The Secret Bride (In The Court of Henry VIII 1) by Diane Haeger Mary Tudor, the headstrong younger sister of the ruthless King Henry VIII, has always been her brother’s favorite-but now she is also an important political bargaining chip. When she is promised to the elderly, ailing King Louis of France, a heartbroken Mary accepts her fate, but not before extracting a promise from her brother: When the old king dies, her next marriage shall be solely of her choosing. For Mary has a forbidden passion, and she is determined to forge her own destiny, through her own cunning,… Read more »
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Brief Gaudy Hour by Margaret Campbell Barnes
Brief Gaudy Hour: The novel of Anne Boleyn’s passionate love by Margaret Campbell Barnes The beautiful temptress of Henry VIII’s court… Anne Boleyn bewitched King Henry VIII with her dark beauty. For her he divorced Katherine of Aragon, who could not give him the son he longed for, and broke England’s link with the Church of Rome. As Queen, Anne triumphed over her enemies at court – but her triumph was as short-lived as it was brilliant. Her child, the heir that Henry was so desperate for, was another daughter. And this unforgivable error was to cost Anne her life…. Read more »
Flesh by Khanh Ha
Flesh by Khanh Ha The setting is Tonkin (northern Vietnam) at the turn of the 20th century. A boy, Tai, witnesses the beheading of his father, a notorious bandit, and sets out to recover his head and then to find the man who betrayed his father to the authorities. On this quest, Tai’s entire world will shift. FLESH takes the reader into dark and delightful places in the human condition, places where allies are not always your friends, true love hurts, and your worst enemy may bring you the most comfort. In that emotionally harrowing world, Tai must learn to… Read more »
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Stories 1) by Bernard Cornwell Uhtred is an English boy, born into the aristocracy of ninth-century Northumbria. Orphaned at ten, he is captured and adopted by a Dane and taught the Viking ways. Yet Uhtred’s fate is indissolubly bound up with Alfred, King of Wessex, who rules over the only English kingdom to survive the Danish assault. The struggle between the English and the Danes and the strife between Christianity and paganism is the background to Uhtred’s growing up. Marriage ties him to the Saxon cause but when his wife and child vanish in the… Read more »
The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice
The Vampire Armand (The Vampire Chronicles 6) by Anne Rice Eternally young, angelic in appearance, the Vampire Armand returns to New Orleans where the Vampire Lestat lies in the deepest of sleeps. There, in the dark, dramatic American South, Armand tells his tale, and recalls the brutality, magnificent decadence and devil worship of his past. From a half-forgotten childhood in Russia to slavery in Constantinople: from Renaissance Venice, where he is saved from death by the dark gift of Marius, the greatest vampire of them all, to nineteenth-century Paris, where he is the leader of the Théâtre des Vampires. But… Read more »
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms 1) by Morgan Rhodes In a land where magic has been forgotten and peace has reigned for centuries, unrest is simmering . Three kingdoms battle for power . . . Three kingdoms battle for power… A princess must journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long-thought extinct. A rebel becomes the leader of a bloody revolution. A Sorceress discovers the truth about the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield. It’s the eve of war. Each must choose a side. Kingdoms will fall. (back cover) The story is about 3 kingdoms that were once… Read more »
The Dead Girls’ Dance by Rachel Caine
The Dead Girls’ Dance (The Morganville Vampires 2) by Rachel Caine Claire Danvers has her share of challenges—like being a genius in a school that favors beauty over brains, dealing with the homicidal girls in her dorm, and above all, finding out that her college town is overrun with vampires. On the up side, she has a great roommate (who tends to disappear at sunup) and a new boyfriend named Shane, whose vampire-hunting dad has called in backup: cycle punks who like the idea of killing just about anything. Now a fraternity is throwing its annual Dead Girls’ Dance and—surprise!—Claire… Read more »
Evernight by Claudia Gray
Evernight (Evernight 1) by Claudia Gray Bianca wants to escape. At the eerily Gothic Evernight Academy, the other students are sleek, smart, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn’t fit in. When she meets handsome, brooding Lucas he warns her to be careful–even when it comes to caring about him. But the connection between them can’t be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart…and to make Bianca question everything she’s ever believed. (back cover) When sixteen year old Bianca’s parents decides they’re moving to Evernight Academy where they are… Read more »
A Breath of Snow and Ashes and An Echo In The Bone by Diana Gabaldon
A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander 6) by Diana Gabaldon It is 1772, the eve of the American Revolution, and the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Governor Josiah Martin calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony for King and Crown. But there is one problem: Jamie Fraser´s wife, Claire, is a time-traveler, as are his daughter and son-in-law. And Jamie knows that three years hence, the shot heard round the world will be fired, and the end of it all will be independence –with those loyal to the King either dead… Read more »
A Tainted Dawn: The Great War by B. N. Peacock
A Tainted Dawn: The Great War by B. N. Peacock August 1789. The Rights of Man. Liberty. Equality. Idealism. Patriotism. A new age dawns. And yet, old hostilities persist: England and Spain are on the brink of war. France, allied by treaty with Spain, readies her warships. Three youths–the son of an English carpenter, the son of a naval captain, an the son of a French court tailor–meet in London, a chance encounter that entwines their lives thereafter. The English boys find themselves on the same frigate bound for the Caribbean. The Frenchman sails to Trinidad, where he meets an… Read more »
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