"Angel Baby" by Richard Lange~Explosive!

SUMMARY :

A woman goes on the run in this intense and cinematic thriller by an award-winning writer.

To escape the awful life she has descended into, Luz plans carefully. She takes only the clothes on her back, a Colt .45, and all the money in her husband's safe. The corpses in the hallway weren't part of her plan.

Luz needs to find the daughter she left behind years earlier, but she knows she may die trying. Her husband is El Principe, a key player in a high-powered drug cartel, a business he runs with the same violence he has used to keep Luz his perfect, obedient wife.

With the pace and relentless force of a Scorsese film, ANGEL BABY is the newest masterpiece from one of the most ambitious and talented crime novelists at work today.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Mulholland Books/Little, Brown & Co.
Pages:  288 pages
Genre:  Fiction/Thriller
Author:  Richard Lange
Website:  http://richlange.com


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Richard Lange was born in Oakland, CA and grew up in California’s San Joaquin Valley. He is the author of the novels Angel Baby and This Wicked World and the short story collection Dead Boys. His stories have appeared in The Sun, The Iowa Review and Best American Mystery Stories, and as part of the Atlantic Monthly’s Fiction for Kindle series.

 

 

ACCOLADES FOR "ANGEL BABY" :

 

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

When you find yourself rooting for the killer in a grisly crime novel, you know you're in the hands of a real writer. Every character in Richard Lange's Angel Baby feels like flesh and bone, even the ones who show up just to be killed.

Publishers Weekly

The rambling plot of Lange’s second crime novel will remind many of the work of Elmore Leonard. Desperate to escape her life as the caged mistress of violent Mexican drug lord Rolando, Luz plans carefully and waits for her moment. Preparation and ruthlessness let her vanish with a backpack full of money, leaving the corpses of two of Rolando’s faithful employees in her wake. By the time Luz is missed, she has arranged to be ferried into the U.S. by Malone, a self-destructive drunk. Enraged, Rolando has “El Apache” retrieved from a Mexican prison and orders the reluctant criminal to use his American citizenship to follow Luz to the States and drag her back to Rolando. As an extra incentive, Rolando makes it clear that El Apache’s wife and child will pay the price for failure. More polished than his first novel, This Wicked World, Lange’s follow-up marks him as a crime novelist to watch. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency. (May)

 

Kirkus Reviews

A rising star in neonoir, Lange follows up his 2009 novel, This Wicked World, with a sharply calibrated and affecting tale about a young Mexican beauty who will do anything to reclaim the baby daughter she left in Los Angeles. The woman, Luz, survived a hard upbringing in Tijuana only to fall under the control of an abusive Mexican drug lord, Rolando, aka "El Principe." After going to great lengths to convince him she is devoted to him, she sneaks off with a pile of his money, killing two of his household staff with his gun. She hires Malone, an American who makes a living smuggling Mexicans across the border, to drive her to California. They are quickly pursued by Jerónimo, a one-time LA gang member whom Rolando springs from a Tijuana prison to bring back Luz, and Thacker, a corrupt U.S. Border Patrol agent. Jerónimo, a reformed soul whose wife and daughter are being held by Rolando until he returns with Luz, strikes an uneasy alliance with the slovenly, unreformed Thacker: He'll get Luz, and the border cop will get the money. Malone, who is haunted by memories of seeing his own little girl run over by a car, becomes committed to Luz. The twisting plot thickens when Rolando orders Jerónimo to bring back Luz's child as well. Unlike most such stories, this book is driven not by greed or revenge but by parenthood, and Lange doesn't subscribe to the usual moral checks and balances. In all other ways, however, he embraces classic noir in all its violence, bleakness and dark humor. He makes readers care about his flawed characters and appreciate the odds that were stacked against them by the circumstances of their upbringing. A film waiting to happen, this book boasts memorable characters, evocative settings and a suspenseful plot.

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

Wow!  This is a book that starts off running and gallops through to the end!  It's heart-thumping and hair-raising. Every page is action-packed. I loved it!  Not to be missed book for this year, it's one of the best in this genre.  I can absolutely see a movie coming out of it!  Richard Lange is an author who stands alone in thriller/suspense novels, and I'll be reading every single thing he writes.

Lange knows how to grab your attention from the first words he writes.  There's not a boring section of this book.  He offers up one hard-hitting, plot-building impact after another as we follow his protagonist, Luz, struggling to escape her gangster boyfriend and find her child.  The central figures of the book also include men who are both gravely dishonest and greedy, as well as having time-bomb agendas that motivate them. While they serve to hunt down Luz, or work to help her survive, they hit some rock bottom, personal tests of their own.  It's a cat-and-mouse race with horrendous, deadly consequences for Luz and the men surrounding her.  This is psychological and physical drama with killer impact.

This novel is obviously one in the hands of a master storyteller.  It's violent, but it's as subtle in that as a stealthy animal only seeking to defend itself.  I never felt there was gratuitous violence, but it was in keeping with the storyline.  This book is held well in control of every word and movement.

Never a scene that wasn't pitch perfect, albeit dark and fast-paced.  In "Angel Baby," the difference between a mediocre novel and one that will keep you spellbound is clearly found.

I highly recommend the book to everyone.  I literally didn't put it down for hours as I read through to the end.  It was cinematic. Every page had me zipping on to the next. Run out to get your copy...

5*stars                Deborah/TheBookishDame



 

Read More

"The Wonder Bread Summer" by Jessica Anya Blau

SUMMARY :

It's 1983 in Berkeley, California. Twenty-year-old Allie Dodgson is a straitlaced college student working part-time at a dress shop to make ends meet. But when the shop turns out to be a front for a dangerous drug-dealing business, Allie finds herself on the lam, speeding toward Los Angeles in her best friend's Prelude with a Wonder Bread bag full of cocaine riding shotgun and a hit man named Vice Versa on her tail. You can't find a more thrilling summer read!

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Harper Perennial
Pages:  260
Genre:  Fiction
Author:  Jessica Anya Blau
Website:  http://www.jessicaanyablau.com


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 Partial bio. of Ms Blau....Please click on her site above for a more comprehensive one!

Jessica Anya Blau's second novel, DRINKING CLOSER TO HOME, has just been released to rave reviews. Novelist Irina Reyn calls it, "Unrelentingly, sidesplittingly funny." The Austin Chronicle says that, "The domestic relationships in the book are brilliantly rendered, a contemporary California version of Philip Roth." Author Dylan Landis says the book is, "So raw and funny I wanted to read parts aloud to strangers."

Jessica'a first novel, THE SUMMER OF NAKED SWIM PARTIES, was chosen as a Top Ten Summer Read by the Today Show, The New York Post and New York Magazine. Cosmo called it a "Sexy Summer Read!" The San Francisco Chronicle and the Rocky Mountain News chose THE SUMMER OF NAKED SWIM PARTIES as a Best Book of the Year!

Here is Jessica's Biography With Dogs:  (The rest of this bio. can be found on her site!)

Jessica was born in Boston. Her father was a graduate student and her mother was staying home with Jessica...



THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS  :


This is one of those books highly touted by publishers and sent on the rounds to authors and bookshops that the average reader will find strange and weird, I think.  I have three words for it:
No, no and no.  It just wasn't my cup of tea.

I think Ms Anya Blau tries too hard to be hip and raunchy in this novel.  It falls short in my humble opinion and just comes up being contrived and grungy.  There's a light story filled with juvenile descriptions of gross men wanting to masturbate to young girls' exposed breasts, travels with a Wonder Bread bag full of cocaine and silly plastic behaving druggies on the hunt for it.  I found it a contrived and fluffy book.  Just me, perhaps.

There are some interesting parts to the book:  Chinese proverbs splattered about, and 1980's mentions of music and décor.  But these can't keep an otherwise drowning book afloat.

Here's a typical excerpt.  You be the judge:

"OH MY GOD, LOOK WHO'S HERE!"  Penny screamed.  She rushed to Allie as if they were sorority sisters meeting up at a mixer.

Allie untangled her mother's arms from around her neck.  Penny grabbed at the bread bag and tried to tug it out of her daughter's hand.

Allie immediately regretted her decision to stay at the Biltmore.  "Leave it alone," she snapped, and she pulled back so quickly that Penny stumbled.

"It's my China Blackie bird!" Billy Idol got up from his stool, came over to Allie, and led her away from Penny.

"That's my SISTER!"  Penny caught up the them, then flopped her belly onto a barstool, bottom out.  She wobbled around the stool like a nine-year-old.  Allie was only slightly embarrassed.  These were rock stars, they were used to idiotic behavior.

"It's your daughter, you bleedin' sot!"  Billy Idol said, and everyone, including Allie, laughed.

"Hey," Allie said, and she sort of leaned into Billy's chest the way a cat might if it wanted to be scratched.

"How you doing, China?"  Billy pulled up a stool and patted it so Allie would sit.

"She's got coke!"  Penny yelled.  She popped off the stool and stumbled into Billy Idol and Allie, throwing one arm across each of their shoulders.

"Mom, you need coffee or something,"  Allie said.

"I need more of that COKE!"

"Shhh!"  Allie said.  "It's too much for you, Mom."

Billie Idol leaned in close to Penny and quietly said, "Last I heard it's illegal in America, so you best keep quiet about it.  Now why don't you be a good bird and go sit on my mate's lap and let him order you a café or something?"

Allie wondered if she'd ever stop swooning over his accent, which made her feel like a melting popsicle:  sticky, watery, going down.

Penny snatched at the bread bag with two hands.  Billy Idol detached Penny's hands, then threw her over his shoulder like a bag of grain.  "Nigel, you got this one, mate?"

"Hear, hear,"  Nigel said, and he patted his skinny, snake-skin-bound thighs.


So, that's just your typical section of the book, friends....


While I've seen that other bloggers recommend this book for summer reading, I simply can't.  I did skim to the end.

Deborah/TheBookishDame

Read More

GIVEAWAY!! "A White Room" by Stephanie Carroll~Shocking Historical Fiction!

SUMMARY :

At the close of the Victorian Era, society still expected middle-class women to be "the angels of the house," even as a select few strived to become something more. In this time of change, Emeline Evans dreamed of becoming a nurse. But when her father dies unexpectedly, Emeline sacrifices her ambitions and rescues her family from destitution by marrying John Dorr, a reserved lawyer who can provide for her family.

John moves Emeline to the remote Missouri town of Labellum and into an unusual house where her sorrow and uneasiness edge toward madness. Furniture twists and turns before her eyes, people stare out at her from empty rooms, and the house itself conspires against her. The doctor diagnoses hysteria, but the treatment merely reinforces the house's grip on her mind.

Emeline only finds solace after pursuing an opportunity to serve the poor as an unlicensed nurse. Yet in order to bring comfort to the needy she must secretly defy her husband, whose employer viciously hunts down and prosecutes unlicensed practitioners. Although women are no longer burned at the stake in 1900, disobedience is a symptom of psychological defect, and hysterical women must be controlled.

A novel of madness and secrets, A White Room presents a fantastical glimpse into the forgotten cult of domesticity, where one's own home could become a prison and a woman has to be willing to risk everything to be free.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Unhinged Books
Pages:  408
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Author:  Stephanie Carroll
Website:  http://www.stephaniecarroll.com
Find copies of the book:  Barnes & Noble  as well as Amazon and other stores below


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

As a reporter and community editor, Stephanie Carroll earned first place awards from the National Newspaper Association and from the Nevada Press Association. Stephanie holds degrees in history and social science. She graduated summa cum laude from California State University, Fresno.

Her writing is inspired by the classic authors Charlotte Perkins Gilman (The Yellow Wallpaper), Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden), and Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights).

Stephanie blogs and writes fiction in California where her husband is stationed with the U.S. Navy. Her website is www.stephaniecarroll.net.


INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE CARROLL :

A Bookish Libraria is happy to bring you this interview with Ms Carroll.  Thanks for participating in this personal question and answer time, Stephanie.  Here we go!

1)       Tell us something about yourself, please.  How do most people describe you?

 

I’d imagine others would describe me as short, determined, and squeaky! Friends claim I make squeaking sounds on occasion. Either that or I’d think they would say something about something I’ve done followed by – she’s crazy! They might add that I’m a writer, and I’m kind of creepy because my creative side leans toward dark ideas but not in a horror type of way. I don’t like scary or gore. I really hope people describe me as a good friend and an honest and honorable person. In addition to that, I’ve been married to the love of my life for nine years and my babies are my two Chihuahuas, Gigitt and Coconut.

 

2)      Briefly, from where did the idea for your novel germinate?

 

The original idea came from a free-write I did to deal with a difficult time in my life. After I graduated from college, my husband, who is in the U.S. Navy, was stationed in Fallon, Nevada. The move was really difficult for me for several reasons.  It was going to be the first time I lived far away from friends and family, and it was the first time I was going to be going out into the world to actually work instead of going to school. Fallon is a very small town, isolated. There’s not much there other than a Walmart. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and I was terrified that I wasn’t going to have any options in such a small community. It turns out Fallon became like a second home to us and I earned several awards while working as a reporter there, but I could never have imagined anything like that happening when we first moved there.

 

I started to feel like I was losing it. Everything began to seem overwhelming and like an unwanted obligation. I felt so overwhelmed and pressured by what I was supposed to do in this life – and I mean everything – paying bills, grocery shopping, getting gas, showering. This, of course, was a reflection of how I felt obligated to move for my husband and give up my goals and chances for a career.

 

At the time, though, it just all felt like everything was too much and a part of me just wanted to give up, stop caring about everything. I felt like if I let go and didn’t care about anything then I would be free, but you can’t do that. If you stopped caring about the things you are obligated to do, your life would fall apart, and everyone who relies on you would suffer. So I just felt trapped by obligation and while feeling all of that, I wrote this:

“Sometimes while sitting there staring out the window, I imagined

a place in my mind, a white room. A simple space coated

in white paint. The white represented responsibility, obligation. It

didn’t require what responsibility and obligation required, but it

had the same effect. It maintained the person in the room; it kept

the person alive and well, along with everything and everyone that

person cared for, but nothing the person held dear existed in the

room. The person was alone. The person experienced no joy from

bearing the weight of responsibility, earned no prize.

I imagined a particular person in the room—a woman, also

clothed in white. This woman constantly faced a dilemma. She

longed for freedom. She longed to be the bird.

Her open palms grazed the rutted expanse of the wall. She

knew that something lay beyond—beyond the white. She could

burst out into the world of grass, sky, and lavender, but she knew

that if she broke through the barricade, everything she protected

would crumble, suffocate, and wither behind her. Her own freedom

would last only moments because she, too, couldn’t survive

without the white. Earth and water would smother her, and radiant

light would slice through her like a blade.

I imagined her pressing with both hands, weighing freedom

against existence and all that depended on her, but in the end she

lightened her stance and stepped away. She always chose to stay, to

fulfill her obligation.

I thought of the woman in the white room—she chose to

sacrifice her freedom for the people who relied on her to survive,

but how long could she possibly survive without freedom? How long

could she last before choosing the alternative?”

—Quoted from A White Room with the permission of the author.

 

3)      Who first told you could write well, and how did it affect you?

 

I’m sure I was told when I was younger, but the memory that has really stuck with me was with my first history instructor in college. It was the first class I took after I had realized I wanted to study history. I wrote a paper on a topic that was very interesting to me, and when my instructor returned the papers, she stopped in front of my desk, clutched the paper to her chest and said, “This is the best paper I have ever read.” That instructor became my mentor and one of her assignments laid the first seeds for A White Room – that is when she assigned Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” which is a classic short story that I modeled much of my novel off of.

 

4)      Which contemporary authors do you most admire?

 

Janet Fitch – White Oleander and Audrey Niffeneger – The Time Traveler’s Wife. Those authors do things with words that make me salivate.

 

5)      Which are your favorite classical authors?

 

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” – I love her brand of crazy.

 

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden – This is where my obsession with big houses and secret rooms comes from.

 

Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights – The moors, oh I love the moors! The wind sounds like a person howling – oh it’s so creepy. I love it!

 

6)      Jump into any book which character would you be?

Oh wow. That’s a really hard question. I guess I’d have to say Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden. Running around that big house and discovering secret rooms, having a secret place to call your own, not to mention living on the moor! Either her or Bella from Twilight! Bella gets to have all the fun. Oooo or Hermione Granger! Oh yeah I want to be Hermione from Harry Potter! I want to be smart and do magic!

 

7)      If you could have 5 historical people to dinner, who would they be?  What would you have to eat?

 

Mark Twain – he’d be all witty and say interesting things about life.

Anne Boleyn – you know she’d bring a little intrigue to the conversation.

Teddy Roosevelt – everybody loves Teddy! He’d bring me a Teddy Bear.

Adam and Eve (I’m counting them as one because of the whole rib thing.)– I’d want them there so we could all be like, dude you guys what happened?

Jesus of Nazareth – You can’t have a magical dinner with anyone in history without inviting Jesus Christ! To be honest he’s kind of an important guy to me – and he always has wine.

 

What would we eat? … Sushi! Just to see the looks on their faces!

 

8)      Read any good books in the past 6 months?

The last book that I really, really enjoyed was Megan Chance’s An Inconvenient Wifeand before that The Host by Stephenie Meyer – ahhh don’t stab me. I liked that book ... but not everybody likes people who like that book.  =)

 

9)      Favorite two tv shows:

 

“Desperate Housewives” because they are a bunch of crazy women, and “Vampire Diaries.” Who isn’t addicted to that show? I got my husband addicted. He was so disappointed in himself. =) Before that it was “Buffy the Vampire Slayer!” I have loved vampires long before Twilight. I own all seven seasons! And I’ve watched all the commentary . . . TWICE!

 

10)   Favorite movie of all time:

 

My favorites are the movies that I watch over and over and over. It’s difficult for me to choose just one. So here are my top three:

 

Titanic – with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Pride and Prejudice – with Kiera Knightley

Ice Age – with the sloth!

 

11)   Are you working on a new book?

 

The first draft of my second novel is written, and I’m super excited about it. It’s called The Binding of Saint Barbara and is about the people involved with the first death by electrocution, which took place in Auburn Prison, New York in 1890. It focuses more specifically on the warden and his family who lived in the prison at the time. The true story of the first electrocution is extremely interesting, but I decided to combine real events with fiction and create a fictional warden’s daughter, named Charlotte, who believes the patron saint of lightning lives inside her and talks to her. She is the main character and while the issues of death are going on in the prison, Charlotte, learns lessons about life and herself after meeting a strange young man outside the prison walls.

 

I think my books are going to start leaning more toward magical realism. Magical realism isn’t fantasy. It’s like incorporating magic into fiction and treating it like reality.  Alice Hoffman (The Dovekeepers) is known for this as is Isabel Allende (House of Spirits) and Sarah Addison Allen (The Sugar Queen).

 

I also plan to keep writing in the same time period for now although who knows where I might go in the future. My third book will actually span several generations of women so several time periods, and I have several ideas floating around my head, some of which are in different time periods, but I imagine I’m going to stick with historical. What can I say – I love history. 

 

12)   Anything else I forgot to ask you?

 

I don’t think you forgot anything but something I can add is A White Room is not based on true people or events, but is based on a variety of historical trends, common experiences, and especially the female experience at the turn of the century.

 

The house itself is based on the Doyle-Mounce House in Hannibal, Missouri. I tried to describe the exterior exactly, but the interior is all a creation of my own. All the descriptions of furniture are based on real pieces of Art Nouveau furniture from the Victorian era. Art Nouveau is a very creepy and interesting style. It was very easy to imagine these pieces coming to life. I highly recommend people Google Art Nouveau furniture to see it for themselves.

 

I also tirelessly researched the daily life of Victorians so I could show what it was like to live day to day. That aspect was very important to me and is the reason I include a chapter that describes my main character’s day.

 

Further, society’s obsession with hysteria, the professionalization of medicine, the eradication of midwifery, and the illegalization of abortion are all based in historical fact. Even the brutal methods of interrogation in the book were inspired by actual investigative procedures, including the disturbing use of the ‘dying confession.’

 

 

I appreciate your taking time to be with us today, Stephanie.  Interesting comments and a wonderful insight into you and your writing!

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

Stephanie Carroll is a debut author with much to say in terms of the treatment and sufferings of women in the late Victorian age.  While her book doesn't fall specifically in the category of "women's literature," per se, it could be categorized that way if it were read in college classrooms.  I found it persuasive in terms of the plight of women in that Age.  It was good reading and held my attention throughout the story.

The plot is well-developed, and the storyline is one that engenders sympathy on behalf of the main character, Emeline, who is a young woman caught in a seemingly loveless, arranged marriage.  We are drawn in to her increasing guilt and madness as she struggles to make sense of her "captivity" in boredom and disconnection with her husband.  Ms Carroll does a fine job of describing her descent into this sort of insanity, and then her climbing out of it as she finds meaning in her life.  There is a surprise ending that pulls the story together!

If there were one short-coming to point out in her writing, I would have to say I found the dialog stilted at times.  This is probably a symptom of it being a first novel. It didn't take away from the meat of the book, but is something I would mention only because it was evident especially in the beginning. I easily pushed past it and it became less noticeable as the story progressed.

All in all, this is a well-imagined book with a strong story behind it.  It's reminiscent of "The Yellow Wallpaper," but takes a similar story to a broader perspective and to a wonderful conclusion.  I think Ms Carroll is a writer with great potential, and one I look forward to reading again.

I recommend this book to all who enjoy women's fiction with a bent toward feminism.  It's a strong historical fiction with a blistering story of an unusual woman's life in the late Victorian era, as I've said.

Fast-paced and intelligent, this is one you'll find very thought-provoking.  A good read for everyone!

4.5 stars              Deborah/TheBookishDame


                                              GIVEAWAY!!!!!


TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY FOR A BOOK PLEASE:

1)   Leave your email address in the comments

2)  Join my blog on GFC on the sidebar

3)  Leave a comment about the book


This giveaway is for the US only...


Thanks!!   Deborah
   


SEE MORE REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS AND GUEST POSTS ON THIS NOVEL AND STEPHANIE CARROLL HERE :

A White Room Blog Tour Dates

 

Weds, June 19 – Oh, For the Hook of a Book:  Book Review and Giveaway (ebook)

 

Thurs, June 20 – Hazel the Witch:  Interview and Giveaway (Print)

 

Sat, June 22 – Reading in Ecuador:  

Guest Post: How to Write Suspenseful Fiction including A White Roomexcerpt

 

Thurs, June 27 – Momma Bears Book Blog:  Giveaway and

Guest Post: The Story Behind Emeline’s Mental Distress

 

Fri, June 28 – The Bookish Dame:  Interview and Giveaway

 

Tues, July 2 – I am Indeed:  Guest Post: Historical Accuracy in Historical Fiction

 

Mon, July 8 – Bookfari:  Interview and Giveaway

 

Tues, July 9 – Hazel the Witch: 

Guest Post – How to Write the Inner Thoughts of a Crazy Person - Finding Meaning in Insanity?

 

Weds, July 10 – Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers: Review and Giveaway

 

Fri, July 12 – Lost to Books:  Guest Post TBA and Giveaway

 

Mon, July 15 – A Writer of History:  Guest Post: Writing an Era – Where to Begin?

 

Weds, July 17 – Michelle’s Romantic Tangle:  Interview

 

Thurs, July 18 – Oh, For the Hook of a Book:  Interview

 

Tues, July 23 – Unabridged Chick:  Review and Giveaway

 

Thurs July 25 – Ravings and Ramblings:  Review and Interview

 

Tues July 30 – Reading the Past:  Giveaway and Guest Post:

Writing and Historical Thought - They Didn't Think Like We Did 100 Years Ago

 

Sat, Aug. 3 – History and Women:  Giveaway and Guest Post:

Guest Post: Victorian Women and the Mystery of Sex 

 

 

 

A White Room

Stephanie Carroll

June 2013

408 Pages

Soft Cover: $14.99

eBook: $3.99

Publisher: Unhinged Books

ISBN: 978-0-9888674-0-6

eBook ISBN:

978-0-9888674-1-3

LCCN:  2013930913

 

 

Available in Print and

eBook (Kindle, Nook, Sony, e-pub)

 

Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Sony - Kobo - Inktera - Smashwords - Apple’s iBooks

 

Find Stephanie Carroll

 Facebook - Twitter - Goodreads

www.stephaniecarroll.net

 

 

Endorsements

 

“A novel of grit, independence, and determination ... An intelligent story, well told.”

—Renée Thompson, author of The Plume Hunter and The Bridge at Valentine

“The best historical fiction makes you forget it’s fiction and forget it’s historical. Reminiscent of The Yellow Wallpaper… the thoughtful, intricate story Carroll relates is absolutely mesmerizing.”

—Eileen Walsh, Ph.D. U.S. Women’s History, University of San Diego

 

 

Read More

14 Books To Read Before They Come To The Movies!!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/books-to-read-before-they-hit-the-big-screen

Can't wait to see this one!!  But click on the link above to see the other great books coming soon. 

What do you think about the possibility of Reese Witherspoon in "Gone Girl?"  I'm not so sure....



Deb

Read More

GIVEAWAY!!! "The Queen's Rivals" by Brandy Purdy~Romantic Historical Fiction

SUMMARY :

 

Their ambitions were ordinary, but they were born too close to the throne...

As cousins of history's most tempestuous queens, Ladies Jane, Katherine, and Mary Grey were born in an age when all of London lived beneath the Tower's menacing shadow. Tyrannized by Bloody Mary and the Virgin Queen, the sisters feared love was unthinkable —and the scaffold all but unavoidable...

Raised to fear her royal blood and what it might lead men to do in her name, Mary Grey dreads what will become of herself and her elder sisters under the reigns of Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I. On their honor, they have no designs on the crown, yet are condemned to solitude, forbidden to wed. Though Mary, accustomed to dwelling in the shadows, the subject of whispers, may never catch the eye of a gentleman, her beautiful and brilliant sisters long for freedoms that would surely cost their lives. And so, wizened for her years, Mary can only hope for divine providence amid a bleak present and a future at the whim of the throne — unless destiny gains the upper hand.

A gripping and bittersweet tale of broken families and broken hearts, courage and conviction, The Queen's  Rivals   recounts an astonishing chapter in the hard-won battle for the Tudor throne.

PARTICULARS OF THIS BOOK :

US Publication Date: June 25, 2013
Kensington Publishing
Paperback; 384p
ISBN-10: 0758265999
Available:  Amazon & Barnes and Noble


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Brandy Purdy (Emily Purdy in the UK) is the author of the historical novels THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON, THE BOLEYN WIFE (THE TUDOR WIFE), THE TUDOR THRONE (MARY & ELIZABETH), THE QUEEN'S PLEASURE (A COURT AFFAIR), and THE QUEEN'S RIVALS (THE FALLEN QUEEN). An ardent book lover since early childhood, she first became interested in history at the age of nine or ten years old when she read a book of ghost stories which contained a chapter about Anne Boleyn haunting the Tower of London. Visit her website at www.brandypurdy.com, you can also follow her, and her cat Tabby, via her blog at http://brandypurdy.blogspot.com where she posts updates about her work and weekly book reviews.


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

Brandy Purdy's "The Queen's Rival" is heavy with romance and historical reenactment.  It's  a delightful read.  I count her unique in the ability to speak directly to her readers through an intelligent and engaging narrator, the Lady Mary Grey, in this beautifully crafted novel.  It's one her fans won't want to miss.  It's one readers new to her work can learn to love her by.

Ms Purdy's fine details and descriptions of decorative arts and dress are fabulous.  I was so taken in by the gowns in all their splendor, as well as the surroundings the young noblewomen Mary, Kate and Jane Grey lived with as a rule.  It was pure pleasure to read Brandy Purdy's opulent translations of those in the most flowery language.  I could see them in all their finery.  Such fun!

Characterization is strong in this book.  We learn the temperaments of Jane Grey and her sisters.  Jane is especially developed, and I was drawn in as I learned more about her as a person and queen of England.  I enjoyed all of the girls' trials and tribulations, as well as their loves and triumphs.  I was moved as they met their fates clinging to each other for love and support despite all odds.

This is a novel strong in gorgeous language.  It's a romantic historical fiction and not an ordinary one.  It's one that will hold your interest and your heart from the introduction to the last pages. 

5 stars           Deborah/TheBookishDame


Please also see:

The UK cover of the same book!
UK Publication Date: September 12, 2013

Avon Publishing

ISBN-10: 1847563457

 

 

 

This review was brought to you in cooperation with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours; however, the review was strictly my own opinion and view of the book.

You may find more reviews, interviews and notes from Ms Purdy by clicking on this link to the tour:  http://hfvirturalbooktours.com



                             GIVEAWAY!!!!

To enter this book giveaway....Please do the following:

1)  Leave your email address!

2)  Become a friend of this blog on GFC...see my sidebar

3)  Friend me on Twitter


This giveaway is for the US only. 


Thanks for participating!!  :]    Deborah

Read More