Teaser Tuesday #21

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to: Grab your current read.Let the book fall open to a random page.Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!Please avoid spoilers!

“Enough!” I flung my hands out at both of them while I concentrated on the fact both of them needed a good spanking. Wind obeyed me and they were both knocked back in their seats as a small, concentrated gale surged around them. ~ page 141 Chosen by P.C & Kristin Cast

Musing Monday #21

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about publishing houses …

Do you have a favorite publishing house — one that puts out books that you constantly find yourself wanting to read? If so, who? And, what books have they published that you’ve loved? (question courtesy of MizB)

That is a hard one, I don’t really look at publishing houses so much as I do authors. However, Bethany House has a few authors I like. That is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.


The Sunday Salon #3

The Sunday Salon.com
So I feel like I have been a bad Sunday Salon writer. Because after joining the salon I haven’t really written much on Sunday, but it’s because I have been sick. And not only that but I am sick of being sick. Having Lymphoma has to be one of the hardest things there is. I don’t like to fuss or whine about it much. But lately it’s gotten harder. It has not only taken my ability to have a job outside the house, and now it’s been bothering my blogging, and my reading. I have fallen behind on my reading and I am not happy with it.

But I am slowly feeling a little better slowly feeling a bit more on track. I have written more reviews so far this month than I did last month. I had the books read, but hadn’t written the reviews yet. Yesterday I watched the movie The Weather Man, not a great one. This morning I am watching Profiler. And later today I am hoping to make some progress on my next book. Chosen by P.C and Kristin Cast, I am about 38 pages into it so far and it’s very good. So I am feeling a little better about that. And in 13 days the renaissance festival starts. That I am very much looking forward too. Sick or not I have to go. Sick or not I love the renaissance festival and it gives me the chance to enjoy it.

Book Review: Founding Mothers by Cookie Roberts


In the histories of the American Revolution, much has been written about America’s founding fathers, those brave men who signed the Declaration of Independence, battled the British, and framed the Constitution. Yet the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters who supported, encouraged, and even advised them have been virtually ignored.

In Founding Mothers, New York Times bestselling author Cokie Roberts brings to light the stories of the women who fought the Revolution as valiantly as the men, sometimes even defending their very doorsteps from British occupation. While the men went off to war or to Congress, the women managed their husbands’ businesses, ran the farms, and raised their children. These women who sacrificed for the fledgling nation spent months or even years apart from their husbands, at a time when letters were their only form of contact.

Drawing upon personal correspondence and private journals, Founding Mothers brings to life the everyday trials, extraordinary triumphs, and often surprising stories of Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Deborah Reed Franklin, Eliza Pinckney, Martha Washington, and other patriotic and passionate women, each of whom played a role in raising our nation.

Founding Mother’s is a fantastic novel, I am a revolution fanatic and like anyone who is, I of course love our founding Father. However, Founding Mother’s takes a look at the unsung and forgotten helpers of the revolution, the women of the Fathers. Behind every, man is a fantastic woman. Think about it for a moment John Adams spent well really most of his marriage away from his wife. We know how things went between them through letters. Abigail Adams was a bit of a saint if you ask me. She ran the farm, raised the children and still managed to support the cause. With her and the women league, she made Salt Peter and any number of other things.

Martha Washington was lovingly called Lady Washington by the men of the army. She made shirts did what she could with supplies. She risked her own life to see and talk to the men of the continental army. Mostly she wished for some time with her husband, but she also had a sense of duty a sense of what needed to be done. She cared about the men in her husband’s army; she looked at them like her sons. She held their hands and she looked forward to seeing them all the time.

There are many more women who helped the cause. Some of them are not even in this book. In addition, all of them are enjoyable, all of them you will enjoy. There needs to be more books like this, more books that sing the praises of the women of the revolution.


Book Review: Nectar from a Stone by


It is 1351 in Wales, a country subjugated by England, beaten down by superstition, war, and illness. Elise, prone to strange visions and the sole survivor of a plague-ravaged family, has fled her village for distant Conwy with her servant Annora, running from a murder she was forced to commit in self-defense.

On the road, they cross paths with Gwydion, a moody Welshman seeking to avenge his murdered family and reclaim his estate, and are drawn into a bloody confrontation with another traveler. In its aftermath, Elise and Gwydion find themselves shocked by their developing feelings for each other, and they part.

As the women ultimately reach Conwy, a menacing shadow from Elise’s past creeps toward her, and she must face it to find the peace she longs for, and help Gwydion recapture his home, and her heart, in the process.

In a dazzling narrative where mysterious visions, powerful desire, and dark secrets from the past converge, Jane Guill spins a masterful tale of romance, revelation, and breathtaking suspense.

This book takes part in one of my favorite periods. The Black Prince was alive and running around England. Now of course he was not in this book, but I wanted to read it because it was one of my favorite periods of course. Nectar from a Stone has been on my TBR pile for a while, and so finally, in July I got to it.

Luckily, I was not disappointed sorely. The book did start a little bit slow; some of the establishing pieces in my opinion took to long to do. However, after the first several chapters the book did pick up. The back promises love and romance and revelation as well as suspense and you do get all of these items once you are passed the initial report.

You do get all the things the book promises, although for the genre the romance is a little over done in my humble opinion. Nevertheless, over all I do recommend this book if you like historical fiction and adventures.

Friday Finds #16



This week I am going to be a total Twi-geek and all of my finds are Twilight Saga related..

Defining New Moon: Vocabulary Workbook for Unlocking the Sat, Act, Ged, and Ssat

New Dawn: Your Favorite Authors on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga: Completely Unauthorized

Touched by a Vampire: Discovering the Hidden Messages in the Twilight Saga

New Moon: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion

Booking Through Thursday – Why So Serious.

What’s the most serious book you’ve read recently?
(I figure it’s easier than asking your most serious boook ever, because, well, it’s recent!)

I think that would be Order of the Phoenix, any book that deals with Death is serious to me. Or Memories of Magdalene since its a religious theme. I try to not read to many serious ones in a row because they do tend to be depressing. Like the book club I so lovingly called the “Debbie Downer” book club.

Book Review: The Virgin’s Lover by Phillipa Gregory


The National Bestseller

In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that Elizabeth I is the new queen. One woman hears the tidings with utter dread. She is Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, and she knows that Elizabeth’s ambitious leap to the throne will draw her husband back to the center of the glamorous Tudor court, where he was born to be.

Elizabeth’s excited triumph is short-lived. She has inherited a bankrupt country where treason is rampant and foreign war a certainty. Her faithful advisor William Cecil warns her that she will survive only if she marries a strong prince to govern the rebellious country, but the one man Elizabeth desires is her childhood friend, the ambitious Robert Dudley. As the young couple falls in love, a question hangs in the air: can he really set aside his wife and marry the queen? When Amy is found dead, Elizabeth and Dudley are suddenly plunged into a struggle for survival.

Philippa Gregory’s The Virgin’s Lover answers the question about an unsolved crime that has fascinated detectives and historians for centuries. Intelligent, romantic, and compelling, The Virgin’s Lover presents a young woman on the brink of greatness, a young man whose ambition exceeds his means, and the wife who cannot forgive them.

As my yearly renaissance festival rolls closer I decided to embroil myself for a little bit into the time period by reading The Virgins Lover by Phillipa Gregory. I have been a big fan of her stories, and am always happy to read a tale as told by her. I was however a little disappointed in this book. The same enamoring story just was not there for me with The Virgins Lover.

The prose itself was not the problem for as far as writing style it is the same style I have come to appreciate with Phillipa Gregory, but the story itself was lacking. Listening to Amy whine was just one of the barbs that annoyed me beyond measure. Now I can understand her pain, and believe me I do. But when one married a man in such a time you had to expect some of the things that would be happening. Her husband was almost killed, she should have been happy he was not. Though on the flip side, he should have been a better husband without a doubt.

The story of Robert Dudley and Elizabeth is not a new one, but I had hoped for some excitement from one of my favorite historical authors. But I was a bit disappointed. The Virgins Lover was to me the same rehashing of one of the best known assumed romances. It was a dragging read for me. So as much as I love Phillipa to me this is one to skip. But it won’t stop me from continuing to read her works. They can’t all be winners after all.

Waiting on Wednesday #3

As one of the biggest Rome lover’s you will find. I can not WAIT for this book. I adore Marc Antony and can not wait to see this story of his daughter Selene. Release Date: Sept 15th 2009
The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony’s revengeful rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt. Their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome; only two– the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander–survive the journey. Delivered to the household of Octavian’s sister, the siblings cling to each other and to the hope that they will return one day to their rightful place on the throne of Egypt. As they come of age, they are buffeted by the personal ambitions of Octavian’s family and court, by the ever-present threat of slave rebellion, and by the longings and desires deep within their own hearts.

The fateful tale of Selene and Alexander is brought brilliantly to life in Cleopatra’s Daughter. Recounted in Selene’s youthful and engaging voice, it introduces a compelling cast of historical characters: Octavia, the emperor Octavian’s kind and compassionate sister, abandoned by Marc Antony for Cleopatra; Livia, Octavian’s bitter and jealous wife; Marcellus, Octavian’s handsome, flirtatious nephew and heir apparent; Tiberius, Livia’s sardonic son and Marcellus’s great rival for power; and Juba, Octavian’s watchful aide, whose honored position at court has far-reaching effects on the lives of the young Egyptian royals.

Selene’s narrative is animated by the concerns of a young girl in any time and place–the possibility of finding love, the pull of friendship and family, and the pursuit of her unique interests and talents. While coping with the loss of both her family and her ancestral kingdom, Selene must find a path around the dangers of a foreign land. Her accounts of life in Rome are filled with historical details that vividly capture both the glories and horrors of the times. She dines with the empire’s most illustrious poets and politicians, witnesses the creation of the Pantheon, and navigates the colorful, crowded marketplaces of the city where Roman-style justice is meted out with merciless authority.

Based on meticulous research, Cleopatra’s Daughter is a fascinating portrait of imperial Rome and of the people and events of this glorious and most tumultuous period in human history. Emerging from the shadows of the past, Selene, a young woman of irresistible charm and preternatural intelligence, will capture your heart.

Wicked Wednesday #11


Wicked Wednesday a place to be wicked to other book readers and make them get those TBR piles growing. The concept is simple. Pick a book or two and tell s about them. If its one you read tell us what you liked. If its one you found tell us about that to. Than leave a comment to let us know where to find your Wicked Wednesday titles. Make sure to link back in your posts for other people to follow Wicked Wednesday.


Born into affluence, Mia Stanley is a winsome socialite with a knack for matchmaking. She’s also a writer for Godey’s Lady’s Book magazine, much to the disdain of her family–and their society friends. A proper young lady of her social standing isn’t meant to labor in such a way, but Mia has always had a way with words.

When her writing draws her into the world of downtrodden seamen’s wives on Philadelphia’s docks, Mia uncovers a scheme that puts her in harm’s way. But her heart ends up on the line as well…. Has her determination to always make a match driven away the one man whose esteem she covets?

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