#SaturdaysAreBookish Book Review | “The Fire of Winter” by D.K. Marley a unique spin re-delving into the canon of “MacBeth”!

Posted Saturday, 10 August, 2019 by jorielov D.K. Marley, Macbeth, Shakespeare's Moon series, The Fire of Winter, White Rabbit Publishing, William Shakespeare 0 Comments

After launching this lovely new feature of mine during [Autumn, 2018] it is a pleasure of joy to continue to bring #SaturdaysAreBookish as a compliment focus of my Twitter chat @SatBookChat. If you see the chat icon at the top of my blog (header bar) you can click over to visit with us. The complimentary showcases on my blog will reflect the diversity of stories, authors and publishers I would be featuring on the chat itself. As at the root and heart of the chat are the stories I am reading which compliment the conversations.

#SaturdaysAreBookish throughout [2019] will be featuring the Romance & Women’s Fiction authors I am discovering to read across genre and point of interest. Every Saturday will feature a different author who writes either Romance or Women’s Fiction – the stories I am reading might simply inspire the topics in the forthcoming chats or they might be directly connected to the current guest author.

I am excited about where new guests and new stories will lay down the foundation of inspiring the topics, the conversations and the bookish recommendations towards promoting Romance & Women’s Fiction. Here’s a lovely New Year full of new authors and their stories to celebrate!

Acquired Book By:

I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! HFVBTs is one of the very first touring companies I started working with as a 1st Year Book Blogger – uniting my love and passion with Historical Fiction and the lovely sub-genres inside which I love devouring.

It has been a wicked fantastical journey into the heart of the historic past, wherein I’ve been blessed truly by discovering new timescapes, new living realities of the persons who once lived (ie. Biographical Historical Fiction) inasmuch as itched my healthy appetite for Cosy Historical Mysteries! If there is a #HistRom out there it is generally a beloved favourite and I love soaking into a wicked wonderful work of Historical Fiction where you feel the beauty of the historic world, the depth of the characters and the joyfulness in which the historical novelists brought everything to light in such a lovingly diverse palette of portraiture of the eras we become time travellers through their stories.

I received a complimentary of “The Fire of Winter” direct from the author D.K. Marley, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

On why this story appealled to me & how I arrived inside the chapters:

I have a short history involving MacBeth – as it was the play of choice for seniors who took a year to study Shakespeare whilst I was in high school whilst it was also the subject of an after canon re-telling audiobook I previously reviewed. I didn’t get to study the Bard in school but I did get to help the seniors pass their exams as a sophomore who only read one full page layout of the play and intuited enough from that layout to take them through their exams. The conversation that led afterwards with their teacher is one of my fondest memories as she couldn’t quite sort out how they all came to the same conclusions and yet didn’t have an entry point in their defended statements of how they arrived at those answers. Smiles. Sometimes school can surprise you and beat the droll-drums.

Similarly, to my readings of “Sign of the White Foal” – I had plans to do a sequencing of reading ahead of diving into “The Fire of Winter”: I had planned to read two Non-Fiction releases – Wisdom of the Middle Ages & Wisdom of the Renaissance – whilst I wanted to dig back into “The Lost Queen” as well – to have this lovely immersion experience in cross-relating stories and subjects of interest. *However!* – instead my week was wrecked by plumbers, a migraine & more life woes than a girl can shake a stick at in apt frustration! Be as it were – I had to reschedule my review & the interview I am hosting with this author in order to give myself a bit of time to rest & cover the energies I needed to properly read the novel.

When you haven’t a way of reaching your books & your blog, you just have to hope and pray the hours you have after the chaos recedes allows you enough serenity to ‘catch up’ and find the blissitude you had before the chaos overtook your readerly hours! At least, this is how I re-directed my heart and mind as I read “The Fire of Winter” in the early morning hours of Saturday as a chase-up to posting my review before lunch was ready to serve.

The Fire of Winter
by D.K. Marley
Source: Publisher via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

She is known as Lady Macbeth.
What leads her down the path of murder?
What secrets fire her destiny?

Gruah, granddaughter of King Cìnéad III of the Royal Clan Alpin, marries two men in less than six months, one she loves and one she hates; one in secret, the other arranged by the High King of Scotland. At the age of eighteen, she lays her palm upon the ancient stone of Scone and sees her destiny as Queen of Scotland, and she vows to do whatever necessary to see her true love, Macbeth macFindlaech, beside her on the throne.

Amid the fiery times and heated onslaughts from Denmark and England, as the rule of Scotland hangs in the balance, Gruah seeks to win the throne and bring revenge upon the monsters of her childhood, no matter the cost or amount of blood tainting her own hands; yet, an unexpected meeting with the King called the Confessor causes her to question her bloody path and doubt her once blazing pagan faith. Will she find redemption or has the blood of her past fire-branded her soul?

The story weaves the play by William Shakespeare with the actual history of Macbeth and his Queen in 11th-century Scotland.

“…a woman’s story at a winter’s fire…”
(Macbeth, Act III, Scene IV)

Genres: After Canons, Classical Literature, Historical Fiction, Historical-Fantasy, Re-telling &/or Sequel

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1724914965

Also by this author: The Fire of Winter (Interview)

Published by White Rabbit Publishing

on 1st June, 2019

Format: POD | Print On Demand Paperback

Pages: 355

Published by: White Rabbit Publishing

Converse via: #HistoricalFiction, #HistFic or #HistNov
as well as #Shakespearean and #MacBeth

Available Formats: Hardcover, Trade paperback, Audiobook and Ebook

About D.K. Marley

D. K. Marley is a historical fiction writer specializing in Shakespearean themes. Her grandmother, an English Literature teacher, gave her a volume of Shakespeare’s plays when she was eleven, inspiring DK to delve further into the rich Elizabethan language.

Eleven years ago she began the research leading to the publication of her first novel “Blood and Ink,” an epic tale of lost dreams, spurned love, jealousy and deception in Tudor England as the two men, William Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe, fight for one name and the famous works now known as the Shakespeare Folio.

She is an avid Shakespearean / Marlowan, a member of the Marlowe Society, the Shakespeare Fellowship and a signer of the Declaration of Intent for the Shakespeare Authorship Debate. She has traveled to England three times for intensive research and debate workshops and is a graduate of the intense training workshop “The Writer’s Retreat Workshop” founded by Gary Provost and hosted by Jason Sitzes. She lives in Georgia with her husband and a Scottish Terriers named Maggie and Buster.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Posted Saturday, 10 August, 2019 by jorielov in #SaturdaysAreBookish, 11th Century, Action & Adventure Fiction, After the Canon, Anglo-Saxon History, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Book for University Study, Bookish Discussions, Britian, Cosy Horror, Earthen Magic, Earthen Spirituality, England, Good vs. Evil, Heroic Bloodshed, Heroic Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Indie Author, Inspired By Author OR Book, Inspired by Stories, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Literature for Boys, Men's Fiction, Military Fiction, Re-Told Tales, Realistic Fiction, Self-Published Author, Spin-Off Authors, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Superstitions & Old World Beliefs, Sword & Scorcery, Vulgarity in Literature, Warfare & Power Realignment

Author Interview | Discussing the “behind-the-book” secrets of “The Undertaker’s Assistant” by Amanda Skenandore

Posted Friday, 9 August, 2019 by jorielov Amanda Skenandore, Kensington Books, Kensington Publishing Corp., The Undertaker's Assistant 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

As you might have seen recently, one of the stories I was looking forward to reading was entitled “The Undertaker’s Assistant” which deals with the realities of working in the mortuary arts in the 19th Century. Except for whichever reason I had trouble connecting into the story despite finding a lot of lovely compliments to give the author as she truly brought Reconstruction America to life alongside the hidden histories of mortuary sciences.

Here is an excerpt from what I shared earlier on the blog tour:

Initially, when I first started reading the story, I felt hooked inside it – as it had such a clever rhythm and delivery; settling you immediately into Effie’s shoes and giving you a firm understanding of the surroundings she was about to embrace as the newest embalmer to work in New Orleans. Even her back-story was quite remarkable as she was taken in by a soldier and taught a trade she could use in the field as much as she could lateron in life as a profession. She was unique amongst her peers and she had a skill many would flinch to even study much less master.

Sometimes the hardest person to convince of your confidence is yourself – yet, Effie didn’t let people sway her that easily from her confident demeanor. Even if the words they spoke towards her were questioning and unkind, she refuted their sting by merely stating facts and keeping herself on the other side of their snark by not reacting to it directly. Effie is an unusual sort of woman – at the time of the Restoration (the years shortly after the Civil War) wherein most freedwomen might seek for work in industries without a taboo attached to them, Effie found she has a passionate calling to the mortuary arts. She’s an embalmer and bent on convincing her new employer that she not only has the brains for the job but she has the passion to do the job right.

I will say, Skenandore doesn’t gloss over the grittier bits of New Orleans during the Restoration – considering the conditions of the streets, the living quarters and how there was a disparaging difference in how people lived on different streets throughout the city’s different quarters and neighbourhoods – paints a strong picture towards what you could expect to find if you walked these streets yourself during this period of time. She also took us closer inside Effie’s own life – rather than expanding too far afield into New Orleans or even the timescape of when this book is set. There are background passages and the overlays of the political scene concurrent to the toils of how Effie must find her own sense of purpose as an embalmer in a world not yet prepared to treat her as an equal.

It was this focus on the mortuary arts which inspired me to direct the conversation I had with her about her lead character Effie & the research she put into the novel itself. I found her responses wicked fascinating and I truly loved delving ‘behind-the-book’ to see how it was written & what inspired her choices in bringing this particular story to life.

I might not have connected with Effie in the way I had hoped but I was intrigued by the mortuary focus of the novel and how this in turn, brought representation to Historical Fiction about a part of everyday life that is not oft featured. I am hoping my readers & the visitors on the blog tour will find this as much of an intriguing subject to discuss as we did ourselves.

Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa & enjoy the conversation!

The Undertaker's Assistant
by Amanda Skenandore

Set during Reconstruction-era New Orleans, and with an extraordinary and unforgettable heroine at its heart, The Undertaker’s Assistant is a powerful story of human resilience–and of the unlikely bonds that hold fast even in our darkest moments.

“The dead can’t hurt you. Only the living can.”Effie Jones, a former slave who escaped to the Union side as a child, knows the truth of her words. Taken in by an army surgeon and his wife during the War, she learned to read and write, to tolerate the sight of blood and broken bodies–and to forget what is too painful to bear. Now a young freedwoman, she has returned south to New Orleans and earns her living as an embalmer, her steady hand and skillful incisions compensating for her white employer’s shortcomings.

Tall and serious, Effie keeps her distance from the other girls in her boarding house, holding tight to the satisfaction she finds in her work. But despite her reticence, two encounters–with a charismatic state legislator named Samson Greene, and a beautiful young Creole, Adeline–introduce her to new worlds of protests and activism, of soirees and social ambition. Effie decides to seek out the past she has blocked from her memory and try to trace her kin. As her hopes are tested by betrayal, and New Orleans grapples with violence and growing racial turmoil, Effie faces loss and heartache, but also a chance to finally find her place.

Genres: Feminist Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781496713681

Also by this author: The Undertaker's Assistant

Published by Kensington Books

on 30th July, 2019

Published by: Kensington Books (@KensingtonBooks)

Converse via: #HistoricalFiction, #HistFic or #HistNov
as well as #TheUndertakersAssistant and #HFVBTBlogTours

Available Formats: Trade paperback and Ebook

Posted Friday, 9 August, 2019 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Reader Submitted Q&A

#Harlequin Heartwarming Book Review | “Single Dad to the Rescue” (City by the Bay Stories, Book Four) by Cari Lynn Webb

Posted Wednesday, 7 August, 2019 by jorielov Cari Lynn Webb, City by the Bay Stories, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Single Dad to the Rescue 3 Comments

Acquired Book By: I’ve been hosting for Prism Book Tours since September of 2017 – having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. As I enquired about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. Oft-times you’ll find Prism Book Tours alighting on my blog through the series of guest features and spotlights with notes I’ll be hosting on behalf of their authors when I’m not showcasing book reviews on behalf of Harlequin Heartwarming which has become my second favourite imprint of Harlequin next to my beloved #LoveINSPIRED Suspense. I am also keenly happy PRISM hosts a variety of Indie Authors and INSPY Fiction novelists.

I received a complimentary copy of “Single Dad to the Rescue” direct from the author Cari Lynn Webb in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I previously enjoyed reading Cari Lynn Webb’s style of Contemporary Romance:

As we shift through this installment – we gather more questions than answers about Big E – he’s this elusive character threading in the background of the series, even though I realised in the first story he’s the catalyst of the changes in the Blackwell brothers lives, the hardest part is finding rationalisation. I had a sneaking feeling Grace’s parents were going to be understanding when it came time for her and Ethan to finally have their heart-to-heart conversation. The way she is herself you can tell a bit about how she was raised and the kind of parents she had. It would have felt much more awkward if this had been written in a very stereotypical way; I was so thankful Webb took this route instead!

OOh and just as I had hoped – we get more insight into Big E himself right at the ending of the novel – I am always full of big smiles from reading this series! The ways in which the characters are drawing closer together, re-affirming their own life goals and dreams whilst the balance of one family’s future is still slipping in and out of the safety zone – there is an overwhelming uplift to read the Blackwell Brothers series! You come for the heartache, the family drama and the budding relationships but what stays with you the most is the enduring nature of the characters who populate the series! This is there story – where each new installment is a delightful new piece of the puzzle which knits out their legacies!

It doesn’t take long to find your feet in the second installment – you get swept up in finding out more about Ethan and longing for Grace to find her voice whilst feeling worried over Sarah Ashley for how she’s choosing to overcome her own shortcomings! This story has what you were hoping to find and a bit more as well – for me especially, I was thankful the chaotic circumstances were not soon unwound and solved; it makes it more realistic to have the ranch in the throes of disaster still than trying to put a band-aid on a bad situation or worse, resolve the whole affair too quickly and make it feel less realistic!

-quoted from my review of The Rancher’s Rescue
(Book Two: Return of the Blackwell Brothers series)

I must admit, reading through the Return of the Blackwell Brothers at the end of 2018 and at the beginning of 2019 were amongst my favourite reads! You truly felt anchoured into the series, even though this was a continuity wherein multiple authors are adding-in their unique stamp of voice on the series itself, you can happily reside in one of their novels before moving forward through the series finding the characters are right where you left them! I loved how the pacing of the series worked per each author who tackled their individual installments but also how you felt that this was a larger story outside of their own spins on the characters, too. For me, the series evolved into this singular experience of residing with the Blackwell Brothers as they navigated life round Big E and what the changes in their lives would mean for their futures. I ache for a sequel series – as I felt there were a bit too many loose threads at the conclusion of the series this time round. Maybe if we’re lucky the authors might get back together and pen a second half of the story – at least, it is a happy thought to entertain!

During those readings, I first came to discover the Contemporary styling of Ms Webb. I had intended to ILL (inter-library loan) the first three novels of this series as I had for previously read Harlequin Heartwarming series this year (ie. Seasons of Alaska) – however, my local library is being affected by changes at the state level for their inter-library loan services. It used to be rather simplistic where each of us could seek out our own materials, place a hold for five requests and just await their arrivals and/or departures before requesting new materials. I have no idea what it will be like to place requests in the future but for now, I wasn’t able to request too many as I had put in my requests for the INSPY readathon I was undertaking in July.

Aside from that quirky hiccup in the gathering of Harlequin Heartwarming stories, I also had a week and a weekend full of plumbing angst! I wasn’t able to get to my books and although I remembered requesting one of the Harlequin authors I’m reviewing this Summer, I’ve misplaced the book due to the ensuing chaos of having severe plumbing issues and sadly, even if I had remembered where I put the book itself, I couldn’t have retrieved it in time for this blog tour or the one it belongs too. I honestly can’t remember if I requested Ava’s Prize or another title!

This is something I’ll sort out this week but the loss of the inter-library loans is what grieves my heart as I was enjoying back-reading the Heartwarming series. I found a secondhand book shoppe online where I can purchase them in the future but for now, it looks like I’ll just have to enjoy the ones coming in and the few titles a second local library has on their shelves without being able to binge read them. Not that I mind – the Heartwarming line is one of the few where I can jump in and out of sequences within their series and still find a wicked good romance to snuggle into whilst gaining the gist of the series in-progress!!

I am just thankful to be back in my library and able to read again – despite the evolving chaos and the fact everything is still a bit every which way to Sunday; the books are accessible again and I am blissfully happy to be reading them!

And, per my readings of the Blackwell Brothers? I have become truly curious about the stories outside the series the authors are penning! This is my second time to feature one of them this year and I couldn’t be more thrilled and humbled for the opportunity!

Single Dad to the Rescue
Subtitle: City by the Bay Stories
by Cari Lynn Webb
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

He offered her help
And he found love

Her home destroyed by a wildfire, Brooke Ellis finds temporary shelter at the home of paramedic Dan Sawyer and his young son, Ben. With the addition of Brooke and her lively fur family, Dan finds his carefully planned routine delightfully turned upside down. And his carefully guarded heart daring to trust in love again. When his ex-wife suddenly reappears, will it be Brooke to the rescue?

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1335510785

Also by this author: The Rancher's Rescue, In Love by Christmas, Her Surprise Engagement, Three Makes A Family, The Texas SEAL's Surprise, Trusting the Rancher with Christmas

Also in this series: In Love by Christmas, Her Surprise Engagement

Published by Harlequin Heartwarming

on 6th August, 2019

Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)

Pages: 384

Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks) | imprint of Harlequin

the City by the Bay Stories:

The Charm Offensive (Book One)

The Doctor’s Recovery (Book Two)

Ava’s Prize (Book Three)

Single Dad to the Rescue (Book Four)

In Love by Christmas (Book Five) ← forthcoming 3rd December, 2019!

Converse via: #Contemporary #Romance & #Harlequin

& #CityByTheBayStories

About Cari Lynn Webb

Cari Lynn Webb lives in South Carolina with her husband, daughters and assorted four-legged family members. She's been blessed to see the power of true love in her grandparent's 70 year marriage and her parent's marriage of over 50 years. She knows love isn't always sweet and perfect, it can be challenging, complicated and risky. But she believes happily-ever-afters are worth fighting for. She loves to connect with readers. Visit her at her website.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

#2019NewReleaseChallenge

Posted Wednesday, 7 August, 2019 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Contemporary Romance, Indie Author, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction

#PubDay Book Spotlight | “The Gossamer Mage” by Julie E. Czerneda

Posted Tuesday, 6 August, 2019 by jorielov DAW Books, Julie E. Czerneda, Penguin Group (USA), The Gossamer Mage 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: For three years (2015-2017) I happily participated in three blog tours celebrating Ms Czerneda’s epic series: The Clan Chronicles (#futurespasttour, #timeandstarstour & #againstthedark respectively) wherein I was blessed to be able to read the series in the order of the Clan. I started with Stratification, followed by the Trade Pact trilogy and finally found my heart so tethered to the love story between Jason & Sira, I was left emotionally wrecked and uplifted by the ending (within the pages of “To Guard Against the Dark”). You can read through my Archive of #whoaretheclan ruminative thoughts per each story I quite literally found to be #unputdownable!

At the same time, I had the joy of hosting Ms Czerneda on several occassions where I featured her in an interview, a guest post about the Web Shifters series & a final good-bye essay about the past twenty years of being with the Clan.

In [2016] I received the first two novels of the Night Edge series “A Turn of Light” & “A Play of Shadow”. However, the timing wasn’t right for me – it was too soon after my father’s stroke and in the ensuing year, due to different reasons (mostly health related as I have chronic migraines), I decided to wait to conclude my readings of the Clan before attempting to re-emerge into her Fantasy series. This Summer I knew the time had come for me to settle into an epic Fantasy series and see where this new journey with Ms Czerneda’s characters would take me. Ahead of this new journey of mine – I elected to read her stand-alone new release “The Gossamer Mage” which is a work of Dark Fantasy releasing on my 6th blog birthday, the 6th of August!

I received a complimentary copy of ‘The Gossamer Mage’ in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for my thoughts shared herein.

What drew my eye into wanting to read “The Gossamer Mage”:

I read the premise behind Mage and goodness! What a plotting of intrigue! I like how the mages are a bit in the dark about what is actually going on with the Goddess and how their world is affected by the truths left unknown to them. The cover art is also lovely. I had a feeling this might be a darker Fantasy story – however, there were certain aspects of the Clan which ran quite dark as well. I survived the Clan and I have confidence I can handle a darker Fantasy novel from you. I like your instincts for telling stories and I look forward to taking this journey. – initial thoughts

When I first learnt of the premise you’ll notice how as I was considering the subject & the story within the heart of “The Gossamer Mage” I was recognising that despite appearances, I was already well aware of how this particular author can take her reader into the darker realms of her Speculative stories; thereby, I was with better confidence in believing I could not just handle reading this novel but I would appreciate discovering how she treated this world with her style of pulling us through a world which will leave us ruminatively reflective.

The day the novel released into book world seeking readers is the very same day I am celebrating my 6th Blog Birthday here on Jorie Loves A Story which felt rather fittingly brilliant if you ask me! What better way to anchour your personal celebrations than by ruminating over a beloved author and reading their latest release? I was honoured to be considered for the blog tour of this latest release as although it was meant to become my *third!* reading of Ms Czerneda’s Fantasy stories – it became my first.

The Gossamer Mage
by Ms Julie E. Czerneda, Julie E. Czerneda
Source: Direct from Publisher

From an Aurora Award-winning author comes a new fantasy epic
in which one mage must stand against a Deathless Goddess who controls all magic.

Only in Tananen do people worship a single deity: the Deathless Goddess. Only in this small, forbidden realm are there those haunted by words of no language known to woman or man. The words are Her Gift, and they summon magic. Mage scribes learn to write Her words as intentions: spells to make beasts or plants, designed to any purpose. If an intention is flawed, what the mage creates is a gossamer: a magical creature as wild and free as it is costly for the mage. For Her Gift comes at a steep price. Each successful intention ages a mage until they dare no more. But her magic demands to be used; the Deathless Goddess will take her fee, and mages will die. To end this terrible toll, the greatest mage in Tananen vows to find and destroy Her. He has yet to learn She is all that protects Tananen from what waits outside. And all that keeps magic alive.

Genres: Dark Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9780756408909

Also by this author: Reap the Wild Wind, Riders of the Storm, Rift in the Sky, A Thousand Words for Stranger, Ties of Power, To Trade the Stars, This Gulf of Time and Stars, Julie E. Czerneda Interview (#futurespasttour), The Gate to Futures Past, Guest Post (Web Shifters series) by Julie E. Czerneda, Guest Post: Julie E. Czerneda (Clan Chronicles Finale Tour), To Guard Against the Dark

Published by DAW Books

on 6th August, 2019

Format: Paperback ARC

Pages: 416

Published By: DAW Books (@DAWBooks)
an imprint of Penguin Group USA

Book prologue was published as the novella
“The Gossamer Mage: Intended Words” in 2008, Baen’s Universe.

Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #gossamermage + #DarkFantasy

About Ms Julie E. Czerneda

Julie E. Czerneda is the author of the Species Imperative trilogy, the Night's Edge fantasy duology, and the Stratification novels. She is a multiple Aurora Award winner, and was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award and the Philip K. Dick Award. Julie lives with her husband and two children in the lake country of central Ontario, under skies so clear they could take seeing the Milky Way for granted, but never do.

Photo Credit: Roger Czerneda Photography

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

#2019NewReleaseChallenge

Posted Tuesday, 6 August, 2019 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight, Canadian Literature, Content Note, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Fly in the Ointment

Blog Book Tour | “Sign of the White Foal” (Book One: Arthur of the Cymry Trilogy) by Chris Thorndycroft

Posted Friday, 2 August, 2019 by jorielov Arthur of the Cymry Trilogy, Chris Thorndycroft, Guinevere's Tale, Sebastian's Way (The Pathfinder), Self Published, Sign of the White Foal 2 Comments

Acquired Book By:

I received a complimentary of “Sign of the White Foal” direct from the author Chris Thorndycroft, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

On why this story appealled to me & how I arrived inside the chapters:

You might remember how consumed I was by the story-telling and historical narrative arc within the Guinevere Tales trilogy by Nicole Evelina? This was the first chance I had to pull myself into the folds of a well-thought out exploration of the Arthurian myth & canon – wherein, I found a wicked intense focus on Guinevere herself, the foundations of Avalon’s history and the curious ways a writer can pull you through a Historical Fantasy series wherein you’re not just captivated by their research for these fabled characters and heroes of the ancient times in our timeline but you feel more anchoured to a part of history which isn’t oft discussed or explored.

As I had such an emotional connection to Evelina’s trilogy, I waited until after I had concluded reading it before I began to read more stories set in, round or next door to her time periods. There is another Historical trilogy I am re-reading late Summer, early Autumn this year – as the first novel released last year; “The Lost Queen” runs parallel to my interests in this timescape. Thus, when I saw “Sign of the White Foal” was touring, I was equally delighted and excited to see how this author would treat the subject and the persons he’s populated within his story.

It is lovely how for each author who stimulates a historical portal to the past, there are others who can pick up from whence we left off with one author and continue our quest to move in and out of periods of history which fascinate our imaginations.

I had planned to read two Non-Fiction releases before sharing my review for “Sign of the White Foal” – Wisdom of the Middle Ages & Wisdom of the Renaissance – whilst I wanted to dig back into “The Lost Queen” as well – to have this lovely immersion experience in cross-relating stories and subjects of interest. *However!* – instead my week was wrecked by plumbers, a migraine & more life woes than a girl can shake a stick at in apt frustration! Thereby, my review which I had thought was due on Friday, was in effect, meant to arrive on Thursday but it wasn’t til Thursday night I honestly could curl back inside “Sign of the White Foal” and bring this review to my readers!

When you haven’t a way of reaching your books & your blog, you just have to hope and pray the hours you have after the chaos recedes allows you enough serenity to ‘catch up’ and find the blissitude you had before the chaos overtook your readerly hours! At least, this is how I re-directed my heart and mind as I dipped back into reading this late Thursday night and early Friday morning!

Sign of the White Foal
Subtitle: Book One in the Arthur of the Cymry Trilogy
by Chris Thorndycroft
Source: Publisher via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

A generation after Hengest and Horsa carved out a kingdom in the east, a hero of the Britons rises in the west…

480 A.D. The sons of Cunedag have ruled Venedotia for fifty years but the chief of them – the Pendraig – is now dying. His sons Cadwallon and Owain must fight to retain their birthright from their envious cousins. As civil war consumes Venedotia, Arthur – a young warrior and bastard son of the Pendraig – is sent on a perilous quest that will determine the fate of the kingdom.

The Morgens; nine priestesses of the Mother Goddess have found the cauldron of rebirth – a symbol of otherworldly power – and have allied themselves with the enemy. Arthur and six companions are dispatched to the mysterious island of Ynys Mon to steal the cauldron and break the power of the Morgens. Along the way they run into the formidable Guenhuifar whose family have been stewards of Ynys Mon for generations. They need her help. The trouble is, Guenhuifar despises Arthur’s family and all they stand for…

Based on the earliest Arthurian legends, Sign of the White Foal is a rip-roaring adventure of Celtic myth and real history set in the ruins of post-Roman Britain.

Genres: After Canons, Arthurian Legend, Historical Fiction, Re-telling &/or Sequel

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ISBN: 9781099698132

Also by this author: Sign of the White Foal (Interview)

Also in this series: Sign of the White Foal (Interview)

Published by Self Published

on 1st July, 2019

Format: POD | Print On Demand Paperback

Pages: 311

This novel is self-published

Converse via: #HistoricalFiction, #HistFic or #HistNov
as well as #Avalon and #Arthurian

Available Formats: Trade paperback and Ebook

About Chris Thorndycroft

Chris Thorndycroft is a British writer of historical fiction, horror and fantasy. His early short stories appeared in magazines and anthologies such as Dark Moon Digest and American Nightmare. His first novel under his own name was A Brother’s Oath; the first book in the Hengest and Horsa Trilogy. He also writes under the pseudonym P. J. Thorndyke.

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