bookramblings.net

  Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia, is on a blog tour! This month’s host is  4 the LOVE of BOOKS.

 Plain Jane by Laurien Gardner (bookmooch)

With a plain face, Jane Seymour has no suitors and few hopes. Then she is granted a position at court as maid of honor to Queen Catherine. There, Henry VIII ignores his aging wife, showering favor on the dark beauty Anne Boleyn, soon to be his new queen. But he tires of stubborn Anne, and his wandering eye falls on plain Jane. Although she cares for Henry, she must not let herself be swept away by his attentions. For she intends to win not only his heart but also the greatest prize of all–the crown.
 

Ranulf de Blondeville: The First English Hero by Ian Soden (bought)

A full, lavishly illustrated study of a nobleman whose exploits became the stuff of medieval romance, once recounted in the same breath as Robin Hood. Ranulf de Blondeville was fabulously rich and powerful. He served six kings, endured difficult regime-change, fought his way across half of France and back and more than once turned wrested victory from defeat. He never forgot that his roots were Norman although his efforts were for England, where he made his home. Loyal to a fault, as a youth he was disastrously married to the Duchess of Brittany, firebrand of contemporary politics, who tried to destroy him. His second wife brought happiness but not children.

He was a fiercely independent spirit with a renowned temper. Unafraid of anyone, he besieged castles aggressively, constructed and defended them stoutly and built an Earldom of unparalleled power at England’s heart. Kings lavished titles on him and the Pope sought out his support, noting his exceptional leadership.

On his deathbed he bequeathed to Henry III the only piece of Normandy ever recovered from the French. It was rumored that when he died the devil himself kicked him out of hell, he was so much trouble.

Pharaoh Triumphant. the Life and Times of Ramesses II by K.A. Kitchen (bought)

To the modern world, Ramesses II is the pharaoh who perhaps best represents the grandeur of ancient Egypt. During his sixty-seven-year reign in the thirteenth century B.C., a vast number of spectacular building projects were undertaken, culminating in the famous temples of Abu Simbel.

Chronicling this remarkable king and his family, Pharaoh Triumphant surveys Ramesses’ childhood and early military career as a general under his father, Sethos I, and looks at the long reign of Ramesses himself, at war and in peace.

Beyond royal court, the book also examines the world of New Kingdom Egypt – government, politics, religion and funerary rites, and daily life in the town and country.

Crown Of Roses by Valerie Anand (bought)

The tumultuous years leading to the reign of Richard III and, on his death, the ascension to the English throne of the first Tudor Henry are conveyed with authoritative detail in this engrossing historical novel. Edward IV is shakily enthroned and England is torn in the York-Lancaster civil strife, when, at age 14, Petronel is unable to produce the male heir which would be her only value to Lionel, who will follow his king to Bosworth field.

   Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia, is on a blog tour! This month’s host is  4 the LOVE of BOOKS.

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (purchased)

Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.

As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions.

They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers abarbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love – one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY

Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi (purchased)

It’s been months since Aria learned of her mother’s death.

Months since Perry became Blood Lord of the Tides, and months since Aria last saw him.

Now Aria and Perry are about to be reunited. It’s a moment they’ve been longing for with countless expectations. And it’s a moment that lives up to all of them. At least, at first.

Then it slips away. The Tides don’t take kindly to former Dwellers like Aria. And the tribe is swirling out of Perry’s control. With the Aether storms worsening every day, the only remaining hope for peace and safety is the Still Blue. But does this haven truly exist? Threatened by false friends and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night?

   Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia, is on a blog tour! This month’s host is  4 the LOVE of BOOKS.

The Scroll of Seduction: A Novel of Power, Madness, and Royalty by Gioconda Belli (bookmooch)

On an outing from her boarding school, young Lucia meets Manuel–art historian and exquisite storyteller–who shares with her the tale of one of history’s most tumultuous loves: Queen Juana of Castile’s legendary devotion to her husband, Prince Philippe the Handsome. Embracing a union thrust upon her by political necessity, Juana responds with all the passionate abandon inherent in her fiery nature–and is forced to pay a high price for her honest sensuality. For there are those at the Renaissance court who will not allow such unabashed independence in the heir to one of the world’s most powerful empires–and they declare Juana mad, denying her ascension to the throne. But is she truly insane, or is she merely a victim of her own impetuosity and unbridled desire? Or is Juana a pawn in a fierce power struggle for control of the throne?

Lucia attends raptly to the tale Manuel relates–and their own story begins to miraculously, dangerously mirror that of Juana the Mad and her beloved prince.

   Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia, is on a blog tour! This month’s host is MariReads.

Evermore by Alyson Noel (bookmooch)

After a horrible accident claims the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people’s auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone’s entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid human contact to suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school — but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.

Damen is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He’s the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head – wielding a magic so intense, it’s as though he can peer straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she’s left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea just who he really is – or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she’s falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.

Stargazer by Claudia Gray (bookmooch)

The vampire in me was closer to the surface… 

Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all—vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.

But Bianca fell in love with Lucas—a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.

Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross—or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca’s secrets will force her to live a life of lies.

Yet Bianca isn’t the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning….

   Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia, is on a blog tour! This month’s host is MariReads.

Prince of Darkness by Sharon Kay Penman (bought)

Justin de Quincy hastens to Paris at the request of his former lover only to discover that she was acting on behalf of his nemesis, Prince John. The prince has been implicated in a plot to kill his brother, King Richard, and wants Justin to prove the incriminating document false.

Realizing that John’s suspected treachery may also risk the welfare of the woman he serves, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Justin reluctantly agrees to help. But his investigation unravels a sinister conspiracy that might change the course of English history.

Fate’s Edge by Ilona Andrews (bought)

Audrey Callahan left behind her life in the Edge, and she’s determined to stay on the straight and narrow. But when her brother gets into hot water, the former thief takes on one last heist and finds herself matching wits with a jack of all trades…

Kaldar Mar-a gambler, lawyer, thief, and spy-expects his latest assignment tracking down a stolen item to be a piece of cake, until Audrey shows up. But when the item falls into the hands of a lethal criminal, Kaldar realizes that in order to finish the job, he’s going to need Audrey’s help…

A Trail of Fire by Diana Gabaldon (purchased)

In Lord John and the Plague of Zombies Lord John Grey is posted to Jamaica to assist the Governor as he faces a most unusual kind of uprising among the colony’s slave population.

In The Space Between , Jamie Fraser’s step-daughter Joan is on her way to an abbey in Paris to become a nun – but when she meets the Comte St Germain, a wealthy French aristocrat rumoured to to deal in the occult – she discovers her destiny lies on a quite different path.

In The Custom of the Army, Lord John Grey is summoned as a witness in a court martial in the wilds of Acadia, only to find himself playing a crucial role in the Battle of Quebec.

In A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows , a WW2 Spitfire pilot called Jerry MacKenzie crashes near a stone circle and wakes up in the eighteenth century. Can the strange man he meets – who impossibly seems to know him – help him return to his wife and baby son before a terrible fate overtakes them?

The Shadow Prince  by Terence Morgan (purchased)

Perkin Warbeck is the son of a port official in fifteenth-century Tournai. He loves nothing more than singing in the cathedral choir, swimming in the river and fishing with his father. But Perkin has a secret. His real name is Richard – Richard, Prince of England, thought to have been murdered with his brother, Edward, in the Tower of London.

When his enemies seek him out he must flee, and he embarks on a new life of derring-do, sailing the high seas with the era’s greatest adventurers. But Richard cannot avoid his fate forever. He knows he must return to his homeland, to assume the throne that is his birthright. But what for him is a homecoming, for the new king is nothing less than an invasion, and Richard comes to learn that the price of his ambition is the blood of innocent men.

The Iron King by Maurice Druon (purchased)

The Iron King – Philip the Fair – is as cold and silent, as handsome and unblinking as a statue. He governs his realm with an iron hand, but he cannot rule his own family: his sons are weak and their wives adulterous; while his red-blooded daughter Isabella is unhappily married to an English king who prefers the company of men.

A web of scandal, murder and intrigue is weaving itself around the Iron King; but his downfall will come from an unexpected quarter. Bent on the persecution of the rich and powerful Knights Templar, Philip sentences Grand Master Jacques de Molay to be burned at the stake, thus drawing down upon himself a curse that will destroy his entire dynasty…

Cleopatra: Last Pharaoh of Egypt by M.J. Trow (purchased)

When Cleopatra took the throne of the kingdom of Egypt, the pyramids and Sphinx were already ancient wonders. As queen she faced conquest by a new, all-powerful empire. A Ptolemy, descended from a general of Alexander the Great who conquered the Nile as part of his Macedonian lands, her relationship with Mark Anthony has become one of the legendary love stories in history.

Trow draws on recent archaeological finds and fresh interpretations of ancient texts to separate truth from myth and set this incomparably beautiful queen in context.

  Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia, is on a blog tour! This month’s host is MariReads.

 Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley (bought)

Histories of women usually bring with them histories of women’s world and women’s work–in other words, the daily life of a culture. This look at ancient Egyptian women is no different. British archaeologist and researcher Tyldesley illuminates women’s positions as cooks, washerwomen, dancers, mourners, weavers, priestesses, mothers, wives and–on very rare occasions–pharaohs. Tyldesley doesn’t try to simplify a subject complicated by linguistic subtleties, lack of archaeological evidence, ancient propaganda and the orientalist mythology of seething harems that early excavators imposed on ambiguous digs. What she does, and does well, is give an idea of what evidence is available and, in accessible, slyly cheery prose, recreate how women (and men) shopped, dressed and ate (“the menus of the poor and less enterprising usually involved a fairly dull and rather flatulent rotation of bread, onions, lettuce, radish and pulses”). Most intriguing, though, are Tyldesley’s all-too-brief initial observations of the standing of Egyptian women. For all its emphasis on tradition, Egypt differed from much of the worst of Graeco-Roman paternalism: women were important factors in a child’s heredity, not just passive bearers of men’s genetics; they could own property; make legally binding contracts; sue; and, most amazingly, live alone.

The Reign of Richard Lionheart: Ruler of the Angevin Empire, 1189-1199 by Ralph V. Turner (bought)

Richard Lionheart (Richard I), has been traditionally viewed as warrior king, and a model of kingly and knightly virtues. In this work, the king’s greatness as a military commander is demonstrated, his skills as politician and administrator are also highlighted. Draws on the latest work of feudalism, corrects many misconceptions and presents a vital new approach to one of medieval history’s most fascinating periods.

  Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia, is on a blog tour! This month’s host is MariReads.

Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews (bought)

The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Walmart and magic is a fairytale–and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny…

Cerise Mar and her unruly clan are cash poor but land rich, claiming a large swathe of the Mire, the Edge swamplands between the state of Louisiana and the Weird. When her parents vanish, her clan’s long-time rivals are suspect number one.

But all is not as it seems. Two nations of the Weird are waging a cold war fought by feint and espionage, and their conflict is about to spill over into the Edge—and Cerise’s life . William, a changeling soldier who left behind the politics of the Weird, has been forced back into service to track down a rival nation’s spymaster.

When William’s and Cerise’s missions lead them to cross paths, sparks fly—but they’ll have to work together if they want to succeed…and survive.

Wife to the Bastard by Hilda Lewis (bought)

Matilda of Flanders, queen to William the Conqueror was beautiful, exquisitely small, clever, with a perfect courtesy trained in the rigid school of medieval manners. But within lay a root of darkness – inheritance, perhaps, of Viking ancestors. Twice, at least, in her lifetime the Viking streak broke through, in vengeance on a faithless lover, in fury wreaked on a rival of the marriage bed. The marriage, though fruitful of so many children, was on her side no match of love. But a passionate loyalty to her husband, an equally passionate ambition, together with her own sense of justice, gave her the will and the skill to dissemble her feelings and to make her the praise of Christendom. No Queen ever wielded so much power as she in the long years she ruled Normandy; before her no woman in England was ever crowned or was known as Queen.