Elements by Aprilisa
Book Blast: Love at Pemberley
Please join Reina M. Williams on her Love at Pemberley Series Book Blast from May 12-June 13.
About Most Truly
Publication Date: December 15, 2013
Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
eBook; 88 pages
Heat level: Sweet
Colonel James Fitzwilliam is home. The war has left him weary, battle-scarred—and a free man of fortune ready to find a wife. He travels to Pemberley, his second home. There he meets Kitty Bennet. Her unexpected charms soon have him questioning his familial duty and his expectations. A fight looms on the horizon when his aunt—Lady Catherine de Bourgh—and his parents arrive with their own plans for his future.
Kitty Bennet has found happiness. At Pemberley, she has improved herself and formed true friendships with her sister Lizzy and Georgiana Darcy. Kitty is captivated by the gentlemanly Colonel Fitzwilliam. But she will not be silly over a redcoat again, and she will not risk her happiness—or his family’s displeasure—for his attentions. Colonel Fitzwilliam, Darcy, Lizzy, and Georgiana have their say, and Kitty learns a new lesson—love will find you at Pemberley.
About Miss Darcy Decides
Publication Date: January 21, 2014
Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
eBook; 77 pages
Heat level: Sweet
Miss Darcy Decides is a light, sweet Pride and Prejudice novella, book two in the Love at Pemberley series.
While visiting a young woman—who was not so fortunate as Miss Georgiana Darcy in escaping the persuasions of a rogue—Georgiana meets Sir Camden Sutton, whose reputation causes Georgiana to wonder as to his motives. Her wondering soon turns to a different feeling when Sir Camden comes to stay at Pemberley, showing himself to be a very different man than was rumored.
While Sir Camden struggles with his past and his commitment to his future, as well as the ill intentions of haughty Caroline Bingley, Miss Darcy must decide whether to listen to others, or the words written on her heart.
About Miss Bennet Blooms
Publication Date: 4/25/14
Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
eBook; 70 pages
Heat level: Sweet
Miss Mary Bennet is the last unmarried Bennet sister. She believes she will live out her days as a maiden aunt, seeking quiet in the libraries and parlors of her father’s and brother-in-laws’ homes. On a visit to Pemberley, the estate of Fitzwilliam Darcy, her sister Lizzy’s husband, Mary begins to feel more is possible than her planned life of solitude. Among new friends and with new confidence, Mary opens to new feelings when she meets Mr. Nathaniel Bingley.
Nathaniel Bingley, at the insistence of his cousin Charles Bingley, finds himself at Pemberley. After Nathaniel’s years in the West Indies studying its intense flora, he is ready to seclude himself to compile his work into a book. But Nathaniel could not say no to Charles, who was one of Nathaniel’s few kind relatives after the deaths of his beloved parents. Soon, Nathaniel also finds it difficult to say no to his own feelings about the lovely Miss Mary Bennet.
Can Mary and Nathaniel look beyond their plans and accept the grace of love at Pemberley?
Buy the Novellas
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo Books
About the Author
Reina M. Williams loves period dramas, sweet reads, fairy tales, cooking and baking. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her two boys, who hope to someday take a research trip to England with their mom.
For more information please visit Reina M. Williams’s website. You can also connect with her on Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest.
Book Blast Schedule
May 12: Kincavel Korner
May 13: Hardcover Feedback
May 15: Peeking Between the Pages
May 16: A Bookish Girl & The Lit Bitch
May 20: CelticLady’s Reviews
May 21: Historical Tapestry & To Read, Or Not to Read
May 22: Book Nerd, & Historical Fiction Obsession
May 24: Passages to the Past
May 26: Mari Reads
May 27: Long Ago Love
May 28: Kinx’s Book Nook
May 30: Flashlight Commentary
June 1: Literary Chanteuse
June 2: History From a Woman’s Perspective
June 4: She is Too Fond of Books
June 5: So Many Books, So Little Time
June 7: A Bookish Affair & Griperang’s Bookmarks
June 8: The True Book Addict
June 9: West Metro Mommy
June 11: Book Lovers Paradise, Historical Fiction Connection, and The Tower of Babel
June 13: Carole’s Ramblings & The Mad Reviewer
Giveaway
To win one of the following prizes please complete the Rafflecopter giveaway form below. Giveaway is open internationally.
- 2 eBook Sets of Love at Pemberley Trilogy
- 2 Audio Books of Most Truly
Giveaway ends at 11:59pm on June 13th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
Winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter on June 14th and notified via email.
Winner have 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.
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Review: Love & Treasure
Publication Date: April 1, 2014
Knopf Publishing Formats: Ebook, Hardcover, Audio
Synopsis:
A spellbinding new novel of contraband masterpieces, tragic love, and the unexpected legacies of forgotten crimes, Ayelet Waldman’s Love and Treasure weaves a tale around the fascinating, true history of the Hungarian Gold Train in the Second World War.
In 1945 on the outskirts of Salzburg, victorious American soldiers capture a train filled with unspeakable riches: piles of fine gold watches; mountains of fur coats; crates filled with wedding rings, silver picture frames, family heirlooms, and Shabbat candlesticks passed down through generations. Jack Wiseman, a tough, smart New York Jew, is the lieutenant charged with guarding this treasure—a responsibility that grows more complicated when he meets Ilona, a fierce, beautiful Hungarian who has lost everything in the ravages of the Holocaust. Seventy years later, amid the shadowy world of art dealers who profit off the sins of previous generations, Jack gives a necklace to his granddaughter, Natalie Stein, and charges her with searching for an unknown woman—a woman whose portrait and fate come to haunt Natalie, a woman whose secret may help Natalie to understand the guilt her grandfather will take to his grave and to find a way out of the mess she has made of her own life.
A story of brilliantly drawn characters—a suave and shady art historian, a delusive and infatuated Freudian, a family of singing circus dwarfs fallen into the clutches of Josef Mengele, and desperate lovers facing choices that will tear them apart—Love and Treasure is Ayelet Waldman’s finest novel to date: a sad, funny, richly detailed work that poses hard questions about the value of precious things in a time when life itself has no value, and about the slenderest of chains that can bind us to the griefs and passions of the past.
Love & Treasure is a beautifully written story that will not leave your mind easily. Ms. Waldman weaves her story through several time periods; pre and post WWII and the present. She is able to interweave all the time periods into one amazing story.
I thought Ms. Waldman really captured the aftermath of WWII with honesty and intensity. Americans were not the knight in shining armor coming to rescue the Jews from imprisonment. Instead she writes of corruption, prejudice and depression. I found it so heartbreaking on how the survivors were trying live their lives after so much tragedy. The Jews didn’t have many friends or supporters. They had to create their own support system. The initials stages of the creation of Israel was incredibly interesting; but also depressing. It was so sad how other Jews thought of and treated the prison camp survivors. It seemed the survivors were expendable in order for the rest to regain their homeland. You wished for unity but its just not there.
The present day is all about forgiveness, redemption and rebirth. There is pain as there was in the past; but to different degrees. WWII veteran Jack Wiseman has put all of his guilt into one piece of jewelry. The pendent represents what he lost during the war and the corruption he witnessed. For him, returning the pendent to its rightful owner will relieve him of his burdens. His story with Ilona was incredibly sad. I wish Ms. Waldman included a bit how Ilona lived her life. Did she survive? Did she live a full life?
I wasn’t that attached to Natalie as I was to Ilona. However, I liked her tenacity to solve a mystery and fulfill her grandfather’s wish. It was nice that she was able to find love as well.
I really enjoyed how Ms. Waldmen ended her story. At first, I thought it was a bit disjointed but by the end it fit perfectly with the overall storyline. Nina and Gizelle made for a very tragic story in of itself. I would love to know more.
Love & Treasure is a wonderful book and should be read by anyone who loves WWII history.
Buy the Book
Amazon US
Audible.com
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository
IndieBound
About the Author
Ayelet Waldman is the author of the newly released Love and Treasure (Knopf, January 2014), Red Hook Road and The New York Times bestseller Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities and Occasional Moments of Grace. Her novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits was made into a film starring Natalie Portman. Her personal essays and profiles of such public figures as Hillary Clinton have been published in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Vogue, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Her radio commentaries have appeared on “All Things Considered” and “The California Report.”
For more information please visit Ayelet’s website. Her missives also appear on Facebook and Twitter.
Her books are published throughout the world, in countries as disparate as England and Thailand, the Netherlands and China, Russia and Israel, Korea and Italy.
Virtual Book Tour Schedule
Tuesday, May 27
Review at Kinx’s Book Nook
Review at A Bibliotaph’s Reviews
Wednesday, May 28
Guest Post at Passion for Novels
Thursday, May 29
Review at Mari Reads
Friday, May 30
Review at She Reads Novels
Review at Dianne Ascroft’s Blog
Monday, June 2
Review at Flashlight Commentary
Tuesday, June 3
Interview at Flashlight Commentary
Wednesday, June 4
Review at Seaside Book Corner
Thursday, June 5
Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book
Friday, June 6
Interview at Oh, For the Hook of a Book
Monday, June 9
Review at Closed the Cover
Tuesday, June 10
Interview at Closed the Cover
Wednesday, June 11
Review at A Bookish Girl
Review at Peeking Between the Pages
Friday, June 13
Review at Ageless Pages Reviews
Monday, June 16
Review at So Many Books, So Little Time
Guest Post at Historical Fiction Connection
Wednesday, June 18
Review at Let Them Read Books
Thursday, June 19
Review at Book Nerd
Friday, June 20
Review at Curling Up with a Good Book
Monday, June 23
Review at 100 Pages a Day
Tuesday, June 24
Review & Giveaway at Luxury Reading
Wednesday, June 25
Review at Lit Nerd
Thursday, June 26
Review at The Little Reader Library
Friday, June 27
Review at Man of la Book
Monday, June 30
Review at A Bookish Affair
Review at Just One More Chapter
Interview at Layered Pages
Tuesday, July 1
Interview at Jorie Loves a Story
Wednesday, July 2
Review at From L.A. to LA
Review at Mina’s Bookshelf
Thursday, July 3
Review at Jorie Loves a Story
Review at CelticLady’s Reviews
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Review: Mr. Darcy’s Pledge
Mr. Darcy’s Pledge
Written Monica Fairview
Published on May 6, 2014 by White Soup Press
202 pages
Austenesque Fiction
Synopsis:
Torn between his heart and his mind… Mr. Darcy must make a choice.
Fitzwilliam Darcy has always been able to keep his emotions under control. That is, until he falls under the spell of Elizabeth Bennet and surprises himself by blurting out a proposal to her like a moonstruck youth. Stung to the quick by her rejection, his pride in tatters, and left with no possibility that she will ever return his regard, Darcy determines to put all thoughts of Elizabeth behind him. But not even Town with its boundless opportunities for amusement can keep the image of Elizabeth Bennet from pursuing him everywhere he goes.By the time Darcy leaves Town to travel up to Pemberley, he has learned one thing. There is only one way of overcoming Miss Bennet’s bewitching hold over him and Darcy is desperate enough to try it. The solution is to get married. And this time, he is not going to choose a wife by allowing his emotions to lead him by the nose.
His choice will be entirely rational…
In Volume I of this Pride and Prejudice variation, Monica Fairview traces Mr. Darcy’s journey as he struggles to come to terms with the upheaval Elizabeth Bennet has caused in his life…and his heart.
Mr. Darcy’s Pledge has to be one of my favorite pieces of Austenesque fiction that I’ve read. I read it just one day; I couldn’t put it down. The story is set during the three months between Darcy’s first proposal and when Lydie ran away with Wickham. Ms. Fairview takes us on a wonderful journey into Darcy’s and his sister, Georgiana’s life after he came under the spell of Elizabeth Bennet.
When the story begins, Darcy is completely beside himself trying to erase Elizabeth from his mind. He is impulsive and now obsessed with finding a suitable mistress for Pemberley. There is so much comedy in his actions and behavior. I laughed out loud so many times at his antics. His character in Mr. Darcy’s Pledge is so different from Pride and Prejudice. He finally comes to terms with his own dreadful behavior towards Elizabeth and his dastardly proposal to her. He realizes how snobbish he was to Elizabeth and he deeply regrets his behavior. He now wants to rise above it and win her again.
Georgiana, Darcy’s sister, is a main character throughout this book. She has come of age and ready to be presented to society. However, her elders seem to want to meddle on how she is to be settled. I really loved watching her overcome her insecurities and shyness to defend herself and her brother. She has real strength of character that really shined throughout the story. By the end, Georgiana and Darcy really bonded and made a formidable team.
Mr. Darcy’s Pledge is a wonderful book which I thoroughly enjoyed. It fit perfectly with Pride and Prejudice and I felt Ms. Fairview captured the depths of Darcy’s embarrassment, despair, and, finally, hope. I found this book to be funny and romantic. Reading this book made for a very delightful day.
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Review: Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey
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Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey
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Written by Nick Bertozzi
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To be published on June 17, 2014 by First Second
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128 pages
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Graphic Novel/Historical Fiction
Synopsis from the publisher:
Ernest Shackleton was one of the last great Antarctic explorers, and he led one of the most ambitious Antarctic expeditions ever undertaken. This is his story, and the story of dozens of men who threw in their lot with him – many of whom nearly died in the unimaginably harsh conditions of the journey. It’s an astonishing fear – and was unprecedented at the time – that all the men in the expedition survived.
Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey depicts one man’s obsession with conquering a land that can’t be conquered. However, his journey wasn’t just about his longing to be the first man to cross Antarctica; it’s about the loyalty he had to his men and their survival.
To read this rest of my review go to The Red Dirt Report.
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Book Blast: Curses & Smoke
Publication Date: May 27, 2014
Arthur A. Levine Books
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Genre: YA Historical
When your world blows apart, what will you hold onto?
TAG is a medical slave, doomed to spend his life healing his master’s injured gladiators. But his warrior’s heart yearns to fight in the gladiator ring himself and earn enough money to win his freedom.
LUCIA is the daughter of Tag’s owner, doomed by her father’s greed to marry a much older Roman man. But she loves studying the natural world around her home in Pompeii, and lately she’s been noticing some odd occurrences in the landscape: small lakes disappearing; a sulfurous smell in the air…
When the two childhood friends reconnect, each with their own longings, they fall passionately in love. But as they plot their escape from the city, a patrician fighter reveals his own plans for them — to Lucia’s father, who imprisons Tag as punishment. Then an earthquake shakes Pompeii, in the first sign of the chaos to come. Will they be able to find each other again before the volcano destroys their whole world?
Buy the Book
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository
Books-a-Million
Fishpond
Powell’s
Waterstones
About the Author
Vicky Alvear Shecter is the author of the young adult novel, CLEOPATRA’S MOON (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, 2011), based on the life of Cleopatra’s only daughter. She is also the author of two award-winning biographies for kids on Alexander the Great and Cleopatra. She is a docent at the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Antiquities at Emory University in Atlanta.
Author Links
Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Book Blast Schedule
Monday, May 12
Bibliophilia, Please
bookworm2bookworm’s Blog
Tuesday, May 13
Broken Teepee
Passages to the Past
In the Hammock Blog
Wednesday, May 14
CelticLady’s Reviews
The Most Happy Reader
I’d So Rather Be Reading
History From a Woman’s Perspective
Thursday, May 15
Kinx’s Book Nook
A Bibliotaph’s Reviews
Historical Fiction Obsession
Friday, May 16
Booktalk & More
The Mad Reviewer
Book Lovers Paradise
Saturday, May 17
SOS Aloha
Reading the Ages
Kelsey’s Book Corner
Sunday, May 18
Giant Squid Books
WTF Are You Reading?
Monday, May 19
Caroline Wilson Writes
So Many Books, So Little Time
Tuesday, May 20
West Metro Mommy
The True Book Addict
The Musings of ALMYBNENR
Wednesday, May 21
Book Nerd
Tower of Babel
Hardcover Feedback
Thursday, May 22
Paperback Princess
Bittersweet Enchantment
Friday, May 23
History Undressed
Historical Fiction Connection
Saturday, May 24
Literary Chanteuse
Just One More Chapter
Sunday, May 25
A Dream within a Dream
The Little Reader Library
Monday, May 26
Pages of Comfort
Griperang’s Bookmarks
Raizza’s Book Blogging Adventure
Tuesday, May 27
Princess of Eboli
Ageless Pages Reviews
The Musings of a Book Junkie
Giveaway
To win a copy of Curses & Smoke or a $25 Amazon Gift Card please complete the Rafflecopter giveaway form below. Giveaway is open to US residents only.
Giveaway ends at 11:59pm on May 27th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
Winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter on May 28th and notified via email.
Winner have 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.
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Waiting on Wednesday: Book of Life
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. Hosted by Breaking the Spine.
Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy #3) by Deborah Harkness
To be published on July 15, 2014
After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.
I absolutely can’t wait for this book to be released. I’m desperately trying to get an advanced reading copy. Wish me luck!
What are you waiting for?
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It’s Monday! What are you reading?!
Welcome to It’s Monday! What Are You Reading! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! Hosted by Book Journey.
Last Week:
This Week:
Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman
In 1945 on the outskirts of Salzburg, victorious American soldiers capture a train filled with unspeakable riches: piles of fine gold watches; mountains of fur coats; crates filled with wedding rings, silver picture frames, family heirlooms, and Shabbat candlesticks passed down through generations. Jack Wiseman, a tough, smart New York Jew, is the lieutenant charged with guarding this treasure—a responsibility that grows more complicated when he meets Ilona, a fierce, beautiful Hungarian who has lost everything in the ravages of the Holocaust. Seventy years later, amid the shadowy world of art dealers who profit off the sins of previous generations, Jack gives a necklace to his granddaughter, Natalie Stein, and charges her with searching for an unknown woman—a woman whose portrait and fate come to haunt Natalie, a woman whose secret may help Natalie to understand the guilt her grandfather will take to his grave and to find a way out of the mess she has made of her own life.
A story of brilliantly drawn characters—a suave and shady art historian, a delusive and infatuated Freudian, a family of singing circus dwarfs fallen into the clutches of Josef Mengele, and desperate lovers facing choices that will tear them apart—Love and Treasure is Ayelet Waldman’s finest novel to date: a sad, funny, richly detailed work that poses hard questions about the value of precious things in a time when life itself has no value, and about the slenderest of chains that can bind us to the griefs and passions of the past.
What are you reading this week?
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Book Beginnings & Book Blogger Hop
Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.
My Book Beginning:
Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman
They found the train parked on an open spur not far from the station at Werfen. When they pulled up to the siding in their jeeps, Captain Rigsdale jumped out with a show of alacrity, but Jack hung back, eyeing the train. More than forty wagons, both passenger and freight. The nature of the cargo was as yet undetermined, but in this green and mountainous corner of the American Zone, a string a of boxcars was something Jack felt eager to explore.
From Chapter 1 of Love & Treasure which takes place in the modern day and in the aftermath of WWII.
I’m reading this book for an upcoming book blog tour and I’m really enjoying it so far. Reading novels that take place during and after WWII are incredibly emotional. This book deals with all of the treasures and possessions that were taken from Hungarians Jews by the Nazis and the guilt over how to deal with those possessions.
The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012.
Luckily, Billy from The Coffee-Addicted Writer has relaunched the Book Blogger Hop. Each week the hop will start on Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt just like before. The hop’s purpose will remain the same as it will give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
Q: When you enter a contest or request a book, how do you keep track of what the books are? or perhaps you don’t keep track and just remember what you entered or requested? (submitted by Elizabeth)
A: I don’t keep track of any requests or contests. When I enter a contest, it’s on a whim. If I win, it’s a complete and wonderful surprise. If I don’t win, it’s no big deal because I don’t remember entering because I didn’t track it. It’s the same with requests. I rarely make requests therefore I don’t need to track them. I do calendar all of my blog tours and the like; that way I don’t over schedule myself in any given month.
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