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 Lady Elaine Warren began her first season full of excitement and verve, ready to have her chance at the world. But slowly, she began to fade away and turned into a wallflower of the highest order. The culprit? Evan Carlton, the Earl of Westfield, made Elaine his target. With his insecure cousin in tow, Evan made Elaine’s life miserable, until she lost all chance of finding a well-placed husband. But in reality, Evan has always liked Elaine, and his mocking of her was simply an immature reaction to an attraction he didn’t know what to do with. Returned from the Continent, and several life-changing experiences, Evan longs to show Elaine just how stupid he was and see if he can have a chance at winning the woman he loves most of all, even if she wants nothing to do with him.
This little novella by Courtney Milan has received rave reviews pretty much everywhere. I’m not going to lie, I was absolutely thrilled when I discovered I could buy it for 86p on my Kindle, even though I’m in the UK. I downloaded it and read it within two days. It’s a short novella, equivalent to about 100 pages in print, so it’s best read straight in an evening (preferably alone, and with tissues if you’re anything like me).
Anyway, despite the reviews, I was genuinely surprised at how well this worked. I often have trouble buying into short romances, because it’s hard to believe they’d fall in love so fast, but this one just clicked with me instantly. The back story comes thick and fast, so we’re prepared for the characters’ reactions immediately. Plus, they tap right into that stereotype of the popular teenager longing for the wallflower, turning around and falling in love with her, then grovelling in order to win her heart back. I’m sure we’d all wish to avoid the torment that is actually inflicted on poor Elaine, but watching Evan try impossibly hard to win her back is gorgeous reading for someone who loves romance.
Plus, if you’ve ever been made fun of, even if not to such a degree, it’s impossible not to empathise with Elaine. Who wouldn’t want their former tormentor to turn around, beg forgiveness, and proceed to do everything in his power to make things perfect? At the same time, how hard would it be to trust that person not to turn around and make it all a living hell once again? It’s all so well done and so true to real life emotions. I’d never really Courtney Milan before, but trust me, this will not be the last time I do so, and I will be purchasing her backlist the minute I allow myself to buy books again.
If you’re a romance reader, you simply must give this novella a try. It’s available for every e-reader through All Romance ebooks, Amazon, or Amazon UK.
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I purchased this book.
 In 1876, fancy mail order magic is driving out homespun magic, the kind Emily Edwards practices. As her and her father’s situation gets more and more desperate, she decides to snare a wealthy husband with a love spell. Her efforts, though meant well, completely backfire, and soon she finds herself racing across the country with Dreadnought Stanton, a snobbish warlock from New York City, on a frantic effort to reach the centre of the warlock’s world before it’s too late.
This was a great book in so many different ways. I love the setting – like other reviewers before me have said, it’s that wild west meets magic that is surprisingly appealing. It reminds me of Firefly in a way, both set in a world full of cowboys but with added twists to make them fresh and new. Here we have not only magic but echoes of steampunk and a few other bits and pieces.
Hobson’s ideas about magic are different from anything I’ve personally read, but the contrast is so apt for the time period when the mass catalogues started going out and people began to crave something other than homespun, homemade goods. This is a few years before that started to happen in real life, but it has that feel about it of the new pushing out the old, and the old struggling to survive in any way possible. The magic system develops very much along the course of the book, with new discoveries coming rapidly. It’s obvious that Hobson has a lot of ideas and I’m really looking forward to her fleshing this version of our world out more. The end of the book hints at a sequel and I am crossing my fingers that this is true, because I would definitely like to spend more time here.
And then, of course, there is a fantastic romance, and I can’t spoil that for anyone as it’s right on the back cover. Plus, tension sparks between Emily and Dreadnought almost immediately, and I think it would be difficult to miss their eventual romance from the opening chapters of the book. It’s a well done romance, too, without getting at all in the way of the plot. Instead it feels natural, inspired by the tension they’re both experiencing and the chemistry that springs up between them. There are very few types of novels that I like better than a good fantasy with a side romance, so needless to say this book ticked all of those boxes for me.
The Native Star is a solid satisfying indulgence of a read, well worth the time for anyone who likes fantasy or romance. And it was a nominee for the Nebula award this year, which is a third-party agreement of this book’s excellence.
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I purchased this book.
 Eleanor of Aquitaine is just fifteen years old when her father dies and she marries Louis, the future king of France. They’ve not even reached Paris before the crises in Eleanor’s marriage become apparent; her husband has no interest in consummating their union, despite his physical attractiveness, is ruled by several members of his government, and has ascended to the throne without knowing anything about what he is doing. Taking us through Eleanor’s life from this moment through her journey on Crusade and second marriage, Devil’s Consort (Queen Defiant in the US) explores what might have really happened to one of history’s most well known royal women.
Historical fiction and Eleanor of Aquitaine are not strangers to one another; in fact, I feel like she’s been the subject of more and more books lately, both fiction and non-fiction. She’s a character that’s hard to resist, after all, a strong woman who broke free of convention, possibly had several affairs, and was the queen of two rival countries in the High Middle Ages, also known as the part of the Middle Ages that best represents our imaginings of it. She divorced her French husband and almost immediately dashed off to marry the future Henry II – so quick we can’t help but think she planned it – but also represents a woman who was easily capable of ruling, even if she did have to do it under her husband’s and son’s names.
Devil’s Consort is a hugely enjoyable book; it doesn’t precisely challenge any of the leading ideas about Eleanor, which means she does have those affairs I mentioned, one in particular with a crusading knight, and she does get very frustrated with her first husband Louis. Naturally he adores her, in a puppyish way, as he completely ignores her and goes off to pray instead of make heirs. At times I did wish the book reached beyond conventional ideas, but for someone who is a bit less read in Eleanor’s life and times, I don’t think this would at all be a problem. One thing I did think was that, outside of Eleanor and Henry, a few of the characters were more cardboard than flesh, in particular Louis. This doesn’t at all mean that history is neglected; I particularly enjoyed the mention of a particular rock crystal vase, the only item that we know Eleanor actually possessed (and can see for ourselves).
Overall, it’s a fast-reading, entertaining romp through medieval England and the thoughts and struggles of a woman who clearly knows who she is and often what she wants as well. I enjoyed in particular the bits when Eleanor herself goes on crusade; obviously she didn’t participate in the fighting and I was very curious to see how O’Brien depicted her time in the holy land. Devil’s Consort is a book well suited for others who love historical fiction and should stand firmly on the shelf next to other works about her. I’d recommend it!
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review from a publicist.
 Sarah McConnell’s husband has been dead for three months, lost in a boating accident. But then she sees him in the grocery store, in her home, at the cabin they once shared. She’s convinced that he’s real, more so when he speaks to her. When she tries to tell the women at her widow’s group, they all smile and reassure her, because they have all seen their husbands at one point or another. Sarah’s grief confuses her so much that she isn’t sure whether her husband is still alive, whether her experiences are real, or whether it’s all just the wishful thinking of a widow who wasn’t sure about anything beforehand either.
This book starts out with the perfect set-up. We instantly know Sarah is a widow and that she’s still seeing her husband as if he were alive. We speedily find out that he’s been lost in a boating accident, and though some of his personal items have been found, his body is still missing. So he might be alive, and missing, or he might truly be dead – it’s a mystery and Sarah is just as confused as the reader is. Throw in a bit of angst left over from their previous marriage and a whole lot of learning to be alone and it’s easy to understand how Sarah can struggle so much while doing her best to appear fairly normal.
Somehow, though, while I liked this book well enough, I never really crossed the line into loving it or feeling like I wanted to pick it up after I’d put it down. I did finish it, but it didn’t stand out in any way, and I felt there was a reason I’d had it for review for a while without considering reading it yet. I think a degree of this is personal; I generally struggle with books like this, which are about women and feelings, mainly I think because I am a woman and have feelings and get enough of that in my own life.
Still, I appreciated the way the book was put together, the slow unveiling of the mystery, confusing at first but with a twist at the end that helps it all make sense and coalesce. It’s a story about coping with grief and making sense of what is left, however possible. Whether David is still alive or not, and we spend most of the novel unsure, Sarah still has to manage her grief because her life will never be the same either way. I can appreciate that The Widow’s Season a very good book and I suspect someone who is the right target audience for this will just love it.
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I received this book for free to review.
 We’re already five days into June and somehow I’ve not yet summarised my May reading! As a month overall, May was pretty average. I spent some time planning my trips, playing various video games (Fable III and Assassin’s Creed, for any fellow gamers out there), and discovering Downton Abbey and How I Met Your Mother. I also decided to go on a book buying ban, which has now taken effect.
My reading took a bit of a hit this month thanks to all of the above. I read 13 books, which is probably the least I’ve ever read since I’ve been blogging, and in vivid contrast to April’s 22. Regardless, I’ve already started to make up for the slow month by reading 4 in June so far! Here’s what I read:
Fiction
- Caressed by Ice, Nalini Singh
- Lady of the English, Elizabeth Chadwick
- Silk is for Seduction, Loretta Chase (review to come in late June)
- Amaryllis in Blueberry, Christina Meldrum
- Archangel’s Consort, Nalini Singh
- Madame Tussaud, Michelle Moran
- Anne of the Island, L.M. Montgomery
- The Widow’s Season, Laura Brodie
- The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, Heidi Durrow
- Devil’s Consort, Anne O’Brien
- The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
I also interviewed Elizabeth Chadwick and participated a bit in Armchair BEA with an intro post and three SEO tips.
Nonfiction
Best of the Month
This month I’d best give my top pick over to Nalini Singh, because this is the month that the Psy-Changeling series hooked me!
I also, however, really loved The Hemingses of Monticello, Madame Tussaud and Lady of the English and would enthusiastically recommend all three.
 Famous for her battle to win the English throne as rightful heir from her cousin Stephen, Matilda ‘the Empress’ is still young when her husband, the Emperor of Germany, passes away, leaving her childless and off to be reunited with her father Henry I. Matilda is Henry’s only living child, which means that she is his heir unless his young wife Adeliza can get pregnant. The two women become fast friends but are separated when Matilda is married once again to Geoffrey of Anjou, a man much younger than her and not at all to her taste. Matilda’s marriage becomes a smaller problem in the wider scheme of English and French politics, however, when her father dies and her cousin Stephen grabs the throne before Matilda can even get to England. Matilda’s fight for the throne for herself and then for her son Henry is juxtaposed with Adeliza’s rediscovery of herself and her possibilities through a second marriage.
Every single time I read a book by Elizabeth Chadwick, I find myself wondering why I haven’t devoured her entire backlist by now (trust me, that day will come). Each book is a treasure to savor and Lady of the English is no exception. Even knowing the history and the outcome of the book, I found myself captivated throughout, spellbound by Chadwick’s well told version of a tale I’ve read before. I loved many, many things about this book, not least its realistic portrayal of historical figures as complex human beings that can’t be summed up in a chronicle.
Matilda, Adeliza, Geoffrey, and Henry all walked and breathed in my mind at least. Matilda in particular stole the show for me. Chadwick’s depiction of her genuine struggle between showing authority as the rightful monarch and being womanly as required was just fabulous and I got a real sense of how frustrating this must have been for her. The very idea of a king was completely at odds with the concept of femininity and Matilda really has nowhere to go.
I also found the friendship between her and Adeliza to be a inspired way to tell this story. Their lives become very different, but they can represent two paths while still remaining connected. Matilda is ambitious and determined to get what is hers by right, turns off her emotions in public as best she can, and is fundamentally a leader, even as she rages against her own powerlessness. Adeliza is more submissive, using more traditional female power tactics to get her way from her husbands, and seems content in the domestic sphere even at the highest levels. The contrast brings more life to the book and I think women who read this book will find a little bit of themselves in both Adeliza and Matilda.
Lady of the English is an excellent read, with a lot in it for both people who like to read historical fiction and those who like to read about relationships. It’s a fascinating story grounded with very real people. Very highly recommended.
For a little more about the book from the author, check out my interview with Elizabeth Chadwick.
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review from the publisher.
Today is the release date of Elizabeth Chadwick’s newest, and hugely enjoyable as usual, historical fiction novel, Lady of the English. I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to ask her a few questions in honor of the book’s release!
1. The settings in this novel are so well described. Have you been to many of the locations featured in your books?
Indeed yes. I try to get out and about to locations for every novel. It’s not possible to go everywhere; there wouldn’t be time, but I tryto cover a broad selection. I am familiar with the gem that is Castle Rising which William D’Albini built for his wife, complete with his and hers toilets! I didn’t go to Normandy this time, but I have been there in the past, and also the Loire Valley. London has changed massively, but I have still stood on the same sites even if they look very different now. I didn’t go to Lincoln this time around, but I’ve been on research visits before. For the rest I use guidebooks and online resources – the latter are invaluable providing you are cautious about their content. Obviously imagination and educated guesswork have their place to play as well.
2. Have you ever wanted to write a novel set outside the Middle Ages?
I’ve written contemporary short stories for magazines, but although I can do it, to be honest I don’t get that same buzz. At the start of my career I toyed with the idea of writing Regency, but then fellin love the Middle Ages and that was that. If I did write a Regency now I would have so much research to do to bring myself to a level that would satisfy my integrity. With the Middle Ages I have decades of research under my belt. I have occasionally pondered going to a slightly earlier or slightly later time, where some of my researchwould still be valid, but really the 11th through 13th centuries are my stamping ground
3. I’ve noticed that you are very active on social network sites like Twitter and you run your own blogs – which fans like me love – but how do you manage to find time for writing?
That is indeed a dilemma. Sometimes it gets very hectic I admit, most of the time it’s a case of having the ability to multi-task quickly combined with being able to dip in and out of the writing at will. So I’ll write a couple of paragraphs, check twitter and e-mail andFacebook, dash something off, and then go back to novel for another couple of paragraphs. I really do enjoy interacting with people and listening to their stories. I’m not one of those authors who is forced into social networking with a cattle prod by their publishers,but there is still only so much time in a day, and it is a balancing act to keep everything in motion.
4. What made you choose to juxtapose Adeliza’s story with the more famous Matilda’s?
Empress Matilda is well known in history and whenever a story is told about her by writers, King Stephen and his wife also called Matilda are generally the other big players – for obvious reasons. However no author has ever explored the dynamic between Matilda and Adeliza. No one has told Adeliza’s story which is a fascinating one. She has been pretty much forgotten or at best marginalised. But the relationship between her and the Empress Matilda was probably the most important woman to woman one of Matilda’s adult life. When Matilda returned to her father’s court following the death of her first husband, shewould have spent several years in Adeliza’s company. When Matilda and her second husband Geoffrey Anjou split up for 18 months, she and Adeliza again spent time together, and it was Adeliza who allowed Matilda into England to begin her campaign for the English Crown.
That must have taken a lot of guts on Adeliza’s behalf, and must also have indicated how strong the relationship was between the women. Somehow Adeliza persuaded her husband, who was on Stephen’s side, to allow the Empress to land at Arundel. Adeliza’s contribution to the future reign of Henry II should not be overlooked. If you’ll pardon the pun she was a kingpin. Both women left England never to retur naround the same time – 1148, and so it gave me a good cut-off point and helped me to structure the novel.
5. Moving into theoretical territory here, do you think there was anything Matilda could have done to get and keep her throne?
This is a difficult one. Matilda would always have had a hard row to hoe as a woman in a man’s world. If one searches around one can find examples of women who ruled in their own right, but they were the exception and in the 12th century the rules were becoming more rigid and women were becoming increasingly pinned down. If Matilda had been more conciliatory at crucial times in her bid for the Crown – such as in London where she blew it by being haughty towards the citizens who were natural supporters of Stephen, or if she had handled Stephen’s brother Henry of Winchester with kid gloves, she might indeed havecarried the day. But even if she had been crowned, I wonder if she would have kept the throne. I don’t think for one minute it would have been the end of matters. Whether she was a Queen or not, the fighting would have continued. Having looked at Matilda’s life, I think she wasn’t an easy person to get on with. She could be haughty and proud and cold; but she was honest and direct and expected others to be the same. And she had a warm and generous side that can still be traced via some of the Chronicles outside the scope of the war in England. I also think -and this is the theory not something I can prove, that she was a martyr to premenstrual tension. It’s something that is never factored into the historical record, but it must have played its part among all women known to history. Add the wrong time of the month into a difficult situation that calls for patience and diplomacy, and I can see how things might have gone pear shaped very fast. I think also that Matilda was filled with a vast amount of hurt and anger that people had rejected her, that they had gone back on their word, and I do not believe she forgave easily. When the time came that she was in command, she let herself be ruled by some of that hurt and anger, and it was part of her downfall.
Many thanks to Elizabeth Chadwick for answering all of my questions! Please come back tomorrow for my review of Lady of the English!
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review.
 In Moonwalking with Einstein, Joshua Foer digs deep into the concept of memorisation and how our lack of it as a society has affected us. He goes so far as to compete in a memory championships, sharing his tips along the way, as we learn just what it takes to be a memory professional. He doesn’t memorise just the shopping list or the US Presidents; he memorises poems, playing cards, and people, with easy tips for us to learn how to memorise as well.
I have a memory that is simultaneously atrocious and very efficient, so I was incredibly curious about recognised memory techniques. Foer mainly describes the memory palace idea that I’d seen used previously, although I can’t remember where. It’s surprisingly effective; I managed to do his little exercise and actually found it very successful, to the point where I can still remember it a few weeks later. There are a couple of other hints and tricks throughout as he goes through the process of learning to be a memory champion.
That wasn’t the most interesting part for me, though, as I was much more interested in the history of memory and his investigation into the top minds in the world, including those with mental illnesses whose memories are somehow naturally more effective than the rest of us. He goes in two directions with the latter, interviewing a man who has no memory and a man who has unnatural memory abilities. It’s absolutely fascinating to see how the mind is affected at different stages of memory recall. Foer also talks to memory professionals – people who help you remember – and gets a wide range of perspectives on the subject. All of it was quite interesting.
I’m sure it helped that I am firmly in Foer’s camp in that I believe memory is very important. I am partially blessed with a good memory; I can stick things in my memory with relative ease when I try, and sometimes I find random dates and facts stuck in my head without real effort (my new mobile number popped into my head one day and hasn’t left yet!). But if I’m not paying attention, I forget very easily, and I’ve never been good at using memory devices to remember things like the planets. I usually just remember the sentence and forget which planet is which word!
But I do believe memory is important, largely for the reasons Foer mentions; we need to have a lodestone to attach future knowledge on. As a practical example, I know a lot more history than the average person who has never really cared for it, like my husband. When we go to a museum, I love it partly because I can usually relate what I’m seeing to the store of memory in my head (partly because I love history). He loses interest pretty quickly and forgets what he’s seen because nothing has meaning to him, but when he sees something he can relate to, he’s much more interested. We need to have some firm grounding of facts in our heads to relate to the world around us – this is why a lot of older literature is harder to read, because we’ve lost the intimate knowledge of things like classical literature and the Bible to attach allusions to.
Although I enjoyed parts of this book more than others, I would still highly recommend it to anyone who is at all interested in memory, whether you’d like to remember better or are simply curious about the history of memorisation.
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I received this book for free from Amazon Vine.
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