Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

+Blog Book Tour+ Inscription by H.H. Miller

Posted Friday, 18 April, 2014 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

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Inscription by H.H. Miller

Self-Published: H.H. Miller () 9 January, 2014
Official Author Websites:  Facebook | Twitter
Converse via: #InscriptionTour
Available Formats: Trade Paperback and E-Book
Page Count: 278

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Inscription” virtual book tour through Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the author H.H. Miller, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Book Synopsis:

The year is 1851 and the Grand Guard is ravaging Mainland. Arrests. Floggings. Swift executions. Twenty-year-old Caris McKay, the beautiful heiress of Oakside Manor, is sent to live with distant relations until the danger has passed. It’s no refuge, however, as Lady Granville and her scheming son plot to get their hands on Caris’s inheritance with treachery and deceit.

Soon, alarming news arrives that the ruthless Captain James Maldoro has seized Oakside and imprisoned Caris’s beloved uncle. And now he’s after her.

Caris escapes with the help of Tom Granville, the enigmatic silver-eyed heir of Thornbridge. But when a cryptic note about a hidden fortune launches them on a perilous journey across Mainland, Caris and Tom must rely on wits, courage, and their growing love for each other if they hope to survive.

Filled with adventure, intrigue, and romance, Inscription will transport you to a historically fictional world you’ll never want to leave.

                                                                    

Author Biography:

H.H. Miller

H. H. Miller is the author of the novel Inscription, a historically fictional romantic adventure. In real life, she’s content director at Stoke Strategy, a brand strategy firm in Seattle, Washington, where she specializes in transforming what some might call “boring” technology jargon into compelling, readable, memorable stories. Her favorite escape is Manzanita, Oregon – a place of beautiful beaches, wild storms, chilly nights around the bonfire (even in July), and time to enjoy life with her husband and three children.

For more information please visit H.H. Miller’s Facebook Page.

On how I enjoy beginning a novel:

I am not sure the rituals other readers go through when they start to delve into a novel, but for me, I like to take a bit of time coaxing myself into the narrative hidden beneath the pages of the covers! I like to note the subtle definitive descriptions of the story on either the inside flaps of hardcovers or the back-covers of soft-cover editions. I like to take a nod and a pause to read the Acknowledgements, the Dedications, the Author’s Foreword, as well as see if the writer included a Table of Contents. This last habit is a bit remiss these days, but thankfully Inscription is the exception! Quite a lot can be found about a writer and their story prior to consumption, and what I appreciate the most are all the little hidden bits you can wander around a book and find! For instance, Miller likes to leave a bit of a trace of humour and intellectual curiosity for those who like me, are always a bit on a search for interesting words and turns of phrase. To include a scientific word I had not yet seen but knew was a nibbling of a clue of sorts was the kind of folly I cherish! For you see, a quick whirl of the One Look Dictionary Search I came to denote that the word ‘lepidopterist‘ is the particular person of interest who appreciates moths & butterflies!

My Review of Inscription:

The ominous beginning of Inscription left me murmuring about the atmospheric way a novel can transport us into that humming void of forethought and regret once we begin an adventure. Miller has the instinctive nature of writing a level of intrigue into her narrative that propels you forward, whilst yearning to see what shall happen next at the same time. Her deft skill is in giving such a vivid display of well-bodied characters set amongst the backdrop of turmoil. She eludes to the devastatingly brutal eclipse of a military state of fear all the while noting the charm of an Uncle’s love for his niece. Maddox and Caris are two characters you want to stand behind, due to the fullness of their heart and character.

I personally love to see authors knit in a proper dose of moxie into young female leads. To break the barriers and reveal the unique few who lived boldly in the 1800s. Pioneers so to speak who were rebels with the cause towards equality and the freedom to choose your own destiny as a woman. Care and attention was taken to have a flushed out back-story to weave together the in-between bits of Caris’s past. I love the broad and layered strokes Miller etches into the story-line.  She makes reading Inscription a delight for the imagination. I truly celebrated her choice in giving her female lead the advantage over William Granville who is far more rake than gentleman! Even denoting this, Miller envelopes him with a dash of intrigue as he foolishly cannot make the leap as to how any woman can dismiss his advances. And in that bit of self-conceit, I always mirthfully feel a twitching in knowing an electric battle of the wills shall ensue!

Caris blessedly held her head and her carriage to an astute level of calm when facing down an adversary as thick and slick as William Granville. Her disdain for his reckless behaviour and his ill-wont attitude of elite privilege was never lost on her either. In never giving him the upper hand he craved she was slowly and calculating nibbing away at his ego. A trait that served her well as the danger started to heighten and her more immediate concerns turnt to survival.

The extenuating circumstances which led Caris to Thornbridge (relatives by marriage not blood) and away from her Uncle’s estate at Oakside Manor would reappear in her life to lead her back to the starting block. The entirety of her life was properly out of balance and sync with her heart, as she was running from danger from the moment she first left her Uncle. Danger has a cheeky way of catching up with you, as though a mark of its arrival is attached to you and only when you finally unravel the full scope of the deceit can you firmly step outside its reach.

Every inch of detail is set to the rhythm of events as they are unfolding for Caris; Tom William’s long-lost brother who returned home with quite the barrage of ill-justice attached to his heels. A motley crew of two seeking to find redemption and revenge on behalf of their circumstances and situations, they travelled together towards Oakside to see what if anything had become of Caris’s home. Whilst they travelled, I felt Caris was shedding her childhood skin a bit with each click of the horses hooves. She had become aware of her independence at Thornbridge surely, yet on the road back home she started to settle into her skin and realise this for herself. Part of reading her story felt like a woman on the verge of owning her own life, emerging out of a period of respite and entering into her future a bit stronger despite the grief of her adventure.

Inscription is told in three parts, much like a play on the stage. For all the entrances and exits, you find yourself so emerged into the story you struggle to re-adjust your eyes to the reality around you. It is a story enriched by courage, faith, love, and the determined grit to overcome all odds which become stacked against you. It is not for the faint of heart in some passages, as it does ruminate about the floggings (lashings by a cat-o-nine-tails) and the grisly vigilante murder by a lawman consumed by madness; but at the core of Inscription is the plight of one woman (Caris) and one bloke (Tom) finding their true destiny. And, that dear hearts is far worth the anguish of a few passages of turmoil! I devoured this text in one sitting as I could not bear to wait to know the outcome!

On Ms. Miller’s writing style :

Ms. Miller’s writing style reminds me distinctively of Jane Austen & Charlotte Bronté as she takes the best of what I love of both women’s style of the craft. She has picked up on the subtle grace of Austen’s observational narrative and of the beguiling atmosphere of Bronte. She has writ such an alarmingly brilliant drama that each page turn meant digging deeper into the suspense of the Granville family! In this, the joy of reading Inscription truly lay as it was within the layered threads of the Granville tapestry which beheld the best bits of intrigue!

Of course, one of the most startling revelations was in finding that William was a mere apple fallen too close to the tree! His mother Lady Granville was the spitting image of Danielle’s step-mother in Ever After! Where pride fell strong towards marital wealth and how the coffers of a family were paramount towards all other pursuits. As if the notion that wealth would bring true happiness rather than the gift of love providing true joy. Miller lets her readers think hard on the thematic she explores whilst giving a well-written story to be savoured.

I cannot wait to see what Ms. Miller writes next. She is one of the self-published authors who is re-defining the bar of excellence in self-publishing. Even the copy of the final draft was free of errors from my eyes!

This book review is courtesy of:

Inscription Book Tour via HFVBT

Check out my upcoming bookish events to see what I will be hosting next for

Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours - HFVBTand mark your calendars!

Have you ever opened a book and begun to read what was inside its pages completely unaware of the story which would unfold? Only to realise that the story you are reading is writ in such a unique fashion, that your heart doesn’t want the pages to end? You want more of either this story or more titles by the author to consume next? This is how I felt as I read Inscription! It is even hard to describe *exactly* the kind of novel it is as at the heart of the story its a romance between two young twenty-somethings caught up in the middle of events that are beyond their control. Their harrowing journey is both towards each other and away from the danger others seek to see befall them. I could not take my eyes off the pages, as I loved how Miller elected to tell this story. Which book have you recently read which mirrored my own thoughts on this story?

{SOURCES:  Inscription Book Cover, synopsis, tour badge, and HFVBT badge were provided by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and were used by permission. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Friday, 18 April, 2014 by jorielov in 19th Century, Action & Adventure Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Clever Turns of Phrase, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Feminine Heroism, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Life Shift, Passionate Researcher, Psychological Suspense, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Self-Published Author, Suspense, Treasure Hunt, Unexpected Inheritance, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage

+Blog Book Tour+ The Tenor by Peter Danish

Posted Friday, 4 April, 2014 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

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The Tenor by Peter Danish

Published By: Pegasus Books () 28 February 2014
Official Author Websites:  Site | Facebook | Twitter | Danish Media Group
Converse via: #TheTenorVirtualTour & #MariaCallas
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, and E-Book
Page Count: 350

Acquired By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “The Tenor” virtual book tour through Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy the book direct from the author Peter Danish, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read:

I was always keen to read & watch Captain Corelli’s Mandolin as it spoke to me at the time the film was being released. I never did get the proper chance to explore its story, but as I read about this book being hinged to history as it was lived I decided to take the chance now to read a powerful & evoking story of courage! I’m an appreciator of opera as well, and I find it rather keen that a singer was saved by one man’s selfless act to protect her!

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Book Synopsis:

The Tenor is a sweeping tale of historical fiction in the style of Ann Patchett’s “Bel Canto” and De Burniere’s “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.” It swiftly moves from Pino Vaggi’s youth in pre-war Italy, to his coming of age as a soldier in war-torn Greece, before ending in a shattering surprise finale at Maria Callas’ historic final performance ever on the stage of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House in 1965. It is based loosely on the stories and anecdotes that I learned from several of Maria Callas’ personal friends and from nearly a dozen trips to Italy and Greece to research the subject.

Pino Vaggi is not like the other children in Italy in 1930. While they play soccer, he listens to opera. By age ten, he is already a child prodigy, an opera singing sensation on the fast track to a major international career. On the eve of his debut, WWII breaks out. The theater is closed. The season is cancelled. Pino is drafted. He is stationed in war-torn Athens, where he hears and ultimately falls in love with another child prodigy, the young Maria Callas. There is one major problem: she is the enemy.

However, as famine devastates Athens, (a famine created by the diversion of humanitarian aid meant for the Greeks to the Russian front to feed the German Army) the artist in Pino can’t fathom the thought of the greatest singer the world will ever know perishing, especially if he is in a position to prevent it. With a firing squad in the balance, he repeatedly risks his own life to protect and feed the young girl and her family. In the process, his love for her deepens, until something tragic happens – something with devastating consequences that blows the young lovers apart.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Author Biography:

Peter Danish

Peter Danish is the Classical Music Editor in Chief for BWWClassical.com, the classic music site for BroadwayWorld.com,, covering and reviewing the classical music performance in and around New York City and the greater New York Area. A proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, he is the playwright of the play: “Gods, Guns and Greed,” as well as the new musical: “The Flying Dutchman.” His writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Ad Age, Ad Week and Media Week Magazines.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Artistically Determined:

One thing I have always known about artists, is that they are artistically determined to make it on their own terms. Pino Vaggi in the story of The Tenor, is clearly one of those self-confident musical artists whose bold grit in succeeding in singing opera is what thrust him forward whilst his family was a bit less than certain of his choice. Coming from a family who supported my choices, whether I was pursuing art, science, or writing it’s hard to understand why other parents wouldn’t help their children reach for their own dreams. To pursue the gifts they were bestowed and to give them the courage to find their own voice and path. The hardest road an artist has is finding the ability to believe in the impossible because the mark of any artist is how willing they are to stay on their path whilst their road becomes muddled and difficult.

I appreciated the honesty of Pino’s character being painted as a young artist whose misguided brassy personality oft lended him to rows with his family but is his grace of voice gave him purpose from the darkness. Growing up in the age of looming war, the fact that Pino could keep a grip on his artistic soul is impressive.

My Review of The Tenor:

Danish has the ability to ease you into the story-line of The Tenor, by giving you a reason to hone in on Pino! First through recollections of his aromatic memories inter-related to chestnuts, and then, gradually as we start to see the underpinnings of his passion for opera emerge into place! I appreciated the intimate portrait of how a young Pino fell in love with the beauty of opera whilst caught up in a French rendition of Romeo & Juliet! His unexpected emotional connection to the voices and music was a pure joy to read. Music is evoking on such deep levels, each time we individually listen to opera or another form of music, a part of us is transformed; altered for the performance in which we took in. I remember vividly how I felt whilst listening to orchestrations and symphonies as a child, how the music washed over me and inside me at the same time. You become a part of where the musicians are leading you as music is one art form which transcends outside of itself to a greater purpose.

The setting in which Danish places his novel comes alive with the full breath of Italian countryside living lit inside the sturdiness of the people who lived there. He envelopes the story around the everyday interchanges of Pino’s townespeople, whilst giving a greater scope to the impending war between Italy & Ethiopia. Politically charged, we get inside the mind-set of Pino’s father’s beliefs as much as the harrying realities of Italy in the early decades of the 20th Century. The tug-of-war between Pino’s teacher and himself gave a clear view of how you have to develop strength whilst your young to be brave in hours you feel the least able to stand up for yourself. His teacher pushed him past where he felt he could take his voice because his belief in his abilities was paramount to where he viewed Pino could strive in the future to succeed as a tenor.

War is such a heavy hand to be dealt when your young, and seeing the beguiling ignorance and diffidence towards those who are different weighted on Pino’s shoulders and heart. I can imagine that whilst he struggled to find a grasp on the changing world outside, so too were those who were dealing with countries being invaded and worlds being turnt upside down by World War II. Innocence evaporates when the world arrives at one’s feet. The war is very much a part of the story, but only as a backdrop to the whole. In this, I am grateful to Danish, whose sole focus in on Pino.

A tightrope of a dance between Maria (Callas) and Pino grew out of their affection for opera and the innate gift bestowed to both of them which gave them a tie to each other. They were each on the opposite side of the war, Pino was serving in the army and Maria was in Greece employed as a singer. Their lives were ill-fated to intersect at a point in their lives where tragedy and solace would find them. They carved out happiness within the shadows of a dictator’s reign and what they shared amongst them was fit with humour and the joy of singing. They understood each other in ways they both were transfixed by as it isn’t often you can meet someone who understands every inch of you without needing definition. As they each went their separate ways after the war, it show their fates ended up crossing once more that truly was remarkable.

Here is where truth and the shadows of history differ as the story is based on an unknown soldier who could not have survived the war. I think its a more befitting story for Pino to have survived the war and survived in the way he had, as it hardened his character a bit with worldly experience. To think there was a Pino who lived long enough to effectively save Maria Callas is the most incredible part of the story! Where one life is given in order to ensure the freedom of another. And, for Pino his life took an alternative course which would have endeared him to his teacher who gave him the best insight into how to live a life full of worth.

The beauty of opera is revealed:

Peter Danish gives a wonderful introduction into opera, which will satisfy the novice appreciator as much as the devouted follower. The vulgarity used in the story is relegated to the blights of war and thus, are not something I would flinch over as war is war, and the most shocking of realities for all men is being caught up in the face of war. What exits one’s lips whilst a chest is heavy with confliction over the impending approach of a World War arriving at your door is not a mark against language or story; but a notation of how those who lived might have reacted themselves. His writings inside the novel read as part travelogue and part historical remanent of a past most of us might not have recovered without this story.

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This book review  is courtesy of:

The Tenor Tour via HFVBTcheck out my upcoming bookish events and mark your calendars!

Previously, I interviewed Mr. Danish on behalf of “The Tenor”!

The Tenor by Peter Danish Book Trailer by Peter Danish

{SOURCES:  “The Tenor” Book Cover, synopsis, and tour badge were provided by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and were used by permission. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. The book trailer by Peter Danish had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • Go Indie
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Posted Friday, 4 April, 2014 by jorielov in 20th Century, Aftermath of World War II, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Book Trailer, Debut Novel, Geographically Specific, Greece, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Indie Author, Italy, Magical Realism, Maria Callas, Musical Fiction | Non-Fiction, New York City, Opera History, Opera Singers, Passionate Researcher, The World Wars, Vulgarity in Literature

+Blog Tour+ To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis by Andra Wakins

Posted Tuesday, 1 April, 2014 by jorielov , , 7 Comments

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To Live Forever by Andra Wakins

Published By: Word Hermit Press, 1 March, 2014
Official Author Websites:  Site | Twitter | Facebook | Pin(terest) Boards
Converse via: #ToLiveForeverTour | #ToLiveForeverBook
#MeriwetherLewis | #NatchezTraceWalk444miles
Available Formats: Paperback & E-Book
Page Count: 305

Acquired By:  As soon as I saw this particular tour come through my Inbox from Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, I elected to request to be a tour stop on the “To Live Forever” virtual book tour. The premise of the book was awe-inspiring and I could not pass up this opportunity to read a book which shattered conventional genre orientations! I was given two spots on the tour, a book review & an Author Interview of which I was grateful! I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the author Andra Wakins in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read: 

Whilst reading the virtual tour information for “To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis” my initial reaction was thus: I love everything about this particular story, from the historical impact to the paranormal implications! There is suspense but there is also the human desire for legacy! A wicked chance to read a book that I cannot quite put my finger on which genre it belongs in! I love finding genre-benders and this one for sure has all the lovely ingredients of a historical novel interspersed with time slip, paranormal tendencies and psychological suspense! As a reader, who dances through genres and whose blood is stirred by the evoking narratives of inventive writers who dare to give a reader a new dimension of a reading experience — I will always champion the rebels with a cause, such as Ms. Wakins! Who boldly refuses to give up on their stories and forge their own path towards publication!

Book Synopsis:

Is remembrance immortality?

Nobody wants to be forgotten, least of all the famous.

Meriwether Lewis lived a memorable life. He and William Clark were the first white men to reach the Pacific in their failed attempt to discover a Northwest Passage. Much celebrated upon their return, Lewis was appointed governor of the vast Upper Louisiana Territory and began preparing his eagerly-anticipated journals for publication. But his re-entry into society proved as challenging as his journey. Battling financial and psychological demons and faced with mounting pressure from Washington, Lewis set out on a pivotal trip to the nation’s capital in September 1809. His mission: to publish his journals and salvage his political career. He never made it. He died in a roadside inn on the Natchez Trace in Tennessee from one gunshot to the head and another to the abdomen.

Was it suicide or murder? His mysterious death tainted his legacy and his fame quickly faded. Merry’s own memory of his death is fuzzy at best. All he knows is he’s fallen into Nowhere, where his only shot at redemption lies in the fate of rescuing another. An ill-suited “guardian angel,” Merry comes to in the same New Orleans bar after twelve straight failures. Now, with one drink and a two-dollar bill he is sent on his last assignment, his final shot at escape from the purgatory in which he’s been dwelling for almost 200 years. Merry still believes he can reverse his forgotten fortunes.

Nine-year-old Emmaline Cagney is the daughter of French Quarter madam and a Dixieland bass player. When her mother wins custody in a bitter divorce, Emmaline carves out her childhood among the ladies of Bourbon Street. Bounced between innocence and immorality, she struggles to find her safe haven, even while her mother makes her open her dress and serve tea to grown men.

It isn’t until Emmaline finds the strange cards hidden in her mother’s desk that she realizes why these men are visiting: her mother has offered to sell her to the highest bidder. To escape a life of prostitution, she slips away during a police raid on her mother’s bordello, desperate to find her father in Nashville.

Merry’s fateful two-dollar bill leads him to Emmaline as she is being chased by the winner of her mother’s sick card game: The Judge. A dangerous Nowhere Man convinced that Emmaline is the reincarnation of his long dead wife, Judge Wilkinson is determined to possess her, to tease out his wife’s spirit and marry her when she is ready. That Emmaline is now guarded by Meriwether Lewis, his bitter rival in life, further stokes his obsessive rage.

To elude the Judge, Em and Merry navigate the Mississippi River to Natchez. They set off on an adventure along the storied Natchez Trace, where they meet Cajun bird watchers, Elvis-crooning Siamese twins, War of 1812 re-enactors, Spanish wild boar hunters and ancient mound dwellers. Are these people their allies? Or pawns of the perverted, powerful Judge?

After a bloody confrontation with the Judge at Lewis’s grave, Merry and Em limp into Nashville and discover her father at the Parthenon. Just as Merry wrestles with the specter of success in his mission to deliver Em, The Judge intercedes with renewed determination to win Emmaline, waging a final battle for her soul. Merry vanquishes the Judge and earns his redemption. As his spirit fuses with the body of Em’s living father, Merry discovers that immortality lives within the salvation of another, not the remembrance of the multitude.


 {: Author Biography :}

Andra Wakins

Hey. I’m Andra Watkins. I’m a native of Tennessee, but I’m lucky to call Charleston, South Carolina, home for 23 years. I’m the author of ‘To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis’, coming March 1, 2014. It’s a mishmash of historical fiction, paranormal fiction and suspense that follows Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis & Clark fame) after his mysterious death on the Natchez Trace in 1809.

I like:

  • hiking
  • eating (A lot; Italian food is my favorite.)
  • traveling (I never met a destination I didn’t like.)
  • reading (My favorite book is The Count of Monte Cristo.)
  • coffee (the caffeinated version) and COFFEE (sex)
  • performing (theater, singing, public speaking, playing piano)
  • time with my friends
  • Sirius XM Chill
  • yoga (No, I can’t stand on my head.)
  • writing in bed
  • candlelight

I don’t like:

  • getting up in the morning
  • cilantro (It is the devil weed.)
  • surprises (For me or for anyone else.)
  • house cleaning
  • cooking

Meriwether Lewis | Enters stage right just past the grave:

Watkins has a gift for eluding to the story as its foreshadowed to unfold by giving her readers a nib and a tasting of where her characters are going to lead both the writer and the unsuspecting reader who bemuseful of curiosity picks up the book to engage in the mystery. She cleverly allows the three main protagonists to make a causal, unfiltered entrance whilst giving the reader a nibbling of suspense about the purported dimensional expanse in which they live. One of the reasons I was attracted to reading this particular story is the level of interest in the unknown. For as many near-death experiences there are of those who return back to earth as they stepped out of the light to come back to their earthly lives; there are a multitude of examples of what ‘lies beyond the veil’.

The Meriwether who steps into the forefront of this particular story is a nearly-jaded (here I refer to ‘nearly’ as a piece of his spirit half-hinges himself to a hope he no longer feels possible) downtrodden Meriwether who has lost the will to see the point in his existence. After attempting task after task to sort out where he is and how to exit the in-between world he’s tethered too, you gain the sense he is walking the path between madness and fugue.

Unbeknownst to Meriwether, I do believe is his fatherly nature and tendencies towards children. I think he was plumb aghast at how well he fared whilst in the company of Miss Emmaline. A natural bourne role model for young people, giving them something to chew on by appreciating their worth at their age of youth. He treats her with respect and talks to her straight, allowing her to process what she needs to hear. He listens and he’s attentive and that is one of the best bits to seeing Meriwether in this way. Emmaline humbles his weathered and jaded heart.

My Review of To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis:

The opening bits of To Live Forever surely by George tug quite a heap at your heart-strings! Emmaline is a young girl, all of nine years when her mother strategically out favoured her father in the judge’s eyes for sole custody. The very words sole custody etch out a shuddering straight to the core of a little girl’s soul! Dragged away from the one parent who loved her beyond selfish desires and needs, Emmaline is forced to grasp a hold of the whisperments of her father’s memory until the day could arrive where she could change her stars and reunite with him permanently.

Caught up in the darkest of night behaviours, Emmaline is fated of having a mother whose only intentions towards her daughter are to earn  her keep out of her. I cringed reading the passages of where only Aunt Bertie could save Emmaline’s life from being snuffed out from love completely! A measure of a man’s humanity is oft laid bare by his actions towards his children. If Emmaline’s mother had to stand trial on grounds of character choices and humanity she would no sooner see the daylight again than a bat caught in the nettles of a sewer tunnel! Young Emmaline is gifted by a singular grace of affecting herself to the light within the days she has never quite been free to live within. Her inner spirit hugs her close to the truths of life and its her raw courage which solidifies her ability to reach out to Meriwether in a darkened alley.

Words ooze out of Wakin’s narrative as sweet as a honeycomb to a tending worker bee. She has a way of conveying imagery, both hauntingly dangerous and tragically poignant with the flick of her pen and a dribble of her ink. All of which fuses into a new tangible version of Southern Gothic intermixed with historical fiction purveying the notion that our past is entwined to our present as much as our future. Time is temporal and To Live Forever is a living thesis towards that end. The novel breathes and extends its own narrator around the interjections of the characters on its flattened stage. 

Emmaline and Meriwether’s sojourn trek into the wilds of the Natchez Trace held me reflective of their plight. Not merely to reach Nashville, in order to seek out Emmaline’s father but of the greater disadvantages against them. Of Meriwether never truly seeing himself for the man he was but rather the disillusioned sigh of a lost legacy. Emmaline was still young enough to grow and find in maturity a strong path towards individual freedom. Each of them were tied to a future bent against them by situations out of their control. Striving to forge a better path to walk, they found reassurance in each other knowing that any journey worth taking is sometimes lessened in adversity when shared.

The natural world is the backdrop of To Live Forever, fraught with an indecisive urge to complicate their expedition by presenting new challenges neither of them had yet experienced. For Meriwether he’s being given the chance at redemption, and towards living a half-life of what his life could have been had he lived past his time of death. In Emmaline, I see an urchin of an innocent girl stalwart and strong in her internal hope to carry her through the aching tides of her adolescence. Her courage runs deeper than her confidence due to a few kind souls who crossed her path for the good.

The story is interwoven as a refractive mirror of the Natchez Trace itself. The harder you believe any blight of adversity is in your life to conquer and overcome, the more your spirit will start to believe your too fragile to try anything. The Trace is a test of wills as much as it’s a test of inner fortitude to re-strengthen our shield against unwanted storms and periods of stress which arise out of nowhere. Life can ebb and flow, bobbing us along until we’re ready to see what our eyes blinded us towards revealing. All of our passageways lead us further towards where our feet are meant to land, but what if we hold ourselves back from the greatest revelations of all? Simply because we’re not willing to alight where we’re lead to go? The Trace is unique in that it withholds its past like a tightly woven tapestry. Each piece of its innate soul is stitched inside the weathered path where feet and souls mingled into the mist. There lessons linger and their spirits shudder to grieve.

There is an ever-knowing pool of truth and hope awaiting us around each bend and turn. The people we feel we are ‘randomly’ encountering are the kind of teachers and advisers we might never expect would be important to our growth. Listen with compassion. Be kind to strangers who might one day become a cherished friend. Grow through friendship and rise each day realising the beauty of the hour. Our lives are leading us through the light and back inside it.

 

On Illustrations | Reflective fragments of text:

A delight for someone who appreciates illustration, art, and design as much as I do will appreciate the cover-art splashing out an array of the internal illustrations peppered throughout the novel itself! They arrive rather unexpectedly as you travel through the chapters. A bit of a sketch here, and an elusive sketch over here, attempting to give you another fragmented piece of the whole. I like the old-school approach to the sketches themselves and if I had thought to ask ahead of time, I would have asked Ms. Wakins about their origins whilst I was still composing my Interview which posts on Thursday! The vivid detail in carbon textured visuals is a treat for me, as I always felt one place most novels lose a bit of creative edge is from withholding illustrators from illuminating their novels with art.

There is a geometric shift in book production where stock imagery has morphed away the originality of most cover designs to where its hard to distinguish at times who was the forerunner and who took up the lead from the one who followed next. I miss the uniqueness of book cover art as only a few Indie publishers still strive towards giving us a peek of a view of the internal world inside the stories whilst gracing their covers with conversational stirring projections! I am blessed to host blog tours with the few I am referencing in this paragraph!

Not all book covers yield to this opinion, but you have to admit, how oft do you wander around a bookshoppe and feel as though you’re staring into the sameness of what was already released!? As though if you were to stack a heap of books end to end with each other, they would look like twins rather than fraternal cousins four times removed!? The differences in design and the elements in which covers resonate with us boil down to typography, colour, elemental ornamentation, and a cheeky clever way of cluing the audience in on a ‘slice’ of what they will find revealed by the ending chapters fall close. And, this dear hearts is where Ms. Wakins outshines the lot!

I loved the clever surprise in who “Mister Jack’ was in reality! This nature-loving girl felt all giddy inside when she connected the dots, which nearly occurred half a step ahead of Emmaline!

A note of gratitude on behalf of the author, Ms. Wakins:

I classified this novel several different ways to Sunday under “topics, genres, and subjects” because it fits quite easily into quite a few distinctive areas of literature! For me, its occupying the ethereal space between psychological suspense intermingled with Southern Gothic, with a pinch of Horror-lite (I blame the Judge!)! Horror-lite for me implies that there are bits and bobbles of ‘horror’ thrown in for good measure but not overtly so as to be disturbing or distracting. Once your reading a novel by Ms. Wakins your lulling in the water of the Mississippi, fully aware of where you are but caught up in her stream of lucid dream-state story-telling where you barely notice the darker points around the fringes of the story because your caught up in the adventure of the central plot surrounding Meriwether Lewis!

I earmarked ‘vulgarity in literature’ as a way to reference the lovely gift Wakins wrote into her début novel; with one singular foul-mouthed character she championed every inch of what I have been lamenting about myself for quite a while now on Jorie Loves A Story! That there are far better ways to express yourself and that sometimes, even though you walk a line in life yourself, you cannot always help but encounter a few people who might push your buttons towards one extreme or the other. It’s how you find the balance and how you learn to embrace the ruts in the road which will define your characters in the long run.

Virtual Road Map for “To Live Forever Tour”

To Live Forever Blog Tour via HFVBT

Be sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:

Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours - HFVBTon my Bookish Events page!

{: Natchez Trace Walk :}

Natchez Trace Map
Natchez Trace Map of the walking route Andra Walkins undertook to promote her début novel “To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis”. Map supplied by the author for the virtual blog tour.
The Natchez Trace is a 10,000-year-old road that runs from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. Thousands of years ago, animals used its natural ridge line as a migratory route from points in the Ohio River Valley to the salt licks in Mississippi. It was logical for the first Native Americans to settle along the Trace to follow part of their migrating food supply. When the Kaintucks settled west of the Appalachians, they had to sell their goods at ports in New Orleans or Natchez, but before steam power, they had to walk home. The Trace became one of the busiest roads in North America.

An extra special surprise for readers:

Whilst Ms. Wakins undertook the grueling 444 miles walk along the Natchez Trail, she brought a free-spirited funny-bone tickling sense of humour with her as a constant companion on the road! As evidenced through her cheekily humourous responses to “reader submitted author questions” whilst she walked! Filmed wherever she happened to be on the Trace, I implore you to sit back, pull up a comfy chair and a cuppa of your favourite brew! I’d personally go with hot cocoa or fresh brewed hot chai,…

 

[ To Live Forever | Natchez Trace 444 Mile Walk Start ] by Andra Wakins
Start with her video diary Question 1 & watch straight-through!
After you listen to several, come back & add your reflections in the comment threads!

 

To Live Forever is a humbling tale of adventure and the juxtaposition of immortality, death, and life as it evolves throughout our days on earth and what fore-falls us in the next. Atmospherically enriched by characters happily brought forward to meet as you journey with Emmaline and Meriwether. Do you feel you can relate to some of the life lessons and cardinal truths I hinted about in my review!? Have you noticed similar intuitive resonations in your own life which have led to either a renewal of hope or a resolution of an obstacle once on your path?! How did you react when you learnt the author walked the 444 mile Natchez Trace route!? Did you feel as I did that she not only undertook a trail to promote her book, but she re-traced a part of Meriwether Lewis’s life to where the past had a deep impact on the future? A cross-roads of one life intersecting with another? What do you like the best about reading stories like To Live Forever where the writer focuses you to think about ethereal dimensions just outside of our view!?

{SOURCES: Cover art of “To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis”, book synopsis, author photograph of Andra Wakins, author biography, the Natchez Trace map & Natchez Trace Walk Infomation and the tour host badge were all provided by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and used with permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. The video by Andra Watkins had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Comments via Twitter:

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Posted Tuesday, 1 April, 2014 by jorielov in Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Debut Novel, Geographically Specific, Ghosts & the Supernatural, Good vs. Evil, Gothic Literature, Haunting & Ethereal, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Horror-Lite, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Magical Realism, Meriwether Lewis, Natchez Trace, Naturalist Sketchings, New Orleans, Parapsychological Suspense, Southern Gothic, Time Slip, Vulgarity in Literature, Wildlife Artwork

*Blog Book Tour*: Sebastian’s Way: The Pathfinder by George Steger

Posted Wednesday, 5 February, 2014 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee DesignsSebastian's Way by George StegerSebastian’s Way: The Pathfinder by George Steger

[Book One of The Sebastian Chronicles series]

[Book Two: Sebastian’s Will: The Torchbearer] releasing 2014

[Book Three: Sebastian’s World: The Gift Giver] releasing 2015

[PREQUEL: The Horse Master] releasing 2016

Read a full description of the Sebastian Chronicles series.

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Author Connections: Facebook | Site | Blog

Converse on Twitter: #SebastiansWayTour & #Charlemagne

Published by: iUniverse, 3 October 2013 | Page Count: 370
Available Format: Softcover | E-book

Read an Excerpt of Sebastian’s Way: The Pathfinder from the authors site

Read an Excerpt of Sebastian’s Way: The Pathfinder from the authors blog

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a stop on “Sebastian’s Way: The Pathfinder” Virtual Book Tour, hosted by HFVBT, in which I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the author George Steger in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Curiosity Inspired Reading:

Whilst watching an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? involving Cindy Crawford’s ancestry (Series 4, E6), I learnt far more about Charlemagne than I ever dared hope possible! And, the fact that Ms. Crawford is directly related to him was an unexpected joy in seeing revealed! Whomever made the ancestral chart for her which unfolded like an ancient scroll is a master of their craft and field! I would love to have one for my own heritage as a keepsake! Whilst she was first being given this ‘key’ (a rather unexpected key!) to her past, it was revealed that Charlemagne was not the man everyone presumed he was based on what they knew of his military career and tactics. That there was more to Charlemagne than the world realised and that she should feel honoured to have him in her line!

This episode reaffirmed how little I know about certain pockets of historical remnants of life-changing proportion. There are certain epochs of history where rulers and conquerors alike have quite literally changed our world view as much as the map in which the world alights! Charlemagne never felt tangible to become acquainted with given his arc of life to research. When I first learnt of the blog tour surrounding this particular book, I felt as though I was being given my own ‘key’ and ‘gift’ opening the door to history and to the man of whom very few understood on a personal level. My curiosity you see, led me to the story of Sebastian (a name I always have appreciated!) as a gateway into the world of Charlemagne!

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Book Synopsis:

In a dark age of unending war and violence, one young warrior opposes a mighty king to forge a new path to peace…

During the savage Frankish-Saxon wars, the moving force of his age, Karl der Grosse, King Charlemagne, fights and rules like the pagan enemies he seeks to conquer. But in the long shadow of war and genocide, a spark of enlightenment grows, and the king turns to learned men to help him lead his empire to prosperity.

One of these men is the unlikely young warrior Sebastian. Raised in an isolated fortress on the wild Saxon border, Sebastian balances his time in the training yard with hours teaching himself to read, seeking answers to the great mysteries of life during an age when such pastimes were scorned by fighting men. Sebastian’s unique combination of skills endears him to Charlemagne and to the ladies of the king’s court, though the only woman to hold his heart is forbidden to him. As the king determines to surround himself with men who can both fight and think beyond the fighting, Sebastian becomes one of the privileged few to hold the king’s ear.

But the favor of the king does not come without a cost. As Charlemagne’s vassals grapple for power, there are some who will do anything to see Sebastian fall from grace, including his ruthless cousin Konrad, whose hatred and jealousy threaten to destroy everything Sebastian holds dear. And as Sebastian increasingly finds himself at odds with the king’s brutal methods of domination and vengeance, his ingrained sense of honor and integrity lead him to the edge of treason, perilously pitting himself against the most powerful man of his age.

This fast-paced adventure story brings Charlemagne’s realm to life as the vicious Christian-pagan wars of the eighth century decide the fate of Europe. Filled with action, intrigue, and romance, Sebastian’s Way is a riveting and colorful recreation of the world of Europe’s greatest medieval monarch.

Author Biography:

George Steger

A native of Louisiana, the author followed a long tradition of young men from the Deep South by seeking to improve his prospects in the military. From a green second lieutenant in the famed 101st Airborne Division to battalion command in Vietnam, Colonel Steger spent most of the rest of his military career in four European tours as an intelligence officer and Russian foreign area specialist, working on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. He traded sword for plowshare in a second career in academia and is now Professor Emeritus of history and international affairs at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas. The motivation to write Sebastian’s Way came from his experiences in both war and peace, from fourteen years in Germany and Eastern Europe, and from his love of teaching medieval and other European history courses.

Steger is an avid hiker and trail biker, and much of the story of Sebastian came out of time spent in the woods and fields of eastern Kansas. In memory of Mary Jo, his wife of many years, he and filmmaker son Ben spent a recent summer trekking across Spain on The Camino de Santiago, one of Europe’s oldest pilgrimage trails. He lives and writes in rural Kansas and has four other grown and gifted children.

For more information please visit George Steger’s website . You can also find him on Facebook.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comDelving into 8th Centurion history:

I must confess, the very first page of this novel, begins by giving my impetus for reading the book: how would a ruler as heralded and ruthless as Charlemagne be turnt into a formidable man whose strength was not merely wielded from the bloodshed of his battles? To evolve through a change of mindset and heart by the influences of those closely tied to him in confidence is a story I felt had the merits of etching into the deepest forays of my mind! 

Steger launches you into the very heart of the story, but eclipsing pleasantries and edging you right into the everyday ‘now’ of Sebastian’s life! If I weren’t sweltering in an early onset of Summer’s wrath, I’d be keen to have a Spring bolt electrifying thunderstorm outside my window to entertain the atmosphere I am drinking in by text! Although, I am always concerned whilst engaging into a tome of military history, I was pleasantly surprised that the tactical deviations are tempered by a sociological transcription of the age. I appreciated getting into the internal mind of the characters, both major and minor combined, as it allowed me to step through an invisible time portal. Given the distance is greater than 1,200 years between then and now, it’s the descriptive nature of Steger’s writing which gave the visceral experience more depth in meaning!

He even goes as far as to include proper entitlements for each chapter section, as well as giving a reader like me a fathering of a chance of catching on to the dilemma of Charlemagne’s relationship with Sebastian via a proper Prologue! I have always been a bit of a bookish geek in this one regard, where I simply adore inclusions such as these as they lay way to a sturdier foundation than most. Historicals which dip into the realm of biographical fiction, need to stand tall on the merits of the writer’s ability to divert one’s mind off where one sits as the book is read in order for the fuller effect to take. Steger has blissfully launched himself on a platform of quality story-telling interspersed with bang-on brilliant dialogue and narrative!

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Sebastian's Way: The Pathfinder by George StegerMy Review of Sebastian’s Way: The Pathfinder

Whilst reading of the conditions of the siege and aftermath at Adalgray, it was in Steger’s description of Sebastian’s mother (Ermengard) which reflected back an image of a recent excursion on a nature trail whereupon I rather unexpectedly ‘found’ my errant flying red-shouldered hawk! The hawk had re-emerged on the opposite side of the cypress trees (as I had been walking in tandem at the water’s edge as the hawk had squawked from the upper boughs) settled rather stealthily on a branch with a crisp view of the world at large. I, however, was startled by the hawk’s piercing eyes and encompassing logic of place. Ermengard’s keen telling of her emotional state and of the situation at hand, reminded me of the hawk. Acutely aware and bold in tenacity to take-on what needs to be done!

I commend Steger’s cleverly bold descriptions of emotional angst which are a happy diversion from the general inclusion of more elicit language! I am thankful to see a writer champion the merits of a story, told through strong declarations of speech without having to wallow at a level that is not readily befit literature. His words ache and arch back to a time where thought was put before impulse, and where conversation was both hearty and logical. Likewise, there are only a flittering amount of grisly details which had I blinked would have missed completely! I was quite comfortable in his guiding hand as I dared myself the will to read each chapter with post-haste excitement to see what further revelations I could indulge in! A few page turns further, and I was bemused with the enlarging back-story of Charlemagne’s main nemesises!

To see Sebastian first as a grown man reformed in the knowledge of warfare attempt to sway a King’s mind towards diplomacy, I was thankful to be given the chance to see the passageways which led to his transformed heart. I am always keen on sociological understandings of a person’s psyche insofar as what attributes of their beliefs and ideals lead them to make the choices they endear throughout their lives. To understand how they absorb the tragedies around them and the horrors of living in an age in a consistent state of war is the better way of drawing out empathy and compassion for history.  To understand rather than to presume and to be mindful of the time in which the men lived to counterbalance the knowledge of today. This is how Steger presents his hero to his audience, by engaging us in the lifepath of his character.

Heimdal proved to be Sebastian’s guiding light by speaking the truth in which Sebastian was at first blind to see. I had to speculate whilst I first was introduced to Heimdal, if its his direct influence which led Sebastian to be bold to think he could change Charlemagne’s heart as well. To open Charlemagne’s eyes to the truth of war and the truth of how man ought to endeavour to live. His counsel with Heimdal and a pivotal experience during the siege overtook Sebastian’s spirit and his resolve to seek a different solution that would run counter against convention. His humanity and his insight were blessings, but I would suspect at the time in whence he lived they would be viewed as weaknesses. Attalus on the other hand was the retired warrior who agreed for Sebastian to apprentice under him, to garnish his own bones of wisdom. Remnants of his advice were like orbs shining back on the opening Prologue. Attalus is a man who dimensionally has a keen place in Sebastian’s life as with Heimdal, those who teach us the most are generally the ones of whom cross our paths serendipitously!

Yet Heimdal and Attalus was only one of the men who encouraged Sebastian to see past what every warrior took as a mark of measure for a warrior’s life. He internally strove to circumvent the order of the day with the balance of a man of faithful mindfulness. Instead of accepting the reality his eyes would observe, he bolted himself to the idea that perhaps not every path towards succession of power was meant to be laced in blood. The barbaric camaraderie of the age was taxing on Sebastian, as he took no pleasure in the joy of a hunt or kill when it came to battling foe and enemy. He’d rather seek out a point of leverage or alternative course of action where lives could be spared but power could be restored. In many ways, my heart was with Sebastian as he struggled to find his footing both as a young lad and as a young man, who had strong shoes to fulfill from his father and uncle.

The Pathfinder is an apt sub-title acknowledging that Sebastian was meant for a greater purpose than merely taking up spear, lance, and arrow as a warrior. Seeking a path towards redemption for the loss of the soul’s of men he was directly or indirectly responsible for having shed, this installment garnishes a full respect of the years in which Sebastian was schooled and apprenticed. The proving grounds for how he would come to think and process the quick-step action of the battlefield and the ruminative thoughts which pulsed through him when he was taking an accord of a difference against King and country. Despite his stature, his greatest strength was forged in the pure belief that if a man worked hard and endeavoured to understand what he was first ignorant of; true progress could be reconciled.

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In gratitude of Mr. Steger’s writing style:

I dare thought it might not be plausible to settle into a thick slice of historical suspense such as a story of Charlemagne, until I was given the chance to read Sebastian’s Way: The Pathfinder! A book which lives up to the virtues of historical fiction by etching into our mind’s eye the very inclinations and notions of the age in which Steger’s central figure lived and breathed. It was an age of boldness and an age of religious upheaval. The battle to control the power of the land and the power of the people was not forged through mediation. It was a time which bespoke more of war wounds and proven allegiances based on leadership in the field. To approach the narrative with a slight hesitation of what the context would reveal to me, gave me a bit of an edge once I was ensconced! My nerves melted with each word and paragraph I hungrily drank in to see where the author was taking me next. His ability to light the story from within the heart of the narrative itself is a gift.

One character who gave me a bit of a lasting impression, save Sebastian, was Attalus, and it wasn’t too far afield into the story where I surmised the author had a similar inkling! Attalus was a character who took me by complete surprise, and I am thankful I had the chance to meet him! And, the continuation of his story is one I long to consume!

I pray I shall have the chance to watch the evolution of the Sebastian’s story as the next volumes in this chronicle start to release! For each installment brings us closer to the fullness of Sebastian’s intuitive nudges of enlightened grace.

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Virtual Road Map for

“Sebastian’s Way: The Pathfinder” Blog Tour:

Sebastian's Way by George StegerFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Be sure to scope out
my Bookish Upcoming Events
to mark your calendars!!
As well as to see which events
I will be hosting with:
Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours - HFVBTMy second half of this showcase will be
my Author Interview with George Steger!

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Reader Interactive Question:

I am quite curious, dear hearts, if you have read stories about Charlemagne prior to discovering this one, what drew your eye for Sebastian’s Way!? What is it about Charlemagne do you feel allows his popularity and his legacy to continue to be spotlighted in modern society? What role do you feel he plays in our conjoined history? Do you recommend other fiction or non-fiction accountments of his life? Which century or era do you readily drink in? What captures you the most?

{SOURCES: George Steger photograph & biography, Book Synopsis, and Book Cover were provided by HFVBT and were used by permission. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Wednesday, 5 February, 2014 by jorielov in 8th Century, Anglo-Saxon History, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Charlemagne, Debut Novel, Feudal Europe, Frankish Warriors & Warfare, Geographically Specific, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Indie Author, Military Fiction, Sebastian

+Blog Book Tour+ Isabella: Braveheart of France by Colin Falconer

Posted Tuesday, 21 January, 2014 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs
Isabella: Braveheart of France Blog Book Tour via HFVBT

Isabella: Braveheart of France by Colin Falconer

Author Connections: Facebook | Blog

Converse on Twitter: #IsabellaTour
OR Tweet @Colin_Falconer

Published by: Cool Gus Publishing, 3 September 2013 | Page Count: 218
Available Format: Paperback | E-book 

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Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a stop on “Isabella: Braveheart of France” Virtual Book Tour, hosted by HFVBT, in which I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the publisher Cool Gus Publishing in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Book Synopsis:

She was taught to obey. Now she has learned to rebel.Isabella Braveheart of France by Colin Falconer

Isabella is just twelve years old when she marries Edward II of England. For the young princess it is love at first sight – but Edward has a terrible secret that threatens to tear their marriage – and England apart.

Who is Piers Gaveston – and why is his presence in the king’s court about to plunge England into civil war?

The young queen believes in the love songs of the troubadours and her own exalted destiny – but she finds reality very different. As she grows to a woman in the deadly maelstrom of Edward’s court, she must decide between her husband, her children, even her life – and one breath-taking gamble that will change the course of history.

Does she submit to a lifetime of solitude and a spiritual death – or seize her destiny and take the throne of England for herself?

This is the story of Isabella, the only woman ever to invade England – and win.

Author Biography:

Colin FalconerBorn in London, Colin first trialed as a professional football player in England, and was eventually brought to Australia. He went to Sydney and worked in TV and radio and freelanced for many of Australia’s leading newspapers and magazines. He has published over twenty novels and his work has so far been translated into 23 languages.

He travels regularly to research his novels and his quest for authenticity has led him to run with the bulls in Pamplona, pursue tornadoes across Oklahoma and black witches across Mexico, go cage shark diving in South Africa and get tear gassed in a riot in La Paz.

His most recent novels are Silk Road, set in the 13th century, and Stigmata, set against the backdrop of the Albigensian Crusade in Southern France in 1209. He currently lives in Barcelona.

For more information please visit Colin Falconer’s blog . You can also find him on Facebook or follow on Twitter.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comLife in Medieval England & France:

I had a sneaking feeling Isabella’s marriage to Edward II was not only arranged but love would have sprung on her side of the ledger far sooner than having alighted in his own heart. A mere girl of twelve to wed a King! I sometimes cannot comprehend the strength the women had at such young ages as they were arranged to marry to secure land, peace, and the reign of their parents; if not for themselves to secure the sanctity of their lines. The weight placed on young Isabella’s shoulders is quite great, but I think what I appreciated about her as her story first starts to unfold is how well she wants her marriage to Edward to succeed! She cares more about winning his heart and being in love with a husband she always knew would be picked for her, rather than worried about anything else a typical pre-teen might even start to consider!

Her wedded husband treated her with such warmth and care of spirit, that I nearly felt as though the foreboding I felt whilst I picked up the book might disappear completely! Except to say, this is the Middle Ages and whether I like it or not, you always have a proper sense that the King is going to be devious and elusive towards the truth he may not want to be fully brought into light!

My Review of Isabella: Braveheart of France:

Despite the youth of her age at the time in whence Isabella married the King of England (Edward II), her eyes were fully open and aware of her surroundings. To be inquisitive and intuitive of her husband’s favour for another, which in this particular day and age would be devastatingly controversial, she chooses to take the upper road. In some ways, I am noticing that due to her ability to see the fuller picture as a child, she is able to endeavour to see the fuller picture as an adult. To the brink that perhaps its this first knowledge of how everything became interconnected that led her first to believe in her ability to invade a country few dared feared possible for a woman to attempt!

Isabella at twelve and thirteen had far more on the ball than her wedded King; as the narrative focuses rather heavily on his affairs in passion, rather than giving her full reign to advise him on counsel of politics and noble errants. I found some of the passages a bit droll in that she is always catching him feeding his vanity and his selfish wanton desires rather than focusing on his court, his statesman, and his command of England as a country. Isabella on the other hand, I think could have led England far better in her tender years than Edward could have in his!

I was betwixt finding the pace of the novel a bit tricky to sink into verse the slowness of carrying forward Isabella’s determination to invade! I think perhaps this section of history is going to be a bit difficult for me to absorb into due to the nature of the characters who are found inside. Its more of a story for those who do not mind the grit over the light, and appreciate the bold bluntness of passages which fuse the reader into the time of the age itself. I suppose I could contend that part of me likes history to be a bit more romanticized rather than shocking, but in this one regard, I felt as though I kept being pulled in and out of the context of the story.

Isabella, herself, is the keen interest of mine in Isabella Braveheart of France, because of how she was groomed from birth to take over as Queen, I believe she is inherently the character who will stand out in all eyes who cast upon this novel! I only regret I could have enjoyed watching her journey progress a bit more as I felt a bit muddled in the execution.

Fly in the Ointment:

There are instances of vulgarity included in the novel, but they are minute and limited to the exclamations of characters who are besotted with vile words bubbling inside them due to the circumstances surrounding them. I would be further surprised if the language of their feelings were not heated and blunt in one way or another. I might choose to use different words, but the strength of their vexations cannot be denied. No, honestly, what puzzled me a bit is how the exchanges between the scenes and chapters were settled in the novel. Sometimes I felt the chapters could have been extended to include ‘several’ individual chapters as the sweeping of the arc inside them were carried over from the one ahead of them. I am not sure why the chapter breaks were arranged in this manner, but I cannot deny the setting and placement of the story was well-researched as it were.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comVirtual Road Map for
“Isabella: Braveheart of France” Blog Tour:

Isabella: Braveheart of France Blog Book Tour via HFVBT

Be sure to scope out my Bookish Upcoming Events to mark your calendars!!
As well as to see which events I will be hosting with:

Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours - HFVBT{SOURCES: Author photograph, Book Synopsis, Author Biography, and Book Cover for “Isabella: Braveheart of France” were provided by HFVBT and were used by permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • Go Indie
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Posted Tuesday, 21 January, 2014 by jorielov in 14th Century, Arranged Marriages in Royalty, Blog Tour Host, Edward II, Fly in the Ointment, France, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Late Middle Ages (1300-1500)