Author Spotlight: E.M. Powell and "The Blood of the Fifth Knight"

Publication Date: January 1, 2015
Thomas & Mercer Formats: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 368p
 Genre: Historical Thriller
 

A triumphant sequel to Powell’s acclaimed historical thriller The Fifth Knight. A desperate king trusts a lone knight to unravel a web of murder. England, 1176. King Henry II has imprisoned his rebellious Queen for her failed attempt to overthrow him. But with her conspirators still at large and a failed assassination attempt on his beautiful mistress, Rosamund Clifford, the King must take action to preserve his reign. Desperate, Henry turns to the only man he trusts: a man whose skills have saved him once before. Sir Benedict Palmer answers the call, mistakenly believing that his family will remain safe while he attends to his King. As Palmer races to secure his King’s throne, neither man senses the hand of a brilliant schemer, a mystery figure loyal to Henry's traitorous Queen who will stop at nothing to see the King defeated. The Blood of the Fifth Knight is an intricate medieval murder mystery and worthy sequel to E.M. Powell's acclaimed historical thriller The Fifth Knight.

Praise for The Fifth Knight

"Powell does a masterful job. Highly recommended." Historical Novels Review

About the Author

E.M. Powell is the author of medieval thriller THE FIFTH KNIGHT which was a #1 Amazon Bestseller. Born and raised in the Republic of Ireland into the family of Michael Collins (the legendary revolutionary and founder of the Irish Free State) she now lives in the north west of England with her husband and daughter and a Facebook-friendly dog. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, International Thriller Writers and Romance Writers of America. She is a reviewer of fiction and non-fiction for the HNS. Find out more by visiting www.empowell.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

The Blood of the Fifth Knight Blog Tour Schedule

Thursday, January 1 Review at Flashlight Commentary Friday, January 2 Spotlight at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book Monday, January 5 Review at Beth's Book Nook Blog Thursday, January 8 Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past Monday, January 12 Review & Giveaway at Broken Teepee Character Interview at Boom Baby Reviews Tuesday, January 13 Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book Wednesday, January 14 Interview at Oh, For the Hook of a Book Spotlight at A Literary Vacation Friday, January 16 Review at Historical Fiction Obsession Saturday, January 17 Interview at Dianne Ascroft Guest Post & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Obsession Monday, January 19 Review at Ageless Pages Reviews Tuesday, January 20 Review at Books and Benches Spotlight & Giveaway at Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More Wednesday, January 21 Review at Just One More Chapter Monday, January 26 Spotlight at Susan Heim on Writing Wednesday, January 28 Review at Kinx's Book Nook Friday, January 30 Review at Bookramblings Saturday, January 31 Spotlight at Caroline Wilson Writes Sunday, February 1 Review at Carole's Ramblings Monday, February 2 Guest Post at The Lit Bitch Tuesday, February 3 Review at Layered Pages Spotlight at Let them Read Books Wednesday, February 4 Spotlight at CelticLady's Reviews Friday, February 6 Review at The Never-Ending Book

Author Spotlight: David Ebsworth and "The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour"

Author David Ebsworth

on Tour January 26-February 4 with

The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour: A Novel of Waterloo

(historical fiction – Napoleonic)
 Release date: January 1, 2015 at SilverWood Books 
360 pages
 ISBN: 978-1781323212

Author’s website | Goodreads

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SYNOPSIS

June 1815. Bonaparte has returned from Elba and marches with his army to defeat the Prussian and English enemies of France. Within his ranks is Marianne Tambour, a battle-weary canteen mistress for a battalion of the Imperial Guard’s Foot Grenadiers. Just one of the many cantinières who provide the lads with their brandy and home comforts, both in camp and also in the thick of the fight. Marianne is determined that, after this one last campaign, she will make a new life for herself and her young daughter, since neither of them has ever known anything but the rigours of warfare. But she has not reckoned on the complications that will arise from a chance encounter with another of the army’s women, Liberté Dumont – Dragoon trooper and sometimes spy for the Machiavellian French Minister of Police, Fouché. And Marianne wonders what she really wants, this hawk-faced trooper with her visions, dreams and fancies.

Yet, for now, Liberté Dumont is the least of Marianne’s worries. Her position as canteen mistress has not been easily won and she has made enemies in the process. Lethal enemies. And creating a new life, breaking with the army, needs money. Lots of money. So when Hawk-face Dumont accidentally provides an opening for Marianne to rid herself of a dangerous rival and also extends the possibility of fortunes to be made, it looks like an opportunity too good to be refused. The battles that both women must survive, however, at Ligny and Quatre Bras, create their own problems. The closer they come to the English Goddams, the more Marianne is haunted by the memory of the way her adopted mother was butchered at their hands just a few years earlier, in Spain. Thoughts of revenge torment her, distract her from her goals. But her daughter’s capture by the Prussians, and Liberté Dumont’s help in the quest to find the girl creates new and very different bonds, between mother and daughter, and between the two women themselves. The climax will take place on the blood-soaked fields of Waterloo, where Marianne Tambour and Liberté Dumont must each confront their deadliest foes, their worst nightmares, find answers to the secrets of their respective pasts, and try to simply survive the slaughter. Yet the fortunes of war are not easily won, and the fates may, after all, only allow one of these women to see the next day’s dawn. David Ebsworth’s story, The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour: A Novel of Waterloo, is based upon the real-life exploits of two women who fought, in their own right, within Bonaparte’s army. (provided by the author) ***

WATCH THE TRAILER

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Ebsworth is the pen name of writer, Dave McCall, a former negotiator and Regional Secretary for Britain’s Transport & General Workers’ Union. He was born in Liverpool (UK) but has lived for the past thirty years in Wrexham, North Wales, with his wife, Ann. Since their retirement in 2008, the couple have spent about six months of each year in southern Spain. Dave began to write seriously in the following year, 2009, and The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour is his fourth novel. Visit his website. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter Subscribe to his newsletter (see on the right side of the site) Buy the book: SilverWood Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Abebooks | Waterstones

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Click on Entry-Form to enter the giveaway:

Entry-Form

Visit each blogger on the tour: tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time! (just follow the directions on the entry-form) International giveaway: 5 winners Your choice of print/kindle

CLICK ON THE BANNER TO READ OTHER REVIEWS, INTERVIEW AND GUEST-POST

 

Author Spotlight: Susanna Fraser and "The Freedom to Love"

Please join Susanna Fraser as she tours the blogosphere with HF Virtual Book Tours for Freedom to Love, from January 5-16.

Publication Date: January 5, 2015
Carina Press eBook;
ISBN: B00MTGFABM
Genre: Historical Romance
 READ AN EXCERPT.

   

Louisiana, 1815
Thérèse Bondurant trusted her parents to provide for her and her young half-sister, though they never wed due to laws against mixed-race marriage. But when they both die of a fever, Thérèse learns her only inheritance is debt—and her father's promise that somewhere on his plantation lies a buried treasure. To save her own life—as well as that of her sister—she'll need to find it before her white cousins take possession of the land. British officer Henry Farlow, dazed from a wound received in battle outside New Orleans, stumbles onto Thérèse's property out of necessity. But he stays because he's become captivated by her intelligence and beauty. It's thanks to Thérèse's tender care that he regains his strength just in time to fend off her cousin, inadvertently killing the would-be rapist in the process. Though he risks being labeled a deserter, it's much more than a sense of duty that compels Henry to see the sisters to safety—far away from the scene of the crime. And Thérèse realizes she has come to rely on Henry for so much more than protection. On their journey to freedom in England, they must navigate a territory that's just as foreign to them both—love.

Praise for the novels of Susanna Fraser

“[Susanna Fraser is] a go-to writer for Regency romance that is actually set in the Regency rather than in that Never-Neverland mash-up that’s been dubbed ‘The Recency’ or ‘Almackistan.’” — Willaful at Karen Knows Best “This is easily one of the best historical romances I’ve read.” — Romantic Historical Reviews on An Infamous Marriage “…the romance in this story was very sweet. Sydney was immediately relatable and likeable, because she faced such a serious conflict and wanted to make an ethical decision that would preserve the lives of her loved ones.” — Dear Author on Christmas Past

Buy the eBook

Amazon US Amazon UK Amazon Canada Kindle France Kindle Germany Barnes & Noble Google Play Kobo

About the Author

Susanna Fraser wrote her first novel in fourth grade. It starred a family of talking horses who ruled a magical land. In high school she started, but never finished, a succession of tales of girls who were just like her, only with long, naturally curly and often unusually colored hair, who, perhaps because of the hair, had much greater success with boys than she ever did. Along the way she read her hometown library’s entire collection of Regency romance, fell in love with the works of Jane Austen, and discovered in Patrick O’Brian’s and Bernard Cornwell’s novels another side of the opening decades of the 19th century. When she started to write again as an adult, she knew exactly where she wanted to set her books. Her writing has come a long way from her youthful efforts, but she still gives her heroines great hair. Susanna grew up in rural Alabama. After high school she left home for the University of Pennsylvania and has been a city girl ever since. She worked in England for a year after college, using her days off to explore history from ancient stone circles to Jane Austen’s Bath. Susanna lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and daughter. When not writing or reading, she goes to baseball games, sings alto in a local choir and watches cooking competition shows. For more information please visit Susanna’s website and blog. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. Subscribe to Susanna Fraser's Newsletter.

Freedom to Love Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, January 5 Review at Curling Up With a Good Book Tuesday, January 6 Guest Post at Let Them Read Books Wednesday, January 7 Review at Becky on Books Thursday, January 8 Spotlight at Peeking Between the Pages Saturday, January 11 Review at Carole's Ramblings Monday, January 12 Guest Post at SOS Aloha Spotlight at CelticLady's Reviews Tuesday, January 13 Review at Lusty Penguin Reviews Review at Historical Fiction Obsession Wednesday, January 14 Review at Bibliophilia, Please Interview at Historical Fiction Obsession Spotlight at Long Ago Love Thursday, January 15 Guest Post at Romantic Historical Reviews Spotlight at Caroline Wilson Writes Friday, January 16 Review at Boom Baby Reviews Interview at Books and Benches

Giveaway

To enter to win a $50 Gift Card to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Powell's, please complete the giveaway form below.

Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm on January 16th. You must be 18 or older to enter. – Giveaway is open internationally. – Only one entry per household. – All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion – Winner have 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen. Freedom to Love

Review: "After the War is Over" by Jennifer Robson

In the follow up to her bestselling novel "Somewhere in France", Jennifer Robson continues the story of a country suffering in the wake of a terrible war. Readers were first introduced to Charlotte Brown in "Somewhere in France". Devoted friend and former governess to Lady Lilly Ashford-Neville, Charlotte has returned to the life she had before the war. Working in the constituency office of a female politician, she gets to help the poorest echelons of society and yet something is missing. Charlotte has resigned herself to being a spinster, for her heart is held by Lilly's aristocratic brother Edward, the new earl. But it is soon apparent that Edward is suffering from more than just than amputated leg. Using her knowledge as a nurse, Charlotte attempts to heal the man that society says she can never have.

"After the War is Over" is a stellar sequel to "Somewhere in France", though it easily stands on its own. Robson excels at crafting flawed, but likeable characters. While Charlotte is high minded, you can sense her desperation to make an impact. Edward is in some ways the typical aristocrat, but he's attuned to the change around him, but most importantly, to the causes that Charlotte champions. Their love for each other is at times heart wrenching, so grab a box of tissues. 

While romance plays an important role in this novel, Robson does not sacrifice period correct detail. She is a master at building a period correct world, getting every detail right down to the last mention of Life Buoy soap. World War I and the 1920s are enjoying a resurgence of popularity; many novels are not treading new ground in regards to characters or story lines. But Robson accurately depicts the devastating consequences of war, and more importantly, what happens to the unsung heroes after the last patriotic parade is gone.

This novel is recommended all around but especially for general historic fiction readers, romance enthusiasts, and lovers of the early 20th century.