Historical – Fiction Aficionado

Top Ten Tuesday – Autumn 2021 TBR

Happy Tuesday, reading friends, and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl. It’s a new season, which is always a good reason to revisit the TBR, particularly upcoming releases that I’m looking forward to. And here in Australia, we’re two weeks into autumn already, and it’s starting to feel like it. I put on a light cardigan for the first time in months yesterday! Sounds like perfect weather to curl up and read in, doesn’t it? And I’m looking forward to doing just that with these books!

16 March 2021

Shadows of the White City (Jocelyn Green) – Review

The one thing Sylvie Townsend wants most is what she feared she was destined never to have–a family of her own. But taking in Polish immigrant Rose Dabrowski to raise and love quells those fears–until seventeen-year-old Rose goes missing at the World’s Fair, and Sylvie’s world unravels.

Brushed off by the authorities, Sylvie turns to her boarder, Kristof Bartok, for help. He is Rose’s violin instructor and the concertmaster for the Columbian Exposition Orchestra, and his language skills are vital to helping Sylvie navigate the immigrant communities where their search leads.

From the glittering architecture of the fair to the dark houses of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods, they’re taken on a search that points to Rose’s long-lost family. Is Sylvie willing to let the girl go? And as Kristof and Sylvie grow closer, can she reconcile her craving for control with her yearning to belong?

10 March 2021

First Line Friday – Shadows of the White City (Jocelyn Green)

Happy Friday and welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. This week I’m finally diving into Jocelyn Green’s new release, Shadows of the White City. Jocelyn is one of my favourite historical fiction authors, and having enjoyed Veiled in Smoke last year, I’m keen to read Sylvie’s story and catch up with Meg and Nate. I especially love that this story takes place many years later. It’s not often we get to catch up with characters so many years down the track!

26 February 2021

Top Ten Tuesday – Books with Yellow Covers

Happy Tuesday, reading friends, and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl. Apparently today is Mardi Gras, or would be if it weren’t for that C-word we didn’t even know existed until a little over twelve months ago. I’m all the way Down Under, so I have no idea whether Mardi Gras is going ahead, but in honour/memoriam of Mardi Gras, today’s TTT topic is Purple, Yellow, and/or Green Book Covers. It’s summer here in Australia and I’m wearing a yellow top, so that seems a perfectly reasonable reason to go with a yellow cover theme for today’s post. And so I give you my expertly curated selection of yellow-covered novels. (In other words, I scrolled through my Kindle library and picked the first ten yellow covers I came across. 😂)

16 February 2021

Boundless (Tamara Leigh) – Review

THE WULFRITHS. IT ALL BEGAN WITH A WOMAN

A battle. A crown. The conqueror. The conquered. Medieval England—forever changed by the Battle of Hastings. And the rise of the formidable Wulfriths.

DECEIT WRAPPED IN SOMETHING SWEET

After aiding the English resistance who once more fail to reclaim their country from the invaders, Lady Marguerite returns home to Scotland in the aftermath of William the Conqueror’s harrying of the North—and does not come alone. Accompanying the Sparrow of King Malcolm’s Court is a warrior mistakenly believed her enemy, the price for which may be his irreparable loss of sight. Burdened by having laid the trap for a man she regrets not recognizing sooner, and strangely drawn to him, she determines she will be the one to tend this Norman. But that is possible only if he does not learn she is responsible for what could strip the warrior from him. When her deception is unveiled, will he reject what he has come to feel for her? When he leaves, will he take her heart with him?

13 February 2021

Top Ten Tuesday – Books Written Before I Was Born TBR

Happy Tuesday, reading friends, and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is Books Written Before I Was Born, and I’ve decided to do a TBR take on the topic. For the purposes of this post, let’s just say I’m a child of the late-seventies and leave it at that. 😉 All of the books I’ve listed below were written well before that time anyway, so the precise year of my birth doesn’t matter.

As I’ve made it one of my goals to read more Shakespeare this year, I could have been boring and just listed ten of his plays, but I also have a long list of classics that I want to read (I often have a classic on the go at the same time as a modern novel), so it wasn’t too difficult to come up with my ten this week. And most of them are fairly well-known novels, so I’d love to know if you’ve read any of them!

2 February 2021

Beauty Among Ruins (J’Nell Ciesielski) – Review + Giveaway

In Ciesielski’s latest sweeping romance, an American heiress finds herself in Scotland amid the fallout of the Great War, and a wounded Scottish laird comes face-to-face with his past and a woman he never could have expected.

American socialite Lily Durham is known for enjoying one moment to the next, with little regard for the consequences of her actions. But just as she is banished overseas to England as a “cure” for her frivolous ways, the Great War breaks out and wreaks havoc. She joins her cousin in nursing the wounded at a convalescent home deep in the wilds of Scotland at a crumbling castle where its laird is less than welcoming…

27 January 2021

Top Ten Tuesday – New-To-Me Authors in 2020

Happy Tuesday, reading friends! It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday post, thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl, and this week’s topic is New-To-Me Authors I Read in 2020. When I went back through my Goodreads list, I discovered I could actually do almost three lists this week—that’s how many new-to-me authors I read in 2020! So I’ve decided to give you a two-for-one deal today. I’m giving you a list of ten Christian fiction authors who were new to me in 2020 AND a list of general market authors who were new to me in 2020.

Some of these authors have been around for many years, and I decided to finally see what all the fuss was about, others are as new to everyone else as they are to me, and others are somewhere in between. I wonder whether I will manage as many new-to-me authors in 2021!

26 January 2021

The power of fiction, the beauty of words, and the God who made us to wield them for His glory.