Many of you older readers out there may remember the smash bestseller The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye. I read the very lengthy (though flawed) novel and enjoyed it, but for me the true blessing that resulted from its success was the reissue of Kaye’s earlier novels in their entirety, in particular Shadow of the…
Tamsin Harte put me into a reading trance, but not a good one. I found myself reading along until I was jolted out of my reverie only to find that pages had past and not much had happened. The time period for Tamsin Harte is very, very hard to pin down. It takes place in…
When a reader opens a history textbook, it is expected to be rather flat and unemotional. I expect more from a historical novel. This book was packed full of interesting historical facts and detail, but the delivery left much to be desired. I learned some new things, but did not enjoy myself along the way….
In Amsterdam during the 1630s, fortunes were made and lost speculating on tulips. While comparisons are often made between the “tulip crash” of 1637 and the stock market’s plunge in 1929, reading a fictional account of the craze was quite informative. But while I loved the unique setting and enjoyed all the factoids I learned,…
Reading Dawn on a Distant Shore was an interesting experience. It was a difficult book for me to get into, but once I finally did, I couldn’t put it down. The book opens with Elizabeth Bonner delivering twins while her husband, Nathaniel, walks through a snowstorm to get to her. Shortly after the birth, Nathaniel…
The Love Knot is a story for readers who really want to sink their teeth into the medieval period and experience everything, almost as if they were there. Although Catrin and Oliver’s love story is well told and with a HEA, the reader should be at least inclined to also enjoying historical fiction and not…
I grew up in the 1960s when big panoramic historical novels by people like Thomas Costain, Kenneth Roberts, and Hervy Allen were popular. In those days it seemed that almost everybody’s dad was a WWII vet with an interest in history. Lots of these books had compelling love stories though no one would have dared…
A Veiled Journey is not a romance. It contains enough gripping, nail biting action to make any suspense addict happy but at its core, it is a deadly serious story of an American woman living in modern day Saudi Arabia. Whatever the genre, A Veiled Journey is a courageous book. I could not put it…
I have to admit, before I read The Lovers: The Legend of Trystan and Yseult I knew nothing about the legend of Trystan and Yseult (perhaps better known as Tristan and Isolde). After I read the book, I still knew nothing about the legend of Trystan and Yseult, because this meandering book isn’t actually about…
Before you begin reading Too Deep for Tears, make sure you have a lot of time ahead of you, because once you have started you will not be able to lay aside this wonderful and compelling book for a long time. It is truly an unforgettable reading experience, so lean back, enjoy and let Kathryn…