Fairytale Nerd

The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber My Review Having read and loved the authors two previous books I have waited and anticipated a new title by her for quite some time. So I was eager to read this and very fortunate to receive an advance copy.  I quite simply LOVED it.  The author has the amazing skill of creating, convincing characters whose skin you can slip inside for the duration of the book. Strong, credible women who live a life so different to my own it would seem virtually impossible to relate to them. Yet the women she creates have left such an indelible mark on me it feels as though they have left a fine layer of themselves in my soul.  She writes about well researched austere locations where I have never been yet by the time I finish reading I feel as though I once lived there. This time we visit the location of Rural Utah in a secluded valley amidst harsh yet dramatic landscapes in the late 1800s. This book is leisurely and gradual, gentle and rather bleak and th...

Today I am part of the Blog Tour for the New Historical novel from Steven Neil which sounds great, full of rich historical detail and a fast-paced fascinating story. The Blurb: A story of love and political intrigue, set against the backdrop of the English hunting shires and the streets of Victorian London and post-revolutionary Paris. When Harriet Howard becomes Louis Napoleon’s mistress and financial backer and appears at his side in Paris in 1848, it is as if she has emerged from nowhere. How did the English daughter of a Norfolk boot-maker meet the future Emperor? Who is the mysterious Nicholas Sly and what is his hold over Harriet? Can Harriet meet her obligations and return to her former life and the man she left behind? What is her involvement with British Government secret services? Can Harriet’s friend, jockey Tom Olliver, help her son Martin solve his own mystery: the identity of his father? The central character is Harriet Howard and the action takes place between 1836 and 1...

Beyond the Bay - Rebecca Burns - my review In a year which has for me, been the year of great historical reads I'm delighted to add this engaging and satisfying book to my blog and my lists of books I've loved. What a wonderful discovery and welcome addition this book is! I devoured it from start to finish and longed to keep on reading more about the two sisters I met within its pages when it ended. This is a beautifully written piece of historical fiction about two women who travel across the world to find new opportunities. Set in Auckland, New Zealand, at the very beginning of the 20th century as women begin to rise and demand the vote and throw off the shackles of total subservience to men which has previously been the norm. Isobel has been living there for ten years already, she came here as a newlywed settler to escape her domineering Mother and defy her by choosing her own path in life and marry a man of her choosing and eschew a life in England which held little hope or...

Blackberry and Wild Rose by Sonia Velton - my Review Anyone who knows me, even the tiniest bit, will know, as surely as I did the minute I saw the cover of this book, that it is exactly the kind of book I fall head over heels in love with. And I did. For several reasons. (1) I swooned when I saw the absolutely gorgeous cover art. I am loving the current trend for historical novels to have a rich tapestry of all-over design and this one is covered with a lavish illustration of the woven floral silks which wind their way through the story. (2) it is highly recommended by one of my very favourite authors the sublimely talented Laura Purcell (If she told me I'd enjoy reading the labels on sauce bottles, you wouldn't be able to get in my kitchen for ketchup and pickles) (3) It is set in England, Spitalfields, London to be precise, in the late 18th century - Mmmmm it's piqued my interest. (4) it is peopled with strong, willful women, who are all utterly believable a...

The Familiars by Stacey Halls My Review I concur with all the great reviews I've seen for this title. Firstly I adored the cover the minute I saw it appearing on social media, it's beautiful and very evocative of the story contained within, just perfect. As soon as I opened my copy and began to read, it held me firmly in its grip from start to finish and never let go. It is a quite terrifying indictment of how powerless women were, and were expected to be, in an age when men held all the power and quite literally had the power of life and death over women with the capacity to dominate women and decide their fate, just because they were male and could get away with anything. I found the story all the more shocking as the heroine, with the unusual first name of Fleetwood, is just 17 years old yet is in the midst of her fourth pregnancy. She is an innocent yet proves to have an inbuilt strength she needs to survive. She has a charming but perfidious husband, a mother she despises,...

Blog Tour The Word For Freedom I'm thrilled to be helping round up the blog tour for the brand new collection of 24 fabulous short stories celebrating 100 years of women's suffrage; The Word for Freedom. Compiled for Retreat West Books which is an independent press publishing paperback books and ebooks, by the founder, Amanda Saint, who is a novelist and short story writer, novelist Angela Clarke and a foreword by Rose McGinty this is a work of collaboration and team work from all the authors who have contributed.  The book contains short stories contributed by a diverse collection of established and emerging authors, all of whom have been inspired by the suffragettes and whose stories focus on the same freedoms that those women fought for so courageously. My Thoughts Although I don't often read short stories, this compilation compelled me to read it, with its subject matter linked so closely to the strength of women in differing situations. With stories set in the p...