Blog Book Tour | feat. #LoveINSPIRED Suspense novelist Sherri Shackelford’s “No Safe Place”

Posted Tuesday, 8 January, 2019 by jorielov HarperCollins Publishers, Love Inspired (imprint) Harlequin, No Safe Place, Sherri Shackelford 4 Comments

Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. I am unsure how many books I’ll review for them as most are offered digitally rather than in print but this happily marks one of the blog tours where I could receive a print book for review purposes. 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.

I received a complimentary copy of “No Safe Place” direct from the author Sherri Shackelford in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why Jorie loves INSPY Romantic Suspense & #LoveInspired:

Last year, in July I had a delightful time participating in my first readathon which not only ENCOURAGED you to read more INSPY novels but it was a bit of a competition as well. It was a lovely concept created by Singing Librarian Books and you can read a bit about why I loved joining the readaathon whilst I also posted a small recap of my adventures. This was building on the fact earlier in [2018] I had encouraged my Mum to start reading the Love Inspired Suspense novels as she needed some down-time from her 12 hour shifts. The stories were portable and just long enough to give her a wicked good read but without the worry of not being able to finish them. In July, you see, it was my turn to sink my teeth into the imprint’s offerings and I started to quickly find #mustread authors! Readathons are brilliant for that – their this concentrated period of time to read select stories of interest to the reader & they give you hours of #bookJOY afterwards!!

We have a shared passion for INSPY stories – short or long in length as we used to belong to the subscription service *Heartsong Presents*. Eventually we’d love to join the subscription service for these lovely novels as the beauty of reading them is having a high octane Suspense driven plot with realistic characters, back-stories & a jarring sense of Contemporary life – all caught inside the folds of an Inspirational (ie. Christian) vein of thought.

I read a wide variety of INSPY Lit, but my favourites are the ones which gently are layered with arcs of faith and the character’s spirituality as I love reading the stories where their faith is shown through their example, life’s choices and the personal growth they undertake through their character’s journey. I had a delightful time in July reading my first batch of #LoveINSPIRED Suspense novels and it is a joy for me to participate on a blog tour which celebrates this wicked sweet line of books my Mum & I love devouring!

It is a true pleasure to be on this blog tour – discovering a #newtomeauthor for this imprint but also, to have the chance to read a Contemporary Suspense whilst reminding myself I need to put more of these in my readerly path this year! Even without the readathon to encourage me forward – which gave me the chance to win some books along the way, I just love reading these kinds of stories! Sharing my love of this imprint & the stories they publish is a wonderful way to ring in the New Year!

No Safe Place
Subtitle: Love Inspired Suspense : January 2019
by Sherri Shackelford
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

He lives by the law.

She’s running for her life.

After forensic accountant Beth Greenwood uncovers a money-laundering scheme tying her company to the organization that murdered her mentor, she knows she needs to go into hiding. With ruthless killers in pursuit, she’s forced to rely on homeland security agent Corbin Ross’s protection—even as his investigation suggests Beth is complicit in embezzlement. Can their uneasy alliance develop into something deeper—and keep them alive?

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Crime Fiction, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, INSPY Realistic Fiction, Suspense

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781335231888

Published by Love INSPIRED

on 31st December, 2018

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Pages: 218

Published by: Love Inspired (@LoveInspiredBks)
an imprint of Harlequin Books (@HarlequinBooks), a subsidiary of HarperCollins

Formats Available: Paperback* and Ebook

This looks like the first release by Shackelford after the Love Inspired: Historical line was discontinued. I was quite upset they disbanded the imprint’s line as they were amongst the stories I loved reading most. It is my hope the Suspense line can carry-on for quite a long while into the future as I share this love of the stories with my Mum.

Converse via: #Contemporary #INSPY, #LoveINSPIRED #Suspense

#RomSusp and #ChrisFic

About Sherri Shackelford

A former naval reservist with a top-secret security clearance, Sherri writes rapid-fire suspense featuring captivating characters and heart-pounding romance. She's authored more than a dozen novels for Harper Collins publishing, including both Historical and Contemporary Suspense.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Posted Tuesday, 8 January, 2019 by jorielov in 21st Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Contemporary Romance, Crime Fiction, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, INSPY Realistic Fiction | Non-Fiction, Modern Day, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction, Suspense

#Harlequin Heartwarming Series Book Review | “The Rancher’s Fake Fiancee” (Book Four: Return of the Blackwell Brothers) by Amy Vastine [of a five book series!]

Posted Monday, 7 January, 2019 by jorielov Amy Vastine, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Return of the Blackwell Brothers, The Rancher's Fake Fiancee 1 Comment

Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquiried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. I am unsure how many books I’ll review for them as most are offered digitally rather than in print but this happily marks one of the blog tours where I could receive a print book for review purposes. 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.

This particular review is slightly different from my regular blog tours and hosting features for Prism Book Tours – as an opportunity came along this Summer to secure a spot on a ‘review tour’ rather than a ‘blog tour’ for a five-book series from Harlequin Heartwarming entitled “Return of the Blackwell Brothers”. This differs as each of the reviewers and book bloggers who are committing to this review tour are posting at different intervals as each of the five novels release which is also co-dependent on the format we are signed on to review.

My reviews will be showcased from August 2018 through January 2019 beginning with the first novel by Carol Ross. Only the first and second novel will showcase the book synopsis, author photograph and her biography as the rest of the tour will only feature the serial information which is also seen on this post. Each of us had the flexibility to choose when we are posting our reviews which was another added bonus to this particular review tour. I elected to post mine on Saturdays, as for the past four years Saturdays have been happily focused on Romances (previously strictly by ChocLit) and I am going to continue to expand this featured part of the week encompassing more Romances by both ChocLit and different publishers. Except for when I needed to post during the week in lieu of Saturday due to health issues or life in general.

I received a complimentary copy of “The Rancher’s Fake Fiancée” direct from the author Amy Vastine in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I continue to feel attached & connected to the Blackwell Brothers:

My first impression of Ben Blackwell was about a close cousin to Rachel’s – he was brass, he was full of himself and he had only put miles in distance between his past and the present; he never had actually taken the time to heal emotionally from how he was wounded. That in of itself was a bit telling – as he had a boiling temper under his persona of a city lawyer who hadn’t the time nor the inclination to deal with a country lawyer such as Rachel. The fact the two were interlinked in their past was just another spur in his boot to be frank!

Rachel had her fair share of hard knocks – the fact she had a louse for an ex was only half the story, her dedication to her daughter Poppy is what shined out of her will not to lose her composure. For Rachel, you could tell she was trying to make the best choices she could – not to focus on the choices she had regrets over nor on the prospects of what a future could yield. Everything was a bit too far away for those kinds of considerations when you have a custody dispute where your wings are clipped and your options are running on empty. You feel for her because she’s a hard-working single Mum who has the unfair disadvantage of having her daughter’s father more concerned with legalities than the actual duties of being a father! Aye.

The vexations mounting on Rachel’s spirits were reaching new layers of angst – especially as you could definitely feel the energy in her unravelling. Here she was trying to hold everything together – carrying the weight of the family’s ranch on her shoulders, inking out an honest trade as a lawyer and juggling her ex in her life to boot! Something had to give and it felt like this old timer ranch hand Henry was past his date of retirement! There is nothing worse than someone who doesn’t see the urgency in what is needed to get done and that is what was vexing Rachel the most. Here she was trying to make do with what she had – work an honest day and still sort out the ranch which hadn’t been properly managed since her father’s death. You had to just give the girl credit for not wanting to take the easier route out and sell.

The more we get to see Rachel and Ben interacting with each other, the more complicated it all feels as these are two best friends who had become jaded in life. It wasn’t entirely their fault, even Ben is being placed in a bad spot by his grandfather Big E (who hasn’t?) and that was leading into a nightmare of a situation involving Rachel as she was trying to defend her own ranch against the rights his family has had all these years. If you looked at it from the outside – they were two individuals caught in the quicksand of bad choices others had made but were now the only people who could attempt to put things back to rights. And, there’s the rub – how do you remain angry at your former best friend?

-quoted from my review of The Rancher’s Redemption

Return of the #BlackwellBrothers:

The Rancher's Twins

The Rancher's Rescue

TheRanchersRedemption

TheRanchersFakeFiancee

The Rancher's Homecoming

The Rancher’s Twins by Carol Ross → August 1st
The Rancher’s Rescue by Cari Lynn Webb → September 1st
The Rancher’s Redemption by Melinda Curtis → October 1st
The Rancher’s Fake Fiancée by Amy Vastine → November 1st
The Rancher’s Homecoming by Anna J. Stewart → December 1st

The Rancher's Fake Fiancee
Subtitle: Return of the Blackwell Brothers
by Amy Vastine
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Heartland Fiction, Ranches & Cowboys, Western Fiction, Western Romance

Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781335633859

Also in this series: Series Spotlight w/ Notes: Return of the Blackwell Brothers, The Rancher's Twins, The Rancher's Rescue, The Rancher's Redemption, The Rancher's Homecoming, Series Spotlight w/ Notes: Return of the Blackwell Brothers

Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)
Pages: 378

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

Converse via: #Contemporary #Romance & #Harlequin

& #ReturnOfTheBlackwellBrothers

About Amy Vastine

Be sure to visit the author online and find out what is she is releasing next!

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | LibraryThing | Secondary Blog

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Posted Monday, 7 January, 2019 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Contemporary Romance, Farm and Ranching on the Frontier, Indie Author, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction, Western Fiction, Western Romance

#SaturdaysAreBookish | feat. @SatBookChat’s 5th January guest author Catherine Tinley | Book Review of “Waltzing with the Earl” (Book One: Chadcombe Marriages series) celebrating this lovely series one year to the day after I first discovered it!

Posted Saturday, 5 January, 2019 by jorielov Catherine Tinley, Chadcombe Marriages series, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Historical, Mills and Boon, Waltzing with the Earl 2 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!

From my shelf: I’ve been wanting to read “Waltzing with the Earl” ever since I first read “The Captain’s Disgraced Lady” in January, 2018 – one year to the day, I am revealling my thoughts about this first novel in the series. I was finally able to bring home a copy of this novel – sadly, not a Mills & Boon edition, though I had tried to gather one, but the Harlequin Historical version. The key difference is the type of binding and print quality between the two novels; as the Harlequin version seems to be more mass market than the Mills & Boon.

I knew as soon as I purchased this novel I would want to talk about reading it – therefore, it is for my own edification and in the interest of sharing my readerly life that I am composing my review on behalf of this novel. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein as I was not obligated to post a review as this was a self-purchase. The author did allow me to use the Press Materials attached to this novel as I interviewed her ahead of this review being shared and will be hosting her during my chat @SatBookChat.

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I am kicking off the New Year with a story I’ve longed to read ever since I first discovered the sequel “The Captain’s Disgraced Lady” – January, 2018! This dashingly romantic Regency has kept my curiosity for a twelvemonth – wherein I am ever so thankful Ms Tinley had contacted me about the third novel’s release “The Makings of a Lady” whilst giving me the chance to interview her before the close of 2018!

Whilst I am showcasing my readerly thoughts on behalf of this novel, I am also eagerly looking forward to speaking with her during #SatBookChat – not just about this trilogy and the third installment but also, her upcoming new series! Finding out she’s keeping herself tucked into the Regency was a delight to my ears – she truly has a knack for the setting, the language and the flair of joyfulness you’re expecting out of a Regency Romance! She also has these lovely layers she knits into the background – keeps the drama cunningly intriguing and gives you a well-rounded lovely read!

Be sure to enjoy my thoughts on behalf of “Waltzing with the Earl” before @SatBookChat begins – therefore, you’ll know a bit about this author & why her stories are giving me wicked good hours of enjoyment to discover! In case this is your first time finding Ms Tinley’s reviews on my blog, let me recapture the joy of when I read “The Captain’s Disgraced Lady” for you:

Harry and Juliana were constantly being placed in each others’ path – from the ball to the estate Charlotte and Adam oversaw for the family. In each instance, you saw how hard they fought to be civil with each other but there was something else, too. For as much pride as he exhumed publicly, he was not as confidence in private settings. Juliana on the other hand held a high prejudice against those of her peerage who wanted something of her she was not willing to give herself – in this, portions of the story brokered the reasons why I love Pride and Prejudice as much as I do. They were each others’ worst enemy and best match overall – they fuelled each others’ passion but they had no idea what to do with the attraction they felt either. It was almost as if they each had tabled the hope for true romance and love to touch their lives and now found it was at their feet; how to tackle that reality was unknown to each of them in turn!

And, this was only the beginning of how Ms Tinley layered her story as she would continue to knit out their back-stories – of finding out what truly made each of them hide portions of themselves from each other. Each step along the way, Harry, Juliana and Juliana’s mother were not just humbled by the raw emotions they had to greet as hidden truths surfaced but they had to decide if they would allow themselves to be emotionally vulnerable to each other if they were to be honest with each other in their relationships and connections. It is one thing to be self-assured about one’s own approach to living but when certain secrets seek to destroy the fragility of how you connect to others, it becomes a make or break choice against your own heart and the time you have to make amends with those you love.

What was most compelling to me is how everything knits together in the end – how Harry’s guilty conscience stemmed back to war as explored through his PTSD and the nightmares therein which exposed a truth he was trying to suppress; how Juliana’s own origin of birth and the emotional collapse of her mother were interlinked in ways none of us could have suspected whilst through everything interconnecting to these story-lines remained an interior glimpse of how one family linked to Chadcombe found inner strength, common bonds and an integrity of family fortitude to stand against society and supposition to live true to their accounts come what may. It’s the kind of family you can rally behind because they don’t allow others to dictate their path nor do they allow society the edge they feel they can assert on others through rumours and innuendo. This cleverly crafted Historical Romance is full of the depth and beauty of the romantic sagas I love to become immersed inside – where each installment draws you closer to the heart of the family and the dramatic way in which their lives are set behind history.

-quoted from my review of The Captain’s Disgraced Lady

Waltzing with the Earl
by Catherine Tinley
Source: Purchased | Personal Library

A wallflower's time to shine…

The Earl of Shalford needs to marry into money to save his estate. Wealthy and beautiful Henrietta Buxted should be the perfect candidate. So why does his eye keep wandering to her quiet cousin, Charlotte Wyncroft?

Charlotte watches Henrietta's games of courtship with wry amusement. That is, until a stolen dance reveals a hidden side to the earl. Penniless Charlotte knows she's far from a suitable match, yet, in Adam's arms, she can dream of the happily-ever-after she's always wanted!

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Romance Fiction

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-0373369492

Also by this author: The Captain's Disgraced Lady, Interview (Catherine Tinley) about the Chadcombe Marriage Trilogy

Also in this series: The Captain's Disgraced Lady

Published by Harlequin Books, Harlequin Historical

on 21st February, 2017

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Pages: 288

Published By: Mills & Boon (@MillsandBoon)
an imprint of HarperCollins UK + Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.

Chadcombe Marriage series:

Waltzing with the Earl | Book One

The Captain’s Disgraced Lady | Book Two | (see also Review)

The Makings of a Lady | Book Three

Formats Available: Mills & Boon Historical paperback, Harlequin Historical paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #HistRom or #MillsAndBoon #HarlequinHistorical and #Regency

About Catherine Tinley

Catherine Tinley writes witty, heartwarming Regency love stories. She has loved reading and writing since childhood, and has a particular fondness for love, romance, and happy endings. After a career encompassing speech and language therapy, NHS management, maternity campaigning and being President of a charity, she now works for Sure Start. She lives in Ireland with her husband, children, and dog.

Website | Facebook | LibraryThing | FantasticFiction

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Posted Saturday, 5 January, 2019 by jorielov in #SaturdaysAreBookish, 19th Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Castles & Estates, Debut Author, Debut Novel, England, Family Drama, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Inheritance & Identity, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Multi-Generational Saga, Napoleonic War era, Romance Fiction, Siblings, The London Season, the Regency era

#NewYearsEve Author Interview | Discussing Historical Romance with Catherine Tinley whose an upcoming guest via @SatBookChat (5th January, 2019)

Posted Monday, 31 December, 2018 by jorielov Catherine Tinley, Chadcombe Marriages trilogy, Harlequin Books, Mills and Boon, The Captain's Disgraced Lady, The Makings of a Lady, Waltzing with the Earl 4 Comments

Happy New Year’s Eve, dear hearts!

I have several surprises to share with you thoughout the next two days, as I had a bit of a scheduling wrinklement happening behind my blog – I was down for the count for three weeks battling through a severe Winter virus, which affected the frequency and posting schedule of what I wanted to share before we head into a New Year of [2019] !! Therefore, I’ll be sorting through those posts on New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day – releasing them after I’ve finished writing & editing them, whilst happily cheering on a new chapter in all our lives!

I am starting with a conversation I had the joy of having with Catherine Tinley – who happily alerted me about the third release in her Chadcombe Marriages trilogy!! If you might recall, right at the start of 2018 I had the chance to read a novel by Ms Tinley for the first time – marking not just my first Historical Romance of hers but of Mills & Boon! If you are a new reader and visitor to Jorie Loves A Story, I encourage you to read why this first novel of hers had such a strong impact on me as a reader – as it wasn’t the first Chadcombe novel, it was the second!

Uniquely, I reviewed “The Captain’s Disgraced Lady” on the 5th of January, 2018 – a full year later, I am reviewing “Waltzing with the Earl” and hosting Ms Tinley during #SatBookChat (@SatBookChat) for our first New Year’s chat of 2019!

I have three lovely guests scheduled throughout January – wherein I shall be reading stories of either Women’s Fiction &/or Romance whilst hosting the authors on Saturday mornings @ 11a NYC | 4p UK. This kicks-off a full year of features on Jorie Loves A Story part of my new feature which I debuted this Autumn: #SaturdaysAreBookish. I will be showcasing all genres within these two branches of literature whilst seeing where my literary wanderings take me as the seasons & months progress forward. I only have one confirmation for February and look forward to the serendipitousness of who becomes our guest and where those real-time conversations will ultimately lead as we discuss the stories they inspire!

“Waltzing with the Earl” was a novel I thought I had run out of time to purchase, as it was a novel I dearly wanted to read ever since I read the sequel. I was thankful to find one of the last remaining ‘new copies’ available to order and when it finally arrived – the JOY it gave me to place it next to “The Captain’s Disgraced Lady” knows no bounds! As anyone who reads serial fiction knows how lovely it is to have a series nearly completed to read!

I am unsure when I shall be bringing the final installment of the trilogy home – but when I do, you can be assured, I’ll be chattering about reading it!!! For now, as a segue into our new #SatBookChat schedule of authors and the new stories I’ll be featuring during #SaturdaysAreBookish – let us take a moment to become acquainted with Ms Tinley!!

As a preview of why I appreciate her Historical Romance style of narrative – here is a quotation from my review from January, 2018:

I love how Ms Tinley has paced this novel – of how she chose to reveal their behaviour quirks and they try to hold back a bit of themselves at the same time. Rather than reveal a lot about the setting in the beginning, she found a way to break-down the introductions to the main characters by placing them in a setting which would befit close quarters and companionable space – where they would have to sit and converse amongst each other for a specific period of time before departing company. In this, you get to see where their confidences lie and where their insecurities start to bubble to the surface; you also see them caught off-guard either by being outwitted or simply heard something unexpected they hadn’t thought they would hear at all. In this, it’s quite a refreshing way to entreat into a story because your stranded with the characters, seeing how they react to each other and what can be observed through their interactions. If anything, it’s a great study in human behaviour!

I truly read this novel in one sitting – much to my delight! I was happily surprised to find this did not follow the same pattern as Harlequin novels on this side of the Pond; in fact, it had it’s own voice, style and disclosure like I would expect from any Historical Romance; something which surprised me as Harlequin Historicals (as I know them here) have the tendency to follow suit after each other; most Harlequin stories have a ‘trademark’ so to speak and what I found wicked refreshing is this felt wholly original of Ms Tinley without the ‘signature Harlequin mark’ on it!!

Perhaps I am a Mills & Boon girl!?

Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate Harlequin for what Harlequin provides — but ooh. There was something wicked lovely about this author’s spin on this particular story-line… I was so glued to her words, especially the turns of phrases she used and the ways in which she revealled the character’s truer thoughts about one another. You get privy to both the action of the scenes but also, what each lead character is contemplating privately; the balance between the two was delightful but also, it was how it was spaced out and evenly divided to where you never felt one was sacrificed for the other.

I know one thing is for certain – I must hunt down which online book shoppe has the Mills & Boon edition of Waltzing with the Earl and hopefully it shall be the same which will carry the third novel where Olivia’s story is known! The reason I love the elements inside this novel is because they bring back the Regency of my youth with the Regency I know as an adult – the kind of stories I gravitate towards but also, it speaks to the voice I seek out in these kinds of Regencies. Not every writer who writes Regency Romance has this style nor this comprehension of how to curate this kind of voice for the historic period in question. Thereby, the best part of finding this novel #unputdownable was how wicked happy I was to be reading it!

This conversation is a prelude to the 5th – be sure to list your Questions for Ms Tinley in the comment threads – as I can use those in our live discussion as well as have the author know you’ve left messages behind for her on my blog. Be sure to mark your calendars for the 5th and join us as we discuss #HistRom and this lovely trilogy! We’ll be focusing on the first & third novel – as I’ll be reviewing the first and the third is already available for readers to enjoy!

A wallflower’s time to shine…

The Earl of Shalford needs to marry into money to save his estate. Wealthy and beautiful Henrietta Buxted should be the perfect candidate. So why does his eye keep wandering to her quiet cousin, Charlotte Wyncroft?

Charlotte watches Henrietta’s games of courtship with wry amusement. That is, until a stolen dance reveals a hidden side to the earl. Penniless Charlotte knows she’s far from a suitable match, yet, in Adam’s arms, she can dream of the happily-ever-after she’s always wanted!

Come back early on Saturday, 5th January, 2019 to read my thoughts on behalf of this novel before we discuss this series during #SatBookChat!

I have fond memories of discovering your Historical Romance style earlier in [2018] when I had the pleasure of reading “The Captain’s Disgraced Lady” – which is the second novel in your Chadcombe Marriages series. Focusing a bit on behalf of “Waltzing with the Earl” – how did you want to set the stage for the series within this first story and which of the characters would readers happily find are threading through the rest of the series?

Tinley responds: Thanks – I’m always so happy to connect with a reader who likes my books! The Chadcombe Marriages trilogy focuses on the Fanton family – two brothers and a younger sister. The eldest, Adam, has inherited the Earldom and takes his responsibilities very seriously. In Waltzing with the Earl, he is on the lookout for a suitable wife and a decent dowry as part of the deal. This will help him get the Chadcombe estate back on an even keel financially. He invites two families to visit his country estate in order to help him decide whether to propose marriage to Miss Buxted or Miss Etherington. However it is Miss Buxted’s cousin, the quiet, intelligent Charlotte, who attracts his attention. Waltzing is a Cinderella story, about how sometimes you really should follow your heart, not your head.

Book 2, The Captain’s Disgraced Lady, focuses on Adam’s brother Harry, and what happens when he encounters Charlotte’s best friend, the fierce and passionate Juliana. The book goes from Chadcombe to London, then on to Brussels and the battlefield at Waterloo and includes drama and intrigue as well as romance.

The final book in the series is out now. It’s called The Makings of a Lady, and focuses on Lady Olivia, Adam & Harry’s younger sister. She is tired of being treated as a child, and longs to build her own life – possibly by getting married and leaving her childhood home. Just as she finally meets a man who interests her – the dashing George Manning – her first love Captain Jem Ford reappears after four years. Lady Olivia finds herself in danger and needs to work out who to trust. Read More

Posted Monday, 31 December, 2018 by jorielov in #SaturdaysAreBookish, 19th Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Book Spotlight, Bookish Films, Inspiring Video Related to Content, Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Reader Submitted Author Interview, the Regency era

Blog Book Tour | “Mistress of Legend” (Guinevere’s Tale, No. 3) by Nicole Evelina #HistFantasy

Posted Monday, 31 December, 2018 by jorielov Guinevere's Tale, Lawson Gartner Publishing, Mistress of Legend, Nicole Evelina 2 Comments

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! I received a complimentary copy of “Mistress of Legend” direct from the author Nicole Evelina in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I appreciate reading Nicole Evelina’s Guinevere Tale series:

Evelina has taken us into the heart of Guinevere and her girlhood peers, as we walk inside those hours she spent on Avalon honing her talent and learning about the world from a point of view not concurrent to her parents or ancestral home. Evelina re-develops the image of Guinevere and the back-story therein, allowing us the grace to re-examine what we think we know of the characters being brought back to life inside this trilogy. It’s a curious undertaking, because although it’s rooted in a canonical history of literature, mythos and lore; there is a new attempt at re-developing a story whose depths are grounded by the character’s will of heart and spirit of passage through their growing years.

The complexity and the authentic voice inter-combine to bring a scope of realism to Guinevere and to the back-story of her life. It’s a wholly original complex origin story where even if you are as under-read as I am about Camelot and Arthurian Legend, you can curl inside this novel due to how well-told Evelina evoked it’s heart out of the pages she lent us to read!

Mythology, fable and lore can feel disconnected at times to an actuary world if the conception of their perimeters are not fully fleshed out and brought to such a high level of vision by their writers. This is where Nicole Evelina excels as her vision of the story is portrayed in such a convicting manner as to etch your heart directly into the lifeblood of her characters; you feel everything they are sensing and appreciate the direct connection in order to best understand their world. Definitely a harbinger of emotionally writ historical fiction centred on known persons who have inspired many but of whom feel more three dimensional inside this story as they are presented with equal fragility as their contemporary peerage.

The research Evelina put into this work of a trilogy is evidenced by how she chose to tell the story, first through direct sight of Guinevere approaching hard choices and managing her emotions in the thick of it and secondly, through enlivening the background with such scope of depth as to embrace the mystical and mythology of how Camelot exists. She even kept the continuity alive by bringing together the origins of those who call Avalon home with their familial heritages and beliefs; such as I celebrated in seeing Guinevere’s Rhiannon and Lugh arriving in time for her ascension to Priestess of Avalon. The fundamentals of religion and ancestry are inter-woven to the core of who Guinevere is and what she stood for thereby granting the reader a more grounded vision of the woman Guinevere became latter in life.

– as disclosed on my review of Daughter of Destiny, Guinevere’s Tale No.1

Mistress of Legend
Subtitle: Guinevere's Tale Book Three
by Nicole Evelina
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Jenny Quinlan (JennyQ)
Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

Legend says Guinevere spent her final days in penance in a convent, but that is far from the truth.

Having escaped death at the stake, Guinevere longs to live a peaceful life in Brittany with Lancelot, but the threat of Arthur’s wrath quickly separates the lovers. Guinevere finds herself back in Camelot, but it is not the peaceful capital she once knew; the loyalty of the people is divided over Arthur’s role in her death sentence. When war draws Arthur away from Britain, Mordred is named acting king. With Morgan at his side and a Saxon in his bed, Mordred’s thirst for power becomes his undoing and the cause of Guinevere’s greatest heartache.

In the wake of the deadly battle that leaves the country in civil war, Guinevere’s power as the former queen is sought by everyone who seeks to ascend the throne. Heartbroken and refusing to take sides in the conflict, she flees north to her mother’s Votadini homeland, where she is at long last reunited with Lancelot. The quiet life she desires is just beginning when warring tribal factions once again thrust her into an unexpected position of power. Now charged with ending an invasion that could bring an end to the Votadini tribe and put the whole island in the hands of the Saxons, Guinevere must draw upon decades of experience to try to save the people she loves and is sworn to protect.

Genres: After Canons, Arthurian Legend, Feminist Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Historical-Fantasy, Women's Fiction

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-0996763257

Also by this author: Daughter of Destiny, Nicole Evelina (Guest Post: Camelot's Queen), Camelot's Queen, Been Searching For You, Madame Presidentess

Also in this series: Daughter of Destiny, Camelot's Queen

Published by Lawson Gartner Publishing

on 15th September, 2018

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 407

Now available: A box set containing Daughter of Destiny,
Camelot’s Queen, and Mistress of Legend

Guinevere is remembered for her role as King Arthur’s wife and for her adulterous affair with Lancelot. But there is so much more to her story…

Priestess. Queen. Warrior. Experience the world of King Arthur through Guinevere’s eyes as she matures from a young priestess who never dreamed of becoming queen to the stalwart defender of a nation and a mistress whose sin would go down in history. Throughout it all, Guinevere she faces threats from both foreign powers and within her own court that lead her to place her very life on the line to protect the dream of Camelot and save her people.

This compendium of Nicole Evelina’s two-time Book of the Year award-winning trilogy – Daughter of Destiny, Camelot’s Queen, and Mistress of Legend – gives fresh life to an age-old tale by adding historical context and emotional depth. Spanning more than three decades, it presents Guinevere as an equal to the famous men she is remembered for loving, while providing context for her controversial decisions and visiting little-known aspects of her life before and after her marriage to King Arthur.

Book No. 1 Daughter of Destiny (See Also Review)

Book No. 2 Camelot’s Queen (See Also Review)

Book No. 3 Mistress of the Legend

About Nicole Evelina

Nicole Evelina is an award-winning historical fiction and romantic comedy writer. Her current novel, Been Searching for You, a romantic comedy, won the 2015 Romance Writers of America (RWA) Great Expectations and Golden Rose contests.

She also writes historical fiction. Her debut novel, Daughter of Destiny, the first book of an Arthurian legend trilogy that tells Guinevere’s life story from her point of view, took first place in the legend/legacy category of the 2015 Chatelaine Awards for Women’s Fiction/Romance, and was short-listed for the Chaucer Award for Historical Fiction. Later this year (2016), she will release Madame Presidentess (July 25), a historical novel about Victoria Woodhull, America's first female Presidential candidate, which was the first place winner in the Women’s US History category of the 2015 Chaucer Awards for Historical Fiction.

Nicole is one of only six authors who completed a week-long writing intensive taught by #1 New York Times bestselling author Deborah Harkness. Nicole has traveled to England twice to research the Guinevere’s Tale trilogy, where she consulted with internationally acclaimed author and historian Geoffrey Ashe, as well as Arthurian/Glastonbury expert Jaime George, the man who helped Marion Zimmer Bradley research The Mists of Avalon.

Nicole is a member of and book reviewer for the The Historical Novel Society, and Sirens (a group supporting female fantasy authors), as well as a member of the Historical Writers of America, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Romance Writers of America, the St. Louis Writer’s Guild, Women Writing the West, Broad Universe (promoting women in fantasy, science fiction and horror), Alliance of Independent Authors and the Independent Book Publishers Association.

Author biography was updated July 2016.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2018 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Monday, 31 December, 2018 by jorielov in 6th Century, After the Canon, Apothecary, Arthurian Legend, Avalon, Blog Tour Host, Britian, British Literature, Content Note, Early Middle Ages [the Dark Ages] (1001-1300), Earthen Magic, Earthen Spirituality, Excessive Violence in Literature, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Fly in the Ointment, Folklore and Mythology, Herbalist, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, History, Indie Author, Inspired By Author OR Book, Medical Fiction, Mental Health, Mythological Societies, Parapsychological Gifts, Passionate Researcher, PTSD, Re-Told Tales, Realistic Fiction, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Supernatural Fiction, Superstitions & Old World Beliefs, Trauma | Abuse & Recovery, Warfare & Power Realignment, Women's Fiction, Women's Health, Women's Rights, Writing Style & Voice