Blog Tour Excerpt: It's Getting Scot in Here by Suzanne Enoch

It's Getting Scot in Here

by Suzanne Enoch

Wild, Wicked Highlanders #1

On Sale February 26, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1-250-29637-5

St. Martin’s Paperbacks

HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER
London socialite Amelia-Rose Baxter is nobody’s fool. Her parents may want her to catch a title, but she will never change who she is for the promise of marriage. Her husband will be a man who can appreciate her sharp mind as well as her body. A sophisticated man who loves life in London. A man who considers her his equal—and won’t try to tame her wild heart...

IN THE HIGHLANDS
Rough, rugged Highlander Niall MacTaggert and his brothers know the rules: the eldest must marry or lose the ancestral estate, period. But Niall’s eldest brother just isn’t interested in the lady his mother selected. Is it because Amelia-Rose is just too. . . Free-spirited? Yes. Brazen? Aye. Surely Niall can find a way to soften up the whip-smart lass and make her the perfect match for his brother for the sake of the family.

JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT HOTTER.
Instead it’s Niall who tempts Amelia-Rose, despite her reservations about barbarian Highlanders. Niall finds the lass nigh irresistible as well, but he won’t make the mistake his father did in marrying an Englishwoman who doesn’t like the Highlands. Does he have what it takes to win her heart? There is only one way to find out...

MacMillan  ~  Amazon  ~  Barnes & Noble  ~  IndieBound  ~  Powell's

Excerpt:

Prologue

Once upon a time—in May 1785, to be exact—Angus MacTaggert, Earl Aldriss, traveled from the middle of the Scottish Highlands to London in search of a wealthy bride to save his well-loved but crumbling estate. Aldriss Park had been in the MacTaggert family since the time of Henry VIII, when Domhnall MacTaggert, despite being Catholic and married, declared publicly that Henry should be able to wed as many lasses as he wanted until one of them got him a son. Aldriss Park was the newly minted earl’s reward for his support and understanding.

For the next two hundred years Aldriss thrived, until the weight of poor harvests, the ever-intruding, rulemaking Sassenach, and the MacTaggerts’ own fondness for drinking, gambling, and wild investments (including an early bicycle design wherein the driver sat between two wheels; sadly, it had no braking mechanism and after a series of accidents nearly began a war within the MacTaggerts’ clan Ross) began to sink it into disrepair.

When Angus inherited the title in 1783, he realized the old castle needed far more than a fresh coat of paint to keep it from both physical collapse and bankruptcy. And so he determined to go down among the enemy Sassenach and win himself a wealthy bride. The English had made enough trouble for him and his over the centuries, so they could bloody well help him set things right.

On his second day in London, he met the stunning Francesca Oswell, the only offspring of James and Mary Oswell, Viscount and Viscountess of Hornford—who had more money than Midas and a bevy of very fine solicitors—at a masked ball where he dressed as a bull, and she as a swan. Despite the misgivings of nearly everyone in Mayfair, Angus and Francesca immediately fell madly in love, and married with a special license ten days later.

A week after that, Angus took Francesca back to Aldriss Park and the Highlands, where she found very little civilization, a great many sheep, and a husband who preferred brawling to dancing, and he discovered that her father’s solicitors had arranged to keep the Oswell family money in Francesca’s hands. This made for some very spectacular arguments, because there is nothing more combustible in the world than an impoverished Highlands laird in disagreement with an independently wealthy English lady about his own ancestral lands.

Blog Tour Guest Post: A Class Apart and A Class Entwined by Susie Murphy

Please join me in welcoming Susie Murphy to Let Them Read Books! Susie is touring the blogosphere with A Class Apart and A Class Entwined, the first two novels in her A Matter of Class series. I'm pleased to have her here today with a guest post about the history of the time period and the inspiration for her characters. Read on and enter to win ebook copies of both books!

"A beautifully written historical novel with characters who linger long after the last page is turned." ~Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home

It’s 1828, and Ireland is in turmoil as Irish tenants protest against their upper-class English landlords.

Nineteen-year-old Bridget Muldowney is thrilled to return to the estate in Carlow she’ll inherit when she comes of age. But since she left for Dublin seven years earlier, the tomboy has become a refined young lady, engaged to be married to a dashing English gentleman.

Cormac McGovern, now a stable hand on the estate, has missed his childhood friend. He and Bridget had once been thick as thieves, running wild around the countryside together.

When Bridget and Cormac meet again their friendship begins to rekindle, but it’s different now that they are adults. Bridget’s overbearing mother, determined to enforce the employer-servant boundaries, conspires with Bridget’s fiancé to keep the pair apart.

With the odds stacked against them, can Bridget and Cormac’s childhood attachment blossom into something more?

A Love Story Across the Class Divide

by Susie Murphy

As an Irish historical fiction author, I feel very lucky that I hardly need to look beyond my own doorstep to find a wealth of inspiration for my novels. I have always been fascinated by Ireland’s history, which has been turbulent to say the least.

Ireland suffered occupation by the British for hundreds of years, beginning with the Norman invasions in the 12th century. These were followed by the Tudor conquest of the 1500s, during which Henry VIII proclaimed himself King of Ireland. Then there were the plantations of the 17th and 18th centuries where the land was taken from Catholic Irish landowners and given to English and Scottish Protestant settlers, generating a deep-seated resentment among the native people caused by British rule on Irish soil.

In 1798, the Society of United Irishmen rose up against the British with the aim of gaining independence for Ireland. The rebellion failed and in 1800 the Act of Union was passed which created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, giving Britain even more control over its small island neighbour.

This tumultuous, often-bloody past created a dichotomy in our population: the upper class, wealthy, Protestant English landlords versus the lower class, poor, Catholic Irish tenants. Over the centuries, the gap between the classes grew ever wider.

What a treasure chest for an author, right?

For me, it’s not the violent risings nor the political machinations that intrigue me. It’s the individual people, the human stories behind the hard facts.

Blog Tour Review: Breathless by Celeste Bradley and Susan Donovan

From the Back Cover:

She was "the Swan." London's premiere courtesan. Men want to be with her. Women loathe her success and yet admire her beauty, her riches, her independence. But when the jealous wife of her lover moves to have the Swan banished from her home on the high seas, she winds up crashed against Spain's rocky coast with no shoes, no clothes—and no name. Taken in by a tortured, sensuous man known as The Artist, the Swan comes to know the woman she wants to be—her artist's siren.

When Art Professor Brenna Anderson is in danger of losing her post at Harvard, the rule-following, prim professor is at a loss of how to salvage the shreds of her life. But when a new painting in the mysterious Siren collection is discovered in a dusty old house in France, Brenna does the unthinkable—hops on a plane to uncover the identity of the beautiful, enigmatic woman who is the subject of the paintings.

There's just one hitch—the frustrating, irritating, bold and beautiful art hunter, Fitch Wilder, is also looking for the Siren. He's been a thorn in Brenna's professional side for years, but when their individual quests lead them to team up despite being enemies, a whole new sumptuous world of art and culture opens up for the two of them. And with it, they enter a realm of passion and love…

My Thoughts:

I signed up to review Breathless on impulse and then chastised myself because I needed another review commitment like I need a hole in my head, but I'm so glad I did! This will end up being one of my favorite books of the year. I'm not going to delve much into plot because the blurb does a good job of teasing you and I want everybody to be able to discover the story for themselves and savor every minute of it, like I did.

I was instantly drawn into the story with the discovery of a painting in an old Paris apartment by a handsome hunk of a cowboy who has a passion for art. Fitch's sense of amazement and excitement at finding an unknown painting in the famous Siren series was palpable, and I loved how the story of the Swan (aka the Siren) and her lover, the Artist, was teased out as Brenna and Fitch hunted down clues to her identity in the hopes of finding more paintings. And I loved watching enemies turn to lovers as these two became so wrapped up in the mystery, in the adventure, and in each other.

It's rare that I end up liking both the past and present storylines equally in a book with dual timelines. Usually the balance tips in favor of the past, but in this case I really enjoyed reading both. In both storylines the heroine is forced to reinvent herself, and I thought the Swan's rediscovery of herself particularly poignant. In order to find herself again, she had to lose everything, including her memories.

One of the best aspects of this book is the setting. Barcelona and the Catalonia coast are so atmospheric and so central to the story that the setting becomes a character itself. The lush descriptions of architecture, scenery, the simple yet delicious food, the infectious joie de vivre of the locals, the music, the dancing . . . well let's just say I HAVE to visit that region now!

There are a few little things I could quibble about in regards to the story, but I so thoroughly enjoyed it, was so swept away by the ambiance and the mystery, and was so battered by the emotional wringer (seriously, I sobbed buckets; no spoilers, but be prepared for the absolute unfairness of fate before the happily ever after) that those quibbles aren't worth detailing.

I could not put this book down, wanting desperately to see how it would all play out yet not wanting it to end. I savored the mystery and the love stories and completely lost myself in Catalonia. Breathless is a fabulous reading experience for fans of romance, art, history, and the heady magic of the Mediterranean.

My Rating:  5 Stars out of 5

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Blog Tour Q&A: How Did I Get Here? by Jane Marlow

Please join me in welcoming Jane Marlow to Let Them Read Books! Jane is touring the blogosphere with her new novel, How Did I Get Here?, and she's here today discussing her inspiration and research into the Crimean War.

In the 1800s, two events altered the course of Russia’s future—the emancipation of the serfs and the Crimean War. Author Jane Marlow takes readers back to this significant time in Russian history, journeying 800 miles south of Moscow to the frontlines of the Crimean War, in her second novel, How Did I Get Here?

Andrey Rozhdestvensky enters his final year of medical studies in 1854 with an empty belly, empty pockets, and secondhand clothes held together by wishful thinking. When Russia blunders into the misbegotten Crimean War, Tsar Nicholas recruits medical students to the front. Andrey grabs at what he believes to be free passage out of his vapid life—a portal to a new identity.

Volunteering as a surgeon for the Russian army, Andrey travels to the frontlines in Sevastopol and Simferopol on Russia’s Crimean Peninsula, where he discovers the atrocities of war, and fights to keep death and disease—scurvy, typhoid, typhus, cholera, gangrene and frostbite—from decimating the troops. As the war progresses, Andrey fears his mind is becoming unhinged as he witnesses the most senseless disregard for human life imaginable.

But even after the ink dries on the peace treaty, the madness of the war doesn’t end for Andrey. He scours city and countryside in search of a place where his soul can heal. Emotionally hamstrung, can he learn to trust the woman who longs to walk beside him on his journey?

A war story told in intimate human terms, How Did I Get Here? is the result of Jane Marlow’s lifelong interest in 1800s Russia and extensive research into the Crimean War. The second book in the Petrovo series, this novel follows Who Is To Blame? A Russian Riddle, reacquainting readers with several of their favorite characters.

In How Did I Get Here?, readers witness the war’s frontlines from a Russian surgeon’s perspective (as compared to the well-known accounts of British nurse Florence Nightingale of the enemy’s forces). The book also examines unrecognized and untreatable Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder a century before it was given a name, and explores the precariousness of war—why one man lives, the one beside him dies, and another is impaired for life.

A timeless story of human self-discovery and connection, How Did I Get Here? is hard-hitting historical fiction for serious readers.

What inspired you to write How Did I Get Here?

While I was conducting research for the first novel in the Petrovo series, Who Is to Blame?, I kept bumping into this thing called the Crimean War. Eventually, I realized it simply had to be the backdrop of my next novel for two reasons. First, the Crimean War was the guinea pig for a myriad of innovations that forever changed the face of warfare. The second factor that grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let go was the War’s magnitude as a gruesomely ugly historical reality.  Not only was the carnage on the battlefield hideous, but an even greater number of fatalities were attributable to disease, malnutrition, winter exposure, and lack of competent leadership. Not until World War I would more people die as victims of war. 

What led to your fascination with Russia in the 1800s?

I trace my interest back to 6th grade when mother dragged me kicking and screaming to a professional stage performance of Fiddler on the Roof. But as my feet began tapping with the music, I experienced the proverbial smack-to-the-forehead. I was just at the right age to gain an inkling of understanding about prejudice, suppression, rural culture, and the deep-seated role of religion.

Blog Tour Review: The Phantom's Apprentice by Heather Webb

From the Back Cover:

In this re-imagining of Phantom of the Opera, meet a Christine Daaé you’ve never seen before…

Christine Daaé sings with her violinist Papa in salons all over Paris, but she longs to practice her favorite pastime—illusions. When her beloved Papa dies during a conjurer’s show, she abandons her magic and surrenders to grief and guilt. Life as a female illusionist seems too dangerous, and she must honor her father’s memory.

Concerned for her welfare, family friend Professor Delacroix secures an audition for her at the Nouvel Opéra—the most illustrious stage in Europe. Yet Christine soon discovers the darker side of Paris opera. Rumors of murder float through the halls, and she is quickly trapped between a scheming diva and a mysterious phantom. The Angel of Music.

But is the Angel truly a spirit, or a man obsessed, stalking Christine for mysterious reasons tangled in her past?

As Christine’s fears mount, she returns to her magical arts with the encouragement of her childhood friend, Raoul. Newfound hope and romance abounds…until one fateful night at the masquerade ball. Those she cares for—Delacroix, the Angel, and even Raoul—aren’t as they seem. Now she must decide whom she trusts and which is her rightful path: singer or illusionist.

To succeed, she will risk her life in the grandest illusion of all.

My Thoughts:

In my younger years, I was such a fan of The Phantom of the Opera musical. I still remember seeing it on Broadway all those years ago, sitting up in the nosebleeds and being thoroughly entranced. My mom bought me the soundtrack on the way out, and I soon knew it by heart. I was surprised at how many of those lyrics came back to me as I was reading The Phantom's Apprentice. It's been a very long time since I saw the musical, and I've never read the book on which it's based, so I went into this without a solid attachment to the particulars of the story, my mind open to see how Ms. Webb would make this story her own.

While the bones of the story are pretty much the same--Christine Daae, a beautiful young woman with a beautiful voice, auditions for a role in the chorus of a Paris opera house. The opera house is haunted, and Christine catches the attention of the "phantom," who decides to help her hone her skills, coming to her in the guise of the "angel of music," and sets some dastardly events in motion in order to have Christine become the star of the show. But his plans to keep Christine to himself are spoiled by the reappearance of her childhood love, Raoul, who determines not to let her go again now that he's found her, and though Christine knows it angers the phantom, having fallen in love with Raoul all over again, she can't stay away from him. And so the stage is set for a showdown between the murderous phantom and the young lovers.

What sets this story apart from the version I knew is the addition of illusions and magic. In this story, singing is Christine's second love, coming behind her love for the art of illusions, a love fostered by her mother before her untimely death. Christine figures out early on that the phantom is nothing more than a master illusionist, and while she continues to go along with his ploy in order to further her career, secretly she is bent on discovering the science behind his "haunting." This leads her into all sorts of danger as she explores the shadowy labyrinth beneath the opera house. She also has a very real benefactor in the form of Monsieur Delacroix, a man determined to unmask the phantom and make a name for himself in the scientific community. But as the phantom spirals out of control, Monsieur Delacroix's motives become more and more suspect, and eventually Christine is unsure who she can trust. Even Raoul seems to have secrets.

Spotlight: Girl in the Afternoon by Serena Burdick

Girl in the Afternoon

by Serena Burdick

St. Martin's Press

Hardcover, eBook; 288 pages

Historical Fiction

Born into a wealthy Parisian family at the center of Belle Epoque society, 18-year-old Aimée Savaray dreams of becoming a respected painter in the male-dominated art world; and secretly, she also dreams of being loved by Henri, the boy her parents took in as a child and raised alongside her. 

But when Henri inexplicably disappears, in the midst of the Franco-Prussian war, the Savarays’ privileged lives begin to unravel. Heartbroken, Aimée tries to find him, but Henri doesn’t want to be found—and only one member of the family knows why.

As Aimée seeks refuge in the art world, mentored by the Impressionist Édouard Manet, she unwittingly finds her way back to Henri. With so many years gone by and secrets buried, their eventual reunion unmasks the lies that once held the family together, but now threaten to tear them apart.

A rich and opulent saga, Girl in the Afternoon brings the Impressionists to life in this portrait of scandal, fortune, and unrequited love.

Praise:

“A young woman's quest for independence and recognition in a world dominated by men is at the heart of a tale brimming over with secrets, betrayals and redemption. Burdick keeps readers riveted, trying to unravel the maze of secrets that tear the characters' world apart. This is a melancholy, bittersweet novel that touches readers seeking emotional depth. Not for those who adore an HEA.” —RT Book Reviews (4 Stars HOT)

“Heart-rending, passionate, and riddled with secrets, Girl in the Afternoon explores a society's changing attitudes toward art, womanhood and  freedom, as observed by a bourgeois family trying to protect their own. A compelling, melancholy tale.” —Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet

“In Girl in the Afternoon, Serena Burdick weaves together Paris, La Belle Epoque, art and abundant doses of family drama in a tightly-written story that pulls the reader in and keeps the twists and turns coming until almost the last page” —Sally Christie, author of The Sisters of Versailles

“Intriguing!...In GIRL IN THE AFTERNOON, young artist Aimée Savaray sets out on a quest to uncover the truth behind lost love, and to find her place in the male-dominated art world of Belle Époque Paris. With a dream-like quality, Ms. Burdick weaves a provocative tale of family secrets, betrayal, and the renewal of self-discovery.” —Heather Webb, author of Rodin's Lover

“This fabulous book is an embroidery of love stitched in the romantic painterly style of Realism. But, when you turn the embroidery over, you see the tangled chaos of betrayal in the style of the Impressionistic painters. Serena Burdick bridges the two artistic styles with the skill of a real artist.”
—Michele Zackheim, author of Last Train to Paris

“Out of the Gilded Age comes this glittering canvas of a novel, full of light and life, shadow and darkness, stillness and movement. A rich portrait of a world and one unconventional family’s place in it, Girl in the Afternoon is a love story, a mystery, a tragedy, and a moving study of the human capacity to contain  both reckless error and surprising redemption.” —Carrie Brown, author of The Stargazer's Sister

Spotlight: Finding Gabriel by Rachel L. Demeter

Finding Gabriel

by Rachel L. Demeter

415 pages; ebook, paperback

Published by Momentum,

a division of Pan Macmillan

ASIN: B00YLWA044

Historical Romance

Colonel Gabriel de Laurent departed for the war intending to die.

After a decade of bloodstained battlegrounds while fighting in Napoleon's army, Gabriel returns to the streets of Paris a shattered and haunted soul. Plagued by inner demons, he swallows the barrel of his flintlock pistol and pulls the trigger.

But fate has a different plan.

Ariah Larochelle is a survivor. Orphaned at twelve and victim to a devastating crime, she has learned to keep her back to walls and to trust no one. But when she finds a gravely injured soldier washed up on the River Seine, she's moved by compassion. In spite of her reservations, she rescues him from the icy water and brings him into her home.

Now scarred inside and out, Gabriel discovers a kindred spirit in Ariah - and feelings he imagined lost forever reawaken as he observes her strength in the face of adversity. But when Ariah's own lethal secrets unfold, their new love is threatened by ancient ghosts. Can Gabriel and Ariah find hope in the wreckage of their pasts - or will the cycle of history repeat again?

Perfect for fans of Gaelen Foley's Lord of Ice and Judith James's Broken Wing, Finding Gabriel features all the dark romance, searing passion, and historical intrigue of The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables.

Amazon  ~  Barnes & Noble  ~  Goodreads  ~  Rachel's website

Excerpt:

"Look at me. Look at what you have saved."

Gabriel released Ariah's chin and tore away the bandage in a harsh movement. As his eyes bore into her own, pale moonlight fell upon the deformity, illuminating the twisted flesh and grotesque welts. The sight reminded her of a beautiful chateau . . . a stunning fortress situated along the coastline . . . one that had fallen into ruin and neglect. The skin was concave, destroyed, cavernous - a remnant of former glory. And the surrounding features - his burning eyes, the right side of his face, his powerful body - dwarfed the disfigurement with a striking beauty.

"Look at the monster you have created. Look upon my face, Ariah."

Blog Tour Review: The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth

From the Back Cover:

Dortchen Wild fell in love with Wilhelm Grimm the first time she saw him.

Growing up in the small German kingdom of Hessen-Cassel in early Nineteenth century, Dortchen Wild is irresistibly drawn to the boy next door, the young and handsome fairy tale scholar Wilhelm Grimm. 

It is a time of War, tyranny and terror. Napoleon Bonaparte wants to conquer all of Europe, and Hessen-Cassel is one of the first kingdoms to fall. Forced to live under oppressive French rule, the Grimm brothers decide to save old tales that had once been told by the firesides of houses grand and small all over the land.

Dortchen knows many beautiful old stories, such as 'Hansel and Gretel', 'The Frog King' and 'Six Swans'. As she tells them to Wilhelm, their love blossoms. Yet the Grimm family is desperately poor, and Dortchen's father has other plans for his daughter. Marriage is an impossible dream.

Dortchen can only hope that happy endings are not just the stuff of fairy tales.

My Thoughts:

I'd been waiting for so long to read this book, and it hooked me from page one. In fact, the prologue had me itching to turn to the last page to see how it ended, but I resisted! The story has an enchanting fairy-tale quality from the very beginning as we meet young Dortchen Wild, a precocious, starry-eyed, imaginative girl who revels in the beauty of nature and the transcendent quality of folk tales. The fifth of six girls born to a frail mother and an overbearing father, hers is not a life of ease, but she sees the good in everything and determines to make the most of what life has to offer her.

She becomes fast friends with Lotte, the only girl out of six children in the Grimm family, who has just moved into the house across the alley, and begins to spend all of her free time with the poor yet loving family. Secretly worshiping the scholarly Wilhelm, the second oldest brother, she endeavors to help him and the oldest, Jakob, as they compile a collection of old tales in the hopes of finding fame and fortune with its publication. Dortchen shines under their attention, surrounded by a circle of friends sharing stories and laughter, even though her generous nature in wanting to help her poor neighbors often lands her in trouble with her father.