unhappy marriage, she was pulled between her parents, both of whom wanted to control her, and yet, they found that her will was just as stubborn as theirs was. She turned down one marriage, to make a match of her own choosing, and found some happiness there, yet the happiness was not to last.
As she prepared to give birth to her first child, she was on top of the world, planning a future that was hers. Yet tragedy was waiting in the wings...
This book was amazing! I knew of the story of Princess Charlotte, but I learned so much while reading this book! The ins and outs, the ups and downs, it is all played out on these pages - and leaves you with a picture of her life that will have you shaking your head. Her character was strong, and yet she found herself pulled between to parents, both of whom didn't really love her as they should. She was a pawn, and useful to the games that they were playing, not the daughter that she could have been if they had given her the chance.
Grab this book, it is well worth your time to read! You will not be sorry at all!
Shadows: Sapphire Smyth And The Shadow Five is the first installment in the series by R.J. Furness. I am going to give you my thoughts, and a brief rundown of the book, as shown on Goodreads. You can determine for yourself if you will read it or not...
Goodreads Synopsis:
Have you ever seen something you can't explain? Did it vanish as fast as it appeared?
Perhaps that thing you saw was lurking in the shadows, and you caught a glimpse of it before it went back into hiding.
There's a good chance, of course, that the thing you saw simply emerged from your imagination.
Or maybe, just maybe, it didn't...
Sapphire Smyth is no stranger to rejection. When she was only a baby, her father abandoned her after her mother died. Since then, Sapphire has never felt like she belonged anywhere, or with anyone. To make things worse, her foster carers have now turned their back on her - on her eighteenth birthday. After living with them throughout her childhood, Sapphire has to find a new home. Is it any wonder she finds it hard to trust people?
Abandoned by the people she called family, Sapphire is alone and searching for some meaning in her life. Except that meaning has already come looking for her. When she discovers mysterious creatures lurking in the shadows, Sapphire soon realizes that her fate is unlike anything she had ever imagined.
My Review of Shadows: Sapphire Smyth and The Shadow Five
Star rating: 3/5
To be honest, I am not entirely sure how I feel about this book. There was a lot of assumed knowledge of the background, and quite a few unanswered questions. Are these questions going to be answered in the upcoming books? No one knows! Sapphire Smyth loses her mother at a very young age and then is abandoned by her father. She has one friend, Ben, but she is about to learn there are things that he knows about her that she has no clue even exist.
On her 18th birthday, she is given a bracelet that belonged to her mother, and when she puts it on, strange things begin to happen. Shadow figures seem to be lurking in the shadows, and there is no explanation for it at all. And then there is the fox...
This is not a long book, so it will not take you more than a couple of hours to read through. I would suggest if you read it, have the other books on standby to dive into. Perhaps we will get some answers that were left dangling in book one!
Hannibal was one of the greatest generals of his time. However, as the wars with the Romans are raging, there are other battles happening, and these could make or break the coming army.
Caros fought with Hannibal, earning himself a wicked scar and a bit of a legend around his name. But when he is accused of a murder that he did not commit, he and his small band of warriors must do whatever they can to clear his name - and stay alive in the process.
This book was a good read. I will admit, at the beginning of the book, I felt a little lost as it jumped from scene to scene with no real clear cut path between it (but that is the editor in me talking). The book lover in me fell into the story and managed to piece together what was happening, and then move forward. There were not many places where the story lagged, and it seemed to come together nicely.
The story of Caros, although fictional, brings back to life some of the lesser talked about conflicts on Hannibal's path and brings in some characters that you want to follow. You will rejoice with their triumphs and feel the frustration when they are halted.
Fair warning, there are a few places within the book that could be a trigger for some people, but overall, well done and enjoyable!
The Civil War between Stephen and Matilda has long captivated historians and readers alike. Cousins fighting over who the crown truly belonged to - and the issues of a woman being on the throne - makes for captivating reading.
This book is no different, and you are going to get sucked in from the beginning! Get ready for the best game of thrones you will ever read!
On the death of King Henry I, the throne should have passed to Matilda, his daughter. While she was not the first choice, she was what the king had left after the White Ship disaster. However, her cousin Stephen swooped in and claimed the crown for himself, setting off decades of a civil war that threatened to tear England apart. While England was not truly ready for a woman to rule, Stephen might not have been the best choice - he was rather soft in several areas (although thank goodness, because we got William Marshall through his softness).
The years of war did not lessen the duties that Matilda had as a wife and mother, and her sons grew up under the banners of war, both from their mother and father. While this could have raged indefinitely, the final resolution was brought about after the death of Stephen's son Eustace (who if we are being completely honest, would have been a horrible king), and put Henry, Duke of Normandy on the throne.
I cannot say enough good things about this book! While I know the ins and outs of this Civil War, Matthew Lewis brought it around in a few ways that I had not considered before. I found myself going back and forth, and comparing different theories through his writing.
Absolutely loved it - and I will be adding this book to my student approved reading list for future semesters!
Hauntingly beautiful....
When Rachel inherits a home in England, she is not sure what to think. She has often wondered about her family, and the elusive house seems to hold more mysteries than answers. As Rachel travels to England to learn more about her family and past, she is swept into the harsh past and the dangers that the house holds, but there seems to be more lurking than just unanswered questions...
Pros:
What a beautiful story! I sat and read this in one sitting, and could not put it down! Alice, Laura, Rachel - their stories intertwine, and yet there is one piece that everyone seems to overlook! Oh my! A great read! Get this one on your to read list now!
Cons:
There were several unanswered questions. Who was talking to the twins? Why did they act they way they did? These were just a few of the questions that I had over the book - there seemed to be some major drops.
As boys keep disappearing, there is one person who knows what happened, while no one believes him. He has worked for years to forget, but the nightmares keep returning. He is determined to put a stop to it once and for all.
As Mason works with one of the local police officers and the town librarian, he finds the mystery runs much deeper - and much longer, than anyone would have cared to admit.
This was a hard read in some places, but a good book overall!
Kate is stuck in a boring job, and she is longing to do something different. There is something markedly different about her though, she can see ghosts. There is a trait in her family that females are able to discern certain things through a mirror, and she is the last one that can see it - her mother does not have the ability to do so.
As she heads out for the weekend, on assignment to find out more about what is going on a the Highmount house, she is not sure what she is going to find.
As the weekend progresses, the mystery only deepens. There is a seance, where they are attempting to contact family members who are feared dead from the war, but the responses are not quite what they appear. As she and Donovan continue their investigation, there body count also begins to rise. Will they make it off the island alive?
This was a great read! I absolutely LOVED IT! I was captivated from the first pages, and had to sit and read it through in one sitting! A must read for this fall!
Thank you Simon and Schuster for the electronic copy for a unbiased review
When Maggie's family decides to move to Kentucke, there are a lot of unknowns. As they move across country, they are wary of Indian attacks, and other issues that can beset travelers. Leading their group is Daniel Boone, and they make their way to Boonesboro.
There, Maggie and several other girls are taken captive, but her captor is not from the same tribe as the others. As they move in a different direction, Maggie begins to give up hope that she will ever be rescued. When she makes it back to Boonesboro eventually, she finds that her family is gone and she feels as though she may never see them again. She leaves, going back with the young Indian brave that helped her get home. As they grow, they marry and start a family. But Maggie still wants to see her family...
Oh, this book was amazing! I cannot wait for book two! The story was fabulous and I was drawn into Maggie's story, in such a way that I was disappointed when the book ended.
Karl and his family are navigating WWII the best that they can. As the war rages in Germany, they are finding shortages everywhere, and the world they knew turned upside down. As Hitler and the Nazi party push the war to greater heights, the people of Germany are told they must do whatever is necessary to win, even if that means signing up young teens as soldiers.
When Karl and his brother Hans are taken to become part of the SS, they are not sure if either of them will see home again. For a while they manage to stay together, but after their surrender, they are separated. Hans heads off to unknown territory, and Karl must use his wits to stay alive.
After he and a friend manage to elude their Russian captors, they work their way back toward their last location, and then start working toward the town that a farmers wife told them about. As they surrender to the Americans, little do they realize that they are about to witness the full horror of what the war in Germany has wrought, and the many horrific stories that they are about to encounter is only the beginning..
This was an interesting story. It really took me a bit to get into the book, and I had to put it down, and come back to it at another time. Eye opening and well done.
Amelia Peabody is back for one final adventure, and it is beyond fabulous!
When Amelia and her husband head back to Egypt, she is shocked when a man drops dead in her bathroom. Not knowing why this person was trying to kill her, she and Emerson head on to their dig site, while trying to solve the mystery.
While there, they encounter their usual round of suspects, Sethos is back but in a much different role, and the Father of Curses still knows how to command an audience...
I had to read this in one sitting, it was a fabulous book, and I absolutely loved it!
While this book was not finished by Elizabeth Peters, due to her death, Joan Hess did a great job in completing the manuscript, and doing her best to follow the writing style of Ms. Peters. While I could detect subtle instances in where they differed, it was an enjoyable read, and I am greatly going to miss the escapades of the Emerson family.
When Lady Emily and her husband Colin encounter a fresh body in the ruins of Pompeii, they are a little taken aback. But when the police refuse to investigate the crime, they take it on themselves. But there are a few wrenches about to be thrown into their midst, one being Colin's daughter, one that he never knew existed.
While she hates Lady Emily on sight, things are starting to get a little uncomfortable for many, as more secrets are uncovered during their investigation, and more than one person suspected of being the killer!
What a great read! This was fun, and kept my attention throughout! I read it in one sitting! Perfect for a cold afternoon curled on the couch!
Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an ARC copy for a fair an unbiased review
If you thought you knew the story of Tombstone, then you need to step back and rethink everything!
I read through this book in one sitting! It was fabulous! The amount of detail, backstories, history, and timelines all come together to paint a vivid portrait of the incidents and factors that led up to the famous shootout. The Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, and more are given extensive viewage here, and you can get a deeper look into motives, thought processes and more of each of the main players (and some of the minor players).
Now that I am finished with the book, I am going to sit back and turn on John Wayne's “Chisum” (yes, this features in the book, not a random thought) as I was not aware before now that it was based on a real person, real story, and so much more - (like, for real, I have a masters in history, and this never came up!? I am rather disappointed as most of my professors knew of my love of John Wayne...)
Get this on your to read list now, pre-order it, and prepare to have your mind blown!
Step back in time through the pages of a diary, carrying forward a voice that has been lost to us. The diary, published by her sister carries us back to World War II and the thoughts and feelings of a young woman, before her life was ended by the Germans.
Powerful and interesting, this is a book that will stay with you for a long while.
A curse that has been passed down for over 500 years, and one woman determined to end it all....
The house was left in her mother in laws will, but as they begin the work to fix it up, something seems to be stirring in the house, and no one is able to figure out what. When things begin to happen, and her marriage starts to fall apart, Laura will do whatever it takes to keep her family, and stay alive....
This was an interesting book, but there are a few graphic scenes which some need to be cautious about. While there are some parts that are fast paced and suck you in, there were a few sections of the book that seemed to drag, and feel as though the book was lagging.
What if a dead pharaoh, Tutankhamen came to you for help in finding his lost queen? What would you do?
Rosa knows she must help, but there are going to be dangers along the way, and what if something happens to her? Would she ever be allowed to go home again?
I really enjoyed this book! It was fun and a quick read!
This book is a gold mine of information! If you love history, and are interested in archaeology, then this is a must read! I loved every single page! From cultures that we are familiar with, to some that are much less known, Brian Fagan takes us on a journey from the beginning of archaeology to modern techniques.
Absolutely engaging and informative!