July is here and with it brings lots and lots of great reading. Here is what has arrived at my doorstep in the past 72 hours.
The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick was the first to show up. I have been waiting for this book ever since I first read Elizabeth was writing it.
Eleanor of Aquitaine is a 12th century icon who has fascinated readers for 800 years. But the real Eleanor remains elusive.
This
stunning novel introduces an Eleanor that all other writers have
missed. Based on the most up-to-date research, it is the first novel to
show Eleanor beginning her married life at 13. Barely out of childhood,
this gives an entirely new slant to how Eleanor is treated bv those
around her. She was often the victim and her first marriage was horribly
abusive.
Overflowing with scandal, passion, triumph and tragedy,
Eleanor's legendary story begins when her beloved father dies in the
summer of 1137, and she is made to marry the young prince Louis of
France. A week after the marriage she becomes a queen and her life will
change beyond recognitio.
The Wild Girl by Kate Forysth, came out a month earlier than expected. I LOVED Bitter Greens and knew this one had to be preordered. You love fairy tales, then this book is for you (so is Bitter Greens too!)
Dortchen Wild fell in love with Wilhelm Grimm the first time she saw him.Growing
up in the small German kingdom of Hessen-Cassel in early Nineteenth
century, Dortchen Wild is irresistibly drawn to the boy next door, the
young and handsome fairy tale scholar Wilhelm Grimm.
It is a
time of War, tyranny and terror. Napoleon Bonaparte wants to conquer
all of Europe, and Hessen-Cassel is one of the first kingdoms to fall.
Forced to live under oppressive French rule, the Grimm brothers decide
to save old tales that had once been told by the firesides of houses
grand and small all over the land.
Dortchen knows many beautiful
old stories, such as 'Hansel and Gretel', 'The Frog King' and 'Six
Swans'. As she tells them to Wilhelm, their love blossoms. Yet the
Grimm family is desperately poor, and Dortchen's father has other plans
for his daughter. Marriage is an impossible dream.
Dortchen can only hope that happy endings are not just the stuff of fairy tales.
The Queen's Vow by C.W. Gortner is a book that I was able to get from NetGalley when the hardcover was released last year. I really enjoyed it (click on title for my review) and just had to have a copy to sit beside The Last Queen (which I also loved) on my shelf.
No one believed I was destined for greatness.
So begins Isabella’s story, in this evocative, vividly imagined novel
about one of history’s most famous and controversial queens—the warrior
who united a fractured country, the champion of the faith whose reign
gave rise to the Inquisition, and the visionary who sent Columbus to
discover a New World. Acclaimed author C. W. Gortner envisages the
turbulent early years of a woman whose mythic rise to power would go on
to transform a monarchy, a nation, and the world.
From the glorious palaces of Segovia to the battlefields of Granada and the intrigue-laden gardens of Seville, The Queen’s Vow
sweeps us into the tumultuous forging of a nation and the complex,
fascinating heart of the woman who overcame all odds to become Isabella
of Castile
The Secret History: A novel of Empress Theodora by Stephanie Thornton,
it takes place in Rome and it's Stephanie's debut as well as calling my name.
Where Theodora went, trouble followed…
In
sixth century Constantinople, one woman, Theodora, defied every
convention and all the odds, and rose from being a common theater tart
to become empress of a great kingdom, the most powerful woman the Roman
Empire would ever know. But the woman whose image was later
immortalized in glittering mosaic was, in fact, a scrappy, clever,
conniving, flesh-and-blood woman full of sensuality and spirit whose
real story is as surprising as any ever told…
Venus in Winter by Gillian Bagwell, I've never read anything by this author before but have heard many good things and since it involves a person I find very interesting what choice did I have but to grab it also..
The tale of Bess of
Hardwick—the formidable four-time widowed Tudor dynasty who became one of
the most powerful women in the history of England.
On her twelfth birthday, Bess of Hardwick receives the news that she is
to be a waiting gentlewoman in the household of Lady Zouche. Armed with
nothing but her razor-sharp wit and fetching looks, Bess is terrified of
leaving home. But as her family has neither the money nor the
connections to find her a good husband, she must go to facilitate her
rise in society.
When Bess arrives at the glamorous court
of King Henry VIII, she is thrust into a treacherous world of politics
and intrigue, a world she must quickly learn to navigate. The gruesome
fates of Henry’s wives convince Bess that marrying is a dangerous
business. Even so, she finds the courage to wed not once, but four
times. Bess outlives one husband, then another, securing her status as a
woman of property. But it is when she is widowed a third time that she
is left with a large fortune and even larger decisions—discovering that,
for a woman of substance, the power and the possibilities are
endless . . .
The House on Tradd Street by Karen White, another case where this is a new author to me, apparently this is the beginning to a great series (that's what I hear anyways).
A brilliant,
chilling series debut, featuring a Charleston real estate agent who
loves old houses and the secret histories inside them.
Practical Melanie Middleton hates to admit she can see ghosts. But she's
going to have to accept it. An old man she recently met has died,
leaving her his historic Tradd Street home, complete with housekeeper,
dog and a family of ghosts anxious to tell her their secrets.
Stormbringers by Philippa Gregory, 2nd book in the YA Order of Darkness series.
Luca Vero is a member
of the secret Order of Darkness, tasked with searching out and reporting
signs of the end of the world. Breaking his journey in Piccolo, he
finds a place filled with superstitious fears: of the unknown, of the
forces of the sea and sky, of strangers. With him are his loyal friend
and servant, Frieze, and his clerk, Brother Peter, as well as the Lady
Isolde and her mysterious servant-companion Ishraq. The five of them are
followed into the town by a huge children's crusade, led by a
self-proclaimed saint. Its young leader promises that the sea will part
before them, and allow them to walk dry-shod all the way to Jerusalem.
Luca and Lady Isolde are swept up in the growing excitement; but
something dangerous is brewing far out to sea.
There is my reading pile for the month of July, would love to hear what you are reading.
